"So..." Heechul smiled at me as I followed him into the kitchen, "You go to Oxford? That's pretty prestigious."

I shrugged my shoulders slightly while admiring the intricate patterns on the tiled floor, "I'm on Hiatus." the words came out quieter and more timid than I had been aiming for, making me sound like a small child. 

"Oh?"

"My parents want to stay here for a while, so I took a year off." I explained quickly after clearing my throat and casually leaning against the wall, letting my arms hang by my sides and fiddle with the hem of my shirt, for lack of something else to do.

He nodded slowly and reached into a cupboard, carefully bringing down 5 small white tea-cups, "I see...." 

The atmosphere grew fairly awkward, but I was used to that happening. I wasn't exactly a woman of many words anyway. Heechul rummaged around through drawers, placing little spoons and a tea-pot on a tray patterned with what looked like pink cherry blossoms.

"Cherry blossoms?" I mumbled, more to myself than to the man standing a few centimeters away. He turned his head to look at me and nodded.

"Yeah. My sister, Heejin, loves them."

"I see...."

The small talk carried on for what seemed like forever as the kettle boiled. Heechul seemed just as eager as I was to get this over with. The sooner everyone had tea, the sooner Heechul could go back to bed to sleep off his hangover, and the sooner I could go home and retreat to the safety of my bedroom.

I stared down at the floor again while he rushed around, trying to find saucers. Eventually he gave up, cursed and then sighed.

"Hey, look, I feel I need to apologize." Heechul turned to face me, leaning against the kitchen counter and folding his arms somewhat defensively. I looked up at him and tilted my head, feigning ignorance, hoping he'd think I'd forgotten all about his 'cure for a hangover.'

"Apologize?"

"People say is a good cure" He mimicked his own voice from before, then smiled "I say stupid things when I'm hung over."

"I say stupid things all the time, so it's no big deal." I shrugged casually and smiled at him uncertainly.

"I'm still hung over" he sighed loudly, "So I have a proposal for you."

"So soon? I've only just met you."

"Very funny."

"Sorry, you were saying?"

"My Mother thinks you're a fan-"

"I AM your fan." I interrupted quickly.

"Please, don't insult my intelligence, I may be hung over but I'm not stupid." He tutted at me, "Anyway, if we both pretend to get along really well, my Father will announce his Business proposal to your parents, they'll accept it, and boom, I get to go back to bed, and you can go home and do whatever it is Oxford students do."

I opened my mouth to say something, my eyebrows furrowed slightly, then I closed it again and simply nodded.

"Good." Heechul smiled weakly and glanced over at the kettle.