Day 1

 

Dara looked from her left to right before she ascended the flight of stairs. There was no one around. Well, of course! It was freaking three in the morning.

 

Yesterday, after the contract-signing, Dara’s boss let her off for the day and asked her to return the next day to officially start her work.

 

Dara wasn’t supposed to accept the job, after learning about the boss GD being the exact GD who caused her ankle to be injured for a week a long time ago. After learning that, she didn’t want to be in the same room as him. However, even if she was really stubborn and prideful, she still accepted the job, having her family and her difficult financial standing at the moment in her mind.

 

She even had the idea of revenge by making his life miserable now that she would be working for him. However, her family and financial difficulty once again entered her mind. It hurt her ego. A lot!

 

As Dara reached the twelfth floor, she stopped and panted for air. Her hand was firmly planted on the wall for support as she silently cursed for her boss. Why did I have to come here early in dawn and even take the stairs instead of the elevator?

 

She rolled her eyes and gritted her teeth. “Right. Because of ‘sasaeng’ fans.”

 

As soon as she arrived on his floor, she stumbled on the ground and panted for more air. She wiped her sweat away even through the cold night. Winter was approaching but she was sweating profusely and she blamed her boss.

 

“Boss your face,” she said under gritted teeth. She was already in front of his door. She punched in the code he told her because he said he would still be sleeping at that time and he didn’t want to be disturbed.

 

The moment she entered, she already wanted to faint at the amount of work that was going to be keeping her busy for the entire day. Bottles, chips, cigarette, and cigarette ashes were on the coffee table. Used and dirty clothes and shoes were thrown everywhere.  There were trashes too, mostly crumpled pieces of papers. And that was just the living room. The moment her boss wakes up, she would go and clean his bedroom too.

 

She dropped her luggage and her guitar on the side as she was going to officially move in to the apartment, along with the start of her work. She rolled up her sleeves and wore a mask over his mouth.

 

“Hwaiting!”

 

The cleaning marathon started with her picking up all the trashes and throwing them in the trash bin, which she wondered why he never used despite its presence. She then went on to pick up his clothes which she was going to wash later on. She then went on to mop and vacuum the floor.

 

After the living room, she washed the dishes and then his clothes. Her final task was the bathroom. In a matter of seven hours (that was still long though), she was finished. She stood on the doorway of the kitchen and smiled satisfyingly at the clean kitchen. She then turned to the living room and it was also clean. The laundry was also done.

 

She then stared at her boss’s bedroom door which hadn’t opened ever since she came. “Maybe he’s too tired,” she said.

 

She went to the kitchen and made herself a cup of milk. Her boss told her to not be burdened with how she lived there because she could feel at home the moment she starts her work.

 

She then carried it and brought it to the living room, where she sprawled on the couch. She picked up the remote controller and figured how to turn on the flat screen television that actually looked more like a home cinema. When she finally was able to turn it on, the television blasted a loud music. The channel was a music channel and a rock band was currently playing.

 

The remote controller fell from her hand and she fell on her . Panicking, she picked up the remote and toned the volume down until it reached the minimum volume, until she couldn’t hear anything anymore.

 

She sighed in relief but remembered something. Her eyes flew to the bedroom door. She silently walked toward it and planted her ear to check if he was still sleeping. Gratefully, he could still hear a faint snore from the other side. She once again sighed in relief.

 

She returned to the couch where she sat comfortably with the mug on her hand. She was watching a channel she found that was airing some indie musicians playing. The music calmed her, with the combination of the warm drink she had.

 

When she finished drinking, she placed the mug back on the table. In a matter of seconds, her eyes dropped and she was brought to dreamland.

 

 

-

 

 

It was past lunchtime when Jiyong decided to get up from bed. He had been sleeping for fourteen hours straight. With the injury he got, his schedules were cleared and his boss gave him some days to rest. Although he was a self-proclaimed workaholic, he took the opportunity to have his much-deserved rest, especially after the back-to-back concerts, promotions, and other activities. He would start working tonight… maybe.

 

With his eyes closed, his hair disheveled, his upper body bare, he walked towards the door. He opened it and headed to the bathroom. He stood in front of the toilet and started his business. All of these, he did with his eyes closed. Being in this apartment for more than a year, he memorized his way like a blind person would.

 

Before he could finish though, he heard someone screaming behind him. Automatically, his eyes opened and they widened further as he saw someone with her eyes directly looking down below… to where his… his…

 

“ERT!” he screamed and quickly turned around and fixed his pajama.

 

 

-

 

 

Dara sat across Jiyong, her face flustered, her head bowed low.

 

“Why did you go to the bathroom? I was there first! Didn’t you see me?” Jiyong interrogated.

 

“I just woke up. I had my eyes closed while I walked towards the bathroom after I felt the need to empty my bladder. And then, when I opened them, you were there and I sa—“

 

“No need to be detailed,” Jiyong said, his arms crossed over his chest, his cheeks flushing bright red as well.

 

There was silence between them but Dara could still feel her boss’s anger.

 

“You should have closed the door when you were using the bathroom and doing your business,” Dara said.

 

Jiyong stared at her, his eyes glaring in fury. But he stopped himself when he realized she was right. He was just used to being alone and he forgot that the maid he personally hired was scheduled to start working today. He just looked away, not wanting to admit to her that she was right.

 

After a few minutes of silence, Jiyong heard her sniff. He faced her and saw that with her head still bowed, she wiped her tears away.

 

“Are you… crying?” he asked, uncrossing his arms and leaning a bit to her.

 

“Are you going to fire me?” Dara asked, her head still bowed low.

 

Jiyong couldn’t believe it. After having three episodes with her, he was pretty sure that this woman was stubborn and wouldn’t even utter words of defeat or ones that would show weakness. He scoffed and stood up.

 

“Prepare me something to eat. I’m hungry,” he said and left her.

 

Dara watched as he went to his room and closed the door. She chuckled and said, “Never thought that the drama class I skipped frequently in high school could help me in desperate times like this,” she said and stood up. She then headed to the kitchen and started cooking. “I don’t think he’d fire me though just because of that. I wonder what would,” she said and laughed silently. Although she sounded tough with her words though, she was still afraid of losing her job.

 

 

-

 

 

Dara anxiously watched from a meter away from her boss as he took a spoonful of the marinated galbi and rice she cooked. After a few seconds of agony, Jiyong nodded and Dara was able to finally exhale in relief.

 

“You’re a good cook,” Jiyong said and continued eating, making Dara more satsfied. “Go and clean my room. I’ll call you if I need something.”

 

Dara nodded and headed her way towards his room. The smile that was plastered on her face immediately melted as soon as she saw the amount of filth everywhere. It was filthier than the trashes from the living room and the kitchen combined.

 

She stared at him who was visible from where she was standing and sent him a thousand rays of death glares.

 

“This would be another seven hours of nonstop working…” she said. “…or more.”

 

 

-

 

 

After being able to compose two tracks that night, Jiyong finally decided to step out of his studio and take another good night’s rest. He couldn’t even believe that he did nothing but work in his home studio all day.

 

He headed to his room. However, apart from the cleanliness, he was shocked at another sight just at the edge of his bed, with her arms sprawled on his clean-sheeted bed and her head lying on her arms. She was still holing a feather duster on one hand and she certainly looked like she was comfortable while sleeping even in that uncomfortable position.

 

Jiyong furrowed his brows at the sight. He walked to her and was about to kick her to wake her up. But he stopped himself and thought it to be rude.

 

But sleeping in the boss’s room after cleaning it is rude too, right? He thought. He then lightly kicked her on her legs. “YAH! YOU! WAKE UP, YOU!”

 

Dara opened her right eye and stared up at her boss. However, instead of getting up, she rubbed her eyes and yawned. “You’re too close – the one-meter rule, remember?”

 

Jiyong furrowed his brows and took a step back. “I told you, wake up.”

 

“I’m up,” Dara said and stretched her arms. “And I have a name, thank you very much.”

 

“Your name – it’s hard to pronounce. Sandora? Sanadra? Sanrada?”

 

“And your name is weird. I mean, who in the world has G-Dragon as a name. Yuck.”

 

“Well, that would be me – the global K-POP star,” he said.

 

Dara rolled her eyes and stood up. “I was having a good rest and I would just be woken up by a conceited celebrity as a boss,” she said as she walked away, leaving Jiyong on his spot, dumbfounded.

 

“The studio’s messy! Clean it up tomorrow morning!” he screamed. Dara just raised an okay sign with her finger. “And, wake up tomorrow before I would.”

 

“YES, YOUR MAJESTY!” she screamed while she curtsied before she closed the door.

 

He sighed as his eyes roamed his clean room. “She really did a good job with cleaning my mess,” he said and then looked forward at the door again. “Really, what’s her name again?” he asked and shrugged. “It doesn’t matter anyway. I can just call her ‘You’, or ‘Sanadra’… or DORA!” he said and laughed at his own silly joke before he decided to lie on his bed.

 

 

 

-

 

 

Dara settled on her bed a.k.a. the sofa. She spread the blanket and hugged her pillow. She was ready to sleep after a whole day of tiresome work. It would be a good night’s sleep, for sure.

 

Before slumber could consume her though, the bedroom door burst open. “YA! THE HEATER IS NOT WORKING AND I CAN’T SLEEP BECAUSE IT’S TOO COLD IN MY ROOM! FIX IT!”

 

Her eyes flew open but before she decided to get up, under her breath, she was already throwing him some of the world’s deadliest profanities.