When we enter my apartment, it’s almost completely quiet; save for the sound of the shower running in the bathroom.

“That must be Saemi,” I inform Kai. “She’s my intern. She’s pretty nice, even though her fashion sense can get way out of hand sometimes.”

“Fashion sense?”

I sigh. “She picked that disgusting red dress that I wore to the banquet.”

“I see.” A smirk appears on Kai’s face. “You know, I appreciate Saemi’s fashion sense.”

“Shut up.” I throw him a scathing glare. “Now come on. We have to make japchae and lettuce wraps and stuff. Do you know how to make any kind of dessert?”

Kai throws me a knowing glance. “I’m Kim Kai. I know everything.”

“Fine, then.” I throw him an apron, deliberately aiming for his face. “Let’s get to it.”

As we cook, I talk to Kai about how America was and college life. His stories are pretty interesting. I’m happy that he had fun at Yale.

“You solved one of MIT’s death problems, right?” I grin, chopping up parsley. “You must have enjoyed that.”

“I did.” Kai beams. “That was one of my favorite things in America. Every month, I would go to MIT to participate in a math forum. We would all work problems and proofs and the like. So, one day, a professor threw me a problem and said, ‘If you solve this, I’ll buy you pizza.’ It took me a good 3 weeks, but when I brought it back to the next forum, everyone was shocked. That’s when the professor revealed that it was actually one of their unsolvable problems.”

“You must’ve been really happy when you found out that you were getting a million dollars,” I muse.

Kai snickers. “Actually, I was just happy that I was getting pizza.”

“Liar.”

“Don’t call me names.” He pokes me with the end of his stirring spoon, causing batter to get in my hair. I shriek and back away from him.

“You did not just do that!” I cry. Biting my lip, I pick up the bowl of filling I was stirring and continue working. My body trembles slightly.

“Sojin,” Kai says gently, nearing me. “I’m sorry. I was only playing around-,”

And then I whirl around and dump the bowl of filling on his head.

“Gotcha,” I wink.

“You-,” Kai rips the lid off a can of cream cheese and chases me around. I duck under the table, my body shaking with laughter. “I’ll get you!”

He crawls under the table, hot on my heels. Before I can run away Kai grabs my foot and pulls me towards him. “Don’t even try to get away,” he chuckles as he pins me down to the ground. “Are you ready to get splattered?”

“Kai, let go,” I squirm. As a last resort I tickle his ribs, causing him to topple over me. “Hey, you’re crushing me! Get off, idiot!”

“What if I want to stay like this?” he murmurs in my ear.

My face turns hot. “Don’t.”

It feels like time has frozen. Kai his lips slowly, looking into my eyes with an intense gaze. My breath hitches.

Suddenly a voice asks, “Um, what are you two doing?”

We scramble up from underneath the table faster than you can say making dinner. Saemi is staring at us in shock, her jaw hanging wide.

“Oh my god. What is CEO Kim doing in our loft?!” she gasps, backing away slowly. “Sojin! Should I call the cops?”

“No, no.” I shake my head. “Um, Kai, this is Kim Saemi. My intern.”

“I like your fashion sense, Saemi,” Kai chuckles, and I narrow my eyes.

Saemi grabs my arm. “Umm, Sojin? Can I talk to you in private for a second?” She pulls me away from the kitchen and into the living room. “What are you doing?” she hisses. “Sojin, explain this to me. Also, didn’t you say Kim Kai was the enemy and was supposed to be avoided at all costs?”

“He is!” I insist. “I just saw him at the grocery store and he wanted to help me make dinner because we’re on a time crunch... oh, good grief.” The story sounds ridiculous even to me.

“I didn’t know you’re on a first-name basis with him,” Saemi remarks, scratching her head. “Also, I didn’t know that you two were in that kind of relationship.”

“That’s a misunderstanding!” I exclaim, then clap my hands over my mouth. Kai must be laughing so hard at me right now. “We weren’t doing anything. We were just having a food fight.”

She shakes her head. “You’re going to explain everything to me later. Now, he'll be here in 5 minutes. Are you done with dinner?”

“Crap!” I peer inside the kitchen. Beans and batter and basil lay scattered all over the floor. “Kai and I will get it together. Just work on your project while we fix everything.”

A ding! resonates through the house and Saemi stiffens. “He’s here.” She hastily smoothes down her hair and flies to the door. In the meanwhile, I race back to the kitchen.

“Take this towel,” I tell Kai, quickly throwing a downy blue cloth at him. “We have to start cooking pronto.”

Kai rubs the filling out of his hair. “Maybe if someone didn’t throw food at me, we’d be closer to being done.”

“Maybe if someone didn’t put batter in my hair, I wouldn’t have done that.” I snap. “Now hurry up!”

An hour later, Saemi peeks her head through the kitchen door. “Er, are you guys done?”

“I’m almost done with the japchae and lettuce wraps,” I inform her, spooning noodles onto a serving dish. “Kai, how’s it going with dessert?”

“I’m finished,” he informs me smugly. “The oven timer just went off.”

I become aware of a strange, sulfurous smell. “What... is that?” I sputter, covering my nose.

“It smells like something died,” Saemi gags. Kai hurries over to the oven and withdraws a baking tray. Several lumps of unidentifiable mush congeal on the tray.

“All done!” he trills. My jaw drops.

“Kai, I thought you said you could cook.” I say, face palming.

“I can!” he asserts. “Look, they’re cookies!”

“Wow,” I grumble. “Looks like we found the great Kim Kai’s weakness.”

A/N: Kai can't cook at all hahaha :D And yay AFF added automatic spacing to chapters!

ALSO I MADE A POSTER IT'S MY FIRST POSTER EVER BUT THE POSTER SHOP I REQUESTED AT IS ON HIATUS TILL SPRING

IT'S RLY LAME BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW HOW TO WORK PHOTOSHOP AND STUFF BUT I'M PROUD