You were stirring a pot of soup when you heard loud noises at the door, signaling that the boys had returned. You smiled and shook your head to yourself. Those boys were so noisy that you always heard them before you saw them. The loudest one of all was your brother, and he was the first one to enter the kitchen with a deafening exclamation.

“Wow! Food!”

You turned around just in time to catch him, smacking his hand away from the plates that you’d already laid out. “No eating until all of you have washed your hands! Go!”

The rest of the boys followed after him, and it took a lot of effort to keep them off the food, but you soon managed to disperse them, sending them off to clean up while you finished preparing dinner. When the kitchen was empty again, you turned back to the stove, satisfied. Mere seconds later, however, you were startled by someone wrapping his arms around your waist from behind.

“Mmm… This is my favorite view of you.”

You chuckled as Yongguk kissed your neck. “Because I’m making food?”

You could already hear the smile in his voice before he spun you around to face him. “Yeah.”

You gave him a peck on his lips, your eyes twinkling with mischief. “I thought you said you liked me best with no clothes on.”

He laughed and tightened his grip around your waist. “Maybe you should start cooking .”

Before you could come up with a reply to that, you heard the sound of someone coughing. You and Yongguk jumped apart, and you saw Jongup standing behind him, his face bright red and a piece of chicken in his hand. He must have snuck in to burgle some of the food, heard some things he’d rather not have heard, and choked. When you locked eyes with him, his expression resembled that of a deer caught in the headlights. He straightened up immediately, putting the piece of chicken back onto the plate before he bent over into a perfect 90-degree bow. “I’m very sorry.” Then, he scurried out of the kitchen as fast as he could.

You stared incredulously at Yongguk for a moment before both of you burst out laughing. You smacked him. “Look what you did! You traumatized Jonguppie!”

“It wasn’t my fault that he was trying to steal food!”

You shoved him lightly. “Go scoop the rice.”

As you turned around to turn off the stove, you heard him leaving the kitchen and yelling. “Junhong ah, come scoop the rice!”

Knowing you were about to ask for help with setting the table, all the hyungs conveniently disappeared out of sight. Only Junhong and Jongup stayed to help you. With three pairs of hands, all the dishes were quickly laid out on the table, although Jongup couldn’t meet your eyes the whole time. Soon, all seven of you were seated and digging in.

“Noona, you were right about Yongguk hyung,” Junhong, who was seated next to you, accused pointing across the table at Yongguk. “He’s a bad man.”

Yongguk’s chopsticks paused halfway to his mouth and he blushed. “Ya, shut up and eat your food.”

You furrowed your brow at him before turning to Junhong. “Don’t bother about him. What did he do?”

“Ya, Choi Junhong…” Himchan started in a warning tone, but the maknae had already blurted out, “He held hands with girl group members!”

Yongguk shot a glare at Junhong, but quickly turned to you, his face contorted in worry. “I had to do it because the photographer asked. You can’t expect the kids to do it right?” He pointed at Himchan. “And I had to hold hands with two girls because your dear brother refused to do it.”

The whole table was in chaos in a moment as everyone started talking over each other.

“Ya, my girlfriend is in a girl group,” Himchan pointed out. “Do you want me to be killed?”

“So it’s okay for Yongguk hyung to be sacrificed?” Youngjae shot back.

Daehyun stared at Junhong. “Why did you even have to bring this up?”

“I’m on Hana noona’s side!” he declared loudly.

“What do you mean her side?” Yongguk cut in. “There are no sides!”

“Guys…” you sighed, but nobody paid any attention to you.

Jongup, who was looking from left to right as words were exchanged, suddenly spoke up. “But Hana noona also did a photoshoot with—”

Daehyun, who was sitting beside him, quickly hooked an arm around his neck and clamped a hand over his mouth, laughing loudly to drown him out. “Nothing happened! Everybody’s happy! Let’s eat!”

“Guys,” you said, louder this time, and everyone fell silent. “Relax. I’m fine.” You smiled at Yongguk. “We’re fine. It’s a job. I understand.”

“See, it’s not a big deal,” your brother said brusquely. “Eat!”

After the meal, Yongguk walked you back to your apartment and the two of you ended up watching TV together on your couch. After sitting silently beside each other for a while, he put his arm around your shoulder and pulled you close. “You’re really not mad at me?”

You laughed. “Do you think I’m that unreasonable?”

He thought about your question for a moment. “Well, I did get mad when I saw you and Son Dongwoon in those photos…”

“But you’re not anymore, are you?” you asked, looking quizzically at him.

“I guess I was more upset about the fact that he was your ex,” he admitted. “But it did make me jealous just seeing another man touch you.”

“I know,” you said, putting your arms around his neck. “I appreciate that you’re trying to be understanding. But I don’t really have to go to that party.”

He gingerly tucked a lock of your hair behind your ear. “I just want you to be happy. And I know you don’t like feeling like I’m controlling you in any way. He’s your friend. You can hang out with him.”

“Then don’t you think I’d understand that it’s your job to hold those girls’ hands?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it’d be nice if you were just a little bit jealous.”

You laughed and jokingly rolled up your sleeves threateningly. “Alright. Who are those girls? Are they pretty?”

He laughed along with you. “They’re from A Pink. Of course they’re pretty.”

“Okay, so who should I hit first? You or them?”

He laughed some more as he pulled you into a hug. “Pabo. You’re way prettier than they are.”

“Are you trying to butter me up out of guilt?” you accused. “Is that why you were so loving when you returned from the shoot? It’s not gonna work on me.”

“No girl group member can measure up to my girlfriend,” he declared cheekily.

You pulled away and looked skeptically at him. “Oh yeah? Not even Park Gyuri?”

He shook his head firmly. “Nope. You’re prettier.”

“How about Song Jieun? Consider her good personality as well.”

He touched his chin thoughtfully. “Hmm, maybe Jieunnie…”

“Ya, Bang Yongguk!”

You grabbed the front of his shirt, and he laughed as he held your wrists and pulled you so you were leaning onto him. “I’m kidding. You’re the only one I love. Why would I be looking at other girls?” He hugged you tightly, burying his face into your shoulder.

“Well, you can look,” you pointed out. “I can’t stop you from looking, can I? You’re constantly surrounded by all these inhumanly gorgeous women. If I say you can’t look at them, wouldn’t you go insane?”

“I think I’d be okay,” he said, frowning at you.

“That’s a lie. Everyone looks at beautiful things.”

“So you’re saying you look at other guys.”

“Of course.”

He made a face at you. “Glad to know my girlfriend has a wandering eye.”

You laughed. “It’s just harmless appreciation. It’s okay as long as I don’t act on it.”

“But won’t you feel tempted?” Yongguk asked, his expression turning thoughtful. “If you allow yourself to think it’s okay to admire good-looking guys, won’t you compare them to me and start thinking maybe you could do better?”

“If I had to change boyfriends every time I see a better-looking one, wouldn’t I be really busy?”

“Be serious, babe.”

You sighed and cupped his face with both hands. “If this is your roundabout way of asking if I’ll ever cheat on you, the answer is no. Would you?”

“No, of course not,” he replied immediately.

“Then why do you have so little confidence in me?” you asked softly, feeling a little hurt.

“It’s not that I don’t have confidence in you,” he answered, looking slightly crestfallen. “It’s just… I feel like… I’m more afraid of losing you than you are of losing me.”

You stared deeply into his eyes. “That’s not true. How can you make such a comparison?”

He stared back at you. “If I cheat on you, will you leave me?”

You blinked at him, not sure what you were supposed to answer. “I guess,” you finally said after a while. “If your heart is no longer with me, what’s the point of us staying together?”

“See, that’s the thing,” he said. “I don’t think I could leave you even if you did cheat on me.” He paused, his eyes turning dark, and you could tell he’d given this a lot of thought before he’d decided to talk to you about it. “No matter how many times you left me, I never stopped waiting for you to come back. When I thought that you were seeing Son Dongwoon, I said all kinds of things to provoke you, hoping you’d tell me for certain that you’d fallen in love with someone else and was breaking up with me. I was angry at you because I thought you were wrong, but I was also angry at myself because I couldn’t bear the thought of breaking up with you. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to say it. It feels like you could do anything and I’ll still be clinging on to you like a fool.”

You gazed at Yongguk, feeling your heart ache at how tormented he’d been by all these thoughts. “Oppa, please, don’t think about things like that,” you begged, running your fingers through his short hair. “It’s not going to happen. I’m not going to cheat on you, and I’m not going to leave you, okay? Trust me. Don’t torture yourself with all these thoughts. I love you, and I want to be with you, and that’s not going to change, okay?”

He nodded hesitantly before pulling you against him into a hug again. “I love you too. More than you will ever know.”