It didn’t matter how many times I rejected Jonghyun; he seemed incapable of taking ‘no’ for an answer. He was persistent above all else, texting me and calling me. He even came over to my apartment building on Saturday – which would’ve been a complete disaster if anyone had seen him but thankfully my boys were off on a run and weren’t there to see the flowers he brought me.

He seemed to think that eventually he would worm his way into my heart and I would say yes. The problem was, he’d already made it into my heart and then some. Despite my better judgement, I liked him. I was self-aware enough to understand my feelings, and I actually liked Kim Jonghyun. But that didn’t change anything. It would be such a disaster for everyone if I actually gave in and dated him.

“I think you’re being too melodramatic,” Amber told me during gym class Tuesday. We’d just come from lunch, where I had shut Jonghyun down about a dozen or more times, and were changing into our gym uniforms in the locker room. “You like him, don’t you?”

“I never said that,” I replied stiffly, pulling my t-shirt over my head and shaking back my hair.

Amber laughed loudly, earning her a reproachful look from some of the Bimbos who were changing on the opposite side of the locker room. “You don’t have to say it out loud,” Amber assured me. “It’s written all over your face. That’s probably why Jonghyun won’t give up.”

I sigh, pulling my hair back into a ponytail. “I can’t say yes.”

“Why?” she demanded. “What’s the worst that can happen? His dad might not like you? You guys might break up in the end? A few more rumors around school? It’s not that big of a deal.”

It was more than that, though. I just didn’t know how exactly to put it into words.

My mind made itself up that afternoon, though. I stayed late after my math class to help Mr. Park grade some papers and, when I walked out to go to my locker, I found Jonghyun on his knees in front of it, scrubbing off something that had been written in spray paint across the metal. He must have been at it for a long time, because whatever had been written was illegible by now. It had happened before, the slurs and insults written where I was sure to see them, but this was the first time someone had taken the initiative to shield me from the bullying.

“What are you doing?” I asked, and he jumped as though he hadn’t heard me approach.

He pulled down the mask that covered his face to protect him from the fumes of the cleaning solvent, which he must have swiped from the janitor’s closet. “Ah, someone must have spilled some paint,” he lied. “I figured I would clean it up so you wouldn’t have to.”

I stared at him for a long moment. “Okay,” I finally said.

“Okay?” he repeated. “Okay what?”

I sighed. “Okay, I’ll date you.”

“Really?” He was so excited that he nearly upended the open bottle of cleaning solution.

I held up my hand to stop him before he could envelope me in the hug I knew was coming. “It’s going to end badly,” I warned him. “Your dad is going to hate it. My friends are going to hate it. Most everybody at school is going to hate it. We may even end up in tabloids. They’ll probably say that you’re slumming it. They’ll probably say that I’m a gold-digger.”

“I know, I know,” he assured me, brushing my hand aside so he could wrap his arms around me. “And I don’t care.”

I didn’t resist when he pressed his lips gently to mine. “Okay then,” I agreed.

“Then let’s go out,” he said, linking our fingers together and dragging me in the general direction of the car park, forgetting about the mostly-erased graffiti on the front of my locker. When I started to protest that I had already agreed to go out with him, he cut me off by saying, “On a real date. We’ve only been on one before, and we weren’t dating then.”

I spluttered, tripping over my feet as we exited the school building into the warm May afternoon. “When did we ever go on a date before?” I demanded.

“When we went to the park and played basketball and ate hotdogs and then illegally watched the baseball game,” he said, unlocking the door to the McLaren Roadster and letting me slide inside.

“It wasn’t illegal,” I grumbled, fastening my seatbelt as he slid behind the wheel. “And that wasn’t a date. It was just a bet.”

He smiled that knowing smile and grabbed my hand across the console. But I had agreed to date him so I couldn’t very well pull away. Not that I really wanted to anyway.

“So where are we going on this date?” I asked, mostly to divert my attention away from how warm his hand is wrapped around mine.

“Dinner,” he answered decisively. “And a movie. A proper date.”

“Dressed like this?” I demanded, gesturing down to my school uniform. He could shed his blazer and still manage to look decently classy, but no matter what I did I was going to look like a school girl.

He shrugged indifferently. “Then let’s go shopping first. I’ll buy you something nice to wear.”

And that was where I definitely had to put my foot down. “No,” I said sharply. “I’m not going to accept any gifts from you. That’s not okay. I know I’m poor, but I’m not accepting any handouts or charity.”

“It’s not charity,” he insisted, the corner of his mouth twitching up even though I was arguing with him. “It’s a gift. From a boyfriend to his girlfriend.”

“No,” I repeated vehemently. “I will not let anyone call me a gold-digger. I don’t want to accept anything.”

Jonghyun was obviously exasperated with my refusal to accept any gifts, but he also seemed a little amused. “Look, we won’t tell anyone,” he promised me. “I’m going to buy you some things whether you want me to or not, so it’s better if you come along and tell me what you like. Otherwise I’m probably going to pick out something that you think is ostentatious.”

I groaned. If I left it up to Jonghyun to pick out clothes for me, I was definitely going to be left feeling uncomfortable. So, even though I hated it with every fiber of my being – just because I was poor didn’t mean I was a beggar – I gave in reluctantly.

Jonghyun smiled like he had won – which he seemed to be doing a lot that afternoon – and stepped on the gas pedal, zooming out of the school’s car park towards one of the nearest shopping centers.

Though I’d heard of it before, I’d never been there before. Even if I had been able to afford the things for sale there – which I most definitely could not – it wasn’t exactly a place I would willingly shop. You had to look like you had money just to walk through the doors, so obviously it wasn’t a place I hung out at.

Luckily for me, this time, when I stepped through the door in my uniform for one of the most upscale schools in town, nobody looked twice at me, especially because I was with someone who was well-known in this social circle. It was nice, for once, not to be looked at like I was something nasty stuck to the bottom of someone’s shoe.

I found myself walking a little closer to Jonghyun than I normally would have, a little intimidated by the wealthy patrons striding purposefully around the department store. It was different than being at school, where I only had to deal with snobby kids, and it was different than being at Jonghyun’s palatial mansion, where I only had to converse with a few servants. This was like being thrown into the lion’s den where the slightest wrong move would get you eaten.

Jonghyun didn’t seem to mind it, though. With our fingers laced together, he walked so close that we were practically joined at the hip. He was smiling the whole time.

He asked me once or twice where I wanted to go, what stores I wanted to visit, but the department store was like a foreign country to me. After I had mumbled something about being utterly clueless – something that was hard for me, as a highly intelligent individual, to admit – he took the reigns and led me to a few fashionable stores.

The clothes were cute, of course. Only the newest of fashions were displayed in this mall, after all. But after looking at a few of them – and noticing the astronomical price – I quickly begged to go somewhere cheaper.

Jonghyun gave me a confused look. “Somewhere cheaper?” he asked. “This is one of the cheapest malls in this part of town...”

So I had no choice but to find something to wear. In the end, it was a simple skirt and knit sweater with a pair of little lace-up dress shoes. They were cute, but I had chosen them because they were some of the cheapest things for sale in the shop.

After we bought clothes for me, we had to buy something casual for Jonghyun to wear as well – his purchase was much more expensive than mine – and then we could finally head off to dinner.

I wanted something easy and cheap – ddeobeokki or gimbap or bibimbap – but Jonghyun insisted that we went somewhere nicer. So we ended up at a barbecue place near both school and his house.

“This is too much,” I wailed, trying to keep my voice down. It was mostly drowned out by the loud table next to us and the sizzling meat on the grill. “You’re spending too much money on me!”

Jonghyun chuckled, selecting a piece of beef that was sufficiently grilled and holding it out to me. “We’ve been dating less than twenty-four hours, Kitten. It’s only going to get worse from here.”

“Maybe I should break up with you then,” I muttered, but we both knew that I didn’t really mean it. We both knew that I wouldn’t have given in to his pressure to date him if I hadn’t really wanted it myself.

So he smirked at me and gestured for me to eat the proffered meat, so I did. The whole scenario was weird and foreign to me. I’d dated before, even seriously, but I’d never done the lovey-dovey couple things. I’d never had couples rings or watches or underwear. I’d never told anyone I loved them. And I certainly wasn’t used to being fed by my significant other.

But Jonghyun seemed happy and so I put up with. In fact, I probably didn’t mind it as much as I pretended to.

“We should order a bottle of soju,” Jonghyun said, reaching to press the button to call our waiter.

“No way,” I said, grabbing his wrist before he could push it. “I’m obviously still a minor. I’m carrying my school backpack for goodness’ sake!”

He grinned, pushing the button anyway. “I’m not a minor,” he assured me. “I can drink legally. And they’ll look the other way for you. It’ll be okay.”

“Jonghyun!” I whined, and he gave in. When the waiter came by our table to see what we wanted, Jonghyun simply asked for another order of bean sprouts.

He wrinkled his nose at me, even though I could tell that he wasn’t really upset with me. “What’s the big deal?” he asked. “I’m sure you’ve gotten drunk with your friends plenty of times.” The stress he put on the word ‘friends’ made it quite clear what he thought of Yongguk and my boys.

I wrinkled my nose right back at him. I’d grown up with those boys, so of course I’d drunk with them before. In fact, I had gotten totally wasted with them on more than one occasion. But it was different to get drunk with people I was truly comfortable with in my own apartment or the one Yongguk and Himchan shared and to drink in public as a minor in a part of town where I was the lowest of the low. “I just don’t want to tonight,” I said, and I suppose that was enough for Jonghyun because he changed the subject to what movie we should see, pulling out his phone so he could purchase tickets in advance.

We ended up seeing an action movie. At first Jonghyun had suggested a romantic comedy – assuming, incorrectly, that as a girl I would want to watch something romantic. I gave him a level look and he laughed, quickly retracting his suggestion. The action movie was much more to both our liking.

It had been a long time since I’d been on a date to the theater with a boyfriend. Jonghyun had bought us seats at the back, reserved only for couples. Because it was a Tuesday night, there weren’t many other people in the theater and so we were the only ones in the back row, sitting on the couches there.

Jonghyun made himself comfortable, draping an arm around my shoulder, nestling the popcorn between his thighs so we could both reach it comfortably.

“Thanks,” I mumbled as the CFs at the beginning of the film began to roll, sometimes playing over and over again.

Jonghyun glanced at me. My head was resting on his shoulder, and so when he turned to look at me our faces were a mere few centimeters apart. “Thanks for what?” he asked, and I could practically taste the breath mint melting on his tongue.

I swallowed audibly despite my desire to play it cool. “For everything,” I mumbled. “For shopping and dinner and the movie.”

He closed the slight gap between and I really could taste his mint when his lips covered mine, his tongue running along the seam of my lips. I was about to let him deepen the kiss when he pulled back, placing a lingering peck on my cheek. “You don’t have to thank me, Kitten. That’s what boyfriends do for their girlfriends.” Thankfully the movie started then and Jonghyun settled in to watch it so he didn’t see the blush that overtook my entire face.

It was late when the movie ended and the buses had stopped running, but I’m sure Jonghyun would have insisted on driving me home anyway. Unlike the last time he had driven me home, this ride was filled with amicable conversation about the movie, our fingers laced together near the gearshift.

Like the last time, Jonghyun got out of his car and walked me to the door of my run-down apartment. The lights were all off despite the hour, but that was nothing new. My father was probably at some bar nearby, spending what was left of his paycheck after rent. It was a common enough occurrence that I didn’t think twice about it.

“Goodnight, Kitten,” Jonghyun said, cupping my face and bending down so he could slant his lips over mine. This time he did take the initiative to deepen the kiss, and I let him. It felt nice for him to hold me in his arms, for his free hand to tangle in my hair, for his heart to beat erratically against mine.

I couldn’t help but smile when he pulled away. “Goodnight, Jonghyun,” I replied.

He smiled again and waved before returning to his car. I saw the headlights turn on and then the engine revved before he sped away. I my heel to enter my apartment and saw Zelo leaning against the doorframe, eyebrow quirked in my direction.

“And just what the hell was that?” he demanded.   

Uh ohhhh Narae is in troubleeee!

So I've learned a lot about Korean movie theaters since I've been here in Korea. First of all, they're really nice. And you can buy beer and squid at the concession stand. Second of all, they don't really have previews in front of the movie like we do in America. Instead, there's just a bunch of CFs, or commercials. And sometimes, they play the same CFs over and over again. My friends and I went to see a movie the other night and literally they showed the same CF four times in a row. It gets a little annoying. Also, there are special seats in the back row of the theater that are for couples only. When you buy your tickets, the tickets have actual seat numbers on them. In America, once you buy a ticket you can go into the theater and sit wherever you want, but in Korea you have to sit in your assigned seat. And they won't sell you tickets to the back row unless you're a couple. And they have couches so the couples can cuddle. Legit. When my boyfriend comes, I'm definitely going to sit in one of the couple couches lol