Cooking rice was already a part of the maid’s morning chores. Aside from breakfast, she would also prepare Yoogeun packed lunch to make sure that he’s eating healthy.

Finally done with washing and putting the right amount of water for the rice, she placed the metal pot inside the cooker. She sighed simultaneously with her motion of pressing the button to start the cooking machine. The scenes from the previous night played inside her mind.

His sobs eventually turned into loud cries of emotional suffering. His whole body was shaking with every howl he was making.

“On the day of her departure, my parents had an accident…” Words telling his painful memories continued to pour out of his mouth.

Hoping that I could lessen the pain, I started to envelope my arms around him. I ran one of my hands over his shaking back, trying to soothe his aching heart.

“I was already ready to leave the house, then the phone rang. That’s when I learned about what happened to my parents.”

Even if it was still not helpful, I continued on running my palm over his back while my other arm was still locking him into an embrace.

“They were caught in a car accident. Their car crashed… and that’s what lead them to their death.”

A car accident took his parents’ lives away, just like what happened to my parents. I could totally empathize with him after hearing those words he uttered.

Suddenly, I just found him freeing himself from the hug that I thought could have comforted him even in slightest way possible. His strong hands quickly grasped my shoulders, locking me into the current position I was already in. In addition, the weight of his stare was so intimidating that made my immovable body be frozen further. With his face slowly approaching mine, all I could do was gulp, bracing myself for the inevitable situation that was about to happen.

His lips touched mine. It indeed happened. My droopy eyes widened as they could be.

I couldn’t help but notice how plump and round his lips were while they were resting on mine.

Hey wait, what was I thinking?

My hands went over his chest to push him away from me. Good thing that he already lost his grip so it wasn’t a particularly difficult task. His upper body fell flat on the bench we were sitting.

“Tss, you look so manly, but I guess you’re a weak drinker.” I scoffed. I still feel violated for what he did, even though I didn’t really hate the kiss that much. It was a mixture of feelings, actually. I understood his pain, but I felt offended too, yet there was a slight feeling of giddiness.

“Ugh, you’re so heavy!” I ignored those feelings for a while so that I could bring this drunk guy back home.

A deep loud groan awoke her to reality. Sulli saw the source of the sound coming out of his room. The man kept on massaging his temples, trying to soothe his aching head while dragging himself to the kitchen where the maid was also staying.

His goal for going to the kitchen was to make himself a cup of coffee. He reached for the needed ingredients placed inside the overhead cabinet that was fixed just few inches above Sulli.

She still felt awkward around him. The small size of the kitchen did not help and even made them stand next to each other. To avoid the tension, she made an obvious jump away from him and excused herself by suddenly grabbing a broom to sweep the floor.

Minho walked towards the table where he decided to drink his coffee. Seeing Sulli still busying herself by sweeping the invisible dust on the floor, he noticed her unusual silence, opposite from the usual bickering they always had the past few days since she stayed in his house.

To break the silence, he started by requesting. “Umm, can you please get the painkiller from the counter inside the bathroom? My head hurts so bad.”

Without uttering a single word, she really went and got back to hand him the medicine. She observed that he seemed oblivious of the happenings last night.

Still not hearing any response from her, he continued talking. “I think I might need to skip my newspaper delivery work for this morning. I can’t bring myself to work right now while I still have this hangover.”

“Is that so?” That was her limited response.

He couldn’t take it anymore. “Why are you so silent right now?”

She stopped sweeping and asked him too, stuttering, “D-do you perhaps remember something that happened last night?”

Confused, he squinted his eyes, completely having no idea of what she was saying. “Umm, we ate fried chicken and then I drank some beer with you. That’s all I remember.”

Sulli felt offended. You don’t even remember the violation you did to me?!

Huh? He was clueless. It looked like she didn’t want to talk to him so he decided not to do so too.

Complete silence surrounded the two once again.

“Noona, I’m so excited! We are going to play dodgeball today!” The ever enthusiastic little Choi jumped happily at the thought of playing games.

“Noona?”

Sulli was startled to her senses when she realized the boy holding her hand stopped walking.

“I’m sorry, Yoogeun. What were you saying earlier?”

The child sighed. He noticed that the older lady wasn’t really lively that morning compared to the past days. In addition, he observed that she kept on touching her lips. Why is she touching her lips? Do they hurt? Did Noona eat a very spicy food? All he could do was shrug his shoulders.

“Noona, I said that we will be playing dodgeball later, and I’m sure that I will be the best player!”

“Wow, you’re not so proud of yourself huh, Mr. Choi?” Sulli smirked and tousled the boy’s hair.

“Kids, I have good news for you!” The dainty teacher called the attention of her little students who were busy doodling on their sketchbooks.

“On Saturday, we will have our annual Family Day! There will be lots of games and activities!”

The students jumped for joy and became so hyped up after hearing their teacher’s announcement. The classroom was filled with the children’s noise due to their excitement.

It was quite an effort for Seohyun to make them calm and behave. “Shh, kids, if you don’t behave, we will cancel the Family Day!” Contrast to her stern words, her soft voice and angelic appearance did not seem threatening. But, kids are kids, so they obediently followed her words.

Seohyun took a piece of chalk and started writing the additional reminders for the school event. “Kids, please copy everything that I will write on the board on your notebooks. Tell your parents or guardians about the Family Day and show your notebooks to them. Is that clear?” She paused for a while and faced her students to assure that they were following her instructions. Seeing those obedient little angels, she smiled and continued writing.

“Sorry, Yoogeun. I also have work during Saturdays, remember?” Minho handed the notebook back at his little brother.

“But Hyung, it will be so much fun at the Family Day! I want to play all the games!”

The older brother let out a heavy sigh. “Sorry, I just can’t.”

To the child’s disappointment, he started sobbing and immediately went to their bedroom.

Sulli just came out from her room but she witnessed the conversation of the brothers earlier. “Work?” Sulli scoffed. “I bet that’s not the only reason,” she said under her breath.

No matter how she said it softly, Minho still heard her little rant.

Sulli was about to enter the bathroom when Minho confronted her.

“Hey, why are you acting so off since last morning? What’s wrong with you?” he asked with annoyance. Annoyed not solely because of Sulli’s weird behavior, but also her words hit him on the spot, and he felt guilty for that.

“Leave me alone. I need to use the bathroom right now.” She rolled her eyes, pissed off with his ignorance. Why can’t you still remember?

Minho brushed his fringe with his hand. “Is it because…”

Cold sweat started to form on Sulli’s temple. Does he already know? This is so embarrassing!

“Is it because… you’re having your monthly period? As a man, I’m really sorry for not understanding your situation, woman.” He tapped the girl’s shoulder as a comforting gesture.

Her blood started to boil once more. “What the heck? Get lost!” She removed his hand from her shoulder quite harshly and slammed the bathroom’s door direct to his face.

“Ouch, mood swings are really scary!” He massaged his nose that was directly hit by the slamming door.

On the other hand, the raging woman inhaled and exhaled deeply to calm down her nerves. She then attended to the call of nature when she realized something as she removed her lower undergarments.

“Oh wait, I do really have my period today.”

“Hey, Taemin! Your advice was not helpful! She got angrier when I told her about periods, and my nose got hurt too!” Minho pressed his nose, afraid that it might have flatten.

“Don’t put the blame on me, hyung!” Taemin defended himself. “Maybe you did something before that made her hate you.”

“Before?” Minho cocked his head while trying to remember the past happenings. “Umm, the night before she acted weird, the three of us ate some fried chicken. Yoogeun was already sleepy so she and I were left at the rooftop. Afterwards, I invited her to drink beer with me. The last thing that I can remember is we were talking about Seohyun.”

Taemin’s attention greatly rose after hearing about beer. “Wait, wait, wait, hyung. Did you just say that you drank beer with her?”

“Yes? Why? What’s wrong?”

The younger lad slightly pushed the older lad’s shoulder. “Hyung! That was a bad move! You’re a weird drinker, you know? You also tried to kiss me when we last drank soju!”

“K-kiss?!” Minho’s eyes grew larger than they already were.

Immediately after he arrived home, Minho searched for the only girl living in his house. When he couldn’t find her, he asked, “Yoogeun, where’s Sulli?”

The kid who was busy with his coloring book pointed his index finger upwards. “Noona is at the rooftop, getting the dried clothes.”

Hurrying, he indeed found her there, now getting the big blankets hanging on the wire.

“Hey.” Minho tried getting her attention, but she replied with a roll of her eyes and continued on doing her job.

He couldn’t bear her cold attitude anymore. He approached her and held her thin shoulders.

“Hey, perhaps…” Minho paused and gulped. “Perhaps, did I kiss you while I was drunk?”

Sulli rolled her fists and pushed him as strongly as she could.

“Yah! How could you not remember that! That’s a violation to my rights! You were even my first-“ She immediately stop to prevent herself from saying that one word.

“I was your first kiss?!” He felt apologetic, but at the same time, there was a slight feeling of triumph. He bowed his head to hide his blushing cheeks.

Still embarrassed, he scratched his head. “I-I’m really sorry. I can’t still actually remember everything. May I ask what happened that night?”

Thanks to the rooftop, both of them could see the beautiful night lights of Seoul. Sulli has finished talking about everything, from his sad high school love life, his tragic memory of his parents, up to the accidental kiss.

“We were not this poor before. My mother was a lovely housewife, while my father was working for a big company, umm, was that Aeon? I’m not really sure.”

Hearing about Aeon gave Sulli a slight chill. His grandfather owns it, after all.

“I can relate with you.” She let out a sigh. “I also lost my parents because of an accident. They were wonderful people. I got my cooking skills from them since they were both chefs.”

“Cooking skills? What are you talking about?” Minho chuckled after teasing her, but earned a punch to his arms coming from Sulli.

“Haha, not funny,” she said, glaring at the man.

“Moving on, with regards to your heart problems, I think that you should have a proper talk with her. You should settle everything once and for all.”

Yoogeun awoke at the feeling of his brother shaking his shoulders, trying to wake him up.

“Hyung, it’s too early. I want to sleep more.” He ignored his brother’s efforts of waking him and buried himself on his soft pillow.

“Yoogeun, do you want to lose at the games this Saturday? We need to warm up and practice!”

A/N:

I'm sorry that it took days before I updated again. :((

I would like to thank my readers and subscribers for trusting my story. Honestly, I'm afraid that I might not be able to finish the story. Sometimes, I can't seem to connect the ideas cohesively. The lack of our OTP's interactions is also not helping since it is my main drive to write. I don't have the natural talent for writing, to be honest. I prefer reading fanfics than writing them myself. Please understand if I'm not able to update that fast. 

How was this chapter? Please tell me what you think about this chapter with your comments! Your comments are also my drive for writing. Oh, and thanks for the 21 upvotes! I really appreciate it. :)