A Chance Encounter. Chapter Seventeen.

I blink my eyes repeatedly to see if I’m dreaming and if the stout lady, with curly, graying hair, standing in front of me, watching me intently would disappear. But, no, she simply stays rooted to her place. It takes me a moment to register that I’m not in my room. I immediately pull my comforter closer to cover myself. I’m not certain if I’m decently dressed and I have no freaking idea who this woman is or what she’s doing in Yixing’s apartment. I look around restlessly to find Yixing. Where on earth did he disappear off to?

“Mr. Zhang left for work,” the lady finally speaks.

I clear my throat slightly. “Y-yeah, I know,” I lie. I don’t want her to think I’m some random woman Yixing picked up at a bar, who he didn’t bother informing when he left. Seriously, does he have no ounce of gratitude? For starters, those red boots were awfully difficult to slip on, not to mention terribly uncomfortable. And well, he wanted me to keep them on when…never mind. Anyway, I deserve an award, at least some appreciation for doing this for him! It isn’t everyday that I agree to put on some costume just so a guy could relive his pubescent fantasies!

The woman casts another indifferent glance in my direction and moves on to pick up something from the floor. Wait…! Oh no. Is that the skirt? Yikes! I don’t think it can be worn again. Oh, wait, I’m so stupid. She’s Yixing’s housekeeper. She ought to be. He could have at least warned me before leaving. Better yet, he could have picked up the garments on the floor and kept them aside. But he’s simply lazy. I didn’t really have the chance to look around much yesterday, but I could spot a bunch of dirty dishes and coffee mugs. Seriously, how hard is it to rinse your mugs after you’ve drank from them? I do admit that I used to be that way too – Mum did everything for me, so I wasn’t used to doing chores. However, when I started living alone…okay, fine, when I moved in with Chanyeol I got the hang of doing all of that on my own. In fact, it makes you feel better when your apartment doesn’t have dirty laundry or dishes lying around. Apparently, it lowers the negative energy from your living space. I read it in a magazine (Reminder to self: Write in that feedback! That raspberry oil would be a great addition to the bath collection.)

I think I’ll just sit here awkwardly and ignore her presence in the room. I can pretend to look into my phone. I would have helped her clean up, but I really don’t want to shock her more because I’m certain there are missing bits of the costume, and it’s probably because I’m wearing it! Crap, she’s found one of the red boots. She looks back at me uncertainly. I want to hide my face under the comforter. I’d do anything to get out of this situation. Getting disapproving glances from Yixing’s housekeeper early in the morning wasn’t on my agenda! I’ve never been this embarrassed. I wish I could just go back to sleep and pretend I never woke up.

She definitely thinks I’m some random hook-up or a e. Oh God. Oh God. I hope she pretends to not have seen any of that and leaves me alone. I’m going to kill Yixing! How could he leave me to deal with this? I grab my phone quickly to bombard him with text messages! Don’t I at least deserve a cuddle? He just left me. Alright, I needn’t get all melodramatic early in the morning. But, still… why can’t this lady leave the room? Did she have to clean this room first? Well, now that I think of it, Yixing did mention how particular she’s about keeping the place clean, she must have spotted the mess first thing when she walked in.

“So, these…” She holds up the skirt and the huge bow that goes on your . Seriously, the creators of the anime did want to lure the hot-blooded teenage boys, didn’t they? “Do I put them for laundry…?” She raises her brows slightly.  

“No!” I flail my arms like a mad dog. “Just discard them, please,” I squeak. I don’t think I ever want to spend the night here anymore. She’ll probably go home and have a good laugh over it. I should have never bought that stupid costume! But last night was…simply amazing and we…never mind.

“Are you Mr. Zhang’s new girlfriend?” Her question takes me by surprise. Okay, so she doesn’t think I’m some random one-night-stand. That’s nice of her. But I can’t possibly tell her that I’m not certain if I am his girlfriend. We never really talked about it. I should probably hint at it subtly when I meet him next time. I just want him to clarify what he wants out of this exactly. That way, I wouldn’t simply raise my hopes up high. Alright, I admit that I’ve already started picturing our wedding. It isn’t anything new though, I’ve always done that! My first crush was in school, when I was twelve, and I’d already thought of names for our babies. Of course, he had no idea. I wonder what happened to him. He used to eat paper whenever he got bored.

“Ermm…yeah,” I smile nervously at the housekeeper. As if she’ll know if I’m lying. But what if she’s chummy with Yixing and knows every damn thing about him? Why does my mind have to be so conflicted first thing in the morning? Wait…what does she mean by ‘new’ girlfriend? Okay, well, we didn’t really discuss exes, but I did presume that he didn’t have one because he’s so busy with his work and stuff. Who am I kidding? He’s hot! He ought to have had at least half a dozen girlfriends by now.

“It’s a good thing he got rid of the other one,” the woman says, getting comfortable. “Mighty arrogant, that one.”

“You mean his previous girlfriend?” I question. Suddenly, I’m interested in the conversation. Yixing isn’t the type to sit and discuss such things, I could just find out a few things from her instead! And Yixing will never find out. She seems like the ‘chatty’ kind anyway.

“Yeah, I did not like her one bit,” she says disapprovingly. “I shouldn’t be discussing this with you. I’m sure Mr. Zhang wouldn’t approve.” She then moves on to gather more clothes from the laundry basket and heads outside. I quickly grab my clothes and follow her.

“But yo