Time seemed to fly by so fast. Day turned week, week turned month and without them realizing they were getting closer and closer to each other as the cold winter had turned into a beautiful spring. There were a lot of changes but just like how everything worked on with two sides, there were also things that remained unchanged.

A small part of her heart and a small part of her mind would still think about Kyujong once in a while, no matter how much the disappointment that she had for him, no matter how much the pain that she felt because of him, because no matter what he was still her first love. The first and the only guy so far who could make her heart went thump thump for those long good years. And somehow she still felt that way, she missed him a lot.

Sometimes when they bumped into each other in a frequent place where they used to visit often or in the street, for a second the desire to forget every single bad thing that had happened between them took over her. She felt like running to him, greeted him cheerfully, talked about a lot of things and spent the day together eating in their favorite corner in the café just like the old times.

But then her sense pulled her back into reality. She no longer could do stuffs like that. It was like having a lucid scar from the pain that he had caused and whenever the feeling of trying to turn their relationship back into a fine one again came, the scar would also showed itself more lucid than it was already. Making her put the idea off. She told herself, nothing could be fixed anymore. She should move on.

The next time they accidentally met each other in a book store, she walked pass him by, acted like she didn’t know him, like she didn’t see him at all, like he was invisible. And just in time, she had getting used to it.

Other than that, everything had running smoothly for her life and everyone around her. Her bond with Gyuri was healed and getting better than ever. Thanks to Youngsaeng’s advice about opening up and becoming more truthful to each other. Nicole became really happy when she showed up with a smile on her face on the next day after her settlement with Gyuri. That innocent girl felt glad and thankful because she thought that the chocolate that she left the night before; other than the cheese cake; had worked on, so she didn’t need to change the chocolate brand for it was actually her favorite.

Gyuri graduated from college on the last day of winter and had been working for a while helping her father’s business since she took management as her field of study. The house felt quieter and emptier without her presence that now Seungyeon had to wait alone on the working days until she went back home with their parents.

That was why she really liked being outside lately. She enjoyed strolling in the street instead of taking the bus back home like usual, hanging out with Nicole; visiting her mother’s restaurant and getting some free cooking class from her; or sitting on the corner of a book café alone. But the weird thing was that she would accidentally meet Youngsaeng often wherever she went. Was the fate playing on them?

She met him at the bookstore while she was in the middle of concentrating in front a rack of new released books, or when she was scouring in a music store for some good songs to listened to, at the café where she sat alone or sometimes with Nicole, at the bakery where she went along with Nicole who was squealing over a piece of cake, at the convenient store, on the bus even in the street as she enjoyed walking back home.

Eventually, they ended up being together wherever they met. They talked about this and that and gradually started growing closer to each other. Or maybe it was Seungyeon who was step by step opening herself up to him that he no longer labeled as a stranger but a good friend.

They still hadn’t come up clear about their real relationship to their parents and Jiyoung. Other than Gyuri and Nicole, no one knew about that secret and it had made it less awkward for them since other than in front of Jiyoung that they met quite often, they didn’t have to act all intimate and everything. But the thing that they didn’t realize was wherever they went, all the people passing by who saw them would think that they were in a relationship with each other.

***

“Omma! No! That’s crazy.”

It was one fine spring night when her family all gathered around the dining table enjoying their dinner that she cooked; the result of all her free cooking-classes with Nicole; where her mother came up with another crazy idea of her.

“What crazy? It’s not like I’m asking him to marry you tomorrow. I just want to meet him. His parents have met you before but I even never saw his picture.”

“Omma~”

“Enough! I’m not going to hear to your whining. Just call him now! Omo, this is quite delicious. You should cook for him tomorrow. Ah, right Seungyeon-ah, tell him to bring over that cutie- who’s her name? Ja-Ja-ah Jiyoung! Omma wants to see her again.”

She didn’t know what had happened and how her mother could come up with such an idea; inviting Youngsaeng for a dinner. That was just crazy and unreasonable for her. Suddenly she felt really sorry for Youngsaeng, it would be really awkward for him. What should she do?

“Unnie~” Seungyeon muttered under her breath, nudging Gyuri who was sitting right beside her, putting her last hope into her beloved sister. A pout on , her eyebrows furrowed and a really trouble expression pasted on her face. Gyuri hesitated, considering on her mind whether she should say something or not. But before she could take any decision, their mother cut her off.

“Gyuri-ah, you better not helping her.” Their mother talked in a really sweet but meaningful tone, sending some signal to Gyuri. It seemed like they were sharing some secret that Seungyeon didn’t know about.

“Ne, Omma.” Gyuri answered before softly talking to Seungyeon “I’m sorry Seungyeon-ah.”

So Seungyeon gave in to her mother’s wish. She called Youngsaeng that night after thinking much on how to explain it, choosing the right words to say. It was her first time calling him. Even though they were quite close to each other now, she couldn’t help but stumbled over her own words. After much effort she successfully delivered everything that she needed to say. Tired, she felt like she was just done doing a marathon.

“Ne. Do you think you can come? I mean-if you don’t feel like coming-I-my mom would understand it, I think so.”

“No, it’s okay, I’ll come. It’s just a dinner after all.” He answered her from the end of the line.

“Why? You don’t want me to come?” Youngsaeng chuckled half-heartedly, for some reason being upset thinking that she probably didn’t hope him to come. But Seungyeon was just too worried for her own reason to realize it.

“It’s not like that. It’s just…I think it will be troublesome for you. I’m sure that my mother will ask you some weird and uncomfortable questions. I’m just a little bit worried.”

He was relieved, at least she was worried for him.

“Don’t worry. I think I can handle it. I’ll be there tomorrow with Jiyoung, 6pm right?”

“Ne. I’ll see you tomorrow then. Mianhaeyo. I have to trouble you again.”

“It’s okay.”

And that was how their second phone conversation ended that night.

***

It was pass 5pm on that afternoon and Seungyeon just finished her last class of the day. She was feeling exhausted for various reasons. Her mind went wandering around thinking about what could be happened later on the dinner. Heaving a deep sigh, she only could pray to the heaven to help her get through it, to help preventing her mother saying something ridiculous.

She was walking down the stairway of the front part of her campus side by side with Nicole; talking about the assignments that they had to work on to; when the short-haired girl gripped her arm tightly and yelped.

“Seungyeon-ah, look! It’s the Otter Ahjussi.”

Her head instinctively turned to the other direction following Nicole’s gaze and found the person that was mentioned just now standing at the very end of the stairway with his hands hiding inside his pants pockets. A small smile plastered on his face which she responded to with a warm but confused smile. Well, he didn’t say anything about picking her up.

She continued her step down as Nicole whispered in her ear, “Ya, are you going for a date with the Otter Ahjusshi?”

Seungyeon chuckled at Nicole’s remark. It was hilarious to hear her saying ‘Otter Ahjussi’ all the time while the fact was Youngsaeng clearly wasn’t that old to be called an ahjussi.

“No. He’s coming for a dinner to my home. I’ll tell you the detail later. Speaking of which, you better not calling him Otter Ahjussi. He’s going to sulk again later.”

“But he does look like an Otter.”

Sometimes, Nicole was just too stubborn in a cute way that it was hard to win an argument over her. So Seungyeon just let it off, smiling thoughtfully at her funny best friend’s words.

Nicole left them as soon as they reached the last step but not without giving some tease for Youngsaeng first.

“Bye Otter Ahjussi. Enjoy the date!” with that she run off to the parking lot where her car was parked leaving Seungyeon with sulking Youngsaeng to be taken care of. He had a sour facial expression in his face, just exactly the reaction that Seungyeon had predicted before.

“Are you sulking again? Aigoo, don’t you think it’s a little bit unfair? You always tease me all the time but you’re being like this when you’re only being teased by Nicole once in a while. Otter-nim, you’re really too much. I’m going to be like this too the next time you call me Hamster.”

And she managed to handle him in that way. He smiled immediately as he saw the small pout and the pretending-to-be-annoyed face of her, feeling warm in some kind of unexplained way. Then a curve also appeared on her lips, she went smiling after him.

“Anyway, what are you doing here? You didn’t tell me that you would pick me up.” Seungyeon asked when she remembered the question that she possessed in mind earlier.

The smile disappeared right away from Youngsaeng’s face. Feeling a little bit upset at her question. Why did she always say it whenever they met?

This same question again. This confused tone again. Seriously, do I need a reason to see her?

“The Goddess has summoned me.” He said, composing himself again, trying to not showing his true feeling.

“Really?”

Youngsaeng laughed silently. “I came earlier to your house because I thought you were home already. I need to discuss something. So I decided to pick you up.”

“And you left Jiyoung there?”

He nodded.

“She’s getting her lesson.”

Seungyeon raised an eyebrow, questioning look.

“How To Become A Goddess. From your sister.”

And they laughed together. He felt like being played by her. One time she made him smile the other time she made him upset. But he knew clearly that she really didn’t have any intention to do so, it was only him with his becoming-more-and-more-silly self.

Unconsciously they started moving on from the spot where they stood a second ago. Walking in rhyme toward the parking lot even though no one said where they should be heading to. Youngsaeng, of course, knew where they were going since he was the one who parked his own car in a spot where only he could tell. While for Seungyeon, she was following his lead, matching her steps with his.

She walked with her hands put across her chest, one palm grabbing onto the strap of her bag. Seungyeon took a look at him from the side profile. There is something different, she thought. But didn’t know what and why she felt that way. She looked again, more detail this time, tilting her head and stared at him intensely until he turned his head to her.

“What’s wrong?” He asked and she immediately realized what was different from him.

“You got a haircut!” Her eyes went wide as she shouted, sounded really excited and proud as if she just succeeded in solving a really complicated riddle. 

“Oh you notice it.” Youngsaeng muttered, touching his own hair. “Yeah, I wanted to get a small change.” Weirdly he sensed the urge to explain to her, afraid that she would find out the real reason. It was actually his mother’s idea, saying that he needed to get a haircut when he told her that Seungyeon’s parents invited him and Jiyoung to dinner.

He ignored it at first but he kept thinking about it the whole night before going to sleep and the whole morning when he woke up. Should he? Should he not? Then he made up his mind to follow his mother’s suggestion. Even though he didn’t practically getting a haircut for real but only some trim here and there, but that was what made him happy. Seungyeon noticed the small change while Jiyoung and his friends didn’t even say a word about it.

“You look good.” She then added and it sent him speechless. He really didn’t understand this time. He started becoming aware of the weird feeling that was growing inside him whenever she was around, at how a part of his self that he couldn’t control reacted to every word that she said and every move that she made. Was it possibly that he…but in such a short time…how come? It made no sense for him.

No. Impossible. These all are nothing. I must be crazy.

They continued to walk in silent until they reached his car and got in. Seungyeon didn’t realize it but he obviously had been avoiding her. He prevented his self to look at her or to walk too close to her as the result of his own thought earlier. Even when they entered the car, he remained quiet. But Seungyeon, being the original calm and quiet girl, didn’t consider it as a weird thing and didn’t even recognize the awkward atmosphere that was emitting from him. Weren’t they originally like that? From the beginning.

It was like a decade had passed for Youngsaeng and seconds for Seungyeon as they stayed in that state. Starting the engine, he begin drove the car out from the parking lot while once in a while glancing nervously at the rear mirror. He could see Seungyeon sitting comfortably in her seat gazing out the window. He took a deep breath.

The car reached the front gate of Seungyeon’s campus and he was ready to drive it back to her home when he got distracted by a simple sight. A looking familiar guy stood by leaning to a car that was parked near a motorcycle on the other side of the parking lot. Youngsaeng was sure that he wasn’t someone that he met often but why did he feel like he had seen him before somewhere around the people that he knew? Squinting his eyes, he asked Seungyeon, forgetting that he was in the middle of avoiding looking at her directly.

“Do you know that guy there?”

Her eyes went after his direction of gaze and found someone she knew really well at the end of it. Curious and surprised, she asked back.

“Why?”

Youngsaeng shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t know, but I feel like I’ve met him somewhere before with someone that I’m familiar with.”

“Maybe you saw him when you watched movie or tv show about alien.” Seungyeon answered carelessly earning a confused look from him. She was too lethargic to talk about that person that Youngsaeng referring to.

“I’ll explain later. Let’s go to my house now, we only have thirty minutes. And didn’t you say that you have something to discuss with me?”

**************************************************************************

Author's note:

I'm sorry if there's any grammar mistake and sorry for the lame title.

To be honest, I'm quite disappointed with my own writings lately. feels like I didn't bring out my best /sigh

Ps: dun dun dun, why did Youngsaeng feel like he have met the 'alien' before?