When I wake up  I feel like I am floating on a cloud. I just lay there for a second, taking my time before I open my eyes. I then feel whatever my face rests on move. I jolt up and realize Sehun lays next to me on his bed.

“How did I get here?”

    “Did you really think I was going to let you sleep on a chair?”

    “Well I felt weird sleeping on your bed.” I stretch my muscles and look down. My head was resting on a pillow only inches away from his chest. He laid in bed wearing some plaid pajama pants.

    “I wasn’t really minding it.”

    I just stare at him, trying to figure out why he was so interested in me.

    “You look like you have something on your mind.” He says as he brushes the hair that came loose from my ponytail out of my face.

    “You are just so flirty, I guess I am trying to figure out if it is genuine.”

    He smiles. “Courtney, of course it is. I am very, very attracted to you.”

    I instantly look down out if discomfort. “I can’t do this.” I get off the bed.

    “Courtney, wait.”

    “I need to be alone, Sehun.” I turn my back to him.

    “Why are you so scared of me?”

    I slowly turn myself around, “Scared? I’m not scared.”

“Then what is wrong? Please, I want to know what I am doing to keep offending you.” He seemed sincere.

I pause, wanting to find the right words, “I still have feelings for him, the boy I was with… I think I loved him. I know I am here now, and that’s no one’s fault, but I can’t have feelings toward you until I can get over him.” I briskly leave the room. Sehun was quick to follow. He puts his hand on my shoulder and I stop halfway down the stairs. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “Please let me go, I can’t cry in front of you again.”

“Whatever you need, Courtney, I’m here. If you need to cry, I’ll be here. If you need to be alone I will give you space, but when you need me I am here.”

        I don’t know why, but I turn to face him and, almost like he could read my mind, he opens his arms to me. In that moment, I knew that he was all I had, and I fell into him. His arms felt so strong around me and I buried my face in his chest.

      “I’m so sorry we had to meet like this.” He whispers into my hair. In the moment so was I. I had been with Max for so long, and then I had felt like he was the one for me. Hours here and I felt differently. Sehun was special and in his arms with that deep spicy scent overtaking my senses I could start to see a future without Max. I felt crazy and guilty, but I knew that in these hours, from the second I met him, Sehun would be my future. Max would have to be my past.

~~~*~~~

He held me for what felt like a second, but I knew had to be a while. I finally broke away and stared at his face and saw what seemed to be a million emotions swimming across it. His eyes were so clouded I thought for a second he was angry, but within a second he looked absolutely jubilant. Sehun was absolutely the most difficult person for me to read. I just stared at him for a while, taking his face in.

but then the sound of his front door opening interrupts him. “That must be Yeri, are you ready to meet her?”

“Yes.” He offers me his hand and I take it.

As we walk down the stairs I note the bag and heels messily deposited in front of the door. I hear someone klinking around in the kitchen. Sehun squeezes my hand as we turn the corner. He clears his throat and she turns towards me. She was only about an inch taller than me, and her long strawberry blonde hair cascades over her shoulders. Her large eyes give her an overarching look of innocence. With Sehun being as handsome as he is I figured Yeri would be pretty, but I couldn’t even imagine a girl this beautiful. Needless to say, I was feeling just a little self conscious.

“Oh my gosh.” She looks stunned. She quickly walks over to me. “I’m sure Sehun has already told you, but my name is Yeri, and well I...am just so happy to finally meet you. You and Hunie are the talk of the country today.”

“Don’t freak her out Yeri.” Sehun says with a smile. He lets go of my hand and gives her a quick hug. He steps back and gestures to me. “This is Courtney.”

“Hi” I extend my hand to her.

“Screw handshakes.” She bats my hand away and pulls me in for a hug. “You are part of the family now! Tomorrow I have already decided we are dragging Sehun shopping, that way all three of us can have some get to know you time.”

With that Sehun let’s out a groan. “You don’t know what shopping is until you go with Yeri. She can spend like five hours in one store alone.”

“I have definitely never shopped like that before.” I say.

“Oh! Speaking of new clothes the principal gave me your uniforms.” She walks over to the kitchen table and grabs three large bags off of it. “Luckily Sehun called and enrolled you when he did, or you would have had nothing to wear to school once we all go back on Tuesday, after the lovers holiday.” She peeks in the bags. “This one has your shirts, this one has sweaters and accessories, and this one has skirts and pants.” She says as she hands each one to me.

I look inside the bags as they are handed to me. “Wow, this is a lot of clothing.”

“Most people at Seoul National don’t like to wear the same clothing within the same month, even if it all looks exactly the same.” Sehun chimes in.

“We are all snobs let’s face it.” Says Yeri jokingly. “Oh!” Her eyes widen as she remembers. “Guess who I saw while I was picking up Courtney’s uniform!” I could tell she was excited.

“Who?” Says Sehun, who was not half as excited to hear it as she was to tell him.

“Chanyeol, he brought his match in to enroll him in person. Let me say, that kid is a cutie, they look adorable together.” She lets out a little squeal “All the new couples are so cute, too bad I won’t ever get matched.” She looks a little dejected.  

“Why don’t you think you will be matched?” I say, assuming she was just being down on herself.

She looks shocked. “Oh..um just...because I-I you know...just don’t.”

I look over at Sehun who is rubbing temples muttering something under his breath. A silence falls over us. That was odd.

“So, the news is on, I am dying to see it.” Yeri says breaking the silence. She scurries over to the giant television and turns it on.

The newscaster, some well groomed man comes up on screen. “Good evening everyone, today is of course matching day, and it is on this day that our youth finds out who their soulmate is!” I cringe at his peppy attitude. “Some extremely important people were matched today, including our president's own son, Oh Sehun! Let’s take a closer look at our country's most important new couples!”

    I feel Sehun's arm wrap around me. “Welcome to the first family Courtney, let me tell you this tabloid crap is not even half of the joys that come with being my match.”
    I knit my eyebrows and turn my attention back to the television. The screen has a picture of Sehun on it. “President Oh’s rebellious son, who publicly opposed his father by moving out of the presidential mansion two years ago, and brought his younger sister Yeri with him last year has finally found a match, Courtney Marie Moore.” A picture of me from last year's yearbook flashes on the screen. I just stare taking in the strangeness of seeing my face broadcast country wide. “She is from Gimhae, a city that has been specifically sanctioned for singles. Her father died before she was born and she was raised by her mother, barely scraping by with enough for food and rent. Her local school is ranked among the country’s lowest achieving schools, however Courtney is ranked as the 49th best student in the country. Stranger still, Sehun and Courtney have received the first 100% matching score in Korea’s history. What makes this couple so special is something that only time can tell.”

    “That was weird.” I say to Sehun.

    “Which part?” He asks as he ushers me over to his couch.

    “All of it.” I reply flatly. We sit down and he drapes his arm over my shoulders.

    “I think Kai and Kyungsoo are next.” Yeri says completely enthralled by everything the announcer was saying.

    “I will never understand your fascination with entertainment news Yeri.” Sehun lets out a sigh. Yeri simply rolls her eyes as the announcer continues on.

    “The most infamous power couple in Korea has been made official with Kim Jongin, commonly known as Kai, being permanently matched with his partner of two years Do Kyungsoo. Kai is the son of the presidential chief of staff, President Oh’s right hand man and Kyungsoo is the son of the minister of justice. The two have been together for almost three years and they received an overall score of 73% compatible.” Pictures of the two flash on the screen, just like everyone else I had met today both of the boys are extremely good looking. “With our last couple there was another upset. The minister of defenses’ son Park Chanyeol was matched with another person who is completely unknown to the public. His name is Byun Baekhyun, and until now he has lived a humble life with two working class parents, but unlike Oh Sehun’s match we found nothing remarkable about him. The two had a score of 96% compatible. This also sets a record for second highest matching score in history.”

    “That was ridiculous.” I get up and go to the kitchen.

    Sehun follows. He puts his hand on my shoulder and turns me towards him. “Is a hug too touchy?” He asks. I shake my head no and walk into his arms. He holds me to his chest. Instantly I feel more at ease as I had before. I breathe in deeply and that warm spicy smell adds another level of comfort. “What bothered you so much?” He asks softly.

“ It felt like we weren’t even humans when that guy was talking about us. I just didn’t like it.” I mumble.

    “Just let it roll off, Courtney.” Sehun says as he cups my face. He steps past me and turns his face over to the living room.”Yeri what do you want for dinner?”

    “I don’t care, you pick.” She says back.

    “You aren’t on some diet?” Sehun asks.

    “Oh my God Sehun! Do you think I need to be?” She hops off the couch and walks into the kitchen.

    “Of course not Yeri, I just wanted to make sure.” He smiles and shakes his head while Yeri shoots him a death glare.

    She turns her attention to me. “You are so lucky you don’t have an annoying brother Courtney.”

    Sehun speaks before I could say anything. “Cool it Yeri.”

She rolls her eyes again. “I am going upstairs, call me for dinner, okay?” She walks out leaving me and Sehun alone.

    “I’ll call Walt to tell him to grab something for dinner, anything that you don’t like?” Sehun asks. I simply shake my head “no” as he gets his phone from his pocket and calls Walt. “Hey...Yeah...Get something hearty...Thanks, see you in a bit.” He hangs up and turn his attention towards me. I have your school schedule in my office, want to give it a look?”

    “Wow” I say in a humorous manner “You sure know the fastest way to my heart.”

    “I figured you would be pretty excited.” He leads the way up and guides me to the chair in front of his desk. He sits himself down and hands me a slip of paper. “The school recognized all of your previous credits, so you and I will both be graduating at the same time. That also means that you and I can be in the same classes, so, I hope you don’t mind, but I had them put you in my classes. Not that I think you won’t be able to adjust, but it’s a big school, and there are a lot of people, so I just wanted to make things easier for you-”  He starts rambling, it was probably the first time I could ever think think of him as cute.

    “Sehun, thank you. That was really considerate, I appreciate it.”

    “Really? I was worried you would feel constricted, or something. I can tell you are generally a pretty independent person, I just didn't want to step on your toes.”

    “Really, it makes me much less nervous about starting at a new school. I just hope you are going to be a decent lab partner in bio.” I say.

“Oh I can assure you that I will be absolutely clueless,” he says with a devilish grin.

“Well in that case, we are going to be having a lot of study dates, in fact where are your textbooks, I am in the mood for some light reading.”

He lets out a small laugh as he stands up and goes to one of the book shelves that line the right side of the room and grabs four books. “If you get through five pages you are a certified robot, these are probably the driest books imaginable.” He plops the stack in  front of me, then his face gets more serious. “Also, I wasn’t sure about electives, so I signed you up to continue the electives you have, so for the two periods you will be alone, although Chanyeol texted and said he put his match in the classes with you.”

“Why are you guys worried, we will just be like new students, we’ll be okay.” My hand accidentally brushes his as I reach for the stack of books.

He moves his hand so it could be on top of mine. “I know that, but, I also know that kids at Seoul National are mean, very, very mean. You don’t need to keep going through what you went through at your old school.”

I sigh, “Thank you, for looking out for me. Normally I would be frustrated, but I get it, I don’t want to have to go through all of that again.” He gives my hand a final squeeze and he hands me the slip of paper with my schedule written on it.  

HOMEROOM………………...……8-8:10AM…………………………...Bae

STATISTICS……………………….8:15-9:10AM………………………...Ko

BIOLOGY………………………...9:15-10:10AM………………………...Choi

LITERATURE AND WRITING COMPOSITION…. 10:15-11:10AM..….Kang

LUNCH…………………………...11:15-12:10PM……………………………...

WORLD HISTORY………… .…..12:15-1:10PM…………….…………...Sang

CREATIVE WRITING………..1:15-2PM………………………………..Jung

HORTICULTURE…………....2:10-2:55PM……….……………………..Im

HOMEROOM………………..3-3:30PM………………………………….Bae

    I look it over. The classes are exactly the same as my last schedule. “Thanks for setting everything up, how are the teachers.”

“About as you would expect, none of them are great. I would say the worst one is the Stat teacher Mr.Ko he has no idea what he’s talking about half the time, it’s infuriating.

I reach for the stat book. “What are you guys talking about now?”

“Linear regression, I think.”

I thumb through the pages, looking for the right chapter as I settle down in the seat and Sehun taps away at his computer. After a while a voice startles me, I jump at the sound of it.

“Just got back, dinner is on the table.”

“What was that?” I say.

“The intercom” Sehun gestures to a pad in the corner or the office as he rolls over to it in his chair. “Be there in a second Walt.” He says as he presses a button and talks into it.

“Oh.” I mouth as I stand from my chair. He puts his hand on my lower back as we walk downstairs. Yeri is already settled at the table a bowl sits at the same spot where I ate breakfast.

“Walt got jajangmyeon.” Yeri says as she stirs her noodles.

“Sounds good.” I say as I sit down.

~~*~~

Dinner went smoothly, mostly just small talk. Afterwards Sehun and Yeri sit and watch tv, but I wasn’t very interested, instead I wander back into Sehun’s office and continue reading for a few hours, mostly on biology and history. After a while I hear the door open.

Sehun stands there “I was going to head to bed…” He trails off as he looks down and rubs the back of his neck.

“Oh” I had forgotten about the sleeping arrangements. “Okay.” I tentatively stand up out of the chair. As we walk down the hall he doesn’t put his hand on my back like he had been  doing, instead he just walks a step behind me. We don’t exchange a word until we get into his room.

“I am going to change.” He mumbles as he walks into his adjoining bathroom and closes the door.

I take the opportunity to change into my own pj’s I dig around in my clothes box until I find an oversized t-shirt and slip it on quickly. I just keep the shorts I had been wearing on. I then take a deep breath and crawl under the covers of his bed before he walks back in. I hear the door open as he flicks off the light switch, plunging the room into darkness. I have a weird pit in my stomach as I feel the bed shift as he gets comfortable.

“Goodnight.” He whispers.

“Goodnight.” I whisper back.

I lay there for a while trying to fall asleep, but I don’t until I hear his breathing become heavy and even. I relax a little knowing he is asleep, but just the thought of being in his bed stresses me out. My mind wanders to the schedule all new couples get to ensure that they are suitably matched. The whole reason this system was created is because people all but stopped getting married and having kids. The main purpose the two of us are together is so we can have children. Usually new couples are given up to three months to consummate their match, if they do not then their match is voided and both are considered singles. The schedule for how fast our relationship has to progress should be coming from matching officials soon, which only makes the sinking feeling in my stomach worse. My head is spinning,  I can’t sleep in his bed, screw the rules. Slowly, I slide off the bed, careful not to disturb Sehun. As I get to the door of the room I hear his voice, scratchy from sleeping.

“Courtney?”

“Yeah.” I whisper back guiltily.

“What’s wrong?” He asks.

I hesitate running through possible answers, I just have to say what I feel.“I just can’t.”

He gets out of bed and walks over to me. “Come with me.” He says as he ruffles my hair. He takes my hand and we walk all the way down to the kitchen. He leads me to a chair at the kitchen island. I hop up on the tall chair as he gets out two mugs and a teapot. I watch him as I did this morning. The teapot finally whistles and he methodically pours the steaming water in the mugs and puts a tea bag in each. He walks over and hands me a mug and sits in the chair next to mine. He pokes his tea bag around a couple of times before breaking the silence. “It’s chamomile, the tea. ” he gestures towards it. “It’s supposed to help you sleep.”

“Thank you.” I gratefully take a sip.

“Are you scared.” He asks gently.

“Yes.”

“What makes it so scary.”

“I’m in your bed, Sehun.”

He stares at me sympathetically, “I’m sorry, if it weren’t the rules I would never ask that of you.”

“No, don’t  be, it’s not your fault. Everything is moving really fast and I was just feeling overwhelmed, again. I was also thinking about the schedule. ”

“Yeah, I asked Walt tonight, we should have by tomorrow morning.”

I take a deep long breath to calm my nerves.

“Tell me what would help you feel better right now.”

“Well, I was thinking about how you could probably see the stars really well out here, and I wanted to go outside, fresh air would feel good right now.”

“Then let’s go.” We grab our tea and walk out the front door. The moonlight gives everything a silver glow, and his pale skin and hair look almost otherworldly in the soft moonlight. It was a little chilly, but the fact I was only in a t-shirt and shorts didn’t help. There was a small bench that sat on the edge of the woods. As we sit I gaze upwards while clutching my mug to my chest. The stars were bright and beautiful. I took a deep breath of the crisp air, and as I sat there I realized nothing moved. It was too early in the year for cicadas to be out, but nothing scuttled around in the woods behind me.

“It’s so quiet.” I whisper to him.

“Don’t let it fool you, I was going to tell you later, but there are some bad things in those woods.” As he speaks a howl from a wolf breaks through the night.

I gasp, “Should we go inside?”

“No” He puts one of his arms protectively around me. “As long as I am out here with you nothing can happen.”  

I assume he was just acting tough. I was so sleepy I didn’t call him out. Instead I move closer to into and I watch as he lets some of the tension drain from his body.

“Do you want to go back to bed?”

I sigh “I don’t want to walk all the way up there.” He slides his arm around me and I had started warming up, being with him on a bench was different than a bed. The next thing I knew I felt him lifting me up. “Sehun!” I wine half-heartedly.

“I’m cold, I know for a fact you’re cold, we are going to bed. Maybe tomorrow we can come back out here.” He says as he lifts me off the bench. He carefully carries me upstairs and then gently sets me down on my side of the bed and pulls the covers up around me. I feel him get in on his side of the bed. “Get some sleep.” At that point I was so tired the anxiety lost out.