Nov 4, 2013

Sunggyu was getting dizzy, trying to finish the work that came at the eleventh minute before he was about to check out from work. Since each file was important, he had to go through one by one carefully, with his eyes stealing glances at his watch from time to time. He was cursing in his mind, but couldn't even excuse himself as the files were needed for the meetings with some client from abroad the next day. Clenching his jaws, Sunggyu worked with a few others, and when they finally finished the work, he dashed out of the building and quickly hailed a cab.

"Can you drive faster?" He asked the taxi driver but the latter only shook, pointing at the traffic before them. Sunggyu moaned and threw back his head, cursing in his mind endlessly. It was almost the time for the reservation and since he had made one at a rather known restaurant, he knew that it would be dismissed if they were late more than half an hour. After what it seemed like forever, he finally arrived at the foot of his apartment, and was jumpy when he was riding the elevator. Once he arrived home, he threw the front door open and quickly searched for Seul-ki in her room.

"Seul-ki?"

Seul-ki was lying on the floor, after she fell asleep while waiting for Sunggyu. She had dressed up in a simple sleeveless floral dress which is one of the few dresses that she owned. The skirt was brushed up to her thighs while she was napping and Sunggyu, gulping, looked away when she sat up and looked at him sleepily

 "Are you ready?" She nodded and rubbed her eyes a little. "Just wait while I get ready, oh?" She nodded again just before Sunggyu stormed out of the room, took a really quick shower and put on a white shirt with a casual black jacket on top of it. He fixed his hair and made sure his face was clean and went out of the room to find Seul-ki standing near the balcony door. "Seul-ki."

She turned and Sunggyu couldn't help but to admire her features that were complimented by the dress. She had put up her hair in a neat bun and although minimal, her makeup made her really lovely. She smiled awkwardly and looked down at herself. "I'm not sure if this is nice..."

"You look beautiful." Seul-ki could literally feel her face was burning when Sunggyu came over to her and took her hand. "But we're running late, so, shall we?" She nodded and when he took her hand, her heart was just hammering, as she studied him from behind; looking from his hair to his shoulders and back. They got into a cab and Sunggyu was only focusing on instructing the driver to take alternative route, barely not hearing what Seul-ki was saying. "Huh, what did you say?"

"Where are we going?"

"Dinner." He said mindlessly, looking out at the road again, pointing his finger around to direct the driver. Seul-ki sighed a little and silently, she took out her phone and read Myungsoo's text again. Her heart was still heavy thinking about the possibilities but she was wishing hard that she was only thinking too much. She looked up at Sunggyu who was having an anxious look on his face. She wanted to say something to him but looking how edgy he was, she decided to keep quiet while twirling the Cassiopeia keychain she had on her phone which she realised was a gift from Myungsoo.

"I'm sorry Sir, but it's our restaurant's policy. If a customer who has made a reservation is late more than half an hour, it is our policy to pass the priority to another." The man at the entrance said, once they had arrived at the restaurant. Sunggyu was frowning and asked if there was any empty table but unfortunately enough, the restaurant was booked for a whole week. Devastated, they left the restaurant and Sunggyu, feeling ashamed was avoiding looking at Seul-ki who was staring at him kindly.

"It's okay." She said, smiling wide, trying her best to cheer him up. "I don't mind eating someplace else."

"But I've made a reservation like two weeks ago!" He said, looking dreaded. When he looked up and saw Seul-ki looking a bit baffled, he scrunched up his nose. "Well... I've been wanting to give you a break from cooking all day, so..." Seul-ki was only quiet while she stared at him with her wide sweet smile. "Why are you smiling..." She smiled even wider and shook her head. "Let's go look for someplace else to eat then?" She nodded brightly without a word, making Sunggyu smiled as well, though a bit apologetic.

They then were walking along the lively streets, brushing shoulders with other couples who were holding hands. Seul-ki wasn't thinking much about the other people, but she was only studying his back and somehow she felt it was really nice. Sunggyu who was walking ahead of her turned around eventually and looked at her with concern. She on the other hand was looking at him questioningly. "Aren't-aren't you cold?"

"I'm fine." She said, smiling.

"Oh? Okay..." He said, and went on walking ahead again before he felt it was too much and stopped suddenly, causing her to bump into him.

"What..." She began but Sunggyu turned to face her and with his face going a bit red, he opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. "What is it, Sunggyu-sshi?"

"Do-do you want to... hold hands?" He asked, looking at her sternly. Seul-ki blinked bleakly and looked down on the ground, past Sunggyu's hand.

"I'd love to..." She said and Sunggyu wasted no time to grab her hand and walked beside her. Although it wasn't the first time they held hands, doing so in public was rather new and quite embarrassing for the both of them that none said a single word while they were walking down further the road. To divert their nervousness, they were looking at the trees decorated with neon lights and at the shops along the street. Seul-ki was studying a place which she presumed was like a pub when she saw Woohyun inside. "Oh, Woohyun-sshi."

"Woohyun? Where?" Sunggyu asked, looking around.

"There." She said, pointing through the glass window.

"Is he out to have fun?" Sunggyu asked, a bit bewildered as he peered through the glass door and saw some people sitting at the bar while others were seated around the tables in the pub. "What is he doing..." He said to himself when Woohyun was walking up onto the stage and fixed the mike stand. Then, he sat down on a stool and the band started playing a song. Closing his eyes, Woohyun started singing to some blues song.

"Omo." Seul-ki said, her forehead was already stuck on the glass to have a better look and listen to what Woohyun was singing. "Woohyun-sshi is singing! And he's good!" Sunggyu felt a bit annoyed to look at her being all excited that he pulled her away from the window. Seul-ki was having this bright look on her face while staring at him. "I didn't know he could sing so well!"

"Yeah he does..." He replied, frowning when Seul-ki went back to stare at Woohyun, with her eyes dreamy. "Is it that nice to look at him?"

"Of course! He's very good. Ah, so handsome!" She squealed.

"Yah!" Sunggyu shouted, losing his focus for a bit. "Why are you complimenting some other man?" Seul-ki slowly turned towards him, puffing her cheeks when she saw the crossed look on his face. She then broke into a laugh and held her face with her palms, feeling her face burning a little. "Yah, stop laughing! Aish! What is so handsome about him?"

"A man who can sing is very handsome." She said, smiling brightly and turned towards Woohyun again. "Like Kim Junsu and Jaejoong and our maknae Changmin. They are all very handsome! Even when they are not handsome off stage, when they sing, it's a different case! But, of course TVXQ is handsome both off and on stage bec-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, I get it." Sunggyu interjected, rolling his eyes. "Does that mean if I sing, I'll be handsome too?" She turned to him slowly and met his eyes but she said nothing. "What?"

"Can Sunggyu-sshi sing? The other day you were only screaming..."

"If I can sing, what would Seul-ki give me?" He asked, almost smirking.

"What would I give what?" She asked, freaking out.

"If I can sing well, then Seul-ki should..." He cleared his throat but went on with a hushed tone, not looking at her. "...give me a kiss."

"Why-why should I..." She said, getting nervous when Sunggyu brought his torso nearer to her from behind. She gulped and wanted to just slip down to escape him but his hand s around her waist, made her shrieked and soon, his face was next to hers; peering through the glass door.

"I should be more handsome than Woohyun." He said, smiling meaningfully. Seul-ki turned to give him a distasteful before looking at Woohyun again, who was moving his head to the music while closing his eyes.

"Well, Kim Jaejoong's the handsomest of all!"

"Yah!" He cried, narrowing his eyes. "Whatever." He turned his eyes to Woohyun who was beginning to sing another song. "Look at that kid. I can't believe he gave up his job to do this again."

"Do this again?"

"He used to sing in such places during our uni days to earn some money." Sunggyu went quiet for a moment. "Now that I remember it... It was during that time that he met that girl."

"Woohyun-sshi's girlfriend?"

"His ex." Sunggyu said, with a flat tone. "I guess that kid hasn't gotten over her after all."

"Really...? Why not?"

"You think it's easy to get over someone who's been with you for years?" He said, almost nagging. He went on watching Woohyun, with his eyes going a bit dreamy, his mind wandering off to his past memories. "As much as I didn't like her, Woohyun loved her very much... and he once told me they would probably end up in marriage but things just happened... It's not easy to get over all of those though..."

"Does Sunggyu-sshi have this kind of person, too?" Sunggyu turned sharply to look at her but she was only looking at Woohyun, with her gaze going a bit blank. He was about to open his mouth when she turned to him and smiled widely. "I'm getting hungry! Where should we eat? Can we just go eat bulgogi? I'm hungry for meat!"

"Bul-bulgogi?"

"Um! Maybe we should go to the restaurant near the apartment?" She said, and started to walk away. Sunggyu followed her, a bit confused but he said nothing. "Or maybe we can eat at one of those pojangmacha I saw the other day? I want dakkochi-" She stopped abruptly when Sunggyu took her hand, startling her a bit.

"I told you I am going to treat you dinner tonight."

"But bulgogi can be eaten for dinner..."

"I know! But, you are dressed up so nicely like this, why would you want to eat in a pojangmacha?" He asked, feeling a bit helpless.

"This dress isn't actually nice. I bought it online for a cheap price." She said bluntly and Sunggyu was left speechless as he stared into her big eyes. "So it's fine."

"Seul-ki... Yah..." Sunggyu didn't know what was heaving down his heart when she started to walk again, leaving him a few steps away. When she suddenly stopped again, he rushed over to her.

"Sunggyu-sshi." She turned with a solemn face, "Can we just go home