“So got big plans?” Dara asked while getting herself a glass of water

“We’re going to a French restaurant.” Chaerin couldn’t have contained her smile even if she wanted to, which she didn’t.

Indeed, Jiyong called her three days before and set up a date for the following Friday. The week couldn’t go by fast enough for Chaerin. The three days seemed to drag on for eternity. Chaerin had bought a new dress for the event, it hugged all of her curves leaving precious little to the imagination. Chaerin had found it a bit too alluring but the girls forced her to take it. Her hair cascaded down her back in blonde waves. Her eyes were smoky and her lips were the same shade of red of her dress.

“Oh, I awlays knew Jiyong was a romantic.” Dara grinned back at me, “I envy you.”

“He’s a songwriter after all.” Chaerin leaned against the counter of the kitchen day-dreaming but Dara’s next statement interrupted her thoughts, 

“It only tells me one thing Chaerin… It’s ‘THE’ night.”

“’THE’ night?” she frowned

“Yeah. Jiyong’s inviting you to a French restaurant, you know this kind of place is really expensive. He wants to impress you in order to...”

“Wait,” I interrupted her knowing what she was figuring, “Jiyong’s not the type of guy who settles a date with a girl to get in her pants.”

“Maybe, but you know that the night may finish that way. It’s been what, two or three months you two turn around the bush, the tension must be terrible.”

Chaerin had been smart enough not to tell her about the little moments Jiyong and her already shared. But Dara was right when she was telling the tension between them was terrible. Chaerin’s nerves were still raw and the spike of adrenaline each times Jiyong was kissing her was almost impossible to hide. But strangely enough, Chaerin didn’t know how to take the next step between them.

“Don’t worry about that Chaerin.” Dara smiled knowingly seeing Chaerin worrying , “Jiyong’s the one for you, I know it. I never saw you happier than with him. After all you’ve been through, you deserve happiness.” Dara drank the rest of her water glass just as the familiar sounds of Haru’s calls started. “I got her. You finish getting perfect y.”

Chaerin was in the middle of curling her hair a little while later when Haru came expecting a hug from her mother. Chaerin knelt down to give her the hugs and kisses she needed to get as much as Chaerin needed to give them.

“You’ll be good with Dara unni” Chaerin scrunched her nose against Haru’s.

“Where are you going mommy?” the little girl asked confused

“Your mommy is meeting her charming prince Haru.”

“Have fun,” Chaerin waved to Dara unni

“We will. You, too,” she winked back at her

She nodded and went back to curling her hair. She heard Dara’s car rumble down the driveway and smiled at her reflection in the mirror. This was the first date she was going on in more than four years.

She had offered to make dinner at her apartment but Jiyong had insisted they go out since they were both so frequently cooped up at home.

The doorbell rang and Chaerin took a deep breath before she grabbed her shoes and purse and headed toward the living room. She set everything down on the sofa before answering the door.

Jiyong was dressed in a pair of black dress pants and a dress white shirt. The top three buttons had been left undone giving her just a glimpse of his collarbones. The sleeves were rolled up casually revealing his tattooed arms and his sunglasses were hanging from the neckline of his shirt.

“Hi,” Chaerin smiled up at him

“Hi,” Jiyong smiled back, “If red wasn’t my favorite color before…”

Chaerin turned around slowly feeling his eyes on her. When she was facing him again, he leaned in and kissed her cheek gently. He lingered for just a moment before pulling back.

“Let me get my shoes and my purse and we can go” Chaerin backed away from him her eyes never leaving his as she moved to the couch.

“Haru already left?” Jiyong asked

“Yeah. We have the night for ourselves” she grinned as the pair headed towards the stairs, a loud voice causing them both to jump.

“Lee Chaerin! Where’s my rent?”  it screamed and Chaerin cursed

“Tomorrow Mr. Gong!” she cried, grabbing Jiyong’s hand, the pair racing down the stairs, Jiyong laughing all the way down.

They ended up at a French restaurant in downtown. It was on the second floor of a small marina with a large bar area and a dining area. There was a piano man playing a soft poetic melody. Chaerin understood now why French restaurants were expensive. They were seated and handed menus.

“Ever been here before?” Jiyong asked obliviously proud to bring Chaerin to this place. It was weird for Chaerin to see him looking so fancy. He really looked like a gentleman. A gentleman with a big childish smile.

“No, I haven’t. I don’t get up this way very much. Have you?”

Jiyong smiled and said, “The owner is one of my boss’ friends. But I don’t come often, just needed the right girl to come.”

The waitress appeared to take their drink orders. Jiyong get a beer while Chaerin ended up with a mojito (even if she wanted sprite at first) and they placed their dinner order.  While they waited Jiyong told her a bit more about how he’d gotten into the music industry. He made it sound like it was all some big accident but his passion for it was obvious when he spoke. He was a passionate boy, Chaerin really envied him.

Chaerin, in turn, told Jiyong about how she had considered being a teacher, she even attended college for one year but she stopped everything because of Haru’s father.

“You never think about going back to school?” Jiyong asked concerned

“All I thought about during these four years was raising Haru. I don’t know how I’d have been able to go to school really. Baby Haru never wanted to let me go, she was keeping crying with my mother and my friends. Plus I was -feeding her.”

“I could look after her.” Jiyong steeple his fingers under his chin

“What could you not do Kwon Jiyong?” Chaerin tilting her head

“I can’t play football.” He laughed lightly hiding a sigh, “It’s a sport for real men after all.”

Chaerin looked thoughtful but said nothing. Jiyong’s expression changed as well. She knew right he was speaking about his impossibility to have children. She knew he thought it wasn’t making him a real man. But she knew too he was wrong.

The waitress brought the meals. They had different meals but they ended up sharing what was on their plates. Chaerin fed Jiyong and inversely. They talked though dinner about their favorite things. Chaerin learn that Jiyong loved contemporary art, particularly black and white photography. His favorite city was Paris, even if couldn’t understand a word in French. But he loved the atmosphere.  He was also reading a lot which was giving him most of the time inspiration for his songs. His favorite book was Gatsby and he admitted he cried at the end. He cried too when one day he discovered his dog Gaho decided to use some of his books as his new toilet.

He loved classic romantic films like Casablanca. These films were his inspirations too. He hated really TV as he failed to see how they were funny. Chaerin told him she wasn’t fond of it either but she never saw Casablanca. Jiyong replied they would watch it together one day.

 Jiyong was apparently rich but his lifestyle didn’t seem over-the-top. His apartment was modest. His favorite thing to do on Sunday was sleeping until eleven, take his dog to the park and listen to music. He admitted he wanted a rather simple life. He didn’t want anything fancy and didn’t care much about material things of how big his house would be.

All in all, it seemed they had a great deal in common. Things were going well.

“So, Mr. Kwon, where are we going now?” Chaerin asked after dinner as they were leaving the restaurant.

“Don’t know, let’s go where the wind may take us!” Jiyong wiggled his eyebrows

Chaerin knew he had an idea of where they were going, he was just hiding it from her. But she just decided to let him surprise her. She linked her arm in Jiyong’s and rubbed her head on his shoulder. She let herself be led down the street.

“No” Chaerin stated when she finally realized where they were going, “No no no no. I do not want to spend our night roller skating!” She complained her eyes fixing the big lighting building.

“Come on Chae, it will be fun!” Jiyong told her

“No I won’t I don’t even know how to skate” she argued, “And I’m wearing a dress, remember? I don’t want people to see my if I fall!”

“I’ll teach you,” he looked into her eyes and he could tell she was scared though she would never admit it. “I’ll make sure you don’t fall, I promise”

Chaerin finally nodded. Jiyong smiled and kissed the top of her head, “Come on!” he said grabbing her hand leading her inside.

Chaerin groaned when she saw the roller rink. “Come on lets get the skates.” Jiyong told her.

“I want a women’s 7 and a Men’s 9 please.” He asked at the counter and a man handed him the skates and they sat at a table to put the skates on. Chaerin held up her skate and made a digusted face.

“This smell horrible, remind me why I’m doing this”

“Because you love me,” Jiyong smirked at her poking her side playfully

“You’re lucky I do,” she snapped back and she slid the skate on her foot. Jiyong put his on to find Chaerin struggling while tying the skate.

“Ugh, how the hell am I supposed to tie this?” she saw Jiyong chuckled next to her, “What?”

“You’re cute when you’re frustrated, here.” He said tying it for her.

When they were done he helped her getting up and they made their way to the rink. Jiyong got on but Chaerin was standing on the side. He grabbed her small hand in his and pulled her on gently.

They picked their way down the side as they became accustomed to the feel of being unstable, gradually gaining confidence until they were moving away from the wall and into the center of the rink.

“This isn’t so bad.” Chaerin said breathlessly. Her cheeks were tinted pink with excitement and exertion but she still gripped Jiyong’s hand like a vice.

“Oh I love this song!” She cried as the music changed. She started to skate with faster more exaggerated strides. Unfortunately, she got a bit too far ahead and caught her foot on the floor. She stumbled but Jiyong seeing the drama coming lurched forward, wrapping his arms around Chaein’s waist. He used his energy to twist them as they fell so his back hit the floor and Chaerin landed on his chest. They were silent for a moment in shock, untill they finally bust into laughter, clinging to each other tightly.

“Oops.” Chaerin giggled, resting her chin on Jiyong’s chest to look in his eyes.

“Yeah, oops.” Jiyong replied leaning forward and pecking Chaerin’s lips, “C’mon you.” He chuckled, getting to his feet with difficulty before hauling Chaerin up to join him, almost falling again.

They spend the next hour gliding round the rink, laughing and holding hands, till Chaerin was brave enough to let go of Jiyong and skate a few strides on her own. Spinning on the spot she turned to face Jiyong again, smiling proudly. She reached him in seconds but instead of stopping in front of him she slammed into him, launching them both back until they hit the side of the rink.

They stood for a moment, Chaerin’s arms around Jiyong’s neck, Jiyong’s hands on Chaerin’s back, holding them close together.

“You’re really something, Lee Chaerin. You knock me off my feet. Litterally.” Jiyong leant forward until his forehead touch hers.

“I know.” She smirked back locking her eyes on his lips then back to his eyes

“I love you…” their lips met briefly in a short sweet kiss. But passion and lust flowed between them as Chaerin tugged his hair and secured their lips back together. Jiyong gasped at the sensation and Chaerin took the opportunity to slip her tongue into her man’s mouth, taking the kiss a whole new level.

They had both entirely forgotten where they were, but someone slamming into the wall next to them brought them back down to earth.

 “I feel like I’m in high school and my mom caught me kissing on the porch,” Chaerin said between laughs as Jiyong escorted Chaerin back to her apartment.

Their night was finally ending and Chaerin would have never imagined that it was making her sad. She wanted it to never stop because she never felt more secured and delighted than in Jiyong’s arms.

“Did you kiss a lot of boys on your porch, miss Lee? He watched as she looked in her purse for her keys

“To be honest, I had a lot of admirers. But I wasn’t an easy girl. What about you?”

“I didn’t kiss any boys in high school.” He winked at her

Chaerin playfully smacked his arm and said, “You know what I mean!”

Jiyong laughed and said, “I wasn’t a good kisser at that time.”

“What really?” Chaerin’s jaw dropped

“Yeah. I was a nerd, girls weren’t interested in me. But it changed right?” he asked challenging as he came closer resting his hands on Chaerin’s waist and moved then, walking her backwards. His hands held out to meet the door, cushioning her as he leaned into her, pressing her up against it.

Chaerin took a deep breath and said, “Why me then?”

Jiyong wore the world’s biggest confused expression but sighed, “It’s just you. The first time I saw you I knew I couldn’t let you go away. I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to make you smile again.”

He cupped her face in his hands lifting it towards him, lowering his face to finally kiss her. Chaerin surrendered to the kiss. opened under his and she moaned slightly, pressing her body into his. And it was then in that moment, as Jiyong’s lisp left hers only to blaze a trail of heat and desire down her neck to the soft spot just above her collarbone that she felt a familiar tug in her heart. She was lowly realizing what was going to happen in the next hours of the night.

Dara unni was right, it was ‘the’ night. They were going to have .

And Chaerin panicked.

She had prepared for that particular moment. She wasn’t a anymore after all, she had a daughter for god of sake. She really wanted to give herself to Jiyong. She wanted him. She would lie if she was saying she never fantasize on him in her dirtier dreams.

But it had been so long she hadn’t been touching a man, what if she had ‘forgotten’ how to do?

What if she couldn’t satisfy Jiyong? He had been so nice with her, she didn’t want to disappoint him. What if she was boring him? He had clearly been hanging out with a lot of women. Famous ones even. Seeing how self-confident he was with girls and how well-built he was, it wouldn’t surprise Chaerin he multiplied the nightstands. It wouldn’t surprise her he was good at it. After all, just his husky voice could make her feel weak.

But her? She was just a poor single mother. And she was truly not assured when it was coming about . Even when she was still dating Haru’s father, she was feeling uneasy. She never satisfied him. And she never really felt good in his arms, lust never replaced pain. It may be another reason he left, she knew. And no one had wanted her for four years.

Wanting to slow things down to savor this, not to move too fast, she forced her heart to take control of her body.

“Ji…” she gasped his name and pulled his face back to hers to take control of the kiss. All the kisses leading up to this one had been hot and needy. But this one was slower, more purposeful, full of emotion. Jiyong sensed the change, his eyes opening, his breath slowing. His grip on her loosened.

“Ji…” she finally pulled away removing herself from his arms, “Have a good night.” She finally added opening her door leaving a confused Jiyong on her doorway.