She snuggled up the source that lay next to her, finding immediately warmth in it.

  Why is it so cold in this room today? She asked in her subconscious. She slowly opened her eyes, staring up at the sun-streaked ceiling as she tried to wake herself up. When her vision cleared she sat up, only to recoil as a sharp pain ran through her head.

  “Agh.” She groaned as she clutched her temples. “I have a splitting headache….” She sighed. Opening her eyes she was almost immediately taken aback - she didn’t recognize the comforter. She quickly looked around the room, finding that she couldn’t for the life of her recognize any of her surroundings.

  What the hell…? The source beside her suddenly flipped over, dragging her attention back to it. She had to choke back a yelp; next to her lay the man from the night before. His hair was a mess, and due to the comforter that rest at his waist she quickly took notice of his bare chest. 

  Horrified, she jumped out of the bed, and when she realized that she was she let out a little squeak and ripped the blankets off the bed, leaving the sleeping man exposed. She let out another squeal as she slapped her hand over her face.

  Oh God oh God oh God, what did I do, what did I do?! She whimpered in her mind. She sat there for a moment, then slowly turned around and peeked through her fingers at the man; he flipped over, making her yelp and turn away again.

  Okay, okay, I just have to get dressed and I can leave. No biggie…. She quickly scanned the room, gathering up her clothing items while making sure not to expose her eyes to the trauma that lay on the bed. She counted through the items, making sure she had everything as she got dressed.

  , where the hell is my underwear? The hair on the back of her neck stood as the creature stirred. I can go commando, I just need to get the hell out of here! She threw the blankets back over him before she slipped through the door. She was met with a very large, empty living room, the only piece of furniture being a couch that sat over by the large window on the far side of the room. Due to the view from it and the size of the house she could tell that it was an apartment complex.

  She did a double take as she spotted the kitchen, suddenly realizing that she was very thirsty.

  “Well, a glass of water couldn’t hurt, could it?” She moved over into the room, quickly rummaging through the cabinets to find a simple cup. She downed half the glass of lukewarm tap water in a couple seconds as if it was harvested from God’s personal water bank, releasing the glass with a heavy gasp for air. Her breathing became steady again before she continued with the glass of water, showing much less interest than she had a moment ago.

  Suddenly it felt as though a hammer crashed down on her head, making her double over in pain.

  “Where does he keep his migraine pills?” She hissed, searching through the cabinets once again. When she found them sitting on top of the fridge she smiled in victory, swallowed a couple and went back to sipping on her water. Deciding that she was going to wait until the pills started taking effect she leaned up against the counter and studied the magnets on the fridge door; there were silly little ornaments, things like plastic fruit and ABC letters that didn’t even consist of the whole alphabet.

  She giggled, finding this ridiculous. “What kind of person is this guy?” Her eyes landed on a small picture, framed by a blue and pink popsicle sticks.

  She knitted her eyebrows, leaning in to get a closer look; there were six men in the picture, all gathered in one group and posing for the picture. She recognized the one in the middle as Ken, except with light brown hair rather than black. He was squatting down with his tongue sticking out at the camera with one of the other men sitting on his knee holding up a V sign.

  She raised an eyebrow. "Seriously - what kind of person is this guy? Surely not the same one I met last night."

  "Jaehwannie~ We're home! You can come out now!"

  She froze as the sound of the front door opening and feet shuffling into the house. Her heart racing in panic as she quickly looked around in search for a place to hide. She was just contemplating on jumping into the open washing machine when the footsteps shuffle around the corner; the hair on the back of her neck stood when they stopped. Slowly she turned around and she came face to face with a dark, cat-like looking man that she recognized from the picture.

  They stared at each other for a good moment before one wearing a hat also came walking around the corner.

  "Yah, HaKyeon hyung, what are you...." He trailed off at the sight of Raelyn, getting the same confused look on his face.

  After a moment Raelyn cleared , shaking away her deer-in-the-headlights look with an awkward smile. "Um, uh... hi."

  "Hi...." The dark one, HaKyeon, replied with a slight wave. "Um... who are you?"

  She looked around nervously. "I, uh...." She rubbed the back of her head. with a giggle. "Well, you see-"

  "HaKyeon hyung~~ Why'd you have to leave me alone all night?????" Came a very whiney voice from the hallway. Everyone turned as Ken came shuffling into view. "You guys are so mean! I was all alone and felt very lonely and-" He cut himself off when he caught sight of Raelyn, his eyes wide. She in her breath, suddenly becoming even more tense.

  "Oh, good morning JaeHwannie." HaKyeon replied. His lips were pulled tight as he turned to glance back at Raelyn. "Um, who's this?"

  The words seemed to be caught in Ken's throat. "She's, uh, a friend from middle school!" He blurted out. While they had their attention turned to him, she let drop and threw her hands up in the air, which made him shrug in reply.

  The one with the hat broke the silence. "Oh really?" He turned to look at Raelyn, and she immediately recognized him as the one who had been sitting on Ken's knee in the photo.

  She rubbed the back of her head. "Uh, yeah...!" she responded, her eyes looking away from the two men that were caught between Ken and herself. 

  "We knew each other in sixth grade..." Ken continued, his eyes meeting Raelyn's for a moment. "She transfered before you guys could meet her!" He exclaimed louder than he had meant to, instantly touching his hand to his temple when a pain shot through his head. 

  "Yah, you guys left us to bring in all of your bags~!" A loud shriek made both Ken and Raelyn clutch their heads as the migraine pains hit them. 

  Gritting his teeth slightly, Ken managed to get past the two that were still in the doorway of the kitchen as an obviously younger boy came up with a bag in each hand. His dark hair was swept aside, and he was frowning at Hakyeon and the man with the hat. "Why didn't you help!?"

  "We were coming in to greet Jaehwannie!" Hakyeon said, pointing into the kitchen. 

  "Oh, Jaehwan-hyung, I didn't-" The younger boy stopped when he caught sight of Raelyn sipping on a water. "I didn't realize you had company...."

  Ken looked up, his eyes meeting Raelyn's for a moment, then looking at the boy. "It's not what it seems. She's just a friend from when I was in middle school, but she left before you guys could have met her." He explained again.

  "You would have known that if you had been in here."

  "I was bringing in their bags." He complained, sending a small glare at the two. 

  "Well, welcome to the party then." Ken muttered, grabbing the migraine medicine that was on the top of the fridge. "Raelyn," he said gesturing to her. "Meet my housemates." He nodded slightly, gesturing to the three that were now looking her over, trying to decide in their own minds if they believed the story that the two had told them. 

  "I'm Cha HaKyeon." The dark skinned one greeted after a moment, bowing to Raelyn respectfully. 

  "My name is Kim WonSik, but please, call me Ravi." The one with the hat bowed as well, catching said accesory before it could fall off. 

  Setting down the bags he was still holding, the young boy bowed as well to Raelyn. "My name is Han SangHyuk. You can call me Hyuk though." He introduced himself, standing up just as another man who was wearing a pair of gray sweatpants and a matching hoodie with the hood pulled over his head came up.  "Oh, Hyung, there you are~" Hyuk smiled at the newcomer.

  When he saw the man, Ken's eyes went wide. He stared at the way it looked like he had just climbed out of bed, his mussed hair hidden under the hood. Slowly, an awkward smile fell on his face as he met the man's eyes. 
Raelyn noticed that it looked like he had just climbed out of bed as well, and instantly grabbed his shirt sleeve, pulling him closer so only he could hear her. "Was he here all night?!" She snapped, her eyes wide when he looked at her.

  "I have no idea!" He shook his head, the concern over this matter evident on his face as well. The four men were all having a small conversation with the newcomer, but getting no real response from him as he was watching the two that were freaking out in the kitchen. 

  "It would be nice to know! If he was, then it's over!" Raelyn growled, her mind trying to process what it meant for them if he was. She was obviously freaking out as she let go of his sleeve.

  "Guys?" HaKyeon's voice made them both look up, a forced perky grin on both of their faces. "Is everything alright...?" He asked, caution evident through his words. 

  "Peachy~" Ken nodded, then gestured to the man in the sweats. "Raelyn, meet Jung Taekwoon. We call him Leo most of the time though." He introduced with a nod. The nod showed his awkwardness though, and Raelyn could feel the worry as he in a breath and tried to brush of the concern they had. 

  "Are we your slaves?" Another complaint came before a door -probably the front door- slammed shut. 

  "Aniya~" HaKyeon shook his head as he left the door way and went to help the owner of the new voice. 

  Raelyn’s eyes widened as she looked over the new man; he was tall and had a very thin, attractive face with straight black hair that reached his ears. He shook of the snow off his coat before slipping it off, and she had to fight back a moan at the exposure of his long, slender arms.

  “Oh, HongBinnie,” HaKyeon said, motioning towards Raelyn. “Have you ever, uh, met this woman? She’s a friend of JaeHwannie’s.”

  The man looked over at Raelyn, and it was as if the heavens shined down upon him. His large brown eyes scanned over her, and she felt like ripping off her dress and throwing herself to the floor and yelling, “TAKE ME.” Ken stared at her, then looked over at HongBin, and then back at her with a glare.

  “No, I don’t think I ever have.” The man replied. “What did you say your name was again?”

  She jumped, and patted down her dress before moving over. “Raelyn Strickland.” She held her hand out to him before she could remember that this was Korean culture and not America; she moved to pull it away when he placed his hand in hers in a firm handshake, startling her.

  “Lee HongBin.” He replied with a smile that revealed four dimples and made her knees weak. “So I see you’re from America.”

  “You have a keen eye.” She grinned up at him. The sound of someone clearing their throat broke the flirtatious streak between them.

  "So you said you wanted a ride home?" Ken hissed through his teeth.

  Raelyn raised an eyebrow at him. “What? I never said…” Suddenly her eyes met the hard death glare that she was receiving from Leo and a dark shudder ran down her spine.

  On second thought… “Yeah, I’ll take that ride.”

  HaKyeon followed the two of them as they made their way toward the front door. "But we just got back; we were going to make a big lunch and drink some soju in celebration of the new year."

  Ken clutched his head in pain. "Please... not soju...."

  The older pressed his lips into a tight line. "Well, okay. Just drive safely.”

  “I will.”

  “And hurry back!”

  “I will!”

Raelyn sipped on her latte awkwardly in the passenger seat as she and Ken drove down the highway. She glanced over at him; his face was unreadable, his hair still a mess. He looked completely opposite of the man she had met the night before; the white dress shirt, black slacks and shoes were replaced with a t-shirt, some house slippers, and a pair of grey sweatpants with the crotch hanging way too low for her liking.

  She looked back at the road in front of her and took another sip of her drink. After a moment she cleared . “So, um, thanks for the coffee….”

  “Don’t mention it.”

  An awkward silence passed through the car once again, making Raelyn cross her legs nervously. The lack of underwear was making her chafe painfully, causing her to have to fight back a noticeable cringe. She cursed under her breath, suddenly wishing that she had actually taken the time to look for her missing garment rather than try and run out like she had unsuccessfully done. 

  So much for trying to start a conversation…. She sighed. Why was he even taking her home in the first place? Wasn’t it obvious that she had been trying to run out on him?

  Suddenly her heart jumped. Oh God… what if he didn’t pick up her signals? What if he actually believe that the night before meant something? Oh, God dammit Raelyn, why do you have to be such a man eater…. I mean, he wasn’t even her type! She had better get things straightened out before he attempted to ask for her hand in marriage.
She cleared again, breaking the silence between them. “So, uh… about last night,” She started. She paused to wait for his response, but received none, so she continued. “You see… well… the - it was great and all, but-”

  “Stay away from HongBin.”

  She was taken aback by his sudden outburst, but then smiled cheekily. “Oh, you mean that tall, fine young man back at your apartment?”

  “Yeah, him.” Ken’s eyes left the road for a split moment to glare at her. “Stay away from him.”

  “Why for? I’ve done no harm; all I’ve done is a little flirting.” She raised an eyebrow. “Or is someone getting jealous, hmm?”

  “Let’s get two things straight right now, shall we?” He glared at her again. “One, last night never happened. Two, flirting is fine and all, until you go after my younger brother.” 

  Her eyes widened in shock. “Your… younger brother?”

  “Who has a girlfriend.”

  “...oh.”

  Yet another awkward silence fell over the two of them. After a moment he glanced at her again. “Now,” Ken looked out the driver’s side window quickly, surveying the part of town they had landed in. “Where did you say you lived again?”

  In five quick minutes they had pulled up in front of her house. From the driver’s side he could see the large lawn, which sparked his curiosity; he proceeded to step out of the car and turn around to look back at the house, and was immediately struck with awe.

  Raelyn did a double take over her shoulder when she noticed him getting out of the car. She bit her lip.

  Dammit, he wants to come inside?! She panicked, racking her brain from something that she could do.

  She scratched the back of her head. “So, um… thanks for the ride.”

  “Sure.” His eyes remained glued to the large house.

  She bit her lip. Dammit. “Do you, uh, want to come inside?” She asked. “Since you drove me home, it only seems fair that I should make you lunch, or get you a drink or something.”

  Ken looked at her as if he was just taken out of a trance. “Huh? Oh, uh, sure.”

  God dammit…..

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Raelyn sighed as she transferred the food over to a plate. Great. Now I’m feeding him. Now he’s just going to keep coming back…. She kicked herself internally as she moved out into the living room where he was staring in wonder at the large room.

  “Here you are.”

  “Oh. Thanks.” He said as he took his plate. She sat on the other side of the coffee table with her plate and a fresh cup of coffee. “So do you always allow your guests to eat in the living room?”

  “Not generally.” She replied, handing him a napkin. “But I trust that you won’t get my new carpet dirty, so it’s alright.”

  Ken’s eyes met her’s for a moment, and he snorted slightly. “Of course not. Do you think I’m three or something?” 

  “Taking a look around your house, that could be questionable.”

  “Yah! There is nothing wrong with my house.” 

  “I didn’t say there was.” She said, sipping at her coffee mug. He glared at her, and then grumbled and took a bite out of his food. The bookshelf in the corner caught his eye, and he suddenly remembered the conversation at the bar the night before.

  “So you said you were a novelist, didn’t you?” He asked, making her look up at him in curiosity. She followed his gaze back to the bookshelf before she quickly turned around.

  “Oh, yeah.” She replied, shoving a pile of rice into .

  He motioned towards the shelf. “Are any of those yours over there?”

  She shook her head. “Ani.”

  He blinked a couple times, then motioned to another shelf. “What about those?”

  “Ani.”

  “Why not?” He asked, narrowing his eyes on her. 

  “So you said you were a vocal trainer, right?” She asked. “How does that go?”

  Her sudden change of subject surprised him. He cleared his throat and nonchalantly turned his attention down to his food. “It’s alright. You know… just the usual kind of stuff.”

  “What type of talent do you work with?”

  He shoved a mouthful of rice into his mouth. “The younger ones.”

  “The younger ones.”

   “Yup.”

  “How young?”

  Ken tossed his fork down onto his plate and shot up in his chair. “You’re not a real novelist, are you?”

  “You’re not a real vocal trainer, are you?”

  “I am too!” He defended. “I just work with kids… I’m an elementary teacher….”

  She snorted. “That’s not really the definition of a vocal trainer.”

  His face flushed with anger. “What about you? You’re not really a novelist!”

  dropped in appallment. “How dare you! I am too a novelist!” She scratched her neck. “Just not a renown one….”

  Suddenly the front door slammed open, and in walked a very distressed looking woman.

  "I am so sorry my boss is an and kept me at work all night I didn't mean to skip out on celebrating with you I really wanted to go and now I feel so bad and-" He rambling stopped when she caught sight of the man sitting in her chair. "Who is this?"

  Raelyn felt her mucles tense. Oh , I didn't think she'd be home so soon! "Um, Lucca, I'd like you to meet, uh, an old friend of mine."

  "Who is he and why is he in my chair?" The woman pushed, her eyes narrowed at the man.

  Raelyn cleared and stood up. "This is Lee JaeHwan; he and I knew each other back in middle school." She looked over at Ken, but instead of taking the lie over he just stared up at the woman, frozen in shock. Raelyn did everything in her power not to take her shoe and chuck it at his head in anger.

  "...uh-huh." Lucca replied.

  Ken studied her; her red hair was in a lopsided bun on top of her head, her shirt was buttoned up incorrectly, and her sweatpants were sagging slightly to her left. This along with the bags under her eyes and furrowed eyebrows were a sure sign of a long night's work. She seemed to be almost exactly opposite of Raelyn - he had never seen anything more beautiful in his life.

  Suddenly he cleared his throat and stood up. "Lee JaeHwan." He repeated Raelyn's introduction with a deep bow to her. "But you can call me Ken."

  "Ken, huh?" Lucca looked him over, studying every inch of him from his messy bedhead to his baggy sweatpants. After a moment she shook her head with a laugh. "I was wondering who's car that was parked in front of the house. Where are my manners?" She bowed back to him. " Lucca Fure. But you can just call me Lucca."

  "Lucca...."

  Raelyn frowned in disgust. Oh God, gag me.

  Lucca looked over at the table, frowning when she saw the two plates. "You didn't make anything for me?"

  "Of course I did!" Raelyn replied. "It's just still in the kitchen."

  She hurried off to prepare Lucca's food, leaving her and Ken alone in the living room.

  Once Raelyn was gone, Lucca looked to Ken. He was chewing gently on the inside of his bottom lip, his eyes focused on her. 

  "Don't let your food go to waste." Lucca laughed as she gestured to the plate that was sitting in front of him. 

  "Ah, right." He smiled coyly as he sat down, unable to believe that someone so pretty was standing before him. Whatever he had gotten himself into, he was starting to like where it was ending. "So where do you work?" Ken asked, trying to get her to speak more to him, the sound of her voice sweet like honey for his ears. 

  Smiling slightly, Lucca grabbed her hair, pulling at it gently as she made her way to the couch, not bothering with trying to get him to move out of her chair. "I work at the animal hospital. I'm the assistant vetrinarian, so I get called in all the time, which is what happened last night, otherwise maybe we would have met sooner." She tilted her head slightly, the loose bun flopping over, her gaze meeting his.

  "Hmm. That would have been nice, but meeting now is alright too." He nodded, finding himself getting lost in the gorgeous deep golden brown eyes that were studying him now. "Why did you get called in last night?"

  "Oh, one of the animals we were going to do surgery on today needed emergency assistance, and I was the only one who wasn't out of town last night." The surprise of him asking was evident in her voice, but she shook her head. "Not only that, but then my boss is a , so he told me I had to stay with the animal all night until someone else came to work." She chuckled, a playful smile tugging at her lips. "Not that you really want to hear about my work problems."

  Ken shrugged, taking a bite out of the food he wasn't really interested in anymore. "I'm listening. It sounds like something you need to talk about."

  "Or something that's just a broken record." Lucca muttered, looking away from him. 

  "You know where I work?" Ken asked, turning his head to her. "With little kids, teaching them how to sing. Nothing could sound more like a broken record more than me." He grinned broadly when she looked at him.

  Right as Lucca was about to say something in return though, a plate of food dropped in front of her on the table.

  "He's not an really, but still." She said, referring back to her boss. 

  Raelyn cleared as she promptly sat herself between the two by the arm of the couch. "Are you almost done?" She asked, a forced pleasant tone in her voice as she looked at him. 

  "Yes." He glared at her, taking a bite of food and shoving it in his mouth. Ken had to fight the urge to look around Raelyn now that his vision of Lucca was obstructed by the shorter girl in the way. 

  "I'm sure that you have work to do soon, don't you?" Raelyn asked, trying to make sure she was as much in the way as possible, keeping Lucca from actually looking at Ken as well. 

  Sighing, Ken finished his food, setting the plate aside. "I guess I do...." He stood up, looking at Lucca now before he put his shoes on, grabbing the jacket he had set aside. "It was nice meeting you, Lucca~" he called with a smile plastered on his face. 

  Raelyn rolled her eyes as Lucca exchanged a similiar farewell. Standing up, she went to the door, opening it.  "Goodbye, Ken." She stated, holding it open, waiting for the man to leave. 

  "Goodbye." Ken barely even glanced at her, a hard edge in the word as he turned to leave. His eyes met Lucca's once again before he pulled on his jacket and left, zipping it up as he walked down to his car. 

  Closing the door, Raelyn let out a breath, looking at Lucca now. 

  "He doesn't seem too bad, maybe he can come around more often." Lucca stated nonchalauntly as she took a bite out of her food. 

  Smiling grimmly, Raelyn tried not to show her disaproval in this statement. "Right...."

Or not.