The Less I Know the Better

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The nights you spent with Jimin still had their aftereffects on you. The morning after your date with ITZY you woke up with complete certainty that she was going to be by your side, but what you found was a completely empty side of the bed. It’s not like it affected you emotionally, but it was a strange feeling.

The first thing you did when you woke up was pick up your phone and write to the ITZY girls. You told them that you had a lot of fun and that you appreciated the surprise, but that you were excited to actually catch up with them. You did not receive a response at that time. In Korea it was around 10 at night, so they were probably watching a movie or taking baths. Be that as it may, you sat up and rubbed your eyes, staring at the desk chair in front of you, mentally preparing yourself for the start of the day.

After gathering enough willpower, you reluctantly got out of bed and went straight to the bathroom. You took a quick shower, five minutes more than enough to freshen up. You got out of the shower and brushed your teeth. Once cleaned, you dressed without any rush: you put on a black and gold Fred Perry sweater that Ryujin had given you, some khaki shorts, and the only pair of shoes you hadn’t worn until now: black strappy leather sandals. wide, fastened to the ankle by a buckle.

Being ready, you didn’t bother putting on perfume. Was not necessary to. You just combed your hair so you didn’t look like a bum and grabbed your things before leaving your room. You headed to Jimin’s room, where she and the rest of the girls were sleeping. When you arrived at the corresponding floor, you found a pleasant surprise at the end of the hallway: Jihye was already approaching the door to open it, but stopped when she saw you walking towards her.

The smile that formed on her face was certainly something new for you, but it was priceless. She was so pretty that she dazzled you, and the tracksuit jacket rolled up made her look even more attractive. But it didn’t end there: she also ran towards you with small steps to hug you around your waist. You hugged her, surrounding her head.

“Good morning! How did you sleep, honey?”

She looked up at you. You looked down, meeting that pair of pretty, round eyes.

“Good morning, boss,” you smiled back. “Oh, pretty good, actually. What about you?”

She looked at a point in nothingness as she thought about it.

“Not really good. I felt kind of weird, I don’t know.”

She let go of you and you let go of her, but you maintained the closeness between the two of you.

“Mmm, that sucks. I felt that way too a few days ago.”

“And you fixed it?”

“I mean, yeah. I think it was just because I had a lot of thoughts flying around in my head.”

Jihye nodded, perhaps realizing that this was the case for her as well.

“Well, I just hope it doesn’t happen again tonight. I’m the last one who can afford to sleep badly,” she sighed.

“I can keep you company if you want,” you laughed.

You had said it as a friendly joke, but Jihye tilted her head as if thinking about it.

“Would you do that?”

You frowned and leaned your ear closer to confirm if you had heard correctly.

“Huh?”

“Huh?” she repeated with a couple of quick blinks. “Uh… nothing, listen, it’s best if you don’t give the girls any details about last night. And definitely don’t bring up the hook up thing.”

You looked at her with half-lidded eyes, still turning over in your head what you thought you heard just a few seconds ago. Since she had already changed the subject, you had no choice but to let it go.

“Don’t worry, everything stays between you and me,” you nodded, trying to reassure her.

“Very well, thank you. Come on, let’s take a look in the lion’s den,” she gestured toward the door.

You let her take the lead. Jihye opened the door and you both found the room dark. The only light that came in was filtered through the closed curtains, which was barely enough to see the girls. The four of them were curled up next to each other in bed, peacefully asleep like four little angels.

“Fuck, I wouldn’t want to have to wake them up,” Jihye whispered. “Look at them.”

Taking advantage of your moment of distraction while watching the girls, Jihye pricked the back of your hand with her nails. Inevitably, you let out a grunt of complaint and stepped away with a stomp hard enough to make the girls shift on the bed.

You frowned at Jihye, rubbing the back of your hand. The girls in front of you opened their eyes to look at you, each one more upset than the other.

“Wasn’t there a more subtle way to do that?” you asked in annoyance.

“Don’t be whiny, it was just a little prick,” Jihye replied. “Besides, it worked.”

Jimin was the first to sit up, leaning on her elbows. She watched you rub your hand with a frown and then looked from her to Jihye.

“What have you done to him?” she asked.

“You wouldn’t want her to have woken you up the traditional way, would you?”

“No, that’s perfect. Thank you.”

“Okay, now that you’re awake…”

Jihye got up to turn on the light in the room, causing them all to squeal at the glare. You couldn’t help but chuckle. Minjeong and Ning hid under the sheet for a few seconds before coming back into the light. Jihye didn’t care in the slightest, she sat on the bottom edge of the bed to watch them. You walked over to the couch in front of the window and started looking at your phone.

“Do you have any particular plans for today?”

They looked at each other and shook their heads, then looked back at Jihye.

“Great, because I had some ideas for spending the day together, if that’s okay.”

They looked at each other again, but this time they nodded.

“Sure, sounds good,” nodded Jimin, who then looked at you, “Did she rip a piece of skin off your hand?”

You looked up from your phone to see her and Jihye.

“Almost.”

“Crybaby,” she stuck her tongue out at you and looked at the girls. “Take your time getting ready, okay? We’ll meet you in the lobby. Put on comfortable clothes.”

“Don’t tell me to take my time because then I’ll go back to sleep,” Minjeong said.

“You do that and you will stay alone in the hotel. Maximum one hour.”

“But you just said…”

“I changed my mind,” Jihye stood up with an innocent smile and walked towards the door, but not before turning to look at you. “You come?”