Sunggyu woke her again about four hours later to ask if she wanted to go back to her own place.  It was six in the morning and he was about to head out to work.  Yoojin began to apologise right away but then he placed a finger on his lips to tell her to be quiet;  Myungsoo was still asleep. 

The dim light in the living room wasn’t much but she saw the way Sunggyu was massaging his neck as he sat next to her on the edge of the bed, which she suddenly realised was his. 

“Were you sleeping on the couch because of me?”

He nodded.  “Don’t worry about it.”

“Sorry… You should have just slept here, with me. You know I wouldn’t mind.”

Sunggyu looked like he wanted to argue with that, but decided to stay quiet. 

He took her hand in his and led her out of the apartment in the dark after turning off the lights on their way out. 

Yoojin hated the silence between them as they walked, not because it was ever awkward between them but because there was nothing to distract her gaze from turning to the no longer hostile figure that followed them silently with a pleased looking smile.  She let go of Sunggyu’s hand consciously, which she didn’t realise she had been holding rather tightly.  “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. Stop apologising to me all the time.”

“Sorry— Anyway, I’m close enough to my place now so I’ll just go. Uh. Thanks for walking me, Gyu.”

“Wait,”  he grabbed her wrist before she could walk away.  “Mind if I come in for a sec?”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea Sunggyu. I need to sleep anyway, so…”

“Please. I want to talk to you about something.”

Yoojin tried to pull her wrist away from his grip but he wasn’t letting go.  She was puzzled by the strained expression on Sunggyu’s face as silence fell between them again.  It took her speaking his name quietly, for him to finally relax his grip and lower his gaze. 

“I’m sorry. Another time then.”

“Another time.”  She repeated, nodding.  “I’ll see you later, right?”

“You still want me to bring you out today?” 

She smiled a bit at the surprise in his tone,  “Of course. I’ve been looking forward to it all week.”

The bright smile he flashed her made Yoojin immensely happy.  Suddenly, she didn’t feel so anxious anymore, and was a little surprised she felt that way to begin with.  He then gave her a cutely excited wave with both of his arms, chuckling, which was a new side to him that Yoojin hadn’t seen before.  Now, along with the tour around Dublin that Sunggyu promised her, she was also anticipating getting to discover more charming characteristics of Kim Sunggyu that he didn’t display as often. 

Sunggyu watched her until she arrived safely in her apartment building before turning to leave.

-

In her apartment, Yoojin closed the door quietly and leaned her back against it before sliding down wearily.  Her heart was doing all sorts of marching band rhythms, it seemed, and she couldn’t get it to calm down. 

It only got worse when a familiar voice startled her again.

‘You’re falling for him and he has already fallen for you.’

‘What’s the matter Jin? Why are you still holding back?’

“If you’ve been watching me this whole time, I think you know.”  She told him calmly.

For the first time as the handsome young man—who was now forever stuck in his 19 year old appearance—knelt in front of her, she didn’t cower in fear.  She didn’t cover her face but stared back at him with indifference in her expression laced with sorrow.

“Woohyun…”  she spoke again, softly,  “Why are you haunting me like this?”

‘I wouldn’t call it haunting. You think I’m trying to terrorise you for fun?’

“That’s what I thought at first.”

‘Then what changed?’

“Your attempts to make me avoid bad love—”

‘Like that guy Myungsoo.’

“Yeah? And then pushing me towards finding better love?”  she stated, sounding a lot more like she was questioning him. Then she added as an afterthought, as if finally realising something big,  “You didn’t even only start this month did you…”

‘That’s right. You figured it out?’

She nodded.  “I would thank you but I’d like you to stop interfering in my love life. You’re no longer a part of it.”

He ignored her request. 

‘I bet you’ve calmed down more now, knowing that you’re not the only one aware of me?’

‘I’d be pretty terrified too, to be honest. I almost feel bad for Kim Myungsoo.’

Yoojin opened to speak but Woohyun touched her cheeks lightly with the palms of his hands. 

‘Sleep now, Yoojin.  Before you end up like me.’

“Maybe I’ll be happier that way…”  she told him dejectedly. 

Woohyun shook his head, then moved his hand down to her neck.  It only took a second for her vision to darken before her body fell limply into her former love’s arms. 

-

Surprisingly she woke up in her own bed later, most of the night’s conversations forgotten.  It was probably nine in the afternoon, or at least that’s how she felt, when she forced herself to get up and wash up. 

The bird nest on top of her head was an absolute pain to brush through but she was almost done with it by the time she received a phone call from Sunggyu who told her he was finally free from work and wanted to know where she was.  On her way, she told him;  a lie he saw through with ease.  He then let her know he’d pick her up in her apartment instead of the Spire where they had originally decided on meeting.

Their first destination once they left Yoojin’s place was the Spire itself.  She knew of it, and where it was, but she admitted that she never knew what exactly it referred to.  It’s literally the huge pin-like thing in the middle of O’Connell Street, Sunggyu told her while trying to hold his laughter, but she could only vaguely picture it in her head. 

Once they arrived there, she was completely amazed as she stared up at it. 

“Wow,”  she let out with a sigh of appreciation.  It must have been at least a hundred metres tall.

Suddenly, Sunggyu’s face appeared in her line of vision, blocking the tip of the Spire as he stood close and looked down at her.  “Wow.”

Yoojin gave him a little push, laughing at his lame act.  His smile was matching as he too turned his gaze up to the monument. 

“It’s like it’s piercing the sky.”  she mused,  “I wonder if that’s why it rains so much in Ireland.”

The next destination wasn’t too far away, although it required walking up hill through a sea of people, which was a pain;  Sunggyu held her hand so they wouldn’t get separated while she tried to cover her ear with her free hand due to the noise that the many buskers they walked past probably thought was pleasant enough to force on people on such a busy street. 

Sunggyu couldn’t hide it in his smile how pleased he was when Yoojin told him his and Myungsoo’s street performances were the only ones in Dublin she could tolerate. 

While sitting on the grass by the duckpond in Stephen’s Green, Sunggyu sang to her softly.  He told her about how he was beginning to write his own songs lately and he wanted to hear what she thought of them before he started including them in his sets at Hweji’s coffee shop.

“Sounds pretty nice to me. Who’s it about?”

“You?”  he laughed as she hit him lightly. 

“Do you really think I’ll fall for that?”

“Yeah. Why not?” 

She rolled her eyes but she couldn’t hide her grin.  “First of all, do you think I’m that feisty and manipulative?”  When Sunggyu opened his mouth to obviously agree, Yoojin placed her index finger on his lips to stop him,  “Don’t answer that. Also,”  she knocked on his chest lightly,  “I’m sure there is somebody home in there.”

“Really? I think somebody stole it,”  he spoke while shrugging, before lightly pushing her down on her back and crawling on top of her with his knees on either side of her hips.  He sang a line from the same song once more, playfully, “My heart may be missing but my hands will make up for it.”

Yoojin’s hands clamped onto Sunggyu’s, which were gripping her waist gently, as if to stop him from sliding them higher on her body. 

“Behave.”  she demanded in a low tone, much like she had done whenever Sunggyu had let his hands wander last sunday afternoon, when they had spent the day in bed.  Yoojin didn’t mind the playful flirting, but she was strongly against letting it become more than that.

After pointing out how many pubs and churches there were all around the city centre, Sunggyu led Yoojin to the last destination which was a spot behind one of the shopping centres. 

“I thought you were joking!”  she exclaimed before she ran to the bronze life sized statue of a cow just laying there lazily as birds flew around it.

Sunggyu followed her leisurely and let out a chuckle when she jumped off the statue quickly after sitting down. 

“It’s hot!”

“Like you,”  he told her with a wink, which would have earned him another light smack if he’d been standing closer to Yoojin.  “Come on. The sun’s been up all day, what did you expect?” 

“I don’t know but I didn’t expect it to be able to fry my through my jeans.”

They sat together on the cow for an hour just chatting about generally trivial things.

She found out a bunch of new facts about Sunggyu during that chat.  His decision to move to Ireland four years ago had been a spontaneous one as opposed to the careful planning Yoojin would have expected from him.  He also mentioned that Myungsoo had strongly supported this idea, and that he suspected it was because Myungsoo had known that Hweji was also planning to move to Dublin. 

The thought that she and Sunggyu could have possibly met a long time ago excited Yoojin.  The only thing that had stopped that from happening was Myungsoo’s secretiveness about following Hweji to Dublin;  he’d made it look like a coincidence, as Sunggyu said, and Yoojin couldn’t help but comment that it sounded like such stalker-ish behaviour.

After saying goodbye to the motionless bronze cow, Yoojin suggested for Sunggyu to bring her to one of the many pubs they walked past during their little tour.  It sounded like a good idea to go for some drinks since it was already getting late and she didn’t want to go home yet.

Originally she had meant to suggest going to a coffee shop, but knowing they’d probably go to Hweji’s one is what changed her mind. 

-

Turned out Sunggyu didn't have the whole weekend free after all.  After nursing their hangovers on Sunday morning, they spent the day much like they spent the previous sunday;  in bed, watching music channels on the television, and talking.  Then, around five a clock in the evening he had to go back to work.

Yoojin decided to go and see Hweji since she had nothing better to do so she offered to walk Sunggyu, but it ended up being Sunggyu who walked her to her own destination instead.  

After the two parted, Hweji approached her with excitement while grabbing her shoulders.  “The two of you were together last night, right?”

“Why are you asking?”  Yoojin raised an eyebrow at her.

“Myungsoo tried to ring him all night but he wasn't answering. We were getting pretty worried until we found that your phone was also off. It wasn't that hard to put two and two together.”

“And what's two and two?”

“You,” Hweji said, squeezing Yoojin's shoulders for the effect, “and Sunggyu.”

The younger female just sighed and pushed Hweji's hands off her shoulders, although she couldn't ignore the way her heart pounded against her chest.  Yoojin had to admit, Hweji had a point;  she and Sunggyu were definitely gossip worthy, which also meant that what they were doing together was too much. 

Was it too late to try and let Sunggyu down a little?  They were already getting dangerously attached to each other;  or rather, they were past the point where it was dangerous, and at a point where heartbreak was inevitable. 

The thought of the day she'd have to leave him was making her feel sick with anxiety. 

Myungsoo's judging gaze when she sat down next to him at the counter made her feel even worse.