Watched: Zoey 101

The next day Nayoung was released from the hospitals clutches. Feeling almost new again, and more relaxed than ever before, she happily padded after her chattering mother.

"He is so cute!" her mother repeated for the fiftieth time after seeing Lee Taemin for the first time. And Nayoung would just answer  with a sarcastic: yes mom, he's so dreamy.

To say her mom was upset her daughter hadn't told her about meeting her soul mate would be an understatement. Her mother never understood why Nayoung was so anti-soul mate and was ecstatic when she learned not only had her daughter been cataloged (mentally thanking Sunmi), but she found her mate! A cute and successful one was the cherry on top for her.

"I invited him over for dinner,"  her mother declared, opening the driver's door to the family car.

Nayoung stopped, her handle on the door. "You WHAT?!"

The elder woman rolled her eyes. "You didn’t expect me not to, right? He's your soul mate, he's practically part of the family already! There's even that whole media thing with you guys."

"Did SM ever say something about that?" the student asked, hopping into the passenger seat.

"They actually haven't," her mother blinked, confused. Before starting the car she turned to her daughter with a questioning look. "Why hadn't they said anything? There's nothing to hide after all."

The younger took a deep breath, turning her head towards the window so she didn't have to look at her mother, before explaining, "I denied him."

"WHAT?!"

"Mom!" Nayoung stuck her fingers in her hears at the high pitched scream.

"That's just not right," she slowly shook her head. "That's not right, Nayoung-ah."

And so that became her mother's catch phrase for the entire thirty minute ride home. She continued saying it even after they arrived home. Nayoung quickly fled to her room, feeling like she'll explode if she hears her mother say that sentence one more time.

Flicking on her laptop, she logged into her webcam, sending a request to Sunmi.

Within seconds her best friend's worried face popped up on the screen. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she nodded. "It had to do with the stupid tattoo."

Sunmi's frown turned into what could only be called a erted grin. "And you're away from lover boy, so that means-"

"We did not, you ert!" Nayoung jumped up, pointing an accusing finger at the laptop. "But we did talk… kind of."

"What do you mean kind of?"

"It was a rather short conversation… and he did most of the talking."

Sunmi stuck her tongue out, growing bored with the conversation that was getting nowhere. "And what was it about?"

"The mark, duh. It was mostly about how I wasn't just going to hand myself over to him and he needs to win me over."

The taller girl let out a scream of joy. "It's happening! Omigod it's happening! I told you so!" she then proceeded to do her 'I told you so' dance.

Nayoung just shook her head, leaning back in her chair, waiting for her best friend to stop acting like an idiot.

"Are you done?" she asked after five minutes.

"One more minute."

She just chuckled, playing with a strand of black hair.

"Okay," Sunmi said, sitting back in her seat and fixing her appearance. "I'm done. So are you dating?"

"No."

"Then what are you doing?"

"I don’t know."

"You're so unhelpful."

"Good."

"Was he at the hospital this morning when you left?"

Nayoung's pink cheeks and nose tip were enough of an answer for Sunmi, who loudly cheered. "You guys are so cute! I hope my soul mate is just as awesome!"

"Awesome is a word for it," she snorted, her shoulders trembling in laughter.

"Nayoungie!"

The student twisted in her seat, giving her mom a questioning look.

"Why aren't you getting ready? Taeminnie is going to be here in an hour!"

Her eyes widened. "That's tonight?! And since when did you call him Taeminnie?"

"Since he became my future son-in-law," she scoffed, waving her hand. "Now get ready, I want to show you off!"

Nayoung would have felt disgusted at the last sentence but was too preoccupied in sending her currently brutally laughing friend a dirty look.

With a final prompt her mother closed the door, leaving. Nayoung didn’t even bother saying goodbye to Sunmi, just clicking the power button on her laptop.

Flickering her eyes to the clock she couldn’t help but wonder why it took girls so long to get ready.

"He's here! He's here!" her mother happily sung, practically skipping over to her daughter to give her a few touch ups.

Nayoung just swatted her mother's hands away, even if there was no one but her father to see her actions it was embarrassing. "Now go get it."

The girl squeaked when she felt her mom swat her on the . Sending a dirty look over her shoulder she walked towards the door and opened it.

Her eyes widened when she wasn't met with a face but instead with a large circular crimson box of chocolates. It was moved away to reveal a smiling Taemin. "Usually boys bring flowers over, but I thought you would like this better."

Nayoung smiled, briefly chuckling. "Come on, my parents are in the kitchen and dinner is almost ready."

Taemin grinned, happily following his soul mate into her apartment. As he looked around he tried to zero in on as many baby pictures as possible while secretly hoping that Nayoung's mom was one of those mothers who liked to show her daughters dates embarrassing photos of when she was just a toddler.

"Taemin-ah, this is my mom and dad, mom and dad this is Taemin."

Nayoung's mother happily bounced on the balls of her feet over to Taemin, who couldn’t help but think she was an ice skater back in her youth. "Just call me mom dear," she smiled, affectionately patting him on the cheek.

The elder men stood up, visibly scrutinizing the young man before him. "It's Soo-ssi to you," he gruffed. Taemin gulped.

"Darling, don't be like that," Nayoung's mother swat her husband in the shoulder, shaking her head. "Now everyone to the table!"

"You don't have any siblings?" Taemin asked once they were all situated at the table and he noticed there were six seats in all.

"I have an older brother and older sister," Nayoung answered, her eyes shining when she noticed her mom made all her favorites. "My brother lives in Yeongju with his soul mate, while my sister lives in Australia with hers."

"So I'm the only local boy?" he joked.

Nayoung's mother let out a cheerful laugh. "You don't know how thankful we both were when we learned Nayoungies soul mate is in Seoul, makes it easier for her to visit with less excuses."

Taemin smiled in return. "If it was up to me we would visit every day, your cooking is amazing."

The elder woman giggled in response, shyly hiding behind an open hand.

Nayoung and her father simultaneously rolled their eyes.

"So Taemin-ssi," the man began, "what exactly is it that you do?"

Taemin pursed his lips in surprise, not used to people not knowing about his idol status. "I'm actually in a boy group under SM Entertainment, SHINee."

"Shin-e?"

"SHINee."

"Shiny Knee?"

"SHINee," Taemin slowly pronounced.

The father just scoffed, not getting it. "Why aren't there more groups with Korean names? Have more pride in your country!"

"Actually sir, we don't get to pick the names," he slowly said, to be honest he didn’t like the name when they freshly debuted either. It took awhile to grow on him.

"Figures," it seemed Nayoung's father was displeased with the answer. Taemin felt sweat drip down the back of his neck, how was he supposed to win him over?

"You have to tell us all about being an idol!" Nayoung's mother piped up. "It sounds so interesting!"

The dancer brightly smiled, eagerly spilling out his knowledge of the idol world to the woman who oohed and ahed at everything he said. A few times when his eyes flickered over to Nayoung, he noticed she was smiling too.

When dinner was finished Nayoung's mother insisted that the two of them go out and get themselves an ice cream cone at the parlor down the block. Nayoung tried to tell her mom that he has a really busy schedule and probably would want to go home and sleep. But Taemin pushed that thought down and said he'd be delighted to.

"When's your birthday?" Taemin asked as they walked down the street, their arms occasionally brushing the others.

"July eighteenth," she answered.

The idol smirked. "That's my birthday too."

Nayoung looked up at him in surprise.

"You know what they say about soul mates with the same birthday?" Taemin grinned. "Their love is even purer."

The girl snorted. "That sounds so cheesy."

"Cause it is," he laughed. "But that's what makes it so unique! Only an eighth of soul mates are born on the same day, putting that together with both of our marks have a circle on it," he whistled. "We're one intense couple."

"You have to be together to be a couple."

"So we're not together?" Taemin pouted, giving Nayoung puppy eyes.

She quickly looked away, knowing she would give him literally anything if she looked into those eyes. "No, we're not."

"So we're skipping to the soul mates?"

"Taemin!"

Both of their ice cream was delicious, Taemin getting more than a handful of laughs out of a happy Nayoung. She had to agree with him when he said this was one of the nicest nights he's had in awhile.

"What? No goodbye kiss?" Taemin cheekily asked once they reached her front door.

Secretly smiling, Nayoung swooped in to give the taller a quick peck on the lips.

With a dreamy expression on his face, Taemin said goodbye.

I could get used to this.