Pancakes. That’s what I woke up to the next day. At first, I almost didn’t believe it. I was still groggy and drowsy from sleep when I stumbled down the stairs. I thought I was hallucinating when I noticed Hankyung sitting on the table eating a plate full of pancakes.

“You know, I know you’re hungry Siwon. Just come out and eat. I already made some for you.” His voice startled me. He probably heard me coming down the stairs. I wasn’t exactly the most graceful creature on Earth. I rubbed my eyes and made my way to the kitchen.

“How much of a cook are you?” I took a cautious bite of a pancake, immediately enjoying the sweet taste. I could so get used to this.

“I learned to cook when I was young. I used to sneak in the kitchen and read recipes at the orphanage. I also watched the people cook before meals. There really wasn’t anything else to do there.” He was an orphan? The thought of his family never occurred to me until now. I looked at his thoughtful expression, but he didn’t seem to be bothered by that topic. I decided it was best not to talk about it.

“So why do you cook for me? You don’t have to.” Though I silently prayed that he would continue cooking. I wasn’t up to reverting back to buying frozen food for myself, or going out for breakfast. He shrugged and ate more of his pancakes.

“I just do it to pass the time.” I was about to say more when my phone vibrated. I reached for it and saw a text from Taeyeon. A feeling of delight and curiosity immediately filled me.

“It’s Taeyeon, isn’t it?”

“Yeah…how’d you know?” Hankyung laughed and finished the rest of his pancakes.

“I could tell by the look on your face. So what does it say?” I scanned the black lettering and started reading aloud.

“It just says that she wants to see a movie with me.” Hankyung seemed more excited than me at this piece of information.

“See a horror movie. No other option.”

“Why? I don’t even like horror movies.” Hankyung rolled his eyes.

“You’re good looking, but you’re definitely not very bright, now are you? It’s an excuse for her to hold on to your arm, stupid.” He broke into another smile. “Now go. Don’t make her wait!”

“You’re just like a nagging best friend.” I said, a hand already on the doorknob.

“You sure you’re going to be fine alone?” I asked. He placed both hands on my shoulders and roughly pushed me outside.

“Go, stupid!”

“Annoying idiot.” I countered. He held up two fingers and smiled, slamming the door behind me. I guess I had no choice but to go through with the invitation.

For the next week or so, it remained like that; little meetings here and there between me and Taeyeon (with occasional random songs that I choose to ignore).

There was one time where she caught me hissing at Henry to shut up. I only had to read the expression on her face to remember that Henry wasn’t exactly…real. I just smiled and changed the topic, thankful that she didn’t question me about it.

There was also another time where I caught myself rambling on about Hankyung. It was already too late to stop myself before I realized.

“It’s just that he’s so annoying! He acts like he knows every single little detail about my personal life. I swear he doesn’t understand the meaning of privacy.” I didn’t even know I was caught in this conversation. The words fully registered in my mind only when I stopped talking. I think my mouth moved too fast for my brain to catch up. It was too late to back out now.

Taeyeon giggled behind her hand.

“The way you talk about him makes him sound like some sort of devil.”

“He might as well be one.” I muttered. Taeyeon playfully slapped my arm.

“Don’t be like that! He doesn’t sound too annoying. It’s not like he did anything wrong, right?” She inquired.

“Yeah? Well, you try being in the same room for a day and then tell me how it is.”

“Siwon, I swear. You’re just making it hard on yourself. And is he like your roommate or something? I’ve never heard you talk about him before.”

“He kind of…popped into my life a couple days ago. He’s not really my roommate. He just likes hanging around my house.”

“Come to think of it, I’ve never heard you talk about anyone like that before!” She laughed again, moving loose strands of hair out of her face. I stuffed my hands deeper into my pockets and stared at her confusedly.

“Like what?”

“Back in high school, even when you hated someone, you would just grit your teeth and keep silent. You never really rant about people like this.”

“That’s only because he’s way different from any other people that I know! And trust my word when I say that.” Taeyeon smiled – that same smile that always used to brighten my days in high school.

“At least you care about him.” She said simply. I scoffed and laughed dryly.

“Care? Ha! I could care less about him.”

“That’s not true! If you really didn’t care about a person, you wouldn’t get so worked up about how they act.” Taeyeon did have a point there. I briefly pondered how we got into this kind of argument but tossed the thought away.

“Well I don’t hate him…” I admitted.

“You should introduce me to him soon. He sounds like a really nice guy.” She smiled giddily. I rolled my eyes. Only she would give a guy like him a chance. I was about to respond when she pointed at a specific building.

“Ooh, we’re here! Trust me, you’ll love the restaurant!” I broke into a smile, forgetting about the topic of Hankyung for a bit when she loosely hooked her arm through mine, leading me into the restaurant.

When I opened the door to my house, the last thing I expected was Hankyung to spontaneously pop right in front of me. I jumped back a little, still not used to the whole transporting idea. He leaned towards me and raised his eyebrows suggestively.

“So…how was it?” I closed the door and shrugged.

“Same as any other date with Taeyeon.” Hankyung huffed in reply.

“That’s it? I thought you liked the girl!”

“I do. What do you want me to do, swoon like some teenager?” Hankyung stifled a smile and nodded.

“That would be perfect.” He stated with a serious expression. I rolled my eyes and through my jacket on the hanger. I went to a nearby chair and threw my legs across the arms of the chair, letting my head roll back. I heard him burst out laughing when I dramatically placed the back of my hand on my forehead. I slowly turned towards him in what I thought was a dreamy expression. I’m pretty sure I just broke him when I bit my lower lip.

“It was absolutely wonderful Hannie,” I cooed. I could see the wide smile peeking through the hand that hid his face. “It was perfect. She looked so beautiful in her…actually I have no idea what she was wearing.” I broke out of my act and sat up, rubbing my back. Hankyung crossed his arms, failing to stop another round of laughter.

“Alright, remind me never to do that again.” I winced and stood up, stretching out my arms. I didn’t expect the arm of the chair to dig into my back so much. “You better be happy now Hankyung.”

“Why haven’t you become an actor yet? You would have been the perfect girl in any chick flick.” I decided to ignore the gibe and headed towards the kitchen for a drink.

“But seriously, the date was like any other. Nothing special.” I insisted. When I turned back to Hankyung again, the joking expression was gone. Instead, he seemed confused.

“Why are you so worried?”

“Usually our customers are more excited than this. If we’re lucky, we can get them to settle down into…that act you did on the chair.” I cracked a smile and sipped my tea.

“Well, maybe I’m different.” It was weird for me to see Hankyung so uneasy about a simple thing like this.

“I’ve got to go now. It’s getting late so uh, good night.” He tipped his hat and disappeared. I shrugged to myself and continued drinking my tea, not really giving a second thought about Hankyung’s behavior.

I found myself sitting at the dining table the next day, thinking about another conversation I had with Taeyeon. It happened at a diner while we were waiting for our food.

“So how’s Hankyung now?” She had said. I remembered being startled at the question. I only spoke about him one before, so I didn’t think she would have remembered.

“Um…I don’t know. Still his usual annoying self. We’re getting along though.” She had placed her chin on her hands with a thoughtful smile on her face.

“How is he really like? I mean, sure he’s annoying to you…but what if you didn’t know him? What is he like?” I had raised an eyebrow at her curiosity. I remembered musing briefly over the thought that I should be jealous.

“I guess he would be nice in another person’s view. His main quality would definitely be his cooking. I think that would attract the girls the most.” We had laughed together just when the food arrived. “He…takes care of his friends a lot.”

“How?”

“…He cooks food for me, and he…acts like an older brother to a couple guys. He’s pretty polite. And – wait why are you so curious?” Taeyeon smirked at that.

“Well I got you to admit some things you didn’t last time, am I right?” She had taken a bite of her food with a smug smile on her face. I laughed, just a tiny bit annoyed.

“Why are you so intent on the topic of Hankyung?”

“Because I’ve never seen you get so worked up over anybody before! It’s kind of fascinating!” Taeyeon had grinned and leaned forward. “Plus, the way you act reminds me of when I’m around my own sister. I hate her guts sometimes, but I still love her.”

“So you’re saying that Hankyung’s like my brother. Hmph. That’s really funny, Taeyeon.” She hadn’t said anything more about Hankyung afterwards. But even when she had moved to another topic, her words hadn’t left my mind.

And it still didn’t leave my mind when I was watching Hankyung cook in front of me.

 “Well you seem happy.” Hankyung said cheerfully, snapping me out of my reverie.

“Why do you say that?” He shrugged.

“When someone’s happy, you can just tell.” I didn’t necessarily feel happy…I just felt lighter than usual.

“I guess I am…” I flipped the next page in my book, realizing that I read absolutely nothing on those two pages. “What are you doing here anyways?”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. You’re usually bugging me about Taeyeon right about now.” Hankyung laughed and nodded, turning off the oven.

“I probably would. But there won’t be anything to do today.”

I looked up at him. That was a strange answer. Hankyung slipped a plate of steaming fried rice into my hands and snuggled on the other side of the couch with a plate of his own.

“If all is well, Taeyeon’s supposed to call you today. She said she would, right?”

“Well, yeah…”

“So hopefully all goes well.” I stared at him. I felt some sort of gratitude for this foreign stranger.

“…Thanks.” Hankyung met my gaze with wide, brown eyes.

“For what?”

“For all of this. Cooking food, Taeyeon…although I’m not going to forgive you for your musical boys.” He laughed at me.

“Hey, music says a lot. Trust me.” I rolled my eyes, glancing down at the food he cooked. The delicious food that he cooked.

“You’re still annoying…” I murmured, more trying to remind myself than actually wanting him to hear me.

“Have you eaten at all before I came here?”

“Of course. Why?”

“You seem starved every time I cook something. “ I noticed what he meant when I looked up at him with a mouth full of rice. He chuckled behind his hand when he saw me. I forced myself to swallow.

“Because it’s good.” I said simply. He beamed happily. “And I’m not used to eating cooked food like this.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t cook.” Hankyung laughed, as if it was the most ridiculous thing he ever heard.

“Nobody ‘can’t’ cook. That’s impossible! Read the directions and you can cook.”

“Well, I really can’t.” The next thing I know, his hand was around my wrist and he was lugging me towards the cupboards.

“We’ve got all day! I’ll teach you how!” He said triumphantly. The way he gripped my wrist briefly made me think back to Taeyeon, but the thought was immediately gone before I had a chance to fully grasp it.

“Hankyung, you are so going to regret it.” He completely ignored me and started to raid my kitchen cupboards. He gasped in delight each time after he opened and closed the cupboards.

“You have so many precious ingredients and you don’t even cook!” I shrugged. He went into one of his hyper modes and had specific ingredients lain out on the counter before I could even blink. He then popped up in front of me, holding a small box of cocoa powder. He grinned and pushed it into my arms.

                “Let’s make brownies. I’m up for something sweet, how about you? I can wrap up the fried rice and you can eat it later.” I don’t think I could have said no to his annoying smile even if I wanted to. I mean…it was brownies. Soon enough, I was stirring up some sort of brown, gooey contraption, simply following his orders. I was sort of amused at how much he enjoyed cooking. I blindly mixed it with a wooden spoon and stared at him finally slumping against the counter. The whir of the oven starting up was relaxing.

 “Wait, why am I doing all the work while you’re just standing there?” I nodded my head at him, who was currently leaning against the counter across from me. He responded with a silent smile and lolled his head back, sighing deeply.

 “You’ve got muscles. You can handle it. And you’re not bad at cooking!” I scoffed at that.

“That’s because we haven’t done any cooking yet. Once I’m involved with electronics, you’re responsible of me.” Hankyung rolled his eyes and flicked his hat somewhere towards the couch. When I saw him hatless, I was a bit surprised. I realized that I never saw him without his hat before. I didn’t know his hair was that long. And I definitely didn’t know that it framed his face like…like…like that.

He’s attractive.

The thought came without any kind of thinking whatsoever. The conclusion hit me so hard that it sent the wooden spoon in my hand clattering to the floor. His laugh startled me out of my surprise as he bent down to pick it up. He casually rinsed the chocolate off and threw it back into the bowl.

“You’re already clumsy enough without electronics.” I forced myself to clear my head and put the bowl down on the counter

“Alright, what else do I need to do?”

“I think that’s about it.” He reached for the bowl and stuck a finger inside for chocolate. He it and hummed.

“Creamy. Try some.” He took out the wooden spoon and turned it quickly towards me, accidentally flicking pieces of chocolate in my face. When I opened my eyes, I saw his surprised expression, the spoon still in his hand at an angle.

“Er…sorry?” But I heard the chuckle he was trying to hide behind those words. I smiled and took the spoon, dipping it into the batter. I purposely jerked my arm forward, the tip of the spoon brushing across his face. The second expression on his face was definitely worth it.

“Oops. Muscle spasm.” I said smugly. He slowly wiped the chocolate smeared on his face and turned off the oven, smiling.

“We’re not going to eat anything if we waste it like this.” He said. I dipped my hand into the batter and chucked more chocolate at his face.

“I’m good with that.” He whined at the amount of chocolate now splattered all over his clothing.

“Who’s the annoying one now?!” He cried out, somehow getting chocolate on my shirt. I grabbed for the bowl, successfully tearing it away from his hands. I laughed, realizing the mess that the both of us were making. I think I slipped on some chocolate because the bowl was suddenly flying in the air. The next thing I know, the bowl was covering Hankyung’s head, the chocolate oozing out from underneath. I covered my mouth in surprise, watching his hands slowly take off the bowl. The smile re-appeared on his face, paired with a laugh.

The good thing about this was that I couldn’t see his hair.

The bad thing about this was that he spread out his arms and took a step towards me.

“You know you want a hug.” I shook my head and started walking backwards. He advanced way more quickly than I imagined. I let a slick, chocolate-covered hand touch my arm before I slipped away, laughing. He got me pinned down on the kitchen floor after about a minute of chasing.

“Jesus Christ you’re stronger than you look.” He laughed and wiped his face, purposely smudging it on my shirt.

“Yeah, well, you deserve it. I offer to teach you how to cook and I get this.”

“Hey! At least don’t get it on my clothing!” He chuckled and sat up, his knees folded underneath him, resting on my legs.

“Rule number one in cooking. Don’t wear good clothing.” I tried sitting up, but in this position it was really uncomfortable.

“Yeah, now I know that.” I leaned back on my arms, and another thought occurred to me.

That was way more fun than any time I had with Taeyeon.

Unfortunately, I had other worries to take care of. Hankyung was wiping his face with his shirt. And from the ground…I saw his flat, thin stomach up to his…let’s just say that I saw him at a completely different angle than what I was used to. I roughly shoved him off my legs before I had any other weird thoughts creeping into my mind.

“Hey, do you mind if I go shower or something? And clean my shirt?” He laughed. I pointed down the hall.

“Yeah. The shower’s down the hall, first door to the right.”

“I’ll first help you clean up this mess.” Before I could protest, he was shirtless and wiping up the chocolate mess with his shirt.

.

“I think I can take care of the mess myself, Hankyung.” I think my voice cracked. “No seriously, Hankyung.” He shrugged and twirled his messy shirt around his finger.

“My shirt’s already messy enough. I might as well clean up the mess. Anyways, we’re both guys, so it’s no problem, right?” He smiled again.

“I think the fact that we’re both guys is the problem.” I mumbled.

“What?”

“Nothing. Seriously, go shower. I’ve got this.” I reached for the dirty shirt and smiled.

“Considering that whole mess back there, I don’t trust you.” He smirked, not letting go of the shirt. Okay, now I was a little offended.

“Hey, I did warn you that I couldn’t cook.” I playfully turned him against the counter and tugged on the shirt again. We both looked up at the echo of footsteps in the hall. Henry was standing there with an intrigued expression, his hands stopped in mid-text. I let go of Hankyung’s hands and stepped backward awkwardly.

“Uh…hi Henry. Need something?” Hankyung murmured, scratching the back of his head. Henry stepped forward and shifted his eyes to the chocolate fingerprints on my shirt. He peered into the almost empty bowl and raised an eyebrow before turning back around.

“I just wanted to know what you were doing. But now I have a feeling I don’t want to know.”

I stared at Hankyung, knowing that the old “it’s not what it looks like” never works, especially not now. Henry suddenly stopped walking and turned around, flicking his hat back. He off some chocolate that accidentally got on to his fingers, much more dramatically than needed.

“Didn’t know you were so .”

After Henry vanished, there was an awkward tension hanging thick in the air. Hankyung broke it by collecting his shirt, a light pink dappled on his cheeks.

“…You’re right. I should probably go shower now.” With a hat in one hand, a rolled up, soiled shirt in the other, he disappeared from sight. A second later, I heard the water running.

After a moment of silence, I realized that my heart was racing for some strange reason. I breathed deeply, my head starting to fully clear up. Out of curiosity, I cocked my head towards the bowl that lay on the counter. I reached for the abandoned wooden spoon and a bit of the batter off the tip. It literally made my mouth tingle at the sudden sweetness.

“Hankyung was right.” I mused to myself, staring at the spoon. “It is creamy.”