Jongdae POV

“Where are we heading after Tokyo?” Sunmi asks after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

“Beijing, then Shaghai, then Europe and then the Americas,” I answer. “It’ll be nice. Lots of nice places to go and cute girls to… I mean… oops.”

She’s staring at me with an annoyed expression. I look away.

“How does it feel experiencing this kind of luxury?” I say after a few more moments, stretching out my arms. “One night in this suite probably costs more than your entire house in Busan.”

“Thanks,” she replies, rolling her eyes. “This is actually really nice. I’ll enjoy this trip a lot.”

“What are you going to do after we get back to Seoul?”

“I’m studying English Lit at SeoulU; actually, I’m taking online classes right now while we’re on the trip. With my salary I’ll pay for more semesters of college until I can get my master’s degree. Then I’ll try to get a job as a professor.”

I look over at Sunmi and raise an eyebrow, impressed. She has a determined look on her face.

The sight brings a smile to my face.

“Jongdae-sshi… if you don’t mind me asking, how old are you? You seem around my age.” 

“I’m 19 going on 20.” I laugh when I see her eyebrows shoot up. “What, you thought I was older?”

“I don’t know, you go clubbing all the time, so I thought you were in your mid-20s at least...,” she shrugs. “That means you’re just a year older than me.” Her lips curve up into a small smile, and she turns towards the vast cityscape of Tokyo that lies in front of us.

I’m contemplating whether to try to make a move on her or not. Half of me wants to close the small gap between us, place my hands on her waist and yank her towards me, enveloping her petite little body with mine. Although she may initially reject me, by the end of the night we’ll be each other’s names. A pretty decent deal for the both of us. 

But another part of me, a small, tiny little whisper in the back of my head, tells me not to. Doing that to Sunmi would ultimately hurt her; right after she spilled her dark past to me. Worse, she seems like the kind of clingy girl that believes in "relationships" and "dating" and all that stuff. If she demads that I be her boyfriend or whatever after I sleep with her... god no. 

I stay in the Jacuzzi.

Mom and Dad get back from the concert at around 1 in the morning. I can tell how exhausted they are by the bags and dark circles that sit under their eyes. Despite this, however, they look incredibly happy.

“The first concert was a great start to our tour,” Dad gleams (albeit a little sleepily). “The crowd was amazing, everything was just great.”

“That’s good to hear,” Sunmi smiles, wheeling in a cart of covered silver platters. She carefully places each one of the plates on the table and removes the covers, revealing a wide assortment of fruits, scones, tiny bite-sized pastries, and muffins. Another tray of breakfast meats is set alongside the sweet foods.

“Oh, Sunmi, was Jongdae alright last night? He didn’t do anything, did he?” Mom laughs nervously. I shoot her a glare and look back at Sunmi.

Say anything and I’ll cream you like butter.

unmi uneasily meets my eyes and- looking a little frightened- directs her vision back to Mom.  

“No… he was fine, I guess.” she mutters. 

I lean back in my chair and shoot her a satisfied look. Sunmi narrows her eyes.

“That’s good to hear. Maybe we’ll plan these sorts of hotel arrangements from now on!” Mom chirps happily, clapping her hands. With amusement I see Sunmi’s jaw drop.

“N-No, Mrs. Kim, it-,” she tries to say, but I quickly interrupt her.

“Mom, we had a great time. Sunmi made me dinner and told me all about her studies. It’s inspirational, really.” I look Sunmi straight in the eyes as I say my next line: “You can plan our hotel rooms together every time.”

Mom and Dad look taken aback. “That would save us some money…,” Dad says, furrowing his eyebrows. “But Sunmi, are you okay with this? If you're not comfortable we can get you separate rooms.”

“I- um- well, if it saves you money, I guess I'll be okay,” she winces. “It... doesn't matter.”

A triumphant smirk spreads across my face.

We leave for Beijing that afternoon. When we’re about 2 hours into the flight, I feel a sharp pain rise from my arm. Whirling around I glare at the person sitting behind me… Sunmi.

“Do you enjoy making my life miserable?” she hisses. “Why did you say that?”

“Maybe I do enjoy it,” I grin. “I know you love it, right?” 

"Yeah, I love it as much as I love your cooking." Sunmi hisses. "You are so dead when we land. I'm going to make your life miserable when we stay in the same room from now on. Be warned!"

A/N: I cry Jongdae and Sunmi are 2cute