~Tao~

He couldn't sleep all that night. It bothered him. He couldn't do this, he couldn't, he didn't care who it was, nor did he look. He wasn't a murderer. He laid on the couch, just staring at the ceiling, ignoring all of Haneul's annoying calls and texts, until the sun rose. And when the sun rose, Suri came running up to him and jumped up on his chest, licking his chin for a moment before just calmly laying down on top of him and whining.

"Not now, Suri." He said, his voice sounding more tired then he felt.

He wasn't in the mood for anything, for getting up, for talking, for putting on music, not even in the mood to think about how he screwed up. He wouldn't say he was drowning in self-pity, but he only thought about what he was going to do and how stupid he was for letting it get this far.

He really didn't have any options, he could do it, and hate himself for being so selfish, or he could not do it, and his men would come after him, and then probably finish the job anyway. With the second option, at least he'd have a clear conscience, though he'd probably be beaten to a pulp if not dead. He took a deep breath. This wasn't going to work.

He was scared. He knew he was scared. He knew some of these guys, they already didn't like him. Tao took a pillow from the couch and put it to his face, almost frustrated enough to scream.

Then he heard a knock at the door. He groaned into the pillow, silently hoping whoever it was would just go away. But then he heard the doorbell chime--repeatedly, annoyingly as someone just pressed the button over and over. Suri jumped off his chest and ran to the door barking.

Maybe if he waited another minute, whoever it was would assume he wasn't home.

He waited. Five minutes later, someone was still ringing the doorbell. He groaned and rolled off the couch, throwing the pillow back at it before picking Suri up and yanking the door open. "WHAT?! Gosh, can't you tell when someone wants to be left alone?!"

Tao was surprised to find himself looking down at Min-hee, who just stood there, hand up by the buzzer like she was ready to ring it three million more times. She looked cute, a red plaid skirt, and a white short-sleeve dress shirt, her hair done up in a bun while her glasses teetered at the edge of her nose. Cute? No she wasn't cute, she was nerdy-looking as hell.

She pushed her glasses up her nose, "I...I just came to see if you were alright." She said, voice kind of quiet.

Tao frowned. "Well, I'm alright, bye." He said, closing the door.

"Wait!" Min-hee put her full weight on the door, stopping him from closing it, but resulting in the door hitting him in the nose.

It sent pain all up through his skull, he backed away, dropping Suri and holding his nose. This must be the universe's way of getting back at him for giving Baekhyun that nosebleed last night.

"O-Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! Let me..." Min-hee started, scooping up Suri as she tried to run out, and closing the door behind her. She'd basically just invited herself in, the sneaky little dork.

She put Suri down and came closer to him, reaching up like she wanted to cup his face in her hands. He shook his head and backed out of her reach. It still hurt too much for him to be able to have a snarky comeback for what she had done to him, but he didn't want her touching him.

She bit her lip, probably just now catching the glare he was giving her. "I...I'm sorry, where's the first aid kit?"

Tao would have sighed if he didn't think that would hurt, she was determined to help, whether he liked it or not. "Kitchen, above the sink." He said nasally, gesturing over where the kitchen was. Min-hee nodded and went off to find it.

Meanwhile, since he had a moment by himself, he headed back over to the couch and flopped down, leaning against the back of it, closing his eyes and tilting his head upwards just in case his nose started to bleed. What on earth had possessed Min-hee to come check on him--and then injure him--when he'd screwed up her friend's party, and he was pretty sure he recalled her saying she hated him?

When Min-hee came back, he could hear her sneakers squeak on the floor coming over to him, so he opened his eyes in preparation, and upon looking forward, he found he did indeed get a nosebleed from that blow. Min-hee gasped when she saw it, and dug a cloth out of the first aid kit.

She was about to dab at the blood, but Tao leaned back, out of the way. She tried again, he did the same thing. "Dammit, Tao! I'm just trying to help!" She said, trying again.

"I don't need your help." Tao replied, backing further out of the way.

"Well, you're not doing anything to help yourself!"

"You won't let me."

"If you would just--!"

They both froze, realizing what position they had gotten themselves in. Min-hee was practically on top of him. Her face turned red, and Tao just stared at her, and she stared back. Whatever it was, it was making his heart pound. He released a shaky breath he didn't realize he was holding. She's cute.

Min-hee hurriedly got off of him and cleared her throat, then shoved the first aid kit into his arms. "H-here, you can do it yourself."

Tao tilted his head. "You don't want to anymore?" He cursed himself inwardly, that had sounded like he'd wanted her to continue. Maybe he did. But...

Min-hee shook her head. "I'll...I'll go cook breakfast for you...to say I'm sorry...because I wouldn't want to do that normally."

Tao smirked at how awkward her sentences were coming out, but Min-hee blushed harder and speed walked to the kitchen. He was sure nothing could make him forget that letter, but this came pretty close. He thought about what Chanyeol said, that he was in love. Maybe that wasn't far off.

~~~

After Tao got himself cleaned up, he came in the kitchen and sat backwards on a dining room chair close by. He watched her, cooking bacon and scrambled eggs, she looked very serious about it, her eyebrows furrowed and her lips a straight line.

"Why'd you come over?" Tao asked, because he'd been wondering the entire time.

Min-hee looked over at him, then shrugged. "You seemed really angry last night, I wondered if you got yourself into another fight, or went out and got drunk or something..." She went back to flipping the bacon.

Tao scoffed. "I thought you hated me."

She sighed, sounding like she was far away from what she was saying, "I did... I don't know, I don't hate you enough to want you dead."

At those words Tao swallowed. He wanted someone dead, he was going to force Tao to do it, Tao only had this one day--at most--before someone inquired as to why he hadn't done it yet. He only had this one day if he really wanted to do anything about it. Should he run away? Should he disappear? What would he do if he found out he'd bailed? Would he go after his friends? Would he threaten his family? What should he do? What should he do?

"Must be nice living in such a big house." Min-hee said, probably trying to stop the awkward feeling in the room.

"Yeah, it's fine." Tao said absently.

"Why do you need such a big house? You live alone, right?" Min-hee asked, digging in the cabinets for plates.

Tao shrugged. "I live with Suri, and it's not my house anyway."

Min-hee turned to him, confused.

Sh*t, what had he just said? He wished he could take the words back, that bit of truth that slipped out after years of lying was exactly the truth that could ruin him. How could he be so incredibly stupid? He ran a hand through his hair so he wouldn't have to look at her straight on while he thought of a lie to cover up for that slip up.

"What do you mean?" Min-hee asked, voice already suspicious.

Tao took another moment to think of a reason, then smiled at her. "It's my Grandfather's house, he's out of town." He blurted. It was the best he could come up with on the spot.

Min-hee nodded like it made sense, then a plate of bacon and eggs on the table behind him before going to sit down in another chair two seats away from him. Tao turned himself around to sit properly and raised an eyebrow at her. She was strange, because that just outright looked like she didn't like him, but he saw her blush over that first aid kit thing like she was about to die.

"Aren't you going to eat too?" He asked, taking the fork and giving the eggs a try.

Min-hee shook her head. "No, I'm not hungry."

Tao kept the fork in his mouth. He didn't really believe that, no one could have eaten already at this time of day, it was just barely 6:30, unless she just didn't like food, which wasn't possible, she should be pretty hungry by now.

Tao was about to insist she eat something when he heard the doorbell. He groaned and set the fork down getting up to go answer it.

"TAO! GET OUT HERE!"

Tao froze at the voice. Haneul. He looked back at Min-hee. This wouldn't look right, no matter how he tried to explain it away. Anyway anyone looked at it, he was alone with another girl in his house while his girlfriend was at the door. He went back over to Min-hee and pulled her up by her wrist.

She was about to scream, but he put his hand over her mouth. "Just go out the back door, okay? And be quiet about it, no sneakers squeaking...!" Tao whispered into her ear, pointing toward the hallway that would lead to the backdoor.

Min-hee looked scared, but nodded. So Tao let her go and made sure she went down the hallway before he went to answer the door.

When he opened it, all he got was a slap across the face. Some day this was.

"That's for leaving me to walk home, bastard!" Haneul yelled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Caramel Machiato. That's what I want. Yup :3 And would you look at that, I still didn't tell you who Tao was ordered to kill. Who do you think it is? ^v^