TWO

I stared at my phone wearily. “Why am I over thinking this?” I fumbled with the keys on my phone, constantly typing and deleting messages.

To: Joonmyeon

Hey!

I shook my head, “Way too enthusiastic.”

To: Joonmyeon

You. Me. Project. Tomorrow.

I cringed before quickly tapping the backspace button.

To: Joonmyeon

Come to my house tomorrow.

“Oh dear God, no.” I cried, ruffling my hair in frustration, “Why is this so hard?”

To: Joonmyeon

Can we start the project tomorrow? Like we can meet somewhere and maybe talk about it?

Yeah, okay, that's fine. Safe. Boring. Me.

I burrowed my face into my pillow as I waited for the response.

Five minutes went by and I began to grow more and more anxious.

“Come on,” I smacked myself, “It's a freaking Saturday night. He's out having fun. Don't expect any text messages until tomorrow after-”

I was cut off by a vibrating phone by my face. I immediately sat up and unlocked my phone.

From: Joonmyeon

Sure, can I come over tomorrow?

To: Joonmyeon

Yeah, that's fine. I live between.....

I turned off my phone and set it down to charge, feeling embarrassingly worn out by the short exchange. No one has ever been to my house aside from Lena and Kai. I've always done projects in the library or just exchanged work with others. Why was I letting a stranger so easily into my house? Maybe it's because he has such a trustworthy face. It was very honest and open.

I got out of bed to turn off the lights, my eyes scanning the room. Crap. It was really messy, like really messy. And so with a groan I began to pick up the scattered articles of clothing off of my floor before dumping them into my hamper. As I moved to my desk, I wondered, “Why am I cleaning up? It's not like he's going to be in my room.”

“Doesn't hurt to keep a clean room.” I reasoned, running downstairs to get the vacuum cleaner.

“Cute house.” Joonmyeon commented as he strolled casually into my house as if it were his own. He whistled merrily as he planted himself on to the couch as if he as done this all his life. With a sigh and a silent prayer I shut the door shut.

“Where are your parents?” He inquired, “I ought to greet them first.”

“Work.” I mumbled, “Want anything to drink?” I headed towards the kitchen.

“Coffee?” He made his way towards the fireplace, inviting himself to examine the countless picture frames and holiday cards that stood on top of it.

“Who is this? Your boyfriend?” He called out.

“What?” I peaked my head out of the kitchen to see what he was talking about. He pointed at the picture as he leaned forward to get a better look.

“That's my brother,” I rolled my eyes, “He looks exactly like me.”

“Where is he?”

“College, he is at Princeton for soccer.”

“Nice.” Joonmyeon complemented, “What are your plans for next year?”

“I don't know, I haven't really bothered thinking about college.” I answered honestly, handing him his cup of instant coffee, “Hope you don't mind but I really can't be bothered to make a fresh pot in the middle of the day.”

“Yeah no problem.” He chimed, continuing to look at the picture frames.

“What about you? Where are you headed?”

“Dunno, might go abroad, might stay. Haven't really figured it out yet.”

“Abroad?”

“Yeah, my parents have been bugging me to check out colleges in South Korea,” he rolled his eyes, “They really want me to 'make connections with my heritage' or something like that.”

He sipped his coffee leisurely, “So, let's get started. Where's your room?”

“What?” I stuttered, “Why can't we work here?”

“Because I like to be comfortable when I work.” He stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, “Upstairs right?” With a grin he began to march up the stairs in conquest for my room. I looked on in disbelief, my lips twitching to yell out in protest. I stood dumbly for a few moments, my mind working to process the strange situation. When I finally got my legs to work again I heard an audible 'Ah hah!' followed by the click of a door knob.

I sprinted up the stairs and down the hall towards my room.

“Do you have no manners?” I demanded, crossing my arms as I leaned by my door frame.

“Nope.” He shot me a mischievous eye smile as he continued to raid through my things without permission.

“Can you not snoop?”

“Can you stop being so whiny?” He reciprocated in the same tone, “What do you have to hide anyways? Don't want me to see any ugly granny or something?”

“Let's just start on the project,” I groaned. He hummed in response, still fumbling with the random decorations on my wall as I started up my laptop.

“Getting down to business so soon?” He pouted before joining me on the bed, propping his head up with his hands as his elbows pressed into the mattress. I bit my lip as I looked away, it would have been such an adorable sight i