Kim Woo Bin’s POV

 I reach close to lunch time so I carry some food with me to have together.  His fridge is always stocked though none of it is homemade.  His manager routinely replaces stuff.  But his manager has not been visiting him lately because Sukkie has been off work.  I am not sure how much food he had.

I needlessly worry as if he is a child.

He is a grown man and he better take care of himself. 

….

Well, looks like he is.  He is actually trying to cook something. 

“What the hell is that?” I ask him.

“Omurice”

Ah.  Right. 

“Do I have to eat that?” I ask him.

He hits me with the spatula.

“I wanted an ordinary romance.  Someone waiting for me at home, us doing chores together, us cooking together, me cleaning dishes..Look what I have”

He sighs.

“Aren’t you recounting scenes from your last drama?”

He hits me again.

“Well I got food.  It is as normal as it can get right now for you” I inform him.

He looks at me thoughtfully.

“I can even open bottles for you” I continue.

He sighs again.

He washes his hands.  Leaves the kitchen in the messy stage.

“Clean the kitchen” He tells me.

“You are kidding!  You said you wanted to clean the kitchen!” I scream after him.

“Clean it.  I cooked”

“You sit and give me company then”

I hear sounds of plates being removed and put on the dining table.

“Are we doing a formal lunch thing?” I ask him.

“Are you cleaning?”

Sigh.  Seriously.  I was looking for some fun time and here I am cleaning his kitchen.

“You can afford maid service you know” I complain.

“I have a maid service”

“Why are you making me clean then?”

“For today it is you” he says.

It looks like he is having fun.

Well, if this gets him off, I guess, I can clean his damn kitchen.  I will make him pay later.  Special fees!

I am looking forward to payment with a grin on my face.

“You are thinking erted things right?”

Suddenly he is behind me. 

“I am trying to figure out our payment terms for the maid service” I tell him.

“Continue cleaning” he says.

He breaths on my neck as he kisses the base.  His hands wrap around my waist.  He starts nibbling my ears.  He moves his teeth around the earlobe.  He is driving me nuts.

“mmmm”.  I stop cleaning and close my eyes to surrender to the sensations. 

“Don’t stop cleaning”

“What, is this some new thing?”

“Yep.  This is payment while receiving service” he says as he unbuckles my belt. 

His is pressing against my back and now he has one hand me and the other playing with my .

I can take it only for few seconds.  “ it”

I turn around and kiss him hard.  My hands are all soapy.  So I rub them on his tshirt and then take it off.

I push him against the refrigerator.  He forgets all about cleaning and urgently removes my shirt.

For the next couple of minutes, the only thing that can be heard are our collective moans, tongues swapping, slurping and grunting. 

When I relax my hold on him, he pushes me against the refrigerator and goes down on me.

Soon his lips are enveloping me as he starts what turns out to be the most and perfectly acceptable payment for a half-finished maid job. 

As I reach my limit, I myself into his mouth and give him a warning.  When he tries to let me go I can’t help but hold him down as I shoot in his mouth. 

He wipes his mouth.  “That is nasty” he says.

“You started it” I tell him as I pant. 

“Here is a taste” He tells me as he kisses me with an open mouth with his tongue firmly making sure I taste everything.

“Ewww.  That is nasty” I tell him.

…..

Finally we eat lunch at the dining table.  His Omurice is not entirely inedible.  Though we end up focusing on what I carried.

“What is with dining table?  This is so weird.” I tell him.

We always eat sitting in front of the TV on the couch or on the floor. 

“Just pretending to play house” he tells me.

He does the most unexpected things.

……

We are soon sprawled on the sofa.  Time for procrastinated chat. 

“Have you thought of living alone? You can afford it now right?” he finally starts the conversation. 

“I can but I don’t think he can” I tell him.  “He took care of me when I had nothing.  I can’t just leave him like that.”

“If you tell him and give him time, he might find roommates.  I mean, one of these days, you will have to right?”

“I don’t even know how long all this will last.  It has just started” we have always been honest with each other.  There are no insecurities that we don’t share.

Success has just found me.  I am just starting.  I don’t want to take it for granted and make financial decisions that may come back to haunt me.  I have been too poor.  Struggling to eat, find a place to sleep through the night.  I would rather save for when all of this disappears. 

Plus I have to think about my parents. 

Jong Suk also takes care of his money.  He is not careless either.  But he has lived alone for a long time time now.  He finally moved to a new place recently.  It is now lavish compared to where he was.  But he does not waste.  I like him for that.

He understands my apprehension.  Both of us know how fickle careers in this industry can be.  It is easy to get carried away when everyone is talking about you and there is fan adulation.  But in the end, you will have to think about what will happen in 2 years, 3 years.  There is military and everything may have disappeared if we don’t take it seriously now.  At least, we are not idols.  If we continue to work hard, there is a possibility of long term for actors.

But, it is too early to get cocky.

We are sitting in comfortable silence thinking disconcerting thoughts.

“It is scary sometimes” he tells me as if he knows exactly what I am thinking.

“All the more reason I should not screw up and behave like a moron” I tell him.  Regretting what could have happened if not for my roommate.

“I know I yelled at you but when I got drunk, you told me I was careless as well” he admits.

I never really nagged him about it.  I knew him getting drunk was a rare thing and it did not bother me as much.  May be because I was there to control the situation.

“One of us has to stay sober at all times” I tell him.

“You can get drunk here if you miss getting drunk” he tells me.

“It’s not the same…”

“I know.  I am sorry.” He tells me.

“Pleasure outweighs the pain” I wink at him.

“Your wink is not y at all” he tells me.

I wiggle my eyebrows.

“A little” he says.

“Now you try” I tell him.

He tries.  Really hard.  All he ends up doing is rolling his eyes trying to wiggle. 

“Yeah, that is really y” I tell him dryly. 

I can’t help but pull him and kiss him though.  “Don’t try that for your own safety”

He tries again.  I kiss him again.

We spend time watching a medical drama.  “I am bored” I tell him.  “I need to get active”

“Go, do your gym thing” he tells me.

“I wish we could go for walks.  Go street shopping.  Eat street food.  Work out together”

“You wish for too many things”

Even as he says that, I his face falling.  I am just stating what he is thinking.  I am sure he wants the same things too.  But we both need to get our heads straight and focus.  Learn not to get too greedy.  Be happy with what we have.  This is already a luxury. 

I try to shake off the melancholy despite the tightening in my chest.

“Sukkie, I am happy.  Just get a little greedy sometimes”

“Me too” He says.

“It will be fine” I say brightly with forced cheer.

He nods.

“Go to the gym.  You will feel even better” he tells me.

“But we have not done it yet!” I whine. 

“We don’t have to do it every time”

I procrastinate a bit more.

But finally, I feel too restless.  I know gym will cure me.  So, I leave.

…..

I don’t like his face or body language when I leave.  I feel like staying but I have this restlessness that is not going away.  He senses it and almost pushes me out the door.

…..

The day started ty, the middle was just great but ending .

….

When I finish the gym, I am restless again.  For the first time, I don’t want to share my restlessness with him.  This will get him further down. 

I don’t know what is bothering me anymore. 

When I keep pondering what it is that is making this feel this, it finally crystalizes.

It is the domestic scene.  The pretend house game he was playing.

My chest tightens again.

……

Today is a good day to get drunk but I should probably do it alone. 

But then, I should probably not.

…..