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enjoy it... :D and Please feel free to leave comments! :D

This chapter is dedicated to Manunulat unnie and princessgre unnie who always read my fics and never fail to leave comments...

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“Hello … I’m from 1201, Eomonie … I’m here to greet …”

“Ah … Just wait a moment …”

Then, he heard a ‘click’ sound of opening the door lock and shifted his eyes from the intercom screen to the middle-aged woman

appearing behind the metal door.

“Hello … Eomonie … My name is Mun Eric … I’ve just moved in to 1201 … Ah … Here … Please accept my small gift … although it’s

not much …. I made it myself at home …”

With the long introduction, he handed the plate containing the still hot Korean pancake to her, not missing the 90 degree bow

in the process.

“Omo! A young guy made pancake? It looks delicious … We’ll eat it well … Son … I saw you moving in yesterday … I was already

thinking to pay you a visit after you settle up …Oh! My name is Kim Hee Sok … I live here with my daughter’s family … As you can

see, they’re all out the whole day … So, I’m alone all day … By the way, do you live alone? I didn’t see any family …”

By the word of “family”, he just gave a weak smile back at her before shaking his head gently.

“Yes … I’m living alone here, Eomonie … So, although it’s burdensome for you, please take care of me …”

With the help of his light joke, both of them laughed at the same time and Mrs. Kim patted gently on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry … Just tell me if you need something or want to know something around here … I’ve been living here for almost

five years …”

Hearing the warm invitation from her, one thing suddenly crossed his mind and before his rational thought came, he already

blurted out.

“”Eomonie … You know there’s some weird guy in this building? I saw him yesterday taking the elevator from 11^th floor …”

His words were cut off with a light chuckle from Mrs.Kim and he just kept staring blankly at her while wondering if there was

anything funny in his words.

“You mean the guy from 1101? The one who’s dressing up full even in this weather? …. His name is Hyesung … He moved in a year

after we had moved in here … Well, it’s not your fault to call him weird … Even I got shock when I first saw him … Who doesn’t

when you see a guy wearing winter clothes in summer, huh? But he’s a nice boy … He’s just not comfortable around people … He

even helped me two or three times with my grocery bags … I don’t know what he’s doing as a job … He rarely gets out of his

apartment … You know … I haven’t seen his full face yet … in these years … He’s always wearing a mask …”

Those words kept ringing in his ears even when he got back into his apartment. He had to admit that having a middle-aged

woman as his neighbor was quite useful when it came to things like before. Getting the full information in a short conversation,

to be exact.

Since yesterday, after seeing that guy leaving the elevator since he had come in, he could not help but felt annoyed at that

guy’s reaction. That guy was acting like he was carrying a virus or he was a wanted murderer since they had met.

“So … that Hyesung guy is really strange … How can he live with a mask on his face all the time? And those winter clothes too …

and he even acts like I’m kinda bad guy who’s gonna harm him … Tsk …”

He scratched his un-itchy head while heading to the kitchen to grab a glass of water and then the thing on the kitchen table

took his attention.

“Ah … There’s still a pancake left … I made too many …”

While turning back to the fridge to open the door, a thought passed through his mind.

“Wait … Shall I give it to him?”

Being hesitant for a few seconds, at last, he left his apartment again after placing the pancake on the plate.   

Then, taking two steps each time, he reached the 11^th floor via stairs in no time and then, he found himself being hesitant again

in front of 1101.

“Will he be afraid of me again? Aishh … Don’t know … Anyway, I’m just giving him a pancake …”

With the last decision, he hit the button under the intercom and waited to get back a reply. But, there was no reply still after a

few seconds and it made him hit the poor button again. After waiting a few more seconds, the doubt started to creep in.

“Isn’t he at home?”

Shrugging his shoulders, he turned his body to retrace his steps back to his apartment and at that moment, a faint voice came

out of the speaker.

“Who … is it?”

Sensing a kind of cautious and nervous tone in that short question, he tried to smile at his best facing to the small camera to let

the one from the other side see his face through the screen.

“Hello. Remember me? We met yesterday in the elevator … I just moved into 1201 …My name’s Mun Eric … I’m here for greeting

…”

Then, only the silence came back as a reply and being impatient after only getting the silence for the next few seconds, he tried

to talk again.

“Hey … I’m here giving you a pancake … as a small gift to be good neighbors … Do you hear me? Say something back …”

With the slightly annoyed tone in his voice, he even raised the plate of pancake towards the camera as a proof.

Then, he heard a faint sigh through the speaker and after a few more seconds, that faint and nervous voice from Hyesung guy

appeared again.

“Ahh … Thank you … But … I’m … sorry … I don’t … don’t eat things from other people …”

Although he caught the “Sorry” tone in that weird guy’s words, he could not help but got mad at his words.

“What? Don’t eat things from other people? This guy has no manner? Why can’t he just accept it and then do it as he likes? Really

have to blurt it out to my face? Aishh … WTF! Like I put poison in it ….”

Yelling all those words in his mind, he twisted his lips to show his annoyed feeling to the guy through the camera and finally, he

let out a loud sigh before blurting his mind out.

“Listen … Hyesung-shi … I don’t know what you’re thinking of me … But I’m not a bad guy and you’re not a kid who’s home alone

… You don’t need to thank me … but still can’t you show some respect to my effort? I’m damn giving you a pancake and you’re

saying you don’t eat things from other people? Fine … Just do as you like … Since it’s an extra one, I’ll just leave it … Do as you

like … Hyesung-shi …”

Full with sarcasm in his words, he just placed the plate on the floor in front of the door before leaving right away without

turning back.

On the other side of the door, the owner of the 1101 just squatted down leaning on the door after hearing the fading footsteps

of the stranger called Eric. Removing the mask with his trembling hands, his pale face together with a heavy sigh appeared.

“Hyesung-ah … He’s gone … He’s gone … It’s ok …”

Mumbling those words to himself slowly, he tried to keep his breathing calm again. He had been suffered from nightmares the

whole night, actually his own bad memories that had transformed into nightmares, and the result was he had just fallen asleep in

the early morning before the doorbell ringing had disturbed his sleep. He had woken up with cold sweat all over his body and

getting more alert with the doorbell ringing in the early morning, he could not help but put on his long woolen coat upon his

pajamas.

After putting the mask on like his ritual, when he had seen the other from the other side of the door through the intercom, he

had even felt his knees getting weak. The one from the elevator yesterday had been in front of his apartment ringing the bell

and nothing could make him freaked out more than this at the moment. He even had got frozen for a while until he had heard

the annoyed tone of that stranger again.

Actually, as he had expected, the encounter with that stranger in the elevator had brought his want-to-erase-forever memories

back again and that was the reason behind his night with awful dreams. That guy kept reminding him the one he wanted to

forget, just with his height and built. He had decided to avoid that guy in all ways since he had guessed he was also living here

and then the mentioned guy had been in front of his door in the early morning. And that Eric guy had even been introducing

himself with a plate of pancake.

“NO. I don’t want to be good neighbors with you. Please … Don’t take interest in me …”

Whispering to the air, he just hoped his cold words before could make that stranger give up on trying to get close with him. At

least, he seemed to be mad at his words but still left his pancake plate on the floor.

“Ah …. Pancake …”

He did not think it was a good idea to let it rotten just in front of his door so he could do nothing except taking it inside and

throwing it into the trashcan. He had not been exaggerating when he had said he did not eat anything from strangers. He even

did not buy cooked food from restaurants and if he wanted to eat something, he just searched the recipe online and tried to

cook it himself although he ended with something he did not know what it was, most of the times.

Listening to any suspicious sounds from outside, finally, he opened the door for a few inches and squatted down to pick up the

plate on the floor before closing the door immediately back.

He hated to admit but the pancake looked really yummy, being different from the one he had once tried to make. But he could

not dare to taste it anyway since he could not know what that stranger had put in it. Walking straightly to the kitchen, he

stopped again in front of the trashcan, being hesitated again.

“It looks really yummy though …”

His mind wavered for a moment and then shaking his head strongly like he was trying to chase all the wavering thoughts out of

his head, he abruptly threw the pancake into the trashcan while ignoring his growling stomach.

“No … I can’t eat this … It’s from a stranger I don’t know … and a suspiciously trying-to-be-friendly one …. You did right, Hyesung

… You can cook some ramen anyway …”

Then, he headed back to his bedroom for the morning business in the bathroom, changing his pajamas in the process. Coming

back to the kitchen, he cooked the instant ramen and in a few minutes, a big bowl of ramen disappeared into his stomach.

Before crawling back on his bed and wrapping his body around sheets, he gulped down a glass of milk for some help to sleep and

checked if the door of his apartment he started his ritual when he could not sleep.

“One sheep, Two sheep, Three sheep, ….”

Hoping to fall asleep again without bad dreams, he closed his eyes slowly while his counting voice kept echoing around his

bedroom.

All he wanted was a few hours of sound sleep and nothing more …