He ended up seeing her, one lone person in a sea of thousands, almost a full hour before she saw him. It was possible his eye had caught her hair first out of instinct, honey blond and long just the way he liked hair on girls. In the world of pop music, most girls in groups dyed their hair at least once a promotional cycle. If anything, Siwon was trained now to be drawn towards bright colors and unnatural shades of hair, and intentional or not, that had done the trick with the girl.

But there was also a chance she’d caught his eye, out of the hundreds to thousands of girls, because of how he’d first seen her. She’s been fussing with her hair in a frustrated way, a look of adorable concern on her face. It was a good fuss, the kind that meant she didn’t often style her hair or do her makeup, or place any kind of value on looking good for others. It was the fuss of someone who simply wanted to make a good impression. The fussing indicated she was considerate, and not just a pretty face.

So he watched her, in between signing posters and CDs, in between joking with the members of his group he considered brothers. He watched her with her friends, and how she looked so determined, and god she was beautiful. Her face was something else.

Siwon saw thousands of girls at signing events all the time, but none had ever looked so pretty to him as the blonde did.

He couldn’t wait to meet her.

And when he did, he found out she had a great sense of humor. The nervousness was there, but also wit and intelligence.

If this was what infatuation was, then Siwon was long gone.

Cho Kyungji. Her name was Kyungji but she wanted to be called Kyu, and it suited her. She seemed like a fun girl, the kind who went by a nickname and was up for new adventures, and would constantly challenge the world around her. The only type of girl that Siwon was ever attracted to.

Therefore Siwon hadn’t even hesitated to lunge for her the second he realized what was happening around them. She was falling and he was terrified to let her. Whisking her off to safety, putting her first, was probably the best thing he’d ever done.

Because he got to talk to her. He got to learn that she was even more prettier to look at than he had even first percieved, and that she shared the same passion that he did. She was just as smart as he’d assumed, at the university level, and she had drive, dedication and determination. She was … in essence, the total package.

So when Leeteuk, the hyung that Siwon looked up to more than anyone else, gestured him away from Kyu to demand sharply, “Just what were you thinking bringing her here?” he answered naturally, “I was thinking that maybe I’d stop her from being trampled, she’d be appreciative, and then we could get married.”

It was clear that Leeteuk thought he was making a joke, but it was Heechul, forever glued to Leeteuk’s side, who remarked, “You know, there are easier ways to pick up girls.”

Siwon gave him a stormy look, then turned to Leeteuk to say, “Hyung, you saw how the crowd was lurching towards us. If I hadn’t grabbed her when I did, she might have gotten trampled. Imagine the headlines. Imagine all the news reports saying that an innocent fan was trampled to death at a Super Junior fan signing. Hyung, I did us a favor.”

Heechul reasoned, “Actually, that’d be one way to get our name into the mainstream news. All publicity is good publicity.”

This time it was Leeteuk’s turn to give Heechul a warning look. “Go check in with manager hyung, please. Ryeowook and Sungmin are still trapped on the other side of the plaza. We need to get everyone in one place before we can think about making a mad dash to the vans.”

On his way out, Heechul called back to Siwon, “You realize she’s not even really a blonde, right?”

God help him, Siwon nearly brought up his middle finger.

“Siwon,” Leeteuk said, laying a friendly hand on his shoulder. “I know you were acting with her best interest in heart, but we do not need another scandal. Who knows what she’ll tell people, and chances are, they’ll believe it. There’s no way there aren’t about a hundred photos of you carrying that poor girl all over the web by now. I’m almost afraid to look, honestly. If she says anything, we’ll be damaged by it.”

Siwon shook his head. He couldn’t explain why he felt like Kyu wasn’t one of the attention hungry girls out there, but he could absolutely claim he knew she wasn’t. “She’s not like that, hyung. I’ve been talking to her. She hasn’t asked me any questions, or wanted pictures, or anything.”

Leeteuk sighed. “Do think I didn’t see how you were looking at her earlier?”

“Like what?” Siwon asked defensively. Like she was the prettiest girl he’d ever seen? Of course. Why weren’t more people looking at Kyu like that?

He’d maim anyone else who dared to.

“Like,” Leeteuk eased out, “you want to drag the girl into our life style. You know that isn’t advisable.”

Siwon set his jaw. “She’s funny, hyung. She’s not just a pretty face. She’s smart, too. I … like her.”

“You’ve known her fifteen minutes,” Leeteuk reminded.

“Hyung …”

In a low voice, close to a whisper, Leeteuk asked, “I thought you were … quite certain about your preferences.”

The truth was, outside of Leeteuk and Ryeowook, absolutely no one else knew that he preferred men to women. Not even his parents. Siwon had been fighting an internal battle between his religion’s philosphies and what he felt in his heart for years now, and it had taken a very long time to be comfortable and accepting of who he truly was. He was staunchly Christian, going to church nearly every Sunday, Wednesdays too, if he could swing it, and he believed in its teachings deeply. But he also knew that his attraction to men was not a learned behavior, and not anything that he could simply turn off. Not to mention it had never, not once, felt wrong.

He’d told Leeteuk, who was his closest friend and confidant, six months prior that he was absolutely certain that he preferred men to women. He’d been certain of it then.

However …

There was no denying that he felt a ual attraction to Kyu. A romantic attraction.

So maybe he wasn’t gay. Maybe he was biual. Maybe there was no label for what he was, and trying to put a name on what he felt for certain genders was just pointless.

“I don’t know,” Siwon said honestly, with a shrug. “I just know I like her. I like her like I haven’t liked a girl in a very long time. I want to try with her, hyung, Please give me your blessing.”

Leeteuk ran a hand through his hair as Heechul wandered back over, bringing news of Ryeowook and Sungmin. “Siwon …”

And seconds later, when Kyu emerged out of the employee break room, looking adorably wobbly in her shoes, smoothing her bangs a bit, Siwon’s world crumpled. Because she was leaving, and all he could do was chase after her and beg her for a date. Losing her anyway, maybe because of the fame associated with Super Junior, or any other reason, felt like a knife to the heart.

“I take it there’ll be no wedding invitations going out soon?” Heechul asked when they were all together, climbing into the vans that would take them back to the dorms.

Leeteuk cuffed Heechul over the back of the head.

Feeling heartbroken, like he’d let something important slip through his fingers, Siwon ducked directly into his room having returned to the dorms, and didn’t come out for hours. No one bothered him, either, which was probably Leeteuk’s doing more than anything else.

In fact the only person who spoke to him the rest of the day was Ryeowook, who poked his head into Siwon’s room with a plate full of food and said, “I bet you don’t have much of an appetite, but you should try to eat something anyway.”

Siwon gave the food a once over. Ryeowook was an amazing cook, and his meals were to be savored, but it was true that Siwon was feeling a lack of appetite. “I don’t--”

“Eat, hyung,” Ryeowook said, then took a seat on the floor next to Siwon’s bed and said, “Leeteuk hyung told me what happened.”

Siwon mashed his chopsticks angrily into the rice. “And everyone out there is having a good laugh at my expense?”

“No,” Ryeowook said gently, watching Siwon play with his food more than anything else. “Well, Heechul hyung might have attempted it, but Leeteuk hyung told him off. It was pretty cool. Anyway, my point is, we know that you got turned down, and no one is laughing about it. I think we all know what it means to be disappointed.”

Siwon tried to remember their time together perfectly, and stated, “I just don’t know what I did wrong.” No one had ever turned him down for a date, not that Siwon made overtures often. As a celebrity and a representative of Super Junior, he had to be careful with picking his dates, but he’d never been outright rejected before. It stung badly.

“Maybe you didn’t,” Ryeowook rationalized. “Maybe she just wasn’t interested. There is always that possibility, hyung.”

Siwon picked a strip of beef up between his chopsticks and relayed, “I thought we were … I don’t know, relating or something. She’s got a passion for music the same as me. She’s smart and funny and she smiled at me like she liked me back. I really thought she liked me. I felt it.”

Ryeowook tapped a hand on his knee and pondered, “When did she make a run for it? After you proposed a date?”

Siwon nodded. “She said she didn’t want the attention. The media attention. Leeteuk hyung doesn’t have to worry about her spreading anything about us around. She’s not like that.”

“So she got scared off like a normal person?”

“Huh?” Siwon’s head cocked.

With a small laugh, Ryeowook pointed out, “We’ve been in the business long enough to know not everyone is built for this, hyung. Not everyone can stand the constant attention, comments and the netizens. Especially the netizens. Most normal people, no matter how handsome you are, hyung, wouldn’t be interested in having their lives turned upside down just for a date.”

“I told her I wouldn’t let anyone know except for a manager,” Siwon replied.

Ryeowook asked, “And what proof did she have of that? You’d only just met. She doesn’t know your character or that you’re honorable. She may very well be afraid that you’re going to use her to keep Super Junior and yourself in the spotlight. That’s not an unrealistic fear, especially for someone who doesn’t know us. Who doesn’t know you.”

The food, rationally, he knew had amazing flavor. But Siwon couldn’t taste much, and it was an effort to continue eating. He could only dwell on Kyu, and how he wouldn’t get the chance to know her any better than the brief time they’d spent together.

“It doesn’t matter now,” Siwon said, setting the plate aside. “She ran and she ran fast. She’s gone. There’s nothing left to do but move on.”

“Maybe,” Ryeowook said, climbing slowly to his feet. “Maybe not.”

“Maybe not?” Siwon arched an eyebrow.

“Depends on how serious you are about liking this girl,” Ryeowook called over his shoulder, heading for the door. “Depends on how much you really believe that she’s worth taking a risk over. Oh, and don’t forget to go to bed early tonight, hyung. We’ve got a full schedule tomorrow.”

Siwon blinked slowly as he watched Ryeowook leave. The matter of Kyu depended on his stubbornness? Was that what Ryeowook was implying?

Siwon didn’t know, but he surely spent the night lying in bed, fingers laced over his stomach, thinking about Kyu. He thought about what physically attracted him to her, from her impressive height to the way her hands had felt sturdy, not delicate in his grasp. He liked that she had a little weight on her, meaning if he somehow got her to sit down with him for a meal, he wouldn’t be the only one eating. All these things, with her personality, served to remind Siwon that at least at surface value, she appeared to be the perfect package.

And how could he ignore the first girl he’d been attracted to in years? How could he disregard something that seemed severely abnormal?

In the morning, after a rushed and hectic meal per normal, Siwon had little time to think about Kyu, no matter how much he wanted to. There were television appearances, performances, dance practice, vocal practice and then finally, blissfully, one last recording.

By the time Siwon dragged himself back to his room, the rest of the member of Super Junior grumbling about being overworked, all he wanted to do was sleep. Sleep and then sleep some more.

“They’re calling you Superman now, you realize? God, your head is going to explode from your ego over this.”

Laying prone on his bed Siwon turned his head to squint at the ipad Eunhyuk was holding up towards him. “What’s that?”

Eunhyuk swiped his fingers across the screen, showing picture after picture, all from different Super Junior blogs, twitter and other social media sights. “Superman. Give me a break.”

Siwon perked up a second later, recognizing the hair color of the girl in the pictures. It was Kyu. A bit more time spent focusing allowed Siwon to realize that they were all pictures of the day before, the fan signing gone horribly wrong. A thousand pictures from a hundred different angles revealed himself and several other members running from the surging crowd, and in Siwon’s arms was Kyu. There was a surprised, slightly panicked look on her face, but she didn’t look afraid. She looked brave to Siwon, and it lit a fire in his belly once more.

He reached out to touch the picture of her face but Eunhyuk jerked the ipad further away, scrolling down to an article attached to one of the pictures. “Apparently a couple of blogs are billing you as just the most amazing thing ever, what with how you swoop in and save poor, defenseless damsels in distress.”

Siwon sat up slowly, his muscles protesting. “What does the article really say?”

Eunhyuk plopped he ipad into Siwon’s hands finally. “Just that this amazing act of heroism could only be the work of someone with impeccable honor. Check the comments, the girls always swoon over you, but I think some of the may actually require medical attention now.”

Most of the comments were nearly unreadable, full of keyboard mashing and jibberish from girls demanding to be swept of their feet just like the girl in the picture. And a lot of them were questioning who the girl in the picture was.

“Oh, check this blog out,” Eunhyuk said excitedly, flipping to a new web tab. “This one claims the girl is your new girlfriend, and sources are determined to find out who she is. Man, I feel sorry for this girl if anyone ever figures out what her name is or where she lives.”

Icy fear flushed through Siwon. People were looking for Kyu, or they would be very soon. And if she didn’t know to hide herself properly, at least until all the fuss died down, her life would become a horrible mess. Because it wouldn’t matter if she told anyone they weren’t more than fleeting acquaintances, she’d be bombarded at her home, her school, and her work.

Siwon had only wanted to save her the day before, because she was pretty and she looked interesting and because something had drawn him to her. He hadn’t wanted to make things difficult for her.

“I have to find her,” Siwon told Eunhyuk. “I have to warn her. I have to help hide her until this calms and the next new scandal breaks.”

Eunhyuk questioned, “But all you know is this girl’s name, right? I hate to break it to you, but there are bound to be a lot of girls in this area with that name, and that’s if she didn’t come from somewhere further out. Finding her is going to be pretty impossible.”

“No,” Swion declared. Because not finding her wasn’t an option. He wasn’t going to let her be hurt because of his own carelessness. He was going to … as Ryeowook had alluded to, not let this be the end of it. He was going to be stubborn and not give up on her, not until she fully told him off and sent him away with a full explanation.

“Then how are you going to find her?” Eunhyuk asked curiously.

Siwon said honestly, “I don’t know yet, but I am.”

“Good luck with that.”

Eyes narrowing, Siwon added, “And you’re all going to help me.”

“Because …” Eunhyuk prompted.

Siwon pinched him hard. “Because we’re supposed to be brothers.”

Eunhyuk offered him an easy smile that said he’d planned to help all along. “Just checking.”

The next day none of them had a group schedule until eleven. Sungmin, Yesung and Heechul, the last one much to Siwon’s relief, had earlier, personal appointments, but the rest of Super Junior were crowded into the living room with Siwon waiting anxiously for any help they might be able to give.

“Look,” Ryeowook said frankly, quieting them all down, “we need to first figure out if this girl is local or otherwise.”

Leeteuk gave a nod of agreement. “If she isn’t from Seoul, she might be safer without any of us attempting to contact her. Siwon, did she give any indication of where she might be from?”

Siwon tried to clear his mind and think back to every word they’d shared. “We …” he thought hard, recalling the sound of her voice, deeper than usual for a girl, the way she spoke with her hands, the ease in which she was honest with her feelings. “We talked about music, but not much else. She said she’s a university student, but that doesn’t narrow things down.”

“Well,” Eunkyuk said, his ever faithful ipad in hand, “the latest pictures are even better than the ones before. If we’re going to move on this, it has to be fast.”

Donghae commented, “At least the pictures are flattering.”

Ryeowook sighed, “That’s not helpful, hyung.”

Leeteuk’s phone gave a shrill ring but he cast it to the side quickly. “We can’t exactly--”

“She got a phone call,” Siwon interrupted, more excited than he expected to be. “Right before I talked to you on that day, hyung. She got a phone call from one of her friends. She said that she was going to head to work afterwards, and that she’d take the bus. She has to be local if that’s the case.”

Ryeowook’s eyes narrowed. “Which line?”

Oh …

“I can’t remember,” he said, panic in his tone.

“Think,” Ryeowok urged.

“She …” Why couldn’t he remember? He could picture the precise way she’d paced while taking her phone call, the mannerisms she’d had, and exactly how and when she’d huffed at her friend that she was simply going to take the bus.

But which number bus? Which route?

“Siwon?” Leeteuk questioned.

Right before she’d said it, Siwon remembered, picturing the moment so clearly in his head, she’s dragged her fingers up through her bangs, something that seemed like a nervous tick, and then she’d said …

Sweet relief flushed through Siwon. “Sixty-seven,” he told the group. Then excitedly added, “And I know she works at a café!”

“Perfect!” Ryeowok exclaimed, snapping his fingers. “All we have to do is check the sixty-seven’s bus route for any cafés along it.”

Shindong nodded. “There can’t be more than a dozen. Even just a few of us could cover that distance in half a day.”

Suddenly, without warning, Donghae turned to Siwon and asked, “Are we doing all this so you can date this girl? Is that what this is about? Because you know what our managers are going to say about the matter.”

“No,” Siwon cut out, then winced and add, “Maybe a little.” He sighed. “The truth is, I don’t think she knows how badly this can go for her. We do, and we know it isn’t fair and people can be cruel. Maybe she doesn’t even know these pictures are out there. So I want to warn her, and help her how I can, because I got her into this mess, and I’ll get her out if I have to.”

“But you also want to date her?”

Siwon admitted, “I also want to date her.”

“Just so we’re clear,” Donghae said, and it seemed to be enough for him.

Of course knowing how to find Kyu, and actually getting the time to do it, was another matter entirely. Siwon’s schedule was packed for the next few days, and getting away even for a few hours was going to be a challenge. He wasn’t certain it was doable in the least bit.

Not until the next morning when Leeteuk pulled him close before breakfast and said, “In five minutes our managers are going to come through the door. You’re going to have a horrible stomach ache, got it?”

In any other instance Siwon might have been thoroughly impressed with the way, five minutes later as promised, their managers were in front of them, and Ryeowook burst into incredibly sudden tears as he wailed about Siwon not feeling well. Heechul gave him such a severe pinch to his side that tears welled up in his eyes and Kangin elbowed him in the stomach, forcing him to double over. It all made for a convincing show.

Siwon wondered if Leeteuk’s brilliant master plan was simply to allow their so called brothers to take out their aggression on Siwon.

However, the combination of Ryeowook’s tears, Siwon being winded, and Leeteuk’s absolute word that Simon wasn’t feeling well (which really wasn’t much of a lie now, thanks to Heechul and Kangin), had their managers insisting that Siwon stay home and rest for the morning with several performances slated for the next day.

Back when they’d been rookies, and the whole of Super Junior had been deathly afraid of their managers, Siwon had sworn the men looking after them could smell a lie from a mile away. But now getting past them was easier, and took less effort, merely more teamwork.

That was how Siwon ended up, wearing his best disguise, on the number sixty-seven bus line, hunting down the girl he couldn’t get out of his mind.

Shindong had been the one to claim that there couldn’t be more than a dozen cafes on the bus line, but now as Siwon marked number fourteen off as a bust, he was starting to realize that the sixty-seven route was much longer than previously anticipated. In fact, it seem liked he wasn’t making any progress by the time he recieved a worried text from Leeteuk, asking him if he was on his way back to the dorms yet.

As Siwon stepped down off the bus in front of the next café, he resigned himself to move out of the dorms within a year. It’d be a fight to get his way, but he’d end up having more control over his own life. More freedom. And maybe one of the others wanted to move out too, and he’d get a roommate to quell some of the fears the company or their managers might have.

The next café, and probably the last he could afford to visit before he had to get back to the dorms, was bustling so much that Siwon could barely squeeze his way through the door. He pulled his baseball cap down further to hide his face and tried to scan the staff working.

There were too many people everywhere, and no blonde girls. As someone bumped into Siwon, with barely an apology for the action, his hopes were falling.

He ended up waiting patiently in line for ten minutes, phone in hand, before he reached the front counter and the waiting casher.

“Can I help you?” she asked, fingers poised over the cash register.

Siwon held up his phone, the clearest of pictures from the other day displayed on the screen. “Yes, I was wondering if you could tell me, does this girl work here?”

The girl in front of him leaned foreword to squint at the screen. “I don’t think so. We don’t have any blonde girls working here.” The café was bigger than the typical size, and probably had a large staff, but there was no recognition on the girl’s face. “No. I’ve never seen this girl before, but I did just start yesterday.”

The crowd behind him was getting antsy, so he purchased a quick cup of coffee and asked instead, “How about a name? I’m looking for a Cho Kyungji. She goes by Kyu?”

The sound of dishes dropping in the background started Siwon. The sound had come from the back area of the café, and there was nothing he could see, but the shout that followed couldn’t be good.

“Cho … Cho …” The girl mulled the name over. “What was the first name again?”

“Kyungji,” Siwon said, feeling just the barest hint of hope.

“We have a Cho,” she said finally, passing his coffee order off to a nearby barista, “but I don’t think … okay, wait a second.”

He had his coffee a few seconds later and was standing off to the side as the girl ducked into the back, presumably to find Cho Kyungji. Siwon felt his toes curl with the mere thought of being near her again. Would she be happy to see him? Would she even want to? Would she talk to him at all? He wasn’t sure on anything, just that he needed to try.

But the girl came back empty handed, shaking her head. “Sorry. We’ve got a Cho Kyuhyun, but not a Cho Kyungji. I’m really sorry.”

So that was it. At least for the day. Siwon had to get back to the dorms, the managers and other members would be back. And it was heartbreaking, because his schedule was so full for the next few weeks, maybe even months. When he’d get the time to hunt for Kyu again, he didn’t know, and there was a good chance she’d be exposed long before he got to her.

Pushing through the people to exit the café, Siwon felt like he’d let s down. Most of them had pulled together for him, and all of them, even Heechul, had ultimately supported him. Going back and telling them he’d failed felt like a personal failure. And he didn’t want them to think he’d wasted their time.

Maybe …

“Oppa!”

Maybe this whole situation with the pictures would blow over. There were bound to be other news stories more important than his saving one lone girl from getting run over by a hoard of fans.

“Oppa!”

Of course from the way Siwon was hearing it, parents were outraged that the crowd had gotten out of control, and they were calling for more security, a closer examination of the failures that had led to the event, and a whole host of other things. The feeling from SM was that this was an incident that was going to stick around for a while and be the center of conversation … and people wouldn’t stop looking for Kyu as long as there was an interview to broadcast.

“Oppa!”

A strong, firm hand wrenched his bicep and Siwon faltered, finding himself face to face with Kyu.

His Kyu.

“Sorry,” she said to him, a little out of breath, like she’d come running from the café at top speed. Her hair was hastily tied up, she wore no make up, and the café’s standard uniform of black pants and a white shirt was loose and not flattering in the least bit, but she looked so beautiful. “I didn’t want to call your name and start another riot or something.”

Siwon took her to a nearby sidestreet, brightly lit but absolutely deserted, and said immediately, “I had to come and check on you.”

She was flushed in the face as she replied, “Why? Why are you here? How did you know I work here?” The panic on her face made him feel horrible.

“Because of this.” He held up his phone, displaying a photo. “There are hundreds of them out there, and people are looking for you. I was worried that someone would find you and ruin your life for the sake of breaking a news story.”

Kyu rolled her eyes. “I’ve seen the pictures. My friends all had a good laugh at them. But I’m not worried.”

Siwon asked, “You’re not?” She was braver than he gave her credit for.

“I really don’t think anyone is going to figure out the truth.” She said the next bit with a coy smile on her face. “Not without being superhuman in some way. Don’t worry.”

“I found you,” Siwon cut back. “And it wasn’t that hard.” Okay, so it had been a little hard, but he didn’t want her to think this wasn’t serious. Her life could be ruined if people thought there was something going on between them. If they even just found out her name.

“How?” she demanded, crossing her arms. “If you’re stalking me--”

“No!” Siwon waved his hands, trying not to think about how much prettier she looked when she was angry. “I remembered hearing you say you were going to work at a café, and that you were going to take the sixty-seven bus. To be honest, this isn’t the first café I’ve tried.”

Relief flooded her face. “Why?”

He shrugged. “Because I was worried. Because I wanted to warn you to lay low until the next big new story breaks. Because … I wanted to see you again.”

Kyu plucked at her bangs, something that Siwon was really starting to like, and she said, “I really appreciate you thinking of me. You have … no idea. But I’m going to be fine. I promise. You don’t have to worry. I’ll change my hair color, and like I said before, you don’t have to worry about me telling anyone anything, and I didn’t take any pictures.”

“I know you didn’t. I told Leeteuk hyung that too, when he was worried.”

Siwon had been so focused on finding her, now that he had, he felt endlessly awkward. She was looking like she wanted to bolt from his side, and he was stumbling over himself to say all the right things.

“Okay, then,” she said, inching back a step. “Now that you know I’m fine, and we’ve had a decent, if not anticlimactic parting, I’m going to go back to work. You should probably, you know, not come by again, just in case.”

Siwon’s mouth went dry. “No. Wait.”

To her credit, she did pause. “Yes?”

“I …”

She raised an eyebrow.

Out with it, he told himself. She’d already rejected him once. If it happened again, he knew he could survive it. And Ryeowook had been right. He had to decide if she was worth taking a risk on. He thought she was.

“I still want to take you on a date,” he said firmly, keeping his shoulders straight. “I’m sorry if I scared you before, or gave you the impression that I wasn’t serious. And I know you don’t want any of the media attention that I have to deal with every day. You have no reason to believe me when I say that I’ll keep you shielded from it, if you agree to a date with me, but I will.”

“I don’t …”

“Give me a chance to prove it to you. Just give me one chance.”

She seemed to fold in on herself a little, and she said softly, “You wouldn’t be asking me on a date if you knew the truth.”

“The truth? Do you already have a boyfriend? Are you … not interested in boys?”

She gave a trying look. “Just believe me when I say that I’m trying to save you some grief. You don’t want to take me out on a date.”

“I think,” he said pointedly, “you should let me decide what I want to do.”

She took another step back. “Take my advice.”

He was losing her.

“One date,” he said desperately, moving after her steadily. “If you agree to one date with me, one dinner, and you still feel the same way about it afterwards, I’ll never bother you again. I’ll never come to your work again, I’ll never mention your name to anyone, ever, and you and I can go on pretending like we never met. One date. One dinner.”

Plainly, she asked, “Why would I agree?”

His brought his fingers up and pushed some of her blonde strands back behind an ear. With a kind smile, he posed, “Because I think you like me, but for some reason, you’re holding yourself back. Because I know I like you, and I want to show you that I’m a gentleman.”

She gave a short laugh. “That’s not exactly your reputation.”

He grasped at anything he had. “Because I’ll introduce you to all the rest of Super Junior. To all the guys you didn’t get to meet. And because if you agree to dinner with me, I’ll buy you the most expensive beef Seoul has to offer.”

The sides of pulled up and she said, “That is a tempting offer.”

“Beef,” he said again with a firm nod.

Then her face hardened. “What if I still say no? Will you keep showing up at my work? Will you try to find my home?” The panic was back.

He shook his head immediately. “I won’t. You have my word. If you tell me to get lost right now, then you’ll never see my face again. But you won’t be able to stop me worrying about you.”

She cast a worried look back to the café. “Why do you want to take me out on a date so badly?”

He didn’t know why, not that he’d tell her that. But he wanted to find out, and he needed a date for that. So instead he told her another truth. He said, “Because there’s something special about you. There’s something unique and different, and that’s attractive. You’re attractive.”

He almost cheered the second he saw her give in. He saw the droop in her shoulders, the resigned look on her face.

“One date,” she said, like a warning. “One dinner and then if I say so, you disappear into the night like a ghost. Understand?”

His heart was beating so hard in his chest he felt like it might stutter and fail. At least then he could die happy.

“Okay,” he agreed quickly, feeling on cloud nine.

He didn’t walk her back to the café. Instead, with her phone number stored safely in his phone, he watched her disappear back into the building, more of her hair falling down to her shoulders.

He’d done it. He’d found her and he’d gotten a date from her.

He …

Siwon felt like the Superman the media was calling him. Even if it was just for a minute or two.