Hyeyoon couldn’t deny that she was excited to go to work at NCT 127’s dorm. She wanted to see their handsome faces again, especially Taeyong. She knew she shouldn’t feel this way but with her zero experience when it came to boys, she found it difficult to control her emotions.

She rings the doorbell of their 5^th floor apartment. She waits for a couple of minutes but no one answers. They must be working today, she thought. She enters the apartment and starts doing her work.

She decided to vacuum their bedrooms today. She didn’t notice it before but Taeyong’s room had various doodles on the walls. Some of the drawings where familiar characters to Hyeyoon but the others were abstract figures and random English and Korean words. She took a moment to admire the drawings but then continued on her work.

By noon, no one was still home and she was already done with cleaning the fifth floor apartment and doing their laundry. I don’t need to cook for their lunch today, she thinks.

She goes up to the 10^th floor and starts working there. She noticed that the 10^th floor needed less cleaning than the 5^th. Especially the room that Jungwoo and Jaehyun occupied together, it was immaculately clean. She couldn’t find a single speck of dust in it.

By 3 p.m., she was done with all her tasks. She could go home now since there was no more work left to be done but she decided to stay for a little while. Maybe they’ll be home soon, she figures. She just really wants to see their faces just once today. But it was almost 4 o’clock in the afternoon and still they weren’t home.

I guess I won’t see them today. Hyeyoon sighs and leaves their apartment.

 

 

 

The next day Hyeyoon goes to work without expecting to see the members. She did her tasks and as usual finished early since she didn’t need to cook lunch. She looks around the tidy apartment one more time before heading outside to go home. She thinks it’s better this way. Not seeing them will make it easier for her to just work without making it personal by getting her feelings involved.

She reads a text she received from her older sister as she waits for the elevator to come up. “We both don’t have work tomorrow, right?”

“Yes,” she replies.

“Great! Let’s go out and go clothes shopping tomorrow!” her sister replies.

Hyeyoon smiles. She’s always been close to her older sister but ever since that night she cried infront of her unnie, they’ve become even closer than ever. Hyeyoon feels quite excited, she hasn’t properly explored Seoul yet even though she’s been here for nearly three weeks now.

The elevator doors open with NCT 127 inside. Hyeyoon was still looking at her phone that she didn’t notice they were there.

“Noona!” Haechan was the first to get out of the elevator.

Hyeyoon looks up from her phone and is surprised to see all of them staring at her. She moves aside to make more room for them to get out of the elevator. She puts her phone away and smiles at them. Her eyes automatically search for Taeyong and spots him smiling brightly at her. She blushes and looks away from him.

“We heard you got injured because of Taeyong hyung! Are you okay now?” Doyoung asks.

“Yes, I’m perfectly fine now,” she replies.

“That’s a relief! We were so worried and we didn’t even get to see you yesterday!” Haechan says.

“Are you going home now, Ms. Han?” Taeyong asks.

She nods. She somehow finds it difficult to talk when Taeyong speaks to her.

“Stay for a bit noona! Let’s have some afternoon snacks together!” Haechan says making a cute face.

Although Hyeyoon would love to stay, she declines. She doesn’t want to overstep her boundary as their housekeeper. She’d rather be not friends with them, even if they are fun to be with and they make her happy.

“Please stay, Hyeyoon. Oppa bought a lot of delicious food,” Doyoung shows her the plastic bags filled with snacks in his hand.

“Hyung, don’t force her to stay,” Jaehyun suddenly speaks out. “Ms. Han is probably tired from working,” he continues.

“You can go ahead Ms. Han,” Jaehyun says and motions for her to get in the empty elevator.

“Goodbye,” she bows and gets inside.

They wave goodbye to her as the doors close. She feels glad that Jaehyun spoke out. She was about to say yes and stay if it wasn’t for him.

 

 

 

“Hyeyoon noona must be tired! Ya, Doyoung hyung! Why did you ask her to stay?” Haechan says.

They’re still outside their apartment, walking towards the front door to their dorm.

“What? You were the first one who asked her to stay!” Doyoung protests.

“Huh? Was it me?” Haechan pauses and thinks for a moment. “Oh right, sorry it was me.” He says and dashes for the door.

Doyoung runs after him and tries to smack his back.

“Oh, I suddenly remember that I need to go get something from somewhere,” Taeyong suddenly says.

“What something?” Johnny asks. Jaehyun is suspicious but he doesn’t say anything.

“Just something, go and eat the snacks without me!” Taeyong says and runs for the stairs. If he waits for the elevator, he might not make it in time to meet Hyeyoon at the lobby.

He reaches the lobby and sees Hyeyoon walking out of the building. He feels a little bit breathless from running down the stairs so quickly. He momentarily catches his breath before sprinting after her.

“Ms. Han!” he calls to her but she didn’t hear him.

“Hyeyoon!” he tries again and this time she looks behind her.

Taeyong catches up to her and she’s shocked to see him. Why is he out here? I thought they were going to eat, she thinks.

“Let me drive you home,” he tells her, trying his best not to pant after running so fast like he was competing in the Olympics.

“You don’t have to Mr. Taeyong.”

“Just call me Taeyong oppa, Hyeyoonhe says, to her surprise. “Of course, only if it’s comfortable for you!” he adds.

She wants to call him oppa but her mind tells her she shouldn’t. For some odd reason, she feels as if they’re being watched. It’s around 4 in the afternoon so it’s still light outside and people might be watching. She learned about sasaeng fans who follow their favorite celebrities even to their private homes.

“I don’t think I’m comfortable to call you oppa yet…” she speaks.

“It’s okay, but can I call you Hyeyoon? Instead of Ms. Han,” he asks her.

She nods and this makes him smile widely. He starts walking to the parking area and she reluctantly follows him. Her aunt has never mentioned that the members drove her home. She thinks this is a bit crossing the line but Taeyong seems so eager to drive her home that she just followed him to his car.

He puts the seatbelt on for her, making her blush. She catches the smell of his perfume again, the scent makes her feel comfortable and eases a little of the nervousness she feels with being alone with Taeyong.

“How’s your ankle?” he asks while he drives.

“It’s fine now, thank you for treating me that night.”

“I should compensate you for causing your injury, how about I treat you to a meal?”

A meal? Just the two of us?! Like a date? Hyeyoon’s mind was screaming but she could only look at Taeyong with wide eyes. She catches herself and fixes her facial expression. She doesn’t want to look too pleased about being offered a meal.

She doesn’t answer his question but after a while she finally says, “you don’t need to do that… oppa.”

She just called me oppa, Taeyong thinks. He tries to suppress his mouth corners from going up and plays it cool.

“Why not?” Taeyong asks.

He suddenly remembers her smiling at her phone while they met her outside the apartment. Does she perhaps have a boyfriend? He feels utterly upset at the thought that she’s already taken.

“Oh, sorry. Your boyfriend might not approve of you eating alone with another guy,” he says frowning a bit.

“I don’t have a boyfriend…”

Relief washes over Taeyong and this time he couldn’t suppress his smile anymore.

“How about a drive-thru meal then? Let’s have a quick snack while on our way to your home?”

She’s never tried going to a drive-thru before. They didn’t have any of those in her hometown. She wanted to say no, to keep herself distant from him, but her head automatically nodded a yes. A quick meal isn’t so bad, right?

Taeyong changes directions and finds the nearest fastfood restaurant that had a drive-thru. He asks her what she wants but she just tells him he can order anything. He doesn’t question her any further and orders two sets of burger and fries meals.

Hyeyoon was fascinated by the whole drive-thru experience but made sure it didn’t show in her face. This was her very first time going through one. She finds it so interesting how ordering this way is fast and super convenient.

Taeyong finds a shaded spot and parks his car. He opens the paper bag and gives Hyeyoon her food. She mumbles a thank you but she feels too self-conscious to eat. She waits for him to take a bite before she starts eating too.

They eat in silence. Taeyong’s heart was beating fast. Being alone with Hyeyoon and eating together made him extremely happy. He didn’t know that she was thinking the same way too. There was a weird tension in the car.

Taeyong awkwardly clears his throat and asks Hyeyoon what drink she wanted, “cola or cider?” he asks.

“Cider,” she answers and he gives her the cup filled with Sprite.

“Not a lot of people like cider,” he says.

“I think it’s very refreshing,” she tells him then sips the drink.

Taeyong couldn’t peel his eyes away from her. Her face looked so cute when she sipped from the straw.

His staring made Hyeyoon feel even more self-conscious. If he doesn’t look away, he might notice that my cheeks are so red from blushing, Hyeyoon thinks.

They finish eating but Taeyong doesn’t want to take Hyeyoon home yet. They weren’t too far from Han River Park. Maybe she’ll want to take a walk there after eating?

He starts the car and asks her, “do you want to go by the park at Han river? Walking there in the afternoon is really nice.”

She doesn’t want to leave Taeyong. It’s only the second time they’re meeting but she was already developing feelings for him. It’s going to be difficult to stop herself from liking him if she spends even more time with him now.

“I think I should go home,” she tells him.

Taeyong tries to hide his disappointment but it was apparent from the way his smile slowly disappeared. He drives the car to the direction of Hyeyoon’s home. He purposely drives slowly so he can have more time with her but soon they arrive at her home.

“Thank you for the meal and for driving me today, Taeyong oppa,” she says before going out of the car. The last part makes Taeyong’s heart skip a beat. He loves it when she calls him oppa.

He gets out of the car and tries to think of an excuse to walk her up to her apartment. “Let me walk you to the 7^th floor, um… you might stumble on the stairs or…”

“No, you don’t have to oppa. I won’t fall again,” she tells him.

He couldn’t come up with a good excuse so he lets her go.

“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?” he says.

“It’s the weekend tomorrow.”

“Oh,” he realizes she doesn’t go to work on the weekend. “I guess I’ll see you on Monday then,” he says blushing from his mistake.

“Bye oppa,” she says and goes inside.

“Bye Hyeyoon,” he waves at her.

He lingers outside the building for a little bit but then goes back home. His groupmates might start getting suspicious if he’s out for too long.

Taeyong thinks Hyeyoon has an almost child-like innocence about her that he finds so attractive. He noticed it today when they were at the drive-thru. She seemed so happy and excited going there; like it was her first time. Was it her first time? He has so much to learn about Hyeyoon and this makes him want to be with her more and more.

He thinks she’s so different from the girls he usually meets. He thinks she looks effortlessly pretty, especially her eyes. He first thought she was wearing eye-liner because her eyes looked like they were accentuated by a small wing at the side. But, when he got to look at her eyes closely, he found that they were naturally that way.

“I’m screwed,” he mutters to himself.

I don’t know any other way to put it: I like Hyeyoon.