"That was good, thanks." Hoya said, and returned the bowl to Jaekyung, who only nodded and smiled, but it was a flat smile because his courtesy seemed to have made her a bit nervous. She held the bowl tightly, and looked down on the floor. "And I'm sorry again, for earlier."

"It's fine..."

"I will repay you. Just, tell me what you would like me to do."

"It's okay!"

"I insist." He said, and smiled a little as he watched her going a bit frantic again.

"Um, well, if you insist..." She tilted her head and tried to think but nothing came up in her mind at that moment, so she sighed. "I can't think of anything... Maybe I'll need some time to think about it."

"Well, I've got time." He shrugged, considering the fact that he'd be free at least until the organisation makes their moves again, or until his chief assigns him a new task. He wasn't sure of what he was doing but he didn't like it, being uptight and stiff because it will surely blow his covers someday. So, he was taking the chance to loosen himself, and perhaps his neighbour here would be the perfect distraction at the moment...

"Let me just think about it then."

"Sure."

"That's funny." She said, suddenly.

"What is?"

"You being nice to me."

"That's because I'm feeling guilty." He stated, and Jaekyung scowled a little.

"That's being too frank." She sighed. "Ah well, you're better like this than when you are shouting at me."

"I don't shout that much."

"Yes, you do." She said, and widened her eyes but she figured that if she goes on, it would only lead to another argument, so she stopped. "You know, for someone who I don't really know about, I'm talking a whole lot to you. It's a little strange since I am not that good with strangers, to be honest. But I guess it's comfortable to talk to you..." Her voice trailed away and she sighed again.

"Comfortable? You're comfortable with me?"

"Um! Like, I can just say whatever I want and however I want, and use all the words I can't really use with other people." She laughed, making Hoya frowned a bit. "Well, it's not that I'm disrespecting you or something! It's just that it feels like... I'm talking to my brothers!"

"Brothers?" Hoya became annoyed suddenly, and he kept on staring at her and when Jaekyung realised this, she blinked rapidly at him.

"What?"

"Nothing. You better go in and rest now." He said, and looked away. "Thanks for the soup. Good night." He then turned away, went inside, closed the balcony door and was then gone. Jaekyung was only watching, pouting.

"One moment you're nice, the other moment you're telling me off. Weirdo." She mouthed and went inside herself.

The next day at school, as she was walking slowly in order to not to strain her foot, she found herself more time to think about her neighbour. It was strange to think about him, because she barely knew him, and he was some sort of a jerk at times but there was something about him that was different from the other guys she knew. He was sort of cute at times, and when she was reminded of how he easily lifted her up from the floor and carried her to the bathroom and was nursing her and when his ears turned red, she found him cuter. She went on thinking and remembering what happened the night before when her phone rang. It was from Woohyun and he was asking her out for lunch. Jaekyung stared at the calendar on her table as she thought about it, and in the end said yes.

"Were you busy in the school?" Woohyun asked. He was wearing casual clothing, making Jaekyung wondered if he wasn't working that day. But even casual clothing looks good on him, she thought as she scanned him quietly, biting her bottom lip.

"No, not really." She said, and sipped her mango apple juice and smiled.

"What is wrong with your foot?"

"Huh? Oh, I poured some hot soup onto it."

"You did what?"

"It was an accident. The soup wasn't that hot."

"Did you see a doctor?" He asked, looking genuinely worried even after she tried to be assuring.

"I didn't. It wasn't that bad."

"Did you have it bandaged?"

"Uh-huh. My neighbour helped me with it." She said, casually but she then thought she was being too honest, and probably it wasn't necessary to talk about him, but at the same time, she thought that it was being unfair to that neighbour of hers.

"Your neighbour?"

"Err... yeah. He was there, so he was like doing all those first aids and everything." She said, and laughed nervously.

"He must be a very nice man." Woohyun commented, and he was smiling, but he wasn't looking at her, but at the table and his hand was stirring his cup of coffee slowly.

"Not really. He's really mean at times." She said, quickly.

"Is he?"

"Yeah... But he's just my neighbour." She replied, and gulped because she felt a little uneasy all of the sudden.

"I see." He smiled again, and this time, he was looking at her and his eyes became a bit thin because he was smiling brightly. "How is it, tutoring Hwayoung?"

"She's a fast learner." She began. "But she can lose her attention quite easily and so I might have scolded her a few times..."

"That's fine with me. You should just scold her when you need to. There's no use babying that kid." He said, and smiled dreamily and this didn't go unnoticed by Jaekyung.

"Hwayoung is lucky to have a brother like you."

"Is she?"

"Yeah, I think you care a lot of about her. Some brothers, they don't even care about their sisters." She shrugged and drank more juice.

"Because Hwayoung is my precious little sister." He said with a rather solemn voice that made Jaekyung fell silent for a moment and she was just staring at him as he looked down his cup of coffee. "And that's what a real brother should do, right?" He added, suddenly, looking gleeful again.

"Ah? Yes... I guess." She nodded and when their food arrived, they were eating in silence for moment before breaking by silence talking about general things like their unimates whereabouts and current issues.

After tutoring Hwayoung for the day, she went back home and sat down on the sofa, slouching a little. She thought of taking a look whether her neighbour was in or not and then she thought that it was strange that he was always at home and so she was trying to figure out what he does for living. Then, she thought that it wasn't good to poke her nose into someone's business and that Hoya didn't seem to want to tell anything about him. Then again, it was strange that she was finding herself thinking about him again, and it made her felt silly.

"Salad-sshi...?"

She jumped at the voice, and her heart was beating fast because it startled her so much but she knew that it was Hoya who called her, and it sounded so awkward and he was calling her Salad again. She walked to the balcony, opened the door and saw him looking at her, with an indifferent face. Then, he put a plate on the wall and Jaekyung could see a roll of tissue on it.

"What's with the tissue?" She asked, and eyed the plate strangely. Hoya cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable.

"There was no tissue in your toilet when I saw it last night."

"Eh?" Hoya said nothing, but he frowned and looked up to avoid looking at her face. "And so, you're giving me a roll of tissue?"

"Because I want to return your plate and my mum said it's no good to return an empty plate but I don't know what to put on it because I can't cook and it doesn't seem right to be returning the food with something I buy on the streets." He said, and his own explanation seemed to have vexed himself out because then he was frowning again.

"Thanks... For your consideration. I will um, use the tissues well." She said, awkwardly, and took the plate and Hoya was being cautious as he watched her lifting the plate, as if afraid that she would drop it. "But really, how could you have noticed that there wasn't any tissue?"

"It's just."Hoya shrugged, thinking about it. It was perhaps that he was trained to scan everything in his surrounding quickly, and to take notes of things in just one glance, because of his job, he thought. "Have you thought of how I can repay you?"

"Oh, about that. Not really..." She admitted, and looked at him guiltily with a smile.

"I have time now but I may not have any later. So, if you could, please let me know earlier." He said, with a flat tone and then he was leaving, and Jaekyung was only watching him walking away so she went back inside and set the plate on the table. Then, she was just staring at the roll of tissue for minutes before she laughed; hard.

Hoya clearly heard that his neighbour was laughing and it made his face burnt a little and he cleared his throat, in hope that she would hear it and stop laughing. However, she didn't, and so frustrated, he sat the kitchen table and went on scribbling his plans but soon he was drawing things like trees, faces and bowls and tissues and he smiled to himsel, though he quickly fixed his face sour again. In the evening, he left for Dongwoo's and the latter was smiling brightly when he saw him and quickly embraced him, making Hoya screamed in pain.

"What? What?" Dongwoo asked, looking panicky.

"My ribs hurt." He said, scowling at Dongwoo.

"Why? Is it broken or something? Shouldn't you be in the hospital or something?" He asked, still looking anxious.

"No one stays in the hospital over fractured ribs, Dongwoo." He replied, and looked at him jokingly. "It'll heal on itself. Don't sweat it."

"Still." Dongwoo looked unconvinced and watched as Hoya took a seat on the sofa, slowly. "I thought you weren't going to come by any longer."

"You sound like a girl."

"I sound like a concerned friend!" Dongwoo corrected him and sat down on a tall stool opposite of him. He sighed and stared at Hoya whose face looked like he w