My face turns flat. "I laugh easily when the other person's not being annoying."

          "Aye, come on." Baekhyun walks closer. "I'm not annoying."

          He places the balloon in front of my face, and releases the remaining gas.

          "YOU!" I start to yell, but he already dashes outside the room.

          Baekhyun's laughter echoes in the high-ceiling floor outside, and my head is dizzy. "I'm going to eat."

          "Let's go together." Baekhyun pleas, and walks to my side.

          “No.”

          Despite my answer, of course he still sticks to me.

*

          The next day, I meet Baekhyun in the elevator before lunch, and he looks at me suspiciously. “You’re from a higher floor? Where have you been?”

          “I spent the night in Aunt’s penthouse.”

          “Wow, must be nice.”

          “It’s pointless if she just uses it to sleep.” I shake my head.

          “What’s your plan for today?” he asks.

          “I drank a nice beer in Aunt’s room. I want to have it again later.”

          “Then let’s go to the bar after lunch!”

          “At noon? Don’t be crazy.”

          Baekhyun insists to do it anyway, and I lazily follow him. I'll just check the beer availability. We walk into the nearly empty bar, and a female bartender with blonde hair is cleaning behind the counter. “Welcome.”

          Our eyes meet, and I recognize the person. “Oh?”

          “Ah…” the female bartender barely looks surprised.

          “You know her?” Baekhyun whispers.

          I swallow, and mutter a slow ‘yeah’. “Hello, Hyerin sunbae.”

          She gives me a bitter smile, and continues cleaning. “Quite strange to meet you here. Or not?”

          Someone appears, and it’s the bar supervisor. “Aigoo, Miss Lana!”

          “Ah, hello.”

          “It’s been a long time! Now that you’re an adult, you can visit the bar, eh?”

          I awkwardly laugh. “Yes. But—”

          “Part-timer, this is the GM’s niece! Make sure to give her everything she needs!” the supervisor tells Hyerin.

          “Yes.” Hyerin says, and throws a look at me. I grit my teeth, and turn to the supervisor. “Actually we’re just looking around. We’ll visit later. Thank you.”

          I take Baekhyun outside with me, and he seems curious. “Senior?”

          “Yeah.” I uneasily my lips. Hyerin is a feared senior at school because of her nasty personality, she’s picked a few fights with freshmen because she thought we didn’t greet her well. I never think I’d meet her here. “Can we go to the bar after her shift ends?”

          Baekhyun seems to notice my expression, and nods. “Sure.”

*

          At night, Baekhyun and I are exploring the hotel’s staff-only places behind the building when I see Hyerin near the loading dock next to the kitchen.

          “Wait here.” I say to Baekhyun at the door, and I walk outside. “Hello, sunbae.” If only our eyes didn’t meet, I could’ve just walked away. “Have you finished work?”

          “Oh. Hi.” Hyerin is smoking, looking uninterested. “Yeah. I’m waiting for someone to pick me up.”

          “Oh…” I think of what to say. “Then please wait inside, sunbae. It’s cold.”

          “There’s no place to wait.” she scoffs. “I’m just a part-timer.”

          I press my lips together. “You can wait at the lobby. I’ll accompany you.”

          “Forget it.” she coldly rejects. She blows out smoke, then throws the cigarette to the ground. “I don’t have that privilege. Must be nice to be the GM’s niece, huh…”

          The weather suddenly feels colder, and I look my shoes. “Are you coming too tomorrow?”

          “I don’t know. I don’t like it here… It’s too far away, and full of rich snobs.” she slips in a curse, and I blink. “It’s hard enough to find a job in winter, and when I find one it . Good to be wealthy, eh? No need to work, just enjoying your sweet time in the hotel.”

          My lips part, but I don’t know what to say. I should go. “Then, sunbae… Excuse me. See you later. If you perhaps need help… You can tell me.”

          I haven’t even taken a step when her eyes turn fiery, and she suddenly comes to my face and push my shoulder with a hand. “What do you mean with that? What are you going to do, give me money?”

          My eyes widen, and my heart starts to race. “Sunbae, I don’t mean to offend you—I mean—”

          She pulls some of my hair, and I scream in pain. “I knew you’d always been a spoiled brat, coming to school with all those expensive stuff… I know you always try to show off!” she screeches.

          “Sunbae, no!”

          The door sways open, and Baekhyun comes out. His face turns serious after reading the situation, and he separates the two of us without a word. Hyerin continues to yell profanities to me, and I’m unknowingly holding onto Baekhyun’s arms tightly. Two hotel employees happen to pass by, and they hurriedly get a hold of Hyerin.

*

          The next thing I know, I’m hushed to the bar supervisor’s office with Baekhyun. I’m silently sitting on a chair, and Baekhyun pushes the teacup that was given earlier to my direction. “Drink up.”

          I just nod silently. He drinks his own tea, and looks around.

          “I was just trying to be considerate. I didn’t know she took it that way.” I say slowly. “How can I see her at school later…”

          “You did nothing wrong.”

          “I really don’t like to show off…”

          “Lana, she thinks that way because she wants to. People like that will always find a flaw in everything others do.”

          I let out a deep breath. "You… I didn’t know you stayed nearby."

          Baekhyun straightens his back. "You told me to wait, remember? How could I leave?"

          For the first time, I’m happy that he’s close to me. “Thank you.”

          A few minutes later, Manager Byun and Aunt comes in, followed with a pale bar supervisor. “Lana, are you okay?” he asks.

          “I’m fine.” I try to sound convincing. Aunt rushes to my side, and checks me thoroughly. “You’re not injured anywhere, right? What happened, really?!”

          “No, I’m good.” I say. “It was… a misunderstanding.”

          “I should sue her.” Aunt sharply says, and I hold her hands.

          “No, Aunt, please.” I still feel dizzy. “Just let her go.”

          Aunt sighs, then turns to the bar supervisor. “I don’t want her to work here anymore.”

          “Yes.” the bar supervisor cowers.

          “You should rest. Baekhyun, take her to her room.” Manager Byun says.

          “Okay, Father.”

          We arrive on our floor, and I feel so drained. “No beer, then?” Baekhyun says.

          “Later.” I sigh. “Good night.”

          Baekhyun unexpectedly doesn’t answer, and we go our separate ways.

*

          The next morning, I wake up and instantly feel demotivated. Somehow I don’t want to go out.

          Some time later, a message comes to my phone, and I open it. It’s a photo of a huge indoor pool, and the interior indicates it’s located in this very hotel.

Bet you don’t know about this yet.

          I roll my eyes reading the caption. Yesterday Baekhyun and I tried to one-up each other about the areas in the hotel, and I see that he’s still onto that.

Who is this?

Your hotel buddy.

Come here. It’s good for relaxing your muscles.

          The indoor pool is located at the tenth floor, and it’s part of the new extension that was built less than a year ago. No wonder I haven’t seen this before. In this early morning it’s almost completely empty, there are only an elderly man who lightly swims near a corner accompanied by his wife on a beach chair, and someone else on the opposite side.

          I walk to the other side of the pool, and Baekhyun is nimbly swimming with goggles on his face. He sees me approaching, and moves to my side.

          “How did you know my number?” I ask.

          His head bobs out from the water, and he pushes back some hair sticking on his face. “I have a lot of sources.”

          I remove my jacket, and starts warming up. Baekhyun falls silent looking at me, and I stare back at him. “What?”

          “You look good in a rashguard.”

          “I look good in everything.”

          “I like that confidence.” he smiles. “Are you okay now?”

          I sit on the poolside and dip my legs in the water. It’s warm. “I’m good.”

          Baekhyun stops floating, removes his goggles and he places his arms next to me as he leans to the poolside. His upper arms are skinny, but toned. They glisten with the pool water, and I unconsciously fix my sight at them. I look away, and blink repeatedly.

          “I’m so happy. Now you even voluntarily come to me.” Baekhyun grins.

          “Don’t be so proud.”

          Baekhyun takes both of my hands and pulls me down to the water. My whole body falls, and I gasp for air when my head goes up. “Hey!”

          “Sssh.” Baekhyun says, and he looks to something else behind my head as he raises a thumbs-up. The elderly couple is leaving the pool, and they look concerned after hearing my voice. They walk away, and I turn back angrily to Baekhyun.

          He takes my waist underwater, and pulls me closer to him. “Great. Now we have the pool for ourselves.”