'Whoa, roses,’ you smiled when you saw that the vase on your work desk was finally put to use.

‘Did the flower delivery guy eat 2 of them up?’ Young Mi asked you.

‘Eat 2 roses up?’ You looked back at the vase and counted it, ‘Strange, why are there only 10?’

‘You have to ask Jaejoong later because I’m sure he’s the one who gave those flowers to you,’ Young Mi commented and you nodded in agreement.

‘He’ll be here in half an hour,’ you stated looking at the large clock hanging at the top of the entrance in the department, ‘He’s at a private collection showing at some local label’s studio.’

Young Mi nodded and went back to emailing stylists for the return of garments they had used during photoshoots held earlier this week.

‘Good morning,’ the fearsome voice of your Editor in Chief seemed to echo off the walls of the department and everyone immediately got off their seats to bow at him.

‘Mr. Jung, w-what brings you here today?’ You managed to curb your stuttering slightly.

‘Just… visiting,’ Yunho stated, ‘Anyway, have you started your search for a new Fashion Assistant yet?’

‘I was working on it when you came in,’ you replied.

‘Good. Oh,’ Yunho’s eyes fell on the vase on your table.

‘Oh what?’ You looked at the filled vase as well.

‘The first noncototien,’ Yunho confused you even more.

‘Huh?’ You looked up at your boss.

‘I was just having a math moment,’ Yunho shook his head slightly to clear his thoughts, ‘I was talking about the number 10.’

‘Okay…’ that explained nothing, really.

‘Jaejoong is really… smitten by you,’ Yunho muttered.

His words made your mind spin and you landed in your oh-so-familiar fantasyland while the intimidating Jung Yunho terrorized the others in the office.

When Yunho finished his ‘visit’ and was heading towards the lift lobby, you followed after him and called out, ‘Mr. Jung! Do you know- ’

‘Of course I do know, Latecomer. You are perfect.’

‘Huh?’ His words left you confused once more.

‘10 roses means ‘You are perfect’ -  in Jaejoong’s eyes, that is. He shared with me that you have been trying to cut down on your food intake. I know he can be harsh when he criticizes you about your diet but since when has his words ever affected you anyway?’

‘Love changes people,’ you smiled sheepishly, ‘I guess being surrounded by young and y interns makes me wary.’

‘If Jaejoong wanted bony and overly well-dressed women with killer fashion sense, he would have been married a long time ago,’ Yunho stated.

‘How about you then?’

‘I’m doing exceptional well, I even bagged a free kid.’

You laughed, ‘I’ll get back to work now, Mr. Jung.’

Yunho nodded and waved you off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘Nothing makes me happier than watching you eat that extremely sinful Tiramisu,’ Jaejoong smiled.

‘You’re crazy,’ you rolled your eyes and took in another big spoonful of cake.

‘You’re the only girl who looks good while stuffing her face,’ Jaejoong leaned back on his seat.

‘That’s because you’re in love with me and love is blind,’ you replied.

‘Perhaps,’ Jaejoong shrugged, ‘But how come you’re back to eating excessively again?’

‘Yunho told me a little something this morning,’ you winked at Jaejoong.

‘Right,’ Jaejoong muttered.

‘Thanks for the hidden message, Jaejoong.’

Jaejoong cleared his throat and went back to texting on his phone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your doorbell rang in the early morning at 3.25am.

‘I ing paid this month’s rent already, okay!?’ You screamed after you forcefully swung open your apartment’s front door.

A devastated-looking Kim Jaejoong looked back at you and your anger immediately dissipated.

‘You look like a lost pup- Oh, sorry, you hate dogs…. Erm- you look like a poor lost kitty,’ you corrected.

‘Can I come in already?’ Jaejoong asked in a dead voice.

‘Sure,’ you gestured and he walked in slowly after pulling off his loafers and placed them neatly on your shoe rack at the side of the door.

‘What happened?’ You asked softly, taking a seat beside Jaejoong on your living room’s couch.

‘I’m too tired to even curse. My lovely neighbour had a wonderful termite attack in his beautiful house and the awesome colony moved on to mine after they were done with his.’

You gaped, ‘Oh my Gawd, is your house in shatters?’

‘I need to replace and fix a lot of stuff. But that isn’t my main concern... my clothes are.’

‘That’s terrible. Oh wait- are there any clothes from the company that are in your possession?’

‘That was the first thing I saved. I practically stuffed them into a suitcase and threw it out of my window and thankfully, it landed in the balcony of my 7^th floor neighbour’s.’

You heaved a great sigh of relief.

‘So… you’re homeless now?’

‘I’ll crash here for the time being.’

‘Okay.’

‘Thanks.’

‘This is probably suicidal but…... Do you want to use my card?’

‘For?’

‘To get clothes for work tomorrow?’

‘Oh my Gawd, you’re awesome!’ Jaejoong grabbed you and kissed you fiercely.

You had to take quite a while to calm your hormones down when Jaejoong finally released you, ‘Listen, I sleep on a single bed and that’s the only bed here in my apartment. Okay, okay. I know you’re a diva and all so you can have it, I’ll take the couch.’

‘Seriously?’ Jaejoong beamed at you.

‘Yeah, so hurry up before I change my mind.’

And Jaejoong ran.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You had called in just now to ask Yunho to let you guys come in late for work and the big boss gave an exasperated ‘Permission granted’.

‘I only have canned baked beans,’ you declared when Jaejoong walked into the kitchen at around 8.30am.

You expected a -fit but Jaejoong was surprisingly calm while he opened your fridge to inspect it.

‘Full cream milk, cheese, eggs, candy bars, chocolate bars, leftover pizza, cough drops, fizzy drinks, kimchi- okay, cook me rice now.’

‘R-r-r-r-rice?’ You had to grab the kitchen counter to prevent you from falling to the ground because your legs were now like jelly.

‘Yeah, rice. Why?’ Jaejoong questioned.

‘You don’t ing eat carbohydrates! Are you that depressed over the loss of your house and clothes?’

‘I need to ask, did you make this tub of kimchi?’

‘Yeah, but that’s only fermented for 4 months.’

‘Good enough.’

‘Okay,’ you muttered and proceeded to get rice from the lower kitchen cabinet, ‘Erm… how much do you want to eat?’

‘Eat with me.’

‘Okay, I’ll cook 2 cups of rice then.’

20 minutes later, you handed Jaejoong his first bowl of rice in 14 years.

‘This is a big day for me,’ Jaejoong smiled.

‘Thank Gawd the rice turned out fine,’ you gave a relieved sigh, ‘Let’s eat.’

Jaejoong lifted a spoonful of rice up with shaky hands.

‘You have got to calm down, one bowl of rice it’s not going to make you fat.’

‘I know, but I can’t help it,’ Jaejoong spot you a dirty look.

You put your spoon down while you watched with anticipation as Jaejoong used the chopsticks with his other hand to put a small piece of kimchi on top of the spoon of rice.

You gulped as the spoon got closer and closer to his mouth.

The deed was finally done. Jaejoong was chewing the spoonful of rice and kimchi in his (pretty) mouth.

Your heart was racing for Jaejoong’s verdict or -fit.

Jaejoong swallowed and looked right into your eyes.

‘How was it?’ You asked fearfully.

‘Tastes just like my mother’s kimchi.’

‘What would that mean?’

‘It means that your kimchi is awesome.’

You smiled till your cheeks hurt, ‘Thanks.’

You both then ate in silence.

‘Erm…Jaejoong?’ You began.

Jaejoong looked up at you with puffy cheeks because he had stuffed tons of rice + kimchi in and all you wanted do was squish him into nothingness.

‘I just realised that I don’t really know much about you… I mean, other than your personality…’

‘Wow, just… wow. We’re dating even though we’re clueless about each other. We’re just awesome like that,’ Jaejoong chuckled.

‘Yeah,’ you scratched your head embarrassedly.

‘Ask away then,’ Jaejoong continued eating.

‘Are you vegetarian?’

Jaejoong laughed, ‘No.’

‘Seriously?’ You raised an eyebrow at him.

‘Seriously.’

‘Then how come so far I’ve only seen you eat greens?’

‘It’s healthy.’

‘Your diet is scary. Really.’

‘Yours too.’

‘Fine, next question. What are your hobbies?’

‘Shopping, writing and more shopping.’

You rolled your eyes.

‘Then what’s yours? Wait! I know... eye- me.’

‘Yeah, yeah,’ you rolled your eyes again, ‘What do you hate?’

‘Junk food.’

‘This is getting nowhere,’ you concluded.

Jaejoong nodded, ‘Because you’re asking silly random questions. Allow me to help us both. Am I your first love?’

You blushed, bit your lower lip and nodded shyly.

‘I’ve been on tons of dates before, I’ve been in relationships before, I’ve been dumped before and I’ve dumped others too.’

‘Y-you got dumped before?’ You exclaimed, ‘Who would ever dump you?’

‘They couldn’t stand the fact that I make them look ugly just by standing next to- LIKE REAL!’

You laughed hysterically.

‘But with that said, I’ve never been in love... until now,’ and those words made you stop laughing.

You looked up at Jaejoong and damn, those eyes of his proved that his words were nothing but the truth.

You broke the intense eye contact and looked back down at your almost empty plate on the table.

‘When can I meet your parents?’ Jaejoong asked.

‘W-what!?’ You almost fell off your seat.

‘Well?’ Jaejoong asked again.

‘Err… my parents do not have a good impression of you because of me… I mean- I did and complain a lot about you to them because we weren’t on good terms when I first started work…’ you confessed sheepishly.

‘Ahh,’ Jaejoong leaned back on the chair, ‘That’s fine. I fear nothing. I’ll just have to work extra hard to get off their black list then. If all fails, I’ll just buy them off with money.’

‘Hey!’ You pretended to be angry.

‘Wash the dishes, Kimchi.’ Jaejoong proceeded out of the kitchen.

‘Kimchi?’ You questioned.

‘Your new pet name.’

‘That’s ing ridiculous!’

Jaejoong childishly stuck his tongue out at you, ‘I think it’s cute though.’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~