Hara blinked lazily as she trudged after her sister and the new permanent fixture in her life, Heechul. Groaning to herself she let her mind drift off while she walked down the sidewalk.

            It’s too early, why am I so tired, she yawned and sat down on a bench. Sohee had already disappeared down the street leaving her with no one to force her to go to school. I’ll just… sit here for a bit, Hara closed her eyes and leaned her head back.

 

~~

 

             “Hey boss?”

            “Hmm,” the man flicked his eyes towards the boy near the door.

            “There is some… cosplayer or something napping in our territory. I figured it might cause trouble. I mean she doesn’t look like she’d start it but…”

            He raised one of his brows, “she?”

            Junhyung squatted beside the wooden bench and stared at the girl; sure enough she was passed out. He could understand why the boy who found her thought she was a cosplayer; there were wings sticking out of the back of her school uniform. However, either something was off or his eyes were playing tricks on him because those wings were passing right through the bench. Shaking his head he sighed and rolled back on his feet, he didn’t really want to bother with her but it would be bad if something happened while she was asleep.

             “Hey,” he stuck out his hand and poked her in the side, “hey, winged chick… wake up.”

            The girl jolted and sat upright, her wings instantly disappearing, “who are you?”

            Junhyung clicked his tongue and stood up, “try not to fall asleep just anywhere. It’d be terrible if something happened to you.”

            Hara narrowed her eyes at him, “is that a threat?”

            “Pft, no,” Junhyung laughed and waved, “bye, Wings.”

            “Wait, what?” She hopped up and followed after him, “what do you mean?”

            He flicked his eyes back, unperturbed that she was following after him, “well, my lackey seems to think you’re some kind of cosplayer but apparently he lacks the brains to tell the difference.”

            Hara grumbled to herself, Sohee always said something like this would happen since she’s always in a daze. There wasn’t really any way of playing this off as a mistake or a trick of the mind.

            “You’re not bothered?”

            “Not really, I mean it is odd but I’ve seen stranger and worse,” he continued down the alley until he reached the metal back door of a building. Hara glanced around; shifting on her feet while Junhyung unlocked and opened the door.

            “Well, uh… this is me,” He smiled half-heartedly.

            “What’s your name?”

            “Junhyung.”

            “I’m Hara.”

            The corner of his mouth twitched into a smirk, “bye, Wings.”

 

~~

 

            “Sohee,” Hara shook her sister awake. The other girl rolled over and pulled her alarm clock towards her, “oh my god, I still have 30 minutes to sleep. What do you want?”

            “I’m heading out, alright?”

            “I don’t care, Hara. Let me go back to sleep.”

            Hara pouted and slung her back over her shoulder, Sohee would kill her if she knew how much school she’d been skipping. But, half asleep Sohee had the memory of a turnip.

            She made her way to the subway and down the streets, same as the many days before. The string of buildings were all unique, standard of this part of town where clubs were prolific.  A few streets down was a large industrial building she’d become accustomed to visiting. It was a plain building, nothing special, but at night it lit up.

            Hara pulled the heavy door open and stepped inside, “Junhyung!”

            “Yep ‘m up here,” Junhyung waved from the banister on the second floor, “you’re here early today.”

            “I have ballet tonight so I have to leave here earlier than normal.”

            “Wow, dance with your horrible coordination?” He laughed and leaned over the banister, “that’s not something I ever imagined.”

            She stomped up the stairs and threw her bag at him, “ballet is the only thing that I don’t totally fail at. Cant you just give me that?”

            “Okay, okay, but you gotta admit you’re a klutz.”

            Hara shrugged, “yeah well, with my cool wings comes my unfortunate spastic nature.”

            “Mm, yeah. That is unfortunate.”

            Hara followed him into the VIP room, “doesn’t it bother you?”

            “What’s that?” Junhyung leaned against the bar and began mixing himself a drink.

            “Well,” Hara started counting things off on her fingers, “I managed to knock over that whole shelf of champagne, I broke the turntable, I managed to set off the alarm by going out the emergency exit which called the cops and shut the club down for the night…”

            “It’s hard to believe you managed to do that in only a week.”

            “And I tripped and fell down the stairs,” she continued, “and ended up falling on Yoseob spraining his ankle.”

            Junhyung laughed, “yeah, he’s still angry and pouting about that.”

            “See what I mean though?”

            “Yeah, I guess that would get annoying. But, things are usually on par with that around here. If someone’s not getting into a fight, another is doing drugs in the bathroom or god knows what else.”

            Hara frowned, “you cant expect much when in your line of work.”

            “Mm, which one?” Junhyung sprawled out on the armchair in front of her, “the dangerous one or the illegal one?”

            Hara burst out laughing, “are you insinuating that running a club is more dangerous than organized crime?”

            “Oh, far more. Speaking of which, how come you don’t have any problem with what I do?”

            Hara pursed her lips, “it’s not like you’re a bad person.”

            “Oh, really?”

            “Of course not, when we met, you woke me up so nothing would happen to me right?” Hara tapped her fingers together, “even if it wasn’t ‘out of the kindness of your heart’ you could have left me there for something to happen. But that’s not who you are, no matter what organization you’re involved with. You wont let anything happen to an innocent person.”

            Junhyung laughed, “you really think you know me, don’t you?”

            “Nah, just inferring.”

            “He’s really a fluffy, good guy,” Yoseob smirked as he hobbled up the stairs, “here’s the write-up from last night’s profits. I’ll shoo so you two can go make kissy face.”

            “Shut up, Yoseob.” Hara chucked a pillow from the couch at him, “want me to hurl you down another flight of stairs?”

            The boy made a face and retreated downstairs.

            “That’s not very ladylike,” Junhyun tipped his drink back, “so, wanna tell me why you spend so much time here? It’s not the wonderful ambiance.”

            “I wanted to know more about the guy who saved me,” she sarcastically placed her hand over her heart, “but I’m glad I did.”

            Junhyung rolled his eyes, “shouldn’t you be in school?”

            “What? You don’t want me around anymore?”

            “No… but I’m not interested in fueling the damaged youth of today,” he grabbed her arm and pulled her up from the couch, “I’ll ban you from the building if you keep skipping. You are not allowed to come in this building until after 4pm. Got it?”

            She huffed, “fine. I get it. Don’t get all high and mighty now.”

            “See you after your ballet thing,” he waved as she trudged away.   

 

~~

 

            “Good job everyone,” the dance teacher clapped her hands, “careful on your way home!” Hara pulled a dress on over top of her dance outfit and scurried out to the street, hoping to catch the train in time. It wasn’t quite at the peak hour for the club, but the building had started its transformation and a few people were waiting outside.

            “Back again?”

            “Hey Kikwang,” she smiled, “ready for the miscreants tonight?”

            “Oh, you know it!”

            Inside the club the DJ was setting up his things and testing the sound system. Yoseob was busy organizing bottles of alcohol and setting up glasses. Junhyung was probably up top in the VIP room, like usual.

            “Junhyung,” she pushed the door open, “when do the doors open?”

            He glanced back at her, “about an hour. How was dance?”

            “It was fun,” she grinned, “we have a performance coming up in a month, you should come.”

            “Sure, but only if you let me drink first.”

            “That’s so mean,” she pouted, “why are you always so mean to me?”

            “Why do you stick around if I’m so mean?” He teased, “you must like being around here for some reason.”

            Hara blushed and hid behind her hair, “c-crazy.”

            “Ooohhh that’s it, isn’t it? You like someone here don’t you?”

            “You’re an idiot, Junhyung,” she glared at him and clenched her fist, her wings flaring up momentarily, “you need to reflect.”

            She grabbed her things and stomped out of the room and down the stairs, “.”

 

~~

 

            Junhyung frowned and stared at the spot where Hara had been earlier, granted they hadn’t known each other a very long time she’d never acted like that before. It was loud downstairs, he must have been lost in thought longer than he realized. He clattered down the stairs and approached the bar, banging on the counter to attract Yoseob’s attention.

            The boy nodded and finished making the current drink, “what’s up? Why did Hara storm out earlier?”

            “She called me an idiot when I asked why she stuck around so much.”

            Yoseob lowered and shook his head, “you really are an idiot. I feel so bad for that girl.”

            He turned his attention away from Junhyung and started mixing drinks again, “I mean, I know you’ve not had much interest in other people but you have got to have some social skills. Cant you even slightly understand what she’s trying to tell you?”

            Junhyung furrowed his brow and shrugged, “that she likes someone here?”

            “Good, good,” Yoseob clapped sarcastically, “and who might that be? Who does she spend most of her time with?”

            Junhyung leaned over the counter; “I guess she spends the most time with me.”

            “Mmhmm,” Yoseob handed over a drink to a girl, “you’re getting there.”

            “Wait,” Junhyung leaned back, “you’re saying she likes me?”

            “Ding. Ding. Ding. We’ve got a winner. God, you really are stupid.”

            “Don’t say that to your boss,” Junhyung smacked the back of Yoseob’s head, “get back to work.”

            Yoseob rubbed his head before turning back to the customers.

 

~~

 

            After about a week of keeping her distance from Junhyung and the club she couldn’t take it anymore. Either he would get it or not, staying away wouldn’t change that. Plus staying at home was stifling with her mother on one side and Sohee and Heechul on the other, there was no room to breathe.

            Hara pulled open the door to the club and glanced around, “hello?”

            The building looked empty, Yoseob wasn’t at the bar and the DJ wasn’t at the back of the room. She sighed and trudged up to the VIP room hoping someone was here. Even if it wasn’t Junhyung, they could tell her where he was. The glass door was opened and Junhyung was lounging on the couch. A feeling of relief and nervousness washed over her the second she saw his face.

            “Hara,” he mumbled, “how nice of you to show up. What’s it been? Six, seven days?”

            “You’re mad at me?” She shot him a look of disbelief.

            Junhyung set aside the stack of papers he was looking at, “well you just disappeared and it’s not like I know how to contact you.”

            “Yeah, well, maybe if you actually cared you would have thought to ask,” she pouted.

            Junhyung took a deep breath and patted the cushion beside him, “come sit down.”

            “I’m sorry I am difficult. I don’t understand people very well, emotions and signals even more so. I am not the sharpest, I admit that.”

            “Okay?” Hara was confused; this conversation didn’t seem to be going anywhere.

            He gently reached out and took her hand, “I’m not good at showing my emotions either. So I apologize for being so dense. Please answer my next question truthfully otherwise I’ll get very confused.”

            She nodded.

            “Do you like me?”

            Hara blushed and dropped her head.

            “Is that a yes?”

            “Idiot, yes I like you.”

            Junhyung smiled, “I’m glad. Otherwise the gift I got for you would be a little over the top.”

            He pulled out a box and handed it to her, she opened it and gasped. It was a delicate silver charm bracelet already adorned with three charms; a pair of ballet shoes, a small heart and a pair of butterfly wings.

            “Y-you got this for me?” The blush on her face deepened, “but-but why?”

            “Obviously because I like you, too.”

            “Even though all this… stuff happens around me?”

            “Of course, after all you’re the perfect match for me. You’re use to dealing with horribly annoying situations, and I’m always involved in horribly annoying situations. You find me interesting even though I am the way I am.”

            “Hey boss, gonna get things going for tonight,” Yoseob poked his head into the room, “oh, hey. You finally gave her it.”

            “You know, Hara, he got that for you before this whole incident,” Yoseob added before darting out of the room leaving Junhyung blushing beside Hara.