“You know why we’re here, right?” Kris asked, staring out the window of the cable car.

I nodded.  “We’re here to eat all of the food.”

“No.” Kris pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.  “Well, maybe, but that’s not the main reason.”

“Then…the lock thing that couples like to do?”  I can’t believe that I indirectly referred to Kris and me as a couple.

He smiled.  “Good.  I didn’t think you would know.”

“Hey,” I replied with a glare.  “I may not go outside often, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t know what goes on.”

“My bad.”

“Nah, it’s okay.”

Kris looked at me.  “Lu Han told me that you’re afraid of elevators.”

I nodded.

“But you aren’t afraid of cable cars?”

I shrugged.  “Cable cars have a whole different feel to them.”  The buildings really looked beautiful from up in the sky, and I began to warm up to the idea of going to Namsan Tower…even if I had to go with Kris.

“Do you…want to take a picture together?”

Chuckling, I stared at Kris.  “No need to be so awkward about it.”

“Why are you acting so…nice?”

“I’m in my zen mode,” I replied, resting my head against the window.  The cable car gently rocked back and forth, and I was sure that if I tried, that I could successfully fall asleep.  It shifted a bit when Kris stood up and walked over to my side of the car.

“It’s convenient that we’re the only ones in the car,” he announced, taking a seat next to me.

I smirked and didn’t respond. 

“Hey, Hanbyul.”

“Hm?”

“Thanks.”

“For what?”

“For putting up with me.  I’m bad at dealing with girls.”

I nodded in agreement.  “I can understand that.”  But then again, I’m bad at dealing with guys too…we’re no different, really.

“Do you want to…run away with me?”

“Huh?”

“Hanbyul.”

“What?”

“Yah, Hanbyul.”

“Stop repeating my name, you idiot,” I complained.  “And what’s this about running away with you?”

“It’s time to wake up.”

I shot up, and the first thing I saw was Kris’s amused expression from across the cable car.  “Great.  The first thing I see when I wake up is your face.”

He chuckled.  “Hey, it’s only a three minute ride, and you still managed to fall asleep.”

What kind of dream was that?  I frowned.  And how much of it was real? …WAIT, WHAT THE HELL WAS KRIS DOING IN MY DREAM?

“Well, I guess it can’t be helped.  We’re here, Hanbyul.”

The door opened, and Kris extended his hand.  Despite making a face, I ended up taking his hand.  I would be lying if I said that my heartbeat didn’t increase a little.  I’m a human too.

<:>

We reached the famous locks, and my jaw dropped just looking at them.  Trees were filled with locks, as was the fence.  Kris pulled out two locks from his man purse, both red to “symbolize the color of our love” or some crap.  He said it with a smirk, so I assumed that he was just screwing around.  He also pulled out two pens.

“Here.  We can write messages to each other and come back in a year.”

“Oh?” I replied, interested.  “Really?”

He nodded.  “But we can’t read each other’s messages until then.”

“Sounds good.”

So I took the lock Kris handed to me and went to find a bench.  He followed, and we ended up sitting on a bench that slants toward the middle SO THAT WE’D HAVE TO SIT CLOSER TO EACH OTHER.

“Don’t look at mine,” he warned.

I rolled my eyes.  “Like I would.”

“Just making sure.”

I removed the pen cap, immediately scribbling my message onto the tiny red thing.  It went as follows:

To Kris,

I guess we’ll be married when we come back here.  Maybe I’ll like you by then?  Uh…stay healthy, I guess.  Me too.  And don’t spend too much time with the other woman (your job).  This is getting awkward, so I’ll sign it now.

Hanbyul

Closing the pen cap, I smiled in satisfaction.

“Done?” Kris asked.

I nodded.

“Let’s find a place to lock these.”

We walked past what seemed like billions of locks.  There were even locks on trees, but Kris insisted on finding a place on the fence for ours.  We found a place for our locks far away from most of the other locks, and we decided to lock them at the same time.

“When we do stuff like this, we actually look like a couple.” I smiled bitterly.

Kris looked at me in surprise.  “You’re not as mean to me today.  Is there something wrong?”

“Nah.” Stretching, I placed my hands behind my head.  “Let’s go.  You promised me a meal, right?”

He grinned.  “Yeah.”