Yonghwa places a bowl of freshly-cut fruits to Seo Hyun’s tray. It’s a new day at school and their first day as a couple. They texted a lot last night that they both slept late and because of that, Seo Hyun wasn’t able to get up earlier to prepare their lunch boxes. They decided to have lunch at the school cafeteria instead.

            “Don’t you think it’s a bit too much, Yonghwa sshi?” Ji Ah says as she sees him adding various foods in Seo Hyun’s tray. There are bread, fruits, pasta, vegetable salad, fries, and milk there.

            “Are you okay with just these?” he asks Seo Hyun after looking at the foods on the tray like he’s still thinking if he missed anything.

            “Actually, this is too much…” Seo Hyun replies with a shy smile.

            “Ohh…” Yonghwa utters then bite his lower lip and furrow his brows for a bit. “I’ll eat rest then.” He says after thinking shortly.

The line moves and Yonghwa only takes a bottled water for himself and let his tray be empty. Once they’re done paying for the foods, they sit on a vacant table next to the window. Seo Hyun sees Bae Suzy sitting with her friends on a table in the middle. She’s glaring at her. Seo Hyun thinks that Yonghwa isn’t noticing that as he sits next to her.She picks up the milk and sip but choke on it. She’s sure that somebody is secretly cursing her at this moment. Yonghwa’s hand naturally her back lightly.

            “Take it easy…” he says to her.

Seeing them, Yumi stops from eating her burger and covers her eyes.

            “Ohhhh!!! I can’t take this……You two are so sweet!” she exclaims.

Ji Ah just smiles at them.

            “Thanks for the exaggerated reaction….” Yonghwa replies with a smile.

Yonghwa holds her hand when they returned from that Ferris wheel ride, yesterday. Once Yumi and Ji Ah see them, big smiles flash in their faces because they can already know from there what happened.

            “Hyunie is a fan of CNBlue and now she got Jung Yonghwa as her boyfriend…” says Yumi.

Seo Hyun smiles. Ji Ah and Yumi are both diehard BOICE and that’s how she became close with them. She had seen CNBlue’s Yong Hwa. He’s handsome that’s true but she finds this Yonghwa beside her better. He’s more handsome and charming for her.

            “Thank God the real Yong Hwa is still single….” Ji Ah utters.

            “What am I then, fake?” Yonghwa reacts.  “My name is Jung Yonghwa too! Couldn’t other people be named Jung Yonghwa aside from that CNBlue guy?!” he adds making the three of them laugh in his comedic violent reaction.

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            “Have you ever thought of what do you want to do for our first date?” Yonghwa asks as they walk to the bus stop that afternoon.

Seo Hyun shakes her head a bit.

            “I think every minute like this is already a date.” She replies.

Yonghwa smiles with what she said. He took his hand from his pocket and grabs her hand. Last night, Yonghwa held her hand too and the effect of it to Seo Hyun is exactly the same. Having their hands clasps together makes her nervous but ecstatic at the same time.

            “If there’s anywhere you want to go to, just tell me and we’ll go there this weekend.” He says.

Seo Hyun never expected that her heart will learn how to love again after so many years so going on a date feels surreal for her.

While waiting for the bus, a thing suddenly comes to her mind.

            “Yong…”

            “Hm?” he turns to her.

            “There’s somewhere I want to go to.”

            “Really? Where?”

Seo Hyun swallows quickly and speaks.

            “Let’s go….now.”

            “H-huh?”

Before Yonghwa could react, Seo Hyun already hailed a taxi and pulls him to ride with her.

The taxi drives away and Seo Hyun doesn’t give Yonghwa a hint on where they are headed but he’s totally fine with it because he likes seeing her enthusiasm towards it as if she’s very eager to bring him to that place.

Yonghwa clears his throat and prepare to mess with her.

            “We just started being a couple….I didn’t expect that you’d initiate this…” he says in a low but shy tone.

            “Huh?” Seo Hyun looks at her.

            “Don’t you think it’s too fast for us to do this? I think I’m not yet ready…” he continues while crossing his arms over his body as if he’s covering it.

Seo Hyun sees the establishments outside. There are motels side by side making her eyes pop and jaw drop.

            “W-what?! No! It’s certainly not that!” she defensively says in a higher pitch. Her face is red because of embarrassment.

Yonghwa laughs in amusement.                                                      

            “Don’t laugh!” she hits him lightly but the grin in his face didn’t fade. “It’s not that…” she utters and covers her face with her palms.

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Seo Hyun stops and Yonghwa does the same. She gives her a mild smile indicating that they reached the place. He stares at the lake in front of them. The water is calm under the clear sky and nothing stirring there but the wind. The trees here at the lakeside are shady and sturdy…the place is a perfect picture of serenity.

Seo Hyun observes Yonghwa’s face as his eyes enjoys the scenery.

            “This is where I often come with my parents.” She says then turns to the lake.

She wanted to bring Yonghwa to their family’s mausoleum where her parents were laid to rest but that will only raise questions in his head. In the end, she decided to just bring him to this place….where she and her parents used to spend most of the weekends.

Father…..Mother…..I want you to meet this man beside me. He’s the person I love.

Seo Hyun secretly swallows hard. She knows that her parents will absolutely tell her that she had gone mad. That falling for this boy who could already be consider as her grandson is insanity but she just doesn’t care. She only wants to show them that before she follows them in the afterlife, she finally found happiness and love.

I’m definitely sure….that he’s the person I could trust my heart with. My instinct won’t fail me this time because he truly loves me.

They sit together on the grass.

            “What are they like?”

Seo Hyun looks at Yonghwa.

            “Your parents….what are they like?” he repeats.

            “Well……they are refine and respectable people.”

A crooked smile draws Yonghwa’s lips. Most people will use cool, loving, caring, strict, protective, understanding, or the best but Seo Hyun chose refine and respectable.Who would describe one’s parents with such formal words?She’s weird but entertaining as always he thought.

            “My father is authoritative….he has always been like that given that he’s a man of power and influence. He makes decisions that can’t be changed.” Seo Hyun’s eyes are now focused on the lake as she continues. “While my mother is a woman of standards. She’s a perfectionist and likes to make sure that everything is proper and splendid.”

The smile on Yonghwa’s face disappears. He thinks that Seo Hyun probably doesn’t have a good relationship with her parents.

            “I’m sure your parents love you.” He says making Seo Hyun looks at him. “They regularly bring you to this beautiful place and spend time with you no matter how busy they are. You’re lucky.”

Seo Hyun quickly picks up what he’s thinking.

            “Of course I am.” Seo Hyun agrees because she thinks the same. “Don’t get me wrong…I love them and I’ll always be grateful towards them. They are just very protective, domineering, and opinionated especially on things about me but that’s because they love me. There were times in the past in which I couldn’t understand them but later on, I finally realized that they did those things because they don’t want me to get hurt.” Her eyes go back to the water. “I’m not a perfect daughter either….” She sighs and continues. “I once liked a man and despite my parents strong disapproval of him, I didn’t listen.” The events from that painful memory play back in her head as she speaks.  “I was so young and naïve then. I thought that I’ll find happiness if I go with him….that if I step away from our home and turn my back on everything I grew up with then I’ll be freed from the hollowness I’m feeling.” Tears cloud her vision. “I decided to come away with him…I waited…waited and waited but he didn’t show up.  I was hurt and scared…”

Seo Hyun breathes in while Yonghwa listens without any judgement.

            “Despite that, my parents welcomed me home with open arms. They always say that I’m a poor judge of character for I can’t see people for what they really are because I’m fragile and too sympathetic…..It’s sad to admit that my heart had to be broken first before I learned my lesson.”

Seo Hyun felt like she’s a blind person who doesn’t know where to go and do things right so she let her parents run her life and she just do as what she’s been told. She felt weak and helpless when they passed away.

            “That’s why you came here?” Yonghwa asks. He thinks that Seo Hyun’s parents sent her here to start anew after that heartache.

            “Before I met you…” she replies and her tears roll down her cheeks.

Yonghwa slowly hugs her as she cries. He chooses not to say anything but to quietly comfort her and make her feel that he’s there to share her pain.

Now he knows the reason why Seo Hyun was so indifferent. She was hurt and it scarred her heart making her alienate herself from the people around her.

This is the first time Seo Hyun let him see this deep in her heart and he’s thankful that she did because it only means that she trust her enough to share these things to him.

As for that man who hurt Seo Hyun….he somehow feels relieved that he’s a jerk. Because of that person’s foolishness, he wasn’t able to see how precious Seo Hyun is and because of that, he met her.

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[Author's Note]

Happy Monday people! I hope y'all doing great. I want to thank you for your comments and upvotes. For new subscribers and readers, welcome!