On the night of that same day, Jieun was sent for an errand, to her great dismay and annoyance from none other than her own step-mother.

Why this late and why so suddenly?

No apparent reason at all except that the older woman was craving for some goods and being ‘too lazy’ to do it herself, who better to boss around – like always – than her own step-daughter?

Finishing up what she had to do, she was walking down the street towards where she had placed her bike while looking through her purse for the keys to the locks. The next thing she knew, her purse was being torn away from her arm making her yell out to the mugger as she ran after him as fast as she could.

Turning on the corner, she caught onto her bag ending in a push-and-pull play with the stranger until she was hit across the face making her fall down on the ground. Before giving him the chance to run away, she kicked his ankle making him stumble on the ground along with her purse that was thrown further away from him.

She quickly got up and ran up to pick her bag as a sigh of relief came out of her but was cut short when she was pulled backwards through her hair until she was shoved against the brick wall behind her. She cried out from the impact and slid down the ground, a low grunt coming out of .

She tried getting up but quickly fell back down when she heard a yelling coming from her left; the voice was familiar but yet, she was too preoccupied by the pain to recognize who the person was. With seconds passing that felt like an eternity, she found Yongguk in front of her leaving her to stare at him, confused about his presence.

“G-Guk?”

She hissed when she felt his hand graze her bruised cheek as she turned her head to pull away from his touch. He helped her get up and once she was standing back on her two feet, she noticed the mugger lying on the ground unconscious and turned her head back to look at Yongguk who gave his worried look. “Are you okay?”

“Hmm yea, I guess so…”

Blinking her eyes to shake off the unsettling feeling, she spotted a scratch on the arm of his varsity jacket making her lightly gasp as she instinctively took a hold of him, examining the bruise closer. Curious, he looked at what she was doing and couldn’t help but let out a smile by seeing the sudden worry and care she was displaying. “We should get that checked out…”

“Sure.”

“Does it hurt?”

“I can barely feel it.”

The way the husky tone of voice was spoken out got her to lift her head up only to directly meet eyes with him. Her breath stuck in , she pulled herself away from him and broke eye contact as she fixed herself up. “Let’s go before he wakes up.”

She started walking back to where her bike was with Yongguk catching up to her where he strode along quietly, taking glimpses from the corner of his eyes from time to time.

Finally getting back to her ride, she took her seat with Yongguk waiting, hands in his pants pocket, leaving Jieun to also wait for him to hop on behind her. “Aren’t you climbing?”

“Where?”

“Behind me…”

“O-oh, hmm, if its okay with you I’d rather just walk.”

“Okay then.”

They started to make their way towards the closest hospital, quietly, until Yongguk decided to break that silence by starting a random conversation. “So… What brought you to the city at this hour?”

“My step-mother wanted me to do some errands for her.”

“This late?”

“Yea, I know. She was too lazy to do it herself and too impatient to wait.” A huff came out from him along with a shaking head, giving Jieun a sense of sympathy for her case. “What about you? What were you doing?”

“I was just hanging out with some friends and I was on my way back when I saw what happened.”

“Thanks for helping me, by the way.” He smiled at her as he spoke out a ‘no problem’ and let the silence settle back between them until they had finally arrived at the hospital. Resting her bike against the entrance, they went in, got Yongguk checked in just for a few minutes and this time Jieun got to receive a pack of ice for her bruised cheek.

“I’m kind of getting hungry over here, do you wanna go grab a bite with me?” As they were exiting the hospital, Yongguk shyly proposed to Jieun for a hangout, which made her chuckle and nodded her head in agreement. “I’d like that.”

Coming outside, she turned to face him, asking him if he knew how to ride a bike. Giving her a hesitated ‘yes’, she pushed herself aside letting him have her bike in his sight and smiled at him while telling him to hop on. “And you’re going to walk?”

“Just climb.”

“O-okay…” Doing as he was told, she followed him once he was set and climbed behind him while tightly holding him by his shoulders. He laughed at what she was doing amused by her attempt at a sense of humor and started pedaling once he was sure she was all set.

By his speed, she giggled in excitement with the cold air hitting her right in the face, her nose wiggled from the ticklish sensation. He wasn’t capable of erasing the signature gummy smile off his face and its not like he wanted to anyways. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say that she was actually enjoying herself with his company, warming up his heart.

Passing by a 24/7 American styled diner, he turned towards the parking lot and stopped with Jieun hopping off while he leaned the bike to its rightful section where she took out the lock to buckle her ride.

They walked in and sat down by a booth, face to face, right when a waitress was coming towards them with a greeting. They quickly made their order and took the waiting part as a chance to carry on a conversation, initiated again by Yongguk.

He didn’t know what happened but right now he kind of felt shy in front Jieun. Completely opposite to how he was the night of the infamous party, it may be the different atmosphere in which they were in at the moment but he was suddenly having a hard time to speak up without sounding like an idiot.

“H-how’s your cheek?”

“Cold but alright. How’s your arm?”

“Alright too…The pain is gone.”

“That’s good to hear…”

Letting a few seconds drop by, he finally mustered the courage to ask her about their last conversation during their tutoring lesson earlier today. “About that second chance -”

“Yongguk.”

“Y-yea?”

“I’m here now, aren’t I?” One corner of his lips turned up, displaying a shy crooked smile on his part. Jieun landed her eyes on them, rethinking about the way they felt against her own when he had kissed her. Unconsciously, she had her own lips leaving him to instinctively mimic her movement. “Can I ask you question?”

“Hmm, yea sure, go ahead.”

“Bong Cha… What – I mean why – what the hell did you ever see in her if you had never gone to bed with her in the first place?”

“Why do you think that we had together?”

“Because I know for a fact that she is not a .”

“And a liar too apparently…”

“She told you she never slept with another guy before?” He nodded his head making her scoff out in disbelief and annoyance. “Did you actually like her or were you just dating her for the stereotypical image of the quarterback and cheerleader? Be honest with me.”

He sighed, scratching the back of his neck as he looked down at the table and lifted his head back up. “I did it because I thought it would look good. She’s not my type of girl at all.”

She felt a slight pinch in her heart. Not because she felt sorry for her step-sister but because she thought that if he used one girl, he could easily do the same with the other one, which necessarily meant with her. “Who is your type then? If not the cheerleader…”

Courageous enough out of the blue, he breathed in and spoke out with confidence, cutting her breath short. “I like a good girl. Preferably, the girl next door.” She was about to answer back when they got interrupted with the waitress coming back with their full burgers, fries and drinks before letting them be once again.

“And why do you prefer those type of girls?”

Another breath of courage inside of him, he stared right into her eyes and softly spoke out. “Because they are kind… very, very kind and hmm, they are the ones that have a big heart and a personality that leaves you to smile all the time at how cheerful it makes you feel… And they have beautiful voices when they sing.”

She felt heat creep up in her cheeks as a light shade of red tainted her skin. Left speechless and timid, she looked down at her plate while taking out one French fry before eating it. The sight made Yongguk smile again, content to see that he was able to make her blush.

They spent the rest of the night getting to know each other better from childhood stories to high school gossip and all without having one awkward silence or uncomfortable moment.

They clicked; they were connected - on a different level, of course – and funnily, things seem to go back to how they were before with the teasing and flirting. Jieun was actually enjoying herself putting aside the worries she had lingered inside of her about his sincerity towards her; she got to see a different side of the boy and it drew her further to him, amused to see that he wasn’t all brawns and no brain, just like the stereotypical captain of the high school football team.

Once they finished eating their meal, they decided to order dessert to go since it was getting pretty late, close to midnight. Placing the two paper bags filled with chocolate brownies inside her purse, Jieun hopped back on behind Yongguk as he took his place back on the bike, ready to go back to their respective homes.

He led her back to her place first where she asked him to stop a few feet away from the house, just so she wouldn’t get scrutinized by her step-mother and step-sister. “Are you sure you don’t want me to bring you closer?”

“It’s okay, I live in the pool house in the backyard anyways.”

“O-oh, you don’t have your own bedroom in the main house?”

“I prefer it like that anyways. I got my privacy~” He chuckled at her sense of logic and got up from the bike as she took it back into her hands. “Thank you again for tonight… I had fun.”

“I did too.”

“I’ll see you on Monday then?”

“Sure.”

She fetched out of her purse his dessert and as she was about to hand it to him, she leaned in closer to his cheek and kissed it softly. Abrupt red blush on his skin, he blinked his eyes, taken aback by the boldness of her move while his heart skipped a beat.

“Goodnight Yongguk.”

“G-goodnight Jieun…”

He stood still on the sidewalk as he watched her go to her house. Once she wasn’t in his line of sight anymore, he let out his quiet excitement as he jumped around in pure joy with the biggest grin he could’ve ever had, yet.

Turning around to walk in the opposite direction, he let out a satisfied sigh, finally believing that there is some progress that is being made.

Maybe slow, but it was there.