The day was busier than ever with phone calls coming in every couple of minutes, but Seunghyun wasn’t very focused. He found himself spacing out and looking down at his own cell phone every now and then. He had told Dara that she could call if she needed anything but she hadn’t called yet and that was four days ago. He knew he was being stupid thinking that she’d call so soon, they literally met after 20 years. He didn’t even know why he was waiting for her call, it’s not like he liked her. Seunghyun was only amazed by how much she changed over the years.

When they were younger, she was the tomboy while Seunghyn was the sensitive one. But, now she was a beautiful woman. Dara stood up against the older boys when they would bully him about his weight. That was one of the reasons Seunghyun was glad she didn’t seem to remember him, those years were not the best years of his life. He, on the other hand remembered almost everything. His memory had always been amazing but he always remembered Dara because of how grateful he was for her. She stayed by his side when his father was sick and took his mind off of the troubles back at home. Whenever he felt scared he’d go to her and with one smile she’d make him feel safe. He noticed how the smile hadn’t changed. Though it wasn’t as bright and care free as it used to be, she still had the effect of making him feel more at ease.

In the middle of his thoughts, Jiyong, his partner and best friend burst into his office.

“Yah! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m not doing anything?” Seunghyun was confused at his outburst.

“Exactly! Why aren’t you doing your work and pushing it all onto me! You know too many numbers make my brain hurt.” Jiyong plopped down onto the chair across Seunghyun dramatically, to which Seunghyun could only respond by rolling his eyes.

“Sorry, I forgot that head is only for show, there’s no actual brain in there.”

“Ha ha ha, very funny. But seriously what’s wrong with you?” Jiyong wondered if there was a new problem he didn’t know about.

“Nothing, I’m just taking a break.” His eyes wandered down to his phone again, and Jiyong noticed this.

“You’re waiting for Dara’s call aren’t you. I didn’t know you like her!” Seunghyun told Jiyong all about his situation and Dara after meeting her earlier that week. His friend, not unexpectedly, began to about no longer being a bachelor and having to mend his ways and become a better man. Even though it was obvious who the better man was between the two.

“I don’t like her, and I’m not waiting I was just checking the time.”

“Checking the time my . You have a huge clock right there.” Jiyong pointed behind him to the huge clock hanging directly across Seunghyun.

“Fine, I just thought she’d call to ask me something, I don’t know. But, I don’t like her. Serious.” Jiyong gave him a suspicious look but he let it go, for now.

“She probably just feels too awkward to call you, you’re not the most welcoming person.”

“I’m a nice person!” He suddenly felt defensive, but all Jiyong could do was laugh.

“I’m not saying you’re mean, I just meant you give off a strong first impression…Yah see what you did! I came here to tell you to get off your lazy and-” Jiyong’s rant was interrupted by Seunghyun’s ringtone. His hand suddenly shot towards the ringing object to pick up. He stood up and turned away from Jiyong as he cleared his throat. Jiyong was in awe as he watched his friend lose his cool over one phone call.

“Don’t like her my .” Jiyong grumbled not so quietly to himself, and Seunghyun turned around to shoot him a death stare.

“Hello,” Seunghyun thought he was back to his cool and collected self, but Jiyong just laughed in the back.

“Hi, it’s me Dara. I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything.” Since the room was so quiet, Jiyong could hear her through the phone and thought it would be funny to shout out “you were!” Another glare was sent towards Jiyong. If it was anybody else, the first glare would’ve been enough to send the person running but Jiyong knew Seunghyun wouldn’t hurt a fly.

“Oh, I’m sorry I’ll call later then.”

“No, no it’s okay. That’s my friend, he wasn’t being serious.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, why did you call?”

“I was packing and I realized I didn’t know what I should bring, or like how much I should bring. So I was wondering if I could check out the room today? So I don’t bring too much…” She hoped she wasn’t being too invasive.

“Oh, yeah I should’ve sent you pictures of the room. But yeah, you can come over and check out the room. Would you be able to come at like 7? Since I’m at work now.” Seunghyun had turned back around to check the time, and was met with Jiyong standing there with his arms crossed and a very amused expression on his face. Seunghyun turned back around immediately.

“Sure, that’s perfect. Thank you! I promise I’ll just see the room and get out.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll text you the address.”

“Okay, thank you. Um, I’ll see you later then. Bye.”

“Yeah, bye.” Jiyong then called out “BYE!” from the other side of the room, and Seunghyun rushed to end the call before he could say anything else.

“What’s your problem?”

“I was just saying bye, it’d be rude if I didn’t,” Jiyong had an “innocent” look on his face as he said this. Seunghyun could only sigh and sit back down.

“You’re annoying you know that?” Seunghyun was now texting Dara the address.

“Just a little. It adds to my charm.”

“Get out.” Seunghyun didn’t want to have to deal with him anymore.

“Fine, I’ll leave.” Before he entirely left the room, Jiyong stopped at the door to turn around and say “Don’t fall for her too hard” and then ran out.

Seunghyun could only shake his head as he laughed at his best friend’s antics. He wasn’t falling for Dara, he was just glad that he was getting his friend back.

After work ended, Seunghyun rushed home. Even though he always kept his house clean, today he made sure to clean even harder. After the clock struck 7, Dara still hadn’t arrived but Seunghyun thought she was just stuck in traffic. He ended up working on his own project while waiting; she was already an hour late. He was worried since she wasn’t answering his text, nor had she called him saying she’d be late.  Then after a couple of minutes, the door bell rang.

Seunghyun opened the door to a soaked Dara. He didn’t even know it was raining.

“Hey… sorry I’m late.” Her hair was dripping and she was crossing her arms obviously to keep from shivering. Seunghyun said nothing as he stared at her, there were no thoughts going through his head except for the fact that she shouldn’t have worn a white shirt that day.

“Seunghyun? Can I come in, it’s cold.”

“Oh sorry, yeah come in.” He moved aside to let her in, and she noticeably welcomed the warmth of his house.

“Can I use your bathroom?”

“Yeah, it’s on your right. There are towels in there too so you can dry yourself.”

As she walked off to the bathroom Seunghyun went to prepare something hot for her. As he was pouring some tea into a cup, Dara walked into the kitchen with a towel wrapped around her head, and another towel over her shirt.

“Here, this should make you warmer.” He pushed the cup towards her and she thanked him with a grateful smile.

“Your clothes are soaked.”

“My jeans are fine but my shirt isn’t, but it’s fine it’ll dry.”

“I can give you something to change into…” Dara gave him a weird look.

“No it’s okay, your shirt would be a little too big for me.”

“Oh no, it’s not mine.”

“I don’t think I should wear your girlfriend’s clothes…”

“Huh? No they’re not my girlfriend’s, it’s my sister’s. She stays here from time to time and leaves some of her clothes just in case. She wouldn’t mind.”

“Oh. Okay then. Thank you.” Dara noticed how he didn’t deny having a girlfriend.

While he went inside to get her a change of clothes, she walked around to check out the apartment. He said he didn’t really like pictures but there were a lot of frames hanging on the wall. They were of his parents, him and his sister. There was one picture of Seunghyun seemingly in pain while his sister pulled his ear while laughing; it made her smile thinking he cared enough to put that picture up.

Then there was a small frame on one of the stands beside the sofa that was faced down. It was a picture of Seunghyun with another woman, and not just any woman, it was Shin Min Ah. The two looked way too close to be just friends, and then Dara made the connection; she was the girlfriend Seunghyun didn’t deny of having. Dara couldn’t help but think how unfair their coupling was since they were both so attractive.

The sound of Seunghyun’s steps made Dara place the frame back down to its original position and pretend like she wasn’t just snooping around. Then her eyes laid onto something that immediately grabbed her attention.

It was a portrait of a woman, it was incomplete but enough to show how talented Seunghyun was.

“Here you go, sorry I didn’t really know what you would like.” He handed her the light pink shirt knowing it was her favorite color, or at least used to be.

“Oh no this is perfect, it’s my favorite color.” Seunghyun smile was filled with satisfaction when he heard her words.

“Did you draw this?” Dara was pointing to the portrait on the coffee table. Seunghyun’s eyes widened for a second since he forgot to put it away before she came.

“Oh . Um yeah just a little something I do when I’m bored.” He was scrambling to put it away.

“It’s amazing. You’re really good. Who are you drawing?” Dara had her own guess.

“Huh? No one in particular, just doodling.”

“Wow if that’s doodling, I wonder what my drawings would be.” Seunghyun couldn’t reply back as she turned away to go change. He quickly put away his things, still slightly embarrassed because he never showed anyone his personal portraits. Sure he made hundreds of designs for work but those were different, these made him feel almost vulnerable. After putting everything away he sat at the sofa waiting for her. She finally came back out, the shirt was a little loose on her but other than that she looked cute, almost like a little girl. Her hair was still wet and she had washed her face of her make up making her look less fierce and more innocent.

“Ahh, I feel good now. Thank you.”

“No problem, but why were you late? Was everything okay?”

“I got held up at work and left later than usual and then when I was leaving it started pouring on me and I was going to call you to tell you I’d be late but my phone was dead. Then when I arrived here I couldn’t find parking and had to park far so when I was walking here I got wet.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, it was a journey. But I’m fine now. Can I see the room?”

“Oh yeah, sure. Our rooms are right next to each other, so this is mine and this one is yours.” He opened the door to a room that pretty big, bigger than hers back home. She loved it almost immediately because of the glass wall that overlooked the Han River.

“Do you like it?”

“Yes! Wow this room is really pretty, and bigger than I expected.”

“I’m glad you like it. Does this help in what you’re going to be packing?”

“Yeah it does. Thank you for letting me see it. I should go then.”

“I think you should go a little bit later, it’s raining even harder now. It wouldn’t be safe to drive now.” He walked over to the curtains to push them aside. It was pouring so hard it was hard to see.

“Oh wow.”

“Yeah stay. I’ll order pizza or something.”

“Pizza?”

“I’m not very good at cooking…” The way he said it made Dara laugh, it broke his perfect image but in a way made him seem much more appealing. Perfect is boring. 

*** Ha! I made it before the day ended! Four days in a row, i think its my personal best. I hope you like this chapter, its longer and it shows Seunghyun's point of view. Since it was my 18th birthday today, this is my gift to you all (and to myself), Comment on your thoughts, i honestly love love love your comments, theyre so sweet. Thank youuuu!

P.s i didn't read it over lol sorry!