"Name." The detective's voice is monotonous as his eyes stare at his computer screen. He doesn't even bother looking up at the guy sitting in the plastic folding chair on the other side of the desk because he knows exactly what he'll be met with.

"You know my name." The guy's arrogant attitude pushes another one of the detective's buttons.

"Just tell me your name." He exhales, now glancing up at the guy sitting very relaxed in the chair.

He's practically lying down on the chair, with his body propped up by his legs that are bent and spread out to their sides. His arms are folded across his chest, and he wears a bored look on his face. He sighs, "Jeon Jeongguk."

"Age." The detective continues going through the fields of the report with his eyes now on the arrogant guy in front of him.

"You know that too," Jeongguk smirks and tilts his head back arrogantly, his eyes still boredly staring at the authority figure in front of him.

The detective's patience begins to wear thin at this point as his attention is now back on the screen of the computer monitor between them that's preventing him from giving Jeongguk a piece of his mind from his seat.

"Can we just skip to the part where you grab me by my collar and yell?" Jeongguk now sits up straight with his arms still folded across his chest. He raises a brow and impatiently taps his right index finger against his left upper arm. "I'm getting bored just sitting here and watching you act like you don't want to rip me one right now."

The detective scoffs, "Okay, that's it." He stands up abruptly from his chair, pushing it out behind him. He leans his upper body over the computer monitor and extends out his right arm to grab Jeongguk's t-shirt collar. "You little-," He starts but is cut off by a voice familiar to both of them.

"Mister!" You call for the detective while hopping on your left foot into the police station. Your right foot is raised in the air with your right sneaker taken off of your foot and in your right hand. "Can someone please clean up after the German shepherd outside? I just stepped in his-."

The two men sitting on opposite sides of the desk, diagonal from you, both have their heads turned in your direction. The detective's right hand is still squeezing the center of Jeongguk's t-shirt collar as he acknowledges you, "Hey, don't bring that in here."

"Then what do you want me to do? Burn it?" You balance yourself on your left leg. The heel tab of your right sneaker is pressed between your right index finger and right thumb as you hold it out in front of you at arm's length.

"Get it out of here. It's starting to smell." The detective frowns, now letting go of Jeongguk's collar.

"Mister!" You whine, losing your balance and letting your right foot down onto the floor. Your body is now lopsided due to only wearing a shoe on one foot.

"And take this guy with you. He's an arrogant pain in the ass." The detective sits back down in his chair, and his fingers clack against the keys of the mechanical keyboard.

Jeongguk leans back into the chair and now acknowledges you, "Don't look at me. I'm not taking that from you."

"Nice to see you too." You sarcastically respond to his greeting. Your eyes scan the room for a trash can until you spot one on your right, a few feet away from you. You inch over to the trash can to throw the sneaker out, but the detective stops you.

"Nope, take it outside." He speaks with his eyes glued to the computer screen.

You close your eyes and groan, "You haven't changed a bit, mister." You exhale softly and turn your body around to walk back out to where you came from.

"Nice to have you back home." The detective continues typing, not looking up once as you walk out the door. He notices Jeongguk still sitting in front of him. "What are you still doing here? Go home."

Jeongguk scoffs, "You're letting me go? That's new."

"Or you can spend the night in the holding cell." He offers Jeongguk that option.

"Bye." Jeongguk immediately rejects that option by standing up from the chair and following you outside of the station. The door shuts behind him, and he meets you outside. "You better not bring that on my bike."

You're still holding the sneaker between your fingers. "What makes you think that I'm going on your bike?"

"How else are you going to get home?" Jeongguk stands on the left side of his motorcycle and reaches for his helmet with his eyes on you.

"I'll walk."

"Suit yourself." He swings his right leg over his bike and sits down on the seat. He kicks the kickstand up with his left foot and his hands twist the handlebars to rev the engine. He turns his head to his left to glance at you before lowering the face visor of his helmet and driving forward at lightning speed.

You exhale and finally let your right arm fall back down to its side. Your fingers still haven't let go of the sneaker, and there is still canine waste smudged on the sole of the shoe. With the sneaker hanging from your arm, you begin walking home. Your steps are unsteady as your legs aren't the same distance from the ground. Halfway down the sidewalk that you're walking along, you eye a trash can. Once you get closer to it, you toss the stained sneaker into the can without hesitation. You breathe a sigh of relief and then hear a familiar low rumble coming from your right.

"Put your hair up, would you?" Jeongguk has the face visor raised so you could only see his eyes. He holds out a hair tie that he had just taken out of his leather jacket pocket. "You look like a ghost." He has his left foot on the ground to stabilize him while sitting on his bike.

You gather your hair behind your head and grab the hair tie from his hand with your right while your left holds your hair together. "Why do you still carry around a hair tie in your pocket?"

"It's all because you started losing your hair ties. It's been ten years, and damn- habits are a bitch to break." He squints and looks into the distance.

The thin elastic takes the place of your left hand, and your right fingers wrap it around your hair about three times before the tie holds your hair in place above your neck without any assistance. "I never asked you to carry around hair ties for me."

"No, but you always asked me if I knew where it went. You were clumsy then-" his eyes are on you again, and he exhales, "-and you still are. I mean, you literally stepped in dog crap earlier."

You scoff, "Speak for yourself, troublemaker." You take a step closer to his motorcycle to the left side of the back seat of the bike, and take out the spare helmet from the compartment underneath. You put it over your head and climb onto the back of his bike behind him. "You still get dragged to the station? Isn't it about time you mature a bit?" You speak through the helmet.

Jeongguk sighs and lowers the face visor again. He sits on the bike properly and prepares to take off again. "Hold on tight." He warns you of the speed that he's about to race off at.

You take that warning a little too lightly and get startled at the speed your best friend drives off at. Your upper body is pushed forward, and your arms reflexively wrap tightly around his torso. Your heart rate rises as he drives the bike forward at a nearly illegal speed in between traffic on the main road. You close your eyes, hoping that your heart rate steadies at the lack of sight of your surroundings and your current location on this two-wheeled death machine. Though it actually increases, because now your brain thinks that you're flying.

"Can you slow down a little?!" You holler over the wind and through the helmet.

"What?!" Jeongguk calls back, "I can't hear you!" He actually heard you fine. He's just messing with you.

"I said, can you- Ah!" You cut yourself off with a scream as Jeongguk increases his speed and races forward in between the cars.

"Whoever legally allowed you to drive a motorcycle is crazy." You huff while now standing next to his bike and taking the helmet off of your head. "How can you drive at that speed and not have your license suspended?"

Jeongguk relaxes on his bike that is parked in front of your driveway, with the face visor of his helmet raised. "It's because I have an 'in' with the detective who always drags me to the station."

"And by 'in', you mean that you're his best friend's son." You finish his thought for him.

"Precisely." He raises his eyebrows in acknowledgment. "What are you doing here anyway? Are you back?" He takes off his helmet and ruffles his bangs with his right hand while his eyes remain on you.

You exhale, "I broke up with my boyfriend." This is the first time you're talking about this. "And I got kicked out of my apartment." You add to that, just to show how big of a mess you are right now.

Jeongguk scoffs while setting the helmet down on his lap, "I just don't get it."

"What?"

"I mean, breaking up with your boyfriend, I get. But how do you get kicked out of your apartment?" He tilts his head to the side, wondering what on earth you had to do to get kicked out.

"Well, when your boyfriend cheats on you and lies to his new girlfriend, saying that your shared apartment is his, the new girlfriend is obviously clueless, and she moves in." You take a breath in between sentences. "Then you catch your boyfriend living there with his new girlfriend, and they both throw you out, with your boyfriend telling you that he doesn't love you anymore and that it's over. That's how you get kicked out of your apartment." You fill him in on the details while watching his eyes slightly widen and how he stays silent. "What?"

"No, it's just- You sure know how to pick 'em." His eyes relax as he now laughs, getting back into your usual playful banter.

You lightly slap him on the arm and glare at him. "I didn't know that he'd be an asshole, you know."

"He looks exactly like an asshole, though. How did you not know?" Jeongguk pokes your forehead, slightly sending your head back.

Your head springs back forward and your brows furrow in response to him. "How do you know what he looks like? You never met him."

"He's all over your Facebook, dummy."

"Shit. I forgot to delete our photos on my Facebook." You mumble to yourself.

Jeongguk chuckles, "You better hurry up and delete them, or he's gonna think that you're still hung up on him. That's not attractive." He climbs back on his bike and puts his helmet back on. Before he lowers the face visor, he gives you a wink and the right corner of his lip curls up into a smirk. The engine of the bike revs as Jeongguk's hands turn the handlebars and he takes off in the opposite direction from where you came.

You watch as he speeds off and thin wisps of white smoke come out of the exhaust of his bike. His backside faces you as he gets farther from you. He still rides that same goddamn motorcycle. He still wears that same goddamn leather jacket. And he still smirks in that same goddamn way.

He still is that same goddamn Jeon Jeongguk.

-

A Few Weeks Later, 6:30 PM

"What do you think of this guy? He's a doctor. He's about 2 years older than you." Your mom practically shoves a photo of a man wearing a while lab coat in your face.

You don't look up from your phone. "He's okay." You aren't lying. He's not bad-looking, just not your type.

"Then-" She takes her phone away for a minute and swipes through the other photos to find a picture of another man. "How about this guy?"

It's another mediocre-looking man. Your mom must've shown you photos of about ten single men in the past two hours. Ever since you told her about breaking up with your ex, she has been trying to set you up with someone.

"He's not my type." You actually look at this guy's face this time and say that.

"Let me see." Jeongguk slightly lifts his body and leans over you to look at the photo on your mom's phone screen. "He's good-looking. What do you mean he's not your type?" His eyes are now on you, staring down at you like you're crazy.

"Come on, not you too." You look up at him. "Don't encourage her!" You whisper, not wanting to be stuck here for the next round of photos of prospects.

"I'm not." He sits back down next to you, with his eyes still peering over the picture on your mom's phone. "I just mean, why isn't he your type? You like good-looking guys."

"Jeongguk, all girls like good-looking guys." You remind him that you aren't the only one who has a preference for a handsome face. "But that definition of good-looking is subjective." You also remind him that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

"So this guy isn't good-looking to you?" Your best friend asks, taking this a bit too seriously.

You don't have to think twice about it, "No."

"So what do you consider good-looking?" Jeongguk is curious if your type has changed at all since you were kids. "That asshole?" He makes a displeased face, afraid that he's right.

You shrug, "I guess, considering I dated him for seven years."

"This guy is better looking than your ex. What are you talking about?!" Jeongguk slightly raises his voice in disbelief.

"Why are you overreacting?" You furrow your brows at him. At this point, your mom's phone screen is out of your face as she had given up for the day.

"Yeah, even Jeongguk is better looking than your ex." Your brother joins the conversation while rushing down the stairs and stands behind the couch where you three are sitting.

"Please not you too, Dylan." You whine and turn your head around to face your older brother, who seems to have zero idea about what he did to make you react like that.

"What? I just stated a fact, that's all." He wears a straight face, wiggling his eyebrows up and down.

"Why does everyone want me to date someone new?" You groan, sending your head back slightly.

"Because you have such crappy taste in guys. At least half of the guys that your mom's shown you just now are better than him." Jeongguk offers his two cents. He practically advocates for your mom's efforts like she's his own mother.

"He's right, you know." Dylan agrees.

"About what? That these guys are better than him?" You roll your eyes, having had enough of this.

"No. That you have crappy taste in guys." Dylan laughs, walking away from you before you could give him a piece of your mind.

You turn your head around in your brother's direction after hearing his comment, meeting the back of his head. "Ugh, he's so-"

"You should listen to Jeongguk." Your mom gets up from the couch, then bends down to plant a kiss on your head. "I'm going to work now. You're going over to Jeongguk's, right?"

"Wow, you're asking as if it's a routine. Almost like I hang out at his house all the time." You chuckle while looking up at your mom, who is peering down at you with a smile.

"I moved to an apartment last year, so I don't live with my dad anymore." Jeongguk fills you and your mom in on his current housing situation.

"Really?" Your head jerks in his direction as this is news to you. You hadn't seen the guy in years, and throughout those years, you never really knew what he was up to.

"Then go over to his apartment," Dylan suggests while walking back into the living room.

You scoff, "Are you both trying to kick me out or something?"

Your mom shakes her head and strokes yours with her right hand before walking out to the garage.

"Yeah. You need to get out more. It's annoying having you around." Dylan munches on potato chips from the bowl he's holding in his hands. He notices how you and Jeongguk are sitting on the couch from behind. Jeongguk is sitting on one end of the couch with his legs spread out, and you sit right next to him, your right leg stretched out with it resting on Jeongguk's left leg. Jeongguk's left hand is relaxed on top of your leg. "Are you two dating?"

You and Jeongguk both turn your heads in Dylan's direction and look up at him. You frown, "Why the hell would you ask that?"

"Because of the way you two are sitting on the couch." He looks down at the position that the two of you are sitting in.

"We sit like this all the time." You catch your brother up to the fact that this is normal for you and Jeongguk.

"So, are you going over there or not?" Dylan practically forces you to go over to Jeongguk's place.

"He's a grown man who lives alone. How can I go over there?" You look at Jeongguk while talking to your older brother.

"You said it yourself, that it's normal for you and Jeongguk to act like this. So what's so weird about going over to his place?" Dylan shrugs, munching on another potato chip.

Jeongguk reaches up and grabs a chip from the bowl in Dylan's hands. "Yeah, let's go. You can sleep over if you want."

"Fine." You groan while taking your right leg off of Jeongguk's and pushing yourself off the couch. "But you better drive slow."

"No promises," Jeongguk smirks and follows you off the couch.

7:00 PM

"Does your mom still work the night shift at the hospital?" Jeongguk sits across from you at the dining table and picks up a few ramen noodles with the chopsticks in his right hand.

You chew the food in your mouth before answering his question. You shake your head and look up at your best friend. "No, she became Head Nurse a few years ago, so she doesn't work nights anymore. She's just covering for someone tonight." You pause. "So what have you been up to?"

Jeongguk shrugs, "Not much. I almost got married."

You choke after hearing that. "You what?" Your eyes widen, and you stare at him.

"I almost got married," Jeongguk repeats himself with the same nonchalant tone and maintains eye contact with you.

You nod your head slowly. "So what happened?"

"About what?" Jeongguk holds the chopsticks with noodles hanging from them in his hand.

"You said you almost got married. That means you didn't. Why didn't you?"

Jeongguk inhales deeply and lets go of the utensils in his hand before leaning back in the chair. "I just didn't." He didn't have any other excuse.

"Huh." You go back to eating the rest of the ramen noodles in the bowl in front of you.

"What?" Jeongguk slightly furrows his eyebrows. He figures you meant something by that.

"Nothing. I just said 'huh'."

10:00 PM

"What are you doing?" Your voice is wary as you sit up on the right side of his bed. You watch as Jeongguk folds over the other side of the comforter and climbs into the bed to sit on the left side of the mattress.

"What?" He purses his lips and raises his brows. "This is normal for us, remember?"

"We're adults now." You remind him that you can't do the things you did when you were five years old anymore.

Jeongguk doesn't say anything and sits up next to you on his side of the bed with his legs straight underneath the covers like you. You two sit in silence for ten minutes before Jeongguk breaks it, "So, are you going to go on that blind date that your mom is setting up for you?"

You turn your head to face him. "Why? Do you want me to go on a blind date?"

"I just think that you deserve someone who will actually care about you." His voice softens as his eyes do the same.

"How do you know any of those guys will care about me?" You are reluctant about meeting someone else after being treated like that by your ex-boyfriend.

"I don't-," Jeongguk starts but is cut off when your phone goes off, and your screen lights up to show a text message.

You turn your head to look down at your lap where your phone is resting and pick it up to read the text. It's a text from Mason, a mutual friend of yours and Jeongguk's. It reads, "Did you see this? I think your ex-boyfriend posted this." Below that message, there's another with a group of screenshots of a tweetstorm posted by your ex, basically talking shit about you. You read through the screenshots and scoff, "What the fuck?"

"What? What's wrong?" Jeongguk hears the profanity come out of your mouth and leans to his right to sneak a look at your phone screen. He reads the same thing you're reading, "This motherfucker." He whispers, verbalizing exactly what you both are thinking in this moment.

"This crazy-." You cut yourself off before more profanity slips out of your mouth. Your ex isn't worth all the foul insults that are currently sitting on the tip of your tongue.

"Why would he do something like this?" Jeongguk exhales deeply and rolls his tongue along the top row of his teeth inside his mouth.

"I guess he's pissed about getting caught cheating." Your right thumb presses the 'home' button of your iPhone to close the messages app. You press the 'lock' button on the top right of the phone and lightly toss it back onto your lap.

"Then he shouldn't have cheated to begin with." Jeongguk leans his back straight against the headboard again. He slightly grits his teeth inside his mouth.

"Why are you taking my side all of a sudden?"

Jeongguk laughs, "You're acting like this is the first time I've ever taken your side on something."

"Sorry, I'm just trying to get used to it again." You move your phone off your lap and onto the night table, and fold the comforter so that your legs are uncovered. You slide off the edge of the mattress and disappear out into the hallway leading to the living room of Jeongguk's apartment. Five seconds later, you walk back into the bedroom, hugging a long cushion against your chest.

"What are you doing?" He frowns, watching you walk back over to the side of the bed that you were sitting on. He keeps his eyes on you as you climb back into the bed, now having a general idea of what you were going to do with the cushion in your arms. "You're not going to-?" His words get cut off as he gets slapped in the face with air from the hard thud of your slamming the cushion in the center of the mattress.

"Do not cross this barrier." You emphasize, as if the physical object distinctly dividing the mattress into two halves isn't enough already.

"What are you, seven?" Jeongguk squints and shakes his head. "Is this really necessary?"

"Yes." You answer without thinking about it, knowing his sleeping habits. "You never stay on your side of the bed."

Jeongguk scoffs, "What about you?" He adjusts the position of his body to now be sitting facing you. "You always hug me in your sleep."

"That was when we were in high school." You remember the last time you and he slept in the same bed. That time, it wasn't by choice. Not that you asked him to sleep next to you this time either. "I don't do that anymore."

"We'll see about that." Jeongguk shakes his head and fixes the position of his body again so that he's now lying down underneath the comforter on the other side of the cushion with his back to you. "If you hug me in your sleep, I'm going to push you off the bed."

You are now also lying down with your back to him on your side of the bed. "You're going to push a girl off the bed?"

"You're not a girl." He pauses before continuing his thought, "You're like a guy with long hair." Jeongguk then feels your foot kick his calf. "My point exactly. What kind of girl is this violent?"

You grit your teeth and speak through them, "You're asking for it, huh?" You then turn over onto your left side and stare at his back. "And I just nudged you. What do you mean I'm violent?"

"Tell that to the bruise on my leg tomorrow morning." He rolls over onto his right side while speaking and is now facing you. Jeongguk exhales softly as you two stare at each other without saying a word.

"I'm not going on a blind date." Your voice is soft as you blink softly while maintaining eye contact with your best friend.

For some reason, that is a form of reassurance for Jeongguk. "Okay." That's all he says before closing his eyes to fall asleep.

8:00 AM

The cushion you put in the middle of the mattress to create a barrier between you and Jeongguk last night served absolutely no purpose. Because it's now dangling on the edge of your side of the mattress.

And you and Jeongguk did not remain on opposite sides of the bed.

You two are lying on your sides in the middle of the bed, where the cushion was, facing each other. Your faces are close together, yours and his noses practically touching. His right arm is extended out and supporting the left side of your head, while his left arm is relaxed over your waist. Your left leg is obviously swung over his legs, and your arms are hugging his torso. You two could easily be mistaken for a couple if someone saw the position you're sleeping in right now.

But, of course, this is normal for you two.

Jeongguk opens his eyes with a groan. He feels his arm cramping underneath your head, having absolutely no idea how long it's been resting there. He notices how close your face is to his and then feels the weight of your leg on top of his. Jeongguk exhales through his nose softly and looks down at you, who's sleeping soundly. "This is why I said that the cushion would be pointless." He now moves his left arm that had been resting on your waist and pokes your forehead with his left index finger. "Wake up."

Your eyebrows flinch before your eyes open at the sound of his voice. "What?" You whine, cranky that you were woken up.

"Can you get off of me?" He raises his eyebrows at you.

As you lift your head slightly to look at him, the tip of your nose brushes against his. "What the? What happened to the barrier?" You don't listen to him and just lay there still.

"My arm's cramping, get off of me." Jeongguk uses his left arm to remove your leg from on top of him and slightly pushes you away from him over to your side of the bed. Your arms unwrap from around his torso, which now lets him slip his arm out from under your head. Pulling himself up, he now sits up on the bed, and his eyes blink while they're focused on you. Somehow within those few minutes, you've fallen back asleep. Jeongguk sighs deeply while shaking his head and gets out of bed to take a shower.

You stir awake at the creaking of the faucet in the bathroom as the water shuts off in the shower. You hear the shower door slide back and forth as you open your eyes to meet the closed door of the bathroom. After staring at the door for about five minutes, it opens and out comes Jeongguk, who is wearing only shorts and busy drying off his hair with a hand towel. You blink at the sudden sight of your shirtless best friend.

"What?" He tosses the towel in his hand over the edge of the hamper while seeing that you're lying there completely still, almost like you're stunned. "You look like this is your first time seeing a guy shirtless."

You pull yourself up and shrug while sitting up on the mattress with your legs crossed in front of you.

"You mean, you've never even seen your ex shirtless?" Now, that's shocking. "I'm sure you have. I mean, you have slept with him, haven't you?" Jeongguk laughs, thinking that there is no way that you couldn't have over the seven years you were with your ex.

"Why do I have to talk about my sexual activity with you?" You frown, not realizing that this friendship required disclosure about such personal matters. You watch as he raises a brow, waiting for confirmation. You exhale, "But if you must know, yes. I have slept with him. I'm not a prude, you know." Your pupils now roll up slightly to look at Jeongguk's face.

"I never said you are." Jeongguk slowly walks toward you with a smirk on his face. "If this isn't your first time seeing a guy shirtless, then why are you staring at my chest?" He teases you.

You tilt your head and smile, "It's because I'm not impressed by your abs. I figured you'd be more-" You pause, debating whether or not you should continue your thought. But you do anyway, just to push his buttons, "-ripped."

Jeongguk scoffs while opening his mouth and poking the inner gums below his bottom teeth with his tongue.

"Did I hurt your ego?" You pout at him, your voice mimicking one that holds sympathy.

"That's cute." Jeongguk now towers over you and leans down with his hands pressed on the mattress on both sides of you. "You really thought that I'd be hurt by that? Sweetheart, you'd have to say a lot more for you to hurt my ego." His voice purrs, and his gaze is intense.

He's even still the same goddamn flirt that you remember him to be.

Your eyebrows move up and down as you maintain eye contact with your best friend, "What would I have to say then?" Your voice mimics his seductive tone.

At this point, there is an extremely fine line between friends and lovers. And the only way to justify this is to say that this is normal between you and him. Because this is also normal. Both of you know that you're just playfully flirting with each other, and one minute later, you'd act as if nothing happened.

Jeongguk blinks before taking his hands off of the bed and standing up straight in front of you again. "Go wash your face. You have eye boogers."

"I was about to, you know." You straighten out your legs and inch toward the edge of the bed before standing up in front of him. "You should put a shirt on." You nag back at him.

"I was about to." He bickers with you as you disappear behind the bathroom door.

9:00 AM

"Don't you want to get revenge on your ex?" Jeongguk slides a mug full of hot black coffee towards you before turning his back to you again.

"Why would I want to? He doesn't deserve that attention." You lift the cup to your lips by the handle to take a sip of the coffee. You had momentarily forgotten about the temperature of the beverage despite eyeing the steam rising from the top seconds ago. You flinch as the hot beverage touches the inside of your oral cavity.

"You also need an excuse not to go on blind dates with any of the guys that your mom has in mind." He speaks over the coffee that is pouring into the mug on the drip tray of the machine.

"Yeah, so what's your point?" You're now aware of how hot the coffee is and carefully take another sip from the mug before setting it down softly on the granite surface.

"How about I help you with both of those things?" The bottom of the mug scrapes against the drip tray as Jeongguk takes the mug off the machine. He turns around to face you.

"How?"

"Simple." Jeongguk sips the coffee before continuing his sentence, "I'll be your new boyfriend."

© kookied 2026. all rights reserved. all content shared on this page is my own, original work. the above story and characters are fictitious. any real people mentioned are solely used for visualization.

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