I hate you,

I love you,

And I hate that I love you

Gnash – I hate you, I love you

The constant ringing of my phone had waked me up from my sleep earlier that morning.  I forced my eyes to open despite the sleepiness that lingered and grabbed my phone from the table next to me.

“I’m leaving the country,” was what greeted me as soon as I placed the phone near my ears. Gone was the sleepiness, only pure shock and confusion that was left.

“Wh… what?” I asked, pushing the thick comforter aside and sat up with my back leaned against the comfort of the couch; my free hand went up to pinch the bridge of my nose every now and then, easing the throbbing of my head.

“Does this have anything to do with what I said last night? Look, I’m so…” I wasn’t able to finish my sentence for she cut me off halfway.

“Before you rambled on even more, this got nothing to do with last night,”

“Then, why?”

I heard her exhaling loudly on the other side of the line before she replied, “work came up,”

“I’ll drive you to the airport then,” I said, getting up from the couch.

“You don’t need to; I’m already inside the plane as we’re talking,”

I sighed. The guilt was weighing me.

“Hyejin-ah,” I called, in which she answered with a soft hum.

“I’m sorry,”

I then heard a soft feminine voice telling her to end the call and switch the phone off. Guess it was already the time for us to end the call. I was about to mutter a goodbye when I heard she spoke.

“You’re forgiven, but you owe me a super fancy meal for my generosity,” and I did not hesitate even one bit to say yes. That was the last thing that we talked about before she ended the call.

I was about to put the phone away when a notification, or rather a message caught my attention. I hovered my thumb over the screen for a few second, hesitating, before I clicked on it to open the message.

A smile graced upon my lips as I look at the result of my effort sitting on top of the table. I took my phone out and snapped a picture of it, uploading it on my own SNS page with “cooked and dine with love” as the caption.

I put the phone away and untied the lace around my waist and took the blue apron off, throwing it to the counter top that was a few step away.

“Yongsun-ah,” I called in a sing-song manner while walking out of the kitchen, intending to wake the princess up.

My steps halted when I saw her walking out of her room wearing bright red silk pyjamas with the pants folded up to her thigh. Her hair was completely dishevelled and she was seemingly on auto-pilot, with her eyes barely open.

I was leaning onto the wall as I looked at her cute act. But my moment was cut short when she raised both her arms up to the air and did her usual morning stretching, causing the hem of her shirt to hike up; allowing me to have a peek of her toned abs that I never knew existed.

I felt myself heating up, and I was sure that I was definitely blushing when I rushed over to her side. My fingers curled up around the fabric and pulled it down, covering her exposed skin and startling her at the same time.

“Byul!” she exclaimed in shock.

“What are you doing?” she asked, looking down at me.

“Err~ … covering you up?” it sounded more awkward than I had intended to.

Scrunching her face in distaste, she exhaled loudly before slapping my hand away. A red mark was now visible at the back of my hand, but what she had said next hurt me more that her slap did.

“You shouldn’t be here. Wheein is-“

I let out a sigh and hid my hand behind my back before I intercepted, “not coming,”

“What do you mean?”

I casually shrugged my shoulder.

“She texted me earlier this morning to say that she had to fly out of the country for a while,”

“And why would she tell you that instead of me?” she asked, her index pointing at me in an accusing manner, as if what I said was nothing but lies.

I took a few steps forward, standing a few inches away from her before I wrapped my arms around her waist.

“Perhaps because you won’t answer her calls or respond to her text?” I teased, earning a pinch on my arms, one which I could not help but to hiss in pain.

Her fingers curled around my shoulder, attempting to break away from my hold when I tightened my arms around her waist and lifted her off the ground with a grunt.

“Enough of that, I made us breakfast,”

I spun around and made my way to the kitchen with her flailing wildly in my arms. She was as loud as always, spitting out curses, alternating between Korean and Japanese.

“I hate you!” she grumbled as she shot me her “supposed to be” intimidating glare when I finally placed her back on the ground. Chuckling, I pulled the chair out for her like the gentlewoman that I am before I walk around the table and occupied the seat right across from hers.

“And I love you too,” I said, voice dropping a few octaves lower purposely making it huskier than usual.

My lips tugged into a small smirk when she showed the exact reaction that I was aiming for. Her cheeks were flushed with a bright hue of pink, in which she tried to hide behind her palms.

“Yah, stop it! It’s weird,” she shrieked.

“Your reaction is weirder Yongsun-ah. Are you sure you have no feelings for me? Your reaction is telling me otherwise though,”

I was definitely asking for early death that day seeing how good I am in riling Yongsun up. She grabbed the fork next to her plate and threatened to throw it to me.

“Fine, I’ll stop. Just put that damn thing down,” I said, raising my arms up in surrender.

“Behave,” she ordered, in which I responded with a playful salute. It marked the end of our banter, and both of us started eating the pancakes that I’ve prepared.

“How’s your hangover?” she asked after a few moment of silence.

I looked up from my plate and was met with her judging gaze. I sigh, put my fork down and took a sip of my now lukewarm coffee.

“Better,” I put the mug down, “I’m actually getting used to it,”

She scrunched her nose and averted her gaze away from mine. The familiarity of her action sent a jab to my heart. It was her silent protest. She was definitely lecturing me inside of her head.

“Now that you’ve been drinking for months; almost every night if I may add, it’d be such a great wonder if you still haven’t got used to it yet,” she answered cynically and went back to eating.

I pushed my plate aside, my appetite was suddenly gone, and stood up.

“I’m taking my leave first,”

She looked up; eyebrows furrowed and lips pouting.

“But you haven’t finished your food yet,”

“I know,” I said and ruffled her hair in playful manner, “I’m going home to wash up and change my clothe, you should too,”

She raised her eyebrows and tilted her head in confusion, “Why?”

“I’m bringing you out for our second date,” I announced.

“Where are we going?”

I grinned mischievously, “Surprise,” I said before walking away, leaving Yongsun alone.

“Remember to wash your hair, Yongsun-ah. It’s getting smelly!” I shouted before I closed the front door and left the house to go back to my own. I was laughing to myself when I heard a loud thud door and what sounded much like “ you” from the other side of the door; Yongsun must’ve lost her temper back there.

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a/n : Sorry for the long wait, it's just that i've been so busy lately. but no worries, expect another update from me (as an offer of apology) by tuesday the latest ..

P.s. i read each of your comment, i might've stopped replying to your comment but it's just because of my busy self. i really appreciate your effort and time to leave the comments. thank you.