"I don’t want to. It’s yours.”

“It’s yours. I’ve had enough. You don’t want it to go to waste, do you?”

With a small pout, Marina closes her eyes and opens .

Chuckling, Soohyun carefully puts the last cake between her lips. “I win.”

She rolls her eyes, happily tapping her foot as she chews. “Only because I have a weakness for sweet things, especially when they come in pairs.”

“Pairs?”

“The cake and you,” Marina replies with a wink, gently nudging his shoulder and laughing. “Mianhae. I should’ve warned you my jokes are always cheesy.”

Soohyun laughs too, getting up to toss the empty bag and cups into a nearby trashcan before hurrying back to her side. “Mine are pretty bad too.”

“Really? Let me hear one then.”

“Um...” His thoughts are interrupted by the buzzing of his phone. With an embarrassed smile, he looks at Marina. “Mianhae. I thought I turned it off.”

She just shrugs and smiles back. “It’s okay. I won’t mind if you take it.”

“Thanks.” Glancing at the text, Soohyun gives a half sigh, half laugh and shakes his head.

Marina looks at him curiously. “What?”

“Nothing. Just the guys checking on me.” Leaning closer, he lets her see the message.

Hi, hyung! Kevin&Kiseop says hi too. How’s the date going? We’re so bored! TT TT

~Eli

“They’re so cute,” Marina giggles. “Are they always like this?”

“Are you kidding? I’m surprised they haven’t tried to figure out where we are and crashed our date,” Soohyun chuckles. Looking around, he narrows his eyes.

“Then again, I wouldn’t put it above them to be lurking in the bushes somewhere.”

She laughs again. In a conspiratorial whisper, she asks, “Should we see if we can lose them then?”

“You think we can make it?” he replies in a whisper, his mouth mimicking the mischievous twist of Marina’s.

“If we’re really quick, but I’m not good at running,” she admits with a small grimace.

“I won’t let you fall.”

“Promise?”

Soohyun steadily meets her eyes. “Promise.”

“Okay. You ready?” Marina reaches for Soohyun’s hand as she slowly begins counting off. “Three. Two. One. RUN!”

    Scrambling to their feet, the two of them run back up the hill and further into the park, laughing and not caring the stares from the park’s few other visitors. After they’ve run a good distance, Soohyun pulls Marina behind a wide tree and instinctively wraps her in his arms.

“Think we lost them?” he asks playfully in between pants.

“I think so,” Marina answers, trying to catch her breath and peeking around the trunk. “Yup. Mission Escape a success, Captain.”

“Yah. I though I was a prince,” Soohyun teases.

“Right,” she giggles. “Prince. My bad.”

As their breaths slowly return to normal, they both become aware how close they are, but do nothing to change their position.

Tentatively, Marina leans her cheek against Soohyun’s chest. She closes her eyes with a content smile, as she listens to his still quick heartbeat. “Thank you, oppa.”

“For what? Rescuing you from my members? That was mutual survival.”

She chuckles.“No. For giving me a great first date.”

Soohyun leans back a little so she has to look up at him. “But it’s not over yet. We still have a few hours before we have to go to your house.”

“I’ve still been having a really good time.”

“Good. Now, since we’ve successfully evaded interference, what do you want to do?”

“I don’t know.” Marina looks around, noticing the small playground behind them. “Swings?”

“You sure you don’t want to go do something else?” he asks, a little saddened when she slips from his arms and takes his hand instead.

“Only if you do,” she replies, watching his face. “You don’t have to go along with whatever I say.”

“No, no. Swings are good.” Soohyun smiles to reassure her and starts walking towards the playground. “I just thought girls like doing...other things.”

“Not this one. It’s easy to keep me happy with simple things, but then again I’m not a normal girl anyway.” Marina shrugs and lets go of his hand to settle in her swing.

He sits on the swing beside her, subtly making sure his phone is off this time. “What’d you mean by that?”

She begins gently pumping her legs. “Well, I don’t really like shopping for example. I know what I want and just go get it. I don’t see the point in spending hours looking at things you’re not going to buy.”

“That just means you’re practical, not strange.”

Marina smiles and begins swinging her legs to go higher. “That’s what I think too. Being normal’s overrated anyway, don’t you think?”

Soohyun watches her go back and forth, starting to swing his own legs. “Agreed.”

    The two of them continue talking as they swing higher and higher, learning more of the small, unimportant pieces of each other that make people really begin to know each other. Eventually, gravity denies them higher heights and they slowly lose momentum.

As Soohyun swings back, he jumps off his swing with a whoop. Landing on his feet, he raises his arms in victory and turns with a smile when Marina claps in appreciation. “Your turn.”

She shakes her head, still allowing the swing to slow on its own. “I’ll land on my face.”

Soohyun shifts over to stand in front of her and opens his arms. “Not if I catch you.”

Marina keeps her eyes on his for a few seconds, silently debating. Scrunching her eyes shut, she leaps blindly as she swings forward.

When he catches her and feels himself falling, Soohyun realizes he underestimated the force of her body and tightens his arms around them so he cushions her fall with a small grunt.

“Omo, I’m so sorry, Soohyun oppa. Are you okay?” Marina immediately asks, pushing the hair from his face.

“I’m fine,” he says, in a deep breath. “You?”


“I’m fine.” Realizing she’s still lying on top of him, she quickly scrambles off and stands to offer him a hand.

“Mianhae.”
Soohyun lets her help him up, rubbing the sore part of his back. “It’s really okay. That was nothing compared to getting tackled by a rugby player.”

She begins helping him dust off the dirt on his jacket. “Rugby player?”

“Something we did for a show once. Should we start heading back to the car? How long does it take to get to your house?”

“Twenty minutes probably since it’s about ten minutes from the shop and it was ten minutes here. My mom won’t mind if we’re late.”

As they begin walking again, their hands unconsciously find each other’s.

“I want to make a good impression though,” Soohyun says, glancing at Marina with a slightly worried look. “Will your dad be there? Do you think he’ll like me?”

She briefly leans against him. “Of course he will. You’re great. My dad’s a big goofball anyway.”

“You think so?”

“I know so.” Marina giggles. “You have me and Rose on your side. We have him curled around our little fingers.”

Soohyun laughs. “Daddy’s girls, huh?”

“Forever and always,” she replies with another bright smile.

“Come on. It’s just dinner,” Marina coaxes, tugging gently on Soohyun’s sleeve. “We’re crazy, but we don’t bite. You’ve met my mom already.”

He nods. With a deep breath, Soohyun follows her to the door and inside.

“Mom!” Marina calls, hanging up her purse in the hall and hanging Soohyun’s jacket right beside it. “We’re back.”

“In the kitchen,” Sarah answers.

Soohyun lets Marina take the lead as they walk past a set of stairs and through a large, open living room before coming into a bright kitchen.

Sarah smiles as they come in, stirring something in a large pot. “Hello again, Soohyun. Did you two have fun?”

“It was amazing.” Marina sits on a stool by the counter, beckoning for Soohyun to take the one beside her. “We spent the whole day in this beautiful park after we got coffee and nokcha.”

“So you’ve discovered her weakness already,” Sarah laughs. “Keep that up and she’ll do anything you want.”

“I’m not that bad,” Marina pouts when Soohyun laughs. “I have my standards. It has to be the really good stuff for me to think about it.”

Sarah smiles teasingly, her eyes suddenly shifting to behind the two of them.“Rose, why’re you hiding? You met Soohyun this morning, remember?”

Marina and Soohyun turn to find Rose peeking shyly at them from around a corner.

“Annyeong, Rose,” Soohyun smiles. “How are you?”

“Good.” Slowly, she comes out, holding something held behind her back.

“Whacha got, Rosie?” Marina asks.

Rose glances up at Soohyun before looking at the ground and shooting her hand out, offering the piece of paper to Soohyun.

Gently taking it, he can’t help chuckling as he looks at it.

Rose perks her head up at the sound and grins. “Do you like it, Soohyun oppa?”

“It’s beautiful,” Soohyun praises, shifting so Sarah and Marina can see.

    Two figures stand under a bright yellow sun among a field of flowers. The figures, one male and one female, hold hands and have smiles even brighter than the sun.

“It’s you and unnie, see?” Rose says proudly pointing at the figures.

“I do see. Thank you,” he says

She beams at him and holds up a similar drawing for Marina. “I made one for you too, unnie.”

“Thanks, Rosie,” Marina smiles, reaching down to hug her sister.

“Are you giving out drawings, Rose? You didn’t forget me, did you?” a low tenor voice asks from the kitchen entry.

“Daddy!” Rose cries happily, running to launch herself into the tall man’s arms.

Soohyun recognizes him as the older version of Marina’s father from her picture. Mentally gulping, he nonetheless smiles.

Planting a kiss on her father’s cheek, Rose wraps her arms around his neck. “I drew you one too, but I left it in my room because I didn’t want to get food on it.”

Mr.Saccheiri cuddles her. “What if I can’t wait to see it?”

“Then I’ll get it now,” she replies, already wriggling to be let down.

Smiling, their father watches his youngest disappear again before turning to Soohyun. “Annyeong. I don’t think we’ve met before. You’re one of Marina’s friends?”

Soohyun quickly gets off his stool to greet him properly. “Yes. I’m Shin Soohyun.”

He returns his firm handshake. “Nice to meet you. Are you staying for dinner?”

“I already invited him, Paolo,” Sarah chuckles, moving to the sink to pour out the pasta.

“Good. Letting guests leave without feeding them’s a sin,” he laughs, stopping to give Marina a quick kiss on the head before back-hugging his wife.

She turns her head slightly so their lips meet.

“Ew, gross,” Marina laughs, throwing a piece of uncooked pasta at the couple. “Not in front of guests, you two.”

They just laugh.

“If you don’t want to see it, go set the table,” Sarah suggests, turning in her husband’s arms so he can rest his forehead against hers.

“Will do.” Marina shoots out of her seat and starts opening cabinets.

Not knowing what else to do, Soohyun carefully puts Rose’s drawing down and follows suite, taking the plates from her hands when she takes them out.

“But you’re the guest,” she protests quietly, trying to take them back.

“And you need help. I’ll get bored sitting by myself,” he quickly counters. “Where’s the table?”

Seeing that it’s no use arguing with him once he gets an idea in his head, she scoops up the glasses and utensils. “This way.”

    It doesn’t take the two of them long to set the table, by which time Marina’s parents bring in dinner. During dinner, Marina’s father puts Soohyun through a subtle interrogation, but in a way that doesn’t make him feel to uncomfortable. Marina’s presence beside him coupled with Rose’s happy chatter helps him relax until he’s laughing and talking like he’d always known this family. He smiles as he watches them interact, noticing how Sarah and Paolo steal small touches, the way Marina and her father tease each other.

    After they finish eating and talking more, Soohyun regretfully reveals he needs to leave because of an early schedule the next day.

“It’s this one’s bedtime anyway,” Sarah smiles, scooping up Rose. “Say goodbye to Soohyun, Rosie.”

“Good night,” she waves. “You’ll put my picture up on your fridge, right?”

“I will,” Soohyun promises, waving back.

“It was very nice to meet you today, Soohyun,” Sarah says. “Hopefully we’ll see you again soon.”

“Thank you. Dinner was amazing.”

With another smile, Sarah excuses herself and Rose to get her ready for bed.

“Don’t be a stranger, arasso?” Paolo adds, clapping a friendly hand on Soohyun’s shoulder.

He smiles. “Yes, sir.”

“Paolo,” Marina’s father reminds him. You’re welcome here anytime. I know Marina will definitely look forward to it.”

“Dad,” Marina scolds, subtly pushing Soohyun towards the door.

Paolo just laughs and walks back into the kitchen.

“Sorry about that,” she apologizes as Soohyun slips his shoes and jacket back on and walk out to his car. “I didn’t tell them how this started so...”

He stands at the door, fiddling with his keys, reluctant to leave.“Marina...Can I see you again?”

Marina’s eyes widen.Slowly, she asks, “You mean you want to?”

“I know I said it’d just be a one time thing,” Soohyun quickly says, stepping closer to search her eyes for even an echo of the feelings in his own heart. “But I don’t want it to end that way. I can’t remember the last time I’ve enjoyed a day like I did today. I don’t when, but I want to see you again.”

“I want to see you again too,” she admits, biting her lip as she looks up at him.

“I’ll call you then?” he asks.

Marina responds with a heart-stopping smile. “I’ll be waiting.”

Soohyun’s face splits into a grin and he sweeps Marina up in his arms. He feels his smile grow even more when he feels her arms encircle his waist. Savoring the feeling, he slowly pulls away. “I’ll call soon.”

“Whenever you have time.”

Climbing into his car, he rolls down the window and gestures to her door. “I’ll go when you’re inside.”

“It’s not that far,” Marina giggles.

“Still,” he shrugs.

“All right. Goodnight, Soohyun oppa.”

“Goodnight, Marina.”

She walks back to the house, stealing glances over her shoulder until she gets to the door. Marina steps inside and waves, keeping her eyes on his until the door fully closes.

+++++++++++++++

“Hyung! You’re back!”

Soohyun’s head jerks up in surprise as he sees the other UKiss members looking at him excitedly from around the corner as he takes off his shoes at his house.
“What’re you guys doing here?” he asks, straightening.
“We want to here about your date,” Kevin exclaims, pulling on Soohyun’s arm. “How was it? What’d you do? Are you dating now? Where’s this bracelet from?”

===================

Annyeong my lovelies! It's the last of classes! Wohoo! Now I'll actually be able to write and update on schedule (^^;). Thanks for sticking with me. Saranghae and hope you're all happy!

turtle_chan: Looking at my story line, I'm think angst might be a more fitting description, but hope you'll like it anyway.^^

yellow14: Aw, thanks!

Coralie_x_SHINee: Thanks!!

Moony_Kat: He really is. Yeah, those things'll end up bringing them even closer in the future. Thanks for your support dongsaeng-ah. *hugs*