TAEYEON’S POV

I sang happily while sweeping and moping the floors and emptying trashcans. I couldn’t stop thinking about Yoseob and the fact that we were going on a date in only two days time. What was I going to wear? Should I dress up? Was this a formal date? No, it was with Yoseob, how formal could it get? I was getting too nervous about this, maybe I should reschedule and buy myself some more time? no, that would send out the wrong signals… I gave a frustrated sigh and tossed another dirty cloth in the trash. I had to calm down, it’s only Yoseob after all. I spazzed a little at the thought. I had a date with Yoseob! I took my carriage to the elevators and glanced at the time. 10.23 pm, and I had three floors left.

I tried to quietly sneak into the apartment but failed totally. The first thing I did when I entered was to stumble over a pair of shoes and almost fell on my on the hall way floor. My eyelids fell down and I almost fell asleep right there on the floor. What would my family say if they found me on the floor? I forced my eyes open, stood up and stumbled through the apartment and into my and my sister’s room. She was sitting on her bed and she looked up as I barged into the room. I took a few steps and fell flat on my stomach onto my bed. I felt my sister shake me lightly.
”Taeyeon-ah? What’s wrong?” she asked worriedly.

“I’m tired,” I muttered into my pillow.

“What?”  My sister leaned in closer and I could feel her breathing in my neck. I didn’t even have the energy to formulate a full sentence.

“Tired.” I turned my head to the wall to sign that I wanted to sleep. She didn’t go.

“It’s not so strange that you’re tired, why have you been coming home so late recently?”
”I have been out, leave me alone,” I said and put the pillow over my head. I felt bad for being rude to my sister, but I really had to sleep.
”Where have you been? Answer me.” The pillow was pulled away from my head as my sister demanded me to reply. I felt anger boil up inside of me. It was for her sake that I was being tired like this.

“I’ve been with friends, okay?” I lied angrily. She didn’t know anything after all…
”Don’t talk to me like that…” my sister said through clenched teeth.

“Yes, mother,” I said sarcastically. My sister jumped off the bed.
”Shut up, Taeyeon! You’re not a child anymore. Instead of cutting class and hanging out with your friends all night you should grow up and take some responsibility!” my sister scolded me with her voice down not to wake the rest of the family. I looked at her as she walked back to her own bed with tears burning in my eyes. It’s not her fault, she doesn’t know. To her I look like a spoiled brat. Still, I felt hurt by her words. I turned back to the wall and whispered to myself:
”You don’t know what you’re talking about.

YOSEOB’S POV

“… she’s really something. She’s a bit shy sometimes, that’s very cute, but I can feel that she’s starting to relax when she’s with me,” I ranted on and the nurse doing the tests on me just nodded and sometimes ‘hmm’-ed in agreement. I sighed happily and held my arm out for her to take the blood samples. “She trusts me. I know some things about her that no one else knows, not even her sister. She’s so strong. If I was allowed to tell anyone I would tell the whole world what an amazing person she is. But you see, she doesn’t want anyone to know what she does for those she loves.” I sighed to myself and knew that I was smiling like a goof. There was a knock on the door and Gikwang entered the room.
”Yoseob, how are you?” he asked after greeting the nurse.
”Wonderful,” I said dreamingly and imagined small scenarios that might maybe hopefully occur tomorrow night. I now knew where I would take Taeyeon for our first real date.
”How does it look?” Gikwang asked the nurse as he sat down in a chair next to my bed. She smiled.

“It looks good. Yoseob told me he has been a good boy and not been out running around too much. He is careful, right? Sleeps enough, takes it easy?” the nurse asked Gikwang. As if my answers weren’t good enough. Not that I had been honest, but…

“I’ve been exemplary,” I said with a smile. “Leukemia is a friend of mine, she will never hurt me.” The nurse laughed stiffly.

“Yoseob, this is nothing to joke about,” Gikwang muttered. He didn’t like it when I was kidding about my illness. He took this harder than I did. I pouted.

“Hyung, you’re always so serious.” He just sighed and stayed quiet while the nurse finished her job.

“Everything looks good, we’ll contact you when it’s time for your next check up,” she said. I smiled at her.

“Komawo,” I said and jumped off the bed. I skipped up to Gikwang and took his hands. “Let’s go and get some ice cream.”

TAEYEON’S POV

I yawned loudly. This job was so boring when Yoseob wasn’t here. I pouted as I mopped the floors. Just one building left. I pushed the elevator button while singing to myself. I tend to do that when I feel lonely. I went out of the elevator and pulled my carriage towards the exit. I opened the heavy door and struggled a bit before I managed to roll the carriage out. I kept on singing and headed towards the last building.

“Taeyeon-ah?” I spun around at the sound of my sister’s voice calling my name. Damn it! There was no way I could hide what I was doing.

“Yes?” I stared her straight on the eyes with a hard look. I could see her brain work and guilt came across her face. I knew she was thinking of our fight yesterday. So was I. she took a step closer. “If you’re going to yell at me then I don’t want to hear it,” I said fiercely. Mysister made a sudden stop.

“I’m not going to yell at you,” she said in a soft voice. She quickly walked up to me and hugged me tightly. “I’m sooo sorry, Taeyeon-ah. I didn’t know. I didn’t know what I was talking about. I’m sorry, please forgive me.” I clumsily patted her back. This wasn’t really what I had expected.

“It’s okay. How could you know when I didn’t tell you?” I asked comforting. She pulled away and looked at me with her hands on my shoulders.

“You should’ve told me though.”

“I know.” I looked away. And there are more things I should tell you… I heard her sigh.

“Just make sure you don’t wear yourself out, and don’t forget about school.”

“I won’t,” I said without looking at her. I couldn’t bring myself to look at her and lie.

“Good. So when do you get off today?”

“I’m just going to finish this building.”

“I’ll be waiting for you at home.”

I tried to hurry up with my work in order to not make my sister sit up and wait for me. Hastily but still careful to do my work properly I rushed through the building. I put the carriage in its place and hurried down to the ground level. I unlocked the door, put on the alarm,hurried outside and made sure the door was closed and locked before getting out of there. It was late and dark and I pulled my jacket close around me. It felt a bit scary to walk alone at this late hour. It didn’t feel any better when I heard footsteps behind me. I increased my speed. Was it a stalker? Yes, I get paranoid when things like this happen and it’s dark and scary outside. He was going to me! Maybe kill me while he was at it. I didn’t dare to turn around and look at the killer. I just hurried onwards. A chill went down my spine when I heard my follower speed up his tempo as well. This was how my life would end. Alone, in a dark alley, with a cold blooded killer- hovering over me. The adrenaline kicked in. I would not allow that to happen. I clenched my fists, took a deep breath and spun around.

“Leave me alone!” I yelled, at the top of my lungs, at a startled Yoseob. He stopped in his tracks and I put a hand over my mouth and stared at him with big eyes. He put his hands in his pockets.

“I’m sorry…” He started to turn away. I quickly recovered from my shock and ran up to him and grabbed him by the arm.

“No, don’t go, I just…” I gave him a sudden glare. “Well, what the hell did you expect? You almost scared the life out of me.” Yoseob pouted cutely.

“I’m sorry, Taeyeon-ah, I didn’t mean to scare you, I was just going to surprise you.”

“Don’t you ever try to surprise me in a dark alley in the middle of the night again,” I said to him with a warning voice. He gave me an eye smile.

“I promise,” he sang. I looked at him.

“What are you doing here anyway?” I asked suspiciously. He smiled.

“I couldn’t stand going a day without seeing you,” he said in a sweet voice. I felt a sudden gratefulness to the darkness that was now hiding my blushing cheeks. “It’s dangerous to walk alone this late at night, I don’t want you to get hurt. You could get .” Yoseob made a terrified face and looked around him, as if to make sure that there were no rapists loitering in the dark. Yoseob put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close to him. “Stay close to me and you’ll be safe. I’ll protect you.” I felt my stomach tighten as he pulled me close and whispered those words into my ear. I didn’t dare to look up at him so I just looked at my feet and nodded.

“I live in that direction,” I mumbled and pointed out the direction. I wanted to slap myself in the face. Why did I say that? He was saying all these sweet, romantic things and that’s what comes out of my mouth? I’m such a loser, I thought and mentally face palmed myself.

“I know that, we’ve already walked part of the way,” Yoseob said and started leading me towards my house.

“Right…” Could I be more embarrassing? The answer is: No.

We were walking in a slow pace and Yoseob kept looking around. I glanced up at him.

“Are you looking for something?” I asked as he kept acting like a suricate.

“No, I’m looking for something not to be here.” I guess my confused look told him he had to explain what the heck he meant by that. “I said I would protect you, so I’m making sure there are no rapists, murderers or zombies around,” Yoseob explained. My eyes widened. Zombies? I looked over my shoulder. Yoseob chuckled and gently put his fingers of his free hand, the one that wasn’t busy squeezing my shoulder, on my jaw and turned my face forward. “I’ll handle the zombies.” I glanced up at him and met his gaze. He was so close. I felt his breath brush my face, it smelled like ice cream. My gaze shifted to his lips and I watched them curve into a smile and expose his perfectly white teeth. I wanted to kiss that smile. I looked away, feeling a bit ashamed over my thoughts. Did that thought just run through my mind? I shook my head. I must be really tired.

“You know Taeyeon-ah…” Yoseob said. I looked at him again. “We have already walked past your house.”

“Huh?” I looked back and saw that what he said was true. I recognized the end of the street, as the opposite end. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” I shot him a glare.

“I wanted to spend some extra time with you,” he said and made an eye smile. I looked down again and cleared my throat.

“Let’s go back now.” I turned around and hastily walked back towards my house with Yoseob right behind me.

“Woah, you’re so fast,” Yoseob said and slightly panted as we reached my door. I couldn’t stand this weird feeling inside me and had to get away.

“I need to sleep. Be careful on your way home. Goodnight.” I was inside before he had time to answer me.

I clamped my chest hard as I entered the hallway. My heart was beating so fast and my stomach was playing tricks on me. Was I sick? I stumbled on a bag standing in the middle of everything and fell into the wall. Great, now everyone would wake up. I stood up and quietly started to take my shoes off.

“Why are you so late? I thought it was only one building. What took you so long?” The sudden question startled me. I looked up and saw my sister looking at me. I didn’t look her in the eyes. I had kept her waiting.

“I ran into a friend,” I said.

“At this hour?” I sighed as I heard her sceptical tone. She didn’t believe me? I put my shoes on the shelf and straightened up.

“I’m telling the truth, it’s your choice to believe me or not, just don’t make a big deal out of everything.” I walked past her without looking at her and went into the bathroom locking the door after me. Why did I get so upset? I shook my head and sat on the lavatory pan. I put my hand to my heart. I really needed a good night sleep.