Hyunjoong finished booking all the places and after they changed and washed up, he and Youngsaeng set out on their first date. 

"When was the last time you visited the aquarium?" Hyunjoong asked Youngsaeng curiously.

"I've never been there before," Youngsaeng told him. "My parents never brought me there and my aunt never thought about it."

"How about with your friends?"

"Never been there before."

"Well then, today, I'll take you to see otters in real life," Hyunjoong exclaimed and sped off with the car. 

Once inside the aquarium, Youngsaeng turned into carefree child, running everywhere in excitement and pointing out everything that looked cute. Hyunjoong accompanied him by explaining to him the things he was interested in. 

"Cool! Octopus! They even have box jellyfish!" Youngsaeng squealed happily. "Oooooh! What's that???"

"That... is a beluga whale," Hyunjoong answered. 

The otter ran up to the glass and pressed his face against it, waving his arms around to try to get the whale's attention. 

"Youngsaeng, that isn't going to work," the older boy started but then stopped when he saw the beluga starting to swim towards them. 

Everyone around them, including the children, stared in amazement when the whale stopped carefully right in front of the glass and stared at the wide-eyed otter. Youngsaeng smiled and put his hand out, his fingers outspread. 

"You're a beluga whale, right?" he murmured, as if talking to the white whale. "Nice to meet you. I'm Youngsaeng, Heo Youngsaeng."

Hyunjoong grabbed Youngsaeng's hand. "What are you doing?"

Youngsaeng turned. "I'm just introducing myself to the beluga. She said that her name's Aurora."

(Animals do not have these literal names and instead, use their voices to produce sounds to create different sounds as names. But since I can't do that here, I'll use real names.)

"Are you crazy?" Hyunjoong hissed. "Beluga's can't talk and they can't understand us either."

"You think that because you have no patience," the cute otter boy protested. "They can talk and they can hear us and understand us. Give them enough time and they will come to you. Wait for a while and they will answer. If you listen hard enough, you will be able to communicate with these animals as if they're actual human beings."

"Why do you think I should believe that?" Hyunjoong argued. 

"I don't expect you to," Youngsaeng said. "I don't expect you to ever understand. You've never taken the time to listen to those who are trying to say something."

Not saying anymore, the otter "princess" turned back to the beluga whale and started murmuring something else. He stopped for a while and again, spoke to the whale. Hyunjoong simply stood aside and waited as Youngsaeng seemingly chatted with the whale. 

A few minutes later, the young boy turned and waved good-bye to the whale. The beluga whale swam off and Youngsaeng stepped towards Hyunjoong. "Let's go. Aurora said her show is at 3:00. We should go watch."

"I'm just going to check the schedule to make sure," Hyunjoong notified and walked off as Youngsaeng followed him. 

To his disbelief, the show really was at 3:00 and they had never even glanced at the schedule that day. Was Youngsaeng actually communicating with the whale? How could that be? 

"Let's go and visit the other animals first, then."

Youngsaeng smiled and nodded enthusiastically. "Kaja! I want to go see the otters."

When they go to the exhibit outside, the sea otters were floating on their backs, asleep. 

"Waah..." Youngsaeng exclaimed with a wide smile, leaning over the railing. "They're so cute... I'm starting to like my nickname now."

"Careful," the older boy warned as he grabbed onto Youngsaeng's waist, making sure for the younger boy to not fall. "You may fall over."

Hyunjoong felt his heart beat faster as his hands stayed on Youngsaeng's hips. He had an excuse. 

"Wait," Youngsaeng suddenly said, his smile immediately disappearing and turning into a serious face. 

Hyunjoong jerked in surprise, quickly taking his hands off of the younger boy. 

"Is it just me or..." the otter started. "Omo! They're holding hands!"

His smile appeared again, this time a laughing smile. "That's adorable! They hold hands when they sleep."

The older boy sighed mentally in relief. Good, Youngsaeng wasn't angry. Soon, they left the exhibit and it was time for the sea lion show. 

"Waahh... I've never seen a sea lion show before..." Youngsaeng confessed as he and Hyunjoong sat in the bleachers outside, waiting for the show to start. 

"The sea lions here are amazing. They can do many tricks," Hyunjoong mentioned. "Just watch."

Soon, the show started and like a kid, Youngsaeng squealed at whatever the trainers got the sea lions to do. Jump out of the water. High jump over a rope above the water. Do a flip in midair. Balance on a ball on their nose and forehead on land. Fetch a beach ball. Youngsaeng clapped his hands in glee, his eyes sparkling under the sun. Hyunjoong smiled at how happy the boy was. 

"How do they even train these sea lions?" Youngsaeng asked rhetorically in amazement. 

"Yeah, pretty much," Hyunjoong replied knowingly. "Whenever the sea lions do something right, they are given a treat and they repeat that process. It's exactly the same as training a dog."

All of a sudden, an announcer shouted into the microphone. "Who wants to come down and try?"

Youngsaeng's arm suddenly shot up, his eyes twinkling in excitement. Hyunjoong waved at the announcer, pointing at the sparkling boy. 

"That young man over there," the announcer exclaimed, directing Youngsaeng down to the pool. 

He quickly got up and pulled Hyunjoong along. "You're coming too. It's good experience."

The two stepped through the door and entered the stage. Everyone stared at them, as if expecting something good. 

The trainers handed Youngsaeng a shrimp. "Here," one of them said. "If he does it right, give this to him. You put your arm up for him to jump, down for him to dive, and direct him here if you want him to come ashore."

Youngsaeng nodded and took a step towards the pool. He waved the sea lion over onto the shore and he obeyed. He jumped onto the cement and Youngsaeng fed him the shrimp. The trainer was about to give him another one but Youngsaeng didn't want it. Instead, he crouched down to become eye level with the animal. 

"Hi," Youngsaeng whispered, soft enough for the others to be unable to hear him speaking. "May I ask what your name is?"

There was silence for a few seconds before Youngsaeng nodded. "Flipper? Okay then, I'm Youngsaeng, Heo Youngsaeng, araetji?" (Got it?)

He patted the sea lion on the head and stood up. "Okay then, Flipper... Ready for a few tricks?"

"Excuse me, his name's Marine," one of the trainers interrupted but Hyunjoong stopped him. 

"Youngsaeng knows what he's doing," Hyunjoong informed with a slight smile. 

The trainers still kept a close eye on the boy though as he talked with the sea lions. 

"Flipper and Lulu, can you go fetch the beach balls for me please?" Youngsaeng asked quietly. 

To the trainers' surprise, without the actions or any treats, the two sea lions obeyed the young boy as he ordered them with words. He never spoke too loud and they didn't even seem like commands; his orders were more like requests as he was formal and polite, bowing as he took the ball and said please and thank you at the end of each request. 

About 15 minutes later, Youngsaeng finished with the sea lion and gave them both shrimp. "Good job you two," he praised as he patted them on the head again. "I have to go now so listen well to your trainers, alright?"

They bobbed their heads up and down, as if nodding. Youngsaeng turned and bowed. "Thank you for giving me this opportunity. I'll be going now."

"Yes, thank you for being so good to Marine and Lola," the trainers replied and then asked. "May we ask why you were calling them Flipper and Lulu?"

"Flipper and Lulu are their real names," Youngsaeng explained. "It's best if you call them these names from now on as they feel uncomfortable being called something else."

The trainers nodded and bowed. "Thank you and be careful."

Youngsaeng and Hyunjoong smiled as they left the pool. 

Hyunjoong checked his watch and there was only 10 minutes until 3:00.

"We have to hurry to the beluga exhibit," he directed. "It's almost 3."

They dashed over to the exhibit and saw that the show was just started. Finding a seat and sitting down, they enjoyed the show. 

Youngsaeng waved at the beluga and she looked at him, seeming to smile. To their surprise, she lifted one fin and waved it up and down. Of course, the trainers and the rest of the audience didn't know what she was doing but it was signal to Youngsaeng. He grinned widely, happy. 

After the show, the two simply strolled around the aquarium. All of sudden, they heard a sound coming from Youngsaeng. Hyunjoong turned to see Youngsaeng blushing. 

"Are you hungry?" he asked. "Let's go each something. We haven't had lunch yet?"

He lead the long black-haired boy somewhere and they ended up in front of a restaurant. 

"There's a restaurant in the aquarium?" Youngsaeng muttered in shock. "Cool... But... This isn't a seafood restaurant is it?"

"It is since it is in an aquarium."

"Ummm... I don't want to be rude but can we go out to eat?"

"Why? Is there a problem?"

"Well... I get sick around fish..." Youngsaeng uttered, not loud enough for Hyunjoong to hear. 

"Did you say something?"

Youngsaeng thought back for a second and then quickly shook his head. "No, nothing at all. Let's go in."

Hyunjoong furrowed his eyebrows in confusion but ended up leading the younger boy in, anyway. When they sat down, Youngsaeng looked through the menu. It was a seafood restaurant but he didn't expect everything single thing to have fish in it. Then, he found spaghetti in meat sauce with clams so he ended up ordering that. 

"You should get stuff with fish," Hyunjoong suggested. "They say that they're specialty is the fish. It tastes really good. I've tried it."

Youngsaeng smiled awkwardly. "No, it's alright. I like spaghetti so I'll just that."

While Hyunjoong ate fish, Youngsaeng forced himself not to gag at the smell. Even the smell caused him to feel sick. Right after they finished, Youngsaeng hurried outside, leaving Hyunjoong to pay for the meal. 

"Why'd you come out in such a hurry?" Hyunjoong asked him as they started to walk around again.

"I like the smell of fresh air," Youngsaeng stated.

An hour later, at 6:00, they exited the aquarium and headed to the car. 

"Are you tired?" Hyunjoong asked him with concern. 

"I'm alright," the younger boy replied and got in the car. "I'm used to walking for a long time."

"So was this date fun?" 

Youngsaeng nodded without hesitation. "Yes, definitely. It was fun, especially playing with Flipper and Lulu. And talking with Aurora."

"How did you come to understand animals?" Hyunjoong interrogated curiously.

"Well, since I don't live with anyone, I've always had too much time on my hands. So I was usually bored and after a while, I actually found entertainment in being bored. And I listened more, thought more, and I came to understand the animals. Anyone can do it if they take the time."

Hyunjoong smirked. "I'll try it one day."

"You can stop here," Youngsaeng spoke as Hyunjoong was about to turn the corner to Youngsaeng's house. "You can drop me off here."

"Are you sure? It's not an inconvenience if I go all the way there," Hyunjoong assured.

"It's alright, I'll walk from here."

Youngsaeng got out of the car and bent down to the window, waving with a smile. "Thanks, today was fun. See you at school on Monday."

Hyunjoong watched as Youngsaeng walked off towards the direction of his house. Only after Youngsaeng's figure faded into the shadows did he start driving towards his own home. 

When he got home, only then did he realize, that he still didn't have Youngsaeng's phone number.