My eyes try to search for what he’s looking at, but before they can find it, he decides to speed up the process, by abruptly dragging me over to it, where I am then met with a small stand, filled with books. Himchan’s hand swiftly picks one up, where he then excitedly shows it to me. “I’ve been here!” he proudly states.

A photo of the Eiffel Tower decorates the front cover, and that’s when I realise that it’s a book about France.

I force out a small (yet unsure) laugh, “Oh, really?”

Himchan is oblivious to the strange look that I’m giving him, as he shows me an eager bob of his head. “Really!” he chirps, and then points to a section of the tower. “I swear I stood right here!”

“Oh,” is all I manage to say.

So he's had the luxury to visit a foreign country, before?

Himchan then purses his lips to the side in thought. “But something feels funny,” he comments. “For some reason, I don’t think you were here with me?”

I slowly nod, and then show him an artificial smile. “Yeah, it was when we weren’t dating yet,” I fib, with a nonchalant shrug.

“Ahhh,” he hums. “That makes sense.”

I then gesture towards the item, “Do you want the book?”

If it's helped him remember something, then maybe I should buy it.

Excited with my offer, he quickly accepts. “Yes!” he gleefully chimes.

I take the book from him, walk over to the man in charge, and then pay him. Himchan is right behind as I do this, and the cheery look on his face makes me stifle back an amused giggle. The shopkeeper then puts the book into a paper bag, tells me thank you, as he hands it back to me. In return, I give him a polite bow, and then wish for him to do well, as we turn to leave. Offering the bag out to Himchan, I watch as he excitedly pinches it away from my hold.

This bold gesture makes me frown, as I grumble to myself, about his lack of common courtesy.

“A ‘thank you’ would be nice,” I bitterly mumble.

But Himchan easily brushes that comment aside, as his eyes are too busy oogling over the new purchase, so I decide to ignore the whole thing.

When we finally reach the bubble tea shop, Himchan stops to observe the place.

“It’s so colourful,” he points out. “And what’s that?”

My eyes recognise the picture of the little black circles, shown on the bottom of some drinks. “Tapioca balls,” I answer. “They’re sweet and fun to eat.”

“But it looks like a sheep’s eye…” he warily mumbles.

I wave off that bizarre comment, and then tell him to pick a drink from the menu.

And as Himchan scans his eyes through the list, I go on to explain about the different kinds of flavours there are. I also tell him about the various jelly toppings, and what I thought went nice with what, as possible suggestions for him to try.

“Ew!” he cringes, all of the sudden. “They have cheese with that green tea drink?!”

I laugh at his shocked face, remembering how I had also reacted to it like that. “Trust me; I know it sounds gross, but it really is one heck of an amazing drink,” I explain, feeling rather entertained by his response. “Everyone else must like it too, since it’s in the top ten. See?”

Himchan wrinkles his nose, looking a bit suspicious at it. “I think I’ll pass…” he slowly says. “But I want to try this one.”

“Oh, the milk tea with Oreo cookies?” I happily say.

He nods, and I begin to tell him how wonderful that drink is as well.

When our orders are finished, I put in the straws, and then give him his cup. Himchan warily eyes the bubble tea in his hand, studying it very carefully, as though it was really going to kill him. I shake my head at him in hilarity, where I then begin to taste my drink, and seeing me do this, is enough to gradually coax him, into taking a small cautious sip from his own.

And when I see a twinkle of amazement shine in his eyes, I chortle.

“This is absolute heaven!” he says, in complete awe.

“I told you it’s good,” I reply, in satisfaction.

Himchan then stops his marvelling at the bubble tea in his hand, and then turns to me. “Have I tried this before?” he asks.

For a split second, I’m caught off guard, but then end up giving him a nod. “Yeah,” I say, as casually as I can.

“Then why can’t I remember something as perfect as this?” he questions.

“Well, if you can’t remember me, then I don’t think that little drink has any hope,” I joke, with a little laugh.

Himchan doesn’t say anything to this, but ponders to himself.

Exiting the store, we then both decide to head home, (well, I decided that we should head home) as I have to figure out what to cook for dinner. Himchan complains at first, calling me boring, but when I tell him that he can starve, he shakes his head, looking horrified, and then reluctantly gives in.

"Yah, give me some of your drink," he demands, from out of the blue. "I want to try it."

I turn to him with a cheeky smile; "What's the magic word?"

Himchan gives me a weird look. "Magic word?" he says, sounding confused. "What 'magic word', there's a magic word now?"

"You...you don't know the magic word?" I ask, with an arched eyebrow.

He blinks at me, "Uh, is this supposed to be a secret code between us, or something?"

I slowly shake my head, as the look of disbelief becomes more obvious on my face. "Everyone knows the magic word," I say, now giving him an odd look.

Himchan ignores what I've just said, and goes back to his main goal. “Yejin-ah, give me your drink,” he orders, while holding out his hand.

I furrow my eyebrows at him. “Not with that attitude,” I reply, in the same grumpy tone.

This makes him more cross. “Yah!” he rudely yells. “Give me your drink!”

I hug it a little closer to my chest. “I’m not giving this to you, until you tell me the magic word,” I strictly inform.

Himchan lets out an aggravated huff. “Give it to me!” he shouts, while reaching out for it.

Taking a big step away from him, I then narrow my eyes. “Like what I said, not with that bratty attitude,” I rebuke, with a frown.

A growl of frustration passes through his gritted teeth. “Yejin-ah!” wails Himchan, as he reaches out for me again.

“No!” I yell out, while moving out of the way once more. “You can’t always get what you want!”

The two of us engage into a further argument of him trying to prove me wrong, and just basically wanting to take my drink for himself. I can sense the stares from the many people walking pass us, since our voices have just become twenty times louder. And with the more Himchan tries to snatch my bubble tea away from me, the more I have to keep moving away from him, which somehow gets to the point where I just decide to break out into a run, down the streets.

"You crazy lady, where are you going?!" hollers Himchan, as he begins to chase after me.

"Away from you, and your crazy self!" I retort, while weaving through a crowd of people.

"Yah!" he shouts, still hot on my trail. "Why are you so horrible to me, what did I ever do to you, huh?!"

"Everything!" I yell over my shoulder, just before turning a corner.

It's much emptier in this part of the streets, as the only sounds being heard are our rapid footsteps, against the concrete floor. I turn back to have a quick look at Himchan, to see him already slowing down, and this makes me smirk.

"Yejin-ah!" he cries, now huffing and puffing. "Stop being mean to me! First you don't give me your drink, and now you're making me run!" Himchan's complaining continues on, "Ugh, I hate exercise—wah!"

Something causes the blonde to suddenly trip over his own two feet, as he is now flat on the ground.

His fall takes me by surprise. "Himchan!" I call out, as a feeling of concern washes over my annoyance. Quickly make my way over to him, I then crouch down to check for any signs of injuries; "Are you okay?"

And as I wait for his response, I notice that surprisingly, his bubble tea cup is safe and sound.

Himchan lifts his head up with a displeased pout. "No," he sourly replies. "This is all your fault."

I meet his frown with my own. "Hey, don't blame this all on me," I firmly say. "You should have paid more attention to how you were running."

Himchan rolls his eyes at me, and then makes a grumpy face. "Oh yeah?" he challenges. "Well this wouldn't have happened, if you would have just swapped drinks with me!"

I let out an exasperated sigh, but decide to focus on the more important thing here, and hold out my hand. "Come on, you big baby, stand up," I mutter.

His frown deepens when he hears this, turning into a very unhappy one, and being the stubborn thing that he is, he doesn't accept my offer, saying that he can get up on his own.

So I watch him, and after he finishes dusting off the dirt, (all while still complaining at how this is my entire fault) I can't take it anymore, so I let out a growl.

"Oh, for crying out loud, here!" I angrily say, while ing my drink towards his face.

But Himchan, the snobby little thing, decides to tilt his head up towards the opposite direction. "Too late," he sneers, while crossing his arms together. "I don't want it anymore."

Why this little—!

I take in a deep breath, and then slowly exhale it. "No really, here," I say, while offering him the cup. "If you really want it, then just have it."

"No," he pigheadedly says, with a shake of his head. "Like I said, it's too late; I don't want it anymore, because the craving has subsided."

Honestly, he is just so—!

"Fine," I reply, in the same snotty tone of voice.

And just when I'm about to place my lips on the straw, I feel the drink being taken out of my hands.

"I changed my mind!" comes the hasty response, of the male in front of me.

"Himchan!" I scold, as he happily takes a sip of my bubble tea.

He ignores me as he tastes it, and once he swallows it, he then goes on to take a sip of his own one, as though comparing the two, to see which one he likes more. "They're both really good," he eventually says, after a while.

"Of course they are," I snap, and then hold out my hand. "Come on, give me back my drink."

But Himchan just shakes his head at me. "No!" he childishly declines. "I want them both."

"Yah, that's not fair!" I yell, feeling the anger raise up in me again.

He's obviously amused by this, as he shows me a cheeky grin. "Life's not fair," he says, in a sing-song voice; "But if you're me, than it's amazing."

"Himchan!" I shout, clearly aggravated.

Surprisingly, he gives in faster than I expect. "Ugh, fine," he agrees, with a roll of his eyes. "Here."

I extend out my arm, and wait for him to hand it over to me, but instead, he walks behind me and then envelopes me into a back-hug.

My body tenses up from the random deliberate contact, and I instantly start to squirm, trying to get out of his embrace. "What are you doing?" I demand.

Himchan grins at me. "You said you wanted your drink, but you never told me how you wanted me to give it back to you," he playfully says, and then holds the cup up near my face; "So here." 

Staring down at the drink for a bit, I let out a groan, "Seriously?"

He flattens his eyes at me, in an unamused manner. "Dead serious," he replies. "We're going to go home like this, because I can't let you make me run another marathon, or I'll just die."

I blink at him, but then end up feeling so confused, as he starts chuckling away from out of nowhere.

"Hahaha, get it?" he says, while nudging me slightly. "I'm so serious about not wanting to run, that I could die if we do, and because of that, I'm 'dead serious'?" Himchan proceeds to laugh at his very lame joke, as I keep quiet. "Oh, why am I so funny?" he somehow concludes, with a satisfied sigh.

I give him a weird look for his conceited comment, and then go back to wriggling out of his arms.

This catches his attention, which causes him to give my waist a slight squeeze. "Uh-uh, where do you think you're going?" he teasingly scolds. "We're going home like this, whether you like it or not."

And he really does keep his words, because he wouldn't let me go throughout our walk, even when we've finished our drink, which was the main reason of why he was holding on. But then he insisted to keep holding on, and since his mood had somehow drastically lifted, I've decided that he must really love skin-ship, for him to suddenly be all cutesy.

It's either that, or he just likes to see me in an unpleasant mood, but I'm guessing it might be a mixture of both, with more of the first option.

"I love your height," comments Himchan, from out of nowhere. "You fit so well into my arms, it's really comfy."

I don't know what to say to his random comment, so I just force out a laugh, and nod my head.

When is he going to let go of me?

Because this feels strange, and I really hope that I don't see anyone I know.

When we're outside the apartment building, I stop walking, and then ask for him to remove his arms from me. But he whines, saying how comfortable he feels in this hug, and I let out a sigh. Himchan then goes on to try and convince me to let him continue this skin-ship, by showing me his awkward ‘aegyo', by balling his hands into a fist, and moving them in a 'cutesy' way, near his cheeks. His 'buing-buing' makes me unintentionally slip out a giggle, as he chuckles away, saying something about how amazing he is, or something vain like that.

Our little laughing session is soon interrupted, as I suddenly hear my name being called.

"Yejin?" queries a male's voice.

Himchan and I blink at the person nearby, and as soon as my mind is able to register who it is, I inwardly gasp; "Yongguk?"