22.

Dara let out a guffaw as she looked at Donghae. "Your reaction is truly priceless! I was just kidding, Donghae." She patted his shoulder in assurance.

Donghae clicked his tongue in fake annoyance. That made Dara concerned. "Did I go too far with the joke? Mianhe."

He looked at her with a straight face. She grabbed his sides and shook him slightly. "Sorryyyy." Then he suddenly chuckled.

Dara took a breath of relief. "The heck. I thought you were serious." He smiled. "I don't think I can ever be mad at you, noona."

"You certainly have a way with words, Hae. Be careful, I might melt then you would have to responsible for when I go missing."

Donghae grinned. "I'll stop the world and melt with you." He sang a bit. "Wah, you know The Cure?" Dara excitedly questioned.

"I know some of their songs. But they're singing in English so.." He trailed off, scratching the back of his head bashfully.

"Well you're pretty good at pronunciation." She complimented, before asking him to get down. Donghae got confused. "Get down?"

"So I can ride you." She replied, pausing when she noticed that Donghae's expression changed. "Oh, I don't mean it that way!"

Donghae's mouth stretched into an uneasy smile. "Um. I knew that. Wasn't thinking of anything weird really."

Liar. She thought with a smirk, then started to get on his back when he went down. "You'll have to carry me like this as we go back to the car."

"Yes ma'am." He answered in a robotic voice, which made Dara giggle. "Are you going to follow every command I say?"

"Yep." He muttered. "Lucky future girlfriend." She mumbled, resting her cheek on his shoulder. "Y-yeah."

He felt his face heat up at the thought that Dara's face was very close to his. If I turn my head to her side then we would- wait. Shut up brain!

"Hae? Are you alright?" She asked when she heard him grumble incoherent words. "Huh? I'm certainly not thinking about that!"

Dara's eyebrows scrunched at Donghae's nonsensical reply. "I wasn't saying anything about your thoughts, whatever it is."

Donghae's grimaced in embarassment as he walked the street of Myeongdong. "I'm sorry. I'm a bit out of it."

"Are you feeling dizzy or something? Am I heavy? Is that why you don't feel well?" She bombarded him with questions.

He smiled, thinking about how cute she was when she was worried about small things. "Yeah. You're heavy." He lied.

"Hey! But you said I was light." She pouted. "I was obviously joking, noona. Payback, you know." He said, laughing at her response.

"Tch. You think you're so funny huh?" She grumbled, holding onto him tighter when she almost let go.

"I know I am." He retorted confidently. They reached the place where they parked the car so Donghae put Dara down.

As Donghae started the car, he asked her what they would do next. "It's actually the boyfriend's turn." She replied.

"The boyfriend's turn? Well what does the guy want to do with his girlfriend?" He questioned.

"Late night movies. Amusement park. Surprise event." She said in one go. "I don't think we can do a surprise event since it isn't a surprise anymore."

"So only two left?" He felt bummed out. "Yeah. Actually there's still one left. But we can't do that." She replied.

The reply was cryptic so Donghae naturally became curious, "Why not?" Dara turned red. He was even more curious because of her reaction.

"Just trust me. Anyway lets go to the amusement park first." She suggested, avoiding his eyes. Dara hoped that Donghae won't push the topic further.

"Arasso. Since it won't be late night anymore if we do it now." Donghae said, looking at the afternoon sky momentarily.

I'll definitely find out the last thing we were supposed to do. He thought to himself.

Dara giddily stomped her feet gently in excitement. "Finally, I get to go to the amusement park again." She happily sighed.

"You're a little kid at heart, noona. It matches your face and size." He chuckled slightly. " But let's go to a restaurant first. I'm hungry."

They decided to go to Dakgalbi street, where a large number of restaurants specializing in the street's namesake were.

"I think we should remove the sunglasses. We look pretty weird wearing it in this weather." Dara indicated, taking hers off, followed by Donghae.

"You were the one who insinuated it noona. Anyway, I don't think we'll be recognized. We have hats and all." Dara nodded in agreement.

The two idols immediately enter the first dakgalbi restaurant they see on the street, not wanting to tire themselves over choosing what restaurant to go to.

After they ordered the special dish, they sat down on a table meant for two people, where it beca