“What are you doing out late?” He asked me.

“I wanted to see the night life in Korea. Why are you out?”

He lifted a plastic bag in his other hand.

“Coffee and a midnight snack,” He said smiling.

“Ahh…” I said.

We looked at each other for a moment.

“You’re soaked! We should go or you’ll get sick. Do you want to share coffee and snacks with me?”

“…Okay…”

I followed Key around the corner and over a few blocks, up to his apartment.

“So is this where you all live?” I asked.

“No, just me. I live alone.”

We went up two flites of stairs. He opened the door and the lights. His apartment was somewhat minimalistic. It was very casual chic. I didn’t want to step in and get water everywhere. I left my shoes outside next to the door and hoped they would still be there when I left. Key disappeared into a room and I was left alone in the living room.

He reappeared with clothes in his hand.

“Here,” He said handing a shirt and shorts to me.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

I took the clothes and went to the bathroom. I hung my clothes on the shower door. His shirt was baggy and draped over me. His shorts were a little loose but I knew they weren’t going to fall. I felt like a girlfriend wearing her boyfriend’s clothes.

I went to the kitchen where there was an empty chair, a cup of coffee and a slice of cake waiting for me. I sat down and the steam of the coffee was so tempting. I was so cold.

“It’s a caramel macchiato,” Key said sitting in front of me.

“Really? That’s my favorite!”

“Really?!” He asked.

I nodded and took a sip of the coffee. It was comfortably quiet.

“Thank you for this Key.”

“Key Oppa.” He smiled “You can’t call everyone Oppa but me!”

He always had a way of making me smile.

“Thank you...Key Oppa.”

We had a light conversation over coffee and cake. The time flew by and when I checked my phone the battery was 20% and it was 1am.

“Oh! It’s so late!”

I slumped in my chair. It was already late. There was no point in going to the hotel but I couldn’t stay.

“Do you want me to call a cab?” Key asked.

“Yes please.”

Key called but quickly got off the phone.

“There are no more cabs in service in this area. You could just spend the night here.”

I was speechless. I couldn’t think clearly but I guess I had no other choice.

“Okay. I can sleep on the couch!”

“No! Take my bed and I’ll sleep on the couch,” Key responded.

“No…it’s your bed. I’ll take the couch,” I said pointing to the couch.

I felt like we were going to end up arguing back and forth.

“Alright,” Key said to my surprise.

I grabbed my phone and purse then fluffed the pillows on the couch.

“What are you doing?” Key asked.

“Getting ready to sleep,” I answered with question.

“You must not understand. In Korea the bed is the couch. It’s a custom. The names are reversed.”

I laughed. He was trying to trick me and it was so cute how he thought he could fool me. I bought in.

“Oh...I see. Okay I’ll go sleep on the “couch” then.”

I went into his bedroom. It was quaint. His bed was pretty big, enough room for two maybe three people, if the third person was a kid.

I poked my head out the door and into the living room. Key laid there on the couch, tossing and turning. I felt bad. I saw there were two blankets, so I took one and walked out to the living room. Key was laying completely still facing away from me. I placed the blanket over him and walked back to the room. I heard him turn towards me. I turned around but his eyes were closed.

**

I checked my phone forgetting it died last night. I got up and saw I was wearing Key’s clothes. I still couldn’t grasp the fact I was in his room. The reporter in me wanted to take pictures but my inner fan girl was too strong. I got up, jumped on the bed, hugged his pillows and ran around the room giggling like a five year old.

My excitement was interrupted by the growling of my stomach. I figured I could cook him breakfast. It would be a nice thank you. I got in the kitchen but there was a plate on the table. I looked and saw an omelet filled with tomatoes, spinach and peppers. There was also a glass of juice and a note.

BREAKFAST- CALL ME WHEN YOU WAKE UP

That’s all it said. I sat down removed the plastic cover from the plate and took a small bite. It was so delicious! The eggs were cooked perfectly and I could feel Key’s effort in making it. I didn’t know he was a good cook as well. I smiled as I continued to eat. I couldn’t call him though because of my phone.

I changed out of his clothes and folded them on his bed. I waited there for a little bit in case he was going to come back but I didn’t want to impose. I wrote on the back of his note and headed for the door. I made it about halfway when Key came in.

“You’re up?”

“Yeah. My phone died last night so I couldn’t call. Sorry,” I said.

He brought a bag of groceries to the table.

“I brought some groceries for lunch,” He said taking out one thing at a time.

“Oh. You want me to help?” I asked.

I helped him unpack the groceries and we both stood there awkwardly.

“I should go,” I eventually said.

“Are you busy?” Key asked tilting his head.

“I don’t want to impose…”

“No! I bought groceries so I could make us lunch. We could even go shopping.”

I was confused. I remembered Taemin telling me they had dance practice all day today.

“Isn’t there group dance practice today?”

Key smiled and looked around.

“Oh that...I called out sick.”

“What?!” I asked.

“Let’s go!” He said grabbing my arm and dragging me out the door. He took me around and we browsed around. We passed by this one shop and all the clothes inside caught my eye.

“Let’s go in here!” I said to Key.

He followed behind me and right away I saw a shirt I wanted. It hung on the wall. It had a cute bear on it holding half a heart. I stood and stared.

“You like this one?” A man asked me.

“Yes,” I said.

“It’s a part of this shirt,” He showed me the shirt next to it. “They’re matching couple shirts.”

“Ahh…”

The fact that they were couple shirts kept me from wanting to buy it. I followed Key out.

“Thank you…Oppa,” I said since he held the door for me.

No later after my stomach started growling again. This time it was so loud I was afraid Key would hear it.

“Time for lunch!” Key said excitedly.

“We should go back. I can help you cook,” I said looking up at him.

“You sound hungry. Plus you should experience Korean street food.”

There was a ramen shop next to a bakery. I really wanted some ramen since I hadn’t had any yet.

“Ramen,” I said pointing to the store.

“Bakery,” Key said pointing to the bakery.

We both wanted opposite things.

“I want to try the ramen,” I said to him.

“I had ramen last night. You should try this bakery.”

We were at that point. He was getting more comfortable with me and that meant him not being afraid to speak his mind. I tried to think of something, then I remembered watching something on how girls try to sound cute to get their way. It would be funny to see his reaction.

“Oppa…” I said trying to be cute. “Can we please have ramen?” I asked in Korean.

Key looked shocked. He smiled but he also seemed annoyed.

“Haha… Alright ramen it is,” He said.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. “Too cute?”

“Sure. For me that whole cute thing is kind of annoying,” He said.

I was taken slightly back. I learned something new about him. We walked in side by side and spent an hour eating big bowls of ramen. After that Key drove me back to the hotel.

“Today was fun. Thanks again,” I said to him.

He simply smiled.

“We’ll have to do it again sometime!” He said in a playful tone.

I ran up to my room only to see Sean standing at the door with hotel security.

“What’s going on?” I asked Sean.

He turned around and hugged me tight.

“I thought something happened.”

“My phone died. I decided to go out last night,” I said.

The security left seeing I was perfectly alive and okay.

Sean sat next to me on the bed and it reminded me of that night. I immediately stiffened.

“What happened?” He asked.

“I actually ran into Key,” I said hesitating to tell him I actually spent the night at his place.

“And??”

“There was a hotel nearby and he helped me get a room. I took a cab back here.”

“It’s already 3pm, why wouldn’t you come back right away?” He asked, curious.

I immediately got defensive.

“Alright mom, maybe I slept in,” I said in an annoyed tone.

He stayed quiet for a moment.

“Well…I’m glad you’re okay…”

He got up.

“Sean wait….Thanks and I’m sorry.”

He softly smiled and left. I quickly plugged my charger in. My phone and there were at least fifteen missed calls all from Sean. I felt bad about getting defensive but I couldn’t tell him what actually happened. It would get in the way of work.

I felt the sudden urge to text Key. Maybe say thank you. No, I had to stop getting so involved. I was here for work.

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