Work Text:
“i apologize if it's a little too much,
just a little too soon, but if the conversation ever were to come up i don't wanna assume this stuff, but ain't it love? i think i'm in love”
Min Ho Moon hates Katherine Song Covey.
Or at least that’s what he’s been repeating in his brain every time his heart skips a beat when he looks at her, because he cannot possibly feel otherwise for his best friend’s ex girlfriend.
He hates her one of a kind smile and her eyes that look so beautiful when they light up like sunshine on a cloudy day.
He hates her way of understanding him, so perfectly like she’s known him his entire life. How she’s capable of reading him like a book when he tries so hard not to show his feelings.
He also hates the way she makes him feel, because he can’t encompass it into words. He hates her so much. Completely loathes her, because he’s supposed to be getting over his silly crush on her and Kitty keeps messing up his plans. She’s persistent and annoyingly endearing, and he is unfathomably invested in everything she entailed. He hates that he can’t ever truly hate her.
“I think you missed the part when I said to pack light,” and there she was, in all her joyful glory, Kitty Song Covey.
“This is packing light. I only brought three suitcases,” Min Ho answered, placing his suitcases in the corner of her room where he was going to be staying the night at. “Ah ah, be careful with that one Covey, that’s my skincare bag,” he pointed at the auburn haired girl in slight panic as she dropped one of his Louis Vuitton bags on her bed with a roll of her eyes.
“Min Ho this is only a one day stop at Portland before you go back to your five star hotel and spend the summer with your mom. A single duffel bag would’ve sufficed.”
“Thanks for reminding me I’m only here with you for my annual charity work Covey,” he smirked knowing it drove her mad.
Affectively, Kitty huffed in annoyance. “You owe me this.”
He’s very much aware of the fact she helped him deal with Stella evil schemes. Which is why he took a private jet to Portland this morning because she asked, and knocked on the Song Covey’s front door at exactly twelve pm sharp just like she told him to. Now he’s making himself familiar with his space for the night, Kitty’s bedroom. She had offered it, claiming she’d room with Lara Jean, and of course, being surrounded by all things Kitty was probably a bad idea, but he was known for making stupid decisions ever since he met her.
“Yeah okay, don’t be desperate now.”
“Anyway,” Kitty proceeded to take a seat at the edge of her bed. “You’re doing a good job so far. My dad seems fond of you.”
“Obviously,” he said, his eyes scanning his surroundings. He examined the posters and polaroid photos of her friends and family on the walls. She had a shelf of books on the side of her room which he was willing to guess were mostly romance books. Her curtains were baby yellow and her desk had way too many textbooks and papers overflowing. Everything was so…Kitty.
“Peter and Lara Jean are almost here from the airport. So please remember what we went over—“
“Yes Covey,” he deeply sighed, reaching over her desk to grab the can of Coca Cola she was drinking before he got there. “We met at school and we’ve been secretly dating for a while and it would break my heart if they don’t let you stay at KISS for your senior year. This has thirty nine grams of sugar, do you know how many bad breakouts that causes?”
Kitty ignored his last comment. “Really sell it to them with that last one okay? Like you won’t be able to live without me there and that’s why they should let me stay at KISS.”
“Yes Covey,” he rolls his eyes and places the red can back on her desk. He makes his way towards her and takes a seat beside her wishing he could’ve sat closer like lovers do. Wishing he could just place his arms around her and pretend like she loved him back.
“I really hope this works.”
“It better work,” Min Ho replied with a scoff. “If I’m pretending to be your fake boyfriend for twenty four hours it better be worth something.”
“You say it like dating me is the worst thing in the world.”
He pauses, and looks at her as he tilts his head causing the front piece of his hair to fall over his eyes. She scrunches her brows together in sudden confusion, wondering why he tended to look at her like she was the only thing worth living, and he couldn’t help but smile. “No, there could be worse I suppose.” Like pretending to loathe you so deeply so I don’t do something stupid like kiss you, he thought.
Kitty’s lips slowly quirked up on either side and he wondered if a human could glow brighter than the sun. She was a ray of sunshine and if he dared make contact with her he bets he’d get burned.
And God, he hates her in this moment. Hates her eyes and the way they’re staring back at his. They are brown with small specks of honey if he dares to look closer, and sometimes, in the sunlight, there’s gold specks glistening in her irises, and he has never seen something so beautiful before. She looks at him straight on, and it’s like she’s reading him, like she knows him and all his deepest secrets. Kitty tilts her head and searches for something in his eyes and he feels like she sees right through him. As if she’s able to see his feelings for her, and so he tells himself to look away before she realizes and he’s obligated to confess, because he can never lie to her. With one look she’ll know. She knows him.
Like a saving grace for Min Ho, his phone rings. They both jump at the sudden sound and he fidgets with his pocket to fish out his phone. “Oh, it’s my mom.”
Kitty nods, clearing her throat and doing what she usually did, not think about what just happened between them nor what it meant. You see, not only was she terrified of the things she was beginning to feel for Min Ho, she also didn’t want to get hurt again. After dealing with two romances that went south way too quickly, she wanted to protect her heart. Although Dae and Yuri are still her friends after their rocky relationships, with Min Ho it was different, and she didn’t want to risk it. To her, their friendship meant a lot. So much she couldn’t possibly imagine ruining that.
“Hi mom,” Min Ho greeted waving at the phone screen.
“My perfect son! How are you? Did you land safe? My assistant said you took a spontaneous flight to Portland this morning,” his mom spoke in between makeup touch ups. From the background he could tell she was on set. The fact she always took the little free time she had to speak to him and catch up made him appreciate his mother so much.
“I’m fine, I uh, just wanted to visit my friend. Remember I told you about her? The crazy and annoying American girl? Well, she lives in Portland and invited me over before I go to Los Angeles.”
“Oh, right, your ‘friend’,” his mom giggled on the other line, and although they were speaking in Korean and Kitty couldn’t understand a single word his heart still raced in sudden panic. Thankfully, she was looking back at him with a neutral facial expression not having a clue in the world what was being said.
“Mom,” he groaned in annoyance. “Please stop jumping to conclusions. You know she’s just a friend.”
“Sure she is,” she laughed. “Let me finally see her.”
“Why? So you can say something embarrassing about me?”
His mom rolled her eyes and the make up artist began applying powder on her cheeks. “I just want to thank her for inviting you over.”
“Fine,” Min Ho gave in, turning the phone to the side to get Kitty on frame.
“Hello lovely! Oh, aren’t you a cutie pie? No wonder my son can’t stop talking about you.”
“Uh, hi, nice to meet you too?” Kitty grinned widely towards the camera, again clueless as to what the other woman had spoken. All Kitty knew was that Min Ho’s mom was a living doll and that she looked perfect.
Kitty’s eyes found his in a plea to help her understand, and Min Ho, her usual personal translator, sighed begrudgingly. “She doesn’t speak much Korean, mom, or hardly any.”
“Oh, right! You told me before,” she replied back in English this time.
“You talk about me?” The auburn haired girl commented in surprise.
“Against my wishes,” he replied way too quickly, and his mom laughed, shaking her head at her son.
“He does all the time,” she tells the girl she knows captured her son’s heart. “Kitty stole all my cleansing balm, Kitty taps her pen so much in class, did you know Kitty’s hair is naturally reddish? Mom, I think Kitty’s—“
“Okay! Aren’t you supposed to be on set or something?” Min Ho loudly interrupts his mother before she can embarrass him further and make his cheeks even redder.
His mom continued giggling through the screen but eventually saved her son from dying of embarrassment. “Alright, I’ll leave you two alone. Thanks Kitty for being there for my son.”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Bye mom, love you,” He waved at the phone camera and hung up quickly. Kitty simply stared at him with a knowing smirk on her face that was making him extremely nervous than it should’ve. “What Covey?”
“Nothing,” Kitty raised her hands in surrender. “Just that, you seem to mention me a lot to your mom, and here I thought you were fully anti Kitty.”
He rolls his eyes. “Yeah, you annoy me so much I have to vent to my mom about it.“
“When are you going to admit you like spending time with me because I’m a good friend?”
Why did that term feel like a punch in the gut? Min Ho thought. Getting friend-zoned is not for the weak. It was hard to stomach that she didn’t see him the way he saw her. To Min Ho, Kitty was everything. She was sunshine and rain storms all at once. She was the girl he stayed up every night thinking about, and the girl he woke up every morning excited to see. Thus, it hurt him to know those sentiments are most likely not reciprocated.
“Katherine Song Covey, your sister’s here!”
Kitty jumped up and looked at Min Ho with wide eyes. “Please please please, don’t embarrass me okay?”
“Calm down Covey.”
“I’m just nervous,” she admits, her fingers fidgeting with each other in a nervous tick. “They know things between Dae and I didn’t work out, and then the whole Yuri dilemma happened, so what if they don’t believe us and then I don’t—“
“Covey,” he placed both of his hands on her shoulders stopping her rambling. “I promised I was going to help you and I will. Have you little faith in me?”
His words were honest and Kitty doesn’t reply, just nods and grabs his forearm to drag him out her bedroom. However, before they walked down the stairs Min Ho stopped and pulled Kitty back into him. He let his hand travel down to meet hers and intertwined their fingers in a swift motion, leaving Kitty’s mouth slightly ajar at the sudden change of contact. “What?” He smirked at her reaction. “Couples tend to hold hands Katherine.”
She looked up at him with a sudden softness in her eyes, and if he didn’t know any better he’d think she loved him back. He inwardly laughed at himself for even thinking that. Meanwhile, next to him Kitty wondered if his skin was also tingling, like the good kind, the kind to make one feel loved and whole.
“I suspected it,” Peter smirked with a sense of pride as if he was some type of evil mastermind. “Remember I told you he calls her by her last name, LJ? They couldn’t fool me.” Kitty simply ignored him not wanting to dig herself deeper in more lies. She rather them think whatever they want as long as they believe her for now. Peter walked away from the girls whom were setting up the dinner table and up to Dan and Min Ho who were debating the best football team, much to Min Ho’s dismay. He wasn’t the biggest fan of sports, and his small knowledge of football wasn’t vast enough to keep the conversation going for more than ten minutes.
“You definitely fooled Peter and dad because they’re not aware of your outrageous love life timeline, but not me,” Lara Jean whispered in Kitty’s ear once she heard Peter join the football conversation with ease, which Min Ho was grateful for. “You better tell me all the deets before bed.”
Ignoring her older sister she exclaimed. “Table’s ready!” She’d deal with the chaos later.
Pretending to be in love with Kitty shouldn’t have been as easy as it was, Min Ho thought. Holding her hand felt so natural. Staring at the side of her face every time she spoke was like an automatic reaction. It was so easy.
For Min Ho answering the never ending questions Lara Jean and Dr.Covey asked over dinner was incredibly easy. By now he considered himself an encyclopedia on all things Kitty Song Covey. He knows she loves the color yellow. She likes tuna gimbap without mayo, she hates mayo, and she prefers tea over coffee. He knows she gets excited over the smallest things. She’s determined and often times stubborn, and he claims it was just one of her most endearing qualities amongst others.
“Min Ho is lactose intolerant,” Kitty commented, passing down the bowl of mashed potatoes away from his plate. “Trust me you do not want to place any dairy in his stomach,” she snickered, causing Min Ho to nudge her feet under table with his and send her a tight lipped smile. Has Min ho mentioned he hates her so much?
“Anyway, Min Ho,” Lara Jean diverted the topic. “Kitty says that your first secret date was on Chuseok.”
”She did?” He asked, before feeling a nudge on the side of his stomach from Kitty and quickly feigning knowledge of the lie Kitty most likely told her sister. “I mean, I wasn’t aware it was a date at first. She just, sort of trapped me into helping her cook. Turned out to be one of the best days ever actually.”
“Yeah, that sounds like Kitty,” LJ giggled, looking at her sister straight in the eye just to mess with her. “It’s so nice to know there’s another fellow cook joining the fam. I am known for my baking and my famous cookie recipe by the way.”
Min Ho blinked, “Joining the fam?”
“Of course,” Dan Covey spoke. “Anyone that makes my daughters happy is welcomed in this household anytime.”
The word family made Min Ho feel warm inside. He’s never really had that. His family was different from Kitty’s, his were two separate worlds. He looked around him and saw Kitty giggling with LJ as they texted their sister Margot, Peter making them laugh by stealing LJ’s sourdough bread from her plate, Dan giving their golden retriever small pieces of meat and getting scolded by his wife Trina for doing so. They were a family, one world, and he was invited to be a part of it. To be a part of Kitty’s world.
He looked beside him and Kitty was grinning so bright. If they weren’t in front of everyone he’s sure she would’ve given him two thumbs up by now.
When they finished dinner they all gathered around the sofa to start a movie Kitty picked out. While Trina popped the popcorn in the kitchen, Lara Jean had asked a question Kitty honestly forgot the words to because all she did was pay attention to Min Ho’s answer. His words made everything around them disappear for Kitty, it was like the world stopped and she came to a realization. The realization why she trusted Min Ho to do this favor for her, why she reached out to him first, and why it was always him she pictured in her life.
“—she stole all my facial cleanser and laughed in my face and that’s when I knew,” Min Ho said. “Not only did her pores look better, but I realized she turned my life upside down in the best ways. She has this burst of energy about her that I needed. She makes me step out of my comfort zone a lot, and I like who I am when I’m with her.”
Lara Jean gushed, nudging her boyfriend who was stuffing his face with cheese puffs and Kitty sat next to her pretend boyfriend dumbfounded, wondering if what he said held truth to it. A part of her wanting for those words to hold truth, to mean something.
“And I hope that can continue next school year,” he finished, tightening his grip on Kitty’s hand and bringing her out of her small daze.
”Sure it will.”
Kitty’s head snapped towards her dad with wide eyes. “Wait, really?!”
”Of course babygirl, why wouldn’t it?” he scoffed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You’ll both be attending KISS aren’t you?”
“I am?!”
“As far as I’m aware you are kitten. You worked hard for your scholarship, and they renewed it.”
“Wait,” Kitty paused, holding a finger up to gather her thoughts. “So, me going to KISS wasn’t even a question? I didn’t need to convince you?”
”No, why would you?” Dan chuckled. “You said Korea and KISS helped you feel closer to your mom. How could I ever take that away from you?”
“Popcorn’s ready!” Exclaimed Trina making her way to the living room with a large bowl of popcorn. Peter immediately leaped to grab a handful of buttered popcorn to stuff his face causing Lara Jean to roll her eyes affectionately.
That’s when Kitty leaned into Min Ho and quietly squealed, the happiness radiating off of her was nothing but contagious. That night when they were all preparing to go to bed, Kitty came up to his room in her oversized pajamas with kittens all over it and two cups of chamomile tea.
“So, your dad didn’t even need convincing. Is it farfetched if I said you made this all up just to have me around, Covey? Are you obsessed with me?”
Kitty rolled her eyes, his accent adding to the arrogance of his question. However, she couldn’t hide the small smile forming on her lips. “Thank you, Min Ho, for doing all this, for me.”
“What are friends for?” He mumbled accepting the cup of tea. He took a sip of the sweetened tea and gestured for her to take a seat.
“Oh no, I don’t want to keep you up. You have a flight tomorrow morning,” she tells him.
“Fine, be responsible,” he sighs, placing his cup of tea on her nightstand where he saw an old leather journal with colorful tabs sticking from the sides. He picked it up in sudden interest. “What’s this?”
“Uh, my mom’s notes. She used to journal a lot and I like reading them when I miss her. Sometimes I even write my own notes on the blank pages. Makes me feel closer to her somehow, like her story isn’t over as long as I continue it.”
“That’s,” he paused, placing the journal back down. “Actually a very beautiful way to look at things, Covey.”
“Y-you should try it,” she offers, her voice more hesitant and quieter than usual. Their conversation felt raw, like they were sharing a small glimpse of the most vulnerable parts of themselves with each other. “It’s like very therapeutic to just write your feelings or whatever. Only downside is if a nosy sister or a creepy girl with an evil plan to get back at your father gets ahold of it and then maybe it’s not so fun.”
He lets out a chuckle at that. “Maybe I’ll try it sometime.”
Kitty shoots him a bittersweet smile, and Min Ho has to let his eyes wander away from her to gather his thoughts before he does something crazy, like kiss her. He takes a deep breath, as if preparing himself for his next words and counts to three before looking back up at the auburn haired girl before him. “Uh, thank you Kitty.”
Suddenly she feels his arms wrap around her and lets out a small gasp of surprise.
”For what?” She questioned, placing one hand around him to hug him back while her other tried her best to balance her cup of tea.
”For making me feel at home today.” She was home, he thought.
Kitty smiled at his answer and hugged him tighter, so tight she catches Min Ho’s content sigh in her ear. She wondered if he was able to hear her heart skip.
In her arms he felt serene and safe. Something about the way she held him made him feel like he was something special and needed.
It wasn’t long after that when Dan Covey knocked on the door to make sure there was “no funny business” going on. A red faced Kitty wished him a goodnight and Min Ho was able to hear Kitty’s, “You’re so embarrassing dad!” before the door shut.
Min Ho sat on Kitty’s bed with her baby yellow comforter over his legs and wrote a letter. It wasn’t just any letter, it was the letter. The letter where he confessed to all the feelings Kitty caused in him. He went to sleep late, his sleep schedule be damned, but he got everything out on paper and something about that felt so refreshing. Kitty was right about that.
The next morning, he packed early and dragged his three suitcases back down himself to wait for his ride to the airport.
Though of course, he left a special letter on top of Kitty’s bed which he made before he left.
“Text me when you land,” Kitty had told him in a rush as he placed his last bag in the car. She had glasses on and her hair was messy from sleep, he can tell she had just woken up and quickly ran out the house in her bunny slippers.
“Text me when you read it,” he replied.
“Read what?” She was still half asleep and the added confusion wasn’t helping her brain think coherently.
He simply chuckled and climbed inside the car. “See you at KISS, Covey.”
And he was gone, leaving Kitty in confusion watching the car disappear from her sight.
Dear Katherine Song Covey,
I am surprised you haven’t realized that I am still in love with you. From the moment I confessed on the plane nothing has really changed no matter how much I tried to deny it. I took a private jet in less than twenty four hours to Portland because of you Covey. I am, in fact, a desperate loser when it comes to you. I have accepted my pathetic fate. No matter how much I pretend to act nonchalant, I am completely hyper aware of you. Am I foolish for leaving this letter? Am I planning my own demise by pulling a Lara Jean and writing you a love letter because if it worked out for her it might work out for me as well? Well, I’m still debating these answers.
I’m leaving this letter on your bed before I leave because I am not strong enough to get rejected again by the girl I love most. Then again, you’re the only girl I wouldn’t mind breaking my heart again. Isn’t that terrifying? Loving someone so much you don’t care if they mend or break it as long as it’s them.
Nonetheless, I need you to know that I hate you so much, Covey. I hate you so badly for making me love you. I’ve never experienced this before. Loving someone this much. Who knew it’d be you? I was a playboy Kitty. I was supposed to live my life with tons of girls wrapped around my arms, no strings attached, no hearts broken, but you came and messed that all up. How dare you? I don’t want any other girl anymore. I don’t want a causal fling. I want you. I want everything with you.
p.s. I left my favorite face wash in your bathroom because I know you like it and stole it when we first shared our dorm. (Yes, I know it was you) See how much I hate (love) you?
all my love,
Min Ho Moon
Just landed Covey
It’s very hot in LA today and it’s not just because of me btw it’s the weather
Sent ✓
You’re an insufferable idiot
and also just may be the love of my life
XO, Kitty
Read ✓✓