He has the empathy of a slug in a freshly planted garden beet. He is an , unpredictable, and a little too honest for her taste. And that’s why she invited him over for coffee. The evening is still young, too young to sit alone at home, to worry about matters that are no longer in her hand. Maybe a new perspective, a change of view, would be beneficial. Who knows, perhaps they indeed needed a fresh wind in their relationship, to take away the seriousness of a married life. Jiyong, his name as she finds out on their way to the door, teasingly declines the offer with the words, not to be interested in a that involves two guys. They had just cheered their temporary truce when it happened. The glass she has been holding before she could even take a nip falls to the ground and crushes in dozen tiny pieces around her. Through the dim lights of the chandeliers, it looks fascinating. Like thousands of tiny diamonds trapped in shards. Such pretty glasses must cost a sum she muses. Heads start to turn towards them, as people were curious to see where the noise came from. She feels them eyeing and silently judging her. Her shoulders sink and she lowers her head a little. Oh, if only the wet spot in front of her would have been a hole to hide in.  Jiyong, once again, imposes his tablet to the nearest bystander, this time however calmly but still insistently. She would feel pity with the bewildered gawker if she wouldn’t be too busy not to trip over her own feet. Deja-vu. The second time this evening he is pulling her after him. This time, however, she could hear him chuckling.
“You do know it was a joke, right?”

They take the fire exit.
The loud clack of the emergency door shut close breaks earth. Or at least the rules of gravitation are definitely outlawed as every step she takes feels a little lighter, almost like floating. Finally, the flashy ocean spits her out and lets her swim back to save ordinary shore she came from. Jiyong notices the difference, the chilly night air seems to wake the spirit of the girl as she becomes very bubbly. Very different from the girl he has met inside. She talks about the scent of rain, and how she loves when the wind tickles her neck and lots of other weirder stuff. But he listens and leads her around the apartment complex since that’s where he has parked his Audi. She is pleasantly surprised as offers her a ride. More because of the antiquity of his car than his manners. Apparently, she is into retro stuff.
Sure the car has seen better days years ago, but it is almost sterile clean, she notes amazed. As she imagines someone like him to drive a roadster and own the chaos. Nichkhun is very tidy too, the exact opposite of her, she like things to be a tiny bit messy.

Of course, they don’t share a deep meaningful conversation, but they do get to know each other a little bit better, and she slowly but surely befriends with the thought that maybe Jiyong isn’t as much of a prick as she first thought. By the time they reached her shared flat, she is even convinced that the idea to have someone over for coffee, isn’t as crazy as it first sounded anymore. If only she hadn’t been so mad at Nichkhun, then everything would have worked out perfectly fine. They would have a hot beverage together and he could enlighten her on the different mindset of mankind. Or so she has planned, but plans never run the way they were built to do. Especially not in her case. Things started to work against her favor when she spotted the box on her welcome mat. Nothing out of ordinary, the neighbors probably fetched a packet for Nichkhun and since everyone knows each other here, people weren’t really afraid to leave the belongings outside the door. It also relieving meant that her mother-in-law, who lives across her door, hasn’t been home from her weekly senior bingo yet. That is her mistake, she got too carefree and joyful too quickly. Tipping in the code of her flat and pushes the door open. She welcomes her guest with a welcoming arm gesture that bids him in.
“Just go straight and you will come to the living room and feel yourself at home.”
She smiles friendly proud to have someone over, so for once it wasn't a waste of time to mop the floor and clean down the shelves in the morning. Morning chores.
She carefully lifts the package off the ground; Nichkhun often ordered technical stuff that is - according to him - highly sensitive and breakable. When she hears a terrible cry and an awful sound of “bloob”:

Even worse the smell, every Korean knows and loves that scent by heart, but it can be a little pungent sour-ish. Kimichi. It takes very long seconds until she connects the dots. Oh dear, oh no…oh . Quickly she shuts her door shut, as to prevent someone else from getting the wrong ideas. She is still a married woman and a yelping foreign man voice out of her apartment could, good neighborhood aside, give people a very wrong idea what kind