So Heejin introduced me to Jang Intae. We asked him to join our lunch for the past month and met up for dinners together with Heejin’s boyfriend sometimes. I work at a combined high school and junior high school, which is also a branch of the Gongmun University right next to us. Intae is a part time lecturer in the Faculty of Music. He works on Monday to Thursday but he is mainly a music producer. He is a little careful about revealing the stuff he does outside the school, saying he doesn’t want to show off or anything. He is polite, good-natured, thirty-two and doesn’t look like one. He is everything I want in a guy so I’ve been giving him blatant hints of my interest towards him. I was the one who asked for his number first, the one who asked if he was single (and he is!), the only one I spoke to during lunch and those meet ups. I guess he picked up those hints about a month later. A little slow but that’s what I like about this guy.

He approached me one day, requesting to have lunch privately with me. In the university cafeteria, we sat face to face. He stumbled upon his words at the first couple of attempts, but finally managed to get his words out.

“Will you be my girlfriend?”

I said yes right away.

The order is a little clumsy, but we’re having our first date right now. 

And I’m not enjoying it one bit.

We are sitting at a bar. The wall in the hole kind, with great atmosphere and nice jazz music (I don’t really get jazz but the setting goes nicely with it) in the background. The place is great, but the guy sitting at the counter bar next to me? Not so much.

That guy is Jang Intae. He is wearing a blazing red blazer over a black fitting t-shirt, matched with a black denim pants and a whole laid-back aura about him. I’m not a ert or anything but it is the first time I see him in a fitting clothes and I could see that he has a good figure. Unlike his usual appearance, his hair is spiked up and the nerdy black-framed glasses make him look more handsome than usual. If I were to stereotype his appearance right now, he looks like a profound bad boy. In short, he is not the Jang Intae that I agreed to date.

I can’t believe it. He suddenly shows up at this place with this look and a smirk I want to slap off his face so bad. Everything about him is a total one hundred eighty degree turn from the guy I thought I knew. The way he talks, walks, sits, looks at me, smiles, everything about him screams ‘I’M A PLAYER!’

 “I have a feeling that you’re not enjoying the date. Is the place bad?” He chuckles, turning his body slightly sideway to have a better look at me.

Not ‘the’ date but ‘my’ date. His smirk makes me want to punch his face. How can he pretend like nothing is going on when I start to have weird speculation that Intae probably have an identical twin who kidnaps him for the night so that he can fool around with his girlfriend?

“I didn’t know you wear glasses.” I answer, downing my drink like a thirsty traveler stranded in a desert, dogging his previous question. He just laughs. The throaty sound he makes is y but I still despise his sudden change nonetheless.

“Oh, but I do. I wear contacts during the day. I only wear glasses on special occasion. I heard girls dig those stuffs.”

Oh, the irony. I thought the movies taught that the good boy wears glasses and ditches them to look hot.

“How often do you go around dressing like this? Do you have a split personality that changes between day and night?”

“Sort of. I only go out with this kind of clothes on special occasion. In this case, you’re my special occasion.”

He doesn’t seem to catch my sarcasm. His answer further irritates me. “Are you admitting that you have a split personality?”

“For the time being, I’ll let you assume as you like.” His smirk turns to a grin. Which is kind of adorable. Wait,no. I’m so not dating a nutcase.

“So, all this time, those nervous stuttering and shy demeanor are your other personality?”

“Ah, that shy guy. You can say that, but it’s also part of my plan to attract girls like you.”

“'Girls like me?’ What does that mean?”

“I mean girls who don’t give a damn about bad boys.”

I still don’t get him. I can’t tell if he is joking or if he’s serious about me. When I ask, he would just twist his words and make everything sounds like a natural occurrence. I keep drinking glass after glass, half-ignoring Intae and his lazy murmurs about his job. I think he is saying something about letting me see his recording studio one day. His job sounds interesting, but I already lost the mood for this date. He also talks about his house and his cat, about working out in the morning, about going hiking in the weekend and picking out a birthday gift for his little sister.

I pick up the ump-teenth glass, about to dump the whole toxic down my throat but a hand stops the act mid way, covering up the top of my glass. I turn to the side and scowl.

Intae simply his head and smirks. “You might want to consider to stop drinking now. You’re getting drunk.”

I shove his hand away from my glass.

“As opposed to your assumption, I don’t get drunk easily.”

He says something about men taking advantage of drunken girls, but I couldn’t hear him clearly. I think the music they put on is a bit too loud. The non-stop chatting of the people around me start to blend into one big, messy pool of buzz, spinning into my head and sink at the back of my mind. I rest my head in my hand.

“Ugh, this place is too noisy.”

“You don’t look good. Come on, I’ll take you home.” Intae reaches for me, circling his arm around my waist.

“Don’t touch me!” I stand up and push him away. For some reason the ground is not staying still, causing me to fall into his chest instead. Fine, I might be a bit drunk, but I’m totally fine. I can get home on my own. If he thinks he can take this opportunity to molest me or anything of the sort, then he is wrong.

I can tell that he’s tailing after me as I take my leave and turn into the sidewalk. Fine. He can do whatever he wants. Anything funny, I have my pepper spray all ready. I rummage through my handbag and grab the familiar bottle. My body suddenly jerks forward, but I barely manage to stop myself from a public face plant. I can hear his voice from the distant, warning me and screaming my name. I’m not quite sure what is happening but damn, this road has too many bumps.

-

I hate waking up in the morning. Not with a throbbing pain in my head and glaring sunlight forced upon my face. Admitting defeat to the nature of human norm, I finally force my eyes open.

Holy crap. I hope I’m dreaming. What’s with the white wall and white sheet and shiny white floor?! I’m not in some sort of an asylum or am I? I jerk up, but that only make me feel like thousands of needles are stabbed to my skull. I wince and see a glass of water and a couple of pills on a sidetable. There is also a little note that says, ‘Take this after you wake up. Intae :)’.

I ragingly air through opened mouth in bewilderment. I immediately look down and realize that I am wearing a gray sweatshirt which is obviously oversized for me. I grab the pills and dump them into my mouth along with the clear water. I throw away the comfortable blanket, ignore the throbbing headache and ran towards the stainless steel rail at the edge of what seems like a mezzanine floor. I lean against the steel rail and see a guy (in gray sweatpants, shirtless, and sweating) working out on the lower floor. It looks like a mini gym down there with those equipments. There’s a flat bench, a treadmill, a chin-up bar and a rack of a whole lots of dumbbells. That guy down there is Intae, doing chin ups. I can hear his murmur from upstairs, counting to a few hundred already.

“Hey, you! What happened last night? Did you change my clothes?” I yell at him. Intae stops his routine and wipes the sweat on his face with the towel around his neck.

“Hey, you’re up.” He sits on the flat bench and smiles at me. He is still the Intae from last night. It’s a shame that he doesn’t change back into the shy, polite guy I first know him. Nostalgic thoughts aside, I go down the stairs to continue with my interrogation.

“Did you or did you not?”

“You agreed to be my girlfriend, I don’t see the problem.”

“Being your girlfriend doesn’t automatically permit you to do whatever you want to me without my consent!”

“Chill, I’m just kidding.” Intae laughs. “You left me with no choice though.” Intae pointed behind him with his thumb. My dress is hung on a clothing line in the middle of the yard. His outfit from last night is also hung next to mine.  I could feel blood rushing to my cheeks. “I have pictures for proof if you want. It’s kinda nasty though I advise you against looking. Any other question? Aren’t you curious if I did anything funny to you last night?” Intae chuckles.

“Ugh, you... You! I hate you! You’re nothing but a big fat liar! It was all an act, wasn’t it? Are you that happy that you succeed in fooling me into being your girlfriend? Was it a bet with your friends? Was it a joke? Forget it. I’m not playing this game anymore!”

“Yoonyul, calm down.” Intae stands up from the bench.

“Don’t call my name! Don’t have anything to do with me anymore!”

“Listen to me first. I’m not playing games. I’m serious about dating you.” He slowly walks towards me. I back away in response, even though he is still much farther away from my personal space.

“Bull!”

Intae widens his stride. In no time we are only merely inches apart. I continue to step back until the back of my knees hit a sofa. I fall seated onto it. Intae bends, leaning his hands against the backrest and trapping me inside. His eyes turn dark. I can no longer detect his playful smirk on his face. My heart pounds harder against my chest, mixing my anger with unknown anxiety which I don’t welcome at all.

“I said calm down.” His voice dangerously low. I can feel his heated breath on my face; and the shudders down my spine.

“Now breath.” He instructs. “Inhale.”

I follow his order obediently as if he has some sort of black magic casted upon me.

“Exhale.”

And I do so.

“Now listen well.” He tells me. One thing I have never realized about him – the shy one or the bold one – is he has such intense gaze. Even if I want to, I just can’t look away. I feel trapped in his powerful gaze.

“Do you regret meeting that meek, polite guy called Jang Intae, thinking that you know nothing about him? Do you think you know everything about this Jang Intae?” He asks, almost whispering. His voice sounds husky now.

Well, I have no idea about either of them, and I don’t wish to. “It doesn’t-”

“It does matter. At least to me. I’m serious about you. You agreed to be my girlfriend a couple of days ago; you’re not going to dump me already are you? That’s too cruel,” He chuckles. “So here’s a proposal. Stay as my girlfriend for the next 99 days. You don’t have to put any effort in the relationship. I’ll do all the work and make you fall in love with me.”

“You wish I would.”

“You will.” He smirks.

I hate it when a guy forces his idea on me. Who does he think he is? “And if I don’t?”

“Dump me, slap me, do whatever you like.”

My eyes are still locked with his as I ponder upon his offer. Honestly, he turns me off so bad on our first date. I wish I have nothing to do with him anymore.

“You don’t have to make the decision now. Think about it carefully and let me know later.”

[Author’s Note] What do you think of the main two characters? Don’t hate them yet lol. Here’s a little quiz for the mean time. From the way she notices the detail around her, describe Yoonyul in one word (or more if you’d like to). I'm just curious of what you guys think about her actually. Next update will be a little slow so hope to see you guys around!