“Hello?”

“Hey, I’m downstairs and I just realized there are too many boxes for me to carry on my own. Do you think you can help?” Dara was standing in the lobby of his building surrounded by all her things, struggling to keep the phone between her ear and shoulder as she picked up a box.

“You’re here already? Give me like two minutes.”

“Thanks.” Seunghyun ran down the stairs from his 12^th floor apartment, and on the 2^nd floor he slowed down to catch his breath. When he turned the corner to find Dara, she smiled when their eyes met.

“Hey, thanks for coming down. I wouldn’t be able to do this on my own.”

“It’s no problem, I would’ve come down sooner but I didn’t think you’d be here that fast.” He picked up two boxes both of which were filled with mostly books. She gave him an apologetic smile as she saw his surprise in response to the weight. They worked quickly and quietly to get all her stuff in the elevator in one go and there was barely any space left for the both of them to get in.

“ did I bring too much?” Dara thought she was muttering to herself when Seunghyun chuckled.

“No, this is fine. I’m sure we can fit, come on.” He let her enter first and he followed. The tiny space made them stand closer than usual. Although they weren’t touching, they might as well have been. She felt the warmth that radiated from his body and his cologne that she came to really like. The elevator ride was quiet except for the ding when the doors opened up to the 12^th floor. They both stepped out and began moving the things inside. They spent hours unpacking and getting her settled in that when they finished, the sun was already setting.

“Wow, it’s already 5:30” Dara claimed in astonishment as she threw her arms above her head to stretch. She looked over at Seunghyun, who was dressed similarly to the day before; in a pair of sweats and a black long sleeved shirt. He was organizing her books onto the bookshelves.

“You really like to read huh?” There had to be at least 25 books, he was never a big fan.

“It’s my hobby. Usually when I have a bad day I pick up a book and just try to forget everything.” She moved over to sit on her bed, jumping up and down in place to check how soft the mattress was. “Do you read?”

“I mean I read, but not for fun. I never really liked books. They bore me.”

“They used to bore me too, but I guess I started liking them when my dad left. He’d always read me little fairy tales when I was little so when I read books I felt like he was next to me, reading to me.” Seunghyun saw the longing in her eyes but she quickly masked it with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “But, yeah I like books.” Dara had an awkward laugh when she realized she just told one of her secrets to Seunghyun.

 “Well, I guess there’s one thing we don’t share in common. Come on let’s eat I’m hungry.” Dara was thankful for Seunghyun not asking her any questions and gladly agreed.

“Are we eating pizza again?” She was following him to the kitchen.

“No, I cooked.” He brought over the pot to the dinner table, and asked her to get the plates in the cupboard.

“I thought you couldn’t cook.” She handed him two plates, to which he scooped some rice into.

“I said I couldn’t cook very well, but there are some things I can make. For example, kimchi jigae.” He took the lid off the pot to reveal something that he claimed was edible. Dara kept staring into the pot in silence.

“What? You don’t like kimchi jigae?”

“No, I love kimchi jigae.”

“Then, what’s the problem?”

“…That doesn’t look like kimchi jigae.” There was no jigae, the soup was all dried up and the kimchi didn’t look right.

“Don’t judge my food until you try it okay. It tastes pretty good.” She wanted to laugh seeing how defensive Seunghyun got when it came to his cooking but instead kept a straight face and sat down to eat.

The food was better than it looked but still not as good as Seunghyun claimed it to be. He looked like he was used to it as he was almost done with his portion, as opposed to Dara who only ate half.

“How was it?” He looked satisfied and she didn’t have the heart to tell him the truth so she gave him a nod to say it was good. His smile was almost instant after her response.

“Told you you shouldn’t judge without eating it.” He walked over to the sink to wash the dishes, when Dara took the plates from him. “You cooked, so I clean.” He gave a small smile.

“Can you cook?” Seunghyun was leaning against the kitchen counter as he stared at Dara’s back while she washed the dishes.

“I’m not amazing but I can get by.”

“Please you sound like those people who lie about their skills when in reality they can cook up like a 5 course meal.” Dara gave him a mischievous look over her shoulder.

“I can’t cook a 5 course meal, but I think I’m pretty good. I’ll cook for you one day.”

“I’ll look forward to it.” When the dishes were done, they each moved into their rooms. Dara was organizing her closet when she heard a knock at her door. She looked back and saw Seunghyun, he wasn’t in his sweats anymore. He was actually pretty dressed up in his slacks and dress shirt.

“Are you going out somewhere?”

“Yeah… sorry I didn’t want to leave you on your first day here but I have to go meet someone.”

“No, that’s okay. I’m going to go bed early anyway it’s been a long day for me. You go have fun.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” She was still sitting on her floor, and surrounded various shirts and dresses.

“Alright. I’ll probably be back late so I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye.” He was about to walk away when he peeked his head into her room again.

“Hey Dara…”

“Hm?”

“I like the hello kitties, they’re cute.” He left before she could respond but Dara didn’t miss the smirk on his face.

“Hello kitty? What’s he talking ab-?” Her eyes widened as she whipped her head in the opposite direction to see her bra sprawled next to her. Proudly showing off the hello kitty designs on the cups. Dara wanted to die of embarrassment.

As Seunghyun was closing the door to the apartment he heard Dara scream “!” He couldn’t help but laugh out loud, and be grateful for helping him be less nervous for what he was going to do.

~

Dara couldn’t sleep and it must’ve been the 20^th time she glanced over at the clock beside her bed. It was 3:15 in the morning and she wanted to scream in frustration. She hated this restless feeling the most. Her body was exhausted but her brain wouldn’t shut up, she also missed her room. Not being able to lie still anymore, Dara got up and walked into the dark hallway. She was walking towards the bathroom, when she felt something on the floor. Almost about to scream, she bent down and picked up the material in the moonlight to see what it was. It was a piece of plastic. When she got back up to open the bathroom door, it opened on its own and she bumped into someone’s chest. The scream erupted from before she could stop it.

“AHHHH OMMA!!!” Dara wanted to run away in the opposite direction when her arm was pulled to keep her in place.

“LET GO OF ME, I’LL SCREAM!”

“You’re already screaming! Dara calm down, it’s me Seunghyun!” When she heard the familiar voice, Dara froze.

“Seunghyun?” Her voice was barely a whisper now.

“Yeah, it’s me why are you so scared?”

“Oh thank god, I thought it was someone else.” She sighed in relief and her head hung low near his chest. His bare chest. Dara just realized that he wasn’t wearing a shirt and he was still holding her arms, and somehow she had ended up holding onto him as well. Seunghyun noticed her looking at their position and he let out a fake cough to cover the awkwardness as he pulled away from her.

Now that there was a distance between them, she could think a little more clearly. Just a little though because now she had a complete view of his full torso. Seunghyun was fit, to say the least.

“Why are you up?” Dara’s eyes immediately looked up into his, hoping the darkness hid the fact that she was just checking him out.

“I couldn’t sleep so I was going to wash my face in the bathroom but then yeah… Did you just come home?” He did mention he would be home late.

“Yeah, I just came like 20 minutes ago.”

“Oh, did you have a good time?” Seunghyun hesitated before answering which Dara found weird but didn’t say anything.

“Yeah… it was fun. Are you going back to bed now?”

“I want to but I’m even more awake now.” She ran her hands over her face in a tired manner.

“Sorry for scaring you.”

“It’s not your fault, I guess I’m just not used to living with tall men in the house who could sneak up on me. I think I’m going to make myself a cup of tea.” Dara walked away, leaving Seunghyun in the hall. She walked into the dark kitchen, and sat down at the kitchen island waiting for her water to boil. Her head was put down against the cold marble when the light was .

“Why are the lights off?” Seunghyun had appeared again, this time with a shirt on. She didn’t know she felt about that.

“Ugh can we keep them off? My heads hurting.”

“Sorry.” Seunghyun turned the lights off and walked over to the stove, where the water was already coming to a boil. He set down two mugs in front of Dara and poured the water as well as putting in the tea bags. Seunghyun slid on mug to Dara as he took the seat opposite of her.

“Thank you.” She liked how warm the mug felt in her hands.

“Why can’t you sleep?” Dara guessed he just came out of the shower since his hair was wet and uncombed. Even though he was handsome when he was dressed and put together, Dara realized there was a certain charm to him when he wasn’t in a suit and his hair wasn’t slicked back.

“I don’t know. It’s probably because it’s a new place and all. I’m not used to it yet.”

“Sorry because of everything you had to make such a big move.”

“It’s not your fault, we’re both victims here.” She had a small smile as she said the last part. Maybe it was the fact that the room was so dark, or that it was so silent that the only sound they could hear was the occasional car passing by outside, but the atmosphere felt almost intimate.

“How did you react when my dad told you about this? I’d expect you to blow him off for a random crazy old man since you probably didn’t remember him.”

“No, I remembered him.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, but I did think he was crazy.” Dara laughed, she completely understood that feeling.

“How did you react?” Dara took a careful sip from her hot tea before answering.

“I was angry.”

“That makes sense. Being married to a stranger.”

“I wasn’t angry at that. I didn’t even care about that when he first told me.” She was looking down at her hands as she spoke, Seunghyun could see how hard it was for her to talk about her dad even in the dark.

“What were you angry about?” Normally Seunghyun wouldn’t ask more questions but the darkness made him feel like it was 20 years ago and they were the old Dara and Seunghyun in their little tree house.

“I was angry at him. He left us and he never once called us or came back to check up on us. And then suddenly he shows up in our lives only to mess things up. I told him to get out. I was so rude to him and I honestly felt like I hated him at that moment you know. I know he’s my dad but he was a ty dad for abandoning us.” The silence was deafening after Dara stopped speaking. She looked up to see him staring at her with sad eyes.

“Sorry you probably don’t want to hear all this at 3 in the morning. You don’t have to stay up with me.” She was embarrassed for telling him about how she really felt.

“No, it’s okay plus I can’t really sleep at night either.”

“You can’t?”

“Yeah, I think I have insomnia. It’s not that bad thought it doesn’t happen all the time.”

“Oh.”

“Yep.” There was an awkward silence lingering now.

“Where did you go tonight? You looked all dressed up.”

“I went to meet someone.”

“Who?” From the look on his face Dara knew she messed up again.

“, sorry am I being nosy again?” Seunghyun chuckled at her apology.

“No you’re fine. I went to meet Min Ah. She wanted to talk.”

“Was that talk good or bad…”

“Um I don’t know really. We broke up.”

“Isn’t that bad then? Or are you over her?”

“I still love her, but I think breaking up was better for us. We would constantly fight and I don’t think we were happy. We said we were on a break but I think we both knew where it was headed. So I guess it made it official today.”

“I’m sorry.”

“There’s no need to be sorry. We’re both grown ups.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone so okay with a break up before, especially if you still love her.”

“I mean it’ll take time to get used to since she was such a big part of my life but I’ll be okay.”

“Wow its admirable how mature you’re being.” She continued the next part under her breath “completely unlike me.” Seunghyun laughed, it wasn’t hard to hear her at all.

“Why? What’s up with you?”

“Nothing…”

“You can be nosy about my business but won’t tell me about yours? That’s not cool.” He had a point.

“You said I wasn’t being nosy!” Seunghyun gave her a look.

“Fine… It’s just Youngkwang, the friend I mentioned to you before, I like him.”

“A lot.” Seunghyun finished it for Dara, and Dara could only sigh and place her head back on the marble top of the counter.

“Yeah. A lot. But I can’t do anything about it.”

“Why not?”

“Because I . I’m too much of a coward. What if he rejects me?”

“Well you said he looks out for you a lot and you two have been close for years now right?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s possible he likes you. Guys aren’t that nice they usually have ulterior motives.” Dara sent Seunghyun a displeased look.

“Youngkwang is a nice guy! He’s not a flirt like others.”

“I didn’t mean he was a creep I meant he’s probably staying next to you for so long because he likes you.”

“Then why can’t he do anything about it?”

“Why aren’t you doing anything about it?” They were staring at each other and even in the dark Dara could feel the intensity from Seunghyun’s eyes. She knew he was right.

“If he rejects me, I not only make a fool out of myself but I also ruin our friendship.”

“You have to take risks, or you’re not going to get anywhere in life. Plus if he really is a good friend, and he doesn’t actually like you in that sense, you two will be fine.”

“Really?”

“Yep.”

“Thank you, Seunghyun.”

“For what? Boy advice?” Dara laughed it sounded like they were two high school girls talking about their crush.

“Yes for boy advice, and sitting out here with me at 3 in the morning.”

“Well its 4 now. But you’re welcome.”

“I guess we should go to bed now. Good night, wait good morning.”

“Good morning.” Seunghyun smiled his signature soft smile as they parted ways into their own rooms, both falling asleep with a smile on their faces.