Return of the Boy Next Door

Chapter 3

Two weeks had passed since Dahyun met and spoke to Lee Hongki, and she still hadn't texted him yet. She didn't know the reason, but she felt nervous about sending him anything, so she had been procrastinating. Her life has been a little less boring since then, but she still spends her night drinking at the bar, sometimes with a companion and other times alone.

Dahyun alighted the taxi after she finished drinking at the bar and froze when she saw someone in a dark blue cardigan lingering in front of her apartment lobby. He looked familiar despite wearing a cap. Tilting her head slightly to the side, she walked to him to get a closer look and raised her brows in confusion.

"Hongki Oppa?"

He immediately turned his head when she called him out, and Dahyun blinked.

"What are you doing here?"

"Just... You didn't contact me," he said, looking at her with his brows furrowed.

Dahyun was baffled.

"Ah... You came all the way here because I didn't text you?"

He remained quiet, and Dahyun couldn't help but chuckle in amusement. He looked like a lost puppy, and she couldn't believe that he was seven years older than she was.

"Let's go in," she took his hand and tapped her access card to enter the apartment complex.

They entered her apartment, and that was when she realized they had been holding hands the entire way up.

"Phone," she released his hand and opened her palm.

Hongki handed his phone after unlocking it without question, and Dahyun put her number into his contacts.

"Since when have you been waiting outside?" She asked as she took off her blazer and put it on the sofa's backrest.

"Six?" Hongki replied in uncertainty.

Dahyun froze and looked at him in disbelief. He had been waiting for her for three hours just because he didn't have her number?

"Are you... crazy?" She asked.

Hongki cleared his throat awkwardly, "I didn't know when you'd leave work, so I thought you'd be done around the same time as any office workers."

Drawing a long breath, she didn't want to dwell upon it since it was partially her fault for not texting him when he asked her to, even though she wasn't obligated to. She knew that he had been exceptionally protective of her since she was young, and he did wait for her to end school so that they could head home together, so she knew he didn't mind waiting.

"Dinner?" She asked.

He pursed his lips, and she started rolling up her sleeves. His lack of response was already an answer.

"I'll make kimchi stew," she said.

"You're eating too, right?"

"Yes, I haven't eaten either," she said as she prepared to cook.

"You drank on an empty stomach?"

The corners of Dahyun's lips twitched at the question.

"You could smell it?"

"Yes," he answered, leaning against the counter with his arms crossed.

"Are you going to nag?" She asked as she was chopping the kimchi.

"No, but I believe that you know what's best for your body. Anyway, I'll cook the rice," he said.

"It's fine. We can eat instant rice; it's much faster," she said.