“Good moooorning,” I suddenly felt something wet touching my face and it was moving. What is this feeling?! Is something me?! Is he my face right now? I mean, I like him but when did he think it was okay to do such a thing?

            “Eww! Get oooooff, you weirdo!” I wriggled out of my blanket that was tightly wrapped around my body. “Why are you me? You’re so gross! And this has gotta be the weirdest thing ever,” I yelled out and I was about to push him away but it wasn’t Key, it was Comme Des!

            “Did you hear that Comme Des? Come on, she called you gross, let’s leave the mean lady alone,” Kibum carried the Comme Des out of my bedroom and Garcons jumped off the bed to follow them.

            “Aniya aniya! Come baaaack, I thought it was your weirdo Appa that was me,” I wagged my hands in the air and wailed.

            “Wah, what’s with this sudden aegyo, you’re so shameless,” Kibum came back spinning around with both the dogs in his arms. He looked at me and pretended to cringe.

            “Eeeeeeey, you still like me though,” I said confidently, smiled at him, snatched the dogs out of his arms and walked out of the room. I kissed their heads and smelled the familiar smell of bacon and cinnamon buns as I got closer to the kitchen. My eyes, for sure, had widened.

            “Ta-da!” Key sang and held his arms in an “L” position to display the kitchen.

            “Oh my gooooooooooosh! Where the heck did you find cinnamon buns and bacon??? I didn’t even think these existed here! Oh mon dieu, it smells like home,” I ran to the countertop and put the dogs down. I closed my eyes and inhaled the smell.

            “Hello? Uh, you look crazy,” Key said after ten seconds of silence. For a minute, I forgot about where I was and who I was with.

            “Oh! Right,” I mumbled and shook my head to recover. I sat down and he set the plates and utensils. I watched him dance around the kitchen, opening cabinets and the fridge, like it was his own kitchen. Then after he’d set up our whole breakfast, he bent down, so I couldn’t see him. He opened the cabinet beneath the kitchen island and stood up with his dimple smile. “Mm?” I tilted my head and looked at him curiously.

            “Omo, you and my dogs look alike right now, puahahaha,” he laughed but he wouldn’t remove his hands from his back.

            “Whatchu got there?” I said and chewed on a strip of bacon.

            “Ja-jjan! Merry Christmas!” he dropped a box, the size of a mini rice cooker on the counter. It was wrapped in pearly white wrapping paper and a red ribbon.

            “I didn’t get you anything! I totally forgot about gifts… Where did you even go to get this? Where did you get the food too? It’s 7 in the morning!” I exclaimed.

            “Ey, you’re in Seoul now, almost everything is open 24 hours,” he crossed his arms and bobbed his head with pride. “Also, I got this for you yesterday when I left and went to practice,” he added, still bobbing his head.

            “Is it rude to open this now?” I asked, unsure on how to approach gift-giving.

            “Eh? Open it open it!” he did a little jump, more excited than I was. I felt guilty, not so excited. He thought of Christmas and remembered to buy me gift. How did buying presents for all of them slip my mind? I only thought about food and being sick… Aish…

            “Yah, open it, I’m waiting,” he pretended to have gotten impatient then he looked at my face. “Oh, wae? Why do you look like that?” his brows furrowed. “Should I not have gotten you a gift? I mean, we haven’t even been friends for a whole year and I just told you I like you last night… Is this too much? I can take it ba-“ he talked so fast, I almost couldn’t understand a word.

            “A-ani-e-yo… that’s not it… I just, mmm..eung…..” I started to cry while chewing on my piece of bacon, so I covered my face.

            “Omo, w-why are you crying again? You crybaby, aigoo, omo,” he rushed to my side and grabbed my face with both hands. He took my hands off my face and wiped my tears with his thumbs. “Why are you crying, huh?” he asked softly.

            “Mm..eeuuuuung…” I cried more. Why was I crying? Oh shoot, I think…it’s about to be that time of the month. I’m over-reacting. How do I play this cool…?

            “Aigooooooo my Ellie,” he then hugged me and swung side to side. My Ellie?!?

            “You got me a gift and I didn’t even think about it… I didn’t get the members’ gifts too, it slipped my mind… and you got me this and went through all the trouble,” Dang, I’m over-reacting, I hate how sensitive I got at this time, jeez. He started laughing and let our hug go.

            “HAHAHA, you silly! That’s nothing to cry about,” he clapped his hands and moved back to his side of the counter. I know it’s nothing to cry about. I clenched my fists to prevent myself from getting frustrated. “Open it, open it!” he said excitedly again.        

            “Oh right,” I jumped and grabbed the box. I slowly unraveled the ribbon and slowly took off the wrapping paper. It was so light that I wondered why it was in a big box. “Okay, if there’s nothing inside and you’re playing a trick on me, I will probably cut your precious hair,” I glared at him.

            “Ey, aniya aniya, I swear there’s something inside, I don’t know why you’re taking so long to open it,” he rolled his eyes. He grabbed it out of my hands and opened the box himself. “Here!” He held up and another box that was inside the bigger box, but it was the size of a notepad. Then I looked closer and I couldn’t believe what it was. I got out of my seat and ran beside him to grab it from his hands. 

            “Omo omo omo omo, I can’t believe you remembered!?” I shouted and jumped up and down, just admiring the box. “How did you find this here?” I said, still amazed. I looked up at him and he was smiling so huge that his dimples were through the roof!

            “You’re forgetting that South Korea is quite technologically advanced, Ellie-ssi, plus how could I forget, you made me want to get one for myself too,” he patted my head, pleased at my reaction. He got me the HP Sprocket device. (A/N: it prints your pictures directly from your phone through this mini printer, the size of an iPhone 6)

            “Daaaaeeebak…” I stood there, just admiring the box, reading everything written on it.

            “Okay, I’m gonna eat,” he said and turned away from me. I gave him a hug from behind, like what guys did in dramas and movies, but instead the girl is doing it here. He froze, with a spoon about to enter his mouth.

            “Thaaaaank you, Kibum..ssi?” I closed my eyes and hugged him, but opened them right away when I realized I had no idea what to call him because I only called him ‘Yah’ since I've known him.

            “ssi??” he turned to me, unfreezing his body. I smiled wryly at him and chuckled. I brushed the topic off and walked over to my seat and started eating away.    

            “So, are we telling the guys?” I asked, almost done with my cinnamon bun.

            “It’d be hard not to, they know me so much, they’d see right through me, plus they’d be wondering why I stayed here the whole night when we were supposed to sleep at the dorm last night so that it would have been easier to get to the event,” he explained, putting his dished into the sink.

            “Yeah, we probably should tell them,” I nodded. He started to roll up his pyjama sleeves to do the dishes. “Leave them, I’ll do it, you gotta go,” I stood up with a tiny piece of cinnamon bun in my mouth. I waved him off to get ready and he did.

            “Okay, so I’ll see you later? Are you sure you’re okay with bringing the dogs to my house?” he asked, rushing to put on his shoes.

            “Yeah of course, just text me the passcode, I’ll see you at the event,” I rushed him out the door so that he wouldn’t be late because of me. “Oh! Text me your address!” I almost got him out of the doorstep but he turned back so quickly and kissed my cheek, then winked.

            “Okay, I’m going!” he yelled as he ran down the stairs. I walked back inside the apartment and couldn’t wipe off the smile plastered on my face. I washed the dishes, humming whatever song came to my, then started to get ready.

             The event was scheduled to start six o’clock tonight, but I had to run errands because I had nothing to wear! Also, I wanted to get Key a gift or something at least, as well as the members. I had to drop off Comme Des and Garcons at Key’s condo because he had to drive straight to the dorm because they were getting picked up by their manager at nine. We thought it was better for the dogs to just stay in his place because when I’d have to leave for the SM Town concert, they’d be left alone in an unfamiliar space. I dressed in casual clothes for now because I was still coming going to come back after.

              “Wah… this is where he lives???” I gasped right when I walked through the front door of his apartment. “It’s so clean…oh my, Comme Des and Garcons, you should give a lot of love to your Appa, you have your own room, daebak!” I walked inside the room which had the dogs’ names written on the door. They followed behind me naturally and the inside was like a man cave, but instead for dogs. “Wah, he spoils you guys so much,” I walked around the room that was filled with toys, clothes, cushions, food, water, anything any dog could ever want. “Okay guys, I’m going,” I said, but they were already so lost in whatever they were doing. “Aigoo, after all I did, this is how you say goodbye, okay okay, I’m going now, you don’t know when you’ll see me neeeext,” I was walking slowly out of the room, playing hard to get, with dogs. After realizing that they probably had no idea what I was trying to do, I walked out and shut the door.

Should I leave his present here? Where’s a good spot? I contemplated whether to leave it in his bedroom, but it didn’t feel like going in there without permission so I left it on the couch with a note on top. I got the members’ a meat gift set which I put inside the fridge. Since the members and I weren't as close yet, I felt that that would be the best gift, plus who doesn’t like to eat meat?

            On my way out of Kibum’s apartment, there was a couple walking out of their apartment about ten feet away. Before I could cover my face, they called out to me.

            “Excuse me,” the lady said. I turned around slowly and smiled at them, still keeping my head down.

            “Isn’t that Key-ssi’s place? Could I ask who you are? You don’t live in this building…” she looked at me skeptically and her husband just bowed and watched us. Think of a lie! Quick!

            “Yeah, oh it is, I don’t speak Korean very well,” first lie down, next one please, think of something! “I’m his..dogsitter,” I added in English. The husband broadened his shoulders and offered to shake my hand.

            “Nice to meet you, we thought you were an intruder or a stalker fan or something like that,” he said in English confidently and smiled. The wife smiled at us, watching the friendly exchange.

            “Oh, no no, I’m new here to Korea, Kibum-ssi told me he was in a boy band group? I guess he’s really famous huh?” I acted surprised and smiled. We all started to walk towards the elevator, but kept talking. The wife simply nodded, I don’t think she spoke English.

            “Yeah, they’re really famous!” he said when we got on the elevator.

            “Oh, I had no idea… I better get his autograph then,” I chuckled lightly, trying to act my best. I could totally star in movies now, I had no idea I had such talent in me.

            “Hahaha, you definitely should,” he nodded and the elevator dinged when it reached the lobby.

            “It was nice meeting you, I’ll be getting off now,” I bowed to them, they nodded and smiled as I got off. They were going down to the parking lot and I sighed a big sigh of relief once I walked out of the building.

            “Aigoooooooo! How stressful,” I glanced at the time and it was already three o’clock. If I wanted to make it to the concert in time, I had to rush home and get ready as fast as possible. But Key’s area and my place are in the opposite sides of the city, but I was thankful for the transit system that covered every inch of the city.

            “How does this look?” I looked at Kris through the webcam and she looked indifferent.

            “I can’t believe you’re going, I’m so jealous… I mean you know, I love you and all but oh my gosh, I wanna punch you, ugghhhh,” she scratched the back of her head and sulked in her seat. “But yeah, that looks better than what you tried on earlier, hurry up, I’m so sleepy,” she yawned and rubber her eyes.

            “Oh right! Time difference, I totally forgot. Okay okay, I’ll wear this, thanks my lovely best friend,” I said, trying to make her feel better.

            “yeah whatever,” she crossed her arms but she couldn't hold back her laugh. 

            “Okay, byyyyyye!” I waved and she did too. Then we hung up the call. Ten minutes after that conversation, I grabbed a tiny purse and put my wallet and phone inside then left to arrive at the concert in time. A concert that SHINee is a part of, that Key is a part of…that my…boyfriend is  a part of. I was giddy at the thought of who he was in my life now and I couldn’t wait for whatever else was coming at us.