------Jooli------

Victoria and I entered the restaurant and the waitress took us to one of the VIP rooms. When we entered, Mr. and Mrs. Kim were already there and they were seated. Victoria and Jaejoong were right. Mr. and Mrs. Kim didn’t dress in anything formal. They were dressed quite casual. Mr. Kim wore a black dress pants with a striped, blue, collared shirt. Mrs. Kim was wearing a nice pink floral maxi dress. Both Mr. and Mrs. Kim weren’t chubby at all. Mrs. Kim was quite skinny and Mr. Kim still had a nice built even though he was kind of old.

“Victoria! Jooli! Welcome! Come sit!” Mrs. Kim stood up to hug the two of us. She smelled like lilac flowers.

“Hi Mrs. Kim. Hi Mr. Kim.” I greeted the couple. Victoria did the same. The two of us walked over to the table and took a seat. Mrs. Kim pulled me to sit right next to her. Victoria sat right next to me.

“You two look lovely. Victoria, you never fail to impress me. Jooli, you look amazing. You look so much better out of that waitress uniform.” Mr. Kim laughed.

“Thank you.” Victoria and I replied with a smile. A couple moments after Victoria and I walked into the room, the door opened again and in came Yunho who was wearing a pair of grey dress pants, a light green collared shirt, and a pair of black leather loafers. He looked so handsome, but I didn’t get all excited when he entered the room. I felt normal.

“Hello everyone.” He greeted with a smile. The rest of us waved and said hello. Yunho took a seat next to Mr. Kim and Victoria moved one seat away from me so that she was sitting beside Yunho.

‘Wait… That means I have to sit beside Jaejoong?!’ I thought in my head. I didn’t quite like that idea.

“Jooli is that you?!” Yunho stared at me once he sat down beside his father.

“Hi.” I smiled meekly.

“Wow… Victoria, you did a great job. Jooli looks really pretty.” Yunho complimented me and praised Victoria. Receiving compliments did feel really good.

“It’s all Victoria’s work.” I replied with a smile.

“Where is that Jaejoong? He’s already late.” Mr. Kim suddenly said after he looked at his watch.

“I think he’s still in his room. I’ll call him.” Yunho replied as he took out his phone. Just before he flipped it open, the door opened and in walked Jaejoong wearing a pair of black dress pants, white collared shirt with the first two buttons ed, a black vest over the shirt, and a pair of white Nike high-tops.  I stared at his outfit, especially the part where the shirt was opened. I could see his chest muscle beneath the vest and the shirt. Since the collared shirt’s sleeves went up to his elbows, I could see his triceps beneath the shirt. He definitely had a nice body. I learned that the day I saw him at the beach without his shirt on.

“Glad you’re finally here Jaejoong.” Mr. Kim greeted his son. His mother gave him a kiss on the cheek, Yunho gave him a manly hug, and Victoria gave him a hug too. His looked at me with fixed eyes as he walked over to the seat beside me.

“I didn’t know you wear the color pink.” He whispered to me when he sat down.

“I don’t. It was Victoria’s idea.” I replied with the same quietness. Everyone else at the table was talking amongst themselves.

“Well, you look good in pink.” Jaejoong said quietly and turned his attention to somewhere else.

‘Did I just hear right? Did Jaejoong just say that pink is a good color for me? Did he just give me a compliment? If he says I look good in pink, does that mean he thinks I look pretty tonight?’ Random questions popped into my head after Jaejoong said that statement. I could feel a bit of warmness on my cheeks, but when I sneaked a glance at him, he was already talking with his parents.

“Why don’t you guys stay a bit longer? One week is not enough to have fun.” Jaejoong said.

“Well, your father has an important meeting to attend. He’s a very busy man, just like your brother. Why don’t you come back with us to help with the company?” My mother asked me.

“Mom, I’m still not finished school yet. I’m going to get my degree and then I’ll go back to Korea and help dad. I promise. Just let me have a few more years and I’ll go back to Korea.” He whined. I always thought he was just a jerk who did nothing but play all day, but if he meant what he said to his parents, I guess he wasn’t as bad as I thought he was.

Soon, dinner arrived. Mr. and Mrs. Kim had already asked the Chef to make some special dishes for each of us. I was looking down at my plate of Roasted Chicken Linguini Pasta with a creamy Alfredo sauce. It seemed like pasta was the only thing I ate at the restaurant. It wasn’t a bad thing because I loved eating pasta and even though it does contain a lot of fat if I eat too much, I work it all off when I work or when I went swimming or when I went to the gym.

“So Jooli, I heard that you graduated this year from high school. What university do you plan on going?” Mrs. Kim asked me with a smile.

“I’m going to Oxford.” I smiled. I felt proud saying that because I believed that Oxford was one of the best schools in the world. Even though the tuition was expensive, it would be worth if in the end.

“Oxford? What a coincidence. Yunho graduated from Oxford and Jaejoong also goes to Oxford.” Mr. Kim looked astonished.

‘What?! Both Yunho and Jaejoong are my seniors?!’ I thought. I was so surprised to hear that.

“Oh wow, I didn’t know that.” I replied with a surprised expression.

“Well, it looks like you’ll have Jaejoong around to help you. Right Jaejoong?” Mrs. Kim winked at his son. I did not know why she winked at him.

“Mom, she’s going to be perfectly fine on her own. The campus isn’t THAT big. Plus, she’ll meet other people.” Jaejoong complained. I could tell he didn’t want me to be around him. True, he would probably be hanging out with his clique and courting girls all day.

“Still, be a friend and help her out on her first couple weeks. Oxford isn’t easy if you’re entering it alone.” Mr. Kim stated.

“I’ll try…” Jaejoong replied with a defeated face.

“Now Jooli, don’t go around meeting random boys. Be careful when it comes to guys. And if you do think about dating, why not consider our Jaejoong.” Mrs. Kim smiled widely at me. Mr. Kim nodded in agreement.

Everyone stared at the couple. I thought I heard them wrong, but if everyone else was staring at them with their eyes wide, then I must have heard it right. They told me to consider dating Jaejoong.

“Mom… we went over this already.” Jaejoong groaned and snapped everyone back to reality.

“Yes honey, we went over it with YOU, but we haven’t gone over it with Jooli yet.” Mrs. Kim smiled at me.

“Don’t listen to what they say. It’s all rubbish.” Jaejoong told me.

“Jooli, our Jaejoong isn’t as bad as you see him as. Even though he may look like a slacker and a boy who does nothing but court girls, he’s actually quite nice when you get to know him. Sure he’s cold at first, but he’ll warm up to you. Plus, I’ve never seen him so worried about a girl getting hurt before. He even carried you. I have never seen him do that before. I’ve seen him piggyback girls for fun, but he carried you and he was serious.” Mr. Kim pointed out.

“How did you....” I was about to say.

“They saw the two of us at the beach.” Jaejoong answered my question.

“Oh…” I was surprised. I didn’t know they were watching us on the beach.

“Really Jooli, you should really consider Jaejoong. He’s a nice guy, trust me.” Mrs. Kim winked at me.

“He is a nice guy Jooli.” Yunho spoke. He smiled at me with a nod.

“Even though he’s not as great as Yunho, he’s still definitely one of the better guys out there. Another good thing is, he doesn’t smoke.” Victoria also agreed. Everyone was persuading me, but Jaejoong was just looking away, not wanting to look at me. He didn’t agree or disagree with what they were saying.

“I haven’t known Jaejoong for a very long time because it’s only been a few weeks since I met him. Plus, Jaejoong just got out of a relationship.” I gave them a small smile. I didn’t know how to respond to their comments because I didn’t know if I liked Jaejoong or not.

“Exactly! So, let’s just leave it at that. Come on, let’s just eat. The food is getting cold.” Jaejoong suddenly exclaimed and continued to eat his dinner. Everyone had stopped eating when Mr. and Mrs. Kim started talking, but after what Jaejoong said, they started to eat again.

“Okay, we’ll stop, but you two have to really consider our suggestion. Yunho told us a lot about her, and from what we hear, we love her.” Mrs. Kim smiled widely.

“Mom…” Jaejoong groaned again.

“Oh quit your whining, you’re no longer ten Jaejoong.” Mrs. Kim replied.

“Yes Mom…” Jaejoong listened. Everyone at the table laughed. The laughter broke the awkward atmosphere from earlier. While everyone was eating, we were all talking again. The Kim family was so comfortable to be around. They were so different from other rich, high-class families.

“So, you know how kids are usually potty trained at a young age?” Mrs. Kim started her story.

I nodded. Everyone at the table was listening to the story while Jaejoong groaned.

“Mom…” He dropped his head low. It was going to be an embarrassing story, I knew it.

“Yunho was potty trained at a very young age, which was normal, but Jaejoong wasn’t potty trained until he was around seven or eight. One day, he says he wants to stop using diapers and try using the washroom at night. So, he goes to sleep and everything was fine until he woke up with a scream. He starts screaming for me. I quickly run to his room, afraid something might have happened, but when I entered the room I just laughed my head off. He was pointing to his point and was shouting ‘Mommy! The sea monster came! Look what he did to my bed!’On his bed was a big puddle of pee.” Mrs. Kim laughed so hard her face started going red.

“Mom… that was so long ago. Do you have to bring it up? It’s so embarrassing.” Jaejoong exclaimed. I saw his face turning red. I laughed at his face. He was blushing. That was something that didn’t happen a lot.

After we finished dessert, it was time to go.

“Jaejoong, will you walk Jooli back to her room?” Mrs. Kim suggested. Jaejoong nodded.

“Bye Mr. and Mrs. Kim. It was nice meeting you and I hope you visit again soon. Have a safe flight.” I hugged both of them.

“Jaejoong really is a nice guy. Trust me Jooli.” Mrs. Kim whispered into my ear when she hugged me back. Yunho, Victoria, Jaejoong, and I waved good-bye to Mr. and Mrs. Kim, who went towards the elevators.

“Oh Jooli. You don’t have to worry about going to pick up your stuff in my room. I’ll send someone to send it to you tomorrow morning.” Victoria smiled at me.

“Thanks Victoria.” I smiled back.

“Victoria and I are going to catch a movie since it’s still kind of early. Do you guys want to join us?” Yunho asked as he looked at his watch. It was almost nine.

“Sure!” I smiled. I hadn’t watched a movie for a long time.

“No, that’s not a good idea. You two go ahead.” Jaejoong rejected.

“Are you sure?” Victoria looked at us.

“Yeah, go ahead. We don’t want to be light bulbs.” Jaejoong replied and shooed them away. He was right. I didn’t want to be a light bulb between those two. They deserved some time together after not seeing each other for so many years.

“Then we’ll see you guys next time. Bye.” They waved and left towards the parking lot.

“Hey, do you want to go walk on the beach? It’s not good to sleep right after eating.” Jaejoong suggested. I nodded and the two of us started to walk towards the beach. The night breeze felt nice against my skin. It was warm enough to not wear a sweater. I took off my heels when we reached the sand. Jaejoong also took off his shoes and socks. The sand felt great.

“Forget what my family was taking about.” Jaejoong said quietly as we walked along the shore. I turned to look at him. He wasn’t looking at me, but he knew I was looking at him.

“I think what they said was true. Honestly, I think you’re a good guy, it’s just… you don’t know how to express that goodness. Well, at least not to me.” I laughed. It wasn’t a forced laugh.

“It’s okay. You’re used to me being mean anyways.” Jaejoong also laughed. I never thought about it, but his laugh was so distinct. It was husky and alluring. I liked his laugh.

“You .” I laughed and kicked some sand at him with my right leg.

“Hey!” He laughed and started kicking sand at me. I dropped my heels and started to run away from him, but because I was wearing a skirt, the running method didn’t work. Jaejoong caught up to me in no time.

“Got you!” He laughed and tackled me to the ground and started to tickle me. I laughed and tried to push him away. I was flinging my legs around and my hands were trying to stop his from tickling me.

“S-S-Stop!” I shouted between laughs.

“Say ‘Kim Jaejoong is the best!’” He said with a smirk.

“F-Fine! Kim Jaejoong is the best!” I shouted, hoping he would just stop tickling me. He stopped and fell down beside me on the sand.

“That’s right. Kim Jaejoong is the best.” He laughed.

“That’s so old.” I laughed.

“Shut up.” He chuckled and pushed my side.

“Look, that star is so big and bright. The other stars look so small and dim compared to that one. It looks as if it has a blue tint to it.” I murmured and pointed to the sky. Back at home, I couldn’t really see the stars much at night because of all the air pollution covering the sky, but in Hawaii, there were stars everywhere at night.

“Yeah… it’s really pretty.” Jaejoong said. I nodded in agreement.

After sitting for a bit longer on the beach, Jaejoong walked me back up to my room before going to his. Even though dinner might have been a bit awkward with the whole ‘You should consider Jaejoong’ situation, the overall night was pretty good. I did have a nice time at the beach with Jaejoong.

‘I think Mrs. and Mr. Kim might be right.’ I thought to myself that night when I was on my bed.