"Hey!" someone wakes me up in a startle, and I open my eyes but breathe hard. I am sweating, and my heart is beating so fast. "Dad! Aren't you working today?" Hajoon makes me whirl around and brings me back to life.

"I..." I have a hard time waking up to the full, looking down at my body, and making sure I have my blanket over me. "What time is it?"

"It's six thirty, you're gonna be late," he tells me, and I freak out. I cannot believe I did not get woken up by the alarm I set last night. "I'm coming. Just...just go downstairs and stay with your little brother, I'm hurrying up," I do not leave my bed, still feeling hard. "Okay. Are you fine?" he frowns at me, noticing the state in which I am. "Yeah, just a nightmare."

"Okay," he walks out of my bedroom with some disbelief, and I wait for him to close the door to pull the blanket down. My teeth squeeze my bottom lip once I see my pants. This dream could have ended a bit later, I feel so much frustration right now.

A sigh slips out of my mouth, and I leave my bed to make my way to my bathroom right away. I take my pants off and get in the shower to clean that off and hurry to wash my body.

What the hell just went through my head? I do not know how I am going to face y/n after this wet dream. I did not have that in a while, but damn, this felt so good.

10 minutes later…

I walk down the stairs at a fast pace to not waste any more time and risk being late. "Good morning, Hyuk. I’m sorry for not waking up on time," I greet the young boy who is already here, and he bows to me. "It’s fine, Mister Jeon. Don’t worry."

"Are you driving me to my workplace or I go on my own?" Hajoon asks me, sipping on some juice. I take a look at my watch while grabbing some food for later. "I can drive you to a certain point but not drive the whole way there," I tell him and put everything in my bag, putting some cold food in my mouth to not leave on an empty stomach. "Okay," he steps towards his little brother and pecks his cheek. "See you, buddy," he ruffles his hair and heads to the front door, looking relaxed when I am in a panic. "See you, bro!" he says goodbye to Hyuk, and this one answers with the same words. I quickly press a kiss on my baby’s cheek to say goodbye, and I rush to the door that Hajoon already passed by to get out. I take my jacket without putting it on, and I shout a ‘have a good day, Hyuk’, before stepping out.

I unlock the doors of my car to let my son enter it, and I join him in short seconds. I think this never happened to me. I have never been late to work before.

"Are you sure you’re okay?" he asks, feeling like I am in a bad state. "I am," I turn the ignition off and leave the front yard, finally, I am now going on the road to his school. "How was it with y/n last night?" he questions me about it like I anticipated him to. "Good. She’ll quit her job and let me pay her, so this is great."

"Does that mean she’s going to live with us?" a moment of excitement overwhelms him, but I calm him down against my will. "No, or not yet. She has to talk about it with Hyuk."

"Why?" he does not understand, making some loud and annoying noise with his juice. "Because I cannot fire him out of nowhere, but I cannot pay them both for a job."

"Oh, true. I didn’t think about that," he gets it. I really need to focus on the road and stop replaying that dream in my head. This is not right.

"Oh, by the way," he keeps his eyes on his phone. "Has y/n told you about that Jay guy?" he mentions someone I do not know, and my brows furrow. I shake my head and peek at him. "No. Who’s that?"

"From what she told me, he’s into her and they’ve been flirting with each other these days…so I don’t know…" he reveals, and my mood changes in no time at all. She never talked about him, he must be lying. "She never mentioned him once to me."

"She did with me, but I asked her if she talked about it with you since you’re both…you know…very close, and she said that she’d rather not say a thing yet because she’s unsure. She doesn’t want to say that this guy is a potential boyfriend in case he might not want to say the same. But anyway, I asked her if she could visit us this Wednesday, and she told me that she will be with him all day long, so she can’t, but I wanted to know if you’d mind inviting them both?" his sentence barely remains in my head the more his words are following each other and engendering undeniable jealousy. I tongue my inner cheek, my body reacting for me. "I don’t know him. I don’t like to invite men in my house, especially when they’re strangers."

"But he’s a-"

"Is that the reason why you asked me if I would be hurt if I ever got to know that y/n has someone?" I run my fingers over my neck, scratching one spot. "You already knew she was close to that guy?"

"I…maybe…" he answers, and my heart does not have the reaction it should have. I do not have the right to be mad or against it, but this hurts like hell. "Hm. Okay," I do not say anything more about this, not willing to talk about this any longer. "So? Your answer?"

"No, I don’t want a random guy in my house," I refuse, and he does not bother asking any more questions.  "Anyway," I stop the car. "I cannot drive you any further, so take this bus and don’t go by foot," I tell him, feeling the ache in my chest for no good or acceptable reason. "Okay, thank you though," he holds his bag, and he opens the door on his right to get out. "Have a good day, love you," he puts his bag on his shoulder, and I tell him the same words before seeing the door close. I watch him go up to the bus stop, and once I know that he is safe, I go back on the road to head to my office.

•••

7:05 am.

I enter my office with five minutes of lateness, my patients already waiting. I feel horribly bad, and this has not started well already, I feel like I am going to see every minute slowly go by and never end.

Once I am inside my office, I put my stuff down on my desk but take a look at my phone since I received a text some minutes ago and did not see it.

This is from my son.

< I told you this would hurt you and make you jealous:) it wasn’t true. That jay guy is not real ]

[ what are talking about? >

< I made this up to prove you im right. Youre jalous and hurt because you thought she had another guy. ]

[ I’m going to kill you. I swear you better be ready because once I’m be home, you will remember to not do this type of thing again my boy >

< im not going home then ]

I do not answer him since I have to work now, and I get out of my room, go down the stairs, and get towards my patients to call the first one.

•••

5:20 pm.

[ I’m going to y/n’s house, but I’ll be there to kick your ass afterwards >

I text my older son to let him know as I just parked in front of y/n’s house after sending her a message in case she would be busy, but he already answers me.

< please no. I just wanted to show you that you love her and wouldn’t stand to see her date another guy! This all happened because you denied it! ]

[ Swear that this guy is not real >

< he’s not. She hasn’t talked about another guy but you, I swear on Hyejoon ]

[ don’t say that. You know I hate it >

< I just know this is the only way for you to believe me and not be scared that it might be true ]

[ yeah, but swear on me instead then >

< alright lmao. I will ]

[ Whatever. I’m going to stay here a little, you can order some for but cook for Hyejoon please >

< ok, see you later ]

I lock my phone and put it in a pocket of my trousers, take my keys, and I leave my car to walk up to her house. I am eager to see her, but the wet dream of this morning has been staying on my mind the whole day, and what my little brat of son said made me realize that I should not let the time drift us apart again.

I knock on the door when I stand before it, and she opens in only a few seconds. My heart is beating fast. "Hey," she greets me in a grey, knitted sweater dress, with her soft and angelic smile, and I return it. "Hey," I come in, and she closes the door behind me, so I take my shoes and jacket off.

"How are you doing?" I ask her, noticing how happy she seems. "I’m fine, and you?" she waits by my side, and I turn towards her, remembering the dream I had of her, what was happening, what position she was in. "I’m fine too," I do my best to not seem cold or distant, and she goes to the kitchen. "Are you thirsty or hungry?" she opens the fridge. "Kind of, yes," I do not lie, my stomach rumbling.

"Do you want some water, beer, orange juice, or milk?" she looks at what she has in her fridge, and I inch closer to her. I stand behind her, but she gazes up at me. "A beer, please," I ask for, and she takes two of them out. She puts them down on the kitchen counter and opens a cabinet, but she gets some snacks out. "I haven’t cooked yet," she looks at me with the can of Pringles in her hand. "It’s fine, I like snacks too," I smile and move to the sofa with her. We both sit down, and she opens the beers while I am already digging in the Pringles.

"So, how was your day?" she sips on the drink and hands mine to me, so I do the same, and we eat as well. "It was okay," I avoid telling her about this morning. "And you?" I can barely look in her eyes, the image of her with the white liquid all over her face messing with me. I gulp the drink down and glance away from her. "It was good. I called my boss to tell him about it, but before I could even tell him, he hurried and said that I was fired, and he hung up…" she explains what happened, and I cannot even believe this guy. "Really? Did he really have the nerves to do that?"

"Yeah, he’s ridiculous," she chuckles about it. "But I called Hyuk as well a few hours ago, and we talked about this whole ‘job thing’. He told me that he needs the money because he's planning to rent a house and not stay with his parents, so I'd rather let him have this job. I'll find another one."

"Oh..." I try to control my disappointment. "I understand. I'll help you to find one then..." I do not act dramatic because of the bad news I felt coming. "Yeah," she drinks some of her beer, and I lean back on the sofa to get more comfortable and not look so tense in front of her. As she seems focused on her drink, I drop my eyes on her clothes. She looks so amazing. Her body does not look the same since this morning, and I hate myself for having those lewd thoughts about such a soft and sweet girl.

As my eyes cannot be taken off of her, she moves forth to eat a few chips, and she lays her eyes on me, getting us to make eye contact. A smile that I cannot prevent from forming on my face ruins the moment and forces me to look away. "Can I ask you a question?" I rub my hands together and straighten my back, and she nods to me, her body coming closer to mine. "Have you...ever done anything intimate with a man before me?" I wonder. After this morning, my head has been raising my curiosity. "You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but I just thought about this."

"I never did," she replies without any bother but makes me understand that the chances of her being a virgin are very high. "Okay, I was just curious," I conceal the satisfaction I got from this. This maybe does not mean anything to her, and she probably would not understand why this is great to me, but knowing that I will be her first, if she still wants me as a partner, provokes a lot of contentment in me. "Why did you suddenly think about that?" she puts her drink down, her legs moving to the side but getting her knees in contact with my left one. "I don’t know, just a thought that went through my head."

"All right then," she chuckles but takes my lie. I would like to tell the truth, but I cannot. I do not want her to know that I dream about her, let alone this kind of dream. "I never did because first, my father always forbade me to date a boy, so I rejected all the ones who asked me out until I was nineteen. I would always feel guilty if I was too close to a boy, I'd feel like I'm doing something bad, so that stayed until I was nineteen and became an adult. Now, I don't care about what he thinks anymore," she stands up with her empty can, fixing her sweater dress. I do not permit myself to check her out from behind, so I lower my gaze down to my hands, and she walks to the bin in the kitchen.

"He must have tried to protect you, but way too much," I do not defend him but only see the point of this. "I guess," she comes back next to me. My eyes stay focused on her, wanting her to not look away. I lick my lips and bend over to place my forearms over my lap, and I brush my thumb over my skin as she does not seem to want our eye contact to break either. I smile but bring my look down to her lips. "What are you going to do tomorrow?"

"I don’t know yet. Look for a job, probably," she answers, fidgeting on her spot with her hands between her thighs. "What about you? What will you do after work?" she returns the question. "Come here, if you allow me to do it," I cannot help my delight, and she expresses the same. "You can come whenever you want, but don’t waste too much of your time here. Hyejoon and Hajoon need you a lot."

"Don’t worry about them, they’ll understand why I spend some time here," I attempt to take her concern away. "I wonder why…" she pretends to no know only to hear me say it, so I do not keep it to myself, I let her know. "I missed being close to you, seeing you, and all that stuff, so I want to devote some time to you. This is important to me."

"It means a lot to me," she moves her head down. "What are you going to eat for dinner?" I take some more time to stay by her side, and she does not give me any signs of bother. "Some steak. I've been craving that this week."

"Oh, you're going to eat well then. That's good," I envy her given the taste I know this will have, and she confirms my thoughts. "I can give you some if you want, I bought a lot of it because there was a discount so..."

"No, it's all for you, I want you to eat all of it and cook nutritious meals with it," I do not let her give me that meat, knowing steak is not the cheapest type. "Eat vegetables and carbs with it, okay?" I lay my hand on her thighs, but her legs clench at my touch, and I understand what her body feels, but she smiles at me. "Okay, Doctor Jeon. I will, but make sure to eat well too."

"I will," I skim my thumb over her soft skin, and I remove my hand. "I'm going to have to go home, but I'll come back tomorrow. Is that okay?"

"Yes," she nods right away, making me understand she likes me to be here. "Fine, then...I'll probably be here at the same hour. I'll text you so that you know anyway," I stand up, and she follows me. "All right."

I make my way to the front door without being fast since I am not eager to leave her. I turn around once I am there, and I look down at her features. "I thought about something," I lick my lips and slide one of my hands in a pocket of my trousers to run the other through my hair. "And I'd like to ask you a question."

"Go ahead," she acquiesces, and I tell her what is important to me, what has been taking a toll on me. "I...I wonder how you feel with me now. I just want to hear from you how it feels like when I'm with you now that we saw each other again after a long time."

"I feel good," she does not think twice before speaking, gazing into my eyes with her sparkly and gorgeous ones. "I still feel as good as I used to in the past. Nothing has changed...it's just...kinda...even stronger."

"Even stronger?" I tilt my head, listening with close attention. She shrugs and holds her hands behind her back. "Yeah...A lot stronger. I can't explain."

I stare at her without glancing away, thinking about those words, knowing what they mean and the hints they send me. I do not want to lose her again, I do not want to let us act distant the way we have been doing for a whole year anymore. I am happy now, I feel better mentally and physically, so this is time to shoot my shot and not miss this luck.

I nibble on my inner lip as the tension in the room is heightening because of me, and I let my words escape me. "Do you still love me?"