Silent readers, I'll hunt you down ;) // Enjoy!

                It’d been a week since the incident at Hyojung’s house. Kevin couldn’t bring himself to meet the woman face-to-face again because it’s like a humiliation to him. He must have looked really bad, swaying like a drunkard in front of her that night. And the fact that he had a case to settle on the following day was just making no sense. Well, he was thankful that the hangover didn’t hit him as hard as it used to. He managed to stand in the court properly and did his job well.

                Kevin won the case for Yunhee and her ex-husband was under probation for 3 years. He’s glad it was over. Yunhee decided to move to Japan and started a new life. At first, he was a little devastated at the news but at the same time he also thought that it was for the best. He could forget Yunhee and he did not have to worry about bumping into her anywhere in Korea.

                He stared at the screen of television. The cooking show didn’t have his interest so he just decided to turn off the tv and go to his room to read something. Before he could even move his from the couch, the doorbell rang. He ran to get it and when he opened it, Eli was standing in front of him.

                “What the hell?” Kevin laughed and welcomed Eli in. The latter mumbled something about how Kevin greeted him as he plopped on the couch. Kevin just laughed and closed the door back.

                “You’re such a good friend, Kevin. Greeting me like that.” Eli rolled his eyes.

                “It’s almost bed time. What on earth do you want from me? I thought you’re some lazy friend who is too lazy to visit his friend when the sun is still up.” Kevin went to the kitchen to get two glasses of orange juice for him and Eli. He actually opted for milk but that friend of his dislike milk and he was somehow feeling like drinking something sugary before bed.

                “Yeah, yeah. I’m a royal pain in everyone’s .” Eli chuckled. He grabbed a glass of juice from Kevin’s hand when he saw the man almost putting down the glasses on top of the coffee table in front of them.

                Kevin scoffed. “Indeed.” He sipped on his juice. “Why are you here? It’s weird to have you barging in. At night.” Eli’s sudden visit was really too.. sudden. This friend named Eli usually slept in early. He got too exhausted from his work as marketing manager and often passed up the chance to go clubbing because he was just too tired to stay long for the night.

                “I don’t know.” Eli shrugged. He kept on drinking his juice without looking at him. Kevin knew there was something bothering him.

                “Lies. I know you, Eli. You better tell me.”

                Eli sighed. “Man, I don’t know how to propose to her. Like.. do I have to buy a ring and then ask her if she wants to marry me? Do I have to kneel and stuff?”

                Kevin laughed. So, his friend over here was troubled about a marriage proposal. His face looked so tight like he was in the middle of constipation. Kevin laughed again and put down his glass. Why did Eli search him in the first place? He could’ve asked for Soohyun, the family guy. Eli was really a noob.

                “Wrong man, Eli. Wrong man. You should give Soohyun hyung a call and ask him how he proposed to Kaeun nuna.” Kevin nodded.

                “Soohyun hyung was dramatic. I’ve called him.” Eli scoffed. He rested his back on the couch with his palms against the back of his head.

                “What did he say?”

                “He said he made this romantic dinner at a fancy restaurant and serenade her. And then he proposed to her in front of a lot of people. It was just too extravaganza, Kevin.” The man nodded.

                Kevin frowned. It wasn’t his problem to solve this but he could give his friend some help. He had no idea on what to do when proposing as well. Great, now he and Eli was a noob couple. So clueless about cheesy stuff like this.

                “I think you should just ask her to go to your house. Eat some Chinese food together. Then watch some chick flicks together. And when you felt like it was time to tell her, just randomly take out the box and showed her the ring.” Kevin explained. It was the lame-st thing he could ever think of but instead of not helping,  a bad idea could give a point to himself and Eli.

                Eli chuckled. He thought about it for a few seconds and he nodded with his hands rubbed together. Kevin didn’t understand what he was doing. He expected his friend to tell him it was such a stupid idea and girls won’t like that but Eli was just smiling like a dumb idiot. Oh, he should stop calling Eli an idiot. Or else Eli would just get dumber.

                “That’s actually a great idea. Give me a man hug.” Eli spread out his arms and waited for Kevin to hug him.

                Kevin pushed him away. “You’re so nasty. Just go now. I want to sleep.”

                “You’re denying our love, Kev.” Eli clutched his left chest and laughed. “I’m gonna buy the ring tomorrow. Wanna help me to choose?” He said in irritating girly voice.

                “Why are you treating me like this? So gross.”Kevin scoffed and kicked Eli’s leg.

                “Come on, Kev. I’m not good at choosing ring.”

                Kevin rolled his eyes. He would love to but he just had too many works at office. Now one of his friends was getting married. How nice, everyone was just too nice to leave him. He only had Kiseop, whom he could fly solo with. And drink. Dongho and Hoon were just losers who only knew how to spend time with their partner. What are friends again?

                “Not going. I’m a busy man.” Kevin shook his head.

                “Yeah, yeah. I’ll just call that Dongho kid because you’re such an expensive busy man who has no time for his friend.” Eli scrunched his nose and texted something to Dongho.

                “Says Eli The Great who rarely go out drinking with me lately.” Kevin laughed.

                “Counterattack, pfft. I’m going now. I’ll make up a night to have some night chat with you at our favorite bar.” Eli rose from his seat and strutted to the front door.

                Kevin followed him. “You better turn up this time.”

                “Sure, sir.” Eli laughed. “Thanks for your help.”

                “You’re such a loser. Just go back to jungle.” Kevin pushed him towards his car and made Eli got into the driver seat.

                “What a unique way to say a simple ‘you’re welcome’.” Eli punched Kevin’s stomach lightly. He started the car engine and waited until it heated up a bit. “See ya, Kev.”

                “Yeah, see ya.”

                Kevin watched the car disappeared from his sight. He walked back to his house. That was a very random night visit when all thing could have been done by phone. But he felt great because he could meet Eli. It had been a while since he had met him, anyway. Kevin glanced at Hyojung’s house which was just a few houses away. He was wondering what was playing inside her mind right now? Was it the drunk incident?

                He winced. Ah, it would be nasty if she really remembered it. And by any chance, who wouldn’t forget it? It was too memorable.

                Hyojung didn’t have the appetite to eat her breakfast. The egg rolls didn’t seem delicious to her. It was always tasty but that morning, she felt like rebelling. Byunghun hadn’t called her for 6 days. She tried to reach him a lot of times but the calls always went to voice mail and Hyojung decided that she’s going to hate voice mail for the rest of her life.

                “Unnie, can you not stare blankly at the food? Just eat it!” Hyemi groaned. She was really mad at her sister’s boyfriend. Their relationship did not even reach 1 month yet he had caused trouble. If she was given chance to hunt him down, she’d do that.

                “I don’t feel like eating.” Hyojung pushed her bowl away. She was still wondering why Byunghun didn’t answer her call or called her back if he knew she had been calling him day and night. It wasn’t time to be suspicious but did Byunghun really love her or not? They’re in their early stage of relationship but things like this had already happened to her. Did she do something wrong that make Byunghun mad at her? She didn’t, when she recalled all the moments they spent together.

                “Do you want me to call Dongho and ask him to hire some spies?” Hyemi the end of her chopsticks.

                “Ridiculous.” Hyojung glared. She didn’t want to go overboard. She didn’t want to be called possessive. She just wanted to know where Byunghun was right now and what he was doing that made him so busy. The last words she only heard from him was just a simple goodnight – which was said a week ago before Hyojung decided to end the late night call with him. He sounded cheery as ever, though.

                “He’s been quiet about this. This is serious junk, unnie.” Hyemi looked at her sister. Hyojung avoided her eyes and looked down. She wanted to cry but she couldn’t. She missed Byunghun and she wanted to hear his voice badly.

                After a few while, Hyojung walked away from the table and went to get her briefcase. She had to go to work or else she’d be so late. She spent too much time on breakfast, wait, scratch that. She spent too much time thinking about her boyfriend and she knew it wasn’t necessary for the day. He’s just busy, she told herself.

                “Yeah, keep eating your heart, unnie. I’ll punch this Byunghun guy like seriously if I met him in the streets.” Hyemi shook her head at Hyojung. She’s also done with her breakfast and went to send off Hyojung at the front door.

                “Stop it, Hyemi. He’ll explain when he needs to explain.” Hyojung sighed. She walked out of the house and sprinted to her car.

                She twisted the key in the key hole but the car wouldn’t start. The engine started making weird sounds and there’s smoke coming out of the hood. Hyemi approached her and waved her hand around, shooing the smoke away from her. Hyojung sighed. Apparently her car broke down again and she had to ask for someone’s help to fix this. Or sent this to the workshop. Ha, now she had no transport to go to the firm.

                “Wow, disaster.” Hyemi commented.

                “You, too, a disaster.” Hyojung pushed her back to their house. “Don’t ruin my morning.”

                Hyojung stared at her car and groaned. She felt like crying for real because she didn’t know who to call. If she called Byunghun, there would be no answer from him. Her friends went to work earlier than her so she had no chance to call them and ask them to give her a lift. Dongho – he was full of excuses. Hyojung squatted in front of her car and just stared at the white smoke. Who should she call, who should she call?

                Kevin fixed his tie for the last time. He confidently locked the door of his house and went to the garage to have his car. When he turned to his right to look at the beautiful scenery of the neighborhood, he saw some hint of smokes at Hyojung’s house. Curious, he looked properly towards that direction and saw Hyojung hugging her knees with her car before her eyes. Smoke was coming out of the hood and Kevin fidgeted in his spot.

                Maybe he should help her. He was still feeling funny about the incident back at her house but he had to put that aside for a while. Hurriedly, he went to her house with his own car. Kevin parked it not far from the yard and coughed a bit at the pungent smell of the smoke.

                “Hyojung?” Kevin called out her name. Hyojung stopped staring at her car and quickly stood up properly. She looked miserable, she bet. Kevin stared at her weirdly and looked back at the car.

                “Good morning, Kevin.” She forced a smile. God, she wanted to beg him to send her to the firm. She was twenty minutes late already and she had no idea how she was going to face her boss later.

                “Not a very good morning to you.” Kevin joked. “What’s up with the car?”

                She was happy because someone was actually there, asking her what happened to her. Correction, her car. The others were still in bed, perhaps, enjoying their dream. The joggers were just staring at her and she’d love to tell them to go away and jog somewhere else.

                “I don’t know. I started the engine and the smoke started to come out.” Hyojung said. She noticed Kevin was dressed smartly in his light red dress shirt and without his blazer on, he looked very handsome and manly. Just like the night when he came to her house to send the plate.

                “You didn’t fill up the water in the tank, I guess.” Kevin opened the hood and checked on the tank that was used to cool down the heat of car engine.

                “I’ve gone to the workshop for a service last month and they said everything was okay!” Hyojung exclaimed. Kevin laughed a bit and pulled down the hood.

                “So, I guess you’re late?” Kevin looked at his wrist watch. He chuckled, looking at her messy hair. She was probably feeling so hectic and stuffy.

                “Twenty two minutes late.” She sighed.

                Kevin looked at his car. Well, he had no other choices than telling her to call the workshop and giving her a ride. Smiling, Kevin shoved his hands into his pants’ pockets and pointed at his car using his lips.

                “Call the workshop and ask them to fix your car. I’ll send you to the office.” Kevin nodded.

                Hyojung was still standing in her spot. She had trust issues about bunches of guys handling her car. She had to be at the workshop, watching them work and making sure they didn’t touch anything aggressively.

                “I’ll just call the workshop after work.” She sighed.

                “Well, it’s your car. Not mine.” Kevin chuckled. He led her to his car and made sure she sat at the front passenger seat. Not the back. He didn’t want to look like some fancy driver.

                “You’re my savior.” Hyojung exhaled and Kevin began to drive away from the neighborhood. She felt relieved and happy that Kevin came to help her. She thought of taking a cab but the price of paying for their service would be so damn high.

                “Well, I’m glad.” Kevin smiled. Then, the sudden rush of memories of him getting drunk at her house coming in. He gulped, hoping that Hyojung wouldn’t bring it up and ask him about things happened at his home after he struggled to walk from her house.

                Hyojung suddenly wanted to ask him about how he was doing that week. Yes, it’d been a week and that morning was the first time they looked at each other one-on-one. She felt some sort of energy to talk to him when she looked at him.      

                “So, what did you this week?” Hyojung asked. She stared at Kevin who was busy focusing on the road in front of him.      

                There’s the question. She didn’t mean the night, right? Kevin coughed. “Well, nothing much. Just studying some cases and walking back and forth from court to firm. Lazy but tough week.”

                “Oh,” Hyojung nodded. “Were you okay when you got back to your house that night?”

                Kevin widened his eyes. Great. Just great. “Huh?”

                “Ah, you know, the night when you came to my house. We talked about stuff, drank soju and you, unfortunately got drunk. Were you alright when you reached your house?” Hyojung asked. She was really worried during that time and she was curious to know whether he was doing okay and able to handle things himself. Well, it’s hard for someone to take care of their own self when they’re alone, still hazy with alcohol.

                Kevin bit his lower lip. “I don’t quite remember how I managed to climb on my bed but let’s just say that I didn’t have a really worst hangover.”

                Hyojung breathed. “Sorry for the trouble. I don’t know you’re not that cool with liquor.” She rarely found guys with low tolerance of alcohol and Kevin was one of them. When she thought about it again, she questioned herself. Is it her or Kevin’s actually quite fragile?

                He decided to laugh it off. It’s not that embarrassing, actually. It was just him getting drunk. Normal stuff. “You just have to stop me when I reach my sixth glass.” He chuckled.

                “Alright. I’m making a mental note now.” Hyojung chuckled as well. She felt the car came to a sudden stop and Kevin began to unbuckle his seatbelt. He looked so excited and before he went out of the car, he looked at her with that sweet smile of him.

                “Have you eaten your breakfast?” He asked.     

                Hmm, breakfast. To be honest, she was very hungry and it was all her fault for rejecting Hyemi’s breakfast. “Not yet.”

                “Oh, I’m gonna buy some donuts and coffee for us. You wait here, ok?” Kevin said. He rushed to the café to get the breakfast. Didn’t he know that Hyojung was freaking late?

                Kevin smiled as he kept himself busy choosing some of the delicious-looking donuts. He put some of them into a small box and when he moved to the counter to pay, he ordered two cup of white coffee. Hopefull Hyojung loves white coffee, he prayed. Kevin looked at the clock on the wall and realized he was late as well and after he paid for the food, he ran back to the car.

                “Sorry, didn’t realize I was taking too much time looking at donuts.” Kevin apologized. He passed the box to Hyojung. “Eat first. Don’t want to starve while working, right?”

                Hyojung chuckled. She didn’t care anymore. As long as she could eat the donuts, she didn’t care explaining to her boss why she was late. Kevin was too kind to actually buy some for her.

                “So, Daehan Firm is not far away from here, eh?” Kevin munched on his chocolate donut and Hyojung smiled a bit looking at him stuffing the donut into his mouth.

                “Yeah, come on Kevin. You’ve been there. Don’t tell me you forgot the way.” She laughed.

                5 minutes later, the car stopped in front of the small building. Hyojung fixed her makeup and Kevin blinked at her. Makeup was really important to woman, huh? When she was done, she took her white coffee, blazer, and briefcase and ready to get off. She was about to open the door when Kevin’s voice suddenly interrupted her.

                “How are you going back later?” Kevin asked. He just couldn’t have himself stop worrying about how she’s going to move around without her car. Car was very important and he just realized that.

                Hyojung bit her lip. She felt shame about asking him to fetch her because he already sent her to the office. “I’ll just ask for my colleague’s help.”

                Kevin felt uneasy. It’d be better if she just go home with him. They lived in the same neighborhood. And she didn’t have to go through troubles asking her friends to send her back. His firm was not that far too. “Hmm, just go home with me. At what time do you finish?”

                Hyojung sighed. “At 5.30”

                “Alright, see you at 5.30.” Kevin smiled.

                Why was he so nice? She told herself. “Thank you, Kevin.” Hyojung opened the door of the car and when she stepped on the ground, her head hit the roof. She yelped in pain and rubbed her head.

                “Oh my goodness, are you alright?” Kevin looked at her, concerned. That was a loud thump and if he was her, he would be crying already.

                Hyojung wanted to hide in a hole of embarrassment. She cursed herself for being such a klutz. Again, embarrassed herself in front of Kevin after the Pikachu pajamas. “I’m fine, don’t worry.”

                “Ah, alright. I’ll be going now. Take care, alright? See you at 5.30.” Kevin said. He could smell a strong scent of lemon inside his car. Women and perfume, he chuckled.

                The car went away from the firm. Hyojung smiled but at the same time she felt disappointed. Disappointed because what the hell was happening to her boyfriend? Why couldn’t he be like Kevin right now?