Saehyun didn’t know how to express her emotions at the current time. The sun shone up above her head was on it mad strike, burning every single being underneath into crisps if possible and dehydrating people like crazy. Once again, Saehyun was here, walking on the Seoul’s ground with her enormous luggage and other bags which were apparently stuffed with foods and unnecessary things that her mother demanded her to bring along before departing. Her watch read 14:30; reminded her that 40 minutes had past ever since she had been wandered aimlessly around the main city.

A small crumbled paper in her hold was written with an address—her supposedly new apartment, and instead of picking up a taxi to go straight to the said place without a hitch, Saehyun chose to search for it herself. She thought that it was the brightest idea to save money but the truth was it was one of the dimmest idea and foolish. Saehyun didn’t know even a bit about the roads and places here; and her little journey turned out worse as she was searching solely based on what the owner of the apartment described on the internet in brisk.

The time ticked away faster when she was oblivious with the surrounding. The deal she made with the owner—Mr. Oh Sehyuk supposedly, was to meet up at the apartment on 3 o’clock sharp to settle down the deposit and retrieving the keys and being late was not the first impression she would want to give. Upon realising that she would really be late if Saehyun kept on wandering without an actual destination, she eventually decided to pick a taxi.

However, her phone vibrated while she was looking for a cab in haste. “Hello? Mr. Oh?” A hoarse voice spoke back, and Saehyun swore the voice was slightly trembling. “Uh, yes hello. Urm, Miss Kim? I’m sorry but I can’t meet you at the apartment. I’ve got urgent things to be settled down today. Can we meet up in a café or something?” Saehyun fidgeted in her seat at the bus stop as she stopped mid-way. “But I don’t know how…” The man in the call cut her off abruptly. “Oh oh right…it’s okay just tell me where you are now?”

∆

Baekhyun woke up with the head ache he slept in and a dozen of missed calls from Chanyeol. The day before, was one of the bad days Baekhyun ever had in his entire single parenting cursed life? His career reputation was considerably worst so far, and there were nothing else to blame other than himself. The night before yesterday, Baekhyun survived the entire night awoke, eyes glued on the computer screen trying to finish as fast as he could, the assignment he was intended to get it done the previous day.  His department head boss didn’t seem to be relished with the excuse he gave the other day so he had no option and excuses anymore to slag this work off.

He was never enjoyed working on this unbelievably low quality but, he couldn’t help it. The reason of why he didn’t complete his works or coming late to office constantly was due to an empty spot of an assistant to manage his family; a wife. Baekhyun thought he could get through this but no. He couldn’t.  The evident of his failure was obvious.

The whole night he put an all-nighter was also because of Yuhan. He would have done the works half the time than he actually done it that night if his baby boy was asleep peacefully without any sudden break out or cries.

Baekhyun grabbed a fistful of his hair when his head felt like it was going to explode. He looked at the clock hanged on the wall and it was already 11 at noon, and he was extremely late for work. Boss is not going to be happy about this.  He begrudgingly picked up his phone and dialled Chanyeol’s number.

“Hey dude, sorry for not informing you earlier but I’m taking a leave today. Not feeling very well.” Baekhyun cut off the call before Chanyeol managed to say anything in respond and threw the device across his bed. He was thinking to continue his peaceful slumber when something dawned upon him. His children. He forgot them since he came back from work yesterday.

With panic attack and still overflowing head ache, Baekhyun rushed out of his room and searched for them in every possible room on the second floor of his double-storey house; which was only four and found nobody. God damn it, where are they? Baekhyun was ultimately panicking and he didn’t know what to do or think. His face was blanched and he swore he didn’t feel his blood flew through his veins anymore. He wasted no more time and hurriedly went downstairs to find the siblings kipping on the living room’s carpet with pillows and thin blankets scattered around them.

Baekhyun breathed heavily in relief upon seeing the scene bestowed upon him however, guiltiness kept rotating in his skull badly (other than the thoughts of how bad he was as a father) neglecting these precious children. He noticed the television was switched on and it was probably never been turned off since last night.

“Hyemi? Hyemi wake up,” Baekhyun slowly engulfing Yuhan in his embrace while trying to stir Hyemi off her sleep.  She was way too late for school at the moment so, Baekhyun had had in mind to pay back all the wrong things he had been doing lately by bringing them somewhere fun today. They were most likely hungry too as Baekhyun didn’t recall himself feeding them dinner last night.

∆

Oh Sehyuk or what Saehyun called ‘baron’ for fun was a bit weird she assumed. Not a bit, but entirely weird. The conversation through facebook chatting room they had over the internet was rather ordinary but when it came to talk in real life, it was the other way round. Mr. Baron sounded like he was scared all the time and continuously spoke in rush. Saehyun doubted the guy and her faith in this dealing thingy was thinning dangerously nonetheless, there was nothing she could about it.

Baron Sehyuk asked for her literal destination and Saehyun told him exactly what he needed to know. “A bus stop in Myeongdong, err the one ahead of a book store called…” Saehyun narrowed her eyes to scrutinise the horrible typographies on the large sign at the top of the bookstore entrance ahead her. “Seutar Bookstore is it?” the baron continued. “How did you…”

“Are you the one who wears maroon shirt and black jeans? Long hair?” Saehyun was almost freaked out. How did he know? Was he a psychic or something? “Yes, yes. How did you…” Saehyun stuttered before someone abruptly patted her on her shoulder from the opposite direction she was looking at.

There was a young man, probably not old than 19 years old stood next to her with simple white shirt and baggy pants, snapback covering most of his blonde-dyed hair. His face was handsome; sharp nose and chin, pale skin with a great lean muscular body too. If it wasn’t because of how shock Saehyun was, she would probably lose all the trust she hold for the deal. There couldn’t be any person this young to be a landlord. However, Saehyun was highly staggered so her brain wasn’t functioning the way it supposed to.

“Mr. Bar- Oh…Oh Sehyuk?” The young man, presumably Oh Sehyuk smiled charmingly. His eyes disappeared into crescent moons and Saehyun fought the urge to just pinch his cheeks due to his adorableness. “Oh yes…I am. Oh Sehyuk, right. Do you bring the money? I mean the, the deposit?”

The situation was awkward. For what it seemed, Oh Sehyuk was really in rush and he actually intended to get their settle done in the bus stop? Seriously? Saehyun’s brain screamed out loud for her to cancel this deal out. She clearly couldn’t trust this young fellow. “Here? Give it to you here? Isn’t it a bit too…public?”

“Yes. I don’t find any problem with that though,” with that, Baron Sehyuk pulled out a bunch of keys from his pocket nervously and threw it over Saehyun to catch.  Even with hesitant boosted all over her body, Saehyun did what Sehyuk asked her to. She grabbed the envelope with the deposit money from her handbag and passed it into Baron Oh’s hand. He grinned and said, “Had fun dealing with you, missy.” Before Saehyun got to say something back, he vanished and she vaguely saw him jogged towards the left side of the junction nearby. Freak.

∆

“1437, 1438, 1439…1444, oh here,” she placed her luggage and other bags against the wall and proceeded to unlock the door. The process took quite a time as there were a lot of keys she ought to learn and she had to try each one of them. Once Saehyun stepped into the apartment, wonderful lavender scent assaulted her nose. Questions sparked inside of her but she deemed to acknowledge them less. Perhaps, the owner of this apartment tended to maintain it properly? Or maybe the owner did a regular maintenance twice a week? However, as she walked deeper into her new home, a thousand of unreliable thoughts and questions began to haunt her.

The house was dust free and cleaned not the way if it was regularly cleaned by someone per week. The feeling in the house was more to the feeling you get when you entered someone’s house. The furniture looked rather expensive and there were numerous of electronic appliances too. Saehyun’s conscience told her that this house was occupied, currently occupied. And the truth been unfold as for the first time, her conscience was right.

There were leftovers on the kitchen table. Leftovers. The food looked fine and not rotten like it was left not more than an hour ago.  Saehyun dropped her bags and luggage. She should have known it. The landlord couldn’t be leaving good furniture and electronic appliances in an unoccupied house. Besides, if she entered the wrong apartment, how could the keys worked? She was perfectly sure the address was right as Saehyun double checked it a hundred of times. So, what was this entire weird situation meant?

“What are you doing in my house?” A voice yelled from behind. Saehyun turned to collide her gaze with a man more than six feet tall; shirtless, only clad in a superman patterned boxer and dishevelled lion crest (hair). To add the worse, he was in rage and his swollen face added the fuel of fear onto Saehyun.

Nonetheless, she didn’t show her dread. She paid for this apartment so it was hers and she had rights to stand up for her property. “No, this is my house. I rented it this noon!” she retorted. “Are you insane missy? I’ve rented this apartment a week ago!”

Both of them stood in silence tensed atmosphere. Saehyun didn’t fancy this. “Oh Sehyuk!” Saehyun shouted and the man glared at her action. “I rented this apartment from a guy named Oh Sehyuk, stupid,” she continued. “Yeah, I rented it from Mr. Oh too, crazy woman.” 

He’s lying! He’s lying! Saehyun screamed in her head. Her mind was shifting with ideas to get this man out of her apartment but none of them seemed pretty legit. So Saehyun came with, “I don’t care! If you won’t get out of my apartment, I’ll call the police!” the common. Surprisingly, Saehyun’s warning didn’t scare the man ahead her. He was instead snickering. “Well, call then! Let’s see who’ll be taking under arrest because THIS IS MY HOUSE!”

Saehyun was speechless and did not know what to do. She decided to glare daggers towards this insane man in front of her but she was the one who got scared from his piercing stare. However, the more she looked at the man, the more familiarity dawned upon her. His sculpture face and blonde hair sparked her memory of someone. Saehyun tried so hard to remember something but she guessed the man had probably knew her too.

“Wait a minute…I think I know who you are,” his slanted Chinese accent when he was speaking refreshed something roughly in her brain. “You’re the not-Germany girl, right?”

It hit her like déjà vu. Kris Wu, the son of her previous company’s CEO who she recalled saying was physically tall and lean, dyed-blonde hair, sharp jawlines, perfect nose and over flowing charisma? She must have missed that because of his swollen sleepy face and undone hair. The sudden realisation also caught her in embarrassment as she remembered back the incident where she choked on a cheesecake at the party.

“I…uhh,” Saehyun lost at words. Admit who she was or deny it? She had no idea. “Yes, it’s really you!” Kris strode closer and grabbed both of Saehyun’s forearms. “Where have you been? I never see you again in the company. Why do you quit?” His expression softened than earlier and he immediately released both of Saehyun’s forearms as he saw the discomfort written on her face and mumbled a soft sorry.

“Umm…long story,” Saehyun took a seat in the living the room at the opposite side from Kris as she said that. Kris nodded in understanding. “Okay, so back to our problem earlier. Are you sure you rent this apartment? I mean you might have been mistaken,” Kris uttered and Saehyun stopped him mid-way. “Yes! I’m really sure I’ve rented this one! Besides, the keys fit and I already paid the deposit.” Saehyun shuffled her feet in nervousness. She really needed to convince Kris as she apparently didn’t have enough money to rent a new one (not really) besides wasting money was not in her favour.

“Tell me about the Mr. Sehyuk you’ve been dealing with.” Kris replied with a serious tone but Saehyun still couldn’t be serious with his seriousness as he was still in his boxer, messy bed hair and swollen face. She was actually trying really hard to bite off her laughter. “He was young, probably not old than 19 year old and…”

“Aha!” Saehyun jumped on his sudden outbreak. “I won. Sorry miss, but I think…you’ve been deceived. Mr Sehyuk was a man in his late forties, so that’s that.” Saehyun should have expected this. The way Baron Oh acted at the bus stop was a sign. It all meant one thing and that would be the fact that she was tricked. The odds would never be in her favours.

She knew she would lose in this silly property’s rights argument (but she still insisted that the apartment was hers), and the reality of how her 190,000 won vanished pointlessly was too difficult to be grasp. She always managed things properly and now that she was actually been deceived after starting her new life in a new place, it was woeful.

Maybe fate had stated that whenever she encountered Kris stunning Wu, it would only be filled with mortification. Despite the situation which needed action promptly, Saehyun just sat there in the couch, feeling helpless and despair. There was a plethora of aching truth she had to face, so instead she…cried. Covering her face with both of her palms, she let it all out, sobbing like the world going to end. Her world was most likely ending anyway. 

Kris who was taken aback due to the weeping woman in front of him, fidgeted in his seat. “Umm, miss?” A louder wail replied him. “Please don’t cry, miss. I’ll call Mr Oh and tell him what’s going on, okay? He might have something to do with this, or you wouldn’t get the right spare keys, yes?” Receiving no other respond, he then dialled Mr Oh’s number.

The conversation between Kris and Mr Oh Sehyuk (the real Oh Sehyuk, perhaps) lasted for a few minutes. After Kris put aside his phone and turned to face Saehyun who had been cooled down, he gave an assuring smile. “Mr Oh said he will solve this matter but…only after he came back from his holiday’s vacation with his family.”

“And that will be when?” Saehyun asked. “After three days. But, don’t worry miss. I’ll pay for your hotel bill, please don’t cry. I am sincerely wanted to help you! Let me book a hotel room for you,” Saehyun felt offended with what Kris had told her. A hotel room? She paid good money for this apartment but this Kris guy was kicking her out of her apartment with what-so-called-nice-treat to pay for her hotel bill. The outrageous flame burned inside of her boiling blood became even more infuriating as she interpret of what Kris had been trying to tell was, that she looked like a homeless pitiful broke woman so he helped to avoid her from sleeping at the bus stop. Which was, not but her ego was bigger than a killer whale.

“No thanks.” She hissed and stomped off to get her luggage and bags from the kitchen. Saehyun assured that she flinched from Kris’ touch on her bags in order to assist her. The 26 year old lady knew she was acting a tad childish but who cares? She was mad. “Miss, are you mad at me? I’m really sorry but…” Kris began to tail after her but halted when Saehyun slammed the main door on his face on her way out.

She is really mad at me, Kris assumed. Rather dumbly.