“So… Miss Rice Cake, or should I call you Miss Guilty?” Daniel sneered, gripping tightly onto Jihyun’s hand as they engaged in a mini tug-of-war, either one refusing to surrender, “Such a funny coincidence we meet here, neighbour,”

A week since their first encounter, Daniel hadn’t expected to come face to face with Yoon Jihyun at a potluck dinner organized to welcome his new neighbour. He would have personally contacted her first to discuss further about their car damages, if it hadn’t been for his sudden business trip to Japan the day after the accident. His earlier statement on bringing the issue to a legal status and involving his lawyer was merely a feigned threat to make sure that Jihyun wouldn’t pull any tricks to get away from the damages that she had caused to his favourite car. Daniel regretted not exchanging contact information with her, because he’d found himself staring blankly at his phone more often than normal and eagerly answering calls from unknown numbers which he would usually ignore. He was quite pleased to receive a phone call from her, shortly after he landed at the airport in the afternoon and had been meaning to suggest for them to meet up right away before Jihyun decided to end the conversation by giving him a piece of her mind. Strangely, he was not offended by her outrage as he had quickly saved her number under the name ‘Miss Guilty, Yoon Jihyun’ with an amused smirk playing on his lips, intending to call her again soon.

Daniel headed straight to his office from the airport for another hectic day at work and had arrived home not long after the sky had turned dark. He had been daydreaming about a warm bath and his cozy bed on his way up inside the elevator when Mr. Jung informed him about the potluck dinner and the arrival of his new neighbour whom had been receiving good impressions with her friendliness in distributing rice cakes to all the residents. Upon arriving at his front door, he had spotted the plastic container filled with red bean rice cakes on top of his stacked parcels and smiled warmly when he noticed a small note left by the new neighbour, where she had introduced herself and hoped that he would enjoy her small gift. As soon as he’d carried the rice cakes and all the boxes inside his apartment, Daniel had rummaged through his kitchen cabinets to return her sweet gesture and found a few boxes of his favourite sweet treats (they were the only thing edible in his house that hadn’t passed the expiry date) which he had reluctantly stuffed into a fruit basket, before attaching his reply note and leaving the snacks on the welcome mat of his new neighbour’s front door.

Daniel had been looking forward to the potluck dinner especially after listening to Mrs. Jung and Mrs. Park endless talk about the lovely, kind and supposedly single young lady he’ll meet later in the evening. Contrary to the girl standing in front of him, he had been suspecting another chance encounter with Yoon Jihyun since he did notice the similar named shared by the girl who had accidentally damaged his car on his next door neighbour’s welcome note. His suspicions were proven to be true as they were currently facing each other with their hands still gripping tightly in a handshake. Jihyun had been aiming her pointed gaze on him and trying to pull away from his strong grasp as Daniel leisurely gulped on his cold beer. He was amazed at the strength coming from a petite lady which triggered his overly mischievous side as he released the grip on her hand when she tugged on his, sending her staggering to regain her balance and prevent the full glass of fruit punch from spilling all over Mr. Jung who was sitting on the couch behind her.

“Y-You! You did that on purpose!” Jihyun hissed angrily, quickly balancing the drink to avoid another similar incident from happening as Daniel chuckled quietly in return.

“You should’ve seen the look on your face Yoon Jihyun!” he continued laughing, the corner of his lips riding upwards forming a strangely attractive smile as his eyes slowly turned into crescents making him look like a samoyed puppy, and Jihyun finally witnessed the so-called blinding smile claimed by Mrs. Jung and Mrs. Park. Now it finally made sense why they had been calling Kang Daniel a puppy. She bet they hadn’t seen his sneaky wolf side yet.

There was no way Jihyun could easily fathom (surely not with a conscious mind) that she would be residing next door, in the same floor of the same building with the man standing in front of her whom she’d just discovered a few hours ago as her brother’s boss and her new archenemy. She still failed to acknowledge this unacceptable truth as she scanned Daniel from head to toe at the speed of light, comparing him again to the image of their first encounter stored inside her memory a week ago. Even from afar there was no denying that he was an exceptionally attractive man, and up close Jihyun found it hard to concentrate every time she gazed into those mesmerizing eyes (regretting that she hadn’t taken up Mr. Jung’s beer offer), as she resorted to taking big gulps of her non-alcoholic drink to rein back her thoughts to reality. It was too late for her to call anyone on her phone for help now, she only had silent prayers as her last hope.

Before either of them could speak further, Mrs. Jung called the attention of everyone in the room that food had been served and the feast had begun as Jihyun heaved a sigh of relief and rushed towards the buffet line, no longer wanting to entertain him. She queued behind the Park twins as they smiled and waved enthusiastically at her, Woojin offered her an empty plate as Jihoon gave her a set of spoon and fork neatly wrapped with a paper napkin. She melted at their sweet gestures as they even insisted to serve some of the food in her plate, “Come sit with us,” Woojin said, once they had reached the end of the line. Jihyun was quick to accept the invitation, taking it as a golden opportunity to be as far away from Daniel as possible and be closer to the twins.

“Can I join?” Daniel requested, appearing out of nowhere with his plate already filled to the brim as he smiled cheekily, succeeded in startling her again for the second time that night.

“Daniel hyung, sure,” Jihoon did a fist bump and nodded to the elder male before she could protest. They followed the twins towards an empty table and Daniel swiftly took the seat opposite her while the twins left to get dessert and more drinks for all of them.

“Not a word about our first meeting to anyone here,” Jihyun warned him in a whisper as she pointed her fork threateningly in Daniel’s direction, glancing left and right to see if anyone was listening to their conversation.

He responded with a mischievous wink (she fantasized throwing fruit punch in his face if only her glass wasn’t empty) as his mouth was busily munching on some grilled beef. Mrs. Jung stopped by their table for a minute, asking Daniel about his short trip to Japan and reminding them not to leave before trying some desserts. Jihyun immediately figured out why the rest of her neighbours were absolutely fond of him as she watched him interact with Mrs. Jung with so much respect and politeness, yet still able to keep the interaction lighthearted and casual, as opposed to how she had been treated in the past half an hour. She was amazed at his reversal charm, which immediately turned to suit any mood as if he’d only have to flick a switch from one mode to another.

New theory, Kang Daniel is a highly intelligent and mischievous AI android who probably has a connection with Minhyun’s vacuum robots.

As soon as Mrs. Jung left their table (not before mentioning how glad she felt to see the pair growing close in such a short amount of time), Daniel switched back from polite puppy mode to mischievous wolf mode, “About the money you owe me… you don’t have it?” he asked, finally looking up from his plate to face her. Jihyun found it hard to prevent herself from chucking anything on her plate in his face (she was ready to give him a kimchi slap) after she heard that remark accompanied by his tantalizing smirk.

She was initially starving because she’d skipped today’s lunch due to an important appointment with a client and she had been looking forward to stuffing herself at the potluck dinner with endless refills of her favourite seafood dishes, but she lost her appetite as soon as she found out about Daniel becoming her permanent neighbour. Now she was eagerly anticipating the night to be over so she could bury herself inside her thick blankets and soft pillows, and get her much deserved rest while tending to her growing headache, all thanks to Daniel, “What makes you think so?” she asked, eyes focusing on her plate while she lazily chewed on a piece of shrimp.

“Well you sounded determined about not paying me back when you yelled at me on the phone yesterday,” Daniel replied, spotting the twins approaching their table with their hands full of drinks and desserts. He roughly estimated their walking pace and distance from the table as he needed to quickly wrap up the topic before the boys arrive.

“Now is not the right time to discuss this,” she said, frowning at him.

“You can’t avoid me forever. Especially not when we're living next to each other,”

Jihyun sighed, placing her cutleries down and pushing the plate away from her, “The price is just outrageous,” she said, looking up at him with a serious expression as she sat up straight to face him, “Unlike you, I don’t grow a money tree at home,”

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