Undercover K-Cops

• Ari: Running Man Part 1 •

"Why aren't you just going with us?"

K hasn't had coffee yet, and neither have I, so this is a potentially violent situation if I don't play my cards right.

"Because I already made plans to go with Jackson. We're all going to the same place, so I don't understand what your problem is."

"My problem is that all of this started because of you, and now our schedules are going to be even busier when we're supposed to be doing our jobs!"

A disbelieving laugh escapes me. "That didn't seem to be a problem when you agreed to cat-sit Miranda for GD!"

"Her name isn't Miranda!"

"Yes it is! It's better for her than her other name!"

Sasha clears her throat, cutting our conversation off. "I think your ride is here," she says. I turn and see that she's just let Jackson in. He looks incredibly amused at the scene he's walked in on.

"I'll see you there," I growl at K and walk out the door. Jackson follows me but doesn't try to grab my hand, and I'm thankful that he can tell I don't really want to be touched right now.
He opens the door of the van we're taking, and I hop in, politely greeting his manager in the driver's seat before crawling into the very back seat. In the cup holder next to me is a red paper cup filled with what I assume is coffee. Jackson slides into the seat next to me and glances out the window, and my bad mood melts away.

"Did you get me coffee?"

He shrugs.

I take a sip and gasp. "This is a peppermint mocha! How did you know about this?"

He shrugs again. "I asked your manager what your favorite was."

Oh my god my HEART. I give him a kiss on the cheek. His hand covers the spot I kissed, and he turns his head away, pretending to be shy. I sip more of my drink; it's the perfect temperature. Did he do that on purpose, too, or is it just a happy accident? I notice there's writing on the side of the cup, and though I assume it says my name, it doesn't. It says "Precious" in elegant cursive script. I glare at him. "Really? Did you really tell the person to write precious on this cup? Is that a thing that you did?"

He just grins in response.

"Why is this a thing now? I don't want it to be a thing."

"That's why it's a thing," he says matter-of-factly.

-

I never thought that I would go and get my hair and makeup done with a guy. That thought just never crossed my mind. But that's what we do; we go to a salon and get our hair and makeup done for running man. My hair takes a little longer because they lightened it a little bit to make it look brighter on camera. Jackson waited for me but complained about the smell of the hair dye the whole time.

Next, we're met at the salon by a stylist from JYP who has been put in charge of dressing us for the intro of the show.

Since the theme is couples, they dress us like a couple. For Jackson, they picked a thick, green, cable-knit sweater and dark-wash skinny jeans paired with dark brown boat shoes. My outfit has the same sweater, except mine is red, and with it they've given me a short white skirt and brown ankle boots with a thin heel on the back. Both of us have tousled hair and light makeup, but I also have pale pink lipstick on. We look good; I have to say. Like really good.

A makeup artist brings me a tiny straw so I can continue drinking my coffee without ruining my lipstick, and we head back toward the van. Once we're inside, Jackson pulls out his phone, and we take a few pictures together. Because why wouldn't we?