Lee Yunji’s POV

I couldn’t breathe properly, I just couldn’t. He was too close, his face a mere 3 inches away from mine. The lack of space between us was throwing me out of whack. Blood throbbed underneath the surface of my skin and rushed to my face in a violent flood. I could feel the heat my face was emitting and I knew all too well the colour I was sporting.

I had no clue about what he may have or may not have wanted to know, let alone what he needed to know about me. I was just me, and there was nothing else to the story. The only thing that somewhat made me different was my story of how I came to be the owner of my own café and he already knew that! I was absolutely listless.

“Ummm,” I stalled, pathetically encouraging my brain to churn out some sort of information worth sharing. His eyes flashed with amusement as he watched me squirm and I felt my tongue twist up into a mental knot. I guess at this point I should have seen it coming that I would say something randomly embarrassing, but I didn’t think it would be what slipped from my lips. “I love peanut butter.”

Yes, I’m an idiot.

“You love peanut butter?” Kris lifted an eyebrow as he asked the question. It was as if he was checking to see that he heard me correctly.

“To the extent that if I find that I’ve ran out of it at home I will rush to the corner store no matter what time it is,” I blurted, as if the hole I was burying for myself wasn’t deep enough.

Lee Yunji please stop talking.

Instead of laughing at me for blabbering on like a complete retard, Kris asked me a question.

“With or without jelly?” He tilted his head to the side. Was it a trick, this question of his? Was he trying to tease me? I didn’t know what to think of his random question to my random statement. But I did know how much I hated peanut butter and jelly.

“I don’t really like peanut butter and jelly,” I crinkled my nose. The thought of the two put together always made me cringe. I knew a lot of people who indulged in the combination, but I for one simply couldn’t come to appreciate it.

Kris made a thumbs up with his left hand, “Good.”

“You don’t like peanut butter and jelly too?” I clucked my tongue.

“With the honesty of all the little girl scouts in the world I can tell you that I never have and never will like that stuff,” He said with his right hand raised. “Ever.”

A grin stretched across the both of our faces at the same time after he said that. I think we must have both been happy to find someone else who also hated the stuff.

“So I hope you don’t mind me doing this, but I’m going to just ask you another 10 questions about yourself since you really seem to not know what to say,” He tapped his fingers against the counter top in between us in a swift motion.

“Oh!” I popped in surprise. I blushed again at the less than subtle reminder from him that I had awkwardly declared my love for peanut butter to him. “Sure. I understand. I’m sorry I was so out there, I was just really caught off guard by you…” I trailed off, and decided it would be safer to keep my eyes settled on the floor instead of this face. Decreasing the chance of me fainting because of his gaze.

“It’s okay. I was teasing you anyway,” His melodious chuckle resonated from somewhere warm within him. It made my stomach flip with butterflies like a teenage girl all over again. I peered up at him and immediately regretted it. His smile was back, the one that caused me to openly gawk at him a while back.

Why are you so good looking?

I nodded once and pursed my lips together.

“Question Two. What’s your favourite colour?” Kris folded his arms, one on top of the other, and rested them on the counter. He seemed genuinely curious and that caught my curiosity more than anything.

“I don’t have one in particular,” I answered truthfully. It was a boring answer, but it was mine. I couldn’t pick one colour that was better than the rest to me. I had trouble doing so since I was a middle school student.

“Okay. Three. Name a childish fear of yours.”

“Why a childish one?” I frowned. Was he suggesting that I possessed the same maturity as a kid? Because if he was I was going to go home and throw a mini tantrum.

He shrugged, “Everyone has at least one childish fear. Those fears are the funniest.” It was as if he was so sure of himself when he stated that.

I hesitated only briefly before answering in a mutter, “I’m scared of going to the bathroom in the middle of the night.”

“Why is that?”

“Because,” I swallowed. “I watched the grudge movies too often with my friends when I was younger,” I said with a bad taste in my mouth as I recalled scarring scenes from the series.

“And you’re how old again?” Kris mused with a smirk stamped on his face. I felt my cheeks burn the worst crimson they had turned for the day and remained silent, allowing Kris to get the quiet eruption of laughter to fade away from his system.

It is really childish.

He finally settled down and apologized for the little outburst before proceeding with his questions.

“Four. Did you of do you play any kind of sport?” He eyed me expectantly.

“Ah…no,” I muttered. I heard him sigh in disappointment before shaking his head to himself.

“Are you allergic to anything?”

“No.”

“What was the first K-pop band you loved?”

“TVXQ.”

“Knew it,” He grumbled and rubbed the tips of a few strands of his hair in between his fingers.

“Seven. Have you ever broken a bone before?” He fiddled around with a straw that was meant to be for one of the cups of tea he ordered.

“No,” I shook my head furiously.

“Really? Never at all?” He scoffed in amazement. “I’ve broken my left arm twice, my right arm once, and the index and middle fingers of my right hand.”

I felt my jaw drop. “Why so many?” I gasped.

“Why none at all?” He shot back at me, to which I shrugged. “Same as me,” He said and left it at that.

“Eight. Where outside of Korea have you enjoyed vacationing the most?” He asked.

“I’ve never gone outside of Korea before,” I flatly said.

“What?” He looked like he had just seen the president dressed up as a clown while riding a motorcycle.

“I said I’ve-”

“No. I know what you said,” He cut me off. “What I mean is how can you have not gone outside of the country before?”

I shifted uncomfortably, not seeing why it was such a big deal.

“I guess my family never really wanted to go anywhere,” I averted my eyes to the ceiling. Wondering if it really was such a strange thing to hear nowadays.

Kris cleared his throat and grunted.

“Do you like reading?” He gave me a lop-sided smile.

“Yes I do,” I said with fondness, thinking about the days where I would curl up in my apartment with a book and ramyeon as it would rain drearily outside. Kris’ eyes brightened up for a moment when I decided to be blunt and crush his dreams. “But I don’t read self-improvement books like you Kris,” I grinned and watched his excited expression dwindle down to a flicker of flame.

“Okay then,” He mumbled and pressed his fist to his lips.

“Ten. What’s your favourite thing to do during summer?” His voice was muffled by his fist.

I hummed for a while and thought it over before answering, “Picnicking.”

“Nice,” He nodded in approval. “And finally, eleven. If you could, would you change the way you look?” He scanned me from what felt like head to toe.

I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at myself. Pondering over whether there was anything that I would change and why. Was there something wrong with me? Was I not pretty enough to be acceptable in Kris’ books? Those were a few of the questions that swarmed into my head, and yet I didn’t really want to know the answers to any of them.

But I knew how I felt about myself every time I finished judging my appearance for the day.

“I may not have the best height, or the perfect S line that every girl wants, or the cutest smile,” I turned around and decided it was about time that I started preparing other types of bubble tea for the customers that would be coming later in the day. “I may not be the prettiest girl to you or anyone else,” I spoke as I collected up a handful of tapioca pearls in my left hand. “And I do see my imperfections mind you,” I bitterly smiled to myself.

“But despite all of that, at the end of the day I wouldn’t want to change anything about myself,” I spun around to face Kris with a handful of 12 different ingredients for a flavoured tea mixture. I could see the question in his eyes, the ‘why?’

I knew he wouldn’t actually openly ask me to go further, but I wanted explain my answer to him for some reason. I wanted Kris to understand me.

“In the end, I want to wake up every morning and recognise the person looking back at me,” I softly said.

When I saw Kris’ muddled face change to one full of clarity, I felt sort of glad knowing that he understood what I was trying to say.

I was getting used to talking to him about varying subjects quite quickly.

And more than that, I was letting him in.

Fast.

Writer's Notes:

Hey everyone! I hope this update isn't too crappy. I'm so tired, but I really wanted to write today. My teachers decided that since all of my exams were practically over that now would be a good time to give out more assignments. So this is my way of procrastinating too.
I'll keep this short tonight.
Thanks for the welcome backs/reading/commenting/supporting/upvoting/subscribing/being amazing~~~ ^^

Lots of Love,
xoxoxo,
HEARTACHES <3