“Sooyun~” said that familiar voice.  She in a gasp, not wanting to turn around.

                What are you doing here?!!!, she thought.  You’re supposed to be home!

                “Sooyun, this guy says he knows you!” said Hana, too loudly.

                She let out a breath, not wanting to look behind her.  She turned around reluctantly and looked at Shin.  “O-Oh, it’s you.” she said, rather flatly.

                Regardless, Shin was still smiling brightly.  He was standing by the counter and there was a long line of customers behind him.  “Sooyun.” he called out staring only at her.

                “Are you going to order anything?!” asked an older man behind him, rudely.

                “I’m sorry.” replied Shin, politely.  He bowed out of respect.  “No, I won’t.  You can go on ahead.”

                Shin stepped off to the side, as he turned his attention to her.  “Sooyun, come here.” he said, sweetly.

                For a moment, she took a good stare at him.  She shook her head and walked over.  “Yes?” she asked.

                Shin quickly stepped behind the counter and hugged her tightly.  “I missed you.” he said, making her face burn.

                Knowing that everyone is watching, Sooyun quickly pulled away from the lovely smelling person in front of her.  Shin flashed a frown, but she ignored it.  They don’t even hug at home, so why is he hugging her all the sudden?  It’s weird and random.  Not only is she embarrassed, but she’s frustrated.  The last thing she wanted is for Shin to attract unessary attention from other people and hugging her in public was the last thing that wouldn’t attract attention.

                Sooyun has been stressed out.  Stress mixed with raging hormones from her monthly period never goes well.  Her cystic acne is on full blast as she started her period yesterday, which is painful and most of all, annoying and disfigurates her skin.  And, to have the beautiful Shin hug her right here and now only made her pity herself even more.

                It’s like a horror movie.  What is someone like him doing with something like her?  A beauty and a beast.  They are unfit for each other…  She’s too plain for him, to which he doesn’t understand because he’s a robot and is too blinded to see the truth.

                He has to be programmed to be biased or something, thought Sooyun.  There is no way he can’t be programmed!  He’s way too obsessive.

                Shin pulls away from the hug with a frown.  Sooyun quickly assumed that it may be because he became mad because she didn’t hug him back.  “I missed you.” he repeated with a small smile and completely washing away her insecurities and frustration at him.

                Why does he always get away with that face of his?!, Sooyun thought, as her face continues to burn.

                Why is Shin saying this and now?  First of all, she’s at work!  If this was his way of getting her to quit, then might actually work.  “Shin…” she said, softly and grabbed his hand.

                A huge, bright smile plastered onto his face, out of excitement.  That made Sooyun let out a soft laugh, as she turned to her manager.  “I’m going to take my break now.” she said.  The manager just nodded his head, with a hanging jaw out of shock.  Sooyun quickly glanced at all of her coworkers and regular customers’ faces; they are all surprised and dumbstruck at them.  She brushes them off and pulls Shin outside.  She took them to a nice, shady spot under a tree in front of the KFC.

                Sooyun looks up at him and he is smiling like a mad man.  “I love the way you call out my name.” he admits.  “It sounds really soft and lovely.”

                Sooyun could feel her lips curl into a small smile as she blushes once again.  There was no denying it…  She is falling softly and slowly for him.  It has only been 3 weeks since he’s been here, but how could she possibly not fall in love with him?  He’s patient, caring, and will do anything in the world for her.  Although he may be a bit forward, it seems like he really does love her in ways she can’t explain.

                “What are you doing here?” questioned Sooyun.

                Shin continues to smile and handed an iPhone in a light pink case to her.  “This is one of my presents for you.” he stated, as she acceptes it. 

                “Oh, Shin…” she said, as she observed the phone.  “It’s too expensive, you shouldn’t have.” She pressed a button and a selca of him popped up as her wallpaper.  Sooyun let out a laugh as she looked up at him.  “You took a picture of yourself?”

                “Well,” started Shin, as he blushes.  “Yeah.  I wanted to be the person that’s on your wallpaper…  Not Lu Han.”

                “Lu Han?” asked Sooyun, taken back.  They’ve actually haven’t discussed about the person that Shin has been modeled after at all.  Is he actually jealous of him?, she thought.  I haven’t even watched EXO M’s first interview yet…  Why would Shin bring Lu Han up?

                “Never mind.” answered Shin, shooing away the topic.

                “Was that all?” asked Sooyun, letting it go.  She looked at the shopping bags he is carrying.  “Why did you go shopping?  We don’t have money for that kind of thing.”  She tried to grab the bags to see what he bought.

                “We do have money.” stated Shin, as he took a quick step back.  He lets out a laugh.  “I’m not going to let you see the presents I got until you get home.”

                Sooyun eyes the Etude House and Innisfree.  “Why did you buy them for me?” she asks, as she looks up to meet his eyes. 

                Shin just smiles.  “It’s because I care about you.” he replies.

                There he goes…  Being all forward again, thought Sooyun, feeling herself blush.

                “Well, I just came by to see you…  And, hug you and give you the phone.” said Shin.  “I’ll see you in another 3 hours, then?”

                “Y-Yeah.” replied Sooyun.

                Shin smiles as he motions to leave, but then stands there.  It seems like he is hesitating to say something as she watches him.  He started to say something and stumbles over it, so all she heard was gibberish.  Then, he clears his throat and averted his eyes away from hers with a completely red face.

                “May I please get another hug?” Shin asked.

                Sooyun smiles.  He looks exactly like a little boy, she thought.  She steps in front of him and hugs him.  She could feel him let out a long breath and hear the sound of his artificial heart beat fast.

                “You hugged me earlier, didn’t you?” she asked.

                “Well, yeah, but I was super excited to see you.  And, you didn’t hug me back.” he answered, as he pulls away from the hug.  He, then, his lips.  “I’ll see you at home.”

                “OK.” nodded Sooyun.  “Bye.”

                 “Bye, my love~” said Shin, as he turned to leave.  He quickly looks over his shoulder and waves at her.

                Sooyun waves back, feeling eyes were on her.  She turned to look into the fast food chain and 5 of her coworkers were cheering her on.  She rolls her eyes.  “Can’t I get some peace?!” she said.

                She let out a sigh as she stepped out of her workplace.  She blushes, thinking about meeting Shin at home.  “I didn’t know that you have a boyfriend…” stated Hana, reminding her that she wasn’t alone.

                Hana, her only friend, is 28 years old.  She is in a rocky relationship with her current boyfriend, who is 33 years old.  She finished high school, but dropped out of college after one year to work because her family needed money because her parents are gamblers.  But, that was years ago when loan sharks were chasing after them. 

                Last year, Hana’s parents wanted her to get married and almost set up an arranged marriage to some thug to marry her off.  She got pissed off, took the little amount of money she was able to save, and moved to Seoul’s slums.  She didn’t care anymore about her parents and living in Daegu.  Hana started to work at the local KFC to pay her bills and that was how the pair met.

                Sooyun opened to defend herself when Hana let out an excited squeal, startling her.  “Oh my GOD!!  You’re finally in a relationship!!” Hana screams and then laughs.  “Who is he?  He’s so cute!  How did you meet him?  He kind of looks like that boy from that boy band you were talking about!”  Hana isn’t much of a KPOP fan.  She cares more about having a roof over head and stressing out about her boyfriend then deal with the pop culture and fandoms.

                “Shin.  His name is Moon Shin.  I met him the night that I went to the showcase.” replied Sooyun, cautiously.  She didn’t want to slip that Shin is a robot that her dad built and time traveled to the present to save her.  It would be too crazy to even say things like that.

                “So, he’s from the area?” questioned Hana.  She knows practically everyone in the area, being the social and nice person she is.

                “Well…  You can say so…” said Sooyun.

                “Really?” reacted Hana, surprised.  “He looks kind of like a rich boy and…  I’ve never seen him before.  Even if he had only moved in the area a week ago, I would totally recognize him!  His face isn’t easy to forget.”

                “Um…” started Sooyun.  She starts to feel guilty that she had made Shin stayed in all the time.  And, she feels worse when she realizes that he has been wearing the same outfit for 3 weeks.

                At least he doesn’t reek of body odor like a real guy, she thought.  Thank you, Dad!

                “He and I live together.” Sooyun finished. 

                “What?!” asked Hana, alarmed.  “Sweetie, just because he’s your first boyfriend doesn’t mean that you two should be living with each other right now!!  Does your dad know?”

                “Yeah, he does.” answered Sooyun.  “They know each other…  You can pretty much say that they practically have a son and father relationship.”

                Hana flashed her a confused look.  “How does your dad know him?  And, why is he staying with you?” she asked.

                “I don’t know.” lied Sooyun, shrugging her shoulders.  “I’m not sure how they met.  I haven’t asked him.  All I know is that Shin needs a place to stay at and Dad offered him our place.”

                Sooyun observed Hana’s reaction.  It didn’t seem like she was buying it.  Even Sooyun, herself, knows that her father would never let a male live with her so simply like that.  But, because Shin is so special after all, her father would let him slide.

                “Your dad must really trust him.” smiled Hana.  She nods her head.  “He looks like a good, well-mannered boy.  And, you two seem to have hitted off pretty well.”

                Sooyun let out a sigh.  “I don’t know about that…” she said.  “He’s really forward…  And, I don’t know how to react because I really don’t know what to do.”

                “Then, just go with the flow.” smiled Hana.  “If he hugs you, just hug him back.  If he kisses you, then just do it.  I know that you like him, it’s really obvious with how you reacted earlier when he came by.”

                Sooyun blushes.  “See…” pointed out Hana.  “You like the boy.  At least he knows what he wants and goes for it!  He’s not some bastard who still can’t figure out if he wants to be with his current girlfriend or if he is still in love with his ex!!”  She let out an angry huff as she continues to talk about her boyfriend.  “Oh yeah.  Before I forget, Jongin and I broke up.”  Hana smiles.  “And, I’m so glad to be away from his freaking emotional baggage!!”

                Sooyun looks at her sadly.  “I’m sorry.” she said.

                “Don’t be!  You should be celebrating!” laughed Hana.  “Shin looks like a promising young man.  You are in good hands, sweetie.  And, don’t ever take that for granted.”

                I won’t ever.  I won’t ever forget how lucky I am to have a father that loves me and now…  A special person that adores me even more than my own father, thought Sooyun.  She smiles, thinking about seeing Shin at home.

AUTHOR’S NOTE:

                I hope you all enjoyed this latest chapter!!  Sorry about not updating in a while….  I’ve been really busy and it’s hard to squeeze time in to write.  I wrote an extra long chapter, so I hope you all enjoyed!!  ^^

                Yay!!  Sooyun is starting to like Shin back!!  Yay!!! 

LOVE,

loveFORyunho