Learning new things about each other, makes you tighter.

I woke up feeling stuffy. I opened my eyes, only a bit of sunshine is lighting the room. The heavy drapes is doing a great job. I don’t need light for the meantime, because once it hits my eyes, I’ll fully wake and that’s not what I want, for I still feel tired from last night.

Weird.

I sniff again. My pillow smells of Jiyong’s expensive perfume. I sniff once more, burying my nose on it. Oh! It’s moving, slowly, up-down, up-down, up-down.

Wait!

“Omo!” my voice is airy. I lift my head up and looked at him. His head is facing the other way, back flat on the bed, right arm around me, hand on my waist. My right arm around his waist, leg on his leg. It’s a shock, he’s not pushing me away.

Kwon Jiyong fact: He loves to hug in his sleep (ask Seungri, he know this very well), but hates being hugged. According to him, he doesn’t like the feeling of being locked in someone’s arm and leg because 1. It’s uncomfortable 2. Heavy 3. Hot. Yep! Even Jiyong has selfish moments.

“mmm…” he wriggled and as expected, removed my arm and leg on him, eyes closed. “Oh!” Just to hug me closer, enveloping every inch of me. My face, buried on his neck. It smells of the lotion he applied on his face before sleeping.

Now, I’m the one who’s not comfortable.

Let me think….

Ok. Last night, after we exchanged I love you’s, we did our own thing. I read the book I bought in London, 14^th deadly sin – James Patterson (the title intrigued me), until I fell asleep. And he, is on his phone (as usual), lying comfortably on the floor. I checked on him before closing my eyes and he even turned off the side lamp for me. How was he able to scoot in without waking me up? Am I that beat to not notice?

My mind is working at its best until I heard him giggle. “Yah!” I scowled, but instead of moving even a little, away from me, he hugged me tighter.

Awkward. I can feel something not right below his waist and it’s so close to what’s below my waist.

Little girls (16 years- below), in case you didn’t know, boys (of age) get their ‘friend down there’ in attention every morning. It is normal. *You’re welcome, if this is the first time you heard of it*

“I’m totally hot” I told him.

He chuckled. “Yeah, you are. Especially last night”

GAH!

“That’s not what I mean, stupid!”

He laughed out loud. “Is that how you greet your boyfriend in the morning, calling him stupid?” He smirked. “Very sweet” he said, sarcastically.

Annoyed, I try wriggling out of him, but he kept me in place by hugging me tighter.

“Seriously Jiyongie, you’re annoying me early in the morning. Is this the way you treat your girlfriend? No wonder, the one before me always leave before you wake”

Oh, was that a hard blow?

Strangling myself in my head, I wait for him to respond. My carelessness will get me in trouble in this relationship.

Jiyong loosen his arms around me, giving me space to move. And then, he sighed heavily. Ooppss! I think I hit a wrong button.

Feeling guilty, “Hey”. I snake my hand over his stomach and wrapped my arm around his waist. “Good Morning” I greeted sweetly, hoping to change the mood.

No response.

What to do?

“Yaaa” I rest my head on his chest. “I’m sorry. I was just playing around”

No response.

Is this really Jiyong? This is the first time he sulked this much. He isn’t in best friend mode, I guess.

How to do it? Last night he said that he’s just going with the flow, that he didn’t change anything, but why do I feel like he hid my best friend somewhere in him and only show my boyfriend who is not that familiar to me yet.

“Oh!” I jerked up upon hearing my phone ringing.

Heartlessly, he removed my arm around him and I awkwardly slide out of bed, bothered.

PHOEBE!

“Hey!” I greeted, trying to sound cheerful.

“Good morning, sunshine!”

Her battery is already charged this early. If only my morning start off good, I will be in the same level of hype too.

“What’s up?” I sat on the chair, facing the bed, eyes fixed on Jiyong.

Completely ignoring me, he flipped to his front, and all I can do is sigh.

“What are your plans for today?” Phoebe asked.

Actually, I promised to meet with my organization mates this afternoon. They made me agree to it after saying that it’ll be great if I meet the present members of the organization and in my own little way, share with them my learnings in this field we’re working at. I’m not up for on-stage speeches, but small crowd talk, is fine.

I suddenly feel like crying after answering Phoebe’s question. With her on the line, I am itching to tell her about what happened just a few minutes ago.

Carefully, I walked to the bathroom, locked the door and sat on the edge of the bathtub, far away as possible from the door. I feel off. So off, I don’t know what to do with myself anymore.

“Pho” I choked and in a snap, I’m sobbing.

“Oh my goodness! Did you had a fight?”

I catch my breath and swallowed hard. “No. Not really”

“O….K. Then, what seems to be the problem?”

Good question. What is really the problem? Why am I bawling out when nothing big really happened? Is it because of his reaction when I brought ‘HER’ up or, my not so good reception to his playfulness a while ago?

“I’m confused. Once again, I AM CONFUSED. I swear. I thought I’ve already figured this all out. I felt so sure, so convinced that I will pull this off well, but his fast transition from best friend to boyfriend and back, is overwhelming. I thought I can keep up, but it looks like I can’t”

Woah! Easy with the talking, heart. You’re shocking me!

Phoebe take in a breath and exhaled heavily. “Look, best friends to lovers relationship is very exhausting. It’s a lot of work. It’s beyond overwhelming. What you’re feeling, the confusion and , is normal. Basically you don’t know what to do. How to handle and deal with it. This isn’t like a boy meets girl, boy and girl felt a spark, boy and girl get to know each other, boy and girl tried it out, and eventually fell in love. That’s too easy. Yours look easy, but is extremely complicated. Why? Because you know each other so well, which is tricky because it’s an advantage and a disadvantage. Advantage, for you know which buttons to push, even with eyes closed. There’s no need to adjust. Disadvantage, you know each other so well, just one strange move and you’ll go BANANAS! Even when it’s truthfully nothing to tick about, for it’s an old move, only executed differently”. She paused. “Transitioning is hard. Believe me, I’ve been through that” she giggled, infecting me. “Jiyong might make it look easy but I’m telling you, it’s far from easy. It’s the way he set his mind, that’s keeping him on track. Maybe you’re just overthinking. You know, if I were you, I’ll set my mind too. Embrace the fact that you are not just his best friend anymore, you’re more than partners in crime. You are one in love”

She said the same thing as Jiyong. I’m overthinking. Am I, really?

“Elle, don’t rush yourself. If it hasn’t sink in yet, just let it be. Wait for the time”

“But, I can’t just be Einstein to him. That girl is his best friend. What if, it’ll take a lot of time for our new status to sink in? I cannot let him treat me as a girlfriend, while I’m treating him as a best friend. That’s unfair”

Oh Phoebe, I’m sorry that I have to drag you to hell early in the morning.

“He’d rather get the best friend treatment than a trying hard girlfriend. After all, the way you move around him, the way you take care of him when you were still best friends, is very girlfriend-ish. I’m sure it will not be a big deal. Go up a notch when you’re ready”

This totally make sense! Thank God for friends who are good with words, I’m enlightened.

“Do you think it’s foul to bring up his past relationships now? Because before, it doesn’t really matter. He’ll just laugh it off”. I really think that I’ve gone too far a while ago.

Phoebe scowled. “Past is past! Yes, you know every detail of his past relationships, but Darling, don’t EVER pull it out to his face EVER again! You are now a girlfriend. Do you think it’s easy in the ears to hear you talking about his ex?” she asked, making a very good point. “No. Na-uh”

So, I am totally wrong. My mind is not working well a while ago, causing me to do stupid things. Now that I know, I will bury his past relationships, deep in my mind and try not to talk about it at all, no matter how natural it is to me (it’s my strongest attack whenever he’s teasing me).

“You’re good now?” Phoebe asked, after talking some more. She gave out a litany about love and how to handle a relationship. Then I realized that I need to re-learn the relationship rules, keep in mind and heart how to take care of a boyfriend, and how to be a good girlfriend.

“I’ll see you two later!” Phoebe said, her hype still high. “Feel good. Be good” she followed up.

“Love you Pho! Thank you so much!”

She giggled. “Small thing! Love you too! Kiss Jiyong for me on the lips, please!”

“Seriously?”

She laughed out loud. “Your man is just too hot! Good thing you’re my friend and I have Andy, or else…”

“Or else, what?”

“Wanna switch? My man’s bank account is fat as well, you know”

I smirked. “No. Thank you”

With a clear mind, I gathered myself up, while staring at myself in the mirror. “You’ll get out of here and apologize. No one will leave this hotel room unless everything’s settled” I said to myself, nodding in acknowledgement.

Heart pounding in my throat, I walked out of the bathroom, to find Jiyong still in bed. Same position, but looking more comfortable. His lower body covered with a thin blanket, one foot out of it.

Kneeling beside the bed, I leaned towards him and smoothly ran my index finger on his forehead to the tip of his nose.

“Wake up” I said softly, and ran my finger to his lower lip. “Wake up now”

As expected, he’s hard to wake.

“Yaaa” I run my fingers on his lips again and leaned closer to plant a kiss on it.

Still, no movement.

Hopeless. This man will not wake up in a sweet way. So, shrugging off my girlfriend character, I pulled out ‘Einstein’, Jiyongie’s best friend, and comfortably breathe her.

“I know you’re pissed, but you have to wake up now because I want to bring you somewhere before we meet up with the girls and their men later in the afternoon”. I rolled my eyes and smirked upon realizing that I look stupid talking to a sleeping person who can perfectly pass as a patient in coma, for his zero movement (I even checked if he’s still breathing, just to be sure).

While having a moment in front of the mirror, after talking with Phoebe, I remembered one of the many things I want to do with him if ever we go here, in Melbourne. Now that we’re here, I can bring him to places I always go to and make him see, even just a glimpse, of my life here.

Eager to wake him up, I climbed up the bed, on top of him. I sit on his back like horseback riding, and leaned forward to his ear. “Wake up now, please” I begged.

No movement.

To level things up, I poked his chin using my index finger. Pinched it. Forced his eye to open. And, bit his ear.

“mmmm….”

Yahoo! Finally!

Sitting up straight, still on his back. “Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!” I chanted, bouncing up and down.

“Yaaa” he said lazily. “If you keep this going…..*%()$&^^%^$”

“What?”

I wasn’t able to get the rest of what he’s saying.

He sighed. Playfully, I lie on his back, on my front, making him groan.

“Aigoo”

With my chin on his shoulder, I stick my tongue out, touching his cheek with its tip.

“Yuck!” Grossed out, he wiped it off. So, I attacked him again. This time, biting his shoulder.

In return, he moved his arm to the back, reaching me (his flexibility is really not a joke). Next thing I know it, he’ spanking my , both cheeks with his hands. It doesn’t hurt, but it alerted me.

Flushed and feeling awkward, I struggled to roll to his side but before I even had the strength to sit up, he pinned me down, in bed.

Jiyong is biting his lips as he leans forward. My eyes go big. He let go of his lips and smiled (the G-dragon smile), and my hair.

This is making my heart jump out of my chest.

Oh! I can feel his ‘friend down there’, and I panicked deep inside.

Is this it?

Am I ready for this?

“Jiyong….”

                                                                                                *****