Our favorite place to hang out, weirdly, ended up being the garage. Apart from being gigantic, the garage's upper-floor was actually an apartment. It was bigger than I expected, spacious and tastefully decorated. Kris and Sehun lived there, and rented out rooms to Tao and Kyungsoo.
 
When the other three were out for the day - at work or out in the city - on Sehun's days off when I didn't have classes, we liked to curl up on the comfy couch and talk for hours on end. Sometimes he'd watch me do my homework and promised me rewards of kisses as motivation.
 
He told me about high school, about the girls he used to date, and about his other family in jeju. He was also always keen to hear about my life, despite how reluctant I was to talk about it.
 
I told him about the high school I had gone to - private, expensive, international school - and about how my classmates had all been sons and daughters of politicians, businessmen, high-end lawyers and renowned doctors. He was amazed when I told him about all the different places I'd visited, all the different people I've met.
 
"I bet Paris is just gorgeous at night," he said in awe, chin resting on the crook of my shoulder. "I wish I could see that with you."
 
"We can go around Christmas time," I agreed. "It would be really nice then." 
 
At once, I knew I had said something wrong. I could feel him stiffen behind me. I turned, craning my neck to look at him but Sehun tightened his arms around me.
 
"What's wrong?" I asked.
 
"Nothing," Sehun mumbled, leaning in to kiss my cheek.
 
 
There are days when Sehun tried to be romantic. He had flowers delivered to my house after classes for a week when he knew that my parents were out of town for work. A single red rose every day, along with a note that included a single heart and the letter S.
 
"Your boyfriend is really cute," the flower delivery ajusshi told me after the fourth rose. "No seriously, he knows how to treat a girl. I wish I had this much sense when I was a teenager."
 
I just blushed, thanked him, and took the rose in to be put in the vase with the others.
 
"Is it just me or is the flora in that vase increasing?" Joonmyun asked me one day over dinner.
 
"What?" I blinked, faking dumb. "Oh…it must be housekeeping trying to brighten up the atmosphere around here."
 
Joonmyun gave me a suspicious look, but dropped the subject.
 
 

The first fight we had was very public and very loud. We had been dating for close to five months already, but the fight was over the most trivial of things.
 
Sehun and I had gone to see a movie together, and by habit, I pushed my credit card through the payment slot.
 
"Wait, I got it." Sehun's hand shot out, pulling mine back as he pushed his own bank card towards the cashier.
 
"What? No," I replied, a little annoyed. We had gotten there late because of the rain and the movie was about to start soon. "I'm paying for the tickets."
 
"It's just 16,000 won, Naeun," Sehun insisted, "let me pay for the tickets."
 
The cashier gave us both nervous looks before accepting both cards. "I'll split the payment, okay? One ticket on each card?" she asked, sounding amused. I guess it wasn’t often that she witnesses people arguing to spend money.
 
Sehun's face was carefully blank as the cashier swiped our cards and handed us one ticket each for the movie. The facade disappeared at once, however, when we moved out of the line.
 
"Why can't you just let me pay for this?" The words exploded out of Sehun so forcefully that I was taken back for a second, frozen in place. I had never heard Sehun this angry before in all the months that I'd known him. "I can afford this, you know," he added. "I have a job and an income."
 
I sighed, not seeing why he was making a big deal out of nothing. The previews had probably already started and we still needed to buy snacks.
 
"And you should keep the money you make and spend it on other things," I said, shrugging. "Stuff like this is like a drop in an ocean for me to pay for. I don't want you spending your hard earned money on this."
 
"I want to spend money on stuff like this. Just because you're rich doesn’t mean you have to pay for our dates." Sehun's voice had risen even more and people near us were starting to stare.
 
"What is the point when I can just pay?"
 
Sehun was silent for a moment, eyes piercing. His lips were tightened to a thin like and he his fists clenched and unclenched sporadically. "You don't get it do you, Naeun," he spat.
 
"No," I snapped back, anger flaring. "I guess I don't, since you refuse to explain it to me."<