"Chen! Are you okay?" Hyejin panted into the receiver, breathless although she didn't actually run that far. Gosh, once she stepped out, she realised she didn't even know why she ran out of the restaurant in the first place, since there was no need to. 

 

There was silence at the other end of the receiver. 

 

"Chen?" She asked again, softer this time. She had managed to catch her breath but it had hitched again after the strange no-response. 

 

Still silence. 

 

Hyejin brought the phone away from her face to check if it was the right person that called, then put it back to her ear cautiously. 

 

This time, there was gentle laughter at the other end, but it sounded foreign. 

 

"Hello? Chen?" She bit her lip hesitatingly. 

 

"Who's Chen?" The man on the other end of the line finally asked, and Hyejin furrowed her eyebrows. 

 

"Sorry, who are you?" 

 

"Hey there, it's Byun Baekhyun. Jongdae's friend — we've met before. Who's Chen?" 

 

Hyejin was confused for a moment, then realised no one knew who Chen was besides her and, well, Chen. She had forgotten about this for a moment in her fluster. "Oh, hey, Baekhyun. And sorry, I was asking about Jongdae. Is he okay? Are you with him now?" 

 

There was another laugh — a friendly one. "I'm going to let the whole Chen thing slide although I'm really confused, because someone sure sounds worried." 

 

"Is Jongdae alright? He's really sick, isn't he?" 

 

"Why don't you come check it out for yourself? He's going to be at home. We'll welcome you," he said. "I'm sure he'd love to see you, really." 

 

"Are you at Jongdae's home now?" 

 

"Nope. We're at the hospital. Jongdae's gone off with the doctor, that's why I can make this call," Baekhyun chuckled. "Keep this a secret, though. The jerk will never let me off if he finds out I called you. He'll probably kill me." 

 

Hyejin blinked, then felt her eyes widen considerably. "Wait, did you say h-hospital?" 

 

"Yeah. We're going to Jongdae's house soon though. He's going to be discharged." 

 

Hyejin heard a deep voice in the background — still not Jongdae. He was telling Baekhyun to cut it out or something. "Who are you with?" She asked. 

 

"Chanyeol and Kyungsoo. And we'd really like for you to join us, like the last time when we went to play basketball. So — Jongdae's place after work, okay? See you." 

 

And then the call ended before Hyejin could even ask anything else. She blinked several times at the blank screen of phone. 

 

Just then, her phone's screen lit up and she saw a message notification from Chen's number again. Hurriedly unlocking her phone, she scanned the message. It was an address, presumably Chen's. But it didn't seem right too — didn't Chen say he moved out of his home near Konkuk University Station and into one near Boramnae park? This address was definitely not near Boramnae at all. In fact, if you took the subway, it would go in the opposite direction. 

 

So what was it that Chen was trying to do, taking the subway with Hyejin every day? 

 

But then again, what if it wasn't Chen's address?

 

"Baekhyun said they were going to Chen's home, though…" Hyejin mumbled under her breath, feeling a wave of confusion submerge her completely. "Is Baekhyun a troller too?" 

 

Still, she decided to head back to her office, too busy thinking about someone. She totally forgot she hadn't had her lunch. 

 

 

______________________________

 

 

 

Hyejin stepped out of Konkuk University Station at approximately seven in the evening, feeling terribly lost. Her sense of direction was horrible, and so was her concentration. (She had taken the train going in the opposite direction, back to her home and the station Chen claimed to live near, out of habit and it wasn't until a few stops later that she realised what she was doing.) 

 

Naver Map was now her only weapon against the unknowns. Hyejin was far too awkward to ask people for directions like a normal person, so her one and only way of finding the way to Chen's house was using Naver to give her walking directions to her destination. 

 

She stopped in front of a block of apartments, then hesitantly stood outside the lift doors, wondering if she should give Chen a call before going into his house. Then she was aware of a presence beside her. 

 

"You're here!" The man grinned. "You do remember me, right?" 

 

Hyejin smiled back. "Hello, Chanyeol." 

 

Chanyeol's grin spread wider across his face. "Yay, you do remember me! And I knew you would come. I just went to the mart nearby to get some groceries because Kyungsoo is cooking dinner for us." His eyes drifted down to Hyejin's phone screen which displayed Naver Map's directions. "Got lost?" He cheekily questioned, as the lift doors opened and both of them walked in. 

 

Hyejin hid her phone behind her back, embarrassed. "It's my first time here. What happened to Jongdae, though?" 

 

"Motorbike accident." 

 

Hyejin's eyes widened. "He drives a motorbike?!" 

 

Chanyeol laughed heartily. "No, no. A motorbike crashed into the idiot as he was crossing the road. Jongdae probably forgot to wait for the green light or something." 

 

"Oh my gosh." 

 

He moved closer to Hyejin and whispered to her, "Your face is really pale. Are you that worried?" 

 

"How is he?" She asked just as the lift doors opened. 

 

"We're here! You'll see for yourself."

 

 

 

Chanyeol walked over to the unit furthest from the lift and kicked the door using his foot (his hands were full) several times, calling for someone to open the door. 

 

An irritated Kyungsoo materialised at the door several moments later, grumbling about how long Chanyeol took to buy ingredients but stopping when he noticed Hyejin. His lips spread into a smile and he pulled Hyejin into the house, mouthing to her that Jongdae was inside. 

 

"I knew you would come," Kyungsoo whispered, chuckling softly. "I swear, Jongdae is going to be so happy." 

 

Kyungsoo and Chanyeol led Hyejin to the living room where Baekhyun was and told her to take a seat. Chen's house was different from her expectations, but… she actually liked it. Hyejin honestly thought he would live in some large penthouse unit or something since she was half convinced about the rumours that he was the CEO's son or something, but this house was just a regular apartment unit: compact, cosy, homely. There were small messes around the house but it still looked pretty clean-cut, perhaps because of the black and white interior decor. Hyejin liked Chen's house, she really did. 

 

"Hyejin!" Baekhyun called excitedly, pulling her down onto the squashy sofa. "Haven't seen you in the longest. Jongdae's in the toilet, he should be coming out soon." 

 

As if on cue, a flushing sound was heard, and a door clacked open, before the voice of the man Hyejin came for sounded through the house. 

 

"Are you brewing something, Kyung? I smell jasmines, it smells great." 

 

Hyejin jumped slightly at the sound of his voice although she expected it to be him. Then he appeared in the living room, and stopped walking when he made eye contact with Hyejin. 

 

"Oh gosh, Chen!" Hyejin gasped. Chen's right arm was in a cast, and it looked as if it was pulling him down. For some reason, he also looked pretty haggard — like he hadn't gotten enough sleep or something. Hyejin didn't know what to expect when Baekhyun told her Chen was in the hospital. Everything would come as a shock to her. 

 

And she was worried. 

 

Chen took a few cautious steps towards Hyejin, then started speaking in formal language. "Sorry, who… are you?" He looked confused, and his lip quivered slightly. Then he looked at Baekhyun as if to question him. 

 

Hyejin felt her heart drop. Chanyeol dropped his groceries. Baekhyun shouted so loud it seemed the ceiling would drop as well. 

 

"Kim Jongdae!" Kyungsoo chided, striding up to him and smacking him on his (good) arm. "What in the world are you doing? Drop the act!" 

 

Chen blinked and bit his lip, then started to guffaw uncontrollably. Chanyeol stared at him for a while before realising what had happened. Baekhyun was still confused — Hyejin too. 

 

"T-R-O-L-L-E-D!" Chen suddenly exclaimed, laughing, then went over to Hyejin and slung his good arm around her shoulder. Baekhyun shouted again, sarcastically laughing as he placed a hand over his heart as if he just recovered from the biggest shock of his life. 

 

"This is not the right time, idiot," Kyungsoo scolded again. "Hyejin got scared out of her wits." 

 

Hyejin nodded vigorously, then looked up at Chen's face, which was less than half a metre away from hers. He rubbed her shoulder comfortingly (like he always did in the subway when people jostled them) and grinned. "She's used to these," he said. "I'm her Troll King." 

 

Chanyeol and Baekhyun swooned. Kyungsoo rolled his eyes but let out a smirk anyway. Hyejin was just plain confused at their reactions. Had Chen said anything wrong? It was true that he was her Troll King, wasn't it? 

 

"But seriously, who was the one who told Hyejin about me?" Chen eyed the boys. "She isn't supposed to know I got injured or anything. Oh yeah, and my address! Who gave it to her? Spit it, you guys, I think I just got exposed for something."  

 

"Hey, how come I wasn't supposed to know you were injured?" Hyejin questioned. 

 

"I don't want you to be worried, Jasmine," Chen said in a sudden gentle tone as he ruffled her hair. Hyejin pretended to wince. "So, who was it that told you?" He asked tenderly. Hyejin looked away for a second — it seemed a little wrong to tell.  

 

"Fine, it was Baek," Kyungsoo suddenly exposed, and Baekhyun slapped him on the back, shocked. 

 

"You played a part too!" He indignantly stated. 

 

"All three of you are jerks," Chen pouted, but a smile toyed with his lips. Kyungsoo scoffed. 

 

Walking towards the kitchen, Kyungsoo started to take out ingredients from a plastic bag and checked the vegetables for freshness. 

 

"Anyway, Hyejin, do you want to stay for dinner? We're eating in," Kyungsoo asked next, looking up from his vegetables at Hyejin.

 

"She said yes," Chen said, then covered Hyejin's mouth with his hand to prevent her from saying otherwise. "I'll need someone to feed me, right?" Hyejin's eyes widened. No! 

 

"Oh my god, I am not staying to watch this," Kyungsoo pretended to gag, then tugged on the sleeves of both Chanyeol and Baekhyun. "You guys, come with me after I cook. We're eating dinner somewhere else." 

 

"No, no, no," Hyejin removed Chen's hand from . "Please stay or I'll feel bad. I'm not going to feed him, don't worry." 

 

"Then how am I supposed to eat?" Chen asked huffily. 

 

Chanyeol laughed jovially. "Don't feel bad, Hyejin. Really. Stay if you're able to, okay?" 

 

"But — okay." 

 

"That's more like it," Chen beamed. He looked smaller than her youngest cousin to Hyejin, even though he could easily envelope her if he wanted to. Maybe it was because it was Hyejin's first time seeing Chen in something else other than his work attire, but he looked really cute and small in a casual tee. Maybe it was just his gigantic cast that made him seem small in comparison. 

 

 

 

 

Kyungsoo, Chanyeol and Baekhyun really did leave after they had finished preparing dinner (mostly just Kyungsoo prepping, though — Chanyeol and Baekhyun were both chased out of the kitchen after they had cut the carrots wonkily and ruined the rice five minutes into the preparation time) but not before throwing questionable winks at Chen, which he returned zealously. 

 

Hyejin stood by the table, admiring the dishes Kyungsoo had made. He was a really good chef, she could tell. Just as she was about to take a whiff of the soup he had prepared, Hyejin felt a grip on her wrist that pulled her down onto a seat. Chen was beside her, both corners of his lips curled up. 

 

"Sit beside me, Jasmine," he said, still holding on to Hyejin's wrist. 

 

"Okay, but I'm not going to feed you like you said." 

 

"But I'm the patient here!" Chen whined, pointing at his arm in the cast. 

 

"You can still work your other hand just fine," Hyejin insisted. 

 

"It's my left hand, though. I can't use chopsticks with this." He demonstrated, flinging grains of rice off the table in the process. 

 

"Try," Hyejin persisted, chuckling. 

 

"Hwang Hyejin! I'm your senior!" 

 

She shrugged. "You told us to treat you like a friend on the first day of work." 

 

"Fine, but it hurts..." Chen whined again. Hyejin had never seen this whiny side of Chen before. It was really kinda cute, she had to admit. Wait, but did his arm really hurt? 

 

"Where does it hurt?" She asked, caving in. 

 

"Everywhere! The motorbike crashed into me real hard. If you feed me it'll be better, though." Chen smiled cheerily. 

 

"You really have to be extra-careful with your arm these days. Don't aggravate the injury," Hyejin said, ignoring Chen. 

 

"Isn't that precisely the reason why I'm asking you to feed me? So feed me, Jasmine," he beamed. 

 

"Fine." 

 

Chen sat up straight, like he wasn't expecting the answer. "Really?" 

 

"No," Hyejin said, flustered. She tried to stand up but was pulled down once again by Chen. He sure did have a lot of strength even using just one hand, and his non-dominant one, at that. 

 

"You said yes already," he grinned. "So can I have some soup, Jasmine?" 

 

Red-faced, Hyejin filled a bowl with Kyungsoo's soup and scooped some up in a spoon, before passing the spoon to Chen. He shook his head and pouted. 

 

"It's hot. And I'm going to spill the soup using my left hand so you need to feed me directly." 

 

"Are you a kid?" Hyejin laughed incredulously. 

 

"No, but I'm injured," Chen justified. "Go on, blow on it and feed it to me." 

 

Hyejin sighed, but blew on it anyway, then turned towards Chen and hesitantly aimed the spoon into his wide-open mouth. She couldn't believe she was feeding a man two years older than her just because he was acting like a baby. But babies are cute. 

 

Chen lapped up the soup happily, then beamed at Hyejin. "Kimchi." 

 

"What?" 

 

"Can I have some kimchi?" 

 

Hyejin's eyes locked with Chen's for a split second, and after that she turned her back towards him, chuckling. Before he could fit the right words into his mouth for her to turn back, her eyes met with his again, and in her hand was a pair of chopsticks laden with kimchi, ready to be aimed into his mouth. 

 

 

"Thank you, Hyejin," Chen suddenly said after being fed, looking as if the sky had swirled into shads of purples and pinks just for him — blissful. He stared straight at Hyejin, taking in the grace of her movement, every small freckle on her face, and... And... The fact that she was close enough for him to lean forward and kiss her. 

 

"Oh, yeah, no problem," she smiled. Chen could smell nothing but the lingering scent of jasmine. 

 

"You look so pretty up close." 

 

Hyejin tried to bite back her slight bewilderment — that was adorable. And her widening eyes? Adorable too. 

 

"C-Can I ask you something?" She stuttered. Chen knew this particular stutter — it was only used whenever she was caught a situation she found awkward. He let his smile turn warm.  

 

"Sure." 

 

"Is this your house?" 

 

"Where else would this be?" 

 

"I don't know, you told me you lived in Boramae," she said slowly. 

 

Chen cocked his head thoughtfully, still staring at Hyejin. "Ah, so that's what you're curious about. Why I take the subway with you although my house is in the opposite direction?" 

 

She haltingly nodded. 

 

"Promise you won't spend the night thinking about it. I don't want you to lose sleep." 

 

"Alright." 

 

"I didn't like the idea of you going home alone. And I'd missed you the moment you stepped out of the office."  

 

 

 

Hyejin internally screamed. What was this? She tried to clench her shaky hands into fists but the perspiration in them seemed to be pooling. For some reason, she couldn't take her gaze off Chen although she would have normally in a situation like this. Hyejin felt herself vaporising and for a moment she imagined herself disappearing into a cloudy mist. And her heart — thump, thump, thump — pounded against her chest as if it was begging to be let out. 

 

"You're thinking about it, aren't you?" Chen said, eyeing her inconspicuously. "I knew you would be contemplating it. I should've told you another day — now you won't be able to sleep." 

 

"N-No, I'm not. Y-You flatter yourself." 

 

"And you're stuttering," he pointed out, leaning in. "It's cute." 

 

Hyejin had never internally screamed so much in a day. 

 

______________________________________

 

 

The next morning, Jongdae waited at the subway station nearest Hyejin's house. He knew he shouldn't actually be going back to work that fast and that he hadn't recuperated enough, but he wanted to — after all, he had loads to complete after missing a day, he was sure. 

 

The reason why he was there was because he had phoned Chanyeol the moment Hyejin left his house the previous night. 

 

"Yeol. Desperate here, but how do you go about trying to woo someone?" Jongdae's voice lunged through the receiver. He balanced the phone in between his shoulder and his ear while trying to manoeuvre his clothes into his drawers with only one hand. 

 

"Wow, Kim Jongdae. You've just been in a car accident and the first thing you worry about is that. You're smitten, I tell you. Hey, but honestly I can very much see why. Hyejin is super awe—" 

 

"Idiot, stop going off-topic." 

 

"But why are you asking me? Ask Baek or Kyungsoo." Chanyeol had whined. Jongdae knew he had woken Chanyeol up — he wouldn't be this grumpy otherwise. 

 

"Because you're the only one out of the four of us that has experience with girls? I mean, none of us have been in a relationship but you have an older sister." 

 

"And what is the relation? I don't even see Yoora much nowadays because of her newscaster job." 

 

"You can ask her!" Jongdae pleaded. He heard a grunt on the other end of the line, then a little bit of shouting across rooms, before Chanyeol came back onto the line. 

 

"My sister says to drive her to work." 

 

"But my arm–" 

 

"She says the fact that you specially would go to her house in the morning just to accompany her is romantic." 

 

Jongdae considered this. "Really?" 

 

"Yes, Kim Jongdae. Talk to you tomor—" And the line went dead. Chanyeol must have tossed his phone to the other side of the room just so that he could sleep again. But Chanyeol was a lifesaver — Jongdae knew what he should do the next morning. 

 

 

He watched as the morning crowd of people bustled in and out of the station, and looked carefully for Hyejin in the midst of them. He was probably too caught up in it that he hadn't even realised when two college-aged girls materialised in front of him, fiddling with their hair and skirts, and adjusting their school sweater. 

 

"Do you… need anything?" He smiled, being as cordial as possible, though he was slightly confused. Jongdae was considerably fresh out of college as well, but he was sure it wasn't that they mistook him for a college mate — he was wearing his office pass. 

 

 "You look injured, do you need someone to hold your stuff for you?" The girl in a pink beanie meekly said, gesturing at his briefcase. 

 

"I think we're going in the same direction. We can help you," the other girl, who had curled her hair into a bun, chirped. 

 

Jongdae was surprised and still confused, but he continued smiling anyway. "Thanks so much, but it's fine. I can still use my left arm." 

 

The girl with the bun giggled and hit Jongdae on the chest teasingly. "We're in no rush. Let's go together." She reached for his bag but he held it back instinctively, going slightly red-faced. 

 

Beanie Girl nodded and gave the same high-pitched giggle. "By the way, has anyone told you that you look really good in a suit?" 

 

Ah. Jongdae knew what they were trying to do now. He and the trio had encountered enough of those in college, when people from middle and high school claimed 'puberty hit them like a truck'. Especially Chanyeol — he was flooded with girls flirting with him all the time ever since he had joined the college's volleyball team. Not that they were popular or whatever, but they knew they were sought after by some girls. 

 

And these girls flirted openly with them, just like what was happening now to Jongdae. 

 

"You look really cool and professional. Just my type of guy, you know?" Beanie Girl continued, then turned to her friend and giggled (again). Jongdae found himself stuck onto the wall when they had inched forward, one of them lightly his cast. He secretly hoped they'd be more rough so he would have an excuse — the pain — to get the girl off him but they were being too gentle for the lie to be believable. 

 

"What's your name, handsome?" The girl with the bun asked. He gulped. 

 

"I'm Kim Jong…in," Jongdae lied, not wanting to reveal his real name to people he had just met for the first time. Especially not them. 

 

"Jongin. That's a nice name." He knew the dreamy look in the girls' eyes and the twirling of their loose strands of hair. This was bad. 

 

"Yeah." Jongdae glanced left and right, eager to find a way out. That was when his eyes espied Hyejin, rubbing her eyes as she made her way through the crowd. She looked up from her phone, and made eye contact with Jongdae, then stopped in her tracks and blinked several times, as if she was confirming if it was really him there. 

 

He grinned, relieved and happy, and subtly gestured her over. 

 

"Jasmine!" He made a point to shout out happily, and both girls whipped their heads around simultaneously, before turning back to observe Jongdae once again. 

 

 "Why are you here? You should be resting at home! Your arm…" Hyejin nagged, but Jongdae managed to pry out the concern in her voice. Cute, he thought. 

 

"To accompany you to work, what else?" He asked, putting down his briefcase and using his hand to wave Hyejin nearer. He could feel the girls' gazes on him. 

 

"Are you… attached?" The girl in the bun suddenly asked, wide-eyed. Hyejin looked at the two girls, then at Jongdae questioningly. 

 

"Am I attached?" Jongdae directed the question to Hyejin, who stared at him. 

 

"What are you talking about?" She awkwardly laughed. Jongdae knew she felt uncomfortable with the two girls constantly eyeing her. She also probably felt just as confused as he was when the two girls first approached him. Poor baby. 

 

"Well, girls, as a matter of fact, yeah, I am," Jongdae proclaimed as he enveloped a shocked Hyejin into his left arm. "She's my wife." 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[a/n: okaaaayyy i think i need to explain myself: i actually wrote the entirety of this fic last year haha and i feel actually embarrassed reading it now because i feel it isn’t up to standard oops but i’m still uploading it bc i spent a whole lot of time on this and not uploading it seems like a bit of a waste. so yea haha thanks still for reading and commenting! :””)]