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Chapter 4

"I-"

"I could have lied to you about how early I had to get up," Jihoon said interrupting you again. "You lie a lot don't you? About things that don't even matter sometimes. This matters, do you really want to lie to me about something that matters?"

"No."

The word left your mouth before you could even think it through. You figured that gave you a pretty clear idea on what that meant.

"I wouldn't have eaten," you admitted. "I'm... It's... Eating is weird for me right now."
"I like a girl who eats," Jihoon said.

There it was. The damning phrase. It was all over for you now. Any hope of you actually being able to get over that stupid eating habit yourself, or actually having yourself go through a really bad health habit was all over. That's all Jihoon had to say.

"Not that that should matter," Jihoon corrected immediately. "You can do what you want, you should just... You should try to stay healthy."

Try to stay healthy.

You wanted to be mad at him for telling you to be healthy when he was an idol and you knew he wasn't healthy himself, but you couldn't rightly say it when you weren't doing it either.

"I'm usually better about it, it's just a recent thing," you mumbled defiantly. You got to your feet and grabbed both of the trays. "We need to get you to bed."

You walked them over to the trash and he followed behind you, and a soft expression on his face. You smiled at him tentatively.

"What?"

"Nothing," he replied. "Nothing at all."

Your expression turned into one of slight confusion, but the smile didn't leave your face even as you did so.

"You're much weirder in real life then I imagined you would be," you mumbled back. Jihoon didn't respond to that, and the two of you fell in line as you exited the building. "Where are you off to?"

"What do you think you're going to do? Walk me home?" Jihoon asked, his voice a little bit quieter than before. You glanced over at him and noticed that he was stumbling just a tad as he walked.

"I know you're a producer and a unit leader, but you really need to start prioritizing your rest," you stated. "I've only gone like a week or two on that awful eating schedule. How long have you gone without rest?"

Jihoon didn't respond and that was all the answer that you needed from him.

"God, I hate idols," you murmured in English. Jihoon glanced at you, and you were pretty sure he had understood what you said, but he didn't comment on it either way. He instead looked away from you at a passing car.

"How are you liking Korea?" He asked you. "I bet you've been planning this trip for a while right? Is it everything you wanted it to be?"

You nodded slowly, following Jihoon down the sidewalk to wherever he was leading you two.

"It's nice. Different then America, but not that different you know? It's weird seeing things in a language that isn't my first, and eating food that isn't the kind I grew up with," you explained. "Different countries themselves are just strange. It's not the first time I've visited one, but I've never been this far from home before. Especially not for this long and without my family."

"Yeah but you don't have a great relationship with your family anyways," Jihoon agreed. You glanced at him.

"Yeah," you agreed, but the question in your head remained unspoken. How did Jihoon know that?

"I know I'm an idol and all, but if you ever need anything, don't be afraid to contact me," he stated. Halfway through the statement he paused to yawn. "Where are you staying?"

"I don't trust you to walk back on your own buddy," you replied lightly. "I can make my way back without falling asleep. You on the other hand, I don't think so."
Jihoon glared at you lightly for the jab, but you weren't able to take the expression all that seriously when you could tell just how tired he was. It was weird, but you had watched a number of compilations of Seventeen in their freetime. You knew how he acted when he was tired. He liked to lean on things and rest his eyes, hit people lightly on the side for attention and comfort. You wanted to offer to be that support, but you still weren't really sure what this was. Were you in a spot that you could offer that? What were you two anyways?

"I can't let you walk home alone," Jihoon protested. You sighed.

"Don't make me google where you guys live," you threatened. He frowned deeper and paused to lean against the wall. His eyes fluttered shut for just a moment, which seemed to remind him exactly how tired he was.

"I'm just down this street. We're a block away."

"Good, good," you murmured softly. You hesitated to offer your arm to him, and instead just waited for him to collect himself. Once he did you guys started walking again in silence. In fact, neither of you spoke until he finally stopped in front of a building that in your distant memory looked familiar.

"This is my dorm," Jihoon murmured. You could tell he was reluctant to leave you there so you gave him a smile and waved him off.

"Get some sleep. Thank you for the food today," you said in farewell. Before he could say anything else you turned on the heel of your foot and started to walk away. He called your name after you and added a quick:

"See you later."

"Good bye, Woozi," you called back, giving him a stiff wave over your head.

It didn't take you long to get back home after that. Seventeen's dorm was fortunately only about a thirty to forty-five minute walk back to your apartment. Once you arrived back both of your roommates were luckily sleeping. You were worried that they would stay up waiting for you to return.

You tried to just lay down and go right to sleep, but it was super hard for you to focus. You kept thinking about your interactions with Jihoon today. Before. Even sooner then that.

You felt like you were crazy. Hallucinating maybe.

Had you possibly finally gone insane?

Sure, Caitlin and Julia had both seemed to see Woozi and the other boys as well. They were the ones who told you about the instagram comments in the first place. You had seen the picture of yourself on Woozi's instagram.

웃어.

You tentatively upturned your lips. You let the expression drop after only a single small moment.

This was real.

To give yourself one more piece of proof you looked down at your phone, looking at the series of pictures the boy had left on your phone.

You need more pictures of me.

You closed your eyes and shoved your phone back into your pocket.

There were so many loose ends. This entire situation was just... Too bizarre. Like a bad fanfiction plot line. You weren't a lucky girl. You weren't stunning, and recently you were barely even Jihoon's type. So why... How was this happening?

You changed into your pajamas and laid yourself down on to sleep.