Bam!!!

Yoomi started laughing as soon as Gikwang fell onto the ice with a loud thump. “Are you okay?” she asked while still laughing at him.

He then laughed also before carefully getting up. “Yeah, I’m okay,” he replied. “But my hurts a little.” Yoomi continued laughing and couldn’t stop as Gikwang also joined in with her laughter.

All of sudden a man suddenly bumped into Gikwang, causing for him to fall down once more. “Oh, I am so sorry,” the man said. He started helping Gikwang stand back up and apologized again before leaving.

“Gikwang, are you okay?” Yoomi asked. This time her voice sounded more concerned and worried for him.

“No, I’m fine,” he answered. He then used his eyes to search the crowd for the man that had just bumped into him, but to no luck. “But who was that guy?”

“It was the man that you helped earlier,” she replied.

“Really?” Gikwang said.

Yoomi nodded and started to skate around the place while Gikwang followed. “You said that you would teach me if I didn’t know how to skate, but how were you going to teach me if you fall so easily like that?” she asked in a teasing manner.

Gikwang chuckled before replying. “Just because somebody falls a lot, it doesn’t mean that they’re not capable of teaching,” he answered. He then looked at her with a playful glint in his eyes. “Watch, I bet that I can go around this whole rink and back in less than a minute.”

“Really?” she said. “Well I bet that I can also.”

“Then is this going to be a race?” he asked.

“If you want then sure,” she said. “Let’s race.”

Gikwang smiled and nodded. “Alright then, first person to come back here is going to win.” Yoomi nodded and they both got in position. “Do you want to count down or should I count?” he asked.

“You should,” she replied.

“Okay,” he said. “3… 2… 1!”

They both started skating as fast as they could while avoiding people in the process. It was quite hard to avoid bumping into people since there were a lot of them that day, but neither of them slowed down. It didn’t take that long for Yoomi to get to the imaginary finish line that they had agreed to, and when she was almost there, she looked back to see where Gikwang was. She then saw that he was pretty far away from her before facing the front again just in time to see a man a few feet in front of her, standing in her path.

She immediately tried to slow herself down at the sight, but the distance between them was already too small and her speed too fast to stop in time. “Watch out!” she shouted at the man.

The man in front of her turned around and looked equally startled to see her speeding towards him in her skates. Before anyone knew what was happening, she had already collided into the man and was lying on the floor with her eyes tightly shut closed. A few seconds, which felt more like a minute, passed and she slowly started to open her eyes. She was surprised that she didn’t feel any pain, but soon figured out the reason why when she realized that she was on top of the man that she had collided into. The man had one arm wrapped around her protectively and was lying on the ground with his eyes closed.

Yoomi widened her eyes as thoughts such as the man being severely injured and also possible dying came into her head. “A-Are you okay?” she asked with a hint of fear in her voice. Scenes of the man being in a hospital and wrapped in bandages circulated in her mind as she got extremely worried for the man.

The man’s eyes slowly opened, much to her relief, and he started to groan. “Oww…” he said. “My …”

It took a moment for the man’s words to process into her head, but when it did she immediately started laughing. “Did you only hurt your ?” she asked as her fits of laughter continued. Laughing in this situation might have seemed absurd and downright crazy after ramming into a man and possibly killing him, but she couldn’t help it. Her laughter came out because of the relief that the man said that he hurt his since she was expecting him to respond with his head hurting – which would mean a 99% possibility of him having to go to the hospital and having a head injury – or something else such as his leg hurting – which could have meant a broken leg and also a trip to the hospital.

The man looked confused and even bewildered that she was laughing at him after the near death experience. “Yeah,” he replied.

Yoomi’s laughter started to die down before suddenly stopping when she realized something. “Does it hurt a lot?” she asked, concern coming back into her eyes. “It doesn’t hurt so much that you can’t even move, right?” The man shook his head as Yoomi got off of him. “Try sitting; if it hurts then we might need to go to the hospital.”

“No, I’m fine,” the man said while getting up and standing again.

Yoomi stood next to him and started asking him more questions. “Did it hurt when you were trying to stand up?” she asked. “Did you feel a sharp pain or even aching? Does the place feel like it’s swollen? If it’s swollen then it could be a tailbone fracture and that means that we would have to go to the hospital right away.”

“No, my tailbone doesn’t hurt,” the man said. “I fell on my ; not my tailbone.”

“Oh…” Yoomi said in reply. “But did you hit your head or something? Did you hurt your leg, arm or any other part of your body?”

“No,” he answered.

Yoomi nodded, but her eyes then caught the sight of the man’s hand. “Your hand is completely red,” she said as she grabbed his hand to get a better look. “Does your hand hurt a lot? Does your wrist hurt-“

“I’m completely fine,” the man interrupted. The man gently pulled his hand back and looked at her. “And you’re overreacting. My hand isn’t red; it’s only my palm since I used that to support myself when I fell.”

Yoomi nodded again at what he said, but her eyes were still full of worry for the man. “But are you really okay?” she asked.

“Yeah…” the man replied, his tone sounding gentle. “I’m really okay.”

Yoomi sighed in relief and smiled at the man. “Then that’s great,” she said. “I was worried that I might have committed manslaughter or something.”

She muttered the last part, but the man still caught onto what she said and chuckled – a chuckle that seemed a little familiar. At that moment, she realized that the man standing in front of her reminded her of someone. She also realized that this was the man that Gikwang had helped – and also helped her in the end – and the man that had bumped into Gikwang, making him fall a second time. She wasn’t able to notice it before since she wasn’t paying too much attention to him and was also too worried about him being hurt when she collided into him to take notice. “But…” She squinted her eyes at him in a suspicious way. “…do I know you?”

She looked at him from head to toe and tried to take a better look of his face – which wasn’t much since most of it was covered with his glasses, face mask, and also the hood of his jacket which somehow miraculously stayed on even after being in a collision – but her doing that made the man nervous as he tried to find a way out of the situation. “Umm… No,” he quickly said before turning around and skating away as fast as he could.

“Yoomi!” Gikwang called as he skated up to her. He looked at her worriedly and checked her for injuries. “Did you get hurt? Did you hurt yourself?”

Yoomi shook her head and smiled at him reassuringly. She then remembered the man again and remembered that he should be the one that gets the worry since he took most of the fall. After all, she did fall onto him while he fell onto the ice and he also seemingly wrapped one arm around her in a way to protect her – even though it could have been, and is most likely, just a reflex with no deeper meaning into it. She took her attention away from Gikwang as she looked at the groups of people around them. She tried to find the man again, but he seemed to have an amazing ability to disappear or blend into crowds.

*I know him,* she thought. *I’m 100% sure that I know him.*

“Look at that guy flirting with her…” Myungsoo narrowed his eyes as he watched Gikwang and Yoomi laughing together at the table in front of him. He was sitting at a table in the back corner of the café so that he would be hidden from the two, but at the same time be able to get a good view of them. “I can’t believe that she left me for him,” he muttered to himself in disbelief. “Just because she feels bad about it, it doesn’t mean that she has to spend the day with him in the end, and not to mention that I had way better plans than… that guy.”

Myungsoo scowled at Gikwang before sipping his drink in an angry manner – which was bubble tea, if you were wondering. Ever since Yoomi left the house, he had been following her wherever she went. It was mostly due to him not trusting – and definitely not wanting – her to be alone with Gikwang. Gikwang was pretty much a stranger after all; neither he nor Yoomi spent that much time with Gikwang to know exactly what kind of a person he is, so it only made sense for him to be cautious.

He also had to applaud himself since he was able to put on a disguise fast enough to actually catch up to her after she left the house. Sure, all he did was a quick change of jacket, get a face mask and Yoomi’s fake glasses, and pulled the hood of the jacket over his head, but still, it’s pretty amazing that she hasn’t recognized him… yet.

“So…” Gikwang flashed her a charming smile. “…where do you want to go next?”

Yoomi looked up at the ceiling as she thought of some places, but ended up shaking her head and shrugging. “I don’t know,” she said. “But I thought that you had already planned everything.”

Gikwang shrugged and leaned back in his chair. “I did… but only up to the part where we go ice skating,” he said sheepishly.

Yoomi couldn’t help but to laugh before nodding in understanding. “And also…” He leaned towards her and rested his chin onto his hands with the same charming smile never leaving his face. “…I was too excited about spending time alone with you, so I forgot to think of something to do for the rest of the day.”

Yoomi’s eyes slightly widened by his actions and also what he said since he suddenly didn’t seem like the Gikwang that she knew. The Gikwang that she knew was shy and playful, but the Gikwang in front of her now seemed… confident? She didn’t know how to explain it, but confident was the best explanation of Gikwang’s current image that she could come up with.

Gikwang chuckled at her cute reaction before leaning back into his chair. “Let’s think of something to do,” he said. “It’s almost 7 and I’m afraid that you might have to leave soon.”

“Why would you think that?” she asked.

“I don’t know…” He subtly looked at someone behind her before smiling. “I just have a feeling.”

Yoomi nodded and stood up. “Then we should head off now before it gets too late,” she said brightly. She then quickly got to the counter and paid for their drinks before Gikwang even realized what had happened.

“Wait… did you just pay for us?” he asked when she got back to their table.

Yoomi nodded and smiled. “It’s to repay you for today,” she replied.

“But now I feel bad about you paying…” He looked at her with a pout and she ended up laughing a little when she saw that the Gikwang she knew was back. She then picked up her scarf and started wrapping it around herself, but not before he could notice a silver necklace dangling down from her neck. “That’s a pretty necklace,” he stated.

Yoomi looked at the necklace as she suddenly smiled. “Yeah…” She looked at the necklace with a happy look in her eyes before looking back at him. “Myungsoo gave it to me,” she said. “He also gave me this scarf.”

“Really?” he said, an unreadable expression on his face. “When did he give it to you?”

“Christmas,” she answered. “He gave it to me on Christmas, and I have been wearing them every day ever since.” She then smiled sadly. “But I don’t think that he ever notices.”

She continued smiling as she remembered. Truthfully after she got the necklace and scarf from him, she ended up wearing them every day without even knowing the reason why. She never even took the necklace off, except for in the shower of course, but she highly doubt that Myungsoo even noticed. He hardly ever commented on it and it didn’t seem like he was paying much attention, but that didn’t matter. After all, even if she didn’t know the exact reason for doing what she did, showcasing the necklace and scarf just for Myungsoo to take notice was definitely not one of them.

The both of them then walked out of the café, and started walking in a random direction of the street. The sun was already setting, making it seem darker outside, and the streets were lighted up with lights from the stores near them. They hadn’t decided where to go or even what to do, so they ended up wandering around.

“Yoomi…” Gikwang glanced at her before continuing. “…do you like Myungsoo?”

Yoomi suddenly stopped and looked surprised by his question. “Why would you ask that?” she asked. She thought about his question for a moment before a look of realization appeared on her face. “Oh... you mean to ask me if I like him or not,” she said while nodding in understanding. “I guess yeah, of course I do since he is my best friend after all.”

Gikwang shook his head to indicate that it wasn’t what he meant and said, “That’s not what I mean. I’m asking if you like him as in if you like him as a man or not.”

Yoomi looked at him with a confused expression. “Of course I like him as a man,” she finally replied. “He is a man after all. Unless…” Her expression suddenly turned into one of utter shock at her own revelation. “Is Myungsoo actually a woman?!”

Gikwang paused for a minute before bursting out into laughter. “Pwahaha!” He started laughing like a madman as he clutched onto his stomach. “Myungsoo… a woman?” His laughing subsided a little as he wiped off a tear that came from his laughter. “No… I don’t think that he’s a woman,” he finally said. “But I think that he might look pretty as one. Maybe you should make him dress as one someday.”

Yoomi suddenly started laughing also as the image of Myungsoo dressed as a woman came into her head. After a few minutes of laughing in the streets while passersby eyeing them as if they were crazy, they both finally stopped laughing with a few giggles here and there.

“Yoomi…” Gikwang completely stopped laughing at the time and looked at her in the eyes with a smile on his face. “…close your eyes.”

Even though Gikwang had completely stopped, Yoomi was still laughing a little as she looked at him. “Why?” she asked while trying to subdue her laughter.

“I have something to give you,” he replied.

Yoomi nodded and closed her eyes. She then held out her hands, thinking that he was going to place something onto it. A minute passed… and another when she suddenly felt someone bump into her, making her open her eyes in surprise. The first thing that she saw when her eyes opened was a very startled look in a man’s eyes, a very familiar man at that. And by familiar, she meant that it was the same man that she had last seen at the ice rink with his same jacket, face mask, and glasses that covered half of his face.

He looked down at her shoes before looking back up at her, which made her look down at her own shoes in curiosity. What she saw next was a light brown liquid with black balls of what she thought was tapioca – or boba, which is another way of calling it – that was splattered all over her shoes, pretty much completely ruining them since it looked like they left quite a huge stain.

“I-I am so sorry,” the man said with wide eyes. “I didn’t mean to. I really didn’t mean to.”

The man looked flustered as he kept looking down at her shoes and back at her while continuing to apologize.

“Yoomi, are you okay?” Gikwang asked as he came to her side and looked at her worriedly.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” she replied before looking back at the man again.

The man looked at Gikwang then back at her before muttering another sorry and quickly leaving the scene.

“Your shoes…” Gikwang looked down at her shoes and noticed the liquid that was spilt all over it. He then looked at her again and said, “Let’s get you new shoes. These are already ruined.”

“No, it’s okay,” Yoomi said. “They’re not ruined. They might have a stain, but they’re not ruined.”

“No, they are ruined,” Gikwang said. He then lead her to a shoe store before she could even protest, and without knowing how it happened, she was already sitting down on a bench while Gikwang was picking out some shoes for her.

“How about this one?” he asked as he held out a pair of black boots towards her.

Yoomi shook her head and said, “Gikwang, my shoes are fine. I don’t need new ones.”

“But your shoes are ruined,” he said before heading out to find some more shoes for her to try on. He then saw an employee walk by and took the chance to ask her a question. “Excuse me, can you recommend me some shoes for…” He looked over at Yoomi who was just curiously looking around the store. “…my friend,” he finally said.

The employee smiled and nodded before taking him somewhere to show him some shoes. He then came back a few minutes later with a pair of light blue high heels with a beige ribbon on top.

“Yoomi, try these on,” he said as he suddenly knelt down and helped her put on the shoes. After she wore the shoes, he helped her stand up and looked at her with an expectant look on his face. “So… what do you think?” he asked. “Do you like them?”

She looked at his expression and then back at the shoes, and didn’t know how to answer him. She didn’t really like the shoes, but at the same time she didn’t hate it. Sure, the shoes were nice looking and all, but she isn’t the type of girl that likes to wear high heels. She was a sneakers fan after all, and because of that, this was the first time that she had ever worn high heels and she had no clue as to how she would walk in them. “Um…” she started. She saw the expectant look on his face and started feeling bad at the thought of him being disappointed if she said no. “I… like them.”

“Really?” Gikwang asked as a big smile grew on his face. “You like them? You really like them?”

Yoomi slowly nodded, and didn’t know if she should regret her answer or not. “Then let’s get them for you,” he said. He then left and paid for the shoes before walking back to her.

“Um… Gikwang,” she started. “Do I actually… have to walk out in this?” After saying her question out loud, she realized that it seemed kind of rude, so she immediately started rephrasing it. “Not that I don’t like it of course. I’m just curious since I don’t want someone to stop us and call the police as we walk out.”

Gikwang chuckled and said, “Don’t worry. I asked them if you could walk out in those, and they said that it’s fine.”

Yoomi nodded and slowly laughed. “Ahaha… I guess it’s fine… to walk out… in these…” She looked down at her shoes and was thinking about how in the world would she be able to walk in them without tripping like a fool.

“Then let’s go,” he said with a bright smile.

They both headed out of the store and continued walking down the streets. Of course, Yoomi was walking way slower than usual. With her walking pace, a turtle could even beat her if they were in a race. She kept looking down at her feet while carefully walking to make sure that she wouldn’t trip.

“So now what do you want to do?” he asked, making her look up.

“Anything,” she replied. “Anything is fine.” She ended up looking down at her shoes while fully concentrating on walking again, which caused for her to fall behind a little.

“Do you want to eat or something? Or maybe, do you want to go sing karaoke?” he asked. “Or we could go to the Han River and look at the scenery.”

“Anything is fine,” she replied. Her eyes then set onto her stained sneakers that were in Gikwang’s hands as she started to think of ways to replace them with the heels that she was currently wearing. Even though her shoes were not looking at its best with the light brown stain covering most of it, at least they were sneakers and were easy to walk in. If she was wearing them instead of the heels, she wouldn’t have to worry at all about tripping and falling flat onto her face.

“Gikwang,” she said. Gikwang turned towards her after hearing her call his name. “About my sneakers…”

Gikwang looked at her sneakers in his hands and remembered that he was still holding them. “Oh yeah, I forgot that I was holding them.” He laughed at himself a little before heading towards a trash can and throwing the sneakers away.

Yoomi instantly widened her eyes as the only thing left that could have gotten her out of wearing the heels was thrown away right before her eyes. Gikwang saw the surprised look on her face and realized what he just did. “Oh, I am so sorry,” he immediately apologized. “Did you still want them? I thought that you didn’t want them since they were all stained, so I threw them away. But I forgot to ask for your permission first.” He looked extremely sorry as he bit his lip and didn’t know what to do.

“No... it’s okay,” she said. “I didn’t want them that much anyway.” She forced a smile onto her face even though what she was feeling at that time was far from being happy.

“Really?” he said as he sighed. “That’s good then. I thought that you might be angry at me for throwing them away.”

He then smiled at her and continued walking again. Yoomi started after him, but not before taking one last glance at the trash can that now contained her shoes. “Bye shoes… I’ll miss you.” She waved at the trash can sadly and was almost on the verge of crying at the realization of having to walk in heels for the rest of the day.

They ended up walking for about an hour, sparking up conversation along the way, but were still not able to find anything to do.

“Gikwang…” Yoomi started. “I think that I should go home now. It’s getting late.”

Gikwang looked at the sky and saw that the stars and moon had already come out, indicating that it was now nighttime. “I guess it is getting pretty late,” he said. “Do you want me to walk you home?”

“No, it’s fine,” she replied. “I can walk home by myself.”

“Really?” he asked. “Are you sure because it’s dangerous for you to walk alone at night.”

“No, it’s really fine,” she said. “I know martial arts; I’m pretty sure that I can defend myself.” She then waved at him as if telling him that he should be leaving now.

“Then… okay,” he finally said. “I guess this is the end of our date.”

Yoomi didn’t even noticed that Gikwang had said ‘date’ since she was too busy thinking about how painful the heels had become over the course of an hour. “Then bye,” she said with a smile. “I had a lot of fun today.”

“Yeah, me too,” he said. He smiled at her and waved. “Bye Yoomi, I’ll see you at school on Monday.”

Yoomi nodded and continued waving. “Please leave faster, please leave faster, please leave faster…” she mumbled. She saw him walking away and when she was sure that he was completely out of sight, she immediately took off the heels before breathing out a sigh of relief. “Finally, these things are off me.”

She smiled at the feeling of her feet being freed from the claustrophobic shoes, and started walking towards home barefooted. She wasn’t really bothered when she saw people looking at her with weird stares, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t notice them. It was just that she was too happy about being able to walk without the high heels anymore, since walking in them for an hour made blisters form at the back of her feet. The feeling was not pleasant at all, especially when it rubbed against the inside of the shoe, and she could not last any longer in them.

When she got to the neighborhood that Myungsoo’s house was in, she suddenly stopped and turned around. The street that she was walking in was empty and without people, but there was one person that she knew was there in the same street as her. She knew exactly who it was and knew exactly where he was hiding from her.

“Myungsoo, come out. I know that you’re hiding from me.”

She looked at the corner of a building and saw a head slowly poke out from behind. It then seemed like he noticed her staring at him as his head immediately retreated back behind the building again. “Myungsoo, I can see you,” she said.

His head slowly came out from behind the building again and he said, “Can you really see me?”

Yoomi nodded and waved for him to come over. At her response, he sheepishly came out from behind the building before standing next to her. “When did you notice that I was following you?” he asked.

“I knew something was strange ever since I saw a very strange man at an ice rink that looked like he was wearing my glasses,” she replied. She then pointed at her glasses that he was wearing. “I can recognize my glasses anywhere, and it seems like you borrowed them without me knowing again.”

Myungsoo took off his face mask and pulled off his hood, but kept the glasses on. “Then let me borrow them for the day,” he said.

Yoomi gave him an ‘are you kidding me’ look before saying, “What’s the point of asking now after you had already worn them for the whole day?”

Myungsoo smiled and said, “Well, I was just trying to be polite.”

“Polite?” She raised an eyebrow at him. “It’s so polite of you to ask for my permission to borrow my glasses after wearing them for the whole day without my consent.”

“You’re welcome.” He continued smiling his dimple smile at her before starting to walk.

Yoomi rolled her eyes at him, but ended up smiling in the end. She then started walking to catch up with him. “But…” he looked at her apologetically. “…I’m sorry about your shoes.”

“There’s no need to be sorry,” she said. “It was an accident after all. I bet that you didn’t mean to spill your beverage over my shoes like that.” She didn’t hear a reply and looked over at him, suspicion growing inside of her. “It was an accident, right?”

Myungsoo gulped before deciding to come clean about what he did. “Actually, I was trying to spill my beverage all over Gikwang,” he said. “You just got unfortunate since my beverage somehow decided to spill onto you instead.”

Yoomi looked at him with agape. “What?” she said in a state of disbelief. “You did it on purpose and tried to spill it onto Gikwang?”

“Hey, I have a good reason for doing that,” he said in his defense. “He was about to kiss you, and I couldn’t just watch it happen.”

Yoomi furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “He was about to do what?”

“He was about to kiss you,” he repeated. He then stopped and looked at her. “He was about to kiss you, so I had to interfere,” he said. “If it weren’t for me, he would have taken your first kiss already.”

She didn’t know what to say and ended up staring at the ground. “Did he… really try to do that?”

Myungsoo nodded. “I can never lay my eyes off of you for even one second,” he said. “One minute of me just enjoying drinking my beverage and the next thing I knew, a guy was already trying to make his move on you.”

He said it in more of a joking way to brighten up the mood, and it seemed like it worked since she was smiling again.

“Is that why you had to sacrifice your drink?” she asked.

Myungsoo nodded. “And my drink was so tasty too,” he said while faking sadness.

She laughed a little and that was enough to make him smile again. “But…” she looked up at him curiously. “Why would Gikwang try to kiss me?” she asked.

“I bet it’s because he has feelings for you,” he replied. “But you’re not going to accept him, right?”

Yoomi shook her head, much to his relief. “But I bet that he doesn’t have feelings for me,” she said. “Guys never liked me in the first place, so why would they like me now? And not to mention that I’m not pretty either.”

“Are you sure about that?”

Yoomi looked at him in confusion from his question. “Sure about what?” she asked back.

“That guys never like you,” he said. “Because I know that one guy… one very stupid guy… is madly in love with you right now.”

She didn’t say anything and froze at his intense gaze. She was now even more confused since Myungsoo said it with such a serious expression. She had thought that he was joking, but his face and tone said otherwise. After a minute of standing there, she finally burst out into laughter. “Ay… there’s no way,” she said while nervously laughing. “Myungsoo, stop joking.”

She started walking again while still laughing, finally convincing herself that he was just joking about what he said. Myungsoo then sighed at her reaction as he watched her walk away. “It’s really not a joke. That one very stupid guy is actually standing right here,” he muttered. He sighed once more before noticing that she was still walking barefooted.

“Yoomi!” he called. Yoomi stopped and he ran over to her. “Wear these instead.” He took off his shoes and placed them in front of her.

She looked at him in surprise and stared at his shoes. “Why are you giving me your shoes?” she asked.

“Because I’m feeling nice today,” he replied. “Just take them, before I change my mind.”

She looked at him with an unsure expression at first, but then ended up smiling as she placed her feet into his shoes. “Ohh…” she said with a big smile. “It seems like Myungsoo is being kind for a change.”

Myungsoo narrowed his eyes at her. “Are you saying that I’m not usually kind?”

Yoomi shrugged and there was a playful glint in her eyes. “I wasn’t saying that,” she said. “It might have referred to it, but I wasn’t saying that at all.”

Myungsoo scoffed at her answer, but ended up smiling at her. He then crouched down in front of her and showed her his back. “Get on,” he suddenly said.

Yoomi looked at him with wide eyes. “Are you going to give me a piggyback ride now?” she asked.

“No, I’m actually doing this as a way to stretch my legs,” he said with sarcasm.

“Oh, really?” she said. “Then it’s not an invitation for a piggyback ride?”

He knew that she was just trying to joke around and make him stay crouched down for a long time just to annoy him, so he ended up standing again. “If you don’t want a piggyback ride, then I guess that there is no need to offer one.” He pretended to walk away, and she immediately stopped him.

“No, wait!” she said. “I’ll get on. But…”

Myungsoo saw a mischievous smile form on her face and knew that she was forming some sort of evil plan in her head. She then held out her heels towards him and said, “Wear this.”

“What?” was all that he could say as he stared at her heels.

“Wear them,” she repeated. “Wear them and walk all the way towards that street lamp over there like you’re walking down a runway.”

“There’s no way that I’m doing that!” he said.

“But please~” She gave him the deadly puppy dog eyes that he could just never say no to. “Just this once, and then I’ll gladly accept your piggyback ride.”

“I didn’t offer to give you a piggyback ride just to end up having to walk in heels like some sort of model.”

“But Myungsoo~” She continued giving him the puppy dog eyes. “Just do it this once, please.”

After five whole minutes of her pretty much begging him and giving him the puppy dog eyes, he finally agreed before hesitantly placing his feet into her heels. His feet ended up being a little too big for the heels, and his own heel was actually sticking out of the back of the shoe, but it was a good enough fit for him to walk a few feet towards the street lamp that Yoomi had pointed to.

“Myungsoo, walk more like a model,” she said while holding back her laughter.

“How?” he asked.

“Place one hand on your hip or something,” she replied.

Myungsoo let out a huff of air in annoyance and frustration, but ended up doing what she said anyway. “Hahaha!” he heard her laugh. He then reached the street lamp before turning around and walking back towards her.

“Strike a pose, strike a pose!” she said excitedly.

Myungsoo grumbled once more, but then placed one hand on his hip and then made a v-sign with his thumb and forefinger before placing it under his chin. Yoomi couldn’t take it anymore and started laughing so much that no sound even came out. Seeing Myungsoo walking in heels clumsily, but at the same time kind of in a sassy way like a model, could have been the death of her. Not to mention that he struck quite a fabulous pose at the end, which made her double in laughter.

“I… I can’t anymore.” She clutched onto her stomach as it started hurting from the massive amounts of laughter. “I might die now because of laughter, but at least I’ll die happy.”

Myungsoo saw that he was already at the end of the ‘runway’ before quickly taking off the shoes. “I…” He glared at her with cheeks that were tinted with pink from embarrassment. “…am never doing that again.”

“Why not?” she asked while still slightly laughing. “I think that you would make a pretty good woman. Gikwang was right; you do look pretty as a woman.”

Myungsoo’s cheeks were now red as she continued laughing uncontrollably. After a few minutes, her laughter finally ended with some small giggles still coming out from her, but her laughing spree was mostly finished. “Now can we finally go home?” he asked.

Yoomi nodded happily and gestured for him to crouch down. “You’re still going to give me a piggyback ride, right?”

Myungsoo nodded and gave her back her shoes before crouching down in front of her. She then got onto him and he stood back up again. “Let’s go~” she said merrily while pointing towards the direction that would lead them to their house.

Myungsoo chuckled at her actions and started walking. “Yoomi…” he said.

“Yeah,” she answered.

“Gikwang is an idiot. Why would he buy high heels for you and then throw away your sneakers?” he said with slight anger in his voice. “Doesn’t he know that you don’t know how to walk in heels? And not to mention that they are very uncomfortable to walk in, judging from my own experience.”

Yoomi shrugged. “I guess that he just didn’t know,” she replied. “We don’t know each other that much anyway, so I guess that he never learned that fact about me.”

“But still, he’s completely stupid for doing that. I’ll make sure that I won’t leave you alone with an idiot like him,” he said.

Yoomi laughed a little. “I can see that,” she said. “You did follow us the whole day after all.”

Myungsoo continued walking some more before talking again. “And also… I heard what you said about me not paying attention to you wearing the scarf and necklace every day,” he said. “But I actually did. I noticed it, and I felt really happy that you wore them.”

Yoomi nodded to indicate that she understood before smiling. “Hey, you’re actually a really good best friend,” she said. “You actually volunteer to switch shoes with me and end up walking barefoot instead, walk in high heels like a model when I ask you to, give me a piggyback ride whenever I need one, and also say things that make me happy – just like what you said right now.”

Myungsoo smiled and said, “Am I actually being complimented by the Song Yoomi?” he asked. “Wow, I feel greatly honored.”

Yoomi giggled and said, “Actually, you’ll be feeling even more honored when I tell you that you have just won the award for being the best best friend ever.” She started applauding him the best she could while holding onto her heels.

“Really?” he said. “I won an award?” Yoomi nodded in reply. “Then where is it? Where’s my award?”

“Truthfully, it’s more like a prize than an award,” she said. She then rummaged through her small cross bag before pulling out a box wrapped with a bow on top. “Ta-dah! You prize is… a box of Valentine’s Day chocolates!” She tried applauding once more, but couldn’t since now both of her hands were occupied.

“Weren’t you supposed to give me that yesterday?” he asked.

“No, I was supposed to give them to you today before I left, but I forgot,” she answered. “So I’m giving them to you now.”

“That’s not much of a prize since you were already supposed to give them to me today,” he said.

“Then what should your prize be then?”

He smiled playfully and said, “Feed me.”

Yoomi furrowed her eyebrows. “You want me to feed you?” she repeated his request in a question.

“Yup,” he said. “You denied being fed by me yesterday, so now you have to feed me today.” He then opened his mouth and said, “Ah~, I’m waiting.”

Yoomi hesitated for a moment, but then opened the box and picked up a piece of chocolate before placing it into his mouth. Myungsoo chewed the piece of chocolate in contentment before opening his mouth for another one. “But Myungsoo…” Yoomi said as she placed another piece of chocolate in his mouth. “I found the necklace that you bought me online, and I saw that it was pretty expensive.”

“So?” he asked while chewing the chocolate.

“You do know that a diamond is only a mineral after all and that there are more than enough of them to satisfy people’s want for them for a long time,” she said. “So they really shouldn’t be worth that much, but they do because of culture.”

“So?” he asked again. 

“So, you wasted your money to buy this thing,” she replied.

“No I didn’t,” he said. “That necklace is not a waste of money because it is symbolic. That necklace is a symbol of our… um… friendship… love… friendship love… or whatever it is, so it’s not worthless between me and you.”

“But I don’t like diamonds because it has such great marketing to make it worth so much when in actuality, it really is just a scam.”

Myungsoo shrugged. “Who cares,” he said. “I already said that between me and you, that necklace has great value because of its symbolism.”

“But-“

“No buts,” he interrupted. “We are going to settle on the necklace being something that has a lot of worth because of symbolism, so that’s the end of the discussion. Now… please feed me another piece of chocolate.”

He opened his mouth and Yoomi placed another piece of chocolate into it. “But seriously,” he said as he started chewing the chocolate. “Don’t take it off. That necklace means a lot; it really does.”

Yoomi nodded and rested her head on his shoulder. “I won’t take it off,” she mumbled, sounding a little tired and sleepy all of a sudden. “I really won’t.”

Yes!!! I finally finished it!

Writing this chapter took longer than usual, but on the bright side, this chapter is way longer than any other chapter that I ever wrote - unless you don't like long chapters of course. And if you don't like long chapters then you can comment me and I can try to make them shorter.^^

Also, hopefully you guys liked this chapter. Like I said before, this was supposed to be a Valentine's Day chapter, but it came out late. Maybe this chapter will help you relive the wonderful and romantic day of Valentine's Day - unless you're single like me of course. And if you're single like me then, well, we can always imagine what it's like to have a date on Valentine's Day and use this chapter for some inspriation for imaginary dates of ours. XD

Anyway, hope you liked this chapter and have a great week~