Chapter Six

"Unit 18! Hyung, it's that house!" Kwangsoo excitedly exclaimed, making a beeline to the door and giving the doorbell’s button a press.

Hearing the melody emit from the doorbell, Jihyo gave a quizzical look while placing the remaining laundry that she was hanging on the poles aside and walked to the door. She peered into the door's peephole but saw nothing, for HaHa had mischievously covered it with his hand so she couldn't find out that they were at her doorstep. Not suspecting anything, she opened the door and saw a bunch of guys with huge smiles plastered on their faces shouting "annyong”! They saw a lady dressed in a simple pair of shorts and a long shirt, with silky, short, black hair that wasn't styled. She looked more like an ordinary citizen than the beautiful celebrity she was known for, but would nonetheless stand out among the populace.

Flabbergasted, she said, "Ohh!! How did all of you..."

"Come here? It's a secret! Are you just going to let us stand here?" Gary completed her sentence, glad that he could see her. He has never been inside an actress’s house and Jihyo’s house will be his first experience.

"Oh, come on in then." She couldn't think much at that point in time and naturally let the six men into her humble apartment.

"Ohno! Wait! Don't come in, wait there for a while!" In that instant, she suddenly recalled that she left her lingerie clipped on the bamboo poles. Flustered, she bolted into the kitchen, removed her lingerie from the poles, swiftly threw them into the washing machine and shut the door of the washing machine.

The guys could roughly guess what she was doing and stood outside obediently, not knowing what to do. Seeing her naturally hiding stuffs that guys shouldn't be seeing and a flustered Jihyo made her even more cute and attractive to him. No one will be able to tell that she had fallen severely ill the day before. Being so independent and strong made Gary fall for her even more.

"Were you doing laundry at this hour?" Jaesuk attempted to break the awkwardness.

"Ah yes, come on in." She replied, feeling slightly shy.

"Geum (gold)!!!" Kwangsoo pointed out as they entered her house.

Looking at the vast amounts of gold she won that were arranged neatly in a glass cabinet, Jaesuk joked, "I told you that you could open a shop selling gold!" The gold was displayed together with the many awards she won as an actress and as a cast of Running Man.

She then showed them around her small apartment. Her house was painted white and had wooden flooring. The living room only had one large flat screen television, the glass cabinet and a two-seater brown sofa, with a matching coffee table.

"This is the kitchen.."she introduced.

"Shall I help you with laundry? I'm a single man who lives alone too." Gary initiated cheekily, making Jihyo flustered again.

"Ah no! I can handle it alone. Let’s go to my bedroom." She placed her hand on the door of the washing machine, not letting any of them see what was in it.

In her bedroom lies a super single bed, a table with her laptop placed on it and a shelf fitted with all her scripts which she couldn't bear to throw. They then saw her dresser which was filled with rows and rows of cosmetics and facial products.

"Wow! You use all of that?" Sukjin questioned, while reaching out for some bottles and looking at their labels.

"Some, but not all.” She answered him.

What shocked them later was a room filled with clothes. The whole room was filled with clothes sorted according to seasons, sleeve lengths, formal and informal wear and even by colour!

"I think the amount of clothes you own is the amount of gym equipment Jongkook hyung has!" HaHa joked, erupting laughter among them.

"Woah! Looks like I don't have to buy you any clothes!" Gary exclaimed.

"But you can still buy me some shoes!" Jihyo mischievously played along.

Since Jihyo's house was small and she didn't expect any guests, all of them sat around the coffee table in the living room to talk. It seemed just like any other talks they regularly had, just that this time, it was held in Jihyo's place. Jihyo told them about what happened to her, and that she had already recovered. She has more free time currently as the director was pressured by the media and the public to push back her filming schedule after news about her being hospitalised surfaced.

After a long talk and some laughter, Kwangsoo mentioned, "Noona, I'm hungry. Is there food?"

"Buy some food then. Don't make a patient cook for you." Jihyo replied.

"But you said you've recovered, didn't you?" Kwangsoo talked back as he was lazy to go out.

"I've been filming outside so there's no food at home. There are only two packets of ramen for my dinner tonight." Jihyo answered.

"You've just recovered and you'll be eating ramen for dinner if we didn’t visit you today?!" Gary spoke words of concern.

"Let's buy back then. Some of us can remain here!" Jongkook suggested.

"Why not let's leave Gary and Jihyo here?" HaHa cheekily initiated.

"Why? I can go out!" Jihyo rebelled.

"Why me?" Gary voiced out. Even though he desired to spend more time with her and getting to know her better, he thought it would be awkward for both of them to stay together alone, furthermore in an actress’s house. Moreover, they weren’t that close yet.

"You are sick, and you bought fruits for her. So both of you can stay, annyong!" Kwangsoo said laughing, pointing to Jihyo and Gary respectively.

"And it's not like both of you haven't stayed together before. Both of you fell asleep in the same room in Bangkok, remember?" Jongkook reminded them.

They remembered that night very clearly, because it happened not long ago, and they experienced a close shave with trouble.