You woke up to something poking your leg constantly. You opened your eyes and saw Kibum, in a pink apron, at the foot of your bed jabbing your leg. You moved it out of the way and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of your eyes with the back of your hand. “Good morning! Oh, it’s already 12. Good afternoon then.” He said cheerfully.

“Mmm. Good afternoon. What’s that??” You tilted your head back and sniffed the air. “Smells good!” You gave him a sleepy grin.

“Of course it does!” He looked smug for a moment before his expression became unsure. “But I’m not sure if it’s to your liking.”

You slid off the bed and grabbed his wrist, trying to pull him out of the room. “Let’s go try it! Baby and I are starving!” You patted your belly gently. You heard him chuckle softly as he let you drag him out of the room.

You sat at the dining table and looked on eagerly as Kibum sliced a piece of the pie and plated it before placing it in front of you. You had never tried a pumpkin pie before but it sure did look and smell so mouth-wateringly delicious. The pie still had steam rising from it as it finished cooking not too long ago but you couldn’t wait. You used the fork to cut a portion off before putting it into your mouth. You tasted the distinct taste of pumpkin with hints of pepper and clove. There were bits of meat in it too! You could surely eat this as a meal!

You looked at him with wide eyes. “How is it?” He dared to ask when you just continued to look at him with large eyes.

“It’s delicious! Where did you learn to make this?!” You exclaimed and continued eating.

“From the internet? I used my phone to search for recipes that use pumpkin and came across a pumpkin and meat pie recipe. It looked easy enough so I decided to go with it. I tweaked it a little though, so that I could forgo the pie crust. I’m just glad that you like it.” You could hear the relief in his voice.

“You should have some too! It’s really good. How did you learn to cook?”

“It’s ok. I already had something to eat while I was waiting for this to be done. Don’t worry about me and just eat. And I wasn’t always this good. I picked it up after having to cook for myself and my band members.” A warm smile spread across his face at the mention of his band members.

You couldn’t help but wonder why he was being so nice. You really wanted to find out too but didn’t really know how to go about asking him without sounding rude so you just continued eating the pie and sneaking glances at him whenever you thought that he wasn’t looking. You also realized that he knew almost everything about you but you knew practically nothing about him. You had to resist the urge to bang your head against the table. You could practically hear Soojin’s nagging already.

“Do you have something to ask me or something that you want to say?” He asked when you glanced at him for what must have been the 15^th time.

“N-no. What makes you ask that?” You stuttered.

He raised one of his brows. “You’ve been sneaking glances at me when you think I’m not looking. Am I wrong?” He asked. “So either you think I’m really good looking or you have something on your mind.” He continued when you didn’t deny it. “Plus, you had a really pained expression on your face just now.” He added.

“Smarty pants.” You scowled.

He chuckled. “So are you going to tell me? Or was it really my good looks?”

You rolled your eyes. Sometimes, you really felt like smacking the back of his head. “I was just wondering why you are being so nice to me. No matter how I look at it, I just can’t understand why you would allow me to stay in your house, pay for the groceries, and then even invent your own pumpkin pie recipe just for me. We barely even know each other!”

“Hmm. That’s a very good question. I’m wondering why myself.” You shot him a pointed look, thinking that he was trying to be funny. “I’m serious!” He held his hands up. “I still don’t fully understand it myself. But whenever I’m around you, I just want to protect you and prevent you from getting hurt. After you told me about what happened to you, it just made me want to protect your even more. I know I can be a little overbearingly protective, since my close friends tell me that, but I really don’t mean anything bad, so please don’t be creeped out.”

You nodded. “Ok. I will try and get used to it. But it’s not fair.”

He cocked his head to the side. “What isn’t?”

“Everything! You’re doing so much for me and you won’t even let me contribute or help. And I still barely know anything about you!” You pouted.

“Hmm, would it help if I told you that my family never worries about money?” You raised your eyebrows at him. “Well, yeah. So can you please stop worrying about the expenses?” He said, slightly embarrassed.

“Ok then. But I’m still going to look for a job. I can’t stay here forever and I also have to worry about the little one that’s on the way.” You quickly added the last part when he opened his mouth to protest.

He narrowed his eyes and thought about it for a while. “Let’s compromise on this. I’ll let you work if you promise to stop when you’re in your third trimester, around 7 months. Deal?” You wanted to argue but knew that he was already trying his best to tone down his over-protective instinct and be understanding. That’s why you chose to nod instead and was rewarded with a pleased smile.

“Anyway, back to what we were talking about earlier, ask me anything. What do you want to know about me?” He leaned forward slightly.

“Family?”

“Just my mom and dad. No siblings.”

“Birthday?”

“23^th September. Wait, I want to know this too.” He looked at you expectantly.

“10^th November.” You smiled.

“Ok, next question?”

“Favourite colour?”

“Pink. Yours?” He asked, casually ignoring your surprised look.

“Purple. Best or close friends?” You mumbled.

“Best friend – Jonghyun hyung. Close friends – Jinki hyung, Minho and Taeminnie. They are my members.”

Just like that, you continued to bombard Key with any question that came to you mind and he answered all of them without hesitation and you felt yourself feel so much more comfortable around him. He had told you all about his dream to become a singer and had moved all the way to Seoul by himself in order to fulfil that dream. He spoke of the difficulties he and s faced throughout their training and it reminded you of Junhyung just for a split second, before you pushed him to the back of your mind again. He also told you that his band was going to debut in the early part of the following year if everything went according to plan and that he didn’t know why he was allowed to go on this exchange trip.

He had just asked his manager without hoping for anything, but had surprisingly been allowed to go by the company’s president. But even after he got the approval, he still debated about whether or not to go because he didn’t want to have to leave s and he also didn’t want to fall behind in his training. s had been really supportive though and encouraged him to go since they knew how much he wanted this and knew that he would never be able to go on another exchange after their debut.

You only knew s by their names but just by listening to the way he talked about them, you knew they were really nice people. You were glad that he had just good friends and then you remembered Soojin and jumped up from your chair. “Oh no! She’s going to murder me!” You quickly ran into your room and pulled out your netbook, leaving a very confused Kibum behind at the table.