It had been weeks since they took me out to the karaoke place. After that everyone had made me come do something with them outside the dorm’s four walls. It was like they in all secrecy had agreed on taking every opportunity to try and make me feel better by getting me away from all the sad memories I had in the dorm.

But when Taecyeon came up to me and asked if I wanted to go out and do something, I was a little surprised.

“Who else is coming?” I had asked.

The answer I received was what made the butterflies in my stomach start flying around. “No one. It will only be the two of us.” All the small things that had made suspicious of my own feelings was affirmed by those words. I definitely liked Taecyeon. I didn’t only like him as a fan or friend anymore, but I’m not sure if it went as far as love. Nor did I know if I was in love with him. But what I did know was that over the span of the last few weeks I had figured that I would willingly risk our friendship for something more if I really wanted to.

“What did you have in mind then?” I asked calmly, like the actress I was. (Or rather trainee, but that’s details, no one cares about those). Taecyeon shrugged.

“Well, we’re starting with lunch and ending with a movie here in the dorms. Everything else will be a surprise.” The smile gracing his lips held anticipation and he looked like he would fall down from not breathing while waiting for my response.

“Sounds fine with me. When are we going?” I said giddily.

“We could go now if you want? It’s around lunchtime now anyway.”

I really couldn’t wait, so I quickly agreed and went for my room, changing from my pajama to yellow high-waist shorts, a white singlet and a grey cardigan.

-

We were at one of the less visited cafes in the area just to make sure no crazy teenage girls would follow us like the creepy stalkers some of them were. And to be on the safe side we chose to sit by the table placed the furthest away from any window or door.

“What do you want to order?” Taecyeon asked after we had been looking at our menus for a while. And i honestly hadn’t decided yet. Take me out when I don’t know what to get before I get there, and you would learn that I have no clue what I should order because I just can’t seem to pick only one of the things on the menu, or simply find one I like.

“Uhm… Do you have any recommendations?” I really had no idea what everything was, and what tasted delicious and what didn’t. How could I possibly order something I didn’t know what was and be sure it fitted my taste? I couldn’t.

Taecyeon only chuckled though. Probably having fun watching me struggle with something as simple as choosing what to eat.

“I prefer the sandwiches. All of them are pretty tasty,” he said, still with a little chuckle and the smile on his face never faltering.

We both ended up ordering a simple but healthy sandwich each and water to drink, JYP’s diet in the back of our minds.

There was some small talk while we waited for our food. Both being perfectly comfortable with each other. It wasn’t like we hadn’t been eating together before, we were living under the same roof after all.

“You up for a long and exciting day with the one and only me?” Taecyeon said making a cut face (at least trying to) framing his face with his hands. I could only laugh at his attempt at looking like an innocent little kid and nodded. I was looking forward to how this day would turn out.

Taecyeon pouted when I laughed at him, and I have to admit that it was kind of cute. No one said you couldn’t be cute because you had a beastly image. Taecyeon had pointed that out alot and said that he wanted to be cute and funny instead of his current image. I don’t think it would really fit him though, but I would never tell him that and crush his little dream. He was too precious whenever he his so called aegyo.

He stopped his cute actions and just smiled warmly instead.

“Let’s get going! Don’t want to waste any time here at this boring cafe do we?” He payed for our food and led the way to the nearest bus stop, that was right around the corner. I read actions too much because of my years doing musicals and acts in high school, and wondered if he had planned on going to this specific cafe because it was in fact a short walk to a bus stop.

“We’re going to take the bus to the next stop for our outing.” This got me wondering how far we were going. It could not be that far though, since we both had full schedules again the next day and had to be back at the dorms early if we wanted a decent night’s sleep.

We waited for less than a minute before the bus came, which got me wondering even more if this was on-point planning by Taecyeon.

We sat down at the very back, me closest to the window and Taecyeon right beside me. I felt my heart beat a tiny bit faster at the close proximity but willed my whole self to not let it show. And apparently it worked, because Taecyeon did not show any signs of noticing my current state of excited. To get my head on other thoughts I asked him where we were going.

“Not telling. It’s a surprise,” was his answer. He was being really secretive, which sparked the curiosity in me even more.

“At least tell me how long it will take us to get there.” If I knew that, maybe I could calculate where we were going.

“We’ll be there in about fifty minutes. Now get some sleep, because this day can turn out long and filled with exciting events,” Taecyeon said, sounding like he was trying to make me sleep only to avoid all my questions. I figured he would not tell me anything no matter how much I asked about it, so I complied. Leaning my head back against the headrest, I closed my eyes and soon slipped into dreamland.

I was awakened by someone shaking my shoulder. When I opened my eyes I found the world being turned a little to the side. It took me a second to understand that it was because my head was tilted and placed on someone’s shoulder. Taecyeon’s shoulder.

“We are going off at the next stop,” Taecyeon said when I looked at him. The blush on his face was barely there, but not unoticable. It was kind of fun. Seeing him blushing because of me (I was not dumb, I knew it was because I had fallen asleep on his shoulder, because I knew how he was and how he reacted to different things) left a good feeling.

We went off the bus only a moment later. I thought that we had reached our destination, but then Taecyeon walked towards an underground entrance. Were we going even further?

“Don’t ask. I won’t tell you,” he said when before I could even open my mouth. I could only sigh and follow him. This day was already getting more and more interesting, and I had a feeling it had not even started yet.

-

When Taecyeon motioned me to go off the train at the station in Myeongdong my suspicions were confirmed. Going on a shopping trip with Taecyeon could be nothing else than interesting.

“This is our first destination,” he said while dragging me to the busy shopping streets like a little kid dragging their mother into their favourite toy store.

“Are you really so excited?” I asked in amusement.

“Just want you think about something else,” he said honestly. “That’s why we won’t talk about that traitor and rather have some fun in Seoul.” I swore that a smile had been glued to his face, because all he had done so far this day was smile, and by the looks of it, it would not falter even for a second.

“Thanks.” I gave him my best grateful smile. It really meant a lot to me that he used one of his precious days off to make me feel better.

“Now come on! We have a lot to do.”

We were walking around in Myeongdong. Walking into almost every store we found, trying on almost every hat and headband, taking selcas with every of our stupid and funny headwears, just to catch the moment on camera.

At one of the shops we found some really pretty bracelets. A simple silver chain with a star or a heart pendant. They were also cheap enough for us to afford one each.

“Why don’t you take one with a star and I take one with a heart?” Taecyeon suggested.

“Sure, why not?” And so I told the lady I wanted the silver chain with a heart, and Taecyeon said he would like the same, only with a star. As we had paid and made our way out, I was about to continue walking down the street when Taecyeon grabbed my wrist. I turned around to him with a questioning look.

“Trade. You get my heart and I get your star?” I am not sure if that was supposed to be a statement or a question, but it sounded like the latter. Not that it had anything to do with the matter at all though. I shrugged my shoulders in response.

“Okey.” I held out my bracelet for him, but instead of taking it, he fastened the chain with the heart around my wrist. He looked pleased at how the silver chain hung on my wrist, but before I could comment it he raised his own hand up in front of me.

“Help me put it on?” he asked and nodded at the piece of silver in my hand signaling that he meant the bracelet I had bought. I nodded and put it on him. The heat rushing to my face hopefully going unnoticed by the man in front of me.

“You hungry, by the way?” Taecyeon suddenly asked after a few minutes of walking in comfortable silence. I had been too lost in my thoughts about what my feelings for the handsome man beside me actually were that I had not even noticed my tummy was calling for food, trying to make a point to me with dying-whale-sounds.

“Actually, yes. Are you?”

“Yeah. How about we stop at that cafe over there? Drink some coffee and eat some cake?” The idea of drinking coffee out with Taecyeon sounded very inviting and I did not hesitate even a second before nodding and uttering an excited agreement.

When we came into the cafe we seeked out the most secluded place we could find (which was not that secluded at all, actually) and sat down across from each other. The waiter was at our table really quickly to take our order.

“We will take two caramel mocha and--” Taecyeon looked at me “What is your favourite cake?”

“Chocolate cake,” I answered simply, not really knowing what he wanted to know that for.

He turned back to the waiter and finished off the order with: “--one piece of chocolate cake, please.”

“Aren’t you getting anything to eat?” I asked him before the waiter could leave, hoping she would stay and wait for Taecyeon’s order too.

“We are sharing,” he said like I could read his thoughts. “Thank you,” he said to the waiter again and she left to get our coffees and the cake we were to, apparently, share. While sitting there talking about nothing and everything, waiting for our drinks and food I came to think of something.

“How did you know I liked caramel mocha, by the way?” I asked when Taecyeon had finished talking about the first time he tried coffee and how he did not really like at first, but after the third time he could not imagine his life without it.

“We have lived together for some time now, and the one who hasn’t caught that every time we order coffee you choose caramel mocha, is a complete ignorant idiot.” He laughed a little at the end, but it sounded half-hearted. Like there was a hidden meaning behind he was trying to cover up in case I had caught it. And when thinking about it, there was only one person that still asked her about her order anymore when they were buying coffee, and that was Nichkhun. Everyone else had started saying ‘caramel mocha, right?’, just to double check that my preference had not changed since last time. Nichkhun was supposed to be the one who knew me the best, but it seemed like there were others in the house that knew me better.

“Well, I know someone who’s under the label of ‘complete ignorant idiot’, then,” I mumbled mostly to myself, but when I saw the sad, yet comforting smile from Taecyeon I knew he had heard me clearly.

“Here is your order. Is there anything else you want, just call for me,” the waiter assured us before continuing with her work.

“That cake looks really good! It’s been a while since I had chocolate, and don’t even start on the cake!” Taecyeon looked like he had won the highest sum of money you could ever dream of in the weekly lottery. It was quite entertaining watching him devour the cake with his eyes, and I swore it was only a question about time before the drool started running down from the corners of his mouth.

He took up the fork that was laying on the plate together with the cake and cut of a piece.

“Say ah~” he said and moved the fork in front of my mouth. For the third time that day I felt my cheeks heat up a little, and I am sure there was a tint of pink on them by the time I parted my lips and let him feed me. And the look on Taecyeon’s face just seconds ago displayed my exact feelings when the taste of sweet chocolate hit my tongue.

“This tastes amazing!” I was about to take the other fork I had guessed was on the plate, only to find out that there was no second fork. Taecyeon had probably noticed it too, seeing as he looked at me with a smirk.

“Looks like I’ll have to feed you.” He took a piece of cake for himself first before cutting off one more and raising it to my mouth again. The only thought roaming around in my head as I ate the offered cake to me being that this was an indirect kiss. That was also the only thought I had while finishing the cake together with Taecyeon, and even still when I finished my caramel mocha.

After paying (Taecyeon insisting on paying for everything, which I eventually let him do) we continued walking. Still in silence, because I could not stop thinking about all my indirect kisses with the Taecyeon. I did not know why Taecyeon was silent though, but I was guessing he was amused by my dazed state.

“Are you tired, or are you up for an about 20 minute walk?” Taecyeon broke the silence with a question and brought me back from my universe of thoughts.

“Well, since we had a little break just now I think I can survive that. Where are we going?” Before he could answer my question though, I stopped him. “Wait! Don’t answer that. You would probably just say it is a secret and that I’ll see when we get there.” At that Taecyeon laughed.

“Something like that, yes.”

-

Upon reaching the goal of our walk I was happy. We stood before Namsan Tower. I had seen so many couples visiting this tower in the many Korean dramas I had watched, and I could not help but think that Nichkhun never brought me here, despite all the times I mentioned that this was one of the sites in Seoul that I really wanted to visit. Now I was standing here beside Taecyeon, wondering if we were going to the top and see the Locks of Love and secretly hoping we could leave one ourselves.

“I know we are not a couple, but do you want to go up there and leave a trace behind before continuing our day?” Taecyeon asked, suddenly sounding really shy. My heart skipped a beat, and I had to control myself for not answering too fast and too eagerly.

“Sounds fun. Come on,” I said as calmly as I could manage.

Since we had walked so much that day already we figured that the elevator was a good idea, and take the stairs the last few floors when the elevator did not go any further.

When we came out on the roof of the building I remembered that we did not have any locks, nor did we have a marker.

“If we are going to leave a trace, we should have brought locks. And markers,” I pointed out. At this Taecyeon picked out two locks, one grey and one yellow, as well as a black marker from the front pocket of his jacket.

“I was secretly hoping you would do this.” He scratched his neck with the marker out of embarrassment.

“Give me the yellow one and the marker. I’ll write a message first.” My message was short but honest and on both sides of the lock. I gave the marker to Taecyeon when I had finished writing, not showing him what my heart had wanted to share with the world.

Taecyeon wrote something quickly, probably thinking long and hard about what he should write since the moment he planned this outing.

“There. All done. What did you write?” He asked me as he put away his marker. I showed him one of the sides of my lock (the one with less heart in).

“Hope this year brings me only good from now on. It will. I am sure of it,” Taecyeon tried to reassure me.

“What did you write then?” He gave me the lock. Wish for this to become something more. I love you ♥ As I read it I had this little hope that it was him and me he was talking about.

I locked his grey lock to my yellow one and mine to a bit more open space on the fence. Thinking that if we went back there someday we could easily find them.

“Ready for dinner?” I nodded.

We found a nice restaurant not too far from Namsan Tower, seeing as both wanted food in the form of dinner and did not want to walk for too long. While eating we talked freely about everything we could come up with. We laughed at each others jokes, even though they were bad and not at all funny. All thoughts about Nichkhun and they way he had treated me were out the window, the only thing on my mind being Taecyeon and his wonderful laughter and voice.

I was really hoping he had talked about our relationship on that lock, because if it had been about someone else I would be sad. Like really down. I was in too deep, which was why I had written ‘I (think I) love you’  on the other side of my lock. I had written it in Norwegian though, just in case Taecyeon got a glance and read it.

After a delicious dinner with the bill on Taecyeon this time too he had said that we should probably make our way home now. It had been a long day and I was a bit tired, so I agreed without complaints and just followed after Taecyeon, like a dog did its owner, through the busy streets of wherever in Seoul we were.

The sun was on its way down, and I wondered just how much time did we use in Myeongdong? Because the sun was not only setting, it was almost gone and it would probably be dark in half an hour or something.

“We will take the bus from here. It is too dangerous to walk further than this,” Taecyeon said and sat down on a bench at the bus stop we had come to. I sat down beside him and rested my feet after all the walking we had done that day.

“Are we going to walk more today?” I asked. Curious about eventual surprises on the way home.

“Well, the bus doesn’t really stop at our door so we obviously have to walk.”

The bus arrived, and before I could think of a sarcastic remark back at him, he dragged me onto the bus, telling me to sleep just like he done at the start of this date… I mean day. I did not protest at all though. Putting my head on his shoulder first this time, seeing as I would probably end up there anyway, and fell asleep right away.

This time around I was awakened by a hand on my knee instead of my shoulder.

“We’re off here,” Taecyeon said gently. I noticed that we were at Banpo Bridge. I had never been there to see it in real life with my own eyes. I had either too much to do, or sleeping away the time I had.

We walked in a comfortable silence over the bridge, and when we came to the other side Taecyeon took me to a bench beside the river flowing silently below the huge construction we had passed.

“It’s really beautiful here,” I commented.

“I know. And it’s really peaceful too. You can just sit here and watch as time flies without even noticing.” Taecyeon looked kind of lost for a moment when he had said that. As if he was dreaming or something.

“Oh!” There was suddenly water coming from the sides of the bridge like it was a fountain. Lights in different colours decorating where I assumed the water came out from. “Amazing.”

I looked at Taecyeon to see how his reaction to the beautiful masterpiece was, but I was met with a pair of eyes looking at me instead. He quickly turned to look at the fountain-like bridge, and had it not been this dark I swore I saw a tint of pink dusting Taecyeon’s cheeks.

I did not think more about it though and continued watching at the construction in amazement.

“I guess we should go home and watch the movie I was talking about earlier today before it gets too late,” Taecyeon said after a good ten minutes. I agreed, and we found a bus to take back to the dorms.

When we came back there were still no one at home.

“How late schedules do they have today?” I asked when I found the dorm empty, wondering if there had been anyone at home at all. It looked too clean and too like the way we left it in the morning for it to have been anyone there.

“Late. Wooyoung is probably at the studio with Junho today too,” Taecyeon said absentmindedly. “We’ll see the movie in my room. No one will come and claim the TV there since there are none.”

I placed myself on the bed I knew was Taecyeon’s and waited for him to bring his computer and the movie to the bed as well. It was apparently a really cliche and romantic movie. Once in a while I guess it is ok to watch cliches too.