Kyungsoon’s POV

    Dazed I returned to the sitting room. Was he always that attractive?

    “Oh, she’s got it bad.” Wonsik muttered under his breath.

    Hakyeon sent him a pointed glare and suggested that Hongbin show me the rest of the home.

    The first floor consisted of the entry, sitting room, dining room, kitchen, a den, a study, a library and two bathrooms. Most of the rooms seemed untouched. The study and den both had a thick coat of dust.

    “Sorry, we don’t come in here much.” He casually traced his hands along an end table in the den, drawing a small design in the dust.

    “Why not? It has a great view.” Out the window was the lake. It was about a quarter of a mile away, but you could see the sun reflecting off the surface. It was breath taking.

    “We spend most of our time outside.” Hongbin shrugged. He picked up a small wooden carving of a bear and blew the dust off before setting it back down.

    “May I see your room next?” I asked.

    Hongbin lead the way up the  stairs.  On the left there were three doors. On the right was railing. Leaning over I could see the entry. Across the railing were another set of three doors mirroring those on my left. As we passed each Hongbin named the owner.  “Hyuk’s is first, and then mine.  Wonsik’s room is at the end.” He pointed across the hall. Over there is Hakyeon’s across from Hyuk, Jaehwan in the middle, and Taekwoon has the last room at the very back.”

    Between Wonsik and Taekwoon’s rooms was another sitting room, and another staircase leading to closed door. The sitting room was larger than the one on the first floor.  A large area rug covered the floor between a couch and two oversized chairs

    The door to Hongbin’s room creaked as it was opened. I returned my attention to his room. He held the door so I could enter first. The walls held many pictures, mostly of wooded areas. Some were of the lake. The one that stood out the most to me was of the fox we both saw on the day we met.

    The blanket and curtains in the room were a dark shade of green that reminded me of grass in the shade. Seeing more pictures on a shelf, I went over to investigate. There was a picture of us this past fall. There were brightly colored leaves all around. I'm not sure if it was the leaves or the sun, but in this picture his hair was much more rust colored than I was used to. Sharing its frame was a candid picture of me, taken the same day. “I didn’t know you took this." Hongbin's sheepish grin returned. The next were three red foxes. Two were mature, but the other was a pup. They were playing in an open field and morning dew on the grass was glistening in the sun. “This is adorable! Did you take it?” I asked.

Hongbin leaned forward to see. “Ah, not that one. That was was a gift.” He smiled fondly, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.

The last held a picture of him and his roommates. There were all laughing. The look on Jaehwan’s face led me to be believe it has been something that he did or said.

    My eyes were drawn to Taekwon's laughing form. He looks different when he is laughing, I thought. Very different from the heated gaze he gave me downstairs. I exhaled deeply. I guess I left a bad impression. I set the photo down and turned. I wish he would look at me like that.

Hongbin’s POV

“I wish he would look at me like that.” She sadly mumbled.    

I reached out and put my hand on her shoulder, wanting to offer her some comfort. “I am sure he will. Just give it some time.”

Kyungsoon’s eyes grew wide. “What? Did I say that out loud?” She seemed confused. “I-I, I don’t know why I said that.” She stuttered.

I pulled her over to sit on my bed. “It’s ok to like him.”

She shook her head. “How can I like him? I just met him today.”

“Seems like he likes you too.” I chuckled.

“He is a total creep!” She continued “I caught him watching me yesterday while I was a work.” She stood and gasped, “What if he is a stalker!”

I let out a belly laugh, “That’s an accurate description, but you don’t have anything to worry about. I’ve known him since I was a pup. He is perfectly harmless, when happy.”

Still standing she put her hands on her hips, “So he is a stalker with anger issues?” She raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Great, and now it seems like my bestfriend is encouraging me to ride off into the sunset with this man.”

“I didn’t say that.” I rolled my eyes, and grabbed her hand. Pulling her out of the room, I shut the door behind her. “I just don’t want you to regret not exploring this attraction.”

I began to gently pull her back downstairs, but she stopped me. “Wait. What’s up there?” She asked pointing to the staircase behind the sitting room.

“Uh, nothing. It’s just storage. I lied.

She nodded slowly, skeptically. “Riiight.” She stretched the word. “I guess we all have our dirty little secrets.”

Our hands still joined she led the way back down stairs. If only you knew.

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