The city around you was buzzing with noise. Cars zoomed passed, horns blaring and honking. Motorcycles roared and spluttered, weaving between traffic and swerving dangerously around street corners. Crowds of people waited at crosslights. A bus roared to the side to park temporarily at the bus stop to allow a few people on. Tall skyscrapers loomed over both sides of the street. Girls donning work uniforms hollered at the top of their lungs the newest sales and invited passerbys to come in and take a look. Fashionable girls in minis and heels and golden blonde dyed hair strutted hand-in-hand alongside their boyfriends . Crippled old men laid on their sides on the ground with a makeshift cardboard sign asking for money. Then there was you. One hand holding a small duffel bag with your belongings, the other holding a map, which you couldn't understand anyway. It was 8:00 a.m. and your eyes were still trying to blink sleep away. Your hair wasn't dyed, you wore a plain white v-neck, torn jeans and sneakers. And when you walked past, heaving your bag along, sales girls gave one condescending look at you and turned their heads away, noses upturned. But it didn't bother you because you were officially eighteen, an independent adult.

I'm eighteen years old and I left home and I'm looking for a home and job here in the beautiful city of Seoul because I am awesome, you repeated to yourself and you put on a determined face and continued on. After eight seconds of strutting with confidence, you sighed and collapsed on a nearby side concrete doorstep.

Who am I kidding, you moaned inwardly. I'm so lost. I'm never going to make a living here. What am I supposed to do first? Rent an apartment? Where do I even look for a job?

Suddenly, the door that you were resting in front of swung open and someone walked out yelling behind his shoulder, "Arraso Umma, I'm gonna tape it up right now." Noticing you, he took a step back with surprise, then glared at you suspiciously, eyebrows raised. "We don't feed hobos here."

Whoa there, you thought. I don't look THAT bad , do I?

"I'm not a hobo. Can't I just sit here?" you shot back, annoyed.

The guy looked at you and scoffed before stepping around you and proceeded to tape a piece of paper on the window. You realized  how slender he was, and how big his eyes were. His eyebrows were slightly furrowed. His hair was perfect; tousled and curly. He was very attractive. You felt your heart skip a beat.

You strained to read the paper that the boy was taping on the window. It read, "Lu's Café: Seoul's Best Chinese Food - Now Hiring" You stood up in a jolt and exclaimed to the boy, "I would like the job! Please."

He looked you up and down, smiled and said, "We don't hire hobos."

"Grrr! I. Am. Not. A. Hobo," you spluttered angrily through gritted teeth. "Come on, I'm a good worker! I promise! I'm great at food stuff! I can cook lots of things like... Instant ramen! And uhh... Cup noodles! And also... Frozen dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets that you throw in the oven?" You smiled hopefully at the guy.

The disgust on his face deepened. "Are you crazy? This is a Chinese restaurant. Not a college dorm. And we're not hiring cooks. My umma and appa are the cooks. What we're looking for is a waiter or waitress." He made his way back inside but as he turned, you noticed his name tag which read, "Luhan".

You gathered your stuff and followed him inside the café. You clasped your hands together while pleading, "Please Luhan, sir. Hire me."

The inside of the café had a cheery atmosphere. The walls were a soft vanilla color and the tables and booths were baby pink. A plump lady was sitting comfortably at the front counter; head propped up by an elbow, while watching a drama that was playing on TV. Noticing you following her son Luhan in, she looked up and exclaimed, "Luhan, you found someone already? Perfect! Now we have a waiter AND a waitress! Oh perfect!" Mrs. Lu was a bubbly hyper fat woman who always wore a wide smile on her chubby face. She rushed over to you and grabbed you by the hand. "Let me show you the workers' living quarters. It's on the second floor. First floor is the café, of course; third floor is where my family and I stay. We’re open Monday to Sunday. So you’ll be working all week and you’ll be paid $8 an hour. We serve lunch and dinner. We open at 11 a.m. and close at 10 p.m. but you get a two-hour break. Arasseo?  Perfect! What's your name?" You told her, feeling extremely bewildered. "Your name is Yoomi? Nice to meet you! I'm Mrs. Lu. Now follow me, Yoomi, let me show you your room."

You were about to follow her dumbfounded when Luhan interrupted, horrified, "Umma! Are you crazy? You didn't even interview her and you're giving her the job? Look at her! She might rob us for all we know!"

"Hush you," his mother said sternly. "I have instincts and my instincts tell me this poor sweet girl is a good worker and will make a perfect addition to our big happy staff."

"Big? Aside from you, me, appa, and Chen, there are no other workers." Luhan stated flatly.

"Details, details." Mrs. Lu waved him away and started up the stairs, beckoning me to follow.

Luhan looked aghast but sighed and started wiping down tabletops with a towel. You had a feeling he wasn't fond of you.

Mrs. Lu led you upstairs and showed you the second floor which consisted of a small bathroom, a tiny living room with a TV and a sofa, and a small bedroom with a bunk bed and a little wooden desk inside. "Here is an apron, your work uniform.” Suddenly, the telephone rang downstairs. “IS THAT THE PHONE RINGING, LUHAN? IT MIGHT BE THE CHICKEN FACTORY! I ORDERED FIFTEEN POUNDS OF CHICKEN S YESTERDAY." Mrs. Lu huffed and puffed away, leaving you alone upstairs with a waitress apron.

Wow, I can't believe this. This is almost too good to be true! I get a job and a temporary home. Woot woot! Luhan is kind of scary though. Oh well. I better go put my stuff down in the bedroom, you thought.

The bedroom was unlit and pitch-black. As you walked inside, you switched on the light, and suddenly, there was a deafening roar and a loud THUNK.

"RAWRRRGRRRRRUUURGHH"

You squeaked in shock and turned to see someone on the floor next to the bunk bed with their arms flailing widely around and their legs trying to kick off tangled blankets.

"Ughasdfghjkl", the person spluttered and when he finally got rid of his blankets, you found yourself facing an extremely angry guy, shielding half-open eyes with a hand. "WHAT THE HECK, LADY. WHO IN THE WORLD TURNS ON THE LIGHT WHEN SOMEONE IS SLEEPING?!"

Then seeing you, his eyes softened and you admired his thick eyebrows and face. "Oh. Oops. Sorry, haha. I thought you were Mrs. Lu. She likes to turn on the light while I'm getting my beauty sleep," he said, running a hand through his hair. "Are you a new worker? My name is Chen."

You bowed. "Annyeong, my name is Yoomi. Sorry about that. I didn't know anyone was in the room."

He got up off the floor and started stripping off his pajama top and putting on a tee. You looked away quickly but not before you caught a glimpse of his slim figure.

You tried to make conversation with your co-worker. “So you’re Chinese too? I guess I’m the only Korean working here haha.”

“Nope, I’m Korean. The Lu’s hired me because my name makes this place seem more authentic.” Chen winked.

You started putting your stuff on the vacant top bunk when suddenly Chen walked over to you and bent towards you until his face was a centimeter away from your face. He stared deep into your eyes and you froze in an awkward position.

“Uhhhhh, what are you doing, Chen?” You asked, feeling weirded out.

Chen stared at you. Then he tapped your nose with his finger, straightened himself, and started walking towards the stairs while throwing on a work apron.

“You’re cute, Yoomi,” he yelled over his shoulder and disappeared downstairs.

You felt your cheeks getting red then shook your head quickly. You didn’t know what to think of your extremely random co-worker.

You changed into fresh clothing, a white fitted tank top and denim shorts, and tied your apron around yourself then hurried after Chen.

It wasn’t too bad getting the hang of being a waitress at Lu's Café. You were in charge of seating customers, getting drinks, taking customer orders, getting the food to the customers, and clearing up and cleaning tables. You worked lunch and dinner and got a break in between. Mrs. and Mr. Lu were fair and honorable bosses and you were always paid on time. During your free time, you mostly stayed on the second floor where you wrote in your journal, wrote letters back home, or surfed the web or watched dramas to kill time. Sometimes, late at night, you would go out exploring Seoul’s night life.

Mr. and Mrs. Lu were amazing chefs and they made three meals a day for the staff. You often found yourself sitting between Luhan and Chen with chopsticks in one hand and a bowl of rice in the other.

Luhan seemed to completely utterly hate you. He criticized you and lectured you and made fun of you.

“What’s wrong with you, hobo? Are you stupid? That’s the third time you broke a plate.  I’m going to tell my Umma to take it out on your salary.” Luhan spat.

“I’m sorry, geez! I’ll try to be more careful.” You bowed and tried to hide the frustrated tears coming to your eyes.

Why am I so clumsy and why is he so pretty but so rude, you thought angrily.

Suddenly, you felt arms slip around your waist and Chen whispered in your ear, “Ignore Luhan. I’ve known him for a long time. He always acts irritated around pretty girls.”

You half smiled half grimaced and wriggled out of Chen’s grasp. “Uhh thanks Chen.” Chen was extremely touchy. He loved skinship and all its touchy-feely-ness. But maybe it was just your imagination, but he always seemed to want to hug you or put his arms around you, etc.

It was your two-hour break and you were relaxing on the sofa in the living room on the second floor. Your calves and feet were sore from waiting on tables and you were lightly pounding them with your fists. A talkshow/gameshow thing was playing on TV but your brain was focused on something else: Luhan.

Why does he hate me so much? Why is he such a jerk? What did I ever do to him? Why is he so handsome? Hmph, you pondered.

All of a sudden, a gigantic weight crashed down upon you and you felt the breath knocked out of you. You tried to scream and push the body off you but it was just too heavy.

“Chen, get off the hobo. You look like you’re harassing her.” You heard Luhan’s voice.

“Hahaha,” Chen gave you a bear hug and got off you. You were laying flat on your back on the sofa and you glared at Chen and threw a sofa pillow at him.

“What the heck was that for, Chen???!” You tried to kick him.

“Relax, Yoomi, you like my hugs, don’t you?” Chen threw the pillow back at you and you smacked him on the with the sofa cushion. Both of you ended up pillow-fighting. You didn’t notice but Luhan was still standing in the back, leaning against the wall, observing you.

One morning, Mrs. and Mr. Lu announced during a staff meeting that they would be going back to China for two weeks to visit Mr. Lu’s elderly parents.

“Though Lu's Café will be closed for these two weeks, Luhan will still be staying here to watch over everything and keep everything in tip-top shape! What about Chen and Yoomi? Will you guys be going home to your family or staying here?” Mrs. Lu asked chirpily.

“I’ll be staying,” you said. Scary Luhan for two weeks? Yay me, you muttered glumly to yourself.

Chen ran a hand through his hair and stared at you. “I wish I wasn’t, but I’ll be going back to see my umma and appa.”

The day Mr. and Mrs. Lu and Chen left, Luhan and you stood in front of the café and waved until their taxi was well gone and off towards the airport. Before Chen left, he had given you a hug and a quick kiss on the forehead which made your head heart beat like crazy and made your face turn tomato red.

“Here’s my number,” Chen said typing his number on your phone. “I’ll be waiting for a call. See you in two weeks, Yoomi~” Then he was gone. You felt somewhat sad and lonely now that Chen was gone. How were you going to face the beautiful yet evil Luhan alone?

It was just you and Luhan. Luhan opened the door with a constipated expression and growled, “Well don’t just stand there like an idiot, get inside.”

You put your arms on your hips, “Get some manners!” and you stormed inside.

You stomped up the stairs to the second floor. And threw yourself on the sofa. You glared at the TV which was blaring some music video called “Wolf”.

Unexpectedly, Luhan appeared and sat next to you on the sofa.

“What do you want?” You turned and glared at him.

Luhan looked constipated again. “Yoomi.”

You looked at him surprised. He seemed so much softer for some reason. His tone of voice seemed so much more kinder than usual. His doe-like eyes looked worried and he bit his lips nervously. He was so cute that instant that you wanted to hug and squish him.

“Yoomi.” Luhan started again. “I’m a jerk to you because it’s difficult for me to talk to you. It’s hard for me to talk to you because I-- ” Your phone suddenly lit up and vibrated.

“Oops, hold on a sec, Luhan,” you smiled apologetically.

It was a text from Chen.

Chen: Hey cutie~ How’s everything?

Yoomi: Omg I think Luhan is actually going to apologize to me for being such a jerk!

Chen: Wait what? I didn’t tell him to apologize to you! I told him to…

Yoomi: You told him to what?

Suddenly, Luhan took the phone out of your hand, put his arms around you and kissed you on the lips. You were so shocked that you couldn’t do anything.

When he broke away, he said breathlessly, “Yoomi, I liked you from the moment you were sitting on our front curb. I saw you sit your down looking exhausted, and you looked so adorable. And I purposely told my umma I was going to go hang up a sign because I wanted to go out and talk to you or something but then you wanted the job anyway. And Umma had asked me before to find a suitable waiter or waitress and she had told me to go hang up the sign many times but I always felt too lazy to but then I wanted to talk to you, but I didn’t want you to suspect I liked you, so then when my umma hired you and you were now working at our café, I couldn’t help but be a jerk because I was trying so hard to disguise my feelings and stop my urge to just run over to you and devour you.”

“Whoa, slow down, Luhan,” you said amusedly.

“Basically, will you be my girlfriend, Yoomi?”

You stared at Luhan, speechless. His large eyes looked back at you. He was half-wincing from embarrassment, waiting for your answer.

“Is this too sudden?” Luhan asked worriedly when you didn’t reply. “I understand if you hate me and you say no.”

“Okay, never mind. Forget everything I said.” Luhan was about to get up off the sofa dejectedly when you put your arms around his neck and leaned your head on his chest.

“Thank you, Luhan. For the apology. To be honest, I liked you from when you were taping the sign up but you were such a jerk to me that I felt pretty heartbroken, thinking you hated me, but Chen was always there to cheer me up and confort me.”

Luhan scratched the back of his head and laughed. “Yeah, I’ve been asking Chen for weeks to try and get him to help me get close to you and he told me to just confess. So I did. But you never answered my question. Will you be my girlfriend, Yoomi?”

With your arms still around Luhan’s neck, you put your face in front of his until your noses were touching. “Yes.” And with that, your lips met his and as you two stayed on the sofa, time seemed to stop moving all together.