I swear I'm going somewhere with this, guys. It's just going to take a bit of build up. This chapter was pretty hastily edited so I could get it up, so please forgive any errors in spelling or grammar or any awkward moments. The boss will get a name in the next chapter, and I'll reveal a little bit more about Lucia~. She's quite a bit deeper than she seems. As always, thank you for reading and subscribing! <3

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 When Lucia began to come back to her senses, the first thing she felt was something soft brush against her face. Scrunching up her nose, she lifted up her hand to brush away whatever had touched her face. There was a quiet noise, almost like a gasp, and she slowly opened one eye. Two large, curious eyes peered down at her, hair the color of cotton candy brushing against her face. The boy leaning uncomfortably close to her grinned and popped back up, yelling at the top of his lungs. Lucia flinched and rubbed at her eyes, slowly starting to sit back up. When had she gotten back to her apartment? And why had there been a boy with pink hair staring down at her?

Six boys filed into the room and Lucia blinked sleepily at them, her brain trying to catch up to everything that was going on around her. For a moment, she simply looked at them, and they simply looked at her. Then her brain seemed to finally start working and she automatically went into panic mode. Pulling the sheets closer to her, Lucia’s eyes widened and she screamed, looking for something to throw at them. The one with brown hair seemed the most stunned by this and started to come forward, hands extended in front of him. Lucia grabbed a pillow and threw it at his face, quickly sliding to the opposite side of her bed and picking up her lamp, brandishing it in front of her.

“What are you doing in my apartment? Get out!” she screeched at them, backing up against the wall as they advanced towards her. “I’m warning you. I took karate for three years!”

One of the boys, who had short-cropped black hair and looked vaguely familiar even to her sleep-addled, pain ridden brain, quickly stepped forward and pulled the lamp from her hands. He tossed it aside and grabbed her by the shoulders, eyes wide. Through the haze of fear and pain, Lucia could barely hear him trying to convince her to calm down. Reflex kicked in and she grabbed him, kicking one foot under his ankles and shoving him backwards. He tumbled to the ground, groaning in pain. As she ran for the door, he grabbed her ankle and sent her crashing to the floor, causing her to yelp in pain.

“Lucia!” The sound of him saying her name made her freeze. Lucia looked back at the young man, who was slowly sitting up. He kept a grip on her ankle though, just to be safe. “I’m Himchan. Remember me? You agreed to let us stay here.”

Everything that had happened suddenly rushed back to her and she groaned, collapsing into a sitting position on the floor. Himchan let go of her ankle with a soft sight of relief and sat up, giving her a forced smile. The other boys stayed a good distance away from her, still wary. Lucia quickly touched the wound above her right eye, wincing as dull pain met her prodding. Her leg and arm were bandaged, and she lifted her shirt up to see her stomach bandaged up as well. Himchan cleared his throat and she looked up at him, pulling her shirt back down.

“You had some pretty bad injuries and passed out. I carried you back here and Zelo patched you up.” Himchan pointed to the pink haired boy, who blinked at her. “You’re lucky we programmed him to know first aid. It would have been awkward if we had to take you to a medic.”

“How did you get in here?” she asked, glancing from the other boys to Himchan and then back again.

“There was a key in your pocket.” A boy with brown hair spoke up, stepping forward a bit and smiling brightly. “And you told us how to get to your apartment, so it wasn’t too hard! Some of the other Earthians were giving us strange looks.” As if he was suddenly acutely aware of her gaze on him, he blushed and looked down at his feet. “I’m Jongup, by the way.”

Lucia gave him a small nod and then turned to the others. Youngjae gave her a small nod and the purple haired one, Yongguk, scowled. The pink-haired boy, Zelo, simply blinked at her. Her gaze landed on the last boy, who was still wearing a mask. Turning back to Himchan, she nodded at the unnamed boy.

“Who’s that?” She tried to keep her voice level, but the fact that six aliens with possibly hostile intentions were in her apartment made it hard to stay calm.

“That’s Daehyun,” HImchan answered, standing up and brushing off his pants. All six of them looked filthy, their clothes torn and dirt covering them in a thin film. Lucia bit her lip to keep from saying something as she noticed all of them still had shoes on. “You’ve probably got a lot of questions right now, so ask if you need to. We’ll answer anything.”

“Well, not anything,” Youngjae added, stepping up to stand next to Himchan. “But we’ll answer a few things.”

“Why are you here?” Lucia crossed her arms over her chest, narrowing her eyes at them.

“We can’t tell you,” Youngjae answered.

“Are you here to take over my planet?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“You’re here to steal the women and mate with them, aren’t you?”

“No comment.” Daehyun answered this time, his gaze even.

“Why did your ship crash land like that?”

There was an uneasy silence before Himchan answered her, a sheepish smile on his face.

“I’d rather not say.”

“So… Do you guys always look like that, or are you wearing disguises of some sort?”

“These are our normal appearances,” Youngjae said. “Our biology is very similar to human biology.”

“Wow, I actually got an answer.” Lucia feigned surprise, pressing her hand to and widening her eyes. “Wait, earlier you said something about programming Zelo. Is he a robot?”

“Something like that,” Yongguk answered. He was still glaring at her, and she figured he was probably holding a grudge because she had nailed him between the legs. “I don’t think you’d understand.”

Lucia made a face at Yongguk, but dropped the subject. Standing up with a grunt, she looked around for her glasses before slipping them on and adjusting them. She glanced at the clock on the opposite wall and groaned, pressing her fingers to her uninjured temple. She was late to work by hours, and her boss was probably pissed. This was not going to end well. Looking around at the aliens that had gotten much closer to her than before, Lucia scowled and ran a hand through her hair.

“Look, I need to get to work and try to explain to my boss why I’m late by hours and why I have a giant cut on my face,” she said, pushing past them to get to her closet and throw on a sweater. If she covered the bandages on her arm, maybe she’d draw less attention on her way to the building. “Stay here and do NOT leave under any circumstances. You’re filthy and your hair would make you stand out. And don’t touch anything. If even one thing is out of place when I get back, you’re all in deep ,” she warned, slinging her guitar case over her shoulder and grabbing the folder that contained the sheet music to the song she had written.

“Wait!” Himchan dashed after her as she made her way out of her room and towards the front door. Lucia looked back at him and sighed, crossing her arms tightly over her chest again and frowning.

“What is it?” She couldn’t keep the annoyance out of her voice, but she wasn’t going to apologize. All of this was their fault, anyways.

“Let me go with you. I can wear your clothes so I’ll look clean and I can explain what happened to your boss,” he said eagerly, grinning down at her.

“Are you stupid?” Lucia snapped. “You can’t just go up to my boss and tell him you’re an alien and your ship crash landed in the middle of the city and that I’m keeping all of you in my apartment. You want to keep a low profile, right?”

“Well… yeah, but I don’t want you to be in trouble,” he said, slightly taken aback by her irritation. “I’ll just… say that I saw it happen and took you to a medic.”

“To the hospital,” Lucia corrected. She figured there was no way she could convince him not to come, so she sighed and headed back to her bedroom. Ignoring the way the other boys crowded over to the opposite side of the room, she pulled out an old pair of jeans, a shirt, and a sweatshirt from her drawers and shoved them at him. “You’re lucky I have men’s clothes here. Get changed quickly. I’m leaving in five minutes, whether you’re ready or not.”

Lucia ignored Himchan’s shouted thanks and waited for him in the front hall, slipping her shoes on and ignoring the pain that lanced through her injured leg when she put too much weight on it. Exactly five minutes later, Himchan emerged in the borrowed clothes, his face clean. He must have found the bathroom, she realized with slight surprise. He grinned at her, but she ignored him and stepped out the door.

“Remember not to touch anything!” she shouted back at the others before closing the door and locking it behind Himchan. He ruffled his short, dark hair and glanced at her, clearing his throat to get her attention.

“So, um.” He shifted awkwardly, speeding up his pace so that he could keep up with her as she walked. “Where exactly do you work?”

“An entertainment company,” she answered, not exactly in the mood for small talk. They were right on time for a bus and she paid fare for both of them before leading him to the back of the bus.

“Oh, really?” He pointed to her guitar case, face lined with curiosity. “What exactly is that?”

“A guitar,” she said. Glancing at him, she heaved a heavy sigh and pushed her glasses further up the bridge of her nose. “I’m a songwriter.”

“Oh, so you create music? Yongguk really likes Earthian rap,” Himchan said, looking quite proud of himself. Lucia gave a small shrug and tightened her grip on the folder in her lap. Himchan noticed this and reached over, slipping it out of her grip and opening it.

“Hey!” she yelled, blushing when the other people on the bus glared at her. Lowering her voice, she tried to snatch her folder back, but he kept it just out of her reach. “You can’t look at that!”

“This is a love song,” he said, turning to look at her. Lucia scowled at him and snatched her folder back, making sure the pages were in proper order before closing it again.

“Yes, it is,” she said. “Most of the songs I write are love songs. They’re very popular in the industry right now.”

Himchan stayed silent for the rest of the ride, speaking again only after they had stepped off the bus and were walking towards the front doors of a very large building.

“Who did you write the song for?” he asked, slipping his hands into the pockets of the sweatshirt and trying to look casual as he strode along next to her.

“A new girl group that debuted a few months ago.” She flashed her badge to the security guard, who let both of them pass. Pressing the up button on the elevator, she waited patiently for the doors to slide open. “None of them know how to compose or write lyrics, so I’m stuck with writing all of their songs by myself for now. I’ve got three more I’m working on right now, but this is going to be their single.”

The doors to the elevator opened and Lucia froze up when she saw a young man walk out, his face hardening into a look of irritation when he saw her. Himchan looked between the two of them, unsure as to what was going on.

“B-boss,” Lucia choked out, bowing deeply and extending the folder towards him. “I’m sorry I’m late, there was an accident and I had to go to the hospital but here’s the song I’m really—“

He cut her off abruptly, not letting her finish her rambling apology. Snatching the folder out of her hands, he glanced through the song before looking back up at Lucia. She fidgeted under his scrutining gaze, wringing her hands together. He looked at the bandage on her face, then at the bandages on her leg and his face softened into a look of concern. Sighing, he closed the folder and rested a hand on top of her head.

“Go home and get some rest,” he said. Lucia looked up, surprised by the kind tone in his voice. Himchan remained quiet, standing off slightly to the side. “The song looks good. Bring in the next track tomorrow, and don’t be late.”

“Thank you,” she breathed, watching him as he walked off. All the tension had left her body, but there was something in the way that she looked at her boss that was a bit off.

Himchan cleared his throat and stepped closer to Lucia, looking down at her. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and she looked startled when she whipped around to face him, almost as if she had forgotten he was there.

“Should we go then?” he asked.

“Oh. Oh, yeah. We should go.” Lucia still looked dazed as she walked towards the front doors of the building. Her fingers brushed the top of her head where her boss had touched, and Himchan’s eyes narrowed.

There was something going on between the two of them, and he was going to find out one way or another.