*Yesung’s POV*

I smiled to myself as we walked along in silence. Though it was a little awkward, I didn’t mind. I was just happy that she had agreed to hang out with me.

“So, tell me more about yourself,” I prodded cautiously.

She shrugged, “What do you wanna know?”

“Well…” I thought for a second. What did I want to know? I wanted to know everything! “What’s your dad like?” I figured that was a substantial question and it would also help me get to know more about her life at home.

“Ask his secretary.”

“What?” I looked at her in confusion.

“My dad is never home. He says it’s business, but I know that’s only half of it. The other half is pleasure. He’s probably seen more of that secretary than my mother in all the years of their marriage.”

“That’s terrible!” I exclaimed in shock. “Your poor mother!”

“Oh don’t worry; she has plenty of fun with the foreign guys in Europe she works with. She’s only visited two short times in the past year, and it’s usually just for business purposes.”

“Aigoo,” I shook my head. “No wonder…”

“No wonder what?” her head snapped toward me; fire dancing behind her eyes. However, I could see that it wasn’t all anger. It was pain too.

“Uh,” I looked around for something to save me. Thankfully my eyes landed on the perfect target. “Wait here. I’ll be right back,” I directed, then hurried off toward the floral display.

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“Here,” I the lone red rose toward her shyly, scratching the back of my neck.

“What is this for?” she asked, taking the flower from me uneasily.

“Well, I felt bad for making you talk about your family,” I looked down at the ground, then back at her face. “And I thought a pretty girl should wear a pretty flower.”

“Oh,” she looked at the fragile form of life in her hands as if it was from another world she’d never seen before.

“Let me put it in your hair,” I said, taking it from her. I shortened the stem and gently slipped it behind her ear, draping her long black locks around it. “It’s beautiful,” I smiled, letting my hand rest against her cheek. “You’re beautiful.”

Instead of being shy, her eyes stared up at me with fear, sadness and pain. However, it was only a fleeting second of eye contact before she tore away, turning her back to me. “We should probably get going.”

“There’s no rush,” I smiled, placing a hand on her shoulder. She only shrugged it off.

I sighed in frustration, then decided it was time to give up on this moment. There were more to come; I was sure of it.

We took a bus to Independence Park to save our feet for the tour I was to give her by foot.

“This monument was built to declare Korea-,”

“Blah, blah, blah,” Nicole rolled her eyes. “I hate history. Especially world history.”

“Oh, okay. Well we can do something else,” I suggested.

“Can we get some food?” she begged. “I’m starving!”

I checked my watch and it wasn’t even noon yet. However, I knew food was a sensitive topic with girls, so I didn’t question it. I took her to a small, nearby café.

“Wow,” I laughed in surprise when the waiter had finished bringing out all our food. In front of me was a bowl of mandu soup, while bulgoki, shrimp tempura, California rolls and beans sprouts smiled up at my darkly dressed companion.

“What?” she glared at me, taking a bite of one of her California rolls. “If you dare call me fat-,”

“Annio! Annio!” I exclaimed, “That’s not what I was going to say at all! I like a girl that eats. It shows that she cares more about self-worth than appearance.”

“Ah,” she scoffed at me, diving into her shrimp tempura. “That’s not always the case.”

There were so many things I wanted to ask her, but I knew they were all out of line. I didn’t want her to get angry at me and shut me out. In my opinion we were actually getting along pretty well. I just hoped it would keep going well.

After we were finished our early lunch we set out walking again. The sun was high above us now and I could see beads of sweat forming on Nicole’s forehead.

“It’s getting really hot. Let me help you out of your hoodie…” I reached for the zipper but she smacked my hand away.

“Don’t touch me!” she screamed, causing everyone to turn their heads. The elderly people gave me strange looks like I was a e, while the fangirls stared at Nicole in jealousy and me as if they were mentally stripping me of all my clothes. I shuddered, feeling majorly violated and promised myself to never release any shirtless photos again; fan service or not. 

“I-I’m sorry,” I apologized. “Ah, you messed up your hair. Here let me fix it for you-,”

“I said get away!” she cried, slapping my hand away and stomping off.

I started after her, “Nicole I’m sorry! I… Omo Nicole!!!” I grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back, just as a giant truck went zooming by.

When I opened my eyes again she was wrapped in my arms, shaking like a leaf; her face buried in my chest. Slowly, she pulled her face away and looked up into my shocked eyes. A tear slipped down her cheek when she saw my face. She knew I knew.

“Omo Nicole,” I said, gently placing my hand on her stomach.

“Don’t touch me,” she said weakly, trying to pull away again. I stopped her this time.

“Nicole are you…?” I didn’t know how to finish the sentence. Well, I mean I did, but how could I ask such a thing?

She shook her head, tears streaming out of her eyes as she tried to form words. Suddenly she fell into my arms, crying uncontrollably. I held her closely, trying to comfort her the best I could. It was difficult because I’d never been in this position before.

“I am,” she said into my chest, then pulled away to look directly into my eyes. “I’m pregnant.”