Chapter 7

I walked him to the passenger side door, and opened it for him. He climbed into my 15 year old Toyota Corolla. I then opened the trunk and put his luggage that his manager had brought for him throughout the night. I slammed the hood and took a deep breath. "Rina you can do this." I opened my door and turned on my car, looking over at Tae Woo. At this moment I noticed a few things. The first was Tae Woo actually grinning from ear to ear. He looked absolutely adorable like a little child who had gotten his first lego set. The second thing I realized was that I need to clean my car. The car was dusty, the windshield covered in streaks and dust. There were protein shake cartons on the floor, mingled with important papers, and other trash. I cracked a slight smile, hoping he would take pity on me. "I work a lot, and drive a lot. I'm sorry the car isn't cleaner."

His smile remained unchanged, "I don't care, I'm just glad to know you had weaknesses. I was starting to think I could never break you." I let the comment roll off my back, you will not break me I thought. I turned the key, and started the car. I saw fire in his eyes and started putting everything together. "Do you drive, I asked him?"

He shot his eyes at me and frowned, "No I don't. I don't think I've ever ridden in the passenger seat either." I patted him on the shoulder, why did I pat him? What am I doing? "When you are with me, you can ride in the passenger all you want. I mean it's just me so I've never had anyone to drive with." I tried to make him feel better but then it came out wrong. "I mean I've driven with people before, and I have my dad. I'm not alone in life, I just mean I live alone." Tae Woo's eyebrow snuck up high on his head as he looked at me tumble all over my words. I blurted out, "I'll teach you how to drive!" He snuck a smile, and now I had to win this conversation. "Only if you are a good boy while I am watching you." He smiled brighter, did that not bother him? He grabbed my hand that was patting his shoulder still and held it cupped around his. "Rina, I would seriously love that." We drove like that, holding hands in silence. It felt like the shortest drive to my apartment I had ever taken.

I got out of the car, opened the trunk, and started to grab his suitcase when two hands were on top of mine. "I'll get it, it's mine. I'm not totally an invalid." "I still expect you to wait on me hand and foot though." He grabbed the suitcase holding it and smirked my way, "So which way to my new home?" I think he is having way too much fun with this.

I unlocked the door and told him to make himself at home, that I needed to make a call real quick outside. I called my boss and let her know that I wouldn't be able to make it to work in the next few days but I can work all of my shifts starting next week. She said she would look for coverage and text me if she couldn't find it. I hung up the phone and entered my house. Last night I was caught off guard, I never got a moment to think to myself, 'Rina you can't bring a handsome, famous, man into your house, you haven't cleaned in weeks.' Those thoughts entered my head as soon as I saw Tae Woo, sitting stiffly on the couch with piles of albeit clean laundry around him.

I like a simple interior design, and visual clutter bothers me, in theory. I like to say I'm a clean person, in theory. In actuality, I am a slob. I won't put my dishes in the dishwasher until I am out, and I wash my laundry religiously but never seem to fold it and put it back. The only thing clean in my house is my turtle aquarium. I treat my turtles like queens. The rest of the house? The slums. Dread slid onto my face at the front door as I took in the mess before me, I apologized and started running around like a mad woman, putting away the laundry, cleaning the dishes in the sink, and sweeping. After about 20 minutes, I sat down beside Tae Woo, who had been on his phone. "I am so sorry for the mess. You know what? Maybe I should give some of the money back." Tae Woo laughed, "You can keep the money. You seem like an extremely dedicated person. I admire that about you." Damn it. I'm blushing. He admires… me? He didn't even know me 12 hours ago? What the hell am I doing? I need to pull myself together. It was about lunch time and surprisingly I wasn't hungry but he might be, "Are you hungry? Can I cook us something?"

I looked at him for an answer. "Yes, I am hungry, I'll eat anything?" "Anything you say?" I was now walking over to my small but surprisingly mostly clean kitchen and started opening the cabinets. "We have PB&J, ramen, string cheese, oh and of course cereal? I think maybe me and you should go shopping to get some food you like, I don't think you will like any of this." I had my head in a cabinet and hadn't even realized Tae Woo was approaching me. He put his hand on the cabinet door and started to push it closed enough to see my face. "I will like anything you make for me." "PB&J's it is!" I replied quickly before I had a chance to even think of his words. We ate our lunch which consisted of sandwiches, chips, a glass of milk each, and string cheese.

We were watching random foreign travel vlogs, when I started to notice Tae Woo's head bob and his eyes fluttering closed. He must have been very tired, I don't think either of us slept very much last night. I went into my room and grabbed some extra sheets and blankets out of my linen closet and then put them on my bed. I took the old ones to the couch. I gently patted his shoulder and told him he could go sleep on his bed and pointed to the back bedroom. He looked at me quizzically. "Do you have two bedrooms?" I smiled. "No, just the one, but I'll sleep out here on the couch while you are here. I am getting paid a pretty penny to house you." I laughed and tapped him slightly on the shoulder. He did not laugh, he just stared and said, "How could you think I would let you sleep on the couch?" I was honestly confused, how could I not? "You are my guest, guests sleep in the bed? Is this not the same for your culture?" I eyed him thinking I won. "Yes it is but you are a woman, so even if I am the guest you are the one who sleeps in the bed. I wouldn't feel right letting you sleep on the couch." He looked completely serious, and honestly innocent. I sighed, "Please just go sleep in the bed, I am getting tired too. Let's sleep the rest of the day and then go shopping tonight for food." He just stared at me. I felt a shiver down my spine when I saw those shining gold eyes looking me over. I added, "It's Vegas, the stores stay open almost all night, we can shop, come back and make dinner and watch a movie or something. My treat because thanks to you I get a few days off." He finally broke his gaze at the end of my spiel, "Ok it's a date." I tried to tell him no, and stop him but he had already run to my room and closed the door.

I fell asleep quickly, the strain of the night finally rushing to me, the couch was extremely comfortable. When I rolled around it felt like I was actually sleeping on my own bed. I am quite the rowdy sleeper. At some point I awoke and noticed the sun was down. I looked around, I was in my bed and Tae Woo wasn't anywhere to be found. Was that all a dream? I really am crazy. I didn't even have a moment to contemplate reality when the bathroom door opened and Tae Woo came out of the steaming room with just a towel on. "Oh you're awake, I used the shower, hopefully that's okay."