She ushered him into the bench. “She just moved here from Sydney and is sensitive about her Korean, so don't say anything about her accent.” She smiled a little. “Anyways, Jinwoo and I will be right here. You better not mess this up.”

She had decided to turn it into a double date. Chaeyoung, Jinwoo, Seungyoon and her in a semi-casual Thai place. She was wearing a checkered skirt and a dark turtleneck and raked a hand through his hair after they sat down, combing it with her fingers.

“You look good today,” she said and although it was only a small compliment he felt himself floating almost. She liked praising people and he liked being praised, though only by her.

A while after, Jinwoo entered. He looked around the restaurant before spotting them and then lazily walked over. A woman walked in after him and put a small bag on the table. Then she left while Jinwoo plopped down onto a seat. “I got you presents.”

She made a small grimace as Jinwoo pressed a peck onto her cheek. “You were in Germany three weeks ago.”

He shrugged.

Seungyoon almost wanted to laugh out loud. This time Jinwoo had forgotten to buy souvenirs, so he decided to instead order something online. As they unwrapped the presents, Seungyoon found himself staring at an old-school picture frame with the picture of a cow.

“What is this?”, she asked. She giggled as she leaned over the table to stare at the image.

“Her name is Berta”, Jinwoo explained. He scratched his head. "Don't Germans like cows?"

It was then that a young girl knocked on their table. Her hair was the orangey color of copper and she wore only black. “I'm Chaeyoung.”

While Chaeyoung still stood, she straightened up to greet her with a warm hug. “Hey Chae. Sit down.”

Chaeyoung's eyes met Seungyoon's and he didn't find it difficult to imagine her living in Australia. With how intensely the black kohl lined her eyes and her distinct features, she would not have a hard time blending in with the local population.

“This is Seungyoon”, she said. “Seungyoon – Chaeyoung. Chaeyoung – Seungyoon.” She winked at her friend and Seungyoon found himself growing rigid, like a tightly drawn piece of string on a bow. While he could see people thinking that Chaeyoung was pretty, he couldn't deny that he found it weird that she was interested in him. Her bold hair color and monochromatic choice of outfit spoke for itself, despite her tough exterior only halfway managing to cover what he assumed to be a much shier personality.

“You're studying law, aren't you?”, Chaeyoung finally asked after a brief moment of silence.

“Yes.”

It became quiet again until he felt her kicking his leg under the table.

“I mean...” He cleared his throat. “I am. What about you?”

Seungyoon felt miserable, reminded of his performance in a play in fifth grade where he had to perform an awful dialogue. Everything seemed staged and fake. It was staged and fake, but at least back then he wasn't ready to lie, gritting through his teeth just to please the one girl he knew he would never have.