"Hi, babe," were the first words I heard from Lee Joon when I picked up the phone. "Do you want to hang out at our apartment? I'm free today. Let's do something together. I don't want to go outside though, it's too warm. I miss you."

"Take a breather, why don't you?" I laughed at his enthusiasm. He was too cute sometimes. "I don't know about idols, but regular people like us have to work on weekdays."

"Aah. Sorry, I forgot. I usually have friends in the same industry, so I assumed differently. Come straight over after work! I'll make you dinner."

Thanks to his phone call, it brightened my day up just a little bit and I managed to sail through the work day without much of a hitch.

Walking up to MBLAQ's apartment later in the day, a kind of dread washed over me. What if Seungho was home? How should I handle it? Before I knew it, I had arrived at their front door. Joon opened the door with a huge smile on his face and somehow my worries melted away.

"Come on in," he gestured towards their messy apartment.

"Don't you guys ever clean up? How do you live like this? Wasn't it tidy last night? Did a hurricane come in after I left?" I asked, scrounging up my nose. I started picking up all the things that belonged in a trash can, and the others in the laundry basket. "Boys," I tsked.

"You're not here to work, my Jenny-ya~" Joon suddenly put his arms around me.
"Aish, you! I'm just about done anyway. So what's the plan?" I asked as I chucked the last pair of jeans into the basket. I tailed Joon as he walked into the kitchen. At least the kitchen did not have dirty dishes in the sink.

"I actually tried to cook bokkeumbap¹ for you, but I burnt everything," he stepped on the trash can's step pedal to show me his burnt rice, meshed with what used to look like kimchi. "So I ordered in," he showed me an embarrassed smile.

Once again, we were in the TV room munching on Joon's takeaway dinner, watching whatever nonsense on television. I stood up and started looking around the DVD collection next to the television and saw a few with MBLAQ on it. A few labels like 'Hello Baby', and 'Maknae Rebellion' caught my eye.

"What are these, Joonie?" I held up a particular case labeled 'Sesame Player'.

His eyes widened and grabbed the DVD case out of my hand and shouted, "Andwae!² This is nothing." He held the DVD above my head as I tried to steal it back from him. I even tried tickling him, but to no avail. He looked into my eyes with amusement and a playful smile.

I tried one last time and planted a kiss on his lips. Surprise showed in his eyes, his hands went limp and I was free to grab the DVD out of his hands. I rushed towards the DVD player and turned it on.

Without knowing, Joon was standing close to me and, like a child, he softly asked, "Kiseu. Hanbeon deo?"³

"Sirheo~"⁴ I teased. As the DVD played, a blond guy walked into what looked like a bathroom. "Oh? Who's that? OH! Is that you?!"

Joon surrendered and sat back down on the sofa, sighing. "Yes, that's me. I'm still surprised you're not in touch with these sorts of things. How can you not know MBLAQ?" he said as he poked my side. The time flew by as we watched episodes upon episodes of Sesame Player.

It was refreshing to see another side of Joon. I could finally see why he was labeled as an idiot, his time on camera only showed his silly sides. One of the downsides to watching it, however, was Seungho. He seemed to have stood out among all the other MBLAQ members. How did someone like him, who was so mysterious in reality, knew how to do all those things he did in the program? And why did his laugh make me feel happy? Why haven't I heard him laugh like that in real life?

"Seungho-ssi knows how to knit?" I asked Lee Joon when we started on the sixth episode. Joon kept fast-forwarding the show, especially when it came to bits that he did not want me to see.

"Hyung knows how to do a lot of things," he responded dismissively. He stood up and stopped the DVD. He put on another one, and on came a show called 'Oh! My School'. It was an episode where Joon was a guest. It was a very funny show, and I wondered why I had not been introduced to this sort of show before.

A scene where Joon had to sit down and get back up while lifting a woman called Kim Shin Young came on. "Omona!"⁵ I squealed and laughed at the sight. I was rolling on my back and holding my abdomen laughing. Joon started snickering at the sight of me.

The next thing I knew, I was in mid-air. At first I was confused as to how it was possible, but it dawned on me that Joon lifted me from the couch and started doing squats while laughing at my face.

"Ya! Joonie! Let me down!" I squealed. We were laughing along nicely when the door made a ringing sound, signaling that someone has opened it. Joon stopped squatting and stood up straight to see who was about to walk in, but he was still holding on to me. I, on the other hand, was holding on to his neck for dear life.

"Naya!⁶ Is anyone here?"

I knew that voice from anywhere, and sure enough, appeared out of the doorstep was Seungho. Suddenly Joon let go of me without letting me down properly and because my grip on him was not secure enough, I fell to the floor with a thud.

1. Fried rice
2. "No!"
3. "Kiss. One more."
4. "No~"
5. "Oh my!"
6. "It's me!"