“Where are we going?” Ri In asked as she looked around trying to figure out on her own why he had asked her to come at the place.

 “Ahh, I thought you would like to show me around Seoul. I mean I don’t really know much about this place and I practically have nobody I know except you.”

 “You mean you want me to be like your tour guide?”

 “Something like that,” he began to think this was a mistake and shade of embarrassment clearly shown on his face. What was he thinking? Invite a girl out and asked her to be a tour guide.

 “I’ll pay,” he  uttered carelessly.

Ri In let out a chuckle before she told him that it was alright if he didn’t pay her.

“Let’s just have a quality time together. You can pay me with that. After all it’s been a long time since I went out like this,” she added with a radiant smile curved on her face.

“Let’s go.”

              They walked around the area and stopped by at a few food stalls to have a bite of the street snacks. She introduced the name of the snacks as they eat just in case he didn’t know. At some occasions, he surprised her when he feed her. Although she had always been treated like that by Junsu , this time it  felt different. Perhaps it was because they weren’t really close to begin with and to have such treatment from a “stranger”, it made her feeling shaken with an unknown force.  They continued to walk around while Henry told her a story how he got started with violin and moving to Canada when he was still a kid. Ri In listened keenly, given that his story was similar to her.  She told him back about her life.  She couldn’t really remember being in China. She was still a baby when her family decided to move to Korea.

They also made stops at some accessories stores. She told him how Korean couples celebrate their 100^th days being together and they would shower their partners with gifts.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” Henry asked her out of the blue as his eyes browsed on the accessories lay on the table.

“No,” she replied calmly. “How about you?”

“Boyfriend? No. Girlfriend? No... Not yet”.

Their eyes met for a second.

“I’m going to buy this one for you, as a token of appreciation for showing me around,” he picked up the Silver Star pendant.

“You don’t have to. Seriously it’s not worth it to waste your money like that."

“I insist. Besides it really doesn’t cost much. Let me do just this much for you. Okay?” he persuaded her and she eventually gave in.

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                Junsu was on the road. Sleeping on the passenger seat was his sister. She was exhausted after spending a day at the kids’ centre and went to dreamland straight away when she got into the car. Junsu looked at the time and wondered whether Ri In had gone home by now. He contemplated for a few minutes before he decided he should just do it. There’s nothing wrong to it.

“Hello?” Ri In on the other end spoke.

“It’s me….  Are you home already?” he replied trying to sound as normal as he could.

“Oh, I’m still with Henry. I’m not sure when I’ll be home. Why? Are you coming over?”

“What?? It’s been 4 hours and you two are not done yet? You got to be kidding me. Ya! You don’t know much about this guy right? How are you supposed to know whether he has good intention or not? Don’t act recklessly just because he looks like a good, educated guy wearing white jacket like that. You need to be more careful with whom you’re hanging out with. Plus, it looks like it’s just the two of you,”

                Ri In was sitting on a bench with Henry on her side drinking his shake while she was answering Junsu’s call.  She wanted to keep the call short so not to make it uncomfortable for him. She didn’t really listen when Junsu have a start on his nagging but she couldn’t help but noticed there’s something strange.

“How do you know he’s wearing white jacket? Kim Junsu, are you spying on us? Where are you right now?”

“I…I…I’m on the road right now. I’m hanging up. I’ll talk to you later,” he stammered and hung up before Ri In could add anything else. Now he realised how stupid he may sounded few seconds ago. He shouldn’t have made the call in the first place. He scratched his head as an act of resentment.

“Who was that?” Henry asked Ri In who was still dumbfounded.

“Yeh? Ah. It was my friend,”

 “You should have told me earlier, about wanting me to be your tour guide. Otherwise, I would have taken you to the Lotte World,” she tried to divert their topic. She didn’t want to be questioned about the phone call she just received.

 “Maybe you could take me there another day. I hope you’re still willing to go out with me,”  Their eyes caught each other for the second time.

---------------

                He put Ri In on a difficult position. It’s not like she had a lot of free time to spend. She had to work for most of the time and she could feel like that this guy had the intention to be close to her. She didn’t know whether to let him get close is a good thing or not considering the fact that they just met yesterday. Although it’s bitter to admit it, Junsu got a point she didn’t know his true colour. Junsu had called her again; sarcastically asked was she home at that time. Junsu gave in eventually and told her he was spying on them just for a short time. He also told her that he did it to look out for her.  There was an awkward silence before he said it was late already and he was going to hit the bed soon. Ri In hung up feeling slightly touched to hear what Junsu had said to her.  She took out the pendant that Henry had bought her earlier. She still couldn’t make up her mind whether to go continue seeing him. She would have discussed with Junsu but he sounded really tired and needed a rest. Ri In too called it a night.

                 A week has passed and Henry hadn't contacted Ri In so far. It somehow made her anixious because she recalled that he would want to meet her again but things didn't seem to go that way. He didn't even come over to the cafe. She wondered if something happened to him? As for Junsu, he came over whenever he could. He was also busy finding a job. He told her it didn't feel right to just sit around and earned nothing. She once poured her heart out regarding Henry to Junsu but he seemed to be irritated whenever she mentioned his name and didn't even want to listen to what she had to say.

Ri In was at her usual post, at the front desk.; welcoming the customers.A few hours left until she finished her shift that day and a familiar person entered the cafe with a big smile plastered on his face. 

"How have you been?" that man asked as he aprroached her.

"Henry-shi,"

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                 Both of them sit on the table near the corner taking a sip of coffee before Henry placed some ticket on the table and slid it across the table to Ri In. She was a bit surprised but took a look at it nonetheless and found her jaw dropped. Henry couldn't hold back his amusement. A smile across his face did what he intended to express. The ticket was for Jenny Kim's concert and her mind ran wild finding an answer what this culd possibly lead to? Was he asking her to join him to go to the concert? or he was just simply saying that Jenny Kim is in Korea and she should go and check it out?

"I wish we could go together. I couldn't think of a better way to repay you than this,"

Her question was answered. 

She glanced her way on the date and that just hit her hard with a pang of disappointment. Out of all days why it had to be that one day; Her heart fell. She gently pushed the ticket across the table to Henry. The latter couldn't hold his bewilderment. He couldn't tell what was on her mind. He didn't expecting this kind of response afterwards - silence.