Marcus

                We were about to enter the next room in the gallery when suddenly, I heard Kate mumbled beside me, “Thank you.”

My heart skipped a beat for a second. I instantly thought of a quick response. “I’m doing this because I need you to have ideas for the exhibit. Nothing more.”

                She nodded. “Arasso.”

                Suddenly, my phone rang. Maybe it was Aiden. Kate looked at me gesturing me to answer it so I did. “Yoboseyo?” I said, excusing myself from her and the attendant.

                “Prince Marcus, where are you?” I heard the familiar voice of my secretary.

                “Uh… Mr. Ho, I’m… at a gallery right now. Waeyo?” I answered.

                “Prince Marcus, I think you’ve forgotten that today is the day that you needed to meet up with the representatives from China. The guards are already on their way there. Just wait for them. I’ll hang up now, your Highness,” he said.

                I didn’t even have the chance to respond. I sighed. I really forgot about that meeting today. I had to fly to China. How would I explain this to Kate? Aish! I knew she needed more cheering up than this. Why did that meeting have to be scheduled today? Jincha!

                Then, before I could walk back to where Kate was, I thought of something. I dialed Aiden’s number. “Yoboseyo?” he answered.

                “Aiden-ah, change quickly,” I ordered.

                “Waeyo? I’m still eating breakfast,” he answered.

                “Do you want to go out with Kate or not?”

                “W…wha? Jincha! Where are you?” he quickly replied.

                “I’m at the gallery right now with her. You can easily track it down using GPS. Just do it. Arasso. Pali (Hurry)!”

                “Ne aguisssemida,” he said, hanging up.

                I sighed again. I went back to where Kate was and quickly, she asked, “What took you so long?”

                “Uh… opsso (Nothing).”

                “Really? Nothing?”

                “Are you gonna interrogate me again?” I asked.

                She laughed. “Arasso. Mianheyo joha!”

                I stopped when she mentioned ‘joha’. Joha meant ‘your Highness’. “So you learned that word too huh?” I asked.

                She just smiled.

                Few minutes later, I received another call. This time it was from one of the guards telling me that they are already outside. I glanced at Kate who was enjoying the virtual garden of cherry blossoms located at the center of the gallery which was the main attraction here. I walked towards her. “Kate-ssi, I need to go out for a while,” I said.

                She frowned. “What? Where are you going?”

                “Just stay here. Arasso?” I said and left her without looking back.

Aiden

                When I reached the gallery, I felt my phone vibrated so I read the text message which was from Marcus saying: “Take Kate to an amusement park or somewhere fun. She’ll love that.” I frowned after reading his message. Why was he suddenly helping me now without even telling me ahead of time?

I started to walk and search for Kate inside. This place was really amazing. I couldn’t believe Marcus paid this place for the day. I wondered why he did this all of a sudden. I was in my deep thinking when suddenly, I heard someone calling me. “Aiden? Aiden!”

                I looked in front of me and saw Kate running towards me. “K…kate, waeyo?”

                “Have you seen Marcus? I was with him earlier and he said he’d just go out for a while,” she said. “W-why are you here?”

                “Oh uhm… Marcus told me to come here to accompany you,” I answered.

                “Oh,” she mumbled. “He could’ve just told me that earlier. I didn’t know he has other plans.”

                “I think he’s just trying to help me,” I said.

                She looked at me in confusion. “What do you mean?”

                “I… told him to do me a favor. I really wanted to ask you out Kate but I didn’t have the courage so I told him to help me.”

                She looked down.

                I smiled. “You don’t have to feel awkward Kate. I just wanted to know you better.” She flashed me a weak smile. “How about we go to an arcade?”

                She nodded.

                I led her out of the building and walked beside her. We took a cab and asked the driver to drop us off at an arcade place. I glanced at her in the rearview mirror of the cab. She seemed uneasy and upset at the same time. I wished I could just ask what she felt like what Marcus would do. They felt more comfortable with each other ever since the incident at Mt. Fuji happened.

                After few minutes, the cab stopped in front of an arcade place. I paid the fare and opened the back door for her. She thanked me and we both headed inside. The music was blasting from every corner of the area. There was a bowling area and ice skating area as well. This arcade was definitely huge.

                “What do you wanna try first?” I asked her.

                She looked around. “Mmm… I don’t really know how to bowl and I’m not really good in balancing either,” she said.

                “Come on. I’ll help you out,” I said, grabbing her arm.

                “B…but Aiden,” she tried to argue but I was already dragging her to the skating rink.

                When we reached the skating area, I paid two tickets for us to enter the rink. Kate was too hesitant to even put on the ice skating shoes that they provided us. So I knelt down and steadied her feet. “Come on Kate. You can’t skate with these sneakers on,” I said, removing her shoes.

                She moved her foot away from my hands. “Ah Aiden-ssi, I can remove these myself,” she said, removing her other shoe.

                “I’ll just put these on your feet just in case you try to run away,” I said, putting the skating shoes on her feet. “Now we’re all set. Kaja!”

                When we reached the rink, it was very slippery so it’s hard to balance at first. I glanced at Kate who was holding the bar on the side and not even once dared to take a step. I moved towards her and assisted her in walking. She tripped at every step so I couldn’t stop laughing. She frowned at me and slapped my arm every time I laughed at her so I tried to control myself. “You can do this Kate. Just don’t be afraid to move,” I told her.

                She tried to move again and this time, she fell down on her . I laughed again. “Aiden-ssi, I told you I can’t do this,” she said, as I helped her stand up.

                “Arasso,” I said, still holding her hands. “Just hold my hands tightly so you won’t fall again. Okay?”

                She nodded. I skated forward while holding both Kate’s hands behind me. We moved around the rink as the music blasted from the speakers. I stopped skating when we reached the center of the rink. Kate looked at me with a confused look. “Aiden, why did we stop?” she asked.

                I smiled and started to dance. Kate’s eyes widened. “Aiden, what are you doing?” she asked now trying to stop me. I pulled her and signaled her to dance. The other people around us stopped and started to cheer for me.

                “Aiden, this is so embarrassing,” she said, covering her face with her hands.

                I laughed. “Alright. I’ll stop now,” I said. “Do you wanna get out now?”

                “Uh… I want to but then… you paid so much for this and we’ve been here for a few minutes only,” she said.

                “Jincha! You don’t have to worry about that. Come on. Let’s go somewhere else,” I said, pulling her again out of the rink.

                Our next destination was the bowling alley. I demonstrated to her how to hold the bowling ball and started to lift it. She imitated my move then she suddenly dropped the ball which led the other people stare at her. I moved towards her and grabbed her hands. I picked up the ball and slowly placed it on her hands. “You can do this Kate,” I told her.

                “Aiden, they’re all looking,” she whispered to me.

                “Come here,” I told her, as I positioned myself behind her and held her hands to lift the ball up. I tried to calm myself down after realizing that I was holding her hands. “Now, on my count of 3, take two steps and swing the ball. Got it?”

                She nodded.

                “1, 2, 3,” I cued her as she followed my instructions.

                As soon as she released the ball, she turned her back and covered her eyes. I moved towards her trying to cheer her. Then, in a flash, the ball hit 4 pins. “Wooh! Yeah!” I exclaimed. She was still not looking. I grabbed her shoulders. “Kate, you hit it!” I told her.

                She slowly turned around and saw her achievement. She gasped for air. “I did it,” she said, facing me.

                I nodded. “Ne. You did Kate. Chukahae,” I said.

                Then, she suddenly hugged me. I instantly felt a current running up my spine. I stayed still and became frozen for how many seconds. When she released me, I was still speechless. “Aiden, kwaenchana?” she asked.

                “Oh… uh… ne,” I stuttered.

                “Where do we go next?” she asked.

                “Uh… how about the gaming room?” I suggested.

                She nodded.     

When we’re already out, my phone suddenly rang. It was Max. I brought out my phone. “Oh Max, waeyo?” I answered.

                “Aiden-ssi, where are you? Are you with Kate?” he asked.

                “Ne. Wae?”

                “You have to go back here now. Our flight has been rescheduled today so we’ll be going home earlier,” he said.

                “Omo! Jincha! We’ll go back there now,” I said, hanging up.

                Kate looked at me. “What’s the matter?” she asked.

                “Max called and said that we’ll be going home tonight,” I answered.

                “Really?” she said.

                I nodded. “Pali! Let’s go now.”

                We both ran and passed by the booths inside. Suddenly, Kate stopped me. “Aiden, wait!”

                I stopped running and saw her eyeing a small Snoopy stuffed toy at one of the booths. I walked towards her. “Are you gonna buy that?” I asked her.

                She nodded, as she took out her bills to pay for the toy. “Kaja!” she said, as soon as she paid for it.

                “Is he your favorite?” I asked.

                She shook her head. “I’m giving this to someone.”

                We reached the hotel after taking a cab. Fortunately, there’s not much traffic here so we were just in time. Kate proceeded to her room while I did the same. When I stepped in, Max and Vince have already arranged their suitcases. I quickly started to pack my clothes.

“So, how did your date go?” Vince asked.

“Oh… it was fun,” I said.

“Seems like you really did have fun,” Max commented.

I nodded, still remembering Kate’s hug.

“Where’s Marcus?” Vince asked.

I looked at them in confusion. “I thought he’s here.”

The two shook their heads.

“Jincha! Where is that guy?” I asked.

“Maybe he decided to just ride on his private plane this time. Besides, he doesn’t have anything to look forward to after what Jessica did,” Max said.

He had a point. But still, why didn’t he just tell me that he’d leave earlier? That guy is really unpredictable.

∞∞∞

A/N: That’s it for now. Anyways, who do you think will Kate give the Snoopy to? Any guesses? :D Hope you like this chap. And of course, thank you lovely readers for your continued support. :)

*More of Andrew will be shown on the next chaps so stay tuned!

-theLEXical-