Haerin

Two weeks ago, that night when Lee Taemin took me to my first flash mob ever, we became some sort of good friends. Well at least that’s what he told me. I don’t know him that much but I do know the basics. It turns out he’s only been staying here for a year and a half and he didn’t want to go back to Korea just yet. I don’t know the reason behind that because it sounded a bit personal when he was sharing his side of the story. Lee Taemin is nice and he’s cool to hang out with. He has the capability to take people’s mind off of things, just like how he can take my mind out of certain matters that I don’t want to think about. But other than that, Lee Taemin is one hell of an annoying guy. He can be a jerk if he wants to be one but he’s…still the good kind of jerk. If that’s even possible.

One day I was working at Payton’s restaurant, washing the dishes and he just came straight into the kitchen door without even minding the gazillion of warnings from the staff that he wasn’t allowed there. He’s pretty badass.

“Hi Sun Haerin,” And that’s one more thing—he likes calling me by my full name which I haven’t decided if it was annoying or not. So far I haven’t reacted violently to it yet.

“Hi Lee Taemin,” I greeted back, “This place is a ‘staff only’ area, you’re no staff,”

“Screw the rules. There’s no fun in that,” He chuckled and leaned on the counter as he watched me was the dishes, which had become quite awkward because I don’t like people observing me while I work. I saw him smile at the corner of my eyes so I stopped what I was doing and turned to glare at him.

“Can you stop that?” I asked.

“Stop what?” He had an innocent smile on.

“Looking at me and smiling like that,” I said, rolling my eyes at him and the faucet again.

And that day ended with me sprinkling water at his face for annoying me with that godforsaken smile and innocent stare. He laughed though and I did think for a second that he’d get mad but he didn’t. Then he came over for dinner too, which my dad loved very much. Lee Taemin is one hell of a good companion. He never shuts up. Surprisingly him and my dad has a lot of things in common, they are both freaks for sports and during dinner, Payton and I kept quiet half the time because they won’t shut up about it. I won’t deny it, having Lee Taemin around was making me feel better. His bright personality just springs up and his existence just notifies the entire place. There was no way you could think of anything else when he starts talking.

My phone buzzed and I was taken away from my short reverie of Lee Taemin. Looking at the caller I.D, I was indeed surprised of seeing his name and his face blink on my screen. I furrowed my brows as I pressed ‘answer’.

“Hello?”

“Hi Sun Haerin,” His soft yet low raspy voice greeted through the other line.

“Hi Lee Taemin,” I greeted back, “It’s 2 in the morning, why are you calling?”

“I’m bored. Do you mind looking out your window?” His question made my brows crease as I jumped up from my bed. Rushing to the other side of my room, I looked out the window and I gaped at the sight of him. He was standing in our backyard, his phone pressed on his ears as his other hand carried something else.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I did not mind whether I was talking loudly than usual. Payton and Dad weren’t around after all, I wasn’t going to disturb anyone even if I yelled.

He smiled and raised the bag full of what seems to be, chips and whatever is still inside, “Let me in now. It’s cold out here,” He said as I chuckled at him but shook my head. I was about to turn my back and get the door but then he stopped me, “Hey. Where are you going?”

“I’m getting the door dummy,”

“What? No, just open your window,” His statement made me stop halfway and go back to the window so I can give him a look if he was serious or not. His face was serious.

“Are you crazy? Who are you trying to be, Romeo? Climbing the balcony or something?”

He just shrugged, “Maybe? Just open the window,”

I did as told and lifted her window up. I watched Taemin hang up the phone and rush to the tree that was standing close to the house. There was a long branch leading up to the roof of the house, near the window of my room. Something told me that he was going to struggle really hard to get to the window though. And I was right.

Taemin did not successfully climb the second trunk. It was almost impossible with the bag of snacks he was carrying and the cold weather outside. None of it was helping. I chuckled at the sight. He’s really cute.

“You know I could just get the door or something,” I told him and he looked up at me.

He sighed in defeat and stopped trying to climb, “Good idea. I’ll just go through the door,”

I laughed and ran downstairs. Leaping to the backdoor, I opened it and I felt the cold wind outside brush through me as I saw Taemin walk towards my direction with a smile on his face. He looked like he just came out of a fashion magazine, with his coat hanging perfectly on him, his dark blue sweater and plain black pants paired up with black boots. Oh and his artfully messy hair, included.

“Hi Sun Haerin,” He greeted with a smile on his face and I stepped aside to let him inside the house, “Are Payton and Woobin around?”

“No they’re going to be in Brooklyn for like the next two days or so,” I answered, closing the door behind me. When I turned around, he was taking his coat off and the bag of snacks was already sitting on the kitchen island, “So Romeo wannabe, what brings you at my house at two in the morning?”

“Hey, for the record that was the first time I failed at it. That tree is ed up. Second, I’m really bored. So I figured why not go here,”

“This is really weird,”

“What’s weird?” He looked at me quite confused, “We’re friends now, right?”

“So you just show up at your friend’s backyard at this hour because you’re bored?” I crossed my arms and looked at him.

He shrugged and turned his back on me, getting the bag of snacks and wal