Reinah wipes , chewing the last bit of her sandwich. She stands up to throw the wrapper in the bin and dusts herself off before making her way back to the counter of the convenient store. The fluorescent lights irritate her most of the time, but she’s gotten so used to them that the bright, sickly glow is just another part of working at night.

Joshua looks up from the magazine he’s reading and gives her a small smile. “How was your break?” he asks, moving out of the way for her to take her place behind the register.

“You ask me that every single time and it’s always the same,” she says, clipping her name badge back on to her shirt. “I ate a stinky tuna sandwich in the dusty old storage room, thinking about how lucky I am to be working at a deserted convenient store at 2am for ten bucks an hour.”

Joshua laughs, his soft brown eyes sparkling lightly. “Hey, we’re going through the same struggle here aren’t we? And if I’m being honest, it’s not all that bad.”

Reinah scoffs. “What could be so great about serving old drunk men every midnight?”

“Getting you to deal with them,” he states, poking his tongue out at her.

She snatches his magazine out of his hands and attempts to hit him with it but he dodges it and slips out from behind the counter, chuckling. “Oh yeah, and annoying you is obviously the highlight of my nights,” he says with a wink.

“Ugh!” she groans, hurling the magazine at his beaming face. “You are seriously the worst boss ever! I deserve a pay rise for putting up with you.”

He stoops down to pick up his magazine from the floor, calming down from his laughter. “You’re right Reinah,” he says in a mocking tone, his chin thoughtfully. “How about I buy you dinner for your troubles?”

“Dinner? It’s 2am and I just ate, dufus”

“I don’t mean right now,” he explains, leaning against the counter. “But one of these nights, before our shift. I know this really great place. They have the best food ever, I swear.”

“Oh yeah?” she asks curiously, going along with it.

“Mmhm,” he nods, playing with the snack stand next to the register. “They sell all kinds of peanuts and beef jerky. Perfect for a hearty evening meal.”

Reinah rolls her eyes and laughs. “You want to buy me dinner at the convenient store we work at? Classy much.”

“Don’t hate. I’m a natural romantic,” he says jokingly.

“Whatever, Joshua. Anyways, if you’ve forgotten, I have a boyfriend. So there’s no time for that romantic stuff. I get enough of that from Mingyu,” she says, crossing her arms.

Joshua rolls his eyes and is about to retort when the door bell rings, signaling a new customer. Joshua immediately retreats to the back room and Reinah puts on a friendly smile. The customer wanders around before grabbing some cough lollies. Reinah rings up the price and after he pays, the customer leaves as quickly as he arrived. Most customers she serves at this time are like that; quiet and in a rush. She shrugs and closes the till, tearing the ignored receipt and throwing it in the bin.

“Rawr!” Joshua suddenly yells in her ear, jabbing her in the sides with two fingers.

She jumps in fright, slapping a hand to her chest. Working at night also makes her more jumpy than usual and Joshua’s always using it to his advantage.

“Argh, you idiot!” Reinah shouts, turning around to thump his shoulder. “Get out of my workspace!”

“Your workspace?” he smirks. “If you’ve forgotten, this is my store so all of this is mine.”

She sighs and facepalms, turning back to the counter and ignoring him. “Just leave me alone, I’m too tired for this.”

“Aww,” he pouts, leaning his chin on her shoulder. “But there’s nothing else to do here except annoy you.”

His breath tickles the side of her cheek and she squirms uncomfortably, elbowing him in the stomach. He gasps and pouts again. “Fine,” he finally says, crossing his arms. “I won’t bother you anymore. I’m just going to go clean up the aisles.”

“Good,” she says, watching him make his way to the chips stand. “Make yourself useful for once.”

He doesn’t reply and continues rearranging the shelves. She eyes him suspiciously as he focuses completely on the food in the aisles, acting as if she’s not even there. He’s not usually this quiet. Oh well, she thinks and decides to make the counter look a bit more presentable. As she evens out the assortments spread along the counter, something small hits her face.

“What the?”

She looks up to see Joshua, stalking towards her slowly, smiling at her cheekily with a packet of chips in his hand.

“What are you doing?” she asks, tilting her head.

He looks down and then back at her with a mischievous glint in his eye. “Food fight!” he shouts, hurling the whole bag of chips at Reinah.

She reaches up to shield her face as the crisps fall all around her. She can hear the chips crackling beneath her feet and the sound of Joshua laughing hysterically. Suddenly, Reinah doesn’t feel like putting up with it anymore.

“Joshua,” she breathes, feeling the rage course through her body as she picks bits of chips out of her hair. “Run.”

“What?” he asks, confused.

“Run!” she growls, sprinting towards him. He spins on his heels and dashes towards the aisles, even though there’s nowhere to hide, still laughing like a maniac. She’s faster than he expected. Reinah grabs a packet of chips as she gets closer to him, popping it open before throwing it straight at Joshua. The salty snacks flutter in the air, showering Joshua and the floor around him.

“Ahh!” he yelps with a huge grin, running around the shelves to avoid her. He picks up another packet of chips and stops halfway down the aisle. Reinah stops too, watching him carefully as she slowly closes in on him.

“Put it down, Joshua. You’re only gonna make it worse for yourself.”

He backs away leisurely. “Why would I do that when I’m having so much fun?”

With that, he smacks the bag between his hands, causing the contents of it to go flying towards Reinah. She screams in fury and reaches out, yanking him by the sleeve of his shirt, but her grip is stronger than she realizes. Before either of them see it coming, he falls backwards, pulling her down with him.

“Ouch,” she mumbles, her face squashed against his chest and her head dizzy with the impact. Joshua just grunts in pain.

She lifts her head up to see Joshua’s face right in front of hers. His eyes are hooded, discomfort and confusion written on his face. Shocked at the proximity, Reina attempts to move away but he unexpectedly pulls her back. Surprise clogs up as it sinks in that he’s still holding her, their eyes glued to each other.

Ding dong~

Reinah scrambles to her feet instantly, brushing her clothes off as she quickly makes her way to the counter. She keeps her eyes focused on the cash register, waiting to tend to the customer. She hears Joshua apologizing for the mess and he brushes by her to get a broom to clean up.

After serving the customer and a few more, her shift finally ends. The last half hour had been slightly awkward and silent but she manages to send Joshua a friendly smile and bid him goodbye like she usually does.

“See you tomorrow night, Rei,” he grins, passing her her bag.

“Thanks. Goodnight, Joshua.”

She exits the store, the icy night air greeting her. She smiles to herself, feeling more relaxed after staring at the bright convenient store lights for hours on end. Wandering down the street to a nearby bus stop, she pulls out her phone to text Mingyu. He picks her up after every late night shift because he starts his job at a restaurant early in the morning. She notices that he hasn’t replied to her earlier texts but shrugs and decides to wait a little longer.

Reinah yawns as she glances at the time. Forty minutes have already passed since her shift ended. “Where the heck is he?” she mutters to herself.

A shiver goes up her spine as the air starts to get colder. She wraps her jacket around her tighter and gets on to her feet, sending Mingyu another text. “God damnit Minnie, reply already!”

Her calls all go straight to voicemail so she starts to think he’s probably still asleep and his phone is flat. A little pissed off, she shoves her phone in her pocket and starts to walk home. Their apartment is about a twenty minute walk through the district area of Seoul. Even though it’s freezing out, she doesn’t mind walking at this time. She’s mostly just tired from working and fighting with Joshua, and she yawns for the nth time, wishing Mingyu could just pick her up. If only there were buses running at this time.

The distant sound of bustling night clubs and late partygoers floats towards her. She sticks to the path, trying to avoid all the drunk teenagers and dancing middle aged men that litter the streets.

“Excuse me,” she mumbles, bumping past a couple of girls.

She looks up to see one of the more popular clubs, Bar 48, with its’ everlong queue of people waiting outside. The purple neon lights glow from inside, projecting multicoloured shadows all over the sidewalk. Reinah smiles and remembers visiting the club with Mingyu.

She glances at the entrance for a split second and everything around her instantly comes to a stop. Standing by the dance floor with a girl wrapped around his waist is her so-called boyfriend, Mingyu. She watches in horror as the girl giggles and leans up to peck his cheek. He claims her lips in a fiery kiss and Reinah’s body goes numb.

It can’t be happening, right? That’s her boyfriend… with another girl… maybe she’s mistaken. But he looks up and she sees that all too familiar smile. The one that reaches his eyes and adorns his face like the glow of neon lights early hours of the morning. The refreshing smile he would only give her. Until now.

Mingyu continues to kiss the girl, groping her everywhere and Reinah’s stomach turns. She feels a searing pain in her chest and it becomes too much for her, tears pouring from her eyes. Mingyu, she wants to call out, what are you doing? Who is she? What’s happening? But no words come out; just choked sobs and struggling breaths.

Out of nowhere, some guy rushes past her, knocking her out of her trance.

“Oops. Sorry, miss,” he says, patting her shoulder.

Reinah doesn’t even realize the stranger touching her as the tears blur her vision and block .

“Hey, it was an accident. There’s no reason to cry,” the guy who bumped her says.

She just shakes her head and sprints off, aching with each of her cries. The image of Mingyu with someone else tears through her mind. She can’t focus on anything else, she doesn’t know where she’s going, she doesn’t even feel her exhaustion from running, all she can feel is the hurt and betrayal that’s filling her heart.

Her breath gets caught and for a second she thinks she’s about to faint until she sees another familiar face. She stops running straight away, her legs weak and shaking. Joshua notices her crying and steps forward to hold her steady.

“Rei? What’s wrong?” he says, guiding her to a seat.

He was just leaving the store after finishing the last of his paperwork and locking up. He was tired and hungry, but on his way to his car he noticed Reinah running towards him. He tried calling out to her but it was like she couldn’t hear him. He didn’t even realize she was crying until now.

“Hey,” he says softly, patting her back. “Did someone hurt you? Where’s Mingyu?”

At the mention of his name, Reinah’s sobs come out heavier. Taken aback, Joshua pushes her hair off her wet face and looks her in the eyes. His heart starts to break a little seeing the misery filling her eyes.

“Reinah, tell me what’s wrong,” he whispers.

She blinks a few times, hiccupping with her tears. “I-It’s M-Mingyu…  he’s cheating o-on me.” She struggles even harder to breathe when the words finally come out. Joshua sighs heavily.

“Come with me,” he says simply.

She doesn’t respond but lets him lead her to his car. He opens the door for her, buckles her in and makes sure to put the heater on as soon as he jumps into the driver seat. Sending her one more look, he starts the car and heads through the city. A few moments of silence pass and Joshua starts to feel a little uncomfortable. He’s not usually the quiet type, but he’s too concerned for Reinah at the moment so he doesn’t say anything.

After a while her sobs begin to subside. “I’m sorry,” she sniffs, wiping her face.

He tilts his head to give her a reassuring smile. “Don’t be sorry… Are… um, how are you feeling?”

“Great,” she laughs sarcastically. “I just witnessed my boyfriend kissing another girl so I’m doing pretty good, how about you?”

“Great,” he mimicks. “I just witnessed my employee crying in the middle of the street so I’m doing pretty good.”

She forces a laugh and focuses out the window. It’s only then that it hits her that she has no idea where they are.

“Um… Joshua?” she asks, a worried frown decorating her face. “Where are we?”

“We are…” he says, pulling the car to a stop. “At my apartment.”

“Your what? Why’d you bring me here?”

He unbuckles his seatbelt and sighs. “Well, would you have rather me left you on the street or taken you back to your boyfriend’s apartment?”

“I think I would have rather slept at a bus stop than see him.”

“That’s what I thought,” he smiles. “So you can stay here for the night until you figure out what you wanna do.”

She sighs in thought. She’s hardly ever seen this side to Joshua. Sure, they’ve worked together for three years but he’s constantly annoying and teasing her, she’s never noticed he actually has feelings. Maybe in a roundabout kinda way he does care about her.

“So… are you coming?” he asks, opening his door hesitantly.

“Yeah,” she nods, getting out of the car.

They make their way into the building, boarding the elevator. Once they reach the top floor, Joshua gets off and leads her to his apartment. For some reason, neither of them feels weird about the situation. Joshua is too exhausted to care that he’s housing one of his employees and Reinah’s too preoccupied with her emotions to wonder what she’s doing there.

They enter his apartment and Reinah takes the chance to admire his sophisticated décor and how surpisingly neat the place is.

“Are you hungry?” Joshua asks, snapping her out of her daydream.

“Um, not really.”

He nods and makes his way into the kitchen. She takes a seat on the couch, listening to the sound of the microwave buzzing and plates shuffling.

“You can turn the TV on if you want,” he calls from the kitchen.

“Okay,” she replies.

She finds the remote beside the couch and switches the flat screen on. A bright cartoon flashes on to the screen and she laughs, realizing he must have been watching the cartoon channel last. Typical Joshua, she giggles to herself. He emerges from the kitchen, cradling a hot plate in his hands and takes a seat next to her.

“Why are you laughing?” he asks surprised.

She points at the TV and his eyebrows furrow instantly. “Are you judging my taste?”

“No, not at all. It’s perfectly normal for a twenty year old to be in love with cartoons.”

He gasps, his mouth full of noodles. “Excuse me,” he mumbles. “You’re the nineteen year old sitting here watching them,” he states matter-of-factly.

She clamps shut, realizing he’s right. To be honest, she actually likes watching this channel too but she’d never admit it. “Just be quiet and eat your food,” she says.

He shakes his head, holding back a chuckle and continues eating. Reinah keeps watching the show, occasionally breaking into laughter at the crazy antics on screen. She starts to feel relaxed, forgetting about her earlier ordeal.

“Man, I love Adventure Time,” she sighs.

“See, told you!” Joshua exclaims. “You’re just as childish as me.”

“So you’re admitting you’re childish,” she retorts.

“Ugh, I should have just left you on the streets.”

She grabs his fork out of his hand and successfully flicks him over the head.

“Ouch! Jesus, woman. Why do you have to be so violent all the time?”      

“Why do you have to be such a pest all the time?” she retorts.

He smirks and ignores her comment, turning the TV up louder. Usually he would have come up with some snarky reply but he’s just glad she seems to have forgotten why she’s here. For some reason, he doesn’t want to see her looking that hurt ever again.

They get lost in cartoons, laughing and enjoying the chance to be a kid again. Reinah doesn’t remember feeling like this is a long time. Mingyu would never sit down and watch cartoons with her, even if she begged. He liked watching sports channels or documentaries, and she would always be forced to watch with him even when she found them utterly boring.

She sighs, stifling back a yawn and her thoughts begin to switch back to her recently ruined relationship. Maybe it had been coming for a long time. Mingyu had been less attentive lately, less intimate, and just less interested in her. Perhaps she was too busy worrying about other things to see the signs, or maybe she just didn’t want to.

“Man, I’m tired,” Joshua yawns, rubbing one eye. “Are you gonna stay and watch?”

“Nah,”  she replies. “I need some serious sleep.”

“Yeah, you’ve had a long night,” he glances at his watch. “Snap, it’s six o’clock already. We must’ve gotten really carried away with these shows.”

“Haha, yeah. I haven’t done that in so long, it was actually really fun.”

He smiles thoughtfully. “Didn’t you and Mingyu ever watch cartoons together?”

He suddenly regrets bringing him up but Reinah gives him a calm smile. “Nah, he wasn’t really into that stuff,” she says. “He’s more of a ‘have a beer and watch the football’ type.”

“Oh,” Joshua says, scrunching his nose in disgust. “You mean he’s the boring type.”

“Weeell, not really…” she says, thinking back to all the times she’d find him glued to a game or on his phone. “Actually yeah, he kinda is,” she laughs.

“Mmm,” he says, realizing she’s opening up more. “Well, if I had a girlfriend it would be compulsory for us to watch cartoons and eat noodles every morning.”

He laughs and Reinah grins in response. “Very mature.”

“Speak for yourself, Rei,” he retorts.

She pokes her tongue out at him and he laughs. “Exactly my point.”

“Whatever,” she yawns. “So where am I sleeping?”

“Umm…” he mumbles, glancing around. He hadn’t really thought about that. “Well, you can sleep on the couch, I guess.”

“As if!” she exclaims, whacking him in the arm. “You sleep on the couch, I’ll take your bed”

“But… that’s my bed,” he whines.

“You’re the one that offered me a place to stay. You really expect me to sleep on this couch all night?”

He sighs and sends her a look. “Fine. On one condition.”

“What is it?” she asks, folding her arms.

“I get to sleep in the bed, too.”

“What?! No way!” she exclaims.

“But it’s my bed, and neither of us want to sleep on the couch,” he argues.

She folds her arms tighter and glares at him, frustrated. “Seriously, you are the worst boss ever.”

“Ugh, just come on,” he says grabbing her by the arm and pulling her up. “It won’t be that bad. We’re just going to be sleeping.”

“But… but…”

She can’t think of anything else to back up her argument so she just sighs and goes along with it. Joshua drags her into his room and switches on the light. Once again, she’s taken aback to see how tidy it is. His bed is spread out with white and grey covers, all neatly tucked in with grey pillows at the head of it. It is big enough for the both of them but Reinah is still a bit unsettled about sharing a bed with her boss.

“Stop looking so worried,” he says, letting go of her arm and wandering over to his closet.

He pulls out a large shirt and examines it before throwing it towards Reinah.

“Wear this,” he insists. “It’s the biggest one I could find.”

She eyes it closely. “Where’s your bathroom?”

“Through that door there,” he says, pointing her in the right direction.

She nods and makes her way in, locking the door securely. Joshua sighs and decides to change as well. He usually sleeps in just his boxers but he slips on a singlet as well. Throwing his former clothes into the corner of the room, he pulls back the covers of his bed and jumps in.

“Ahh,” he sighs in contentment as the warmth and softness envelops him.

A few seconds later, Reinah emerges from the bathroom with her clothes cradled in her arms. She glances around awkwardly and throws them in the same corner Joshua had. For a moment, she stands in the centre of the room wondering what to do. She sees Joshua lying in the bed, his arm draped over his head and his eyes resting closed.

She clears and wanders over to the bed cautiously. She’s about to lift up the covers and get in but Joshua opens one eye and she almost jumps back.

“You forgot to turn off the light,” he says.

“Oh, right,” she mutters, retracting her hand.

Joshua watches her carefully tiptoe to the other corner of the room like a lost puppy and the corner of his lips curls up. Who knew she’d look so cute in my clothes, he thinks to himself. She fumbles with the light switch before turning it off quickly. Her heart starts to beat all weirdly and she doesn’t know why. She scurries back to the bed, hitting her shin on the side of it in the process.

“Ah!” she mutters under her breath.

Joshua holds back his laugh and pretends not to have noticed her clumsiness. He always knew she was the clumsy type; she was constantly breaking things in the store or tripping over stray baskets. He shakes his head and tries to get to sleep.

Reinah slips into the bed slowly so as not to disturb Joshua. She can’t tell if he’s asleep or not but she rests her bed back on the pillow and revels in the sudden rush of comfort. Concsiousness gradually leaves her and she feels her body relax into a peaceful state until Joshua decides to start talking.

“Rei? Hey, Rei? Are you awake?”

“Uhhh,” she mumbles in response.

“How are you feeling?” he asks cautiously.

Reality starts to come back to her and she blinks her eyes open a couple of times before sighing. Joshua turns to face her and awaits her answer.

“I feel…” she sighs again. “Relaxed.”

“So, you’re not gonna cry again, or anything like that?”

She glances at him and shakes her head. “Not if I can help it,” she says. “I actually forgot all about Mingyu until now.”

“Really?”

She sighs and a calm smile adorns her face. “Yeah. I don’t know why. Must be the fact that I’m sleeping with my boss that’s overshadowing all that.” She laughs, but her expression quickly changes when she realizes the way her words came out. “Crap… not like that, I mean… you know what I meant.”

“Yeah,” he chuckles but his laughter quickly dies down when a thought crosses his mind. “Rei, why do you always call me your boss?”

“Because you are my boss,” she replies simply.

“I know, but I’d think after all these years you could at least call me your friend instead. ‘Boss’ sounds so… serious.”

“Oh…” She can feel that nervousness embrace her heart again. “I guess we’re… friends,” she replies.

“Yeah, so now maybe you can stop feeling weird about this, right?”

She turns her head to see him staring at her intently. Even though the curtains are closed, she can see the dim morning sun starting to peek through the corners of his windows. The limited amount of light in the room seems to make his face more alluring. Why does he have to have such adorable eyes? She’s never really paid much attention to them but there were times at work when she’d find herself thinking that exact same thing. There’s just something about them.

“I guess I can do that,” she exhales, keeping her eyes connected to his.

“Cool.” He smiles, the corners of his lips curling up.

Reinah feels a rush of something unknown to her course through her body so she quickly faces the ceiling again. Joshua just smirks and does the same.

“Do you remember,” Joshua starts, laughing softly. “That one time at work when there was that drunk couple… and they were arguing? And you tried to step in to break it up but ended up getting pushed into the brochure stand.”

“Shut up!” Reinah exclaims, turning red.

“It was… hilarious!” Joshua breaks into a fit of muffled laughter, his hand latched over his mouth. Reinah rolls her eyes but soon finds herself laughing as well.

“So,” she giggles. “That’s not as bad as that time that old homeless guy threw up near the bathrooms and you slipped in it!”

Joshua immediately stops laughing, his face screwing up in disgust.

“It went everywhere!” Reinah laughs. “It was all over your hands and your legs and your face and-“

Joshua suddenly shoves Reinah’s head under the blanket, covering her mocking laughter, but she continues to .

“And all over your brand new jacket,” she mumbles between her giggles. “You didn’t even see it coming, and your expression… priceless!”

“Hey,” he says, lifting the blanket off her. “How’d you know that was a new jacket?”

Her smile turns into a confused frown and she brushes her hair from her face. “Umm… I don’t know. I just… I just noticed you’d never worn it before, I think?”

“Oh… yeah, it was a gift,” he says thoughtfully. “I didn’t think you would have noticed something like that.”

“Well, I do see your stupid face most nights of the week so it wasn’t hard,” she points out. “Don’t you ever notice things about me?”

He nods slowly. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Like…?”

Joshua’s eyebrows furrow as he tries to think of something. “Well, I’ve noticed that you’re super clumsy on account of the many times you’ve tripped, fallen or hurt yourself.”

She frowns at him but he continues. “You’re also not scared of the dark because when there was that black out at the store you didn’t freak out. I’ve also noticed that you like Adventure Time just as much as me, you don’t mind the cold, and that every night at 2am, you eat a stinky tuna sandwich in the dusty old storage room thinking about how lucky you are to be working at a deserted convenient store for ten bucks an hour.”

“That’s exac – Wait. So, you do ask me how my breaks are just to be annoying!”

“Like I said, annoying you is the highlight of my nights.”

“And like I said, you’re the worst boss ever,” she adds.

“I’m not that bad, am I?” he asks, side-eyeing her.

“Well, if you put all the teasing and cocky jokes aside… I guess you’re alright.”

He smiles and she can’t help but mirror his expression. “Wow, I really did forget all about Mingyu, didn’t I?”

“I must have a gift,” Joshua says proudly.

“Maybe you do… remember that time one of our regular customers yelled at me and I couldn’t function properly the rest of the night?” she ponders. “You helped to keep my mind off it by being your usual idiot self, times ten, and I eventually got over it. And there was that other time when I clumsily fell hanging signs but you managed to make me laugh about it rather than cry.”

“Hm,” Joshua hums in thought. He’s never really given it much thought, but ever since she started working with him, he’s wanted to cheer her up. Even if that meant annoying her every second she’s around. “Well, I do like having a laugh… And it doesn’t exactly make me happy seeing you cry.”

“Yeah…” she yawns, reaching up to cover . “You just laugh at everything, don’t you?”

“Mm, mostly you.”

“So, the annoying thing goes beyond the walls of the convenient store, huh?”

“Of course,” he laughs. “Wherever you are, I’ll be there to annoy you.”

Reinah rolls her eyes and tries to turn away from him, but he pulls her back down by her shoulder. She feels her stomach get caught in as he leans slightly closer to her. Joshua notices her press her back further into the bed in an attempt to increase the space between them, the most adorable, shocked expression on her face.

“Sorry, I…” He chuckles slightly and leans away. Reinah lets out the breath she had been holding.

“It’s just that… I wasn’t finished talking…” he explains, resting his elbow next to her pillow with his cheek cushioned in his hand.

Reinah doesn’t know how to respond and realizes he’s still a little too close for her liking. She opens to say something but quickly shuts it. Seeing her reactions, an idea pops into Joshua’s head.

“What? Why are you so silent now?” Joshua asks, eyeing her carefully.

“Huh? I’m not!” she replies hastily. “I was waiting for you to say something.”

“So was I,” he laughs.

“You were the one who wasn’t finished talking?” she argues back quickly.

“Oh my God, Reinah! Are you blushing?!”

“No! What are you talking about?!” she protests, burying her face further under the blankets. “It’s dark in here anyways, so your eyes are just mistaking you!”

“No, they’re not,” he chuckles, trying to pry the blanket off her. “I’m sure I saw you blushing. Why? Are you nervous?”

She swats his hands away and puts on a brave face. “Why the hell would I be nervous, jack ?”

His melodic laugh surrounds her and he gently reaches up to pinch one of her cheeks. “Acting tough isn’t going to convince me otherwise. I didn’t know my presence would have this kind of effect on you,” he says cockily.

“What effect? There’s no effe... oh my gosh, you’re messing with me again, aren’t you?” Reinah mutters, anger lacing her words.

Frustrated, she hurls her small fist towards him and starts hitting him repeatedly. Joshua quickly sits up and pins her hands down besides her head, making her whimper unexpectedly.

“And what if I’m not?”

“Huh?” she replies shakily.

His grip on her wrists tighten and he smirks. “Are you scared?”

She wriggles  her arms around but she can’t get him to loosen his hold. “I am not scared of you, idiot,” she huffs.

He leans down closer until his breath is softly tickling her cheek. “Are you sure?”

Reinah clamps her eyes shut, a worrying sensation gripping her senses. “I’m positive,” she says through gritted teeth.

“I think you’re lying,” he teases, his nose gently brushing against her neck.

Reinah’s breath hitches and she feels Joshua’s light chuckles dancing across her skin. “Teasing you is just too fun.”

He lets her go and rests back against his pillow, leaving her a blushing and flustered mess. What the hell just happened? Why is he being so weird?

“I’m going to sleep now,” Joshua sighs. “Goodnight, Rei.”

Reinah doesn’t reply and turns her back to him once more, clutching the blankets closer to her chest. An amused smile spreads across Joshua’s face.

“Rei?”

“Mm,” she hums nervously.“Maybe I will take you on that dinner date.”

 

***