“S iwon didn’t call Jiyeon that night. It didn’t really bother her considering the fact that he probably thought she was tired and went straight to bed. She was surprised however when her phone began ringing at 7:30 in the morning. The number was not registered so she wondered weather it was a new client wanting to schedule an appointment.

“Hey, are you home?”

A familiar deep voice echoed from the other line.

“Siwon?”

The person on the other line chuckled. “Who do you think? Yeah, you did tell me to call you right?”

She shook her head in amusement. “Well, I wasn’t expecting you to call me this early.”

“So, are you home?” He asked again.

“Yeah, my shift isn’t until 10 so I’ve got time to kill. Why? Do you have anything in mind?”

“Actually, I’m on my way there right now. I’ve got nothing to do all day, so I thought I’d follow you around and see what you’re up to. And also, I brought breakfast.”

She laughed heartily. “Wow, Choi Siwon, you really are something.”

Their conversation was interrupted by Jiyeon’s doorbell ringing.

“Hold that thought, someone’s at the door. I’ll call you back alright.” She uttered towards the mic piece.

“Alright, I’ll be waiting then.”

She could almost hear him smiling through the phone before hanging up. She placed the phone by the kitchen counter before walking towards the door.

She wasn’t expecting the person whom she was just speaking to mere seconds ago was now standing in front of her doorway. To make things worse, she hasn’t even had the chance to make herself at least slightly presentable. She was currently still in her house shorts and tank top with her hair tied up in a messy bun. She had no idea if she even looked human and the look on Siwon’s face told her he was quite taken aback by her appearance.

“Uhm hi.” He greeted sheepishly

“Hi.” She greeted back with a slight chuckle. “Please do come in.” She stepped aside to allow him to enter.

Awkwardly he stepped inside her apartment with a bag of take-out in hand. “So this is your place huh?” He asked, taking a good look around the place. “It’s nice.”

Before he could say another word however, Jiyeon quickly grabbed the bag from Siwon’s hand and made a dash to the kitchen. Before the taller man couldn even process what had happened, a large ball of white fur bounded from somewhere upstairs and immediately jumped up his arms. Thanks to his fast reflexes however, he was able to catch it just in time.

“Sorry about that, Kenji is just really excited whenever someone comes to visit.” She smiled as she watched her dog sniff at Siwon’s face curiously.

“He’s a playful one.” He smiled before putting the dog down and giving it a pat on the head which in turn earned the boy a hug and a few .

“Well, normally it’s just him and me, I guess he figured it’s nice to have someone new around the house.” She couldn’t help but smile at the scene in front of her.

Siwon on the other hand was still slightly distracted about Jiyeon’s choice of clothing. Her shorts fell above mid-thigh and the tank top she was wearing was hugging her body in all sort of ways Siwon wasn’t prepared for. Despite being shorter than average, Jiyeon had fairly-shaped legs and he noticed was longer compared to her upper body and her dainty waist just made her look even ier.

“Uhm, would you like to go get chanced while I prepare our breakfast?” He asked, careful not to look too long on her chest area.

Jiyeon seemed to notice Siwon’s discomfort and nodded. “Yeah, I guess I should.” She smiled before heading up to her bedroom.

Siwon took this opportunity to look around her living room. The area was relatively spacey and very clean. His attention was drawn by the pictures that lined the walls. The first one was her graduation picture when she got her bachelor’s decree while beside it was a photo of her and Kenji. Almost all of the photos did not contain other people except for the 2 that were placed on the coffee table beside the couch. One was of Jiyeon with a boy who looked slightly younger than her and another was with three other girls. One of them had bright orange hair and black eyes, another had flaming red hair and emerald green eyes, and the third had a pair of startlingly blue eyes that that complemented her blonde hair.

“Those are my friends.”

Siwon almost jumped when he suddenly heard Jiyeon’s vioce from behind him.

She let out a soft laugh. “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to startle you.” She moved to stand beside him. “The one with red hair is Eunbi, Aimee’s the blonde and the one with the orange hair is Cheonsa; though she doesn’t have orange hair now, she dyed it blue last week. She’ll probably dye it pink after a month.”

Siwon turned his head to look at her. “She dyes her hair every month?” He couldn’t help but ask curiously.

“She likes to be creative.” She chuckled. “Anyways, wanna eat?”

Together, the two walked over to the dining room where they quickly grabbed a couple of plates and glasses. Conversation immediately started the moment they began to eat; choosing to engage in light topics such as their birthdays (Siwon’s was on February 10, 1987 while Jiyeon’s was on April 12, 1990.), favorite color (Siwon’s was white and black while Jiyeon’s was green and blue), and their pets. (Siwon simple couldn’t resist not to bring up their dog Bugsy in which Jiyeon promised to visit someday.)

“So what are your plans for today?” Siwon asked.

Jiyeon glanced at his watch before  answering. “I have a patient scheduled at 10am, a surgery at 11, and then father asked me to meet with a client at 1.”

“Wow, someone’s busy.” Siwon commented. Jiyeon couldn’t help but smile.

“How about you, what are you planning for today, you don’t have anything scheduled right?” She inquired.

Siwon nodded. “I was planning on driving you first and then I’ll be working with UNICEF in the afternoon.”

“Drive me to where?” She asked in confusion.

“To your clinic.” He responded with a smile. “I want to see where it is.” 

She shook her head. “I don’t want to bother you. Besides, I can always give you the address in case you feel like bringing in Bugsy for a check-up.”

“But I insist.” Siwon said with finality.

 

----------oooOOooo----------

 

After their meal, Siwon insisted that he’d be the one to clean up while Jiyeon prepare to leave. While cleaning up however, he was met with the curious gaze of Kenji.

“Hey boy, are you hungry?” He smiled as he sat down to pat the dog’s head. “Do you want some food?”

At the mention of food Kenji let out a cheerful bark; tail immediately started wagging. Siwon couldn’t help but chuckle.

"I don't know where your food is tho.” Siwon muttered as he looked around.

As if sensing his confusion, the dog quickly ran towards a plastic bin and pawed at it continuously. Siwon walked over to and immediately found out that the said bin contained exactly what he was looking for.

“Looks like Jiyeon trained you well, didn’t she?” He marveled.

As explored more of the apartment, he noticed that there were more animals in her room that he originally thought. At the corner of the kitchen was a rather large aquarium that contained a weird alien looking thing that might have been a cross between a salamander and a tadpole. Across it was a smaller tank that contained a small turtle, right next to it was what looked like an empty terrarium and just beyond the kitchen was an enclosed area where he was able to spot several large round hairy things that he suspected were guinea pigs.

“I’m ready.”

Siwon turned around to face Jiyeon who was wearing her green scrub suit imprinted with paw prints. She had her hair tied back in a tight pony tail and her round glasses that Siwon thought was really cute.

“I see you’ve met Potchi.” She smiled. Siwon looked back at her in confusion before noticing one of the animals had risen on it’s hind legs to prop itself against the barrier, a hint of white fur on it’s toe visible against the black on the rest of it’s body.

“They are Peruvian guinea pigs. They’re not the typical short-haired ones you’d see. This guy right here is Potchi.” She patted the creature. “The one on the corner is Peppero, and then there is Matcha and Motchi.”

“You can tell them apart?” Siwon asked, surprised. “They all look the same to me.”

She smiled. “Well, I did raise them.”

“Exactly how many animals do you own?” He asked, looking around the room as if to find another creature that he has yet to discover. 

“A few. There are these guys, and of course Kenji, and then there’s Flash, the turtle, Axle, my Axolotl, that’s the weird looking alien in the tank and there’s Mushu, my bearded dragon that is currently somewhere hiding from the rest of the world in his terrarium.” Jiyeon gestured towards what Siwon had originally thought was an empty tank. “Oh look, he’s coming out now.”

Sure enough, a bright red lizard came crawling out of one of the logs. “That’s him right there.”

Suddenly a small white ball of white fur came dashing across the kitchen. “Oh, and that’s snow. My cat. I always forget I have him. He’s new.”

“Are you planning to turn your house into a zoo?” He asked in disbelief.

She chuckled. “Nah, Cheonsa has that one covered.”

“Are you ready to go?” Siwon asked.

She nodded. “I thought you’d want to look around first before we leave seeing as you seemed to be so into my animals.

“Nah, just curious, besides, I’d have a lot of other opportunities to meet them next time.” Siwon responded, taking one last glance towards the guinea pigs before kneeling down to give the dog, who Jiyeon had just noticed had taken a liking to Siwon as he never left the boy’s side. “Bye Kenji, I’ll see you again soon okay.”

Jiyeon couldn’t help but smile at the interaction.

 

----------oooOOooo----------

 

“So, I wanted to ask you something.”Jiyeon suddenly broke the silence.

They were currently in the car; Jiyeon just finished inputing the address to the clinic and just letting the navigator instruct them on how to get there.

“What’s up?” Siwon responded, not taking his eyes off the road.

“How are you planning to tell them?”

Siwon’s eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. “Tell who?”

“Your members? Your agency? Your fans?” Jiyeon couldn’t help but feel worried.

“Honestly, I haven’t really thought about it.”

“Well, it’s just that I don’t want this to end up like how it was with Sungmin’s marriage. You don’t need all that backlash claiming that your fans felt betrayed after keeping this relationship from them.”

Siwon couldn’t help but look at her in surprise. “You know about Sungmin?”

She nodded wordlessly. “I may not look like it but I actually follow you guys. I listen to your music and stuff but I’m not like those die hard fans who goes to see your concerts. But I do have albums and I do look out for news about you guys online.”

“well, I think if I spoke about it properly, then I wouldn’t be receiving those kinds of reactions. I guess I’ll just have to make an announcement soon.” Siwon pondered out loud. “Maybe if I told them that it was an arranged marriage, then it wound’t be that bad. But they might end up attacking you though.”

Jiyeon shook her head. “That won’t happen, in case you haven’t noticed I don’t exactly have an SNS account and my clients wouldn’t really care about what people say about me or if I’m married or not as long as I treat their animals well.”

Siwon heaved a sigh, “I just don’t want this to be a burden for you than it already is.”  

Jiyeon couldn’t find a response to Siwon’s statement. Sensing her discomfort, he immediately changed the subject.

“You said you listened to our music right? Do you know all of the members?”

She nodded shyly. “I’m usually memorize people’s faces fast.”

“Who is your favorite member?”

 Not wanting to reveal her inner fan-girl she simply just smiled and replied “Well, it’s definitely not you.”

“You’re being mean.” Siwon pouted and Jiyeon couldn’t help but chuckle.

 

----------oooOOooo----------

 

“I’m here.” Jiyeon announced as she entered the clinic with Siwon in tow.

“Jiyeon finally! Cheonsa called and said she won’t be able to come to work today and Aimee bailed. We have a client coming in at 10 and a surgery at 1 and I don’t think I can do it all by myself.” A girl came out running from the office before stopping right in front of the two, eying Siwon curiously.

“Relax Misu, Cheonsa and Aimee don’t have to come to work today because the ones who are arriving today are my clients.” She chuckled as relief dawned upon the girl’s face.”

“Oh thank god, I thought I was going to have to perform that surgery by myself.” Misu clutched her chest in exaggerated relief. “So care to tell me what is going on and you have the all famous Super Junior’s Siwon with you?”

Jiyeon bit her lip, unsure how to respond.

“We’re dating.” Siwon said simply as he casually draped his arm over her shoulder. “I guess I’ll be taking my leave now. Call me when you’re done. I’ll drive you home.” He responded, pressing a quick kiss on Jiyeon’s forehead.

And with that Siwon left without another word.

“Wow, I didn’t even know you guys were friends. What happened?” Misu asked in disbelief.

The other girl began blinking in confusion but before they could utter another word however, the buzzer rang, signaling that there was a client at the door.

“We’ll talk later, duty first.”

 

----------oooOOooo----------

 

Jiyeon barely had time to sit down during her shift. After the first schedule at 10am, it seemed like people seemed to know that she was there and demanded that she see their patient. Before she knew it, she was already scrubbing her hands with the surgery a success and their patient resting. She was about to search for her car keys when she remembered that she had Siwon drive her here and that she didn’t bring her car. She could always call a cab but she knew that she’ll probably have a hard time heading home so she opted to return to her apartment and grab her car and maybe a quick shower first before heading to the meeting. She was about to leave the clinic when her phone began to ring; the screen said it was Siwon.

“Hey, are you done?”

“Yeah, just finished cleaning up. Why?”

“Dad wanted me to join you in the meeting. No idea why.”

Jiyeon paused for a while before answering “I have to head home and change first, you want me to meet you there?”

“No, I was actually hoping you’d want to go there together.”

“What if someone sees us and news gets out that we’re seeing each other.”

“I actually spoke to my company about that and said that they were ok with the whole dating thing as long as we take care of everything if we get caught.”

Jiyeon chuckled. “Looks like LabelSJ is a lot more lenient when it comes to these things compared to SM.”

“So are you ok with me driving us to the meeting?”

“Sure. If you want to then no problem, besides, I don’t even have my car with me in the first place.” She couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “You drove me here remember?”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that.” She could almost hear the awkwardness in Siwon’s voice and imagined him rubbing the back of his neck shyly. The thought of that made her smile. “Great, you may want to come out now, the coffee is getting cold.” He said before hanging up.

Confused, Jiyeon walked out of the staff room and was surprised to see Siwon holding 2 cups of coffee and a bag of what Jiyeon suspected were pastries.

“I figured you might be hungry so I brought you this. We can eat them here or in the car. Wherever you feel more comfortable with.”

“How long have you been waiting here?” She asked in disbelief.

He smiled sheepishly. “I got here at around 12:30 and noticed you were still in the clinic and have not yet taken a break so I decided to grab us some snacks since you said you have a schedule at 1.”

She was surprised that Siwon actually kept track of her schedule and couldn’t help the smile rising, cheeks turning slightly red.

“So, do you want to eat here and then grab a proper meal before we head at your place or do you have anything else in mind?”

Jiyeon pondered for a moment before responding. “Let’s eat those here.” She smiled, gesturing towards the bag he was holding. “And then we can decide if we still want to eat more.”

At that, Siwon couldn’t help but laugh softly.

 

That day, Siwon knew that she was something different from all the others. He knew from the way she would run her hands through her hair while talking animatedly; how her gaze would shift from being sharp and focused, to soft and gentle each time she would talk about her love for animals; how her lips would rest in a small smile whenever she’d listen to him talk. He knew, during those moments that they shared, that he was slowly but surely falling in love with her.