Hae’s POV 

“H-Hyukjae?”

Looking at the man standing by the door, I relaxed a bit. At least I knew who it was.  

Wait— where was this? Why was Hyukjae here?

I started to feel a little on edge again as I tried to piece together why I was wherever this is. 

My mind still wasn’t functioning to its fullest. As soon as I had woken up enough to take in the foreign environment, I freaked out and ended up falling off the high bed. 

Momentarily forgetting that I wasn’t here alone, my eyes roamed around the room, landing on the king sized bed centered in the middle and observed the rumpled up sheets. Since Hyukjae was standing in front of me, this had to be his room. Remembering that I had probably slept in his bed last night, I felt my face heat up and my eyes widened as my attention was once again recollected to Hyukjae, who was still standing by the door waiting for me to sort myself out. 

Embarrassed and confused, I looked at him for any possible answers. 

“Last night I found you under the bus stop,” he started. 

Huh? 

My mouth involuntarily formed into a pout as I had no idea what he was talking about. 

“Uh, you were out in the storm, and after I found you, I brought you to my apartment. You looked pretty out of it when I picked you up so I’m not surprised if you don’t remember,” he continued, his voice taking on a business like tone, although he had a concerned look on his face as if he wanted an explanation as to why that was. 

My eyebrows scrunched up as I tried to recall last night. 

… Oh. Now I remember. 

As the events leading up to what Hyukjae had just described came back to me, I could feel my face visibly fall and my eyes droop to the floor as I was pulled back into the emotions from yesterday. 

Hyukjae probably noticed but didn’t say anything more about the issue and instead switched the conversation. 

“I know you probably want to go home so why don’t you shower in the master bath? I’ll let you borrow some of my clothes and then I’ll give you a ride,” he said, moving to stand more fully in the room, still not smiling but looking a bit more comfortable now.  

Just going along, I stuttered out an ‘ok’ and he nodded his head, making his way over to the double-door closet. After a minute of searching, he retrieved a folded stack of clothes, coming to stand in front of me as he passed them over. 

“There are some extra toothbrushes and towels in the cupboard under the sink. And take your time, I’ll just get ready in the guest bathroom.” 

Holding the clothes up to my chest, I nodded. He went back over to grab his clothes and made his way over to the door. 

Before closing it, he looked back at me, who was still stationed by the wall. When he saw my eyes following him, he hurried out and shut the door softly, only to reopen it again to poke his head in for a last reminder that when I was done, I could go into the living room. 

Hearing the click of the door, I eased off the wall and took light steps towards the master bathroom. 

It’s pretty big in here, and everything looks so orderly. But I shouldn’t waste time. I don’t want to cause any unnecessary trouble by making Hyukjae have to wait from me. 

With the clothes still clutched in my hands, I kneeled down and reached into the cupboard under the sink, finding the toothbrush and towel like promised. 

Coming to stand up straight, I was met with the mirror, and what I saw was not pleasing at all. 

Did he see me like this??? 

I looked disastrous. My face was completely bloated, my hair looked like a bird’s nest perched on top of my head, and my eyes were puffy from yesterday. 

Wait— oh my god. These aren’t my clothes! W-What?! 

I took a second to calm down, not wanting to jump to weird conclusions. Hyukjae said he found me out in the rain so that must’ve meant he had to change me. 

I felt my pulse speed up and my face and ears turn scorching red at the thought. 

Ugh! This is all so embarrassing. He always happens to see me at my worst. I palmed my cheeks and rubbed them forcefully across my face out of frustration. 

B-but I guess he had no choice since it was the only logical thing to do. 

That rational explanation calmed me down somewhat, and looking back at myself in the mirror, I remembered Umma from last night. 

I wonder what it is that I keep doing wrong… No, Hae. Don’t think about it. 

I didn’t want to have to explain to Hyukjae that I was crying in his bathroom. 

Geez, talk about major mood swings so early in the morning.

So, trying to think about the sun, and the ocean, and the mermaids in the sea, I carefully undressed, stacking the borrowed clothes from last night next to the clean ones on the empty countertop space by the sink. 

Fumbling with the shower for a while, I finally got it working and when I stepped in, something colorful lining the clear, off white walls grabbed my attention. 

Distracted from any previous bad thoughts, I noticed that there were multiple bottles of different scented shampoos and body washes. 

Reaching out randomly, I inspected one. 

Strawberry and coconut? 

Curious, I popped the cap and sniffed the top, letting out a giggly laugh. It smells good but it’s also pretty sweet and cute. I thought big business men like Hyukjae would wear something more masculine, like maybe… What’s a manly smelling scent?… cucumbers perhaps. 

Wanting to know if all of the bottles held sweet smelling contents, I kept on opening more, laughing as I imagined Hyukjae smelling like this without his cologne. I made note of the ones that I liked best and set them off to the side so that I could try them out. 

And even though I had planned on being quick, the time passed without my knowing as I blew bubbles through my fingers, rearranged the shampoo collection, and erupted the bathroom in tropical island smells. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hyuk’s POV 

Leaving Donghae to shower, I walked across the living room to the other side where the guest bedroom was. 

As I showered in the smaller bathroom, I remembered that kicked puppy look he had pulled on when I reminded him about last night. 

It was bothering me because it meant that something upsetting had happened. I didn’t want to jump to any unnecessary conclusions, though, so I shooed those thoughts away as I concentrated on ridding my body of the unscented soap that I kept in the guest room. 

As I was drying off, I wondered what I was going to do until Donghae finished getting ready. I usually don’t take more than ten minutes to get ready, so I was probably going to be left with nothing to do while I waited for Donghae to finish up. 

Maybe I could make him breakfast… 

I usually just stop by the little cafe a few buildings down to pick up something to eat in the morning but maybe I should put a little more effort in since he was here. 

Problem is that I’m not too savvy when it comes to kitchen duties, but breakfast shouldn’t be hard. I’ve watched Min do it countless times, and if all else fails, there’s always the internet. 

Going into the bedroom where I had laid my suit out on the bed, I began changing. 

Shirt and pants on, I realized that I needed some errands done before I went into the office. Needing someone to do them, I dialed a number, put the phone on speaker and then threw it on the bed as I looked into the full length mirror tying the black tie around my neck. 

“Hello, Lee Corporations. How may I help you?” a deep voice sounded. 

“Yongguk, I need you to get some things done for me before I come into the office.”

“B-Boss?”

I rolled my eyes as I sat down to pull on a pair of socks. 

He was only a couple of years younger than me, but for some reason, I scare the heck out of him. Maybe it’s because I’m always yelling and glaring at the workers. He was my secretary but I rarely ever called him or asked him to do anything, mostly because I had Sungmin to do what I needed, but calling him wasn’t an option today. He was probably in his office right now shredding important documents as my punishment for not coming in on time. 

“Did Changmin come in as yet?”

“Uh, yeah. He’s been here for a while now and has been… flirting with the female employees ever since he got here.”  

I grumbled a couple of profanities as I stayed seated on the bed, fully dressed now. 

“I need the marketing report on my desk when I get there and if it’s not, someone in that department is getting fired today, most likely Chanyeol if he keeps slacking off and not keeping up with the deadlines.”

I heard a string of stuttered sounds before he formed a decent sentence and asked me how he was going to accomplish such a task and isn’t Sungmin the one who usually handles this kind of stuff, but I just told him to just get it done, giving him some other assignments, and I could hear pen against paper as he busily took notes. 

With that done, leaving my blazer on the bed for until I was ready to leave, I set off to the kitchen to make breakfast. 

Leaning against the countertop next to the fridge, I thought about what to make. 

Pancakes? That should be ok. And maybe an omelette, too, although I’m not sure how to make those…let’s just settle for scrambled today. 

Scouting the fridge and cupboards for the right ingredients, I began working. 

Everything was going fine until I had to use the stove. 

I forgot to flip the first pancake and trying to turn it over as I dealt with the eggs, I ended up pouring way too much salt over the eggs and the pancake ended up being flipped onto the floor. 

I think I had a mini meltdown next to the stove but regained my senses quickly and tried to cover up the evidence before Donghae came out. 

I had just flopped the first pancake into the trash and was about to get the remaining batter when I spotted Donghae over the kitchen island.

He hadn’t yet noticed me, and as he took cautious baby steps into the living room, he was looking around with wide eyes, taking note of everything from the picture of me and Min hung up on the wall above the couch to the high, fancy looking ceiling. 

He looked really adorable wearing my lilac colored long sleeved shirt, which was longer that his arms so that they were bunched up around his knuckles and only his fingers were peeking out beneath the sleeves. The neck area was wide, showing off his collar bone, and the black pants I had given him were also a bit big as he was clutching onto the left side so that they wouldn’t slip off. His hair was damp, although combed down from the cute mess it was before when he had just woken up. 

Is he really even eighteen? He could pass for a high school freshman. 

Funny, from here he smelled like someone had just dipped him in a punch bowl. 

I moved my foot a bit and it knocked into the metal trash can, sending a loud ‘clank’ noise throughout the open space. 

I cringed because that wasn’t a smooth move whatsoever, and Donghae jumped at the unexpected sound. 

His eyes met mine and he gave a sheepish smile, which I returned. 

Trying to play it cool, I backed up against the stove in an attempt to hide any signs of failed breakfast. “Why don’t we head out and I’ll buy you something to eat?” 

He nodded his head and was about to say something when his eyes traveled from me to the countertop beside me where the egg tray and pancake mix box stood proudly on display. 

Ugh. Busted. 

Noticing the items and looking back at my stretched out position in front of the stove, his face broke out into a broad smile, and he shuffled over until he was standing at the side of the island opposite from me. 

“Were you making breakfast?” he asked expectantly, his eyes looking gleeful.

A sigh escaped my mouth and I answered truthfully, looking away to the side in embarrassment. 

My attention was drawn back to him when he let out a chuckle and walked closer to me, coming to stand at my side, looking over everything scattered across the counter. I turned around so that I, too, was looking over the counter and couldn’t help but shake my head. Donghae seemed to catch the movement and titled his head to look up at me, still smiling cutely. 

“What were you making?”

“Uh, pancakes and scrambled eggs,” I said and I watched as his face lit up and he gave his hands a little clap. 

“I know how to make pancakes! Bom noona showed me how. Can I make them? It’ll be good, I promise,” he said excitedly and I couldn’t say no to that so I just nodded dumbly and he set to work. 

Not wanting to crowd his working space and mess up the process, I moved to lean again the island behind him, watching as he fiddled with the knobs of the stove and began pouring new pancake mix into a clean bowl. 

After a couple of minutes just watching, I decided to offer what little services I had because I didn’t want him doing all the work. 

“Sure. Unless you like your eggs crunchy, you can break them. I’m not very good at doing that. I always get shell pieces in,” he said with a little pout and I let out an airy laugh at his joke. 

Working side by side now, I cracked and mixed the eggs as Donghae took care of the pancakes. 

In no time, breakfast was done and set at the small table I owned. 

We sat across from each other and began eating in silence. For some reason, I kept sneaking up glances at him, and I had actually caught him doing the same. When our eyes met, Donghae turned a bit red and I’m sure the same thing happened to me. 

This was getting me flustered for no reason, and I didn’t like the feeling. 

A few moments later, Donghae’s soft voice piped up. “Thank you for taking care of me last night.”

“It’s no problem. Don’t worry about it.”

His face was still pointed down but he peeked up and flashed me a shy smile. 

He’s really cute. No wonder Sungmin likes him so much. 

it was getting too long so I just cut it off randomly~

please do comment— even if it’s about the way i write or if it’s boring or if you have any suggestions of how to make it better… 

and thank you to all my wonderful readers ^^