“Woaah…”

Amber amazedly looked around once they got into the mall. Kris followed her from behind and chuckled at the girl’s reaction. The cold air conditioner made them shiver a little, and Amber rubbed her arms. “I rarely go here.”

“I start to get bored with this,” Kris said and laughed. Both of them automatically walked towards the escalator, and Amber looked around happily again. “Can we eat first?”

“No,” Kris said as they stepped on the escalator. The short escalator brought them to the first floor, and Amber widened her eyes a little. “But I’m hungry!”

“No until you’ve accompanied me to several places I want to be,” Kris said and put his hands inside his jacket pocket. Amber whined and said, “Where?”

“Well,” Kris took a glance at Amber and continued walking. “Since my giant little brother grows too much these times, he takes over my clothes. I may need some,” he said, and Amber nodded in agreement. “You have a brother?”

Kris hummed. “He’s still on the junior high school though.”

“But why did you take me instead of… you know, your friends?” Amber asked again, and it completely shut Kris up.

Why did he have to take Amber?

Kris remained silent for a while, and then he laughed and raised his shoulders. “I guess you just fit it. You might need some boy clothes since that… significant change happened.”

Amber nodded. “Guess you’re right.”

Both of them stayed in a silence moment, but not the awkward one. It’s comfortable either. They walked side by side. Kris stayed in his straight expression, while Amber has been jumping around, pointing at several cute counters and attempted to pull Kris inside, but of course, she failed.

“Look at that chocolate store! Isn’t it cute?” Amber pointed at a teddy bear that formed by chocolate bars. Kris only glanced and hummed.

“Come on~~” Amber took Kris’ palm from his jacket pocket and pulled him towards the chocolate store. Kris laughed and tried to pull Amber back, but the strength of a chocolate-holic who has found her amusing stuffs was much stronger.

Finally they made it to the chocolate store. Amber immediately ran towards the candies and took some of them.

“Who told you that you can buy those?” Kris said.

Amber widened her eyes a little and returned those stuffs. “No one,” she said and laughed.

“Nope, I was just kidding.” Kris put all candies Amber had placed back and said, “I will pay those for you.”

“Really?” Amber grinned widely and placed those candies again, but she reduced the number of candies a little. “It can’t be too many, though,” Kris said.

Amber nodded and continued taking candies, and Kris placed a bar of chocolate in the bucket once. When they finished, they went towards the cashier, and Kris paid all of them.

They continued their walk to the clothes shop. Amber forced Kris to go to her favorite boyish boutique that she said ‘if I were a boy, I would choose these ones’, and once again, she succeeded.

“I’ll choose,” Amber said happily and walked towards the corner on the left. Kris stared at her in disbelief and walked quietly towards the opposite corner.

They spent minutes to walk around the store, and finally they came up with three clothes per person. Amber approached Kris and raised a red sweater, while the other clothes were hanging on her shoulder. “Isn’t it good?”

Kris only took a glance, but then he chuckled and raised his blue sweater too. “I’ve picked this one too.”

“Um… those sweaters are supposed to be used for couples,” the store guard said, and Amber shocked immediately. She nodded, took the sweater and walked away. But when she was about to, Kris gripped her hand and said to the cashier woman, “With the red sweater, how much is it?”

“It all cost 200.000 won,” the cashier woman said, and Kris nodded. He took his credit card and let the cashier woman away some of his money. Kris took the credit card again when the woman finished, he bowed slightly and took the paper bag filled with clothes.

“Give me that,” Kris said as he asked Amber to give Kris the red one. When Amber didn’t respond, Kris just took the sweater and inserted it inside the paper bag.

“Let’s go,” Kris said and walked out of the store with his hand still tightly holding Amber’s hand. Amber widened her eyes and shook her hand that was gripped by Kris, and Kris glared at her. “Could you please just walk and never mind about this thing?!”

Amber finally nodded. Both of them walked out of the store, and Amber felt so awkward since Kris hasn’t released his tight grip on Amber’s hand yet. But as time went by, the uncomfortable feeling disappeared and both of them walked peacefully without eye contacts.

Kris automatically led the way. They went to the second floor, and Amber suddenly released her grip with Kris’ hand. Kris gapped his mouth a little and immediately looked at Amber. Amber’s back was facing him and she was staring at a toy store; deep drowning in her own fantasy. Kris followed her stare direction, but when he was about to ask what’s so interesting about dolls, Amber had disappeared.

Kris walked –more like running, actually– towards the toy store, and he found Amber inside. Amber was standing beside the dolls and she took a llama doll. “Isn’t it cute?”

When Kris was about to answer, Amber has left towards the other dolls section. She took a dragon doll and examined it. “Damn, it looks like you.”

“What the-?” Kris raised his eyebrows; he walked towards Amber and took the dragon doll. “It’s not cute,” he said. Kris returned the doll and took an alpaca doll instead. “This is cuter. In the name of Ace, you will be mine.”

Amber laughed as Kris, the cool city guy, said that a white alpaca doll is cute. Kris stared at it with straight face and gently pinched it. “I guess I’m kind of alpacaual.”

The store’s owner approached them and said, “Misters, would you like to buy those dolls?”

“Uh, yes,” Kris said and handed the store’s owner those dolls. The owner brought them towards the cashier; she counted how much they were and finally told Kris the price. Amber stood beside Kris as the guy one paid, and she happily left the store with a bow after she finally got the doll.

“You seem to be so happy,” Kris said, and Amber grinned. “Yeah~”

Amber walked beside Kris towards anywhere, and once again, a game center attracted her. She glanced at it and said, “Can we go there?”

“Where?” Kris asked, and Amber pointed at the game center. Kris thought for a while, but then he said, “Nope, we gotta have our dinner first.”

“Ah, I forgot it! Pasta!” Amber yelled happily and grinned. Kris laughed, he pointed at a small red counter on the other corridor. Amber grinned happily and she tried to keep with her pace, but her steps got faster as she felt happier.

“Are you that happy?” Kris asked it, and Amber grinned sheepishly. Both of them entered the restaurant, and Amber immediately sniffed the air. Her stomach gently growled.

“Good evening. May I help you?” a waitress in red apron approached them, and Kris smiled gently. “A table for two, please,” and the waitress nodded politely. Amber stared at Kris’ face as he ended his words with a smile, and she silently thought, I’ve never thought that he can be this cool.

Both of them immediately headed towards a table the waitress had picked, and once again, Kris bowed with a smile. The waitress seemed to be a bit shy, and she just bowed back. Before Kris sat down, he pulled a chair and said to Amber, “Sit down.”

Amber awkwardly nodded and sat there. Kris chuckled; he sat facing Amber and opened the menu book. “What do you wanna eat?”

“Ah, yeah,” Amber mumbled, she took the menu book and read it hungrily. “I want all of them.”

“And I’ll be bankrupt in a night,” Kris continued, and Amber laughed. She kept on reading the menu until a picture of spaghetti bolognaise appeared. “Well, I guess I’ve found one.”

“The cliché one?” Kris peeked at a picture Amber pointed, and he chuckled. Amber nodded and both of them glanced at the waitress. “Excuse me,” Kris spoke bolder to call the waitress. One of the waitresses approached them with a note, and Kris said, “Two bolognaise, please. With two orange juices.”

Kris’ pronounced the foreign word in a flawless accent, and Amber was a bit surprised because of it. Has he been in America or somewhere else? She silently thought as the waitress left the table.

Unexpectedly, Kris stared back and waved his hand in front of Amber’s face. “Hello. Am I that handsome?”

“No,” Amber said nervously. Without any reason, her heart started to beat faster. Uh, why is it? She thought. When Kris was sitting in front of her, she could see Kris’ face line clearer and nearer, and she didn’t know why, tonight he looked fifty –uh, no, twenty– percent more handsome than normal.

Kris laughed and leaned his back on the chair. Amber felt the silence happened between them was a bit awkward because of her previous personal thought, so she just said based on the previous conversation, “You’re ugly.”

“What?” Kris widened his eyes a little. He straightened his back and pointed his face. “Am I ugly with this appearance?”

“Of course!” Amber yelled gently and laughed. Kris bitterly chuckled and knocked Amber’s forehead. “Whatever.”

As their laughter faded, two girls who sat beside them with two seats gap started to whisper to each other. Those girls were examining them, and Amber glanced at them silently.

“What happens over there?” Amber leaned closer to Kris to whisper, and Kris followed Amber’s eyes direction. Suddenly, those girls clapped their hands and chirped, “!!!”

“What the hell is ?” Amber curved her eyebrows, and Kris had no interest in it. He leaned his back again and muttered, “ means gay.”

So those girls suspect us as a gay couple?! Amber was a bit shocked realizing it, but the thing she was shocked at wasn’t at the ‘gay’ one, but at the ‘couple’ one. Remember, she’s currently a boy physically.

Amber’s cheeks reddened a little, and those girls started assuming that ‘the uke is blushing’, ‘what a cute uke’, and several stuffs that were related to gay. Kris chuckled just like he didn’t care as those girls cheered again. “Silly,” he murmured.

The foods came to their table afterward, and they started eating. Kris and Amber fought about their foods sometimes, they attempted to steal each others’ and eat it. But at the end, they kept on failing and ended the food ‘war’ with laugh.

Finally, they finished their dishes. It was nine when they paid and walked out of the restaurant, but they sure still have tons of energy. So Kris decided to go to the game center, and of course, Amber agreed.

“You sure you can beat me?” Amber said as they walked towards the game center. Kris chuckled lightly and said, “Even my brother can’t beat me.”

“But I’m sure that I can,” Amber said, and Kris knocked her head. “Let’s see.”

[a/n]

Much worse than what I expected.... lol the 'date' will be continued in next chapter!