“What?” She turns her head towards the door. “Is this not the right food?” ‘Hey, You...’ You skip over to your phone and look at its screen. You typed in the code and pressed it up to your ear. “Hello?”  There is a lot of background noise. “Da Eun? Is that you?” “Yeah,” you practically yell. “Sorry. It’s very loud out here. Let me see if I can find a better connection” You walk back over to Vanilla and scoot the food over closer to Vanilla. “Can you hear me now?” “Barely.” There is a pause. The background noise fades away. “How about now?” “Perfect.” “Good,” he says with a laugh. You can picture his smile perfectly in your mind. You blush and shake your head until the feeling goes away. “How are you ladies doing?” “Well,” you begin, “We are both alive if that is what you mean. A homeless guy offered me a hot cup of coffee for your place but I turned him down. Your place is worth at least two cups of coffee.” You hear Nick laugh playfully from the other end. “I appreciate it.” “I knew you would.”

“So what are you two up to?” “Well, I am trying to feed Vanilla but she is just not cooperating.” “What is she doing?” “She is just looking at it. I put the dry food in her bowl and the medicine on top.” “Oh..” “Oh?” you ask. “She doesn’t eat the dry food. The doctor said it would be better for her digestion if she had the food in the can. I thought I put that down.” You walk over to the sheet and scan it for notes on food. Your eyes grow wide as you notice a smudge right before the word ‘food.’ At first you thought it said dry but after squinting you realize it did say ‘wet.’ “Okay.” “You got it.” “Yeah, I guess I need to put my contacts in. My glasses are a few years old,” you lied as you scoop up her bowl and pour out the food. “Also, you should put the food in a clean bowl and mix the medicine in with the food so she doesn’t see.” “Okay. No problem.” You lay the bowl in the sink, take out a clean one, pull out the new food, and pour it into the bowl. The food poured out seductively from the can. (Crazy, yes, but true. It even smelled edible.)

You look over for the medicine and realize you just threw what was with the food away. You hit yourself in the head with your free hand before you find the pills and put one from each bottle in the food and mix it. “Are you okay?” “Oh! Sorry. I forgot you were on the phone still.” “I thought so.” “So,” you say walking back over to Vanilla and placing the food down in front of her. She eats it. “How is Jeju?” “It hasn’t changed since the last time I came.” “It isn’t your first time there?” “No, I end up here a lot for vacations. They did add a new water park.” “Exciting. I’m always down for getting a little wet.” You immediately stick your fist in your mouth. Nick bursts into a fit of laughter. “Yeah, I didn’t really mean it that way..” “I know. Thanks. I needed a good laugh for the day. My doctor says it is good for the body and the soul.” “Wise doctor. I’m glad I could be of service. I have to go clean my mouth since I just stuck my foot in it. I’ll talk to you later.” He laughs again; taking a deep breath before answering. “Okay. Bye.” “Bye.” You hang up and put your phone down on the counter.

“Aigoo..” You say as you walk to the couch while hitting yourself in the head. Vanilla walks over and walked in a figure eight around each leg. “I didn’t sound that stupid. Did I, Vanilla?” She purrs again. “I thought you would be on my side. Females have to stick together.” You pull out your medical dictionary (You should be sick of it by now). You jump at the first sound of drills and pounding coming from next door. Vanilla jumps as well. She sits in your lap making it difficult for you to focus. You start to sneeze. You try to think back to when you took your allergy medicine. “Oh..” You stand up, with Vanilla in arms, and walk over to the counter. You try to reach over and grab your medicine but realize you need to put Vanilla down first. You do and take two pills from your medicine bottle. You pick up Vanilla and walk back over to the couch.

You open your medical dictionary again. “Can you say ‘lamella?’” you ask. Vanilla looks almost as if she is rolling her eyes. You run your fingers through her fur and decide it is time to brush her. You refer back to the notes to find where the brush. You recover the brush and return to the couch. “I’m so jealous of your hair right now. What shampoo and conditioner do you use?” you ask moving her face so that she is looking up at you. She gives you a blank look. “I have ways of finding out,” you say defeated as you place her back on your lap and brush her beautiful white fur. After you finish brushing her you clean the brush and return it to where you had found it. “Okay,” you say to yourself, “It is time to study!” You form fists and pull them in towards you. “Hwaiting!”

You spend the rest of the day studying. The workers next door came over a few times to ask a few technical questions. Other than them and the delivery guy, you had little human interaction. You eat your take-out slowly as you flip through the channels on Nick’s tv. There were mostly reruns on. You only watched two dramas and you were up to date on every episode. You heard Vanilla meow approvingly when you landed on Star King. “I guess you like this then.” You took it upon yourself to clean the apartment. There was not much to clean but you thought it best to keep your mess and trash levels at a minimal if not non-existent. It takes you a couple hours to clean. You hummed the new Davichi song as you swept, mopped, dusted, and scrubbed almost every surface in the apartment. While you were cleaning you could not help but snoop through his pictures. The wall around his bed are practically covered in pictures.You finish your night reading the medical dictionary. You decide you will make yourself a pallet on the couch so as to not mess up the bed you had made.

“Sleep well, Vanilla.” You say. Vanilla purrs quietly as she sleeps just a few meters away from you. You are thankful that the  floor repair crew stopped working at eight that night. You were always a light sleeper. You let your mind wander as you tried to get yourself comfortable. The couch was actually big enough for two people. Nick did not say you couldn’t sleep in his bed but you knew it would not be right and that you would be entirely too uncomfortable if you did. That night you did not have a dream. You went to sleep humming the Davichi song that had been stuck in your head the entire day.

You wake up the next morning to the sound of drilling and hammering. “The floor repair crew are at it again,” you say aloud as you try to sit up. You encounter something that prevents you from raising more than twelve centimeters. You open one eye and look down to find Vanilla snuggled up close to you. She had also done this the night before. You have decided that you are some sort of human heater to her. You accept your role if it mean the two of you will get along. You carefully put your hands underneath her. When you do, you feel stitches. ‘Probably from the surgery,’ you think as you move your hands elsewhere and gently lift her up. You place her back down and pull the blanket you had been laying under over her. ‘Hopefully that will score you some points with her.’ You walk over to the kitchen and open the refrigerator. It is filled with Vitamin Water, orange juice, and mostly breakfast foods. You find yourself in the mood to cook. You pull out a few eggs and decide to make omurice. You also find fruits placed in a basket on the island. It only takes you a few minutes to whip up one omurice. You sit at the island satisfied with your concoction.

You flip through your medical dictionary. You are now on the 'p's. You begin reading and five minutes later you feel something furry brush across your foot. You look down and see Vanilla looking at you with seductive eyes. "Good morning," you say as you reach down for her. She backs away and gives you a judgemental look. "What?" You take a closer look at her and realize she is looking at your food. "Sorry," you mumble as you hop up from the stool you were sitting on and head over to the cabinet where her food is. Just as you did yesterday, you mixed a couple of pills into her food. You hoped this time she would not recognize them since you were extra careful in mixing it this time. You set her porcelain bowl filled with the delicious looking feast down in front of her. She sniffs and walks around the bowl a few times before she eats. "Whoo," you say as you wipe the non-existing sweat off of your brow. You smile proud that you have accomplished one of the many tasks listed on the sheet that Nick had written. You had placed it on the refrigerator so you would not lose it. You walk over to the it and re-read the bullets detailing how to care for Vanilla and a few other small chores.

The doorbell rings. This causes you to jump up from the couch, leaving your book lying carelessly on it. You walk towards the door and look through the peep hole. The landlady appears in bug vision in your left eye. You almost jump back from shock. Even through the peep hole you can see that she is wearing way too much makeup. For a second, you considered pretending no one was there. You even spun around before your conscience convinced you otherwise. "Good morning!" She looks at you with one eye so wide open you thought she might have a stye in her left eye. "I did not expect to see you here," she said harshly. It takes you a second to realize what she is assuming has, is, or will happen. "Oh! I'm just house-" "I don't care what you call it now-a-days," she interrupts. "You aren't that old," you remind her. "I am used to seeing guests at Ma Ri's door but I thought you were a good girl. I never would have expected this." You get a sinking feeling in your stomach. "No, I'm just-" She shoves a few envelopes into your hand. "Give this to Nick sometime today." She eyes you down from head to toe before power walking away. You hit your head against the side panel. "Do I have to write it in big black letter on my forehead that I am not dating him!" you mumble/growl as you spin around and slam the door shut.

You walk over to the couch and begin folding the blankets you had used for your pallet. ‘Oh! Hey you neu-ggil su itt-neun geol~’ You unlock your phone and put it to your ear. “What’s up?” “Hey, it’s Nick.” “Hey.” “I’m on a plane back to Busan.” “Wha?!”

You stood awkwardly in the Kimhae airport. You looked at your watch. It was 7:41PM. You stopped by your apartment before you left for the airport and saw the guys still working. Ms. Choi happened to be there  and promised she would watch after your apartment for you. You were grateful to her but she seemed to have been benefiting just as much if not more than you. She really hit it off with the older men, yet she focused mostly on the youngest. You smiled as you recall how flirtatious Ms. Choi was with the men. She was wearing the robe you remember her wearing the night you were with Nick. You were now under the impression that the gown had a special purpose and that was to lure men.  By the end of the day, she was sure to have a husband or a boyfriend at the very least.

You began to walk in circles as you waited for Nick. The woman on the intercom called out many arrivals and departures and a few missing children reports before you heard a friendly voice call you. “Da Eun-ah!” You turn around and there is Nick walking over to you. He is not alone. There is also another guy standing beside him. Both are wearing shades, hats, and baggy clothing. You began to wonder if they were involved in some kind of lucrative business where they had to hide their identities. The guy beside him was very bulky as opposed to the very lanky Nick. Both walked towards you and greeted you warmly. “So this is the neighbor?” the other guy asks Nick. The other guy smiles and introduces himself. “You must be an angel sent from heaven. My neighbors would never do what you did for Nick. Vanilla can be quite the.. difficult cat.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” you reply defensively. “Women are just like cats. We can be a bit complicated but are easily won over by food and shiny things.” The other guy laughs while Nick smiles. “You have a great sense of humor,” the other guy says. “I can see why Nick was in stitches after your last call.” Your face turns bright red. ‘He told them,’ you thought. ‘Well, there’s one other guy I will never get.’ “Really,” you say slowly. “Yeah. Even after your conversation, Nick could not help but laugh. He was practically choking on the water he was drinking after your call. Came up his nose too!” It was Nick’s turn to be embarrassed. “I doubt that.” “No,” his friend tells you, “I swear its the truth.” You guys talk for a while before Nick reminds everyone that it is time for them to leave.

“It was nice meeting you,” you say to the guy who was pulling out his cellphone. “Yeah, same here. We’ll talk later Nick,” he says as he walks away. “So how was the flight?” “The usual. Bad food and bad movies. Thank goodness we landed safely or I would have had to write a complaint.” You smile and chuckle at his attempt for a joke. He smiles back at you. “Sorry. Jet Lag tends to affect my sense of humor. Believe it or not but I am usually funny.” He shrugs his shoulders as you both walk through the automatic doors. “I guess I will have to try harder to make you laugh.”