The Lizard

Yoon-gi's changed since the other night. He's been messaging me a lot, lately. Sometimes a little too often, but whenever he gets busy he would tell me and promise to be right back after.

It's fine because I understand that he's busy and I was also working. He's an idol after all.

When I got out of work, I brewed him an Iced Americano to go and went straight to his studio. He hasn't texted me since this afternoon, and I figured I could visit him.

I called him first, but he wasn't picking up. I knocked on his door first to check.

The door opened and revealed his pale face who just woke up. His eyes squinted, still trying to figure out who I am.

"I brought you coffee," I said, lifting the cup from my hand. "Sorry, I woke you."

"Hello." He said, his voice deep and husky. "It's fine. Come in."

"I haven't heard from you since this afternoon so I thought I'd drop by to see you. What are you working on?" I asked, peeking at his computer

Yoon-gi took the coffee from my hand, sat on his chair, then pulled me to sit on his lap. "I've been working on this song for a while now, and I think I need your input on the lyrics."

He put the headphones on my head and played the song as he sat there drinking his coffee. The rhythm is good and the beat is good for an R&B track, when the song was finished I took the headphones off and placed them on the table, and turned to look at him. "The song is already good, you don't need my input."

"Really?" He asked, and leaned back to his char while snaking his hand to my waist. "I think it's still not enough."

"It's really good, and I like the beat," I assured him, pinching his cheek. "You look like the song sucked the life out of you, have you showered? Had dinner at least?"

Yoongi chuckled, "Sorry, I was too busy with the song and didn't realize the time."

"It's fine, are you done here? Why don't we go home so you could rest?"

Yoongi shrugged, tightening his hug on my waist, "I want to stay like this."

I flicked his forehead with my finger, "you need to eat and shower." He buried his face to my back and shrugged his head. "Want me to come with you? I can cook you dinner while you shower."

"Why don't we also get married on the way?"

"Want me to bash these headphones to your head?"

"Why are you so violent?"

*

*

*

When we arrived in his apartment, I went straight to the kitchen and searched through his fridge while he went to his bathroom to take a shower.

The fridge only contained tofu, some scallions, microwaveable rice, a lot of bottled water, and kimchi. "What kind of fridge is this?"

I heard him got out of the shower fee minutes later as I had finished prepping for Sundubujiggae. A type of spicy soup dish with soft tofu as its main ingredient.

"What are you making?" He asked, still drying his hair with a towel.

"What your fridge could afford to give me. I also ordered some fried chicken."

"I forgot to stock up, I don't usually come home to this apartment. We just stay in the dorm."

"Then what about this apartment?" I asked, looking around.

"Do you want to move here?" He asked.

I pondered, "how much is the rent here?"

"You'll pay half if that's what you want."

"We just started dating and now you want me to live with you?"

"I don't stay much in here anyway, I told you, we stay at the dorms. It's close to your work, the wifi is fast, you get half the rent, and I seldom come home."

"Okay deal," I said in a heartbeat.

"What got you?" He smiled.

"I don't get to see you often." I teased while stirring at the soup. The hurt in his expression made me laugh, "it's the fast wifi."

"So you're going to move here?" He asked, a little enthusiastic.

"I'll thought about it first, which doesn't mean I'm closing the possibility." I said reassuring him, I felt him lean towards me to peak at my cooking and his disheveled kitchen, and then back to me with a judging look on his face. "Yah! I may be untidy when I cook but my cooking could make you fall in love with me."

"I already did." He leaned down, and teasingly dipped his head to my height. He was moving too slow for me so I pecked him on his lips. His eyes widened, a little taken aback and put his finger on his lips.

His doorbell rang, "Don't tease the teaser, Min Yoon-gi. Now, go fetch the chicken."

He walked away from me with his fingers still on his lips looking at me like I just violated him. When he looked back again, I glared at him and gestured to hurry.

***

While I was binge watching on his television, he suddenly threw something sticky and cold to my cheek. "What the--" And then I screamed my lungs out. I touched it first and felt the sticky, cold thing on my cheek as I was screaming at the top of my lungs. Suga rolled on the floor laughing.

"Oh fuck you." I took out the lizard out of my face and smacked it on his.

"I didn't know that you get scared with things like this Hye-Ri." He continued to laugh, taking the candy off his face.

"Who wouldn't scream if you plaster a sticky, cold candy on my face with a fucking lizard?" I saw him start eating the gummy, the evil in me kneeled down to him and ate the head of the lizard until his bottom lip and bit it.

"Ya!" He screamed, while I retreated back to the couch and ate what remained of the poor lizard.

"I didn't know you get scared with lip biting." I said, casually eating the lizard head while watching the television like nothing happened. More movies and hours later, I felt Yoon-gi sleeping on my chest so soundly that I didn't have the heart to wake him. His slow and steady breathing above me made me caress his hair, stroking it with my fingers as he fell deeper in his sleep.

I was afraid to move because I didn't want to wake him from his peaceful sleep and ended up watching him. My fingers traced his eyebrows... his nose... his lips. His lashes quivered a little, then slept soundly again on my chest, matching my quiet breathing.

"Hye-Ri ah." He murmured, putting his arms around my waist hugging me.

"Hmm?" I hummed. I peeked at his face, and saw his eyelids still closed. He must have thought I was taking his hand away. "I'm not going away, love." I whispered in his ear, and continued to caress his hair.

***

"Love." Suga mumbled at his phone while reading Hye-Ri's text that she just got in for work.

"What was that?" His stylist asked, she paused to check on him.

Suga shrugged his head and closed his eyes to continue what she was doing. His phone vibrated again after a few minutes and he quickly scanned it. Hye-Ri has sent him a picture of a cat captioned 'Thought of you.'

Suga replied, saying he'll pick her up after her shift.

|You have tapings today, right? Won't I be a bother?|

|I won't be able to sleep at the apartment today, at least let me take you home.| He replied.

So, when Hye-Ri read the txt, she couldn't contain the smile on her face and her boss saw her from the counter.

"Looks like someone is in love."

Hye-Ri almost dropped her cellphone when she flinched at the sight of her boss.

"Was it Suga?" She asked, smiling like a teenager.

"How did you know?"

"Ahhh it's really Suga then." Her boss laughed, "the kid practically ran when I called Jin that night. He said he was drinking with Suga when the incident happened and boy did he come running in this cafe like a wild cat on loose."

"But, I got that guy pretty hard."

"I know, but you gotta give it to the guy coz he flew straight here." Both Hye-Ri and her boss laughed. "However, Hye-Ri, dating an idol may be a little burdensome... just be patient. Those boys may have a huge fan base but I could see they care about the ones they are with."

"Thank you for the advice, boss. I'll keep that in mind."

"Also, don't get jealous with their stylist... they tend to touch them too much. Selena has never graduated with that." She laughed again, putting her hands to her forehead as if remembering some unpleasant memories.