{Eunhyuk’s POV}

“So, where are we going today?” I ask, turning the keys in the ignition. I’ve been thinking all morning about places we could go but then I realized that I don’t even live here and therefore have no idea what there is to do. So I’ve decided to be a gentleman and let the lady choose.

“Hmm… Have you ever been ice skating?” She asks, looking at me with wide blue-green eyes. Ice skating? . . . I don’t even know how to skate.

“Um, well, not since I was a kid,” I laugh nervously, rubbing the back of my neck. “And I never really learned properly-“

“That’s okay. I’ll teach you.” She says and smiles at me gently. Who am I to refuse that face? Hell, I already decided that I’d let her choose so I guess ice skating it is.

“Sure.” I sigh. This is going to be god damn embarrassing. She laughs quietly.

“Don’t worry. I spent the winter teaching my kids how to skate. I’m a pretty good coach, if I do say so myself.”

“What did you just say?!” I exclaim, slamming on the breaks in the middle of pulling out of the driveway. I turn to look at her, mouth hanging open.

“That I’m a pretty good coach?” She responds with a questioning look on her face.

“No. The part before that.” Am I going crazy? Did she really say what I think she said?

“Don’t worry?” She tries.

“No. The part after that.”

“I spent the winter teaching my kids how to skate?” Bingo. Kids? Since when does she have kids? Is this some kind of joke?

“Yeah. That part.” I croak. “Kids?”

“Yeah, my kids- Oh.” She starts laughing really hard, to the point where she’s holding on to her stomach as if in pain. I just scoff at her. What is funny about this? Don’t I deserve to know about her children? Oh, Lord. I don’t want to be a step dad. I’m too young for that- Hold on, Eunhyuk. Get a hold of yourself. You’re thinking too far into the future.

She stops laughing and leans her head back against the seat, still holding on to her stomach. Then she lets her head fall to the side so that she can look at me. “Yes, Hyukjae. My kids. The students in my class. I’m an elementary school teacher.” She giggles quietly, still looking at me amusedly.

“Oh. Oh. So, when you say your ‘kids’ you don’t actually mean that you, uh… Have kids, you just teach kids.” I say, embarrassed. I’m an idiot. Of course Erika isn’t a mother. I just over reacted. It shocked me a little. But I guess I should have known since I’m sure Erika has her hands full enough with just Maura. Why would she want kids? She already kind of has one.

“You thought that I actually had kids? I have Maura, remember?” She says, mirroring my thoughts. I turn away from her and focus on getting out of the driveway, embarrassed by my stupidity.

“Yeah, well the phrasing was misleading.” I explain, trying to keep whatever’s left of my pride intact. Finally, I’m out of the driveway! Now… “Which way to I drive?” I ask. She laughs and gives me directions.

Good start to what’s supposed to be an amazing day, Eunhyuk.

When we get there, she jumps out of the car quickly and practically pulls my arm out of the socket as she drags me toward the skate rental shack. As we pay for the skates, I observe my surroundings. There’s a large, smooth-looking square of ice with low wooden boarders built around it. I can see at least five small children skating around clumsily on it- who knew this town even had that many people- while their parents sat on benches around the rink, chatting happily and sipping hot coffee. There’s an old many in thick, black boots and a brown bomber shovelling snow at the edges of the ice to create a smoother path for the skaters. There’s a big, black Labrador chasing one of the small children around on the ice while the kids giggles and falls over repeatedly. It’s an adorable sight. Who knew that ice could bring so much joy? Oh, there they are. Teenagers. I suppose that having a group of loud, disruptive teenagers at almost every public area is inevitable. They’re just skating around in their little crowd, trying to look cool. I mean, God forbid all the five year olds think that they’re losers. Wait. Is that who I think it is? I stand up on my tiptoes to get a better look…

And immediately duck behind Erika. Probably not the best idea considering how small her frame is and how little coverage I’m getting. She turns to look at me, skates in hand. “What is it?” She asks, curious. I lift my hand as subtly as I can and point in her direction. Erika looks, cringes and then groans.

“Candy? Really?” She sighs. “Well, we’ll just have to make the best of it and ignore her. There’s nothing we can d-“ Just then she spots us.

“Omigod! Erika! And… Erika’s boyfriend! Wow, it’s, like, you! I never got to finish talking to you!” She pushes past the two tall guys in front of her and breaks off from her group, skating toward us. Erika’s mutters something that sounds like ‘mother father’ under her breath. I’m only able to understand what she’s saying thanks to my past experiences with Kim Junho sunbae-nim. God, Unbelievable Outing was hilarious.

“So, you never gave me a chance to congratulate you guys!” Candy shrieks, stopping in front of us and pulling Erika into a surprise hug. I just stand there stupidly, not even understanding what she’s saying. “Congratulations! You’ve finally found yourself a hot boyfriend!” Candy breaks away and starts hopping up  and down which you’d think would be pretty much impossible considering the face that she’s wearing skates.

“Uh…” Erika laughs nervously. “Thanks, Candy.”

“You’re welcome! Now you’ve just got to tell me everything. When did you two meet? When did he confess? First kiss? Omigod, is he a good kisser? I bet he is. I can just sense it. I don’t know, I just get these feelings sometimes that tell me whether a guy is, like, a good kisser or not-“

“Okay! That’s nice! I’d love to stay and chat but we’re kind of busy. And… I need to tell him something. In private.” Erika interjects.

“Oh! Yeah! I’m so sorry! You two love birds like, run along now! Have fun!” Candy giggles and wiggles her fingers at us while Erika grabs my wrist and pulls me towards the bench furthest away from Candy.

“Strange girl.” I comment.

“Tell me about it.” Erika rolls her eyes, sitting down on the wooden seat. “You should be glad that you can’t understand anything she says. She’d give you a headache for sure.” Erika stops talking and starts shoving her skates on and tying them while I just stand there awkwardly. After a few moments, she looks up at me. “Well, aren’t you going to get laced up?”

“Uh, yeah.” I laugh and sit down next to her. Truth is, I’ve never tied skates before. The only times I ever went skating were with my parents when I was really young and they always tied them for me. But I try to mimic Erika’s movements the best I can. When I’m finished, they don’t really feel tight enough but I suppose they’ll do.

Erika grips my hand tightly and I feel an electric shock travel all the way from my finger tips to my heart, causing it to beat ten times faster than it really should. She pulls me up and leads me toward the rink. Walking on snow isn’t so bad but once we get to the ice, I feel like a fool. I start falling all over the place while Erika desperately tries to hold me up but my weight proves to be too much for her and we just tumble together. One time I even accidentally pull her down on top of me, but she gets up immediately after she hears Candy’s whistle from across the ice. Way to ruin a moment.

“Okay, new tactic.” She says and grabs both my hands. She moves to the front of me and starts skating backwards, pulling me along with her.

“Hey, this isn’t so bad…” I breathe when I start to glide along effortlessly. Of course I wouldn’t be able to achieve the same thing without her guiding me but this seems like a pretty great accomplishment to me. At least I’m not falling anymore.

She laughs breathily. “I think I underestimated the situation. Keeping tiny third graders up on their feet is a lot easier than keeping a 25 year old man standing. Especially since you’re twice my size.”

I blush and look down at our intertwined hands. “I’m sorry. I just never learned.”

“Don’t be sorry. Seeing you like this is cute. Kind of… Sweet.” I look up to see her blushing also. I glance around to see if anyone’s watching but it seems like the teenagers are gone and most of the kids are off the ice, tired from skating for a couple hours. Hell, I’m tired from skating for two hours.

So with a push of one of my feet, like she taught me, I glide forward a little forward, letting go of her hands and instead twining my arms around her waist, pressing my lips against hers. She makes a noise of surprise in the back of but after a second or two she closes her eyes and kisses me back.

It’s the perfect moment, really. Both of us, arms around each other, somehow still gliding effortlessly together on the ice. She has the softest lips I’ve ever felt and I find myself already addicted to them. I could kiss her all day long.

We eventually glide to a stop and I’m thankful that I didn’t fall on top of her at any point during the kiss. I pull away and lean my head against her forehead, staring at her face while her eyes are still closed. I can’t help but smile at the sweet sight. I hear a wife comment to her husband as they pass us. “Why aren’t you like that to me anymore? You lazy slob.” The husband just grunts and they continue walking away. I don’t understand what she’s saying but she sounds disapproving so I can’t help but laugh. It’s nice to know that someone else envies Erika and I. I guess it kind of means that I’m doing the right things.

She opens her eyes slowly upon hearing my laughter and smiles. The look on her face is just so dreamy and loving and gorgeous that I just can’t help myself from attacking her sweet lips once again. This time, I don’t pull away so soon and I can hear many couple sighing and murmuring snide comments to each other. But I don’t really care. They can look all they want. They’re just jealous. I’m not going to give up a moment like this for any one of them.

“So,” I whisper, pulling away and kissing her forehead softly. “What does this make us?”

She looks at me confused. “What do you mean?”

“What I mean to say is please don’t tell me that this is just some sort of fling for you. I wouldn’t be able to stand it if you told me that.” I say, hiding my face in her hair. She lays both of her hands against my chest and buries her face in my sweatshirt.

“It’s not.” She responds quietly.

“Does that mean… That you’ll be my girlfriend? Even though I’m leaving?” I ask hesitantly.

She pauses for a few seconds but it feels like a whole year. I feel my body tense up. And then she finally does something. She nods her head, still not removing her face from my chest. I feel my whole body relax. I’m relieved. And ecstatic. And overjoyed. It’s almost too much to take.

But I’m still not satisfied.

I grab on to her chin and gently lift it so that she’s looking me in the eyes. “What was that?” I ask, smiling gently at her.

This time she doesn’t pause but her cheeks turn redder than I’ve ever seen them. “Yes. I want to. I mean I want to be your girlfriend. I mean I want you and I to-“ I cut her off by mashing our lips together and lifting her up into the air, spinning her around. Now I’m satisfied.

But I’m still an idiot.

I forgot that I’m wearing skates and we both quickly tumble to the ground, her once again on top of me. But she’s not self-conscious this time. She leans against my chest and gazes at me, laughing happily. It’s such a sweet moment. The sweetest I’ve ever experienced. I never dreamed that I would meet my dream girl in the middle of nowhere when I came on this vacation. I thought that I’d be drinking pina coladas and tanning on a beach or something. But this moment is definitely worth the change in plans. In fact, I’m so drunk off of what I’m feeling that I suddenly say the first think that comes to mind. Needless to say, it completely shocks the both of us.

“I love you.”