Several weeks passed and soon enough Summer found herself settling into her new routine.  She worked at YG four nights a week on Friday through to Monday; with at least one group promoting at a time it meant that over the weekends one practice room was usually free for a longer period, making the time restraint a little easier on the cleaners.  The girl spent her days either at university or catching up on assignments, finding that on the nights she worked she was able to clip her recording device around her neck and work on her verbal translation homework as she cleaned.  It helped greatly, even if she found herself exhausted on a constant basis from the downgrade in hours spent sleeping.

Heejin was also yet to pull her up on her quickly formed habit of loitering in the hall to await the return of the idols who practiced on her floor.  She had discovered that as well as iKON, the other rooms she cleaned belonged to Winner and Akdong Musician.  She stood patiently out of the way as they all filtered back in, receiving the odd nod of acknowledgement from them, but so far it was only Chanhyuk and Suhyun of Akdong that she had exchanged words with.

That night in iKON’s room Summer sighed as she ran the cloth over the mirror again and again in circular motions that made the muscles in her arm scream.  Someone had been smudging the mirror up again and how they had reached the top she couldn’t understand.  Just to clean it she had had to pull out a step ladder, moving slowly along the wall length expanse, reaching as far as she could either direction before shuffling over.  She was currently towards the very end and was eager to finish it all off when the sound of the door opening and movement caught her attention.  Glancing over her shoulder she saw it was Bobby who had entered the room and was smiling brightly as he spotted her.

“Ah, noona there you are; I was looking for you everywhere.  I know it might seem a little out of the blue, but I was wondering if you wanted to go grab some food when you’re finished?” he asked and Summer thought her heart might beat right out of her chest.  Was he really asking her to go and eat with him?  Blushing lightly she nodded, turning to face the mirror again.  It was the last thing she had to do and she was now determined to get it over with as fast as possible.  Lifting the spray bottle she squeezed the trigger and began to clean, leaning over further and further in a refusal to move the ladder.  She just had to reach the top corner, just a little bit more… she let out a squeak as she felt the contraption slip out from under her and she was falling, falling into someone’s arms.

Looking up she found Bobby there, having caught her in a movie like moment.  She smiled up at him, breathing her thanks and he grinned back at her.  Then they were frozen, staring into each other’s eyes and closing the gap inch by inch.  He was just about to press his lips against her when she felt a jolt…

The squeak was louder when Summer returned to reality to find the mop she was leaning on was hanging limp and she was careening towards the ground for real this time.  Unfortunately for her there was nothing but the bucket to break her fall and break it it did, soaking her in dirty, soapy water which quickly spread across the wooden floor.  Summer gasped at the same time as raucous laughter sounded nearby and she looked up mortified to find Junhoe standing half way between her and the door, his hands on his stomach.  When he realised she was looking he tried to pull himself together, clearing his throat.

“Uh, are you okay?” he asked, but she couldn’t bring herself to speak, simply staring at him her eyes bulging as she blushed a shade she was sure resembled a beetroot.  Junhoe waited another second before shrugging and turning on his heel.  The movement kicked her into gear and Summer’s brow knitted together in anger.

“You know, it’s rude not to help someone in trouble.”

“It’s also rude not to respond when someone has a question,” he bit back, his eyes lingering on her for a moment longer before he stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him.  Leaving Summer to pull herself out of the puddle soaking wet, she cursed out the idol as she picked up the mop and began to correct her mess.  Who did he think he was to laugh at her and just walk out, leaving her sprawled across the floor in the middle of a puddle?  Sure she was aware of the sassy attitude the boy showed to the camera, but this was just plain rude.  The boy clearly possessed a head inflated by the newly garnered popularity the group had received with their debut and she didn’t like it one bit.

Her cursing soon turned to herself though as she truly acknowledged the happenings.  When she wasn’t working on her university stuff she had taken to daydreaming about fantasy run ins with Bobby, who she wasn’t about to deny was her idol crush.  It was surreal in many ways that she had found herself working for the company, yet not how she had thought about in any of her previous fantasies.  There were times in particularly boring lessons that she had found herself daydreaming about the idea of graduating and getting a job as a translator for the company and meeting him that way.  Instead she was merely cleaning up after him without so much as exchanging pleasantries.  And now she found her mind once again running away with itself and here she was, soaked and embarrassed.

The door to the practice room swung open once more and she opened ready to retort should it be Junhoe returning to exchange more insults.  Instead it was the topic of her daydreams himself, whose eyes went wide as they landed on her.

“Oh my god are you okay?” he asked, having slipped into English immediately with her foreign appearance.  Summer could do nothing but let out a strangled grunt in response and she screamed at herself inside.  Two iKON members in a row now had left her immediately speechless.  “What happened?”

“I uh, tripped.  Into the bucket,” she admittedly sheepishly, focusing on the shrinking puddle as she blushed for the second time in as many minutes.  Bobby was making a series of sounds under his breath and in that moment Summer wished the ground would just open up and swallow her.

“Here, let me help,” he offered, moving to reach for the mop and she snatched it to her, her head shooting up to look at him.

“I’m fine!” she snapped, immediately regretting the tone her voice had taken as he looked taken aback.  Letting out a sigh, the girl reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose.  “I’m so sorry.  I didn’t mean to snap.  I’m just… embarrassed as hell, mortified, take your pick.  And pissed, it hasn’t been a great day.  I just… thank you, but I’m fine to clean up.  It’s my job after all.”

Bobby seemed to contemplate her words for a moment before he nodded, offering her a smile.  Then he moved towards the bench where she had previously piled all their scattered belongings and pulled out a shirt, striding back over to her and holding it out.  “Please, at least take this so you’re not walking around as wet and catch a cold.”

Summer could barely mutter her thanks as she took it from him, emotions suddenly welling up inside of her and she once again became terrified of the possibility that she would now cry in front of him on top of everything.  Turning her head away she took a deep breath, clearing .  “Right, I should finish up in here and go change.   Thanks again and was there anything I could help you with?”

“Oh, yeah.  I was looking for Junhoe, have you seen him round?” the boy asked and Summer pursed her lips, immediately shaking her head.  After all, she technically hadn’t in about ten minutes and the last thing she needed Bobby to know in that moment was that Junhoe had seen her accident as well.  Though she was sure it would probably be the first thing out of his mouth when the group reassembled.  “Ah, well thanks anyway.  I hope your night improves.”

With that Bobby disappeared from the room, leaving Summer alone once more and what she hoped was for good.

______________________________________________________________

So it's taken a few chapters for iKON and Junhoe to actually appear, but it has happened!
Does anyone have any thoughts? Complaints? Please do comment, I love feedback, I promise.