9

Sohyun slowly sipped on her ice lemon tea, smiling.

"This is to celebrate the fourth year of this firm!" Tao exclaimed and clapped loudly, then gulped down the drink in his hand and sighed out loud before falling onto the couch, snoring. 
"Aish this Tao, just drink a few sips and he's already drunk," Kris muttered and elbowed him while he gulped down his ice lemon tea.

Sohyun placed her ice lemon tea down, then sighed looking at YongShik singing out loud, as he tried catching up with the lyrics. "He's just happy, this is to also celebrate winning the case for Juwon," Sohyun said, and smiled.

Both Sohyun and Kris grabbed their drinks on the table, but this time, Kris' drink was so bland, just like water. While Sohyun frowned as she drank her drink. *Why is this sweeter?*

*Why is this.. Oh no.* his eyes widened at the thought of it, as his eyes slowly looked up at Sohyun, and she looked back, and spat out the drink.

"You ordered ice lemon tea with less sugar, right?" Kris asked worriedly, forcing out a smile, and Sohyun slowly nodded. "You ordered with more sugar, am I right?" Sohyun asked, and Kris nodded.

They immediately exchanged their drinks, and laughed awkwardly, then turned their heads to the front.

Kris stared at the straw, his cheeks slowly turning red. He saw Sohyun's pink lipstick mark. He took in a deep breath and quickly gulped down his drink, ignoring what happened a few seconds ago while Sohyun did the same and she went out of the karaoke room, taking in a deep breath and sighed, then went to the toilet.

On the way, she saw a whole group of police officers going into one karaoke room, and within a minute they came out. Baekhyun frowned, as he looked at the group of drunkards coming out, shaking his head in disgust. His eyes slowly travelled to Sohyun, and his facial expressions immediately changed. He waved, and she waved back, then slowly approached him.

"On an operation?" she asked, first time seeing Baekhyun conducting an operation and she found it quite interesting. He nodded his head. "I'm in charge of this operation, and those drunkards who were coming out were actually suspected to have possession of drugs," Baekhyun explained, frowning.

They talked for a while, before Baekhyun had to go and Sohyun went back into the karaoke room, to see YongShik pulling Tao away from the table.

"Get off me!" Tao groaned as he held firmly onto the table. "I need to clean the table! It's messy!" he exclaimed, and whacked YongShik's head. Tao wiped the table with ice, while his eyes were semi closed, and he drooped his head down. He hiccupped as he wiped the table, while everyone in the room stifled a laugh. Kris watched Tao at a corner, as he chuckled and shook his head in amusement and Sohyun did the same.

Sohyun sat beside Kris then looked at her ice lemon tea, staring at it, that incident slowly appearing in her mind again and she can't help but feel embarrassed about it.

"Ah yes, who was that officer you were talking to? You two seem quite close," Kris asked. "I happened to pass by the two of you just now."

Sohyun smiled and shook her head. "We were elementary friends," she said, then leaned towards him. "I had a crush on him before when we were young," she whispered and giggled, while Kris's eyes widened and he smiled, nodding his head. "Normal for girls to have crushes,” he commented while Sohyun laughed. 

“But usually crushes don’t last long for girls too. Do you like him now?" he asked, while she sighed. "I don't know. He was once my crush, and whenever I see him my heart would always beat extra fast," she explained, dropping her head.

"What made you so attracted to him?" Kris asked once more, while SoHyun giggled at the thought of it and shrugged. "That time, I would always wear glasses to school, and I was the only one who wore glasses in my class, and so everyone just laughed at me. They were even so mean to give me the nickname called four eye turtle. I don't really know whether Baekhyun laughed at me, but he was quite nice that time. Always love playing soccer outside of the field during recess and I would spy on him, and when he waved at me, my heart totally went dead. Now he's an officer at the crimes unit, and I just bumped into him recently."

Kris nodded his head and unknowingly took her drink again. She frowned and whacked his hand while Kris looked at her in surprise. Sohyun apologized for her action and took the drink from him and bit the straw. "It's my drink mentor."

Kris smiled and apologized, then took his own drink, sipping it slowly. 

--

Sohyun slurped on her cup noodles, while her sister and her grandfather squinted their eyes at her, staring at her. Sohyun kept her eyes on the television screen, trying not to be distracted by their stares. She rolled her eyes and placed her cup noodles down, looking at the both of them. "What now?" Both of them looked away, pretending nothing happened, as they both took out magazines to read.

"Unnie," Sohyun called out, while her Soyoon ignored her. She diverted her attention to her grandfather, looking at him. "BT," she called out, the short form to call her grandfather, while he just ignored her.

"Sohyun, don't you think it's time for you to be in a relationship?" her grandfather asked out of the blue and she sighed. "No," she frankly replied.

"I was thinking," her sister spoke up. "Do you have any male colleagues in the firm which is to your liking?" she asked. Sohyun looked at her in surprise and she looked up at the ceiling, the faces of the people in the firm slowly appearing and she shook her head. "There is. But, it's impossible," she said, waving her hand and shaking her head then went up to her bedroom.
"Wait! I'm not done asking!" her sister exclaimed and she sighed, exchanging looks with her grandfather, then shook her head. "With the mindset like hers, it's hard to not believe she's going to be a spinster," she sighed.


Only after five minutes later after entering her room did a person caught her eye. She stood up and peered through the window, looking straight at the opposite house. Her eyes rounded in surprise, and she leaned forward, accidentally knocking her head onto the glass window. She winced in pain and quickly rubbed her forehead, then quickly rummaged through her drawing and took out a set of binoculars.

Her eyes fixed onto the opposite house, as her gaze slowly travelled up to the window on the second floor. Her eyes widened in suprise and she dropped her binoculars. "Tao?" she whispered. She raised up her hand, about to wave to him but she found herself thinking.

What if Tao sees her? What will he do?

Images flooded her mind. She imagined Tao drumming the drums, playing the flute off key and banging the gongs early in the morning just to wake her up, pestering her day and night.

She shuddered.
 
She immediately drew the curtains down and hid under her blanket.

"Wait a second, Tao didn't see me, that means he doesn't know I live here. Phew," Sohyun mumbled, then heaved a sigh of relief. "If he knew I live here I wonder whether I could live peacefully with all the chaos he's creating." Sohyun shuddered at the thought of it when her idea slipped through .

Tao tossed his phone on the bed, and carried one big brown box, then placing it on his desk, rummaging through the toys the box contained.

Today was his first day at his new house and he had a hard time packing up and arranging the items in his house nicely after the bad hangover last night from playing and drinking too much. He sighed and stood up, then went down to the living room, shooting a look at Kris who was just busy browsing through the magazines.

"Yah! You're supposed to help! Not slack!" Tao shouted, while Kris looked up, then back down at the magazine. "You're the one who's moving not me. I came here to see the surroundings, not help," he replied casually, then stood up and went into the kitchen, then came back into the living room empty handed.

Tao rolled his eyes and huffed, then ran up the stairs again. Sohyun peeked through her blanket, thinking. *Oh no. If Tao moves in here, that means I'll meet him everyday?* The doorbell rang, as it broke Sohyun's thoughts. "That fast?!"

She immediately rushed down the stairs, trying to intercept her sister, and she pressed her back on the door, shaking her head violently. "Don't. Open."

Her sister frowned and whacked her head, as she rubbed her forehead and pouted. "Aish, why can't I open the door, it's not as if it's someone you know," her sister muttered and pushed her to one side, and she quickly ran up the stairs.

The door open and Sohyun immediately froze at the staircase, shaking violently while the person scratched his head and chuckled. "Sohyun?"

Soyun stopped in her tracks, as she tilted her chin, and slowly turned to face the door, and closed her eyes, then heaved a sigh of relief. "Phew.."

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