I knew this was a bad idea, I kept thinking to myself as I held the sobbing baby in my arms, all the while trying, with great difficulty, to make her milk with one hand.

“Ssh, it’s okay, here’s your milk, look it’s almost done see” I said, trying to cajole the baby Mia to stop crying, to no avail. Mia was still wailing and howling seemingly with no intention to stop.

Ugh, this is the worst day ever, I grumbled to myself.

I would have been in the cinemas with my friends, right this moment and enjoying this Friday night if it weren’t for one certain bastard who decided it was fun to blackmail me into babysitting his baby sister. Why you ask? I have no idea. I don’t even have any idea why in the hell I ever accepted this thing. I mean I could’ve just screamed for help right then and there, right? Uhm, I guess not.

Aside from the fact that he threatened to expose my secret crush to Mark (I laughed at that. I mean where the hell did he hear that?), I also heard him talking to his mom on the phone, as I was passing the gym locker room after cleaning the floor, to put back the mop and pail of water in the janitor’s closet (Don’t ask. Long story but just that it consisted of me trying to pull out Soojin’s hair during P.E. class while spouting curses and other colorful language because she so deliberately hurled that ball at me).  Wait, not talking, but arguing. Very loudly. He was shouting about why he has to do things his mother should be doing. And then added that she wasn’t even there when he was a little kid so why should he? It was all very dramatic I must say and I guess you could say that I felt sorry for the bastard.

He stormed out of the room and that’s when he saw me then demanded to never tell anyone about what I heard and then suddenly had the awesome idea to let me do the babysitting. When I refused (because why should I?), he then used the knowledge of my secret crush against me, like he just made the most important discovery of the year. Yeah, he was a total and kind of stupid in a funny and cute way. I wanted to tell him that I no longer even like Mark and that was a long time ago. But I have to admit, I got curious about this guy’s real story. It made me think that maybe there’s more to this popular jock than just what meets the eye. Plus I saw the pained expression on his face as he stormed out of the room, just right before he saw me.

So I decided to go with it. And here I am regretting my decision very, very badly. He was inside his room, I suspect getting ready for a party that I overheard him talk about with his friend on the phone. How convenient for him that he will be able to enjoy his night while I’m here stuck with baby mess that I’m not even responsible of. Ugh.

“Jaebum!” I yelled out, as I tried to soothe Mia who was still bawling, “get down here will you! The baby won’t stop crying.”

I heard footsteps thundering down the stairs and there on the doorway Jaebum appeared, all ready and dressed to go out.

“Wow, you really at this thing huh?” he chuckled, as he saw me struggling with the wailing baby, and the bottle, and trying to clean the spilled milk and powder on the counter, “you look like crap.”

“Shut up, this is all your fault,” I glared daggers at him, trying to shoot lasers into his stupid brain. Yeah, I probably looked like crap what with my messy hair which Mia was pulling and grabbing earlier and the huge stain in front of my shirt. Great, what a way to present myself to a hot guy inside his house. Whatever.

He approached me and took Mia and the bottle out of my arms, “Here, let me take her while you clean up.”

“Huh, so the guy does know how to be nice,” I said, turning to the counter as he walked out of the kitchen.

“And oh yeah, make me some decent food while you’re at it,” he called out in the living room, “I’m starved.”

Okay, I take that back. “I thought you were going out?” I complained.

It was silent for a moment and then he said, “I changed my mind. I’m staying home. Now make me food.” I heard the TV being clicked on.

“Fine,” I grumbled. But my serving would be bigger. Ha!

I decided on spaghetti since it was the easiest and I was feeling lazy. After a couple of minutes, the food was ready and I put the spaghetti into two bowls, mine being bigger of course.

Amazingly, Mia was no longer crying and I went into the living room to see Jaebum on the couch watching TV with Mia snoring peacefully on his lap.

“Dinner is served your highness,” I said putting his bowl on the glass table in front of him, “how in the world were you able to stop her crying? I couldn’t calm her down for the life of me.”

“Because I’m awesome like that,“ he answered. “And you, my dear, can in no way come close to my epic babysitting skills.”

I stared at him. Not only because he called me my dear (which I swear didn’t affect me at all) but also cause I just really realized just how full of himself he really is. “Then why did you even force me to come babysit in the first place,” I said grumpily. “Besides, calming down a baby is hardly epic babysitting skills anyway,” I added to myself.

He glanced at me and said with a smirk, “Stop whining, it doesn’t fit you.”

What does he mean by that? I wondered. I was quiet then offered, “Here, let me take Mia upstairs.”

He handed her to me, “There’s a shirt upstairs that I left on top my bed. You can change into that if you’d like.”

I blushed. Me wearing his shirt? I wonder what it smells like, I thought. Ew, what was I thinking. Stop it.

After tucking Mia in her crib and changing, I went back downstairs.

He glanced up at me, then turned back to the TV before saying, “That looks good on you.”

I blushed and tried to come up with a comeback but my head started swimming. “Ugh, my head feels like crap,” I groaned as I sat down and leaned my head back on the couch.

He glanced at me, and said, “That’s what you get out of a fistfight.”

“Only because that stupid Soojin totally flung that ball at me,” I glared at him.

He looked at me, now interested, “Wait, so she really did? I’m not surprised the ball hit you, with a large head like that.”

I grabbed the cushion, and started to stand and threw it over his head, “Shut up.” But then I got dizzy again and fell down on the couch.

“Whoa,” he looked at me, now looking serious and eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Just lay down for awhile. Don’t move.” Then he got up and walked up to the kitchen.

“Where are you going?” I called out. After a few minutes, he came back with an ice pack in his hands.

“Here,” he sat down beside me and put the pack on my head gently.

“Thanks,” I muttered. We watched a little bit of TV in silence while eating and when I got bored, I started to get Jaebum to play some board games.

“Come on,” I whined. “Don’t you have some board games around here or something? I’m so bored.” And it’s only 10 PM.

“Quit your whining, Haewon, it’s not attractive on you,” he said playfully.

There he goes again, I thought. “Well, if we’re not gonna do anything anymore, I’m just gonna go home,” I said, starting to stand up. “Mia’s asleep already anyway.”

“Wait,” he stopped me, grabbing ahold of my hand. “Let me show you something.”

He stood up and pulled me through the backdoor and into their backyard. When we got in the middle of the garden, he laid himself down on the grass. He looked up to me and said, “What are you waiting for?”

“This is ridiculous,” I groaned, but lowered myself anyway. I laid down on my back and I saw why he wanted to let me come here. The night sky was filled with numerous bright stars. It was the first time I saw this many stars in the city and it was breathtaking.

“That’s beautiful,” I whispered.

“So are you,” I heard Jaebum whisper. Well I thought I heard him whisper anyway.

I wasn’t really paying attention because I was still so awed at the beauty in front of me (or above me) but I said, distracted, “What?”

There was no answer and I turned my head to the side, just in time to see Jaebum staring at me who quickly averted his gaze. “N-nothing,” he stammered.

And was it just me, or was he turning bright red? Weird, I thought.

“Anyway,” I cleared my throat. “Why did you make me come do this babysitting thing anyway? Since you’re already so awesome like you said.”

He was quiet for some time then he said, “Aren’t you going to ask me questions?”

“Huh? Like what?” I asked.

“From what you heard awhile ago. In the gym,” he said quietly.

“Oh,” I pondered. “I’m not going to ask you anything you’re not comfortable with Jaebum.”

He glanced at me, surprised, then chuckled a little. “You really are something. I mean other people would have spread this right about now. Or bombarded me with questions.”

I looked at him, and as I saw the sadness on his face, I realized with a jolt that this guy must have a lot in his shoulders now even though I couldn’t see it. I suddenly wanted to comfort him or at least cheer him up a little.

"Well, what can I say?" I grinned, trying to be cheerful. "Cause I'm awesome just like that."

Jaebum laughed. "I guess I taught you well."

Silence for a few moments then,

“Hey, you know, I never really liked Mark,” I said. “I mean I did. But it was a really long time ago.”

“What?” He looked at me, shock in his face. I grinned.

 “Great, I just made a total fool of myself. Twice,” he groaned.

“What’s the first?” I asked curiously.

“The other one being you overhearing the little drama on the phone, obviously,” he muttered. “You must think I’m a total loser. Go ahead, laugh.”

I stared at him, shocked that first, he really thought I’m that kind of person and second, that my opinion seemed to really matter in this whole thing.

“You know, for what’s it worth,” I started. “I don’t think you’re a fool or a loser at all.”

He looked at me and we stared at each other for a couple of seconds. Then I turned my head back to the sky, now blushing furiously, and said, “You’re actually pretty cool.. You know, for an arrogant bastard.”

He laughed lightly, “I knew you were going to say that. And oh, you forgot another thing.”

“What?”

“Handsome,” he said then smiled that arrogant smirk of his was back and I can’t help but laugh.

“I’m glad,” I said softly.

“For what?”

That you smiled again. “Nothing,” I replied.

He was still laughing and I don't know why; maybe it's because of the peaceful atmosphere, maybe it's because of the beauty of the stars dotting the night sky or maybe it's just because his laugh sounds really nice, like music but I started laughing softly along with him, as the gentle, cold breeze ruffled my hair causing me to shiver.

He noticed that because he suddenly said, “It’s getting colder. I think this is enough star-gazing for the night. Let’s go inside.”

He stood up and offered his hand out to me. For a moment, I couldn’t do anything but just stare at it. He’s got really nice hands, I mused. Oh crap, now I do sound sick.

“Fine, but I want to buy some ice cream,” I said as I took his hand, standing up.

“You are so stubborn,” he shook his head, laughing a little.

I stuck out my tongue at him and couldn’t help but smile. And as we headed inside the house, I thought this wasn’t so bad at all. We started off as enemies, bickering at each other every chance we could get but here we are now, close enough that, I guess, we can call each other friends. Sure, it’s still a long way to go but we’re getting there. Like baby steps, it's still just the first stage in a long and complicated process but slowly and surely, we'll get there. And in the end, you would see that every little thing, every risk, pain, problem, laughter, is all worth it.

I guess something good came out of that fight and that hour of mopping and cleaning after all, I smiled to myself.

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Sorry, was that too long for a scenario? I'll try to make it shorter next time. Hehe. Anyway, thanks for reading! :D

Comments would be a big help.

-- Angeli XX