Nalia, an exchange student from Chicago to Seoul, gets an unlucky break when she can't move into the school dorm and is forced to find her own accommodation. She ends up in Eden Residence and meets a few interesting characters, including one mysteri...
The next morning, Nalia awoke very early, likely due to her still-present fear from the night before. Although she had dreamt of Moon-Jo, she had also dreamt of the two men, hearing their mocking voices over and over again. She could almost still feel the blade at her neck, and she swallowed hard, remembering how close she had come to literal death.
She opened her eyes. Momentarily, she forgot where she was when she saw the unfamiliar decor of the room and panicked. Her panic quickly turned to relief when she saw her hero, Moon-Jo, asleep on the couch.
She lifted her head up and stared at his sleeping figure. My god, he's adorable, she thought. He was curled up with his knees close to his chest so that his 6-foot frame could fit on the tiny couch. She felt a bit guilty that he would likely have muscle pain later on because of her. Why is he so sweet to me? I don't deserve it...
His longish dark hair was even messier than usual and flopped over his thick eyebrows. His perfectly shaped lips parted slightly as he slept. He made almost no sound, not even a kitten-snore. Nalia didn't want to wake him, so she put her head back down and tried to fall back to sleep. The scent of Moon-Jo's laundry detergent mixed with the lingering smell of his shampoo lulled her back into her dreams.
A short while later he awoke for real. Nalia felt him gently stroke her hair. In her ear he whispered, "Joh-eun achim-ieyo, jagiya." [Good morning, babe]
Nalia turned over and smiled. "Joh-eun achim-ieyo," she responded.
"Did you sleep well?"
Nalia stretched, remembering her dream. "Of course. But it's you I should be asking."
"Why?"
"Because you slept on the couch! I felt so bad."
"It's okay." Moon-Jo stretched too, revealing a sliver of his abs as his shirt rode up. Nalia tried not to stare, but it was obvious. Moon-Jo smiled at her.
"I like to keep in shape," he commented. Without warning, he took off his shirt entirely, exposing his pale but chiseled body... that also happened to be covered in scars.
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"Moon-Jo..." Nalia gasped. She couldn't help but to again remember her dream the night before, where she was curled up against that very chest, in the bed that she was sitting on. She blushed. "I...are you okay?"
"I am now," he answered in his usual deadpan way. He grabbed a black button-down from his clothing rack. "It happened when I was a child. I've grown from the experience." He eyed Nalia as he put the shirt on, buttons open. "I grew up in that orphanage, and as you know, Mrs. Um was the owner. She raised me after my parents abandoned me. But some terrible things happened there."
"Oh..."
"There was a fire." Moon-Jo ran his fingers lightly over the scars on his exposed chest. "Mrs. Um pulled me out. It was very dangerous, and I almost didn't make it. But you see now what I owe to her."
