I rushed back to get my drink from the counter and walked slowly to my seat to prevent the drink from spilling. When I got back to my seat, I noticed a figure sitting on my seat from the ground. Is this person trying to steal my stuff? 

            “Uh, excuse me that’s my stuff,” I said and poked the person sitting on my seat because this person was turned around.

            “Annyeong,” he turned and smiled with his dimples showing. I stopped moving, I didn’t even think I was breathing too. “My chingu!” he said loudly and hugged me. I was still frozen like a block of ice with my mouth open. He pulled out my seat where he was sitting and gestured for me to sit down, but instead I put my drink down slowly and looked at him. And boooooy, did I take my time to look at this handsome man in front of me.

            “Can you slap me?” I ordered him.

            “Mwo?” he reacted with his brows furrowed. “Ellie-ah, I hope you’re not angry from yesterday, i’m really sorry and I have a really good r-”

            “Can you slap me? Or pinch me or something,” I said with a monotonous voice. He smiled widely and raised his two hands to pinch my cheeks from both sides.

            “Ow! That hurts!” I yelled and hit him. “You didn’t even hold back, Jesus…” I added. Then we just stood there, smiling at each other. I didn’t want to forgive him just because I was a fan, because what he did actually hurt me even though we just met and I was just being a big crybaby, but still. So I sat down nonchalantly and turned my laptop back on because it was on sleep mode. He pulled out a chair beside me and sat down quietly. He watched me without saying anything and I did my best not to squeal and turn all red. Though, I was pretty sure I had turned red already, thank God I had my hood up. He was just watching me type and research on my laptop for a good ten minutes but given that he probably couldn’t sit still for that long, he started tugging on my hoodie.

            “Yah...i’m really sorry, okay? You don’t know how sorry I am, I couldn’t even sleep because I wasn’t sure if you arrived home safely or thinking that you were at the fashion show alone. I know we really don’t know each other, but yesterday was really really neomu neeeomuu special for me and I hope it was for you too…” he trailed off and stopped tugging on my hoodie. “Can you look at me?” he asked and so I did. There he was using his puppy dog eyes, at a person he has known for only over twenty-four hours. “I’m really sorry, really,” he said in Korean. I looked into his eyes and he did mean it, then I looked at his whole face, then his clothes. Whatever this man wears always looks so fashionable. This had me remembering the clothes I was wearing at the moment and looked down quickly.

            “Aish, what the heck,” I muttered. I was wearing a simple black jeans, runners, and a gray hoodie. Oh and a cap. I seemed so underdressed compared to the man next to me. I wasn’t even wearing makeup and was wearing my glasses.

            “You look good, okay?” he assured me, like he could hear my thoughts. “Do you forgive me? I really have a good reason, it was b-”

            “Mm, it’s okay, I don’t need to hear it,” I said, stopping him with my index finger. I turned back to my laptop. “How did you even find me, Kibum-ah?” I said casually and from the corner of my eyes, I saw him smile and face forward.

            “Well, I looked for you everywhere, actually. I went to your workplace you told me about, then the places we shopped, then the clock, then I stayed inside there,” he explained and pointed at the coffee shop in front of us where we were supposed to meet yesterday. “I asked the workers there if they had seen you since yesterday and they said no but that you stayed outside...for over two hours waiting…” he got quiet and looked down at his hands, probably feeling guilty.

            “Oh I see, how did you know to come here?” I said, ignoring his last comment so that he would stop feeling bad.

            “Okay, so I was sitting inside for the longest time, hoping that you would walk inside, but when I walked out to look around again, I peeked into here because you seemed familiar. Then I walked up closer and it was you! You looked tired but I was so happy to have found you! So I woke you up,” he said excitedly and I stopped myself from smiling by pursing my lips.

            “Oh really?” I said in Korean, but acted like it wasn’t a big deal.

            “Eeeeey, you’re happy to see me too,” He said and poked my forearm. I stopped typing and faced him. I couldn’t act like I didn’t care anymore. So I smiled the biggest smile I could possibly have and nodded shyly.

            “Aigoooo, I just wanna hug you!” he said and he hugged me so tight. I froze and didn’t do anything with my hands. I’m being hugged by Key, I mean he hugged me earlier but I have my sanity back now and I was processing what was going on. Key. Was. Hugging. Me.

            “Yah! Get off, why are you hugging me so easily,” I pushed him off me and he smiled.

            “It’s not like a big deal for you right? People hug here all the time for no reason,” he said and tilted his head side to side, acting almighty again.

            “For me, it is!” I said and stood up as I packed my backpack. He held my arm to stop me.

            “Where are you going? I’m sorry for hugging you,” he said and put up his arm like he was pledging something.

            “Pabo yah, i’m just gonna get you a drink so we can leave,” I said and took out my wallet. He stood up and forced my body to sit back down.

            “I’ll go, you do nothing today, i’ll treat you like you’re my Halmeoni,” he said and I gave him a ‘say that again’ face. He started to laugh, realizing what he had just told me. “I mean like, i’m gonna treat you really good today, as a thank you and sorry,” he explained. I guess I should feel honoured that he would treat me like someone who was so special to him, as special as his Halmeoni was to him. I couldn't hide how sad I felt for him, even though he brought it up himself, but I shrugged it off and smiled.

            “Ahh…” I said and before I could agree to it, he rushed to the counter to order a drink to go. When he got back, I was all ready to leave, but he said,

            “You don’t want to finish your schoolwork?” he asked.

            “I’m almost done them...sort of,” I said then stood up.

            “Are you suuuure?” he said in Korean. I just kept nodding and dragged him out of the place, he seemed to be pretty content. “Oh, I brought youuuu, this,” he took out a black mask folded neatly out of his pocket. He started to put it on me before I could even grab it myself. I started to move my head backwards.

            “Are you making me use your mask? That’s kind of gross, you had that on the whole day yesterday,” I said and clutched his wrist. He backed up looking offended.

            “Mwo? What kind of person do you think I am?” he said. “Of course, I washed it, I even dried it with a blowdryer, I was hoping to find you today so I prepared it for you,” he added and I let go of his wrist to let him it put it on me.

            “What about you?” I asked after he finished putting mine on. He then took out another one out of his pocket.

            “Ja-jjan!” he waved it around before putting it on himself. “I borrowed Minho’s, he hasn’t used it at all, he didn’t even leave the hotel room yesterday and just slept,” he explained, like it was such a horrible thing to do.

            “You should’ve just slept all day yesterday too, you’re jet-lagged,” I said and we started walking.

            “Then I wouldn’t have met you, silly,” he said bumped shoulders with me.

            “Aigoo! That’s not fair!” I said in Korean.

            “What?” he said.

            “You know you’re my favourite but you start talking like that to me, making me feel all giddy and happy,” I explained cutely and tightened my hood around my head.

            “Hahahaha! You’re so cute you look like a tiny little mascot,” he said because I probably looked ridiculous with the tightened hoodie around my head. I stopped walking and let him walk ahead of me and high kicked his bum for calling me a mascot.

            “Ow! Ow! Ow!” he said and held his hand over his . “It’s not like I can kick you back,” he said grumpily and I started laughing.

The day pretty much went by like that. We talked, laughed at each other, and we didn’t even do anything. We didn’t go into any store but just walked around and enjoyed each other’s company.

            “So..we’re flying to L.A. at midnight tonight..” he said quietly when we sat on a bench in a park by the water.

            “Oh...really? I see…” I said and swung my legs back and forth. “I guess this is it, huh?” I added, and felt the same feeling I felt the day before. I knew I was going to go home crying because the last two days have been the absolute best days of my life. He was quiet for a while and I was too. We knew not to talk, to let me process the situation first I guess.

            “I wanna say thank you,” he said in Korean and he crossed his legs on the bench to face me.

            “Eh? For what?” I replied in Korean and the rest of our conversation went on in Korean.

            “For becoming a new friend of mine,” he explained. I nodded and smiled.

            “Thank you..for not running away when I greeted you on the bus,” I chuckled and he did too. I turned to face him because if I didn’t I knew i’d regret it later. I needed to cherish this moment.

            “Thank you for not being a crazy stalker,” he added and smiled at me. The whole day had been gloomy but the sun was starting to shine, when the day was about to be over. The sun shone on his face and this made him close one eye to be able to look in my direction. So, I used my hands to block the sun from hitting his face.

            “Yah, I should be the one doing that, you took care of me this whole time...I wasn’t used to it,” he said and pulled my hands down.

“Eeyy, it’s my job as a friend..to take care of a fellow friend,” I explained and he smiled half-heartedly. I saw something sparkle at the corners of his eyes and he looked down.

“Aiiiiiiiigoooooooo what are these,” he said and turned away from me. Was he crying? How do I lighten up the mood...Uhh...

            “Why are you so sad? I’ll give you my autograph and my picture, don’t worry so much,” I said coolly and he pushed me, laughing lightly.

            “There you go again,” he said under his breath and face me again. “Mm...Do you….think we’ll see each other again?” he asked, unsure. He was right to be unsure. It wasn’t like we lived in the same continent.

            “Mmm..i’ll give you my instagram name?” I said and his face lit up. “Don’t follow me, though. Obviously, i’ll respect that part of your life. But i’ll give it to you and i’ll make sure to still see you there and you can see me on there too,” I said and took out my phone while he took his out too.

            “Uh...couldn’t we...facetime? Sometimes? You know, if you, uh..need a friend or if I needed a friend...maybe..or something like that,” he said, not sure whether was he was saying was right or not. I nodded and gave him my phone and he wrote down his phone number while he gave me his phone to write down my own and save it.

            “I can’t believe i’m exchanging phone numbers with Kim Kibum,” I sang while typing in my number on his phone and saved it as ‘my special stranger’. He scoffed and clunked my head.

            “Yah, you better not give this away, i’m trusting you!” he said and handed me back my phone and I looked at it. He saved his number as ‘Kibum Oppa’, so I changed it right away to ‘Kibum Ahjussi’ and he watched me do this.

            “Ahjussi?!” he said loudly and tried to grab my phone back to change it but I quickly put it back in my pocket.

            “Meehrong!” I said and stuck my tongue out. He laughed so hard and clapped his hands.

            “How do you know so much Korean?! You’re so funny,” he said and wiped his eyes from laughing a bit too hard at something so small.

            “Oh! Oh! Kibum-ah, Kibum-ah! Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I almost forgot!” I said and grabbed his collar back and forth over and over and over again. He couldn’t steady himself because I did it so fast and stood up. Actually, I jumped up from overexcitement. “Kibum-ah! Kibum-ah!” I kept saying and he got up too and jumped with me.

            “Wae? Wae?!” he said acting all happy when he didn’t even know what I was going to say. I couldn’t believe I forgot about it!

            “I’m….going….to...Korea!” I said in Korean, still jumping and didn’t realize it ‘till now but I was holding both his hands. I, naturally and quickly, slid my hands to his elbows instead, I don’t think he noticed.

            “What?! Really?!?!” he said so loudly that people looked at us and passed us like we were two idiots on drugs.

            “Mmhmm!” I said and finally settled down. His eyes were so wide and his mouth was wide open.

            “When? Why?” He asked, like he was on adrenaline.

            “In 1 year…” I said, realizing that it wasn’t going to be until next year, well eleven months really.

            “That’s so far from now...Why are you going?” he said and we both sat back down.

            “You don’t want me to go?” I said.

            “Aniya aniya!” he waved his hand in front of my face. “It’s just so faaaar from now...but why are you going?” he asked again.

            “Oh for work. I’ve applied to a program that would let me teach English there but only when I get my degree,” I explained.

            “Oh...I see, but I thought you wanted to be a lawyer?” he asked.

            “Yeah, this is just an opportunity I want to take because to go there has been my dream and learn the language better and culture, and everything!” I explained. He nodded as I did this.

            “So it’s a temporary thing?”

            “Yeah...I could decide that though..” my voice faded at the end. He shook his head, stood up, grabbed my hand and dragged me off the bench.

            “Where are we going?” I asked him, but he didn’t talk.

            “You’re not like kidnapping me right? I mean, not like I’d care right now since it’s you, but I mean, if you’ll miss me that much you can just ask me, you know,” I said jokingly and he laughed, but still kept walking.

            “You’ll see,” he said slyly. I think he noticed that he still had a hold of my hand because he let it go right when he looked at it. We walked side by side and I simply followed his lead. I didn’t realize that we were already by the waterfront, where we had the view of the bridge and its blinking lights. While we were walking, I guess it had gotten dark because all we could see were city lights and the reflection of them on the water.

            “Why did you bring me here?” I asked when we stopped.

            “Well, this is the hotel,” he explained and gestured towards the building behind him.

            “Oh...see! I knew you guys were staying here, I even told my friends the other night because this is where all the celebrities stay whe-..okay not important, but I had a hunch!” I said happily, because I was right among my friends. Hah! They should’ve believed meeee!

He chuckled and took off his hood and fixed his bangs. He half-smiled and acted all shy, unlike his mighty self.

            “I brought you here to...uh, introduce you to the members actually…” he looked and scratched the back of his head.

            “Mwo?! You mean, like mee- oh mon dieu! Are you serious? Wh-” I cut myself off after realizing I was freaking out. I cleared my throat and acted all high and mighty again. “That’s cool…” I said and kicked the ground. He laughed and clapped his hands while dragging me inside. “What if they ask for my autograph?” I said jokingly while I was getting dragged and he laughed.

            “Oh shut up,” he said and we walked inside the elevator. There, we waited.