…Pororo.” I spat.

Like the rapidly changing weather outside, Suho’s expressive brown orbs shifted from their previously narrowed aggression to a wide-eyed, knitted-brow look of shocked fury. A look that left me chilled so thoroughly to the bone that it shocked even me to realize that it was Suho who had been drenched by the freezing rain – not me. Abruptly, Suho dropped my wrist in a way that suggested that I had turned into some sort of noxious slime right before his eyes.

His voice was as cold as the rain, but lacked all of its earlier fury – his words came out as little more than a raw whisper. But his eyes were livid with a shocking intensity.

“Where the hell did you hear about Pororo?”

Huh? What kind of question was that…who doesn’t know about Pororo – it’s only the most popular children’s television show around? I could feel my face flushing under Suho’s serene scrutiny as I scrambled to understand what in the world he was talking about.

Eerily calm, he crossed his arms tidily across his chest and scanned me over with a bitter grimace. I felt the needle pricks of tears in my eyes as I realized how thoroughly disgusting I was to him. In that one act of arm-crossing he had put up a physical blockade between us – reminding me of my many shortcomings. I would never be a star student like him, my parents would never be proud of me, they would obviously reject my ambitions of attending pastry school, and I would be stuck in this unfulfilling rut for the rest of my sad little life.  Not to mention, I was doomed to lose my temper and continue to distance myself from the girl I wanted to be as long as this player-kingka with a fairytale perfect life was in the picture. I needed to get him out of my life…and fast.

I cold feel his cold, intense eyes boring into my downcast eyes, heat rose to my face without my knowing why. I couldn’t help but to feel a knot of guilt rising in my stomach as I thought about how mean I had been to him and how hurt he had looked when I brought up Seo Nana – maybe his life wasn’t as perfect as I had thought.*Sigh* Okay, okay, conscience I get it! I needed to apologize for my behavior (or at least attempt to :P). Ugh! Hong Eunmi, how do you keep letting this jerk get you into such crappy situations?! This crap isn’t worth blowing up the plans you’ve been working towards all day. So just…ugh…apologize to this guy and let’s move on with our business. Unfortunately this was going to be one of those “easier said than done” situations: I could already feel it. If there was one thing in this universe that I hated more than diet foods and Greek yogurt, it was apologizing. I took a deep breath and tried to subtly wipe away the tears that had pooled up in my eyes. Pretending to be suddenly fascinated with the pattern of the carpet (and conveniently refusing to meet this jerk’s unpredictable eyes kekeke) I began…

“Listen, Suho-ssi. I…uh…I…um… …….Ishouldn’thaveblownupatyoulikethat …and….IguessI’m…s-s-sorry. Ok?” I scrunched up my face in a wince, waiting for his response.

Silence.

Not just silence…but a silence so thick I was almost certain I could hear the microscopic dust mites in the carpet building up a civilization of dust. Alright, I get it if he’s mad – but this is just way too much! You don’t just ignore someone when they’re clearly doing their best to apologize to you. Man! This guy really knows how to push all of my buttons garrr….Breathe. Breathe, Hong Eunmi. Let’st take one more go at being civil.

“Hey, Suho, you clearly don’t bring out the best in me ok?  I’m not usually like this to anyone. And you caught me on a really bad day at a really bad time…and you just barged your way right into my life and into my house. So yeah, I get it if you’re upset with me. I do. But I’d say I have just as much right – actually, even more right – to be thoroughly pissed at you right now. So, how about you just take your phone and leave. And let’s just agree to never associate again, deal?”

Silence.

That’s the final straw! Rolling my eyes in disbelief and still refusing to look Suho in the face, I huffed my bangs out of my face and screamed:

“YAH! Kim Suho, that does it!! Do you really think you can just---“ It wasn’t until I looked up, mid-scream,  that I realized Kim Suho wasn’t ignoring me on purpose. His cheeks were glowing a bright red and he was hugging himself as he shivered violently. Crap! Is he ok?! Without even thinking, my hand shot up to Suho’s forehead. He was scalding hot. He was definitely getting a fever. Since I am the daughter of one of Seoul’s leading surgeons, I know how to monitor vital stats and check for a simple fever. So my next instinct was to grab his wrist to check his pulse. No sooner had I encircled his wrist with my fingers than I felt a shove on my shoulder. I looked up, puzzled, only to be met with Suho’s hazy eyes just centimeters from my own. My throat went dry and I gulped audibly – I had been so worried about checking Suho’s condition that I hadn’t stopped to think about how close I had gotten to him physically. He was even more attractive up close – his jaw masculine-ly sculpted, his nose sharp, his skin smooth as a perfect crème fraiche, and his eyes…

“What do you think you’re doing right now, Eunmi-ah?” Suho mumbled thickly as he weakly shoved me away. Eunmi-ah? Ok. There’s definitely something wrong with him right now.

“Suho-ssi, I think you’re running a fever. I need to check your temperature and get you something warm to drink. And you should probably get out of those sopping clothes.” I put my hands on my hips in an attempt to demonstrate my authority.

“Are you crazy? You think I’m going to let an imbecile like you play doctor on me. Nuh-uh. No way. Just toss me my phone and let me get out of here.” Suho stood shakily, clearly on the verge of falling over. God! Even sick and close to fainting this guy musters up the strength to piss me off! I swallowed my anger like bitter medicine and took Suho’s arm to stabilize him.

“Believe me, I’d like that as much as you would – but I can’t just let you walk out of here without a fever without helping you.” I began to march Suho to the kitchen – he was to tired to resist and shuffled along like a moody toddler.

“I…I don’t understand. Why are you helping me if you never want to see me again?” Suho’s voice was husky and slow. The sound of it sent shivers down my spine – why was I helping him, anyway? Quickly I thought up an excuse.

“Well, it’s not like a prince like you would bother paying attention to the “little people” in our class. But I happen to be the daughter of Hong SeungTae – the Doctor Hong SeungTae. I can’t let it get out that someone left our house sicker than they came – the medical journals would have a field day with that.”  I blurted. I didn’t like telling people that my dad was one of the most famous neuro-surgeons in Seoul – but it seems this Suho jerk had me doing all kinds of crazy things lately.

I sat Suho down in a chair, forcefully, and draped a blanket over his shoulders. He looked up at me with the glowing eyes of a child who had just been shown a magic trick. How on earth does this guy have such a range of faces? One minute he looks as intimidating and mature as an emperor and the next minute he’s looking like some lost child. What the heck?!

“Doctor Hong – the Doctor Hong – he’s…he’s your father? Hah! I guess sometimes the apple does fall far from the tree. How did he manage to have a daughter like y---“ I shoved a thermometer in Suho’s mouth before he could piss me off any more. I looked to the side and sighed, waiting for the temperature to take.

“I’m sure he asks himself the same question every day” I mumbled. If there was one thing I really didn’t want to do right now – it was thinking about how I would never live up to my father’s dream of me becoming a surgeon just like him. For about the billionth time today I felt hot tears welling up in my eyes. Not wanting to let Suho see me cry, I turned to go put some tea on to boil when I felt something tug at my wrist.

Suho spun me around and before I knew what was happening I had crashed into his arms.

“What the heck?! Kim Suho – let me go!” I squealed in a panic.

Suho’s eyes were as warm and inviting as a cup of hot chocolate as he searched my face and…. Collapsed on top of me.

Could this day get any more complicated?!