“Thank you for accompanying me ‘til now, hm? Aigoo, you’re so sweet.”

Anna gave me a bear hug as soon as we stepped out of the counter. Believe it or not, I lasted until 4AM here. My body eventually gave in and I had to tell her. Three more hours before Sunhee Unni goes to work anyway so it should be fine for her to be alone in those remaining hours. Honestly, I thought I accompany her only until midnight but surprisingly, Anna was so talkative that it kept me awake for a while. She’s so good at graveyard shift though, I can’t see any exhaustion in her face, or at least she’s good at hiding it.

I have never felt my eyelids this heavy before, I swear to god.

“It’s okay. That was something, I actually feel great that I lasted that much but I don’t think I’m for graveyard shift, my body’s going to explode.” I chuckle as I rub her arm for comfort. “Nah, you’ll be fine. Anyway, just take a rest now. It’s Friday anyway, it’s not that busy in your area.” She assures me. Hell yeah. Busy or not, I’m going to take my sweet- time to sleep, alright. “Bye bye.” I bid goodbye with this silly girl before finally walking out of the lobby. I crack my neck from side to side as I walk groggily. “Ugh, my back.” I muffle and massage my lower back.

I was sitting down almost the whole time I was there.

Not a good thing at all times.

I arrive home with Kyungsoo already in the kitchen. Ah. It’s already work time for him. I stand up straight and fix my hair before entering. The faint sound my feet made caused him to look. “H-hey.” I hesitantly greeted. After everything that happened yesterday, we haven’t interacted yet. I guess it was really a busy day for him yesterday. “Oh, hi.” He greeted back before looking back down to the eggs he’s frying. My shoulders fell in disappointment at his rather brief greetings.

There’s not even a ‘Good job on surviving the graveyard shift.’ Or even like a simple ‘You take a good rest now.’

Is he sick?

“Are you going out to work soon?” I ask and walk over to the table. I didn’t sit, I just stayed there behind a chair while holding on the back of it. “Hm, yes. I have to. I already adjusted your shift in the employee book for today, you go take this day off. Thanks for helping out Anna, by the way.” He replied while placing his food on a plate. I don’t know what’s wrong. He doesn’t sound mad or anything but it’s just. . . off? We were TOTALLY fine yesterday as far as I could remember. I gulp. He hasn’t looked into my eyes for more than three seconds since I came in.

I am freaking out inside.

Did something happen?

Did. . . he find out about something that he shouldn’t?

Oh my god. “Are you okay? I finally manage to ask while clearing my throat. “Oh, yes. Of course, just a little bit sleepy, still. Don’t worry about me.” He chuckled but he still didn’t look back. He looks bothered and that bothers me even more. “D-did. . . I cause any trouble at work yesterday? Did I leave off a workload in the kids’ camp? I can still go to work today if I have to fix it.” I try to come up with another question. No matter how tired I am right now, I don’t think I will be able to sleep until I know what’s bothering him. “No no no, it’s okay. Uh—” He placed the plate on the table and sat down across on the chair just right across me. “—I honestly still don’t know how I’ll deal with this but I’m just. . . trying to fix some stuff. Just some unimportant stuff I have to deal with.” I hear the genuine attempt on his tone to make me feel better but that didn’t help. “Like?” I ask, not giving up. He broke into a worn-out chuckle while rubbing his neck.

“Okay, uh—” He clears his throat. “—I’m going to be honest, the two of us are still on the stage of getting to know each other and basically, just. . . starting to enter something real, you know? Believe me, I want it to go there soon and you know I’m never afraid to show that, right?” He started blurting out stuff about us. “Uh-huh, okay. Why don’t you just get to the point?” I ask, not hiding my irritation anymore. I don’t feel good anymore. “I am. I just want to explain what is going on between us before I say it. Because I don’t want you to get the wrong. . . I mean I don’t want you to misunderstand things and at the same time question our current status, or where you stand in this situation. Right off the bat, you stand right beside me, okay?” He replied and finally, he was staring right into my eyes.

He looks more relaxed now.

“Okay, can you please just. . . tell me now? Because you’re freaking me out.” I ask. Despite my heavy eyelids, I kept a straight face while rubbing my arm. “No no, there’s nothing to freak out about. All this time, I’m just worried about you and your say on this.” He defended right away. I sigh heavily while massaging my temples. “Okay okay, fine. Just. . . say it now for God’s sake.” I groan.

“Okay. . . yesterday I got a call from an old friend. Or. . . I mean ex-girlfriend.”

As soon as he said that last word, my eyebrows lift by themselves as I look at him judgingly. “Ugh, I knew you were going to react like this.” He suddenly groaned and to my surprised bumped his head right down the table. “N-no, I don’t care.” I shrug my shoulders while I run my fingers through my hair. I am pissed at the mention of an ex-girlfriend but at the same time, I’m quite amused at how bothered and worried he is to tell me like. . . we’re officially dating.

He lifted his head again and cleared his throat. “Oh really?” he chuckled while folding his arms. “Yeah.” I briefly answer while giving him a prideful look. I’m not going to show any emotions right now. “It’s Lee Seul.” He revealed, responding with the same look but his is a little milder than mine, of course. “Yeah.” I, again, reply the same. “Okay, well. . . I guess everything’s cool with you so I don’t need to tell you the details. Fine by me.” He nonchalantly replied before standing up. He started walking to the door, I could hear him wearing his farm boots. He didn’t even touch his food.

I clench my fist.

“That’s good to know, I guess I worried the whole night for nothing.” He chuckled. I take in a deep breath to supress myself from giving in. You are not giving in Han Iseul, there is nothing to worry about. At the same time, you don’t want to act like an obsessed girlfriend when in the first place, YOU’RE NOT EVEN HIS GIRLFRIEND YET.

I turn my head to the side and from my peripheral view I see him walking out.

This son of a , he won’t really tell me the details unless I ask for it?!

“You’re tired, you’re going to go to the room and sleep.” I hush to myself while breathing heavily. “You don’t car—oh it.” I groan as I hear the other side of my head say “Get the out of there and interrogate like an obsessive girlfriend!’ to me. I stomp my feet to the door to follow him out but just as I took my first step out of the door, I see him standing right beside it. He’s leaning on the wall while twirling his hat on his index finger.

“Good record, you lasted for thirty-five seconds. I counted.” He teased making me groan at him. He smiled and turned his body to face me but kept leaning on the wall sideways. I just stand there while glaring at him. “Okay, so she phoned me yest—no, that’s a lie, not on my phone. I mean she called the camp’s work landli