Saturday could not come fast enough. Camila sits by her bed folding her newly dried laundry, she holds one of the warm  blankets close and closes her eyes as she inhales deeply. The smell of the fabric softener invading her nose making her smile, the smells reminding her so much of home. She takes a sip of coffee and goes to put the laundry away. After she is done she grabs her cup of coffee and book settling on the couch intending to read. 

It is still early and she has already done all of her chores. The anticipation of tonight kept her from sleeping yet she is surprisingly wide awake. She finds herself looking out the window unable to concentrate on the book, one finger slowly tapping the side of her cup. Its only 10:30 am and they are supposed to meet at 6. Time is going by so slow. They have texted a few times since they talked and Minwoo refuses to tell her where they are going. She even called him oppa hoping that he would tell her but no, nothing has worked. The curiosity is killing her. Camila looks at the clock again... its 10:31. She laughs and lies on the couch looking at the window a smile forming as she thinks about him. 

——————-

Minwoo gets off the phone after making sure the last details for tonight are all set. He has a surprise for her; he doesn’t know how she will take it but hopes she has an open mind to what he has prepared for them. He wants to show her his life and hopes sharing with her something he really enjoys will be a good start. He looks at his watch, its only 10am and he has already had a full morning. He is extremely busy all day with just enough time to get ready but that is the price to pay for moving things around so he could be free tonight. As he drives to his next meeting he laughs as thinks about how persistent she is. She must really want to know, she even called him oppa. It was nice to read that even if it was because she wanted to get something. She is starting to open up more to him and he is really enjoying getting to know her more. 

After a couple of more meetings and dance practice he sees that it’s time to go. He grabs his things and heads home to change, it’s a good thing he was busy it made time go by faster. He gets home, quickly showers and changes into workout clothes. He goes through his closet and takes out a few options to change into after the first part of their date. He runs his hand through his damp hair as he finally decides and puts the clothes in a bag. Although it’s still a bit early, he grabs his things and heads out, he can’t wait any longer. 

Camila gets a text from him letting her know he is on his way. She has been ready for a while now, she tried to distract herself and got back from a café with still a lot of time left to spare. She sits on the couch with her hands folded on her lap patiently waiting for him. When she gets his text she jumps up and grabs her things, she forces herself to walk down the stairs as she tries to contain her excitement. 

She sees him standing by his car and smiles. He looks handsome even dressed so casually. Minwoo looks up and smiles when he sees her. Her soft wavy hair slowly bouncing behind her as she walks towards him. He walks towards her reaching to take her bag. 

“Ready to go?” He reaches and moves a stray hair from her face

She smiles and nods. 

“Great, we have a lot do” He takes her bag and puts it in the back. They get in and he starts driving. 

“So are you going to tell me now where we are going?” 

 He shakes his head “you will find out when we get there” He says with a smile

“Fine ahjussi” She looks out the window hiding her smile, knowing he doesn’t like to be called that. 

He laughs “be patient, you will know soon enough”

After a while he pulls into a parking lot. “We are here” 

He gets out and goes around opening the door for her. 

She looks around “ummm… is this a gym?”

He takes out their bags and laughs when he hears her confusion. 

“Yeah., come on” he leads them inside where the staff happily greet them. Her eyes get wide and she goes to him and whispers. 

“We are not… “she trails off 

He whispers back and smiles “we are”

“Yeah … no. I can’t” She is about to take a step back and his arm goes around her waist. The staff says something to her but she doesn’t hear. Camila is so involved in her thoughts she doesn’t notice his hand on her waist until he gently squeezes it. 

“Sorry?” She looks at the staff. 

“I am guessing you have never rocked climbed” the staff asks Camila and she nods. 

“Don’t worry, it is very safe, you will be attached to a rope so even if you let go you will not fall” The staff looks at them. “I will go and set everything up”

She looks at him a worried look on her face. 

“I won’t let anything bad happen to you. Trust me” He says as he looks into her eyes  “I just wanted to share something I really love” 

She looks at the rock climbing wall and sights “I will try but won’t promise to do the whole thing”

“That is good enough” He takes her hand and guides her to the back 

“I’ll go first so you can see how it is done. Then I will guide you, I have done this hundreds of time.”

She takes a breath and nods. 

The staff puts the harness on them while he tries to make her laugh to ease her nerves. She is still nervous but smiles when she watches him. He catches her watching him making her look away blushing and he smiles when he sees this. 

“Ok, let’s do this” He stands in front of her and ruffles her hair. She makes a face and fixes her hair but she follows him with her eyes. Minwoo starts climbing, narrating every move he makes. He shows off by using only his hands as he reaches the top making her move closer with a shock look in her face. He let’s go and dangles for a few seconds before the staff lowers him. He unhooks himself and turns to look at her. “See it’s not that hard” He says with a smile. 

Camila points to the wall “I can’t do that” Her eyes follow the height of the wall and shakes her head. “Its way to high” 

He pulls her towards the wall “You will be fine. You don’t have to go all the way up”

He can see she is nervous as he feels her palm is sweating and shaking. He stops and steps in front of her his hands on her shoulders. “If you are that scare you don’t have to do it”

She takes a breath and smiles “I will try. You will just have to be patient”

He runs his hands down her arms and holds her hands. “Of course, always”

“Ok, let’s do this” She walks towards the staff and they hook her up. 

He takes the rope from the staff. “Take your time; I will guide you if you get stuck” 

She nods and steps towards the wall looking up. “What am I doing?” She whispers. 

Camila takes a breath and places one hand on the first rock then her other hand in another one. She looks down and places her foot on one rock, pulls herself up and places her other foot in another rock. She looks up and reaches for another rock. He starts guiding her, trying to make it easier for her to keep moving. As she continuous to move up she can start to feel her muscles screaming, she has never done anything like this and her muscles are reprimanding her for what she is putting them through. 

Little by little she ascends and it feels like she has been climbing this wall for hours. Her hands and legs start to hurt and she doubts she will be able to climb the 3 flights of stairs to her apartment the next day. She makes the next move and can’t find her footing, she looks down and sees how high she really is and freaks out. She goes back to her last position and holds on tight, her eyes close and forehead against one of the rocks. She murmurs under her breath, her heart beating in her ears. 

From below Minwoo can see that she is scare and he encourages her to move, guiding her to where she needs to go next. She is deep in her thoughts and the pounding  of her heart prevent her from hearing him. As he sees that she is really scare he feels bad knowing she only did this because he asked her to. He calls out to her again in a soft, gentle voice. This time she opens her eyes when she hears his voice. 

“If you can’t go any higher that’s ok, just let go and I’ll bring you down” Minwoo says softly

“Are you crazy?” She forgets and looks down again and freaks out again making her hold on to the wall tightly again. 

“Trust me, just let go” He looks up at her “just let go, that is the only way to get down. Push back and let go” 

She can feel how tense her muscles are and her arms start to shake. Either way, she won’t be able to hold on for much longer. She hold her breath, pushes back and let’s go; her eyes still close she can feel herself still in the air slowly going down. She holds on to the rope as she goes down until her feet touch the ground. Camila can feel her body shaking and Minwoo goes towards her. 

“See its over. You did great” he says as he helps her take the hardness off. 

Camila opens her eyes and as soon as she sees him punches him in the arm. “You didn't tell me it was going to be that scary”

He rubs his arm and laughs “I didn't know you were that scare of heights” 

She looks at him and pouts like a little kid. “It’s not funny”

He should feel sorry but all he can think is how cute she looks. 

“Ok, ok. I’m sorry” He says with a laugh and pulls her close, wrapping his arms around her. “Don’t be mad at me. You can choose where we go next time”

“If there is a next time” she mumbles. 

“What?” he says. 

“Nothing” she says pretending to be mad but enjoying being in his arms. She realizes that the staff is looking and she pulls away. He hands her a bottle of water,  she takes it, taking a long drink and then lies on the floor. Her heart settling and she can start to feel the soreness in her muscles. . He sits beside her and quietly watches her. 

“Do you do this often?” she asks while her eyes are close. She surprises him and he jumps a little. “Ummm….yeah. I really like working out and this is a fun way to do it”

A smile crosses her lips as she thinks I can tell and remembers the way his arms feel when he hugs her. 

He smiles “why the smile?”

She sits up, a slight blush in her face. “Nothing”  He takes the water from her and takes a long drink. “Ok, let’s go get ready for dinner”

To be continued...