Nothing bonds two people faster than discovering a mutual love of instantly prepared meals that would take about a few minutes to prepare or fry.  Somehow it felt like even though you know that you live in a universe different from his, you could share something in common with him that you both enjoy.  It somewhat takes him closer to your world.  It dares you to have that hope, even if infinitesimal, that possibly, maybe, by some sort of miracle…you could stand beside him in his world or him in yours.

You set the food on the table in front of Junho and sat down across him.  “Hmm…this looks good.”  He stabbed a piece of fried wonton with his fork with a cheeky smile on his face and gobbles the whole thing.  “So you can cook.”  He covers his mouth with his hand as he finishes the piece of wonton in his mouth.

“Well, if you can call this cooking.”  you said as you listened to your heart run a marathon in your chest while you tried to avoid looking at him directly, thus focusing your attention on your bowl of kimchi fried rice.  By now you were beginning to feel infuriated at how your body reacts to the mere sound of his voice.

Junho leans forward resting an elbow on the table and then taps your bowl with his spoon.  “I’m here you know.”  You lifted your chin up to look at him grinning at you with his downward crescent moon shaped eyes, seemingly vanishing as he lifts his cheeks up to give you his most charming smile.

Sparks crawled up your spine causing your whole body to shiver as heat sored through your veins almost like having a fever in an instant.  “I know.” you answered simply trying to appear as calm as you could.

“Then look up from time to time.  It would be nice to see your face while I eat.”

You nodded your head lightly as you bite the tip of your spoon.  “Sorry I couldn’t make much.”

“This is good.  I like everything here.” He points at the food on the table with his spoon.  “I thought you said you couldn’t cook.”

“Just this much.  Anything a tad more complicated than this, I can’t make.  Even the 30-minute no-bake ref cake just takes me forever to do and it still doesn’t come out well.”

Junho couldn’t help but laugh while you put a spoonful of rice and egg in your mouth.  He reached for another piece of wonton, his fork pausing as he tried to find the biggest piece on the plate.  He cleared his throat and leaned onto the table as he looked at you.  “So earlier…I could’ve never imagined, but you sing too, huh?”  he teasingly said before he took a mouthful.

You covered your mouth as you almost spit out the rice all over him making him laugh even more with his head falling back.  “That was…” you started to say before you took a sip of your juice that he kindly poured on to your glass after ridiculing you.  “That’s a secret you have to keep to your grave or I’ll be putting you there earlier than scheduled.”  The look Junho gave you made you feel like you are two inches tall and incredibly foolish.

“So, you’re tone deaf.”

“Pretty much.”  You heaved a sigh with your shoulders slumping.  “What can I say, it’s a frustration.”  You sighed dramatically and then laughed aloud.

Junho scratched his chin with his finger.  “Well, you’re not all that bad.”

“Are you sure you’re a musician?”  You tilted your head, your eyes narrowing at him.

“Well, I don’t know, somehow you looked incredibly cute singing out of tune.”  Junho said as leaned forward.  He could see a smile fighting to break out from your lips against your best efforts that you decided to hide behind the glass that you place on to your lips.

“You’re trying to be charming again.”  You giggled into your glass.

“Trying?”  Junho rubbed the back of his neck as the tips of his ears turned red.  “Does that mean I’m not usually charming?  I’d like to think I’m naturally charming.”  He crossed his arms across his chest.  “By the way, I think I have yet to ask you.  Who do you like most in 2PM?”

You laughed at his question, but seeing he was waiting for an answer, you ran a hand through your hair and tucked it behind your ear.  “Well, let me see.”  You paused to think of an answer.  “Like most girls, I like Nichkhun best.”

“Wait.” He raises his hand to stop you from speaking.  “You know, there’s an unspoken rule about this question and answer thing.  When asked who you like best, you’re supposed to say the name of the one who asked first and then your true choice next.”

“Is that so?”  One of your eyebrows arched at him.

“Yes, that is so.”  He nods lightly.  “So why do you like Khun anyway?  Not that it still surprises me.”

“Well…do you know Jake Ryan?”

“The character from the Tom Clancy novels?”

“No.”  You shook your head as you rolled your eyes.  “That’s Jack Ryan.  I’m talking about Jake Ryan from the 80’s teen movie, 16 Candles.”

“Then no.”  He leaned back in his chair as he looked at you intently.

“Jake Ryan represents the perfect guy.  You know, he’s the type girls of different classes swoon over.  He’s the perfect mix of gorgeous, wealthy, courteous, respectful, kind, athletic, smart, y and not a bully but definitely feared.” You began to babble which amused Junho.  “He’s like – the epitome of perfection when it comes to boyfriends.  The type who would chose the simple girl over the hot blonde babe of a girlfriend that he has.  And at the end of the movie…ah!”  You hold your hand to your heart as you remembered that part of the film.  Junho looks on as you talked endlessly about a movie he hasn’t seen and characters he knew nothing about.  He sat there seemingly hypnotized with the sound of your voice.  “That was just the moment when every girls’ hearts who saw that movie melted.  He rescues the girl out of this horrible wedding in his Trans Am and had a surprise cake for her birthday that everyone just forgot.  He’s like the ideal, you know what I mean?  And though we know he’s not real, we have that hope that somehow we could find our own Jake Ryan…that someone like that truly exists and he could be ours.”

“So that’s how you see Nichkhun?” His jaw clenched as his brows began to furrow at the realization that this girl in front of him that he has tried so hard to find for the past few weeks thinks so highly of a friend of his and that she might actually even be a fan of his friend and not his.

“Well, he’s close to being a Jake Ryan, but still no Jake Ryan.” you said emphatically.  “Jake Ryan is the quintessential boyfriend.”

Junho stifled a laugh as he listened to your reply.  “So who do you like next out of all the members?”

“Ok Taecyeon?” You teased with a giggle.

“Haven’t I told you about the unspoken rule?”

You laughed at the evident irritation in Junho’s face.  “Should I really say your name?”

“Forget it.”  He said putting down his spoon on the table and trying his best to look like a hurt puppy, but his smile just kept on showing.  “Do I dare ask what you like about Taec?”

“I’ve seen him around campus and he’s big.  Like even if he wants to keep a low profile it’s just impossible for him to not be seen.  He’s huge.  Like humongous.”  You gestured with your hands.

“So you like huge guys?”  He extends his hand out to wipe a smudge of sauce near your lips so naturally, like it was all but natural for him to touch you.  You on the other hand stiffen as his skin came in contact with yours and you knew you blushed to your roots as you felt warm blood rush up to your face.

“Not really.”  You shyly said as you wiped your mouth clean.  “It’s a joke.”

“So, you see him a lot in school?”

“Once or twice.” You nodded your head.  “Oh by the way, rumor has it it’s not really Ok Taecyeon you’re meeting in school.”

“Rumor has it?”  He chuckled as he rubbed his throat anxiously.

“Well, people around school have been talking about you meeting this girl from the arts department.”  You said with wide eyes as you leaned forward excitedly to hear his answer like a reporter writing a scandal.  “So…true?”

You waited for his reply while he took a deep breath and let it out slowly making his cheeks puff.  “Was true, but not anymore.  Remember when I was hiding inside the library?”  You nodded.  “I told you I was avoiding someone, she’s the one I was avoiding.”

“You avoid your exes?  That’s quite … harsh… and unespected.” you said as your brows pinched together at his response.

He reaches his hand again towards you, now to touch and smooth the wrinkles between your brows.  “Just this one.  We had a bad falling out.”

“Let me guess…You can’t keep her because of your career.”

“Keep her?  She sounds like a pet if you put it that way.  Is that how you really see me?”  He looked down before he slowly lifts his head to look at you again.

“All celebrities in general.  So don’t feel hurt.”  You shrugged.

“She needed a full time boyfriend at her beck and call.  I can’t be that guy, so she broke up with me.  I tried to hang on, believe me, I tried, but she just doesn’t want me anymore.”  He narrated sadly with a sigh.

“True?” you asked with suspicion, tilting your head to the side.

“True!  Is it so hard to believe?”

You your lips in between your teeth and slowly let them roll back out.  “Of course it’s hard to believe.  Knowing you’re Lee Junho, no girl would want to let go of you.  Come on, don’t pretend like you don’t know it.  Girls would fall in line just to be with you…even just for a one night stand.”  She bites her lips again as she lets what’s in her mind slip again.  “What am I saying to him?!”  you thought to yourself along with a mental slap.

“I don’t see you falling in line.” Junho smiled looking smoldering hot in a perfect imitation of a god.  You figured that he does that a lot, giving the perfect smile that went all the way up to his eyes.  You stayed silent as you have no idea what to throw back at him.  “Now why is that?”

“Why is that what?”

“Why is it that you don’t like me?”  He leans on the table to look at you, his stare almost piercing.

“I’m going to level with you, alright?”  You leaned on the table as well, seemingly closing the distance brought about by the table between you, confident to know exactly what to say.  “I don’t want you to think that I don’t like you, I just don’t want to be a bother to you.  So, don’t be compelled to do anything more than normal like what you’re doing right now just to make sure that I, like the rest of the world, would worship you.”

Junho scratched the back of his head as he scrambled over what to say or even what to think.  It’s quite vague to him at the moment if what you just said to him was supposed to be taken as a compliment or as an insult.  He leans in closer and pitched his voice low.  “Did you ever think that maybe, just maybe, there might be some other reason why I was trying to be close to you…other than converting you to becoming one of my fans?  Because last time I checked, it’s not like I was lacking in number in that aspect.”

You lean in a little closer yourself with a smirk.  “So, if you’re not trying to convert me, then why are you ‘the Lee Junho’ this way to me – practically a nobody compared to you?  Should I take it that all this kindness is just out of the goodness of your heart?”

He thought to himself for a while, for a reason why he is the way he is when he’s with you.  Quite honestly, you are not the most gorgeous girl he has ever seen in his life, but he found something in your voice that hooks him to you every time you speak.  It’s like you always had an answer for everything and when you don’t, you make up for it with a ton of nonsensical babble that turns out to be the most enchanting thing he has ever seen and heard.  He found something in the way you smile that lights up your face and he knows it’s real.  You are without a doubt uncalculatingly enjoying yourself.  He found something in your laugh that gave him that overwhelming desire to be the one eliciting that sound.

“I don’t know…but you’re quite addictive.”  Junho said without batting an eyelash.  “And just for the record, you were never a bother…you become a bother to me when I don’t see you.”