After waving the salesman off, L.joe walked back to the couch and flung himself down, trying to sleep again. You looked at him and scoffed,

“Move over, so I can sleep too.”

“Go make some food and wake me up okay,” he looked at you pleadingly and you gave in and walked towards the kitchen. An hour or so later, you had prepared a plate of kimbap and ramen. You saw that L.joe was still sleeping and kneeled down beside the couch. You saw that he was drooling, and giggled. You poked his cheeks and whispered,

“Get up the foods ready” He groaned, and continued to sleep.

“Get up L.joe, the foods getting cold.” No response. You took away his blankets and threw them to the chair on the other side of the room. Still, he didn’t wake up.

“I’m going to tickle you.” You started tickling him and he squirmed and woke up.

“Stop Charlotte,” He pleaded, but you continued tickling him. He grabbed your arms and jumped on top of you. You were now on the floor with L.joe sitting on top of you. He used one hand to pin down your arms and started tickling you. You got loose and tickled him back. The room was filled with screams and laughter until he accidently tickled your while trying to reach your neck. You smacked his hands away and pushed him off of you. You looked at how apologetic his expression was and laughed. You grabbed his arm and leaded him to the dining room.

“Now that you’re awake, we can eat”

The meal started off silent, but it was comfortable to be by him nonetheless. He tried to make conversation by asking you about your family and your job. You didn’t feel the need to hide anything from him, and told him everything. After cleaning the dishes, he showed you the rest of the house. He told you about his dreams to become a heart surgeon, and joked that he could save heart breaks. You were reading one of his textbook that were on his desk when he suddenly said,

“Charlotte?”

“Hmmm?” You were interested in what you were reading.

“Come here, I need some help.” He was in his room studying for an exam he had the next day. You walked in his room, he was wearing a white lab jacket on top of his tank top and had a stethoscope around his neck.  

“Yes Doctor Lee, what do you need?”

“Can you be my patient, just this one time?”

“Okay. What do I have to do? Pretend to be dead?” You joked.

“Lie down here.” He patted his bed, “I’m going to perform CPR on you.” You suddenly thought of mouth to mouth and blushed.

“Give me one sec.” You ran out of his room to the living room where he put your purse. You put on lip gloss before running back into his room. He looked at you and chuckled. You laid down on his bed and pretended to be unconscious.

“So what do you have to do first?”

“Check if you’re conscious.” He patted your sides looking for signs of consciousness, but you kept quiet with your eyes closed.

“Now what?” you asked him.

“Hello 911, there is a beautiful girl unconscious on my bed, please come quickly.” He held his hand towards his ear pretending it was a phone. His joke made you laugh and blush.

“Now that the ambulance is coming for me, what’s next?”

“Just stay unconscious, you’re making me lose my train of thought.”

A few seconds later he tilted your head to opened your air way. He kneeled beside you and pumped your chest. You felt more and more uncomfortable after each pump. You peeked opened your eyes and saw how he serious he was while performing CPR on you. You tried to calm your feelings, but you knew what he was going to do next.

Suddenly he held you chin and blew air into your mouth. His breath tasted like the ramen you had earlier. You felt his lips on yours for the first time. He lifted his mouth and blew air in for the second time. He hesitated for a second before departing from your lips. Your eyes were wide open now, his expression was uncomfortable, and somehow you felt hurt. His lips touched yours for the third time, blowing air into your mouth. You wanted to prove something so you kissed him. You could feel his body stiffen next you, but you continued to kiss him getting up from your sleeping position. You wrapped your arms around his neck pulling him closer. He stayed still the whole time, and finally pulled you away, and laughed. He picked up his imaginary phone again,

“911, you don’t have to send anyone, she’s conscious now.” You looked at him shocked, you felt rejected and confused at the same time.  Your arms dropped to your side. You were now sitting on his bed. He saw your expression and shook his head. He placed his hand on yours and squeezed it lightly. You didn’t know what he wanted, or what he thought. Feeling hurt and embarrassed you walked towards the door of the room. You could feel tears forming when he suddenly embraced you from behind. He cuddled into your hair, breathing in your scent. He stayed quiet though, not saying a word. You knew to be careful with him, from the experience before. You wanted him more than ever, but he was slow at showing his feelings.

When he finally let go, you decided it was time leave his place before the travel agencies all closed. He offered earlier to take you, but you needed some time to think on your own. He held your hand towards the door. While saying your goodbyes, he put a chain of keys in your hand.

“Come whenever” he scratched the back of his head. “Did you take the right phone?” he asked remembering why you had showed up.

“Yupp.” You kissed his cheek before closing the door behind you. In your car, you scrolled through your phone looking to see if you had any missed calls. Suddenly you realized your phone background was of L.joe. ‘I should’ve did that’ you thought while putting your phone down. You saw the keys L.joe gave you. You felt touched and relieved that he didn’t hate you.  You grasped the key near your heart and listened to the sound of your fluttering heart.