Kyuhyun kicked at the sand one last time before turning around. Insects chirped in the forest and waves gently washed onto the shore. The morning felt empty and calm. There was no one walking up the beach to ridicule him today. He felt a little drag of disappointment.

It had probably been too much to ask for Ryeowook to be up at this time - a whole hour earlier than yesterday - but still, the guest had honestly hoped that his somewhat companion would show up. Giving up, Kyuhyun treaded back up the path.

Solemnly, he walked until reaching the crossroads, on leading to the main hall and one back to the cabins. He hesitated. On one hand, he really didn’t want to go back to the cabin.  Seohyun was still sleeping and even though she’s popped three sleeping pills before bed last night, he would rather sit in the rain than take chances waking her. She seemed to be extra sensitive to his keyboard tapping.  Plus, he was planning on talking to her about yesterday and he had a feeling he wouldn’t get very far if she was sleep-deprived.

A grumbling groan from his stomach interrupted the inner rambling.  Kyuhyun rubbed it into silence, but couldn’t deny the stirring of hunger. Of course, that’s what happens when you go to bed at five and miss out on dinner. He sighed. Maybe the workers would take pity and make him something to eat if he pantomimed it right. The lobby it was then.

The morning was still misty from last night’s storm. Everything looked just a little damp and a slight drizzle persisted. Kyuhyun breathed in the rain-scented air, letting the cooling mist cover his face. The humidity would be hell when the sun came out so he might as well enjoy it now. Reasoning this, the tall man meandered down the gravel covered path at turtle-like speeds. By the time he reached the lobby, his face was covered in a film of water.

Wiping it off, Kyuhyun pushed open the main door. The lobby looked pretty much the same as it had yesterday. Though the sun was barely rising, there wasn’t anything to suggest that someone else was in there or working. It was both dark and silent.

“Hello?” He called out.

No answer. Kyuhyun swore there was an echo.

“Alright then. Great hotel choice, Kyuhyun.” He mumbled to himself.

Cautiously, the tall man stepped inside the lobby. He knew better than to be scared, but the low lighting and long shadows did nothing to calm his food-deprived mind. It got darker the farther back he went. Kyuhyun was beginning to wonder if those dangling lights were just for show. Hurriedly, he strode past the shadowy furniture and smacked the front desk’s service bell.

“Hello?” He shouted this time.

No answer. The delicate ring died off in the silence.

Kyuhyun waited for a tense second more then sighed. Apparently, people really didn’t work here at four in the morning.

Just as he was about to leave, a small groan startled him. Whipping around, he saw a movement obscured by shadows. A sudden rustle. A hand. Kyuhyun backed up so fast he ran right into a sleek vase knocking it to the floor.  

The vase hit the ground with a deafening smash destroying all semblance of silence.

“Oh !”

Kyuhyun watched in horror as hundreds of marbles were released spilling across the hardwood floor. Snapping out of his shock, Kyuhyun dove onto the scattered mess desperately trying to retrieve the marbles which were gliding in every direction at impossible speeds.

“No, no, no, no, stop moving!” He hissed.

“Who’s there?”

Kyuhyun’s heart nearly leaped out of his chest. “It’s nothing!” Came his automated response. Grabbing at the glass balls, he wanted to smack himself. Of course this was something! What was he? Five?

“Kyuhyun?” He stopped the useless gathering. The movement. It was a person! Whipping around, his eyes focused onto a groggy Ryeowook. The smaller was sitting on the opposing couch, beach towel draped around his shoulders. Rubbing his eyes, he looked around, eyebrows scrunched, as if unsure of what he was seeing.

“Wha’s going on?”

Kyuhyun didn’t really know how to answer that so he just sat frozen, letting the marbles roll farther away across the lobby floor.

“Kyuhyun? Is that you? What’s happening?”

It suddenly occurred to Kyuhyun that he was half-hidden behind the couch. Ryeowook probably couldn’t see him. Edging into his line of sight, the taller gave a sheepish grin that likely came off as painful.

“Ryeowook, it’s Kyuhyun. This is nothing serious, I just, um,” He hesitated, “…spilled a vase.”

The smaller stared at him, apparently more confused than ever until his brain finally seemed to register what his eyes had been staring at the whole time.

“Oh my gosh!” He exclaimed.

“I know, I know” Kyuhyun grimaced, “I’m sorry. I swear I’ll pay for a new vase. I just-”

“Kyuhyun, you’re sitting in broken glass!”

“What?” Kyuhyun glanced around him and realized that the shards of vase were scattered around him along with still rolling decor.

“Get up! Carefully!” Ryeowook leaped up nearly slipping on the marbles. He caught himself before falling but catching sight of his bare feet was enough to convince Kyuhyun to do what he said.

“Alright, alright, I’m getting out of the glass.”

“Move carefully!”

Slowly, for Ryeowook sake, he navigated out the mess of glass and shuffled over to the petite man who had been clutching his chest the entire with a terrified expression. When he was a safe distance away from the biggest shards, only then did the little guide let out a breath.

“Okay now?” Kyuhyun asked jokingly.

“No!” Ryeowook snapped. His hair was mussed and his eyes had dark circles under them. He must have been sleeping in the lobby. Why? Kyuhyun didn’t know, but his guilt immediately doubled for waking the exhausted worker. Just as he was about to open his mouth and apologize again, Ryeowook grabbed his hand and began checking for cuts.

“Why were you sitting on shards of glass? Do you even realize how dangerous that is? You could’ve gotten cut!You could have been hurt!”

“S-sorry. I-I was trying to catch the marbles-” He stuttered, caught off guard by the other’s worried tone.

“The marbles? How? By diving on the vase?”

“Um…” Kyuhyun faltered since that was exactly what he had done.

The other continued to run his hands over Kyuhyun’s skin since it was too dark to see clearly. “Does it sting anywhere?”

“Not that I can feel.”

Ryeowook dropped his arm and looked up at him with worried eyes.

“Be more careful, Kyu. I was afraid you would cut open an artery or something.”

“Yeah, we wouldn’t want to add my blood to this mess, now would we?” Kyuhyun chuckled awkwardly, but was only met with anxious looks from the smaller, “I’ll be more aware.” He said seriously.

“Good. Oh gosh, what a way to be woken up…” Ryeowook said with a yawn.

“Yeah…” Kyuhyun laughed lightly, but his insides were twisting up for when the worker saw the actual mess. The sun had barely risen at this point but it didn’t take great lighting to see that the half the lobby was covered in rolling balls of glass. And when Ryeowook registered it, his eyes grew as round as the marbles.

 “I’ll clean this up.” Kyuhyun blurted.

“No, no,” Ryeowook struggled, clearly horrified by the mess, “It was an accident. I’m the worker here, I’ll-I’ll clean it up.”

“Then I’ll help you. And pay for the vase.” He added, desperately trying to make things better. He hadn’t screwed up this bad since his last proposal.

The guide looked for a moment like he was about to refuse again, but thought better of it. There were a lot of marbles.

“Okay. Okay. Let’s…let’s just clean this up before my manager gets here.”

Kyuhyun sighed in relief. At least Ryeowook wasn’t a yeller.

*    *    *    *

An hour later, Kyuhyun was completely convinced that a vase full of marbles was the dumbest decoration anyone could have come up with.

“Why marbles? I mean, why not cubes or sand or something that doesn’t roll around?” He complained, rubbing his sore back. 

They were in the kitchen now, taking a well-deserved break after having collected the majority of the balls into a mop bucket though they hadn’t gotten to the glass yet. The other flicked on the stove and got out eggs, his back to Kyuhyun.

“I’m not sure,” Ryeowook replied indifferently, “I guess because we used to stick sugarcanes in the vases and you can’t stick tubes through cubes.”

“You can stick them through sand.” Kyuhyun pointed out.

“But then it would look cheap,” The smaller rationalized, pouring a stream of oil into the frying pan, “And besides, that thing weighed a ton. I doubt anyone thought it was even possible to knock it over.”

“Well I must be the freakin’ Hulk ‘cause all I did was run into to it and it fell.”

Ryeowook chuckled politely, “I guess you must be.”

Then they both fell silent watching the oil heat up.

Crap. Ryeowook was probably furious at him. Who wouldn’t be? He’d woken him up by smashing a vase and then made him spend sixty minutes chasing down marbles.

Unsure if he was allowed to touch anything, Kyuhyun awkwardly stood by the counter watching as Ryeowook went and gathered some bread, probably for toast, and then come back to start chopping green onions and tomatoes. Not once did he look at the taller.

Did Ryeowook feel awkward because he’d walked in on him sleeping? He hadn’t seen anything, and the guide had slept fully clothed so it wasn’t like there was anything to see. God, he hoped Ryeowook didn’t think he had watched him sleep. That would be creepy.

Though, he was itching to ask why Ryeowook was sleeping in the lobby of all places, but it seemed like something other people would deem as an inappropriate question. What if he couldn’t afford to sleep somewhere else? What if this was his only bed? What if he was afraid to drive home in the storm? All the answers could potentially make the guide uncomfortable and although Kyuhyun was never good with boundaries, even he realized that they’d just met yesterday.

“So, is Seohyun up yet?” Ryeowook’s voice interrupted the conflicting monologue rolling in his head.

Kyuhyun frowned. He appreciated the conversation starter but it seemed pretty obvious that if Seohyun were awake, she’d be down here yelling at him.

“Not yet, I don’t think.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Ryeowook didn’t try to further the conversation.

Several moments of silence later, the smaller deemed the oil hot enough to crack two eggs into the pan. Dousing it with the green onion and salt, Ryeowook expertly flipped the eggs and within minutes they were sitting on golden toast and decked with chopped tomatoes.

“Wow. That looks great.” Kyuhyun commented.

Ryeowook ignored him. Instead, he placed the food onto a tray with a carton of juice and silverware then shoved the platter into Kyuhyun’s arms.

“So here’s what’s going to happen,” He locked gazes with Kyuhyun for the first time this hour, “You’re going to take this food to your cabin, wake your girlfriend with a kiss, apologize for leaving her in bed alone, then share a nice, romantic breakfast together. Okay?”

Kyuhyun gaped at Ryeowook, “Wait, what?”

Ryeowook huffed, his irritation clearly showing now, “You’re going to have breakfast in bed with Seohyun. Your girlfriend,” He spoke slowly as if speaking to a child, “And you’re going to apologize for ditching the cabin and being a moody jerk yesterday.”

“What?” Kyu was incredulous, “She was totally ignoring me yesterday! I had every right to be a moody jerk-”

“Not when you’re about to propose!” Kyuhyun clamped his mouth shut.

“Look, get this through your head,” Ryeowook’s eyes bored into him like steel, “This is not work. This is not a date. This is a pre-proposal vacation. You are half-way across the world with a beautiful girl who happens to be your girlfriend and if you want to turn her into your wife once and for all you are going to change your attitude for the better. She wants to play hard to get? Fine. Then you play hard to repel. But no more running.”

“Now,” He pointed to the tray again, “Take the food, surprise Seohyun, and don’t come back until she is walking with you.”

Completely floored by the sudden change of plans and the smaller’s intense attitude, Kyuhyun nodded weakly. Gripping the tray, he turned and began to walk back out the back door when suddenly he stopped.

“Wait,” He blurted. Ryeowook turned to look at him. “Why were you sleeping in the lobby?”

“Because the kitchen’s too cold.” The smaller shot back. Then he went back to wiping the counter.

Kyuhyun hesitated for a second more then hurried out the door.

‘Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.’ Screamed through his head the whole way back.

_____________________________________________________________________

Ryeowook threw down the towel. Covering his face with his hands he felt like screaming.

He was mad. He was so freakin’ mad especially at Kyuhyun and he couldn’t even figure out why. Was it because he’d been woken up an hour earlier than usual to the horrifying sight of his guest sitting on shards of glass? Or because he’d just had the worst night of his life complete with the paralyzing nightmare that Yoona fell for a hot, French guy and forgot all about him? Either way, chasing down marbles for an hour with a guy who didn’t seem to give a crap about his own girlfriend did not help his mood.

Sighing, Ryeowook pulled his troubles into a ball and stuffed them down his throat. He still had a couple hundred marbles to collect and he was not going to fall prey self-depression right now. Grabbing a slice of bread, he wandered back out to the lobby nibbling on the crust.

He’d have to apologize for his snappy attitude later. But the breakfast would be good for Kyuhyun. He needed to relearn the basics of romance and this was a good start. And besides, they still had six days.

Reassuring himself with a firm nod, Ryeowook plastered a smile on his face. All he had to do was finish cleaning the lobby and he could still turn the day around.

Unfortunately, his hopes were dashed by worst possible sight right then. He stopped in the lobby doorway, and gulped down the bread which had lodged in his throat.

“M-morning, C-colin.”

*    *    *    *

“I told you never to sleep in the lobby, no matter how early you think you’re going to wake up!”

Ryeowook kept his eyes trained on the broken vase he was sweeping up as his manager berated him.

“We have a rec room! We have dining hall! Why of all places would you choose the center main lobby to sleep?”

“I’m not sure, sir” He replied weakly. The twins had set up in the rec room and he hadn’t wanted to deal with that last night. He hadn’t thought much of sleeping in the lobby, since who got up at before five?

“God, anyone could have walked in on you! Do you realize the implications of that???”

“I’m sorry.”

Colin continued scolding him, though. Ryeowook had dutifully spilled about Kyuhyun arriving and waking him since it would be no use to lie to his manager, but that may have made things worse. He didn’t mention breakfast or the vase. Colin just assumed he’d knocked it over in surprise. He didn’t know why he let his manager assume Kyuhyun’s mistake was his. Instinct maybe.

“And, this mess! Oh, this mess. You know, I nearly wiped out when I walked in here? God, we’re going to have to move all the furniture to collect all these marbles and there’s going to be glass dust hidden everywhere.  Sweep thoroughly!” He stressed as Ryeowook maneuvered another batch of glass into the trash can.

“I’m sorry, Colin.”

“That doesn’t fix anything!” The taller snapped, stomping over to collect the marbles near the stairs. “You’ve worked here for four years, Wookie, you know better than all of this!”

“I know.”

“Then why did this happen?”

“I don’t know.”

“You made these decisions! I don’t think-”

“I said sorry alright! I can’t do anything but clean it up, now! Just stop yelling already!”

Colin straightened and tossed his marbles into the bucket. Ryeowook froze as he strode straight up him never breaking his stare.

“Wook, this is not about that,” His voice was cold and steady, “This is about your responsibilities and your frame of mind. We are paying you to do odd jobs even though we don’t need you because it’s not a burden and the boss likes you, but if you’re going to neglect the rules just because you somehow feel entitled then I can’t help you anymore.”

Ryeowook looked away, tears burning in his eyes. Colin wasn’t even making sense. Help him do what? Entitlement? Why was he being so harsh? He’d made two mistakes and the second one he didn’t even commit.

“Wook, look at me.”

Ryeowook didn’t respond. Instead, he went back to sweeping thoroughly.

“Wook.”

He kept his eyes focused down.

“Wook-”

“That’s not my name.”

Silence.

“What if one of those other guests had come in here while you were sleeping? The businessmen? Finding an you unconscious with no one else around? What would they have done?.... Think about it.”

Colin said nothing more and Ryeowook didn’t feel like saying anything either. They stayed in silence for another few seconds before Ryeowook heard a slight shuffle and the clomp of shoes as the manager left to find the twins.

Ryeowook kept his eyes on the ground, sweeping nothing into the empty dustpan and trying not to cry. It was five in the morning and this was already shaping up to be a horrible day.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yes! One more week until finals are over and I can truly focus on this story again. Because it turns out, writing a half a scene every day does not make a for a cohesive chapter. But I have learned from this! (P.S. Another fun fact, this chapter is exactly 3,000 words minus the A/N =)

Thank you for reading!