It’s still the same day Hyukjae and I slept together, but later. We were so tired we slept for hours and only woke up at 8 in the evening. Wanting to feel refresh, I decided to go take a shower while Hyukjae goes out the room to make a phone call.

As I was enjoying the warm water raining down my body making me feel clean and smooth.

“Oh! Hyukjae ah, what are you doing here?” I gasped as quickly turned around, now back facing him. I didn't know he even came in the bathroom.

“There’s no reason to be shy anymore Hyomi ah.” He said as he entered the cubicle.

Just as I thought things were going to get nasty in here, Hyukjae suddenly started washing himself hurriedly. I looked at him all confused; I thought he had wanted me to wash him instead.

“What are you looking at me for?”

“N-nothing.”

“Hurry get yourself clean, we have somewhere to go after this!” Hyukjae said as he transferred some soap bubble from his hair to mine, massaging it into my scalp.

Soon, we got out of the pretty innocent and rushed cleaning session. 

Wrapped in a big white towel, I stepped out of the bathroom and asked Hyukjae.

“Where are we going?”

“On a date!”

“What? A date? Just us?” I was surprised.

“Mhmm.” Hyukjae nodded as he scurried me back into the bathroom with hangers of clothes telling me to change into them.

When I stepped out of the bathroom with make up on, Hyukjae was already nicely dressed, sitting on the bed waiting for me.

As he observed me from top to bottom, his smile broadened and immediately gave me two thumbs up.

We got in the car and Hyukjae started driving. I had in mind that probably we were going to Hyukjae’s parents house or back to Super Junior’s dorm to have dinner with everyone. But I could not be more wrong about my guess. Hyukjae drove us to a shopping mall located at the busiest streets of Seoul.

Sensing something different, I kept glancing over to Hyukjae and all I saw was a cheerful smile plastered all over his face, he was smiling so widely it made his eye area all wrinkled up. What is it that is making him so elated? I wonder.

Within a minute, Hyukjae found a parking lot at the basement of the shopping mall. At this point, I was speechless. I thought Hyukjae was going to have me go up the mall and buy take-outs so that we could eat them in the car itself.

“Let’s go.” Hyukjae said as he turned off the car engine.

“Ok…” I said in a suspicious tone and got off the car slowly. The whole time I was worried that Hyukjae could get into a huge scandal if he is seen with an unknown female aka me, getting off his personal car. It could even interfere with all his schedules. Gosh, I was so tensed.

Walking towards the automated glass door, Hyukjae suddenly grabbed my hand and held it firmly. Acting as if everything’s normal, he walked into the mall and started shopping. Yes, shopping. He went into every clothes store, shoes store and bookstores there and picked out items to check out. We were having such a blast in the stores that it reminded me of how we used to go out on dates before he got famous.

We were laughing, chatting and joking around, having so much fun that I had unconsciously forgotten the fact that we were not supposed to be seen together. Nothing ruined our leisure; neither were the screaming fans nor the flashing cameras affecting us. Our own bubble encircled us completely.

Now on to filling our empty stomachs, we decided to go for a round of food tasting in the supermarket for dinner. We used to hunt for different supermarkets in our area to get free food when it comes to meals. Not only was it fun but its cost free! Of course we don't do it too often, Hyukjae does bring me out to family restaurants to eat at times.

“Mmmm~” Hyukjae sounded after I fed him a mouth of strawberry ice cream. And that concludes our date for tonight.

* *

The next morning, a sweet scent of maple syrup and the sizzling sound of oil touching a heated cooking pan had woken me up.

Stretching my sides, I went out of our room and followed that intriguing smell after I have done my morning routines.

“Good morning!” Hyukjae greeted me cheerfully.

“Good woning…” I yawned.

“Just in time!” he said as he scooped some scrambled eggs and placed them next to the waffles on the plates.

“Hey~ you made breakfast. That’s rare.”  I said in a sarcastic tone as I lightly push him on the arm.

“Heeheehee.” He laughed with again that blinding bright smile.

My guess was that Hyukjae had a favor to ask of me or he may be doing these to make up for something bad he had done. Either way, there has to be a catch in this situation. Nonetheless, I still gobbled down that sumptuous breakfast because it was too tempting.

“Ok, Hyomi ah. I’m gonna show you something. Try to contain yourself when you see it. All right?

I swallowed a gulp of saliva and put up an ‘OK’ sign. This is going to be huge, I predict.

He then handed me his phone with the screen facing down.

Skeptical, I flipped it the other way and the first thing that caught my eyes was a picture of us walking in the mall yesterday, hand in hand. The more I read, I soon came to realize that it is an article about SM entertainment releasing news of Hyukjae and I dating for an unknown period of time. Also asking support from fans for this new couple.

Instantly, footage of yesterday’s happenings started appearing in my mind. The more I think of it, the more uneasy and fretful I was. 

“W-w-hat what this?!” I was so distressed; I couldn't form my sentence properly, in fact I was on the verge of crying.

Argh, I was so mad at myself. I should have pulled Hyukjae back into the car yesterday. Why didn’t I do that?

“Hyomi, Hyomi. Calm down. Everything’s all right. This was preplanned.” Hyukjae said as he took back the phone and held both my hands.

“Preplanned…?” I raised a brow.

“Remember the phone call I made after our make out session?” he asked.

With my face slightly heated up, I nodded.

“Well, I called Manager Hyung and told him that I was gonna expose about us yesterday night.” He told me calmly.

“And he allowed you to?” I asked.

“No idea, it flew into voicemail. But I guess he and the company does now.” He smiled.

I heaved a sigh of relieve. It was like the biggest shock I’ve ever recovered from so far in my life.

“Hyomi ah. I was the one that wanted to do this. So don't feel responsible for it ok?” He assured me.

I nodded, slowly. He smirked and leaned forward to give me a peck on my lips.

“Good.” he said. I’d have to admit, I was rather elated that our relationship is finally out and open, in a twisted kind of way I’ve always wanted such a day to come.

He then stood up and cleared the dishes. I suddenly remembered about Ji Eun ssi.

“NO. Wait wait wait!” I cried out, out of the blue.

“Whao! What what what?” He got startled.

“Your We Got Married schedule. This must be really rude to Ji Eun ssi.” I reminded him.

Hyukjae scoffed and said, “We finished filming last week.”

“Even if they had finish filming, it doesn't mean that it’s airing already. The fans are going to be disappointed that you were in a relationship while joining WGM.” I told Hyukjae.

Over at the sink washing dishes, Hyukjae just confidently said, “I will handle that.”