“You have a date tonight, right?” Inna asked, while she drove them both to  Jieun’s house.

Jieun was preoccupied with the text message she just read, hearing Inna’s voice but not really listening to what she’s saying. It wasn’t until she got an elbow from her friend that she realized that Inna was asking her a question.

“Huh?”

“Great..I’ve been talking nonstop to a wall. Are you okay?” A crease was starting to form between Inna’s brows as she was asking this.

“I’m fine…”

“Don’t tell me..”

Jieun didn’t have the heart to look at her friend because the look in her eyes told her Inna guessed right. Inna grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze.

“Want to come over instead? We can order chicken and watch movies, like the usual.” Said Inna cheerfully, trying her best to make Jieun feel better.

“It’s alright..I’m tired anyway, I’m just going to go to bed.”

“Aww. Come on. You know what you signed up for when you dated someone even busier than you are. Cheer up, Jieun.”

She let out a deep sigh. Inna’s right. She thought she was going to get used to it, but it’s a nightmare when you date someone who’s a worse workaholic than yourself. Not to mention the fact that every date has to be planned ahead. The paparazzi has been eerily quiet, but as long as they haven’t fully disclosed their relationship, they both decided to take the necessary precautions.

“I’ll be fine. It’s just that we haven’t seen each other since his trip to the US two weeks ago and I miss him.”

“You know, it’s really funny how whipped you two are for each other. I kind of envy you but not really. I don’t miss being that attached to Dongwook. Just enjoy it, every relationship goes through that phase.”

“Yeah.” She removed her seatbelt and turned towards her friend. “Hey, I know I’ve been a miserable friend lately, I’m sorry and thank you for putting up with my whiny .”

Inna laughed.

“Come on, you’d do the same for me.”

“How did you know I’ve been putting up with you this entire time?” She joked.

“Haha! See, you can even joke. You’ll be fine!”

Jieun grinned and said goodbye to her friend. As she saw Inna’s car get smaller as she drove away, there settled a heavy feeling on her stomach. She’s going home to an empty house and it’d make her miss Jihoon more.

She let out a hollow chuckle. Gone were the days when she was perfectly fine being on her own during her days off. Now, whenever she’s not working, she’d think of things to do with Jihoon . If she gets 10,000 KRW for each of those thoughts, she’d get a million.

Whoever thought I’d be this hung up on a man?

She glanced at her phone screen – it said it’s 9pm which means that it’s 5 am in LA and Jihoon is still stuck at the airport. He moved his flight and it unfortunately got cancelled. Their date just wasn’t meant to happen. What made it worse is that they were supposed to be celebrating their 4th month which has been postponed so many times already.

Her eye caught a message notification; it was from Jihoon.

Jihoon: Are you home already?

She assumed he napped because his flight got cancelled, but surprisingly he’s awake.

Jieun: Just got in. Why aren’t you getting some sleep?

Jihoon: Can I call you?

Jieun: Oppa, you should be sleeping. Changmo oppa told me you’ve been overworking yourself.

She settled on the couch as she waited for the three dancing dots to stop moving. A few moments later, Jihoon replied.

Jihoon: L

Jieun: L

Jihoon: Just let me call and then I’ll get some sleep.

Jieun: Okay

When she accepted the video call request, Jihoon’s face appeared on the screen. He looked tired and there were stubbles on his face, but her heart jumped at the sight of him. If she could just crawl into the screen and give that tired face a kiss, she would.

“Jieun, I’m sorry we weren’t able to see each other today. I’ll make it up to you.”

“It wasn’t your fault that your flight got cancelled, it’s okay oppa.” She tried her best to not sound disappointed.

“I wanted to see you atleast..I hope we get to do something as soon as I get back. I miss you a lot! Everytime we eat at really good restaurant, I think about going back with you.”

It was so out of the blue, but she felt like crying. Jihoon is being such a sweetheart and it’s not helping at all. She just wants to cuddle with him until she falls asleep.

“Ugh. I miss you so bad, oppa.” Her voice sounded sad, she couldn’t help it.

“Me too..did you have dinner already?’

“Yeah, I ate with Inna and Hanteo. Aren’t you sleepy?”

“I am, but I just wanted to see if you’re home..because I wanted to call..I needed to see your face.”

They smiled at each other, not needing any words.

Jihoon got to back to Korea after two days, but by then Jieun was already filming for a new drama. Their schedules rarely match and both of them had to put in extra effort to make time for each other.

****

Jihoon swung by the Kakao M Office, then LOEN, to talk about the distribution of his boygroup’s upcoming album. The preparations have been very stressful, but he’s glad that he can make this visit an excuse to see Jieun.

Staff smiled and bowed as he made his way towards Jieun’s studio. He was trying to contact her a few minutes ago but she didn’t pick up, probably pre-occupied with something. Just as he was making a final turn towards the direction of the studio, he met Hanteo.

“Hi, Hanteo. Is Jieun busy? I can’t reach her.”

“Oh, she’s in the studio, you can pop in if you want, she’s just studying one of her recordings.”

Jihoon smiled and continued on his way. He knocked before opening the door and taking a peek. Jieun barely noticed him come in as