It was their first dinner date that night. Woohyun had reserved a table at a really nice restaurant in the town. He himself was looking fine in his black polo neck sweater, which wasn't even tight but managed to show his buffed arms with he paired with dark grey jeans. Mi-hae was wearing a dark blue halter neck dress, with some heels that she had only used around 3 times before. She let her hair down, with more makeup than always for some confidence, but in the end she couldn't really look up because Woohyun looked too handsome with his hair pushed to the back and lips always curved in a dizzying smile. There wasn't much talk between them because Woohyun was too busy staring at her.

                They were just served their appetizer, and the waiter was explaining something to them but she didn't pay any attention as she felt like she was about to explode from shyness.

                She didn't luckily, when Woohyun suddenly leaned forward to whisper to her, "Mi-hae-sshi, what are these?"

                "Uh...?" she flustered and looked down at her own plate, at the three small pieces of... something. "I only looked at the main course, so I didn't look at what they were giving for appetizer. But they look like... chilies on... cookies?"

                "Chilies on cookies..." Woohyun echoed under his breath, staring at his plate and tilted his head. He narrowed his eyes, "He said something about cheetah..."

                Her eyes widened. "Cheetah...?"

                Both Woohyun and Mi-hae were just staring at their food for a moment until a waiter came over and asked them if something was wrong. Woohyun smiled at him, "I don't want to eat too fast since I want to have more time with my beautiful date here." She blushed terribly, wondering how Woohyun could smoothly say something like that, out of nowhere. "But can you tell me about this dish again? I wasn't really listening because my date is too dazzling and all my senses were attracted to her just now."

                The waiter smiled politely, and Mi-hae almost wanted to fall off her chair. Bruschetta, the waiter began and he started explaining patiently about each and about ingredient. Woohyun nodded his head and thanked him and when he was gone, he leaned forward again.

                "Mi-hae-sshi, you were right. It's chilies on cookies after all!"

                She blinked rapidly before they erupted into small giggles and finally dug into their food. Each time their food comes, they would spend a bit of time to stare and then came up with ridiculous description for them. Mi-hae finally could loosen herself, seeing Woohyun's cute smiling face and listening to him attentively.

                The food was indeed worth every penny and they had a bit of red wine, but Mi-hae who couldn't tolerate alcohol well only drank a glass. Woohyun had several but he still seemed sober when they finished their dinner. They went out of the restaurant and Woohyun helped to put on her coat on her. Her ears became a little red.

                "So..." he said, looking up the sky and took a deep breath, "Should we get the car?"

                She had almost forgotten that they came by a car, which Woohyun claimed to be his hyung's. She remembered how her head swooned when Woohyun pulled over to pick her up from her apartment. While driving, he pulled up his long sleeves up to his elbows, and Mi-hae couldn't help but to keep on glancing at his arms. Now she had to go through the swooning all over again, as she kept thinking about his fingers next.

                And suddenly her hand was in his. It was subtle movement, and of course, unexpected. Mi-hae immediately felt warm as he began to walk, slowly so. Mi-hae felt a little block in when she felt him tightening his grip. Her face dropped a little, to peek at his face and she almost wanted to burst when she saw his smile shy.

                She bit her lip when they were approaching the car and Woohyun suddenly turned around; pulling her with him and they were then walking back towards the restaurant. He was smiling wide, and she knew that he knew what she was thinking. She braved herself to curl up her fingers, tightening the hold. Woohyun then was caressing her hand with his thumb, making her felt a little strange and breathless.

                When they reached the restaurant again, they smiled at one another and made their way to the car again. Woohyun gently let her hand go to open the door for her. She felt lonely immediately but said nothing; got in and buckled up herself, taking a deep breath before Woohyun got in the driver's seat. He inhaled deeply and pulled his lips in for a moment. "Home..."

                "Un. Home..."

                Woohyun put his hand on the gear stick, looking ready to press the gas when he turned to her. She heard him taking a deep breath again. "Do you want to come over and have some tea?"

                She stiffened immediately. Come over??

                "Is that a bad idea?" he asked, slowly when she didn't reply.

                "Ah... It's... um."

                "If you don't think it's a good idea then it's okay," he said, appearing embarrassed.

                Mi-hae panicked. "No, I mean... Idea! Um. Do you have cookies??"

                Woohyun blinked rapidly and fell silent. "I have some cookies... Ginger cookies though and they're a bit spicy. Are those okay?"

                "I love ginger cookies! I always buy them in India," she said, getting excited suddenly.

                "India...?"

                She sat up straight and laughed awkwardly, "Y-yeah! I went there for a vacation..."

                "Oh! That's awesome. I've always wanted to travel. Ah, so nice..." Woohyun said, smiling warmly and started driving. He was a calm driver, as Mi-hae had observed, and he will put on the radio at a soft volume. When a song that he knew came up, he started to sing along, in a ridiculous way and he wasn't even the slightest shy about it. When the song ended, he was laughing with his whole heart, "Do you like my voice?"

                "Yeah, I'm surprised. You can sing..." she said, definitely in awe. "Sing again!"

                "Again...?" It was his turn to be surprise and his ears had turned a little red. Mi-hae's eyes were imploring him and he got a little panicky because he didn't know the song playing on the radio. "I don't know this song... Can I sing another song?"

                Mi-hae nodded excitedly. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath but his phone which he had placed on the deck suddenly vibrated. Mi-hae didn't intend to peer but it was definitely a woman's name on the screen. Woohyun quickly turned off the screen and pretended like nothing happened.

                "Sorry for that. I'll sing now."

                However, the phone was ringing again, and it was another woman's name with her picture clearly displayed on the screen. Mi-hae felt was hanging a little as she glanced at it but then quickly looked away. Woohyun took his phone off the deck almost instantly. His voice had a little quiver from nervousness when he explained, "My ex-colleagues. I think they're trying to ask me out for drinks. Haha."

                "Oh..." Mi-hae smiled, awkwardly.  Then they were sitting in silence, and it got too uncomfortable that she almost blurted out that she wanted to go home. However, Woohyun pulled over suddenly, and she realised they had reached his apartment. She got out from the car, hesitated a bit but nevertheless, followed him upstairs. Woohyun was making an unnatural smile while they were riding the elevator.

                Woohyun hung their coats together once they have entered the house. Mi-hae's first impression was that his apartment was neat, with minimal colours of furniture. It smelled good too, she thought, as she entered the living area. There was only a long grey couch facing the television with a coffee table in between. Under the TV, there was a cabinet with endless lines of games, carefully arranged. He had a small dining area where he put a table for four. There were three doors which seemed to be rooms in the house so she wondered for a moment whether he had housemates.

                As if reading her mind, Woohyun spoke, "The house is a little too big for one man to live alone, huh?"

                "Eh? Ah... You live alone?" She gulped a little but was relieved as well.

                "Yeah. I thought of renting out the rooms but well... I've had enough living with boys during uni days. It's easier to maintain like this," he said, smiling a little. "You can have a sit first. I'll make some tea."

                "No, I'll help!" Mi-hae said, following his footsteps to the kitchen. She was again amazed because his kitchen was neat as well. A small rack full of salt and spices on the kitchen counter attracted her because of the cute jars. She noticed that they were rather well-used. "Do you cook?"

                "Hmm?" Woohyun who was taking out a teapot from the cabinet turned to face her. He smiled shyly, "Well, just simple dishes... But I cooked a lot during uni days. I basically fed the boys in the house."

                Mi-hae couldn't help but to grin when he bragged like that since it was kind of cute, coming from him. She turned her attention to him, watching him preparing the tea by standing beside him. He turned his face, slowly and Mi-hae realised she had the chance to actually look away but she didn't. They didn't move for a few seconds and his eyes dropped down to her lips. Immediately, she became unfocussed and held her breath. Just as Woohyun's fluffy lips parted, she was too shy and quickly looked down. She cleared and walked over to the dish rack and took two red mugs. "Can we use these?" Her voice was unnaturally high.

                Woohyun nodded quickly. "Tea is ready...!"

                "Oh!" Mi-hae smiled nervously and they walked to the living room and placed the teapots and mugs on the coffee table. Woohyun went to the kitchen again and returned with a big jar of ginger cookies. He sat down, a bit too far from her. "That's a lot..."