It’s hard to get up for school the following morning – Tarian has always been a girl who loves her sleep – but somehow she manages. She groans when she walks into her homeroom and sees that her tormentors are back – and they’re early for a change.

She tries to ignore them as she slips into her seat, but Jongup and Youngjae eagerly lean forward. “Himchan-hyung said he saw you last night all dressed up,” Jongup says with a grin.

“Himchan likes to hear himself talk,” Tarian mutters under her breath, digging out her textbook. She wonders if Mrs. Chae will notice if she takes a little nap during class. The teacher hardly ever looks in her direction anyway, as if she’s afraid of making eye-contact with one of the B.A.P. boys.

Jongup isn’t put off by Tarian’s less-than-friendly response. “He also says you’ve got a lot of tattoos. I want to see them.”

“Sorry,” she answers coolly. “They’re all covered up right now.”

“Tattoos aren’t very common here, and especially not with kids our age,” Youngjae points out, his lower lip sticking out in what could almost be mistaken for a pout. “You must have gotten them before you got here.”

Finally Tarian turns to give him a flat look. “Well I’ve only been here a week so obviously I got them before I came to Korea. And they tell me you’re the smart one.” She rolls her eyes and turns back to her textbook.

Even though she’s not looking, she can tell Youngjae is grinning. “So you’ve been talking to people about me, hm?”

She groans out loud and lets her head fall onto her desk. “I am way too tired to deal with this right now,” she mutters. “And I’ve got a date tonight and I don’t even know how I’m going to stay awake and-”

Jongup interrupts her grumbling. “You’ve got a date tonight?” he asks, rather sharper than he probably intended. “With who? That Yonghwa kid?”

“That’s none of your business,” she answers, not bothering to even lift her head up.

She thinks that Jongup is going to let it lie, but when she goes out to get a drink from the machine during first recess, she finds Zelo waiting for her and he does not seem happy.

“You can’t go on a date with Yongwha, sweetheart,” he tells her flatly.

She wrinkles her nose at him. “And why can’t I? Since when do you dictate what I can and cannot do?”

“Since now,” he replies, too quickly for her liking. “He’s not your type.”

She finds his frustration sort of adorable – though she’ll never admit it – so she tries to hide her smile. “Oh, is that so? Then what is my type?”

“Not him.” Zelo doesn’t even have to think about it.

They reach the machine and she puts her money in, selecting a bottled water. “And why not?”

Zelo makes a face, leaning against the drink machine while they wait for it to dispense her drink. “He’s all preppy and popular and traditional and…not your type,” he insists.

“So I can’t date someone who’s preppy and popular and traditional?” She’s enjoying this far more than she should, she thinks as she grabs her drink and twists off the top.

“No,” he answers, falling into step beside her as they head back to her class. People around them are giving them strange looks and a wide berth, but Tarian mostly ignores them. She’s starting to get used to it, at any rate. “You’re not preppy and popular and traditional.”

“Yah,” she wrinkles her nose up at him. “Who says I’m not popular? I’m hanging out with the popular group, aren’t I?”

“You’re also hanging out with us,” he points out with a grin.

“I haven’t hung out with you guys,” she replies. “You’re just stalking me. Or something.”

Zelo bumps her shoulder playfully. “So you should come out with us tonight. We’re going to a party. It’ll be way more fun than going on a date with Jung Yonghwa.” He makes a disgusted sort of face.

“As tempting as that sounds,” she answers sarcastically. “I’ve already said I’ll go with him, so I’m not bailing now. And why would I have fun with you guys? That Daehyun kid treats me like crap and Himchan can’t keep his hands to himself and Jongup never seems to shut up and Youngjae has a bit of a superiority complex. Besides, aren’t people supposed to be scared of you or something?”

Zelo laughs. “But we like you, sweetheart. So you don’t have to be scared. Unless you go out with Yonghwa. Then I might have to teach you a lesson.”

She rolls her eyes. They’ve reached her class by now. “Whatever. I’m still going out with him tonight.” And she leaves him, annoyed, in the hallway.

Eunji comes home with Tarian and Naeun after school to help her decide what to wear on her date. Tarian just wants to wear jeans and a t-shirt and her biker boots – she’s a girl who likes comfort, after all – but Eunji insists that she wear something a bit nicer so they have a bit of a spat until they reach a compromise with jeans and a decently nice blouse.

Then Eunji is winking and saying goodbye and she’s barely been gone five minutes when the doorbell rings and Yonghwa is there to pick Tarian up. She smooths down her hair and answers the door, giving him a friendly smile.

“You look great,” he compliments her, smiling so that his eyes crinkle up into crescents in a nice sort of way.

She pulls the door shut behind her. “Thanks. So where are going? Didn’t you say you wanted to take me to your favorite restaurant?”

“Yep,” he nods, leading the way to the bus stop. “It’s my favorite place in town. It’s really delicious.”

“I have to warn you,” she says seriously. “I still don’t really like Korean food yet.”

He laughs. “Well, I guess it’s a good thing it’s a western restaurant then.”

The establishment in question is small, rather out of the way, and extremely crowded because it’s a Friday night. Still, the wait isn’t long and Tarian and Yonghwa find quite a lot to talk about until a white-shirted hostess is showing them to a booth at the back and a waiter is taking their drink order.

“So what’s good here?” Tarian asks, glancing over the menu. Even though it’s written in hangul, the majority of the dishes are western ones that she is familiar with. She lets out a silent sigh of relief.

“Everything,” Yonghwa answers, giving her another bright smile from across the able. Tarian finds herself thinking yet again that he is extremely good-looking. She can see why half the girls at school are in love with him. If she cared about such things, she might count herself lucky that she’s currently on a date with him.

Once they’ve decided and ordered their food, Yonghwa begins to ask her questions. He seems inordinately interested in her life, asking about her hometown and how she’s adjusting to such a drastic change, how she likes their school so far, if she’s joined the photography club yet. She answers all his questions with a bit more eagerness than she normally would, and it seems like no time has passed when their food arrives.

Yonghwa is the perfect gentleman. He makes sure that she likes her meal before he even takes a bite of his own, and, when they’ve finished eating, he double checks that she doesn’t want any desert before paying the bill. Then they’re leaving the restaurant and going to the nearby movie theater.

The movie is an action film – because that’s what Tarian said she wanted to see when Yonghwa had asked her the day before – and she half-expects him to reach for her hand or make a move on her but he doesn’t, only leaning in occasionally to whisper comments about the movie. Then he is walking her home.

“I had a really fun time tonight,” he says when they stop on the stoop of the apartment building.

She knows that Naeun is probably peeking from her bedroom window, which faces the front of the building, but she ignores the obvious flicker of the curtains. “I did too,” she answers with a friendly smile, one she doesn’t show to just anyone.

Yonghwa shifts his weight a bit nervously. “Would you maybe want to do this again sometime?”

She thinks it’s cute and endearing the way he’s nervous, like he doesn’t know how many girls would love to date him. “Sure,” she nods. “That sounds great.”

His face splits into a wide, relieved smile. “Great.” He hesitates, then leans down and presses his lips briefly against her cheek. “See you later then.”

She waves, willing the blush away, before she lets herself into the building. Naeun is waiting eagerly at the apartment door.  

“Oppa kissed you!” she all but shrieks.

Tarian waggles her eyebrows playfully at her sister. “Someone’s a little spy.”

Naeun blushes but she doesn’t deny it. “Are you going to go out with him again, unnie? Is he your boyfriend now?”

“That was only our first date,” Tarian says, heading upstairs to change and go to bed. “But yes, I’ll probably go out with him again.”

Naeun squeals all the way inside. 

I want to go on a date with Yongwha TT.TT