I laid out on the various mats of the home room my group and I inhabited for the time being. The kids were all out in the recreational area with Chanyeol while I lazed around, waiting for them to come back. I somehow managed to contract the flu in the beginning of summer and had been unable to work with the kids as I did before I was sick. Myungsoo told me to go home before I got the other kids sick, but I didn’t want to miss a day of work. He told me he would pay me at home for sitting around, whining and wiping my constantly runny nose.

I refused; I didn’t want to get paid for being a lazy bum. He said it would be better for the children and I nodded my head, but I still wanted to come to work. I felt motivated to come to work, but I couldn’t do my summer work due by the beginning of school… yeah that makes a lot of sense. I wore an orange Rilakkuma mask over my mouth and nose, talking to people from a distance. Many people wanted to spend their vacation earning money and having fun, not being miserable like me. I envied those around me, being able to run and hold their children while I had to stay as far away from them as possible.

Even Lauren felt bad for me. If Lauren feels bad for me, then you know something is definitely not right in this world.

Being sick gave me an excuse not to have to work out, which was a plus… However I felt incredibly fat and sluggish after sitting around for a whole week. I’ve been consuming all the vitamin-C I could, but of course there is no cure to the common cold so unfortunately, I’m still sick. A bell rang and it was time for the kids to return to their home rooms to relax and chill out before dinner was served. It was almost like a school, except you don’t learn much and have as much fun as you want. I suggested that Myungsoo build rooms for the children to live in, dormitories, so it could be like a real summer camp. He nodded his head and wrote it down on one of the sticky notes on his desk. “Thank you for your suggestion, I’ll take it into consideration” he smiled as I walked out. He stopped me to ask me out to dinner again, but I told him I was too sick to leave my house other than for work in my congested, nasally voice.

He frowned and said, “Next time?” I said okay and walked out as quickly as I could. I hated lying to my boss, especially to his face, but I just couldn’t bring myself to say yes to him. If it was any other person, I would probably say yes…

I don’t know why I can’t say yes, it’s just… it feels immoral. Like I’m cheating on the SATs… it feels like that. It’s kind of like going out with a teacher. I don’t know. We’re the same age, but he’s my boss and superior and I know he likes me, but I can’t bring myself to like him that way. He’s so successful and I’m sure my mom would love for me to date a boy like him, but he’s just too perfect and I don’t want to get my heart broken from a boy like him.

I’d rather get an old, used car than a new one. I guess that metaphor works.

The kids came rushing in, sweating like crazy and running to the mini fridge for various drinks. “Remember to share!” I reminded them as I walked over.

“Unnie” Lauren walked over sipping on her box of apple juice, “you sound manlier than usual.” I looked at her and forced a smile, she was so ruthless.

“Now remember to be nice, your unnie is sick and needs to rest, maybe with your generosity she will recover quicker” Chanyeol suggested as he walked over with a cough drop in one hand and a bottle of orange juice with extra pulp. He handed both to me while patting Lauren on the head and sitting next to me.

“Thanks” I accepted both and took the cough drop. Lauren ran off as the others screamed her name. It was just Chanyeol… and me.

I had been looking at them the whole time to avoid contact with Chanyeol, but I could feel him staring at me. After 30 solid seconds of avoiding eye contact, I moved my pupils to the corner of my eye and saw that he was still staring at me. I finally turned my whole head and looked him in the eyes.

“Is there a problem?” I asked, voice still congested and nasally as ever. He broke into a smile. I opened my bottle of orange juice after shaking it and drank 1/8 of the bottle. “Can you say something? You’re scaring me.”

He broke into laughter. I was truly confused at this point.

“Your voice… Lauren’s right” he wiped tears from his eyes and I pushed him. He fell over and continued to laugh while I continued to drink more orange juice. “But it’s not a bad thing.”

I nodded my head and continued to stare at the children. They all began to yawn; they must have run a lot today.

“Do you like anyone?” Chanyeol asked out of the blue, I looked over at him and he looked at me. He began to take a sip of his water and I looked away from him.

“Yeah” I replied calm and he had a hard time swallowing his water. He started to cough all over the place and I began to pat his back. “You alright?”

“Yeah, just swallowed my water incorrectly…” he explained and turned his head toward me. “Who is it..? If you don’t mind me asking of course.”

“You.”

Chanyeol looked at me seriously while I avoided eye contact with him.

I broke into laughter.

“Kidding, I don’t like anyone.”

“Aw don’t be like that!” Chanyeol frowned, “I am a sensitive being.”

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist the opportunity. It was the perfect time, so I thought why not!” I explained while the kids stared at the two of us. “Are you all ready for dinner?” They nodded their heads excitedly and I stood up. Chanyeol followed me and the kids ran out the door to the cafeteria where dinner was being served.

While the kids ran, Chanyeol stayed behind with me and we both strolled along casually. He looked a little disappointed, but covered it with his usual spunkiness.

“Sorry” I blurted out, I didn’t mean to. My subconscious was telling me to stop being such a jerk to him when all he did for me throughout our job was be nice to me. He looked at me for a split second and kept looking forward.

“For what?” he asked, genuinely innocent. I shook my head.

“Nevermind.”

“Okay” he smiled and we continued to walk. “You know, I didn’t get the opportunity to ask you…”

I looked down at my shoes and then at my hands. I saw the ring that Chanyeol had given to me. It was a token of our newly founded friendship. I had a golden crown while he had the silver. Everyone around us had suspected us and really began to believe that we were dating. That wasn’t the case at all, we were just friends. We were named after the Monday Couple from Running Man and I didn’t seem to mind. Mostly because Ji Hyo and Gary weren’t ACTUALLY dating, it was just for the ratings. She’s actually still going out with PD Cho.

I just began to watch Running Man and it actually makes me really sad that they aren’t real… but that’s not the case for Chanyeol and I. We’re just friends…

“Did you want to go out on a date with me… just as friends of course” Chanyeol spoke softly while fiddling with his thumbs. At first I was shocked; because we had grown pretty