Chaerin rushes to a cafe as the wind whips her long hair around wildly, cursing how far away the cafe is from her company. A department meeting had somehow gone on longer than unexpected and she’s running late. She opens the front door and sees Taeyang sitting at a table, leisurely drinking an espresso and reading the paper. As she attempts to fix her hair she bitterly thinks it must be nice to be so relaxed. She composes herself before before bowing and apologizing for her lateness.

“I can’t believe you’re late for our first date.” He looks up at her from his paper, smirking mischievously.

“What are you talking about, sajangnim?” Her eyes widen and she feels a strong urge to smack him.

“Chaerin-ah,” He sighs in exasperation and she laughs out loud as she understands the transition from the workplace to their personal life.

“I didn’t know this was a date, otherwise I would have taken my time.” She teases as a waitress brings her tea.

“You work too much, you should relax more.”

“Should the president of the company be telling me that?” She side eyes him as he chastises her.

“I’m the president, I can do whatever I want.” Taeyang jokes with a serious face and wave of his hand, causing Chaerin to laugh loudly. She covers in embarrassment, realizing it’s the first time she’s laughed in a long time.

There’s been too much tension in her life lately, it’s nice to finally relax and have fun. Chaerin and Jiyong used to laugh with each other all of the time but lately she only feels nervous around him. The way he behaves toward Taeyang and the way he’s been treating her in the past few months scares her. She doesn’t want to grow apart from Jiyong because he’s all that she has, with her father always working and her mother travelling the world. He’s all that she has but lately she feels like she doesn’t really know anything about him at all. On the other hand, she still isn’t sure if she should trust Taeyang when she hasn’t seen him in years and she still doesn’t know why he’s hiding his identity. She wants to trust him but knows that there should be limits and that she shouldn’t trust him unless she knows what’s going on. Lately she’s just felt nervous and scared and alone and like she seriously needs a break.

“Have you been having a hard time?” He asks after studying her strange facial expression.

“I have been,” She says with a small smile as she sips her tea delicately. “Work has been piling up and I haven’t been able to sleep. It’s very difficult.”

“When you can’t sleep, you should call me.” He smiles as she looks up at him. “I’ll tell you a story so you can fall asleep.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She laughs, looking away from him slightly embarrassed.

“Earlier I was just joking about taking you out on a date but now I think it would be a good idea to help you relax and unwind.” His words are slow and careful, just the tone of his voice soothing her. She tries to tell herself not to get ahead of herself but she knows that this is exactly what she needs right now.

“I’ve never actually been on a date.” She confesses.

It’s true. She and Jiyong had done things that most people would consider dates but between the two friends it never felt like much. No man had ever actually taken her on a date like in the movies or dramas.

“I don’t believe that all,” He laughs loudly, attracting the attention of other customers.

“I’m serious.” Chaerin pouts and he can’t help but think it’s the cutest thing he’s ever seen. She seems a lot more relaxed than usual and it makes him feel glad.

“I still don’t believe you.” He teases. “What about your Teddy oppa?”

Chaerin gives him a blank stare before bursting out into laughter. She attempts to calm herself down as she drinks her tea, wiping at a tear in her eye.

“We’re just friends, I used to drink at his bar a lot. There’s definitely nothing there.” She waves her hand at him in between laughter. “It’s absolutely, one hundred percent nothing.”

“You haven’t been asked out by other men?” He asks curiously and she shakes her head.

“No one’s ever come to me to ask me out. And if I really wanted to date someone then I would probably be the one to just ask him out myself.” She pauses, sadness flashing across her features just for a moment. “I’m too intimidating, that’s why men have never really approached me.”

Taeyang watches her, noticing as the mood changes. He knows that for a beautiful and intelligent woman like Lee Chaerin to be single all of this time it had to be because of Jiyong. Their relationship is well-known throughout the upper class social circle. No one had approached her because everyone knew that she would marry the heir to the GD Group. She was the most unavailable woman in all of Korea, as far as any self-respecting man was concerned. For the first time in his life he’s slightly thankful toward Jiyong for at least keeping away unwanted men.

“Have you ever wondered what it would be like to date or have a boyfriend?”

“Of course, I have. Honestly, I always dreamed that Youngbae oppa would take me on a date. He used to always promise we would go to the open market or eat ice cream together but I don’t think he thought about it like I did. I know that he only ever saw me as a child but I’ve always had the biggest crush on him.” Chaerin knows that she shouldn’t be telling him this but she can’t stop herself. For eleven years she’s held these words in but her heart is exploding and she can’t keep them in. She refuses to look at him and see the expression on his face, she doesn’t want to know. “I always wondered what it would be like to know Youngbae oppa as an adult. I wondered what it would be like to grow up with him and be teenagers together. I watched a lot of romantic comedies and I saw all of my friends dating. I wanted that but I never wanted to date anyone other than Youngbae oppa. He was always the one I pictured wearing couple looks with and eating ramen in the park together and going to Namsan tower. It was always him so I thought it would be unfair to anyone else.”      

Youngbae watches her quietly, remembering those moments when all wanted was for Chaerin to quickly grow up. He knew he couldn’t be what she wanted back then but he hoped that he could be someday. Their was too much when they were younger so all he could do was protect her and help her back up whenever she fell. He always cherished those precious months in between her birthday and his, when the gap in between their ages was only two years.

“Do you think you would still feel this strongly toward Dong Youngbae and yearn for him like this if he had been with you the entire time?” He asks in a low voice. If he had never left her side, he doubts that she would think about him as much. He knows that she would have eventually grown to give him the same disregard she has for Jiyong and his feelings.

“I’ve been yearning for Dong Youngbae since the moment we meet.” She gives him a warm smile. “It’s just that it hurts so much more that we never got to do any of the things that I wanted to do.”

Taeyang reaches across the table to put his hand over hers and she looks up. He her hand with his thumb as he smiles gently. The gesture is so genuine that it makes her heart ache. He never realized how much Chaerin remembered about their time spent together. Still holding her hand, Taeyang suddenly gets up out of his chair. She stands up as well, looking over at him curiously.

“Let’s go to the market right now.” He wants to repay her for thinking about him when no one else would.

“Oppa, I can’t. You know I’m too busy, I’ve already been away from work for too long.” The warmth of his hand feels too good and Chaerin’s not sure if she trusts herself to be around him any longer.

“Then I’m giving you a vacation day, it’s not healthy for employees to stress themselves too much.” He says authoritatively as he drags her outside while she suppresses a laugh.

When they get to the market Chaerin is overwhelmed by the amount of vendors and goods and all of the people walking around. It’s colorful and crowded and loud and everything she imagined it would be. Youngbae used to tell her his mother sometimes sold items at the market and that he would take her there one day. As they weave through the crowd Taeyang reaches out to take back her hand.

“It’s too crowded, you might get lost.” He explains when she looks up at him. A smile forms on his lips as they walk through the market holding hands.

“Oh, this is so cute,” Chaerin exclaims, picking up a little bear keychain. She holds it up to show him and if he hadn’t known her when she was younger he would be shocked by her love of cutesy things.

“Do you want it? I’ll get it for you.” He offers, enjoying her smile as she cutely plays with the bear.

“Thank you, oppa, but it’s alright. I just thought it was cute.” She smiles and sets the bear down, bowing at the shop ahjumma.

He follows after her as she keeps walking. They stop and laugh at the different stalls and speak to the different people around the market. He’s still holding her hand as they walk out of the ice cream shop toward the higher end retail street. They sit on a bench to eat their ice cream and he can’t stop himself from stealing glances of her.

“Omo, how do you finish eating so fast?” She asks as she witnesses him take the last bite of his ice cream cone.

“I’m a growing boy,” He laughs as he rubs his stomach with his free hand.

“Don’t look at me like that.” She pouts as she tries to finish her ice cream faster.

“Like what?”

“You know like what.” Chaerin pauses as he reaches to brush back a strand of her hair. His fingers ghost over her cheek and the skin tingles where he made contact. He smirks as she turns away from him. She regrets agreeing to this, she knew it was a bad idea. She can’t control herself, not around him. Not around Youngbae.

Their hands are still together as they walk along the street, her heels clicking along the pavement the only noise between them. Chaerin focuses on the different window displays they pass. She slows down to look more closely at a particular window every so often and each time Taeyang asks if she wants to go into the shop.

“Are you sure? We can look at anything you want.” He reassures her when she stops in front of another window.

“I’m sure, it’s just fun to look sometimes, too.” Chaerin tries to smile but she can’t stop thinking about this so-called date with Taeyang. She doesn’t want to look at him directly and instead watches him through the reflection in the glass.

“You don’t want that handbag? You’ve been looking at it for a long time, I can buy it for you.”

“No.” Chaerin says sharply, her voice harsher than she had intended. This wasn’t how her Youngbae treated her. “Do you think that money will make me interested in you?”

“Am I wrong?” Taeyang asks with a sneer, unsure why she’s suddenly acting like this. He was trying to make her happy so it would be harder to leave him at the end of the day. But it hard to make her happy when all he knew about her was what she had liked when she was twelve years old. “Why else are you with Kwon Jiyong?”

She slaps him and he steps back, letting go of her hand.

“Who do you think you are? You have no right to even think about my relationship with Jiyong.” Tears sting her eyes as she steps further away from him. Park Taeyang is a stranger, he doesn’t know anything about her and she doesn’t know anything about him. “You could never understand what we have so don’t you dare judge me. It’s not your place.”

He stares after her as she runs away to catch a cab, wiping a smile tear from his cheek.

“Youngbae-ah!” Jiyong yells as he jumps out of his family’s car with Chaerin following behind him. The two were wearing their expensive uniforms from their expensive private schools. Youngbae was jealous of them, not because of where they went to school, but because he couldn’t go to school with them. He was in the top of his class but he didn’t have many friends.

“I wish I went to the same school as you, Ji.” He confesses after Chaerin leaves to go back to her house.

“I wish you could, too. I don’t know how, though.” The young heir looks thoughtful. “I could ask my mother!”

Youngbae hides behind the door as Jiyong goes to talk to his mother.

“Omoni, could Dong Youngbae come to the same school as me? It’s boring not being able to see him during classes.”

“My Jiyong-ah, Dong Youngbae would never be able to attend your school. It’s a middle school for upper class children with good families. Youngbae’s mother is poor and he doesn’t even have a father. It’s not his place.” She pats her son on the shoulder with a reassuring smile. “When you grow up, you will marry Chaerin-ah and you will be the richest man in Korea. Don’t get too attached to Dong Youngbae, he’s just the son of a maid. He doesn’t have a future.”

Youngbae backs away from the door, running to hide so no one can see him cry. He quietly opens the door to a room he recognizes as Mr. Kwon’s office and goes to hide in a cabinet. He sobs to himself as he buries his face in his hands.

- - -

Author's Note: Hi! Sorry for the long wait, I know I said I would try to update twice a week but I've been very busy with midterm exams at school. This weekend I plan on updating the four chapters from the past two weeks. I put a lot of thought into this story because I really care about writing a good story that's fun and interesting to read. Sometimes that takes a little bit longer than I plan on it taking. Thank you to everyone who supports me and to all of my new subscribers. I love reading the comments so please keep leaving comments about your thoughts on the story. I will post Chapter 9 and 10 soon so look forward to it - there will be even more SunSky moments and important SkyDragon moments!