Spartace: Love Again

Couple's Keychain

I came earlier than usual to the broadcasting station and made my way to the waiting room. Sechan, Somin and Jaesuk oppa were already there chatting among themselves. I sat beside Somin, dropping my keys and phone on the table and sighed as I plopped myself down on the chair.

"Jihyo-ya, we haven't started anything yet but you sound tired already" Jaesuk noticed.

"Noona is always tired. That's nothing new" Sechan chimed in.

"Yah, Yang Sechan keep your mouth shut" I fired back.

I noticed Somin picking up my keys and fidgeting with it. She gently squeezed the orange tiger keychain Jongkook won for me, playing with it the whole time.

"Unnie, this is so cute, where did you get it?" Somin asked.

"Ah that? I found it in my room at my parents' house" I lied.

Although Somin knew about Jongkook and I, there were other staff in the room with us. I couldn't tell her the truth in case someone heard us.

"You're all here" Seokjin said walking in to the room.

He settled down beside me, sipping at his tea often. Every time we shot Running Man, Seokjin oppa always had a cup of tea with him to prepare his throat. Our show strangely involved a lot of screaming and shouting so he often drank tea to soothe his throat.

"Somin-ah that tiger is cute" Seokjin spoke.

"It's Jihyo unnie's" she replied.

After Somin put my keys back down on the table, I grabbed it and put it in my back pocket to avoid anyone else talking about tiger Jongkook. Surprisingly, the small plush keychain received a lot of attention for its cuteness.

It didn't take long before Haha and Jongkook came striding in after Kwangsoo arrived. They took a seat at the table too and Jongkook dropped his keys in front of him on the table.

Jongkook sat in front of Somin who quickly grabbed his keys and saw the same tiger keychain. Her eyes widened at the realization that we had a matching keychain.

"Oppa where did you get this keychain?" Somin pointed at the tiger.

"My girlfriend gave it to me" he blurted out loud.

As if he just announced his engagement, enough to get anyone into an uproar, all the members sitting at the table dropped their jaws with widened eyes at the mention of Jongkook having a girlfriend.

Seokjin oppa who was in the middle of drinking his tea, spat it out on Kwangsoo who sat across from him. It was enough to say that everyone was shocked at his sudden public confession despite knowing about it already.

Even I was surprised as everyone else in the room because Jongkook had never been so vocal about having a girlfriend. He mentioned it in an interview that he would never reveal if he had a girlfriend but, now the other staff were aware of his current relationship status.

"Hyung why would you spit at me!" Kwangsoo complained to Seokjin.

"Kwangsoo-ya sorry. Kim Jongkook must be crazy to say that out loud" Seokjin whispered.

"What's with the reaction?" Jongkook chuckled.

"Yah, are you out of your mind?" Haha questioned him.

"Oppa, what's gotten into you?" Somin asked.

I stayed quiet, watching everything unfold in front of me. The staff turned their heads towards Jongkook when they heard he had a girlfriend then immediately went back to their work.

"Jihyo-ya where did you get it?" Seokjin turned to me.

"Get what oppa?" confused enough, I was unsure of what he meant. It seemed strange for him to be asking something random after Jongkook revealed a major event in his life.

"The tiger keychain you got Jongkook" Seokjin blurted out.

Jongkook who was laughing just a second ago stopped to glare at Seokjin. His face turned from smiling so widely to quickly looking like he wanted punch someone. I saw his fist clenching slowly on the table, trembling from shutting his hand closed.

Seokjin oppa was known to have short term memory which was our main concern in revealing our secret to him. He was unpredictable and could blurt anything out and he just did.

"Hyung!" Jongkook snapped, making him stand up and slam his palms on the table.

Suddenly, our table became silent, none of the members dared to talk or attempted to calm Jongkook down. Our secret was finally out there. The staff heard and it was only a matter of minutes or hours until the producer and Junho found out too.

Jongkook stormed out of the room after aggressively grabbing his keys from the table. That small tiger keychain full of sentimental value brought about the inevitable consequences.

I ran out to find Jongkook, searching left and right. I had nothing left to lose. I went down to the first floor and found him at the cafe near the entrance. He was ordering coffee and I walked up to him.

"Oppa"

He glanced at me and a smile formed on his face again as if nothing happened.

"Jihyo-ya, do you want coffee too?" he offered.

I nodded to say yes. He knew my usual order well, an iced cappucino. When I got a good look at the person behind the counter, I recognized her as the girl who I nearly threw coffee at for bad mouthing Jongkook and I.

My eyes glanced down at her name tag. Park Areum. The name didn't suit the person well. Her name meant 'beautiful' but she looked like a real witch.

"One black coffee and iced cappucino" the barista announced.

Jongkook went to grab our drinks and he handed me mine. We sat by the window where the sun shone in and got a nice view of the garden outside.

"Aren't you going to drink it?" Jongkook questioned, staring at me.

"Uhm.. I don't think I should"

"Why not? Is it not your favorite drink anymore?"

"No it's not that. I have a feeling the barista spat in my drink"

"Why would she do that?"

"Did I not mention, one time I was passing by the toilets and she came out with her friend and started talking bad about us. She said you were too good for me and I should just let you move on" I explained.

"Did you do anything?"

"I nearly threw a cup of coffee and glared at her until Junho-ssi stopped me"

"Aigoo, bad Jihyo nearly came out again"

"Oppa she said all I knew to do was to sleep and drink and that you hated those things"

"Well done, well done" he sarcastically complimented, ruffling my hair like I was a little child that achieved something.

Just then, Jongkook's manager came to inform us that filming the show was about to start. We let out one more sigh before making our way back to the other members.

"Oppa" I looked up at him while we walked.

"It's fine. I already told you, I won't give up this time" he assured me.