4 years ago...

“Mom, who was that?” Arin saw the face of the man in her mother’s bed, and it was definitely not her stepfather. Her stepfather had broad shoulders and always donned the most formal attire, but this man was thinner and wore wrinkled t-shirt and sweatpants. Her stepfather lacked confidence and always looked weak around her mom, but this man stood with his chin in the air, proud and stout.

“You can’t tell anyone, Arin? Do you hear me?” her mother said.

“What you’re doing is wrong,” Arin told her.

“I know, honey. I know.”

-

As soon as the old tenant left, she rushed down the stairs to the eighth floor with her cleaning supplies. But when she unlocked the door to the apartment, she was surprised at what she found.

Although she expected to see trash on the floor and alcohol stains at every corner, she actually found that the apartment was already mostly clean. The walls were already repainted, and the floors had already been wiped. Perhaps the drunkard tenant had the decency to clean up after himself before he left after all.

She did not let the relief slow her down though. Immediately, she began the cleaning process.

Arin was the kind of person that, when she is assigned a task, she has to follow through it perfectly. When she set it upon herself to become an idol, she left no stone unturned in achieving her dreams and worked on every aspect of herself. Now that her idol dreams were over, cleaning became her thing, and it was no exception to her commitment to perfection. Although she had little cleaning experience when she first started working, she was quick to learn the ins and outs of the craft. She mastered all of the techniques and knew all the right equipment and brands to use. And so every single task that Jeonghan ever assigned her, she would complete perfectly with no complaint from him whatsoever.

She was proud of that. Jeonghan had always struck her like someone who wanted to find faults in her work, but never did she give him reason to criticize. If he wanted to criticize, he would always just make fun of how easily her phone distracted her when she worked. There was nothing else he could pick on.

And so even now as she was tasked with cleaning this apartment, she went above and beyond what he had probably expected. From clearing the drains to scrubbing the carpets to wiping every crevice in the wall—she was determined to make sure that this task was carried out to perfection. Of course, she took a minute or two every once in a while to check Chilli updates, but everyone needed a break.

“Hey look, Mingyu’s going to a fashion show!” Arin beamed excitedly to ~, who had just arrived to help her clean.

“Mingyu’s the tall attractive one, right?” ~ asked as she wiped the windows.

“Yeah! The one you said was your favorite.”

“That’s great, Ar. Good for him,” ~ said.

If there was one thing that Arin didn’t like about ~, it was that she was so indifferent about Chilli.

Arin tried to convert her into a fan, but it just did not seem like ~’s type of thing, which made Arin feel quite lonely in her fangirling. ~ tried to pretend to be interested for Arin’s sake, but Arin saw right through her and became self-conscious talking about them to her. It was sad that she had no one she could talk to face-to-face about Chilli, no one to share her enthusiasm and passion for them like Minghao used to.

When the short fangirling break was over, Arin delved right back into cleaning.

“You don’t have to do all this, you know?” ~ said as she wiped the windows and watched Arin scrub the bottom of an upside-down table. “I’m sure your boss doesn’t really give a damn if the bottom of the tables are spotless or not.”

“You never know what kinds of things came in contact with this part of the table, especially with a man like the guy who lived here previously,” Arin said, wincing as her own imagination ran wild.

“When you put it that way, it’s gross,” ~ said, laughing her loud and distinctive laugh. “But you’re right. Never trust the bottom of a lazy man’s table. Nasty stuff happens down there!”

“Can we stop talking about dirty men please?” Arin pled as she began to scrub harder.

“Chill, Arrie,” ~ said, laughing again. “You know when I found you this job, I didn’t think you’d become so invested.”

“I just like to do a good job.”

~ paused for a moment and briefly glanced at Arin. “Do a good job… for Jeonghan?”

“Of course not!” Arin sputtered, shocked at the idea of it. “For myself!”

“All right, just asking,” ~ said, raising her arms as if surrendering. “We just have to make sure that you always hate the guy, given that you know his name and all.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Arin said, “he does all the work himself in that regard. I don’t even have to try to hate him.”

“Alright, I believe you. But like I told you, if you ever start to feel anything…”

“I know, I know,” Arin mumbled. “You’ve told me a hundred times. If I ever start feeling anything other than hatred, I will avoid him and quit my job and find somewhere else to stay. But that will never happen. Like I said, I hate him.”

“Even if you hate him now, the heart has a mind of its own, Arrie. That’s what makes your curse so volatile. You never know when you’ll catch a feeling...”

“I know,” Arin said, “but he will be okay. Trust me.”

“Speak of the devil,” ~ said, laughing loudly. Arin stopped scrubbing and turned to her friend with narrowed eyes.

The elevator made its clinky sound and seconds later, Jeonghan appeared.

This was something that ~ could do. She knew when some things happened seconds before they do; it was part of her magical abilities. The skill was not particularly useful though, because it gave her too little time to do anything to change what would happen. According to ~, the only good it did her was save her from breaking a few glasses and tripping on some stairs.

Jeonghan didn’t greet them or anything, he went straight to inspecting the furniture in the apartment and making note of anything that needed to be replaced.

“The bedroom furniture is all fine, so clean that room up first and get it done quick, Missy,” Jeonghan announced when he was done inspecting. “The living room is a disaster. I’m going up to the roof to replace some of the furniture.”

When he said it, Arin felt her heart stop.

Meemo…

Meemo was not allowed in this building. If Jeonghan went to the roof to get the furniture from the storage space (i.e. her room), he was certainly going to see her and probably hurl her over the roof. Either that or Arin will get fired and kicked out of the building along with her cat.

“As soon as he leaves, run!” ~ whispered to Arin under her breath.

As soon as the elevator door closed to take Jeonghan up to the 13th floor (after which he would have to take the stairs to the roof), Arin stormed out the door to take the stairs. She hoped she could outrun the elevator and get Meemo out before Jeonghan could get there. Running as fast as she could, she made it up three flights of stairs to the roof.

Breathless, she barged into her home and called for Meemo, who sauntered toward her with a grace so unbefitting of the urgency of the situation. Arin grabbed her and stuffed her in her hoodie, quickly hiding a bowl of cat food under a pillow that was lying on the floor. She then raced out of her room, Meemo struggling in her shirt. Arin just held her cat tighter and prayed she would not run into Jeonghan on his way up the last flight of stairs like she expected to.

To her relief, he didn’t. Jeonghan was probably lingering in his room, Arin reasoned. When she finally made it to the eighth floor, she found ~ waiting for her at the door.

“In the bathroom,” ~ suggested quietly, pointing the bathroom door she had opened. “Jeonghan will be up and down here moving furniture, but he certainly won’t go into the bathroom.”

Arin nodded, and rushed into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. She then finally released a very displeased Meemo onto the fluffy bathroom mat on the floor.

“Stay quiet, Meemo, okay?” Arin told her irritated cat.

Meemo just stretched her back and began herself clean, probably feeling disheveled from the bumpy ride down the stairs. Arin quickly got out of the bathroom and closed it, praying that Meemo stays put for as long as Jeonghan moved back and forth from the rooftop to the eighth floor.

Arin was on edge throughout the rest of the night. She was afraid something would go horribly wrong. Maybe Jeonghan would need to use the bathroom and decide to do so on the eighth floor? Maybe he would trip over the cat food that was on the floor of her home? Maybe Meemo got hungry and began to meow or claw at the door while he was there.

The anxiety slowed her down, and she quickly began to realize that she was going to have to stay up all night if she was going to finish in time. So far, the only room that was finalized was the bedroom, but the living room, kitchen and bathroom still needed a whole lot of work. To make it worse, Jeonghan was slow with moving all the furniture up and down as well, so he was going to be up all night as well.

“Look Ar,” ~ whispered when Jeonghan went up to retrieve more furniture from the storage. “I’ll take Meemo home tonight so you can work in peace, alright?”

Arin nodded in agreement, although she hated the thought of being without Meemo even for a little while. For Arin, Meemo was like one of the very few comforts she had. Being isolated from the outside world, living in a space that wasn’t her own, and working under an arrogant and cruel boss, it was like Meemo was one of the very few good, real things she had in this place. The thought of not having her around, even for one day, was disconcerting.

Hey Missy. Come up here and help me move this dumb shelf, texted her while he was up.

“I have to go up. Please take Meemo,” Arin said, “and text me when you’ve taken her out so I know when to go down.”

“Will do, Arrie. Good night,” ~ said, giving Arin a quick hug before going into the bathroom to pick up Meemo. Arin watched them leave with a heavy heart before she rushed up the stairs to where Jeonghan was.

When she got to the 13th floor, she knocked on the door and a very irritated Jeonghan opened. “Why did you take the dumb stairs when you could have just taken the elevator? You know the code! God, I hate stupid people who waste time.”

“But you told me I was never allowed to take the elevator,” Arin replied to him.

“Obviously that doesn’t apply now, when we’re in a rush to finish the damn apartment in time!” he raised his voice at her, scoffing as he walked past her and took the stairs to the roof.

Her door was wide open, and all the stuff that used to be neatly stacked to the side were now scattered across her space as Jeonghan tried to find what he was looking for.

“Can you please move all your junk, it’s getting in the way!” he told her, kicking some clothes that were on her floor. Arin quickly made some space so that Jeonghan could have a clear path.

As Jeonghan began with the heavy lifting, Arin checked her phone. She was waiting for the message from ~ to confirm that they were safely out of the building, but nothing was coming. Every passing minute without that message made her feel more anxious, so anxious she resorted to picking the fold of her nails.

“Quit standing there and help me!” Jeonghan yelled at her between the stacks of storage boxes, one side of the shelf in his arm. Arin put her phone in her pocket and went to carry the other side.

Carrying the shelf, they descended down the stairs to get to the elevator in Jeonghan’s apartment. Arin waited for a vibration to tell her that ~ had sent a text, but nothing. She felt so anxious that her body felt weaker and carrying that shelf felt more strenuous than it was supposed to.

Her muscles felt lighter all of the sudden, and this strange prickly feeling took over her skin. When she felt that her muscles were about to give out, and she was about to drop it, she stopped midway in her tracks. “I’m sorry,” she said, putting her side of the shelf down. “I need a break.”

Jeonghan also put his part down and frowned at her, waiting for her to gather strength to pick it up again.

Arin tried to stall for a bit longer. What if ~ and Meemo were still in the building and Jeonghan would see them? What if something happened to them? Why wasn’t ~ texting? But it had come to the point where she couldn’t stall anymore.

When the shelf was in his apartment and Jeonghan clicked the button to bring the elevator, Arin finally felt the notification. She checked it quickly on the lock screen of her phone, Hey Arrie, sorry it took so long to text but I left your building with Meemo...

“Give me that,” Jeonghan snatched her phone away and put it in his pocket. “Your phone is the plague, Missy. You’re addicted. No phone until your get the apartment done.”

Arin was okay with that. At least she was finally assured that Meemo was safe. Maybe it was good to not have her phone. She only had a few hours to finish off the apartment, and she didn’t need Chilli distracting her until then.

It was 5am in the morning when then arrived. She had just finished scrubbing the last bathroom tile, and at the point that apartment was finished and ready for the next tenant. Arin was exhausted and tired and wanted nothing more than to sleep.

She was so exhausted, the thought of going up the stairs made her feel nauseous, so she decided to take the elevator. Jeonghan would not be happy if he knew, but at that point she didn’t care.

The elevator took her to his apartment, but he wasn’t even awake to scold her for it. He had gone to sleep as soon as he finished moving the last bit of furniture, which was two hours before Arin was done. There he lay, on the sofa, fast asleep. She approached and saw the shape of her phone in his pocket, but she didn’t dare reach out to get it. She would just get it in the morning, she thought.

Her eyes travelled up to her landlord’s face.

He looked so peaceful when he was asleep, unlike the raging pig he was when he was awake. Arin could even say he was handsome in the quiet and unassuming state he was in now. When he was asleep, he didn’t look like a jerk at all. On the contrary, he seemed rather... angelic.

~’s words began ringing in her ear. You never know when you’ll catch a feeling.

She shook the thought away as soon as it came, and she cursed at ~ for even putting these things in her head.