JUNSU’S POV

     Another day. Another utterly busy day. I sighed heavily. I didn’t even know what the schedule was for today. I had lost track. I just knew it was another day that I wouldn’t get to see Ara. The other members and I had come to the park…for some sort of photo shoot or something probably. I sat at a bench and watched them playing around with a soccer. I didn’t even feel like doing that! I knew they were starting to get concerned about me (not eating or sleeping as much as usual), but I couldn’t help it. I missed her too much… Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted by hands covering my eyes. I startled and almost yelped.

“Guess who?” Said a very high pitched voice. Whoever it was was trying to disguise her voice.

But it was no use. I stood up and turned around. “Ara!” She was there! Right there in front of me! Just as I had been wishing for her to be…

She smiled big and bright for me. “Hi Sweetie.”

I immediately embrace in a big hug and she hugged me back. We held each other for a full three minutes.

“What are you doing here?” I asked her.

“I came to see you.” She replied matter-of-factly.

I hugged her tighter and smiled. “I’m glad you did. I missed you so much!”

She kissed my cheek. “I missed you too.”

She pulled back and held up a basket. “I know it’s too early, but I brought lunch.”

My expression suddenly change to disappointed. She assumed I had time… I looked up at my hyungs. “But, Ara, I can’t, I’m—“ Then I noticed that they were all watching me like they knew something I didn’t.

She grinned cleverly. “Oh, but you can. You see, I contacted your manager and convinced him that you needed a day off. So today just for fun.”

My eye widened. “Wah! Really?!”

She laughed and nodded. “Yep! Just you me with nothing to do except for whatever we want.” Then her face turned worried. “He told me how you haven’t been eating or sleeping.” She frowned. “Junsu, please don’t that. It scares me. What if you got sick? You have to eat and get enough rest.”

I held her in my arms. “Ok. I promise to take better care of myself. Just for you.” And I gave her a quick peck on the lips.

She smiled again.

     Although she insisted it would be ok, the guys left so we could have some time to ourselves and I was grateful. Ara spread a blanket out on the grass and we sat and ate sandwiches and muffins she had bought. We both talked non-stop for hours. I told her all about the things we’d been doing that week. She told me about her school projects and the birthday surprise she had planned for her friend. We didn’t eating a single thing until it was actually lunch time. Then we packed up and headed to my car.

     I let her drive at her request. I didn’t even know she knew how to drive. And she wouldn’t tell me where we were going. She just said that she was fulfilling a promise. But I couldn’t guess it. She stopped at a shopping area and got out, so I followed and she led me into a store…for couples.

“You wanted to try on couple shirts, right?” She turned and said to me.

A smile grew on my face and I nodded.

     So we spent some time trying on different couple shirts. Colorful ones, graphic ones, sleeveless ones, V-neck ones—I think we may have tried one every single pair in the whole store. I’ve never had so much fun shopping. And we were still talking the whole time. It was like we were trying to make up for all the time we’d spent apart and couldn’t talk to each other. And I found out a lot of things about her. Her favorite colors were red, any shade of pink, and purple—the really light kind. She liked frogs and monkeys, but hated horses. She was afraid of big dogs, but always wanted a puppy. She’d never been on a plane, and she loved doing childish things—like going to playgrounds and playing in the rain. And I found myself wanting to tell everything about me. Not because I thought I should be the center of attention, but I wanted her to know me better than anyone.

     We pooled our money to buy a pair of shirts—blue ones with sketchy hearts the words “i love you” in cursive all over them in black, white, and grey. They came with kitty ears head bands—black for me white for her. We wore them out of the store and went to get some dukboki. As Ara put it we would “need to refuel our energy for our next adventure”. As far as I was concerned, she could take me anywhere—I was just glad to be with her.