Kim Sujin, drawing at home 4th october, day of the date

I kept thinking about what he told me this early morning and couldn't look at him in the eyes. How can he be interested in me ? He's intelligent, like he's a lawyer he must see classy and cool woman everyday. Why me ? He had called me yesterday to ask me for that final date. He let almost two weeks fly before asking back about that date. It was sweet, he was letting me time to take care of my daughter and make sure she was doing okay ... yet it would be lying saying that I wasn't expecting his call way before ....

As I was home and just drawing for work, the bell ringed and I stood up to open the door, I looked at YongGuk and covered my mouth.  « I almost forgot. Our date. Gosh !!»

He chuckled, a hand on his hip. « Oh. Don't worry it's only 5. I just wanted to tell you that we should let the girls have a sleepover at my home. I have pop corn. »

I sighed out of relief. « Okay. Let's do that. 7PM ? »

He nodded with a smile. I realized I was still in joggings, paint under my nails. I hided my hands.  « I'll be ready by then. I'll scrub the paint out of my nails don't worry. »

He chuckled softly and we stared at each other. « I'm so excited for tonight. »

I hummed. « Me too. »

We waved to each others as he  took a step back? He  stumbled and almost fell and he looked at me embarassed and I smiled at him.

« Let just say I closed the door and saw nothing. » He was surprise as I closed softly my door.

I went to see Moonah in her bath. She was lying in her bath, eyes closed. I kissed her forehead and she opened her eyes. «Time to get out, the water is almost cold. Tonight Taeyang invited you at her home , you could watch movies for her right ? What about making cookies ? So you can bring that to her. »

She nodded eagerly. We cooked that in a good mood. Moonah loved to bake with me. If at first as a baby she would watch me with glittering eyes, now I was only assisting her. She was doing fine. When the cookies were in the oven, she liked to stay next to the oven, to smell the good odor. I looked at her from my desk, finishing some sketches.

« If you put your head inside, you'll be able to smell more of the cookies. »

She looked at me with an almost guilty face. I smiled and came to crush a peck on her forehead. « Don't get burn. The smell will invade the whole house after a while. Be patient. »

She listened to me and sit on a chair, still close to the oven. I chuckled. « Mom is going to take a bath. »

 Putting a simple yet chic black dress, litte heels , I was now focusion on makeup. The first step being to put on my contact lenses. I ended up really engrossed in my make up and looked absolutely different from normal. I ended up curling my hair to bob my hair properly and soon my daughter came to see me.

« MOM the cookies they look so good !! » She gasped seeing me and her hands grazed her face. « Mom you look like a princess. »

« Oh so I'm pretty ? »

She shook her head. « You're the prettiest in the universe. » I smiled and felt good. I was applying my blush when she looked at the object I was holding, I hided a smile looking the fascinated eyes of my daughter.  « Mom can I have the blush ? Please ? Please !!! »

I gave her a look as I was carefully applying the blush on my cheek. I made sure to collect the less amount possible before teasing her and tickle her with the brush. She giggled loudly I was torturing her. « Mom stop stop. »

« But you told me you wanted blush. » I stopped to tickle her with the brush and looked at her face. « Close your eyes. »

I collected the powder and soon brushed her nose, giving her the cute look of a doll. As she looked at herself in the mirror, she giggled. She felt beautiful with a little blush. I packed her bag with precision. «You're happy to spend the night with Taeyang ? »

« But you're going to come back ? » She asked, suddenly realizing I was leaving. «Where are you going mom ? »

I was expeting the question a long time ago. « Taeyang dad invited me to have dinner with him. »

« Oh. » She simply said. I guess that for those two girls they were too absorbed in spending time together to have a look on us.

«That's why we thought you two could play together until we come back. » I precised to her.

She nodded slowly and suddenly asked « Mom is he your lover ? »

I shook my head, my cheeks becoming pink,  the blush I applied not of use anymore ...  « No he – hmm we are just having a dinner together. »

« Okay. But then he's going to ask you to marry him and you have to say yes so Taeyang and I will be sisters. Yourra !! »

I looked at her jump around in bliss and shook my head. Life was a fairy tale for her. Simple and easy.

« Moonah, it's not a fairy tale. » Maybe YongGuk just wanted to ... play around ?  Life was far from being  a fairy tale. Men didn't held their promises. They use women for their pleasure. I looked at my 6 years old little girl, in her pastel blue dress, still believing in the prince charming, of the never ending love. As we exited the flat, I closed it and we walked down the stairs.

I held her hand while walking in the dark road, wondering about how I could protect her from the world made exclusively for men.

I ringed the bell. As the door opened on YongGuk, I smiled. Moonah broke our eye contact. « Are you going to ask her to marry you ? Huh ? My mom is alone ? But if you marry her do you think you can sleep in another room because I like sleeping in my mom arms. »

I looked at her, and looked at YongGuk laugh with all his heart. « Gosh Moonah. »

I tried not to blush but it was impossible. «  Make children they say. » I saied. He giggled, his ears still red from his burst of laughs.

« Moonah, we're going to have dinner together. I'm not asking her to marry me. » He clarified to her, kneeling to her height.

She nodded. « Okay. Cool. So I can keep sleeping with my mom ? »

« Yeah. » He let us enter and took my bag to put it in Taeyang room. I suddenly take a look at his shirt and cleared my throat. «Your shirt. »

He looked down and buttoned up the four buttons left open in a swift manner. As I blushed looking away, his little girl arrived and looked at me. « Dad I think she is a princess. »

« Hey Taeyang. Thanks. » I patted her hair gently and noticed she was wearing a dress, her body still fresh from the shower, smelling like baby shower bath, while her hair was still wet from the shower. Her little pajamas was so cute, I adjusted the strap of the dress and smiled to her.

« We've bring cookies for you. I know you like them. »

Her eyes lighthened up. Hyejeong the young babysitter looked at me and took the box. I thanked her and waited for YongGuk, sit on the floor playing with the girls. He wasn't ready. His hair was unstyled when I arrived.

Feeling some eyes on me I raised my head and smiled seeing YongGuk standing up behind me. « Let's go. »

I nodded. « Moonah. I'm going. Be nice and polite. »

« Are you going to come back ? Which hour ? Do you think I'll be asleep ?» Moonah asked, rather anxious about me leaving.

«She'll be back before 11 I promise. » YongGuk said to her with his reassuring voice.  She blinked as he waited for her handshake and she ended up shaking his hand seriously.

«  Hug. » I said to her. We hugged and I kissed her forehead.

I got closer to the door and looked at Taeyang drag her in her room. We bid goodbye to the babysitter and he closed the door behind him and lead me to his car. « Okay. Sorry for the delay. Taeyang didn't want to shower, she saw a documentary on saving water and told me it would be too much of a waste to have a bath everyday. »

I giggled. « Children. »

As he started to drive, he suddenly remembered of something. « You're really elegant tonight. »

I smiled. « Thanks. That goes to you too. »

He grinned and thanked me promptly. «Sujin, do you like jazz ? »

I nodded, looking at the direction he was taking. He was leaving the village, direction Busan city. « Yeah it's nice. »

« Cool, I have a table at a restaurant there's a jazz performance tonight. »

« That sounds pretty exciting. » I said, it's been a while I've seen a performance. »

Soon, he parked in a parking lot and we had to take the elevator. I felt his fingers graze mine and ended up grabbing mine gently. As I raised my eyes, he searched for approuval in them and I smiled to him. He slowly mirrored the grin. As we arrived to the restaurant I realized it was a very trendy and well known restaurant, with a view on the diamond bridge and the beach obviously. The servor waved to him and looked at me with wild eyes. He gave us our table. « Gosh, did I miss Taeyang growing up or you're really bringing a woman here ? »

I looked at him sigh. «Yeah. I invited her for dinner. »

He smiled. « Gosh YongGuk. That's pretty nice. Like super nice." The young man looked emotional as he stared at YongGuk. The man in front of me cleared his throat and the young boy got back his senses. "Hmm okay. Let s start. Menu. »

As I looked at the menu with bewilrewed eyes, I gave a look to YongGuk, he was reading with attention the menu, nonely bothered by the foreign words here and there. I pocked his hand shyly and his eyes left the menu to look at me. « Is it normal I don't understand anything ? »

He chuckled. « Let me help you. » He  pushed his chair next to mine and carefully explained to me each plate in details, giving me his feedbacks on each and at the end I decided myself for a risotto. He told his friend what we decided ourself for and the boy left with a smile.

He looked at me with his brown eyes and smiled. « You forgot your glasses ? »

I smiled. « I put on contact lenses. It's only for great occassions. »

« So I'm a  great occasion ? » He retorted, with an amused face.

I blushed. « Yes. »

« I don't know much about you. I mean it's a mutual thing right ? » He said as we sipped on some tea they offered us.

«I'm an illustrator. » I said not thinking of anything interesting to tell him.

He chuckled. «Is it a job interview ?Maybe  you have some  hobby ? »

« I love painting aquarellas and making color scheme. So you are fond of jazz ? » I said; trying to be relaxed. I wasn't used to it. Fancy date at an expensive restaurant ? Never done that before. No wonder I couldn't even read and comprehend the mone.  I felt awkward just by looking at the amount of cutleries around my plate.

« Yeah like so much. » I learned that he was a huge fan of music in general, as he talked a bit about music. He liked paintings too. « Your favourite painting ? »

I laughed, touched by his question. «I have ones that I cherish a lot. That inspires me. But I don't have a favourite one, it's impossible. You have one ? »

« La nuit étoilée of Van Gogh. I have one representation in my office. »

I smiled, again surprised of our similar taste. « Ohh good choice. I really love the other one, La Nuit étoilée sur le Rhone. So poetic. »

He nodded and we had a pretty good discussion about arts when our plates arrived. « Bon appetit. »

We ate in silence just looking at the performers sing and play of their instruments. I felt lucky to be there. As I let my fork sit back on the table to enjoy the performance, I gasped when fingers wanted to intertwin with mine. I gave him a side look and he smiled softly to me. The performance was nice, the plate delicious and it was really relaxing to just sip wine while looking at the performance. As people clapped for the artists. I tried to take back my hand from him to clap. « Oh sorry. »

« It's okay.  I think I'm not the first to tell you that you're really kind and soft-hearted. »

He shook his head. « You're right. People say that I need to be a warrior to survive in this world. »

I looked at him eat and thought about him at work. Was he agressive ? Shady ? « I'm sure you're a excellent lawyer. »

He stopped to eat and looked at me with amused eyes and a smirck.« How come you know ? »

« When you started to charge Moonah father and he went away running. Sometimes I start to laugh alone thinking about this. Really.» I said, chuckles leaving my mouth only thinking about this memory.

He smiled, embarassed. « People never complained about my way to do my work. »

I nodded. « Okay so I was right. Do you even have flaws ? »

His smile faded a bit. « Who doesn't ? I have many flaws. But I mean could we skip that for today ? »

I nodded, not worried about what he just said and he took a spoonful. « Unless you want to talk about yours? »

A smile left my mouth. « I'm negligent. I mean I only do efforts when I know people are going to judge me. I'm quite messy. »

He giggled. « You going out with your pink joggings. It's really cute. And we have children. It's hard to stay organized. »

I groaned. « You are way better than me at that. You always style your daughter hair before school. She is always perfectly hairtsyled. Also your house is really clean. »

« Yeah. I mean I try to clean. But I don't agree !!  You make delicious plates for your daughter, and cookies and chocolate cakes and stuffs. She always end up with handmade candies. I feel bad everytimes my daughter take out hers that I bought at the supermarket. »

We looked at each others in surprise. I blushed as he laughed. « See ? Grass is always greener elsewhere. »

I nodded. « Yeah for sure. »

As we finished our meal, the servor came back. « Wine ? Coffee ? Desserts ? »

Yongguk looked at me with attention. « What do you want ? »

« Desserts. » I looked at the menu with attention, loving how this time I understood what it was written on the card. Ice cream ? Heard about it before ! I raised my eyes as I finally made up my mind and noticed both men were bickering in silence.

«I'm a friend of YongGuk-hyung, Jun Hong. So can I know the name of his date ? » The boy said with a huge smile.

« Kim Sujin. Nice to meet you. »

He bowed with a smile. « Did you choose yet ? »

I showed him what I wanted on the card and he disappeared.

« Sorry about that. He just wants to tease me. » Yongguk started to say yet Junhong came back running to interrupt him. « That's because it's the » As YongGuk placed his hand on the guy mouth, I was surprised. He smiled. «Junhong do you want me to complain about your service ? »

The guy disappeared in a second and I laughed. « See a real warrior.. »

He shook gently his head and soon looked outside. « Should we wait for dessert on the veranda ? »

As we walked there, I realized that the building was really high. Enough to have a pretty good view of Busan. I looked at the artificial lights shine bright, already missing my village, where I could see the stars.

«Busan is really a beautiful city. » I blurred out like this. YongGuk came to my side, admiring the sea view and the diamond bridge. He looked nicely pleased.

« Are you from here ? You have the accent ? »

« Said the Seoul guy. » I teased. He spoke with that modern accent, turning into the busan one slowly. As he looked at me, I pointed at the right. « I come from a fisher village from this side, not that far from Busan. »

«Countrypumpkin. » He said pinching my cheek. I widened my mouth at this insult and scoffed. « If you think you're funny. »

He chuckled. « Country Pumpkin. » He repeated pinching my cheek. I pouted and looked away for a while. He caressed my shoulder and as I raised my eyes on him, I saw his eyes:he looked like someone that wanted to kiss me. As he got closer to me, he gulped hard and a single look inside made his intention crumble away. «The dessert are here. »

I looked in awe at the panna cotta they served me, he ended up taking the same thing at one exception, I took the blueberry one while he had the berry one. «You have a sweet teeth. » He stated. I blushed.

« Yeah. It's true. That's why I bake for my daughter, but secretly I get all of the cakes and cookies. » He rolled his eyes and I looked at his simple . « On the other half, you don't eat sweets right ? »

He smiled. « I love wine more than desserts. But I'm driving, so desserts »

« Do you want a bite ? » I said. He nodded and I shoved the cup  in his hand, he did the same thing. He tasted it and smiled. « It's really good. I never took that before. »

I tasted a spoonful of his and smiled. Good, similar in taste but different enough to notice.

« Feel free to have aother spoon. » I told him, giving him back his cup. He shook his head. « Come on I have a kid I know well this thing. »

« Like when she tell you that she is not hungry and then she sees your noodles and end up eating all of them ? » I questionned. Moonah was the champion for that. I would ask her if she wants noodles beforehand and she refuses always. When I start eating, she comes to bother me to eat my food when she refused when I asked her ....

« Yeah. Like this. » We laughed.

« Raising children requires so much patience. » He said with a smile.

I nodded. « But it brings happiness right ? » He smiled with a nodd and soon both of us were finished, his lips were stained with his wine in the sweetest light red and I was over with the delicious panna cotta. He stood up. « Stay here while I pay. »

I nodded and took this time to text the babysitter. Asking about my daughter. « She is laughing out loud in front of Barbie, far from having a nervous depression. » My babysitter wrote, I read this with delight. Tonight was a good night, basically.

Here is the first part of the date between them ; hope you enjoy =)