Why are you crying?

"Rose? What's going on? Why are you crying?" Hajun is suddenly standing behind me. How the hell does he always sneak up on me like that?

And wasn't he supposed to be at the dorms today? He was the least problem I thought I'd need to worry about. I'm already mad at myself enough as it is, and he's just going to rub it in.

Quickly, I wipe away my tears. "It's nothing. I'm fine. Sorry for disturbing you."

Can't he just accept that and leave the kitchen, please? I need to hide the burnt zucchini from him.

However, his gaze follows mine towards the pan, and his nose crinkles. "What is that smell? WOW, you really burned those. You know that eating burned food can give you cancer, right?"

Yes, and a bunch of other diseases. No shit, Hajun.

I might be clumsy and careless, but I'm not stupid.

Well, my boss would probably beg to differ. Right now, he snickers. "Even Jiyoo hyung cooks better than you."

Jiyoo is YouGe's group leader. He's also probably one of the brightest human beings I've ever encountered in life. Apparently, he had been accepted for the med program at SNU - Korea's best university-, being the pride of his family, before he suddenly decided to drop out and pursue music by signing with HA Entertainment, which back then was bankrupt and overall quite a shady establishment. Needless to say, his parents ignored him for two years straight after that, kicking him out and never even bothering to call them. Choosing a risky, creative job over a stable, scientific one is something incomprehensible for the standard, Korean mind.

Of course, now that Jiyoo has become one of the most successful rappers on the planet, his parents feel a lot better about him.

The reason Hajun's mentioning Jiyoo right now is that however intelligent he is, he somehow struggles at simplest of tasks, like cooking.

Great. Just great. I'm still sniffing my tears away. "I'm just such a loser."

Hajun doesn't contradict me but lifts my chin up to his face so that I'm forced to look at him. I try to avoid his intense dark eyes as they analyze my ugly crying face. Either way, it's too late. Every time I think I can't mortify myself more in front of An Hajun, something even worse happens.

At this point, I should stop attempting to save his image of me.

What's the point, if I'll just ruin them the next day anyway?

"It's okay," he says soothingly. "I'll cook for the both of us."

I freeze, wishing he didn't calm as much he does. "What? No, no, you don't have to, oppa."

This is not his job. He's probably even more tired than me. So now, in addition to feeling embarrassed, I feel guilty too.

"It's okay," my boss just says, shrugging. "I haven't eaten yet either. Here, sit on the barstool. And don't touch anything anymore, okay?"

Sheepishly, I nod and follow his instructions as he hands me a tissue.

"Thanks," I mumble.

Silently, I watch him as he pulls out some new vegetables and more pasta since the one I made is now overcooked as well.

All that food going down the drain. I hate wasting food.

"Have you calmed down?" Hajun asks amusedly after a couple of minutes.

I nod, and he looks up at my face to see whether or not I'm lying. But I'm not. There's something incredibly soothing about watching someone else cook. Focused and in their own world.

"What are you doing here?" I then ask hesitantly. "I thought you were at the dorms."

"Today exhausted me, so I came here for some peace and quiet," he responds while cutting the vegetables.

So he came here for some peace and quiet and instead he got me, his hysterical assistant. Wonderful.

"You always seem surprised whenever I'm here." He carries on. "Rose-ah, you are aware this is my apartment, right?"

Hajun's right. Whenever he's here, I do ask him why. Now that I ponder it, it might seem kind of rude. Especially since he is the one letting me live in a condo I couldn't even afford in my wildest dreams.

"Sorry," I mumble. "It's not that I do not want you here, it's just that I got used to you living mostly in the dorms."

Besides, whenever he is here, something embarrassing seems to happen to me. So I'd rather have him at the dorms.

"Hmm." He grins. "I might change my mind about that, though. Whenever I'm here, it's so much more entertaining."

Awkwardly, I chuckle to hide my humiliation. "I swear I'm not always like that."

"Like what, Rose?", the young man playfully raises an eyebrow at me. "No idea what you're referring to."

Okay, now he's clearly teasing me. He's enjoying this so much, I can tell. I'm starting to get a little bit annoyed and wish I could tease him back. However, the fact that he's making my food gives him an advantage. If I don't treat him nicely, he might spit on it or something.

"I don't always almost pee my pants because of cats or have a mental breakdown while cooking. I promise I'm sane.", I lamely attempt to convince him.

Hajun's so freaking attractive right now, cooking for me, in his oversized grey sweatshirt. The urge to kiss him is burning through my whole body.

But I'm not naive.

First of all, Hajun's clearly not interested in me. He thinks of me as his crazy, younger assistant who can't get anything right. He probably forgets I'm of the opposite gender most of the time.

Second of all, he's clearly out of my league. Hajun's one of the hottest men in South Korea right now. Maybe even the world. While I'm average at best. Don't me wrong, I accept myself the I am, but I'm also not delusional. I would never compare to Hajun. Never.

Third of all, kissing him would get me fired. On the spot.

And that's just not worth it, especially after all the battles I've had to fight to keep this job in the first place.

"Why would those be bad things, anyway?" Hajun retorts, smiling. It takes me a moment to remember he's still referring to my crazy antics, and not to the consequences of me kissing him.