Jun stretches, yawns, and looks at me, bleary. "Why are you still awake?"
I glance at him. "Why are you?"
"Hungry."
"Rice balls are in the fridge."
He nods and opens it, searching for a moment sleepily before he finds them and pulls one out of its cling film packaging. "Why are you awake, though?"
I point. "You guys didn't have any noodles left. You're having knife-cut noodle soup for breakfast. I wanted to get it prepared so it's ready to eat when you wake up." I check my watch. 01:03. "When did you guys even go to bed?"
"Ah, we forgot to say goodnight."
I flinch a little in surprise. "You don't have to say goodnight to me. I'm just the cook."
"Oh." He nibbles the rice ball. "Noodle soup?"
"M-hm. With chicken."
"You're making the noodles?"
"Yes."
He looks down at my board. "We can just buy it, you know."
"No time." I smile gently at him. "Don't worry. It'll be nice to wake up to."
He nodded, eyes almost falling closed.
"Eat up and go back to bed. It's an early start, tomorrow."
He barely moves. "We're going to a meeting."
I know. Their manager gave me his number and texted their schedule for the week. "Ahuh."
"And then, dance practice."
"So you'll need your rest."
He eats the rest of the rice ball, staring at the noodles, and then turns. "Hey..."
"Yeah?"
He turns back to me. "I don't know your name. Or your age."
It strikes me for the first time tonight, that while I gave their manager my name, none of the members ever asked for it. And now, I have to pretend that it doesn't hurt my feelings, even just a little. "It's Loxley. And I'm older than you."
He sounds it out slowly. "Loxley... it sounds pretty. What does it mean?"
"I don't know the Korean word."
"Oh." He pauses. "I'll just think it means pretty, then."
I smile. "Goodnight, Jun."
"Goodnight, Loxley."
And I turn back to the noodles.
It's funny – I don't have the time to hate my alarm clock this morning. I just dismiss the app's warnings and jump out of bed, rushing to put on decent clothes. I never even bothered unpacking late last night: so now I just jump into a shirt and slacks and get going.
It's 6AM, but I'm not the first up. Seungkwan's already awake, already ready to go, head in the refrigerator. "Hyu- oh, it's you."
I pull my hair into a ponytail. "How long have you been up?"
"A few minutes."
"I can have breakfast out for you in about twenty minutes."
He pauses. "Breakfast?"
"Chicken in knife-cut noodle soup with Italian bread and eggs."
He raises his eyebrows. "Really?"
YOU ARE READING
But The Future Must Be Met
FanfictionLoxley is offered a new job, under vague circumstances. She accepts, because she's an idiot, and then finds out she signed up for more than she knew. Now she's in charge of her own favourite idols, but there's more to it than that; and she can only...
