The two of you walk leisurely away from the cinema along the shopping square.

Rows of shops flank the sides of the busy street, the weekend crowd buzzing and thickening as night falls.


Kyungsoo is trying to ignore the way the back of your hand lightly brushes against his as the two of you fall into a synchronized pace beside each other.

He opens his mouth first to chase away the bugging thought.

"So, what do you want to do?"


You hum and turn to him.

"I dunno, what do you feel like doing?"


"Anything, I guess." He replies with a light shrug. "Are you hungry?"

"It's too early for dinner. Maybe we can grab some snacks first. Look! Ice-cream!"

You jog lightly to an ice-cream parlor by the side where colorful tubs of the delicatessen lay behind a clear glass counter. Kyungsoo follows with a light chuckle.


You chose dark chocolate ice-cream whilst he opts for cookies and cream.

A minute into indulging the dessert, Kyungsoo is struggling to keep his hands free from the sticky liquid dribbling onto his hand and he marvels at how your cone still looks pristine and void of any excessive ice-cream at the rim.


"Wow, you're pretty good at this." He notes.

You snickle at the mess he's making. "There's a technique to eating ice-cream you know, you bite the corners, then it up like this, see?"

You demonstrate and he imitates, only to fail miserably as a blob makes its way down the side of his index finger.


"You're eating like a kid..." You chuckle lightly. "Come, let me help you."

Kyungsoo freezes as you clasp the hand that's holding his ice-cream, the grip soft and warm as you bring the ice-cream close to you, pink tongue lapping out to away cleanly at the side, left, then right.

"Here," You tug the cone in front of him. "Now bite. At the top, quickly!"


He obeys as you direct him further.

"That's right, now follow what I did just now, the sides!"

"O-Ok."

He stutters and tries not to think about how his tongue is now effectively coming in direct contact with your saliva, the realization sending a delicious shiver through his body.


"Better?"

He reacts with a short nod.

"Y-Yeah."


"You want some of mine?"

Kyungsoo's eyes shoot wide as you offer him your chocolate ice-cream right after you had just taken a swish with that tongue.

His gaze falls involuntarily on your lips, now wet and pink from the dessert.


He wonders how it feels like, that full and supple lips on his...

 

"Soo-Jin?"

He jolts and realizes he's standing still in the middle of the pavement, staring. At your lips.

"Er..." He darts his eyes away, looking at anywhere but you. "Sorry... You were saying?"


"It's ok, your ice-cream is melting again."

Kyungsoo startles and quickly focuses on finishing his ice-cream before he has time to think again.


______________________


After cleaning up at a nearby restroom, (Kyungsoo is glad the ladies' at the basement sports a long queue so he offers to go upstairs to see whether it's shorter, morphing back into his original state to relieve himself before he returns) the two of you stroll for a few more minutes before deciding to find a place for dinner.

It's getting awfully crowded and restaurants are already filling up.

The two of you walk past surges of people with the same intent and heavily queued diners for another one hour, chatting breezily before you spot one sparsely populated restaurant.


"Shall we try this place?" You ask Kyungsoo and he nods before you run ahead towards the restaurant.

Before you can enter though, the attendant stops you and enquires politely, "Hi! Sorry, but today our restaurant is themed for couples only, do you have another companion with you?"

"Oh!" You remark in surprise. "Y-Yes, my friend is with me..."


"Ah... Today's set menu is a lover's special. Is he your partner?"


You widen your eyes and stammer.

"Er... "

You got embarrassed and retreats briskly to Kyungsoo.


"Why? What's wrong?"

He asks when he catches up and sees your fuddled expression.


"It's... They have a couples theme today and it's for lovers only... But we... Are not..."

"Oh."

Kyungsoo is quiet for a while.


"Do you want to eat here then?" He asks earnestly.

"Well, we can probably walk a while more to see if there's any other restaurants around..." You trail off and sigh. Kyungsoo knows you are getting tired of all the walking already.

"Ok... Then we can just pretend, can't we?" He says it a bit testingly.



"I'm not so sure whether I wanna come off as a lesbian just to eat dinner." You snicker.

"Well," Kyungsoo beams.


"I might just have the perfect idea."