Few Weeks Later

Ailee’s P.O.V

I grabbed JR’s arm in excitement. I couldn’t believe we’d be jetting off to Australia in a few hours.

“OMG I CAN’T WAIT!” I squealed.

He laughed.

“You do realise that it’s not going to be all play – we’re going there for a, I quote “learning experience” and to improve our English – not that you’d need to of course.”

I smiled.

“It’s winter there as well! I LOVE winter!”

“Of course you do!” added Daehyun, who had just loaded his luggage into the bus.

“Who wouldn’t? Right it’s so hot at the moment! We’re all sweaty and disgusting.”

“It felt so weird packing our winter clothes when it’s summer.  I was looking online and apparently in Sydney, the average winter temperature is like our autumn and spring, so not too cold!” said JR.

“WHO’S READY FOR OUR TRIP!?” cried Hyorin who came over with Jiyeon.

We cheered in unison.

“Too bad they’re coming too.” She added, then glanced over to where Hyosung, Kikwang and their friends were standing. We were all in the same English class, so... it was inevitable. 

I rolled my eyes.

“I don’t care anymore – It was his choice to do all those things and I'm not going to let her get to me and ruin our trip,” I stated.

Everyone smiled at me and JR ruffled my hair.

“Good.”

We all hopped on the bus to the airport, telling each other about what adventures and fun we were going to have while we were in Australia. Before we knew it, we were all waiting to board the plane.

I let out a little squeal while walking to our seats and Daehyun shook his head.

“Calm down Ailee!” he laughed.

“Sorry, can’t help it!”I smiled.

Hours later

“WE’RE FINALLY HERE!” cheered Daehyun.

“WOO!”

The others had left us for the Sydney Opera House, but Daehyun and I wanted to do something else, so here we were, strolling down Sydney’s China Town, with the smell of Asia wafting through the air, making our stomachs growl.

“What do you want to eat?” he asked.

“I don’t really know… What about noodles of some sort?”

He shrugged. I tried to think of a place that one of my cousins recommended me and it turned out that it wasn’t far from here.

“How do you feel about pancakes?”

“Pancakes?”

“Yeah. I came here to visit my cousin a few months back and she took me to a really good pancake store. Do you want to?” I smiled.

He gave it a moment’s thought and then smiled back at me.

“Ok – you know the way right?”

I nodded and began to walk towards the Harbour, where the shop was. As we were around the harbour to the shop, it got slightly windy and cold. My fingers felt numb and I had started to rub my hands to warm them up.

Daehyun glanced over at me and asked if my hands were cold. I shrugged. What could he do? To my utmost surprise and some joy, he held out his hand.

“What are you doing?”

“Your hands are cold, what do you think I’m doing?”

I gave him a weird look.

He shook his head and grabbed my hand. I gasped – How could his hands be so warm in weather like this?

“Your hands are so warm! How do you manage to keep them so warm?! My hands are always cold in weather like this!”

“It’s cause I’m kind-hearted, you’re probably really mean to people and cold-hearted, so your hands are always cold,” he joked.

I punched him lightly with my other hand and he laughed.

“I just keep them in my pockets – there’s no trick.”

I laughed then let go of his hand – I didn’t want to hold it for longer than necessary since we were “just friends”, despite wanting to always have my hand tucked in his warm ones. We reached the pancake shop and walked in, to be welcomed by the sweet aroma of pancakes.

I clutched my growling stomach as we sat down at a table and flicked through the menu.

“The smell! Oh! They have crepes here too!”

“What are crepes?”

I dropped my menu in shock. Daehyun didn’t know what crepes were?

“Crepes…”

“What are they?”

“Crepes,” I said slowly.

“You know repeating the word over and over again isn’t going to miraculously make me know what they are,” he laughed.

I blushed.

“They’re on the menu…”

He flicked through and found the crepes listed, then raised an eyebrow.

“They’re just pancakes.”

“No… They’re thinner and I personally prefer them over pancakes,”

“Then let’s order crepes! I’ll see what the fuss is all about myself.”

We proceeded to order a savoury crepe with chicken, mushroom and cheese and a sweet crepe, with strawberries, green tea ice cream and chocolate sauce. As soon as they arrived in front of us, I dug in happily. Daehyun ate slowly with a poker face. I frowned.

“Don’t you like them?”

“They’re pretty good, I guess.”

“Yah! If you’re being like that with good food like this I’ll eat them both myself!”

He put his fork and knife down and leaned over to ruffle my hair. I prentended to be angry while fixing my hair.

“Just kidding! They are really nice.” He smiled and continued to eat. I stiffled a giggle and helped him finish off the crepes. 

After we ate, we spent most of the day walking around and exploring the shops before meeting up with everyone else for dinner. If only it was actually a date, but of course, we were just friends.