His lips were soft against mine, and with a jolt, I pushed myself away from him. We stared at one another with wide eyes, confused as to what had just happened. My lips and wrists were tingling slightly, and I hurried to bow. “I-I’m so sorry! I have no idea what just happened! I-I’ll just go.” I spun on my heel and bolted for the back room, fingers fumbling through the combination for the lock on my locker.

I heard the door slam to the back room, and I slowly turned to see my boss standing there, face beat red. “How dare you?! Do you have any idea what your actions have done to the reputation of my restaurant?!” She gasped for breath, taking slow steps toward me. “You. Are. Fired!”

I backed up against the locker behind me, trying to avoid being smushed. “I didn’t do anything!”

“You didn’t do anything?!” she screamed, spittle landing on my cheek. “You just kissed one of the most famous singers in all of Korea! This restaurant is prided on our reputation for protecting idols’ privacy! And you just ruined that reputation!”

The back door opened once more, and the waitress from earlier tonight peeked her head in, a smirk spread across her face.

“I was pushed!”

“You are fired!” She reached down and the ripped the apron off of me, leaving rope burns on my hips. “Get out of my restaurant and don’t you ever dare show your face near here again!”

I snatched my messenger bag out of the locker before storming through the restaurant to leave by the front door. If she thinks she can fire me over something I had nothing to do with, she can deal with any scene that comes from it!

I glanced around the sidewalks, only to see a small group of people standing next to the road. I sighed and turned to the left, eyes glued to the bus stop just down the road. Unfortunately, since my eyes were watching for a bus, I failed to notice the uneven pavement underneath my foot.

My foot landed wrong on the crack, and my ankle twisted underneath me, bringing my full momentum straight to the earth, or rather pavement, beneath me. A cry escaped my lips, and I reached to massage my ankle only to recoil in pain.

“Are you alright?” questioned a voice I faintly recognized. I looked up and found myself entranced in the same chocolate eyes from earlier. “Did you sprain it?”

I shook the fog from my head and returned my gaze to my injured ankle. “I think so. It hurts to move it.”

He knelt down next to me, and gestured for me to move my ankle into the better light from the nearby streetlight. I bit my lip and moved it slowly, tears gathering in the corner of my eyes. He leant over, closely examining my ankle before sitting upright. “I think you sprained it. You should probably go to the hospital. Did you drive to work? I can drive you there.”

I shook my head and pulled my messenger bag closer. “I don’t have a car.”

He sighed. “I’ll ask our driver to drop you off at the hospital then.”

I shook my head vigorously, and he looked at me as if I had lost my mind. I struggled to stand, and he quickly helped me up, his hand on my elbow to steady me. “I can walk far enough to get on the bus.” I gestured to the bus stop I had been going to and he chuckled.

“Oh yeah? Why don’t you go ahead and show me how you are going to ‘walk’ to the bus?” I scowled at him before taking a tender step forward only to begin a descent to the earth once more. His strong arms enveloped me before I fell all the way, and I could feel his chest rumbling a bit with his laughter. “I highly doubt you’d manage to walk to the bus at this rate. You can barely stand on your own.”

I tried to twist around in his arms, but his grip tightened around me. “I have survived years on my own, and I think I can manage to find a way to the hospital without your help.” I placed my hands on his, desperately trying to make him release his grip on me. “Besides! I don’t even know you. Why should I trust that you would be trying to help me?”

“Why would you trust a taxi driver to take you where you want to go?” My eyes widened, chills going down my back as his breath breezed across the back of my neck. “You have to trust people eventually,” he hesitated, and we were frozen against one another, connected by some magnetic force I couldn’t identify. “And you need to trust yourself so that you can be able to decide who else is worth trusting.” He loosened his hold on me and helped me turn around so that I could see him.

I stared at him in disbelief for a few moments before glancing towards the ground. “Well… If I’m supposed to trust you, I guess I should at least know your name.” I looked back up at him, and his eyebrows were raised in shock.

“You… You don’t know who I am?” I shook my head and he leaned his forehead against mine, laughing wholeheartedly. Once he composed himself, he stood straight once more and smiled at me. “Sorry about that. I hardly ever meet someone who honestly doesn’t know who I am. Shim Changmin imnida.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Shim-sshi.”

We both went silent, and I glanced around anxiously. As I glanced over his shoulder, I noticed that most of the crowd from earlier was gone, and only the other man was left.

He approached us, eyes cautious but kind at the same time. “Annyeong. Kwaenchana?”

I groaned, and Changmin replied, “I think she twisted her ankle, but she’s too stubborn to let me take her to the hospital.” I glared at him, and he just smirked in return.

“You really need to go to the hospital, Go-sshi. If you can’t walk on it, it could get worse if untreated.”

“Fine! Take me to the freaking hospital already!” I waved my hands frustratedly and tried to move past them to the car that had just pulled up when I was soaring through the air. “Ack!” My arms wrapped around Changmin’s neck, desperately trying to ground myself on something when I realized he had picked me up and was now carrying me to the car.

He placed me gingerly in the car before closing the door, and I gazed out the window. Why do I get this strange feeling whenever I’m near him? It’s almost as if it’s pulling us closer each time we see each other… I’m never so at ease with people I just met as I am with him.

The car started rolling away from the sidewalk before I even realized the other two had entered the car, let alone told the driver the change of plans. I reached up to grab the seatbelt, but I was having some problems twisting my body out of the way to snap it when warm, smooth hands slipped it from my grasp. I glanced up to stare into Changmin’s eyes once more. This is really becoming a habit.

He snapped it in place for me, a small grin on his face. I blushed and quickly looked out the window to avoid him seeing.