Kourt Smiles Her Face Off When Asked About Bieber

Kourtney Kardashian was basically the Kardashian embodiment of Buddy the Elf when asked about her relationship with Justin Bieber on The Ellen DeGeneres Show: smiling was indeed her favorite. In a preview clip of the episode, which airs on Monday, Jan. 25, Kardashian was super coy when discussing Bieber — but was cheesin' so hard that DeGeneres couldn't help but call her out.

The talk show host, who has an uncanny way of easily inserting the most delightfully awkward topics into a conversation, carefully brought up the Biebs to the reality star and asked if he ever helps out with her three kids.

"That's the rumor," DeGeneres mentioned (the rumor being that Kardashian and Bieber are an item, not that the "Sorry" singer is a Bieber-turned-nanny). "I know y'all are just friends. Or are you dating him?"

Kardashian, who was grinning like the Cheshire cat at this point, replied, "Yes. We're friends. Yes."

But DeGeneres, who refused to let Kardashian off the hook that easily, point-blank called her out on that giant grin of hers: "Why are you smiling that way? You're smiling as if you're beyond friends."

"I've been smiling this whole time since I've been sitting here," Kardashian said, sipping water in the way people do when they're uncomfortable AF and need a distraction. Sure, the reality star insisted that she and Bieber are friends, but it was the gigantic smile on her face that has everyone (especially Ellen DeGeneres) talking. What does your smile mean, Kourtney Kardashian???

Let's make one thing clear: People do all sorts of things in awkward situations. One of them happens to be smiling, so Kardashian's giant grin could have more to do with the fact that she feels super uncomfortable discussing the whole Bieber thing rather than using it as an expression to announce her true feelings for the pop star.

On the other hand, there's no denying that people usually smile when they're happy, so maybe the mere mention of Bieber just makes Kardashian so giddy that she can't help but break into a toothy grin whenever he's brought up in conversation. For all we know, this could be the Kourtney Kardashian version of Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah's couch.

And from a more cynical perspective, Kardashian, who confirmed during the interview that she and Scott Disick are no longer together but are getting along, could be playing it coy simply for the publicity. Sure, she says that she and Bieber are just friends — echoing her sister Khloé Kardashian's comments about the whole thing — but it's not like she tries overly hard to insist this fact to DeGeneres. Maintaining that tiny bit of mystery and intrigue ("Are they really just friends? Or is there something more?") not only keeps the headlines going, it creates subtleties for fans to try and work through. The lack of a hard denial (from either party) keeps the public guessing. And that's probably exactly what both Kardashian and Bieber want.

Ultimately, no matter what was behind Kardashian's huge grin that day on Ellen, there is one universal truth that we can affirm:

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