“Oh my God Lara look at those adorable shoes!!” Demi squealed and jumped up and down like a little hypo child. She grabbed my wrist and dragged me into the store. We had been looking around for a while when I noticed a cute stranger sneaking glances at us. I pushed the thought to the side and continued to look around with Demi.

After a few more minutes of shopping we decided to finish up on the rest of our shopping and pay for our stuff. Demi was still in the change rooms so I went to pay for the things at the register. My arms were full of clothes and I couldn’t see where I was going. Try not to trip, try not to trip I repeated in my head as I slowly made my way to the counter…Almost there.  I thought I was just out of the woods but I was wrong. I bumped into someone and fell to the floor followed by my mountain of clothes. “Yah I’m so sorry” the stranger said almost instantly after we fell. “N-no it’s my fault I should really watch were I’m going” I looked down and mumbled. I swear my cheeks must have been bright red from embarrassment. To my surprise he got up and laughed. He offered me his hand to help me get up. “Maybe we should both be more careful about where we are going next time” He said giving me a slightly flirty smile. I can’t speak good Korean so I just nodded my head and started to pick up my things. “You’re not from around here are you?” He said helping me pick up my clothes. I nodded in agreement and continued to pick up my things while trying my best to avoid eye contact. “Well if it is easier for you to speak in English than that’s cool because I speak it perfect” he said in a super cute American accent after finishing helping me clean up, I reached out to grab my things off of him but instead he turned around and led me to the counter. There were six people in front of us in line so he tried to make convocation to fill the awkward silence. “Hey I’m Eli by the way, and you are?” he grinned at me still speaking in english. “I’m Lara” I replied returning the smile. “That’s a nice name and judging by the accent you’re also from America?” “Yeah I’m from California” I replied.

After a few more minutes of short talk Demi came out of the change rooms. “Lara what’s been taking you so long?” she said running up with her arm full of clothes. She stopped and eyed Eli “Oh I see… Well thanks for helping Lara but its ok I’m here now”, she grabbed the clothes out of his arms before he could even protest and turned to pay for our things. He couldn’t even do anything but look kind of stunned. “Ummm sorry about that she doesn’t mean to come across rude” I whispered in his ear so Demi couldn’t hear. He frowned slightly “That’s ok”. “Well is their some way I can make it up to you because I really am sorry” I smiled shyly.  “Hmm well there is one way… Why don’t you give me your number?” he grinned cheekily. He so attractive, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to give him my number… Before I could even reply he had his phone out and was handing it to me. I quickly punched in m number and handed it back. Thankfully Demi was still distracted with the clothes, I had never been gladder to buy so many clothes in my life. His phone buzzed “Hey it was nice meeting you Lara but I gotta got to work” he said glumly. “Oh ok it was nice meeting you too, maybe I will see you around?” I said cheerfully. “Yeah that, that would be nice. See you later” He said before turning and walking away.

Once he walked away all I could think about was his nice smile and kind eyes. Wait I can’t be falling for him I don’t even know him… I thought As if on cue Demi walked up behind me. “All done” I jumped at the sound of her voice when I was lost in thought about Eli. ”I swear by how long it was taking that it was like we were buying out the whole store” I joked.  “Tell me about it” she laughed, “And by the way were did that guy that was with you before go?”  “Oh Eli had do go to work”. She studied me for a second. “You don’t seriously have feelings for that guy?” She questioned. “Wait- What no of course not!” I said, maybe a bit too quickly. “Well good because we came here for an adventure not romance” she replied not fully convinced, “And besides your mine!” she joked.

We both left the store laughing. We got a few meters down the street before I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. I pulled it out and read it in my head

Hey Lara,

It’s me Eli.  Remember the guy from the store? Well if you don’t I’m that really handsome guy that you ran into… haha. Well you said you wanted to make it up to me so how about you meet me tomorrow at the little café down the road. Text me back your reply, hope to see you their

I smiled and texted my reply.