“Yah. Krystal. Yah.” I felt a thud with each word said by Sehun. I looked up and was taken back by the sudden casualness in his outfit: white tee, plaid shirt tied around the waist, dark washed jeans, the latest Nike’s, and a backwards cap placed upon his head. I don’t know how long I was staring at Suits—eh hem I mean Damn Hot Casual—Sehun.

“Oh…” I picked up the sleeve of the plaid shirt around his waist then dropping it like a cat playing with yarn. “Well, look at that…” I pointed out his get-up. “Someone looks hot, young, and dangerous.”

Sehun tilted his head downwards and gave me a smile. “Aren’t I always?” There. Right there was the killer, the holy crap face I can die right now cause that smolder was just so UGH!!!

I stood up from the park bench that I had been waiting at for quite a while, and then pointed at my own outfit. “How do I look then??” I was wearing an oversized plaid shirt that matched the one Sehun had around his waist, tucked into skinny jeans, with the feminine version of Sehun’s Nike, and my hair tied up in a pony tail. Suits had sent me this outfit earlier this morning for our date saying how we should “look couple-ly and ”. (Yes, those were his exact words.) Did I mind though? Nah, because honestly I liked the outfit and the idea.

“Good enough.” Sehun started to walk ahead leaving me to stand there in a huff of anger. Helloooo…I gave him how many compliments?! The least he could do was say something more elaborate! Especially since HE sent me this outfit. “Hey. Move.”

I crossed my arms across my chest turning my head the other way. “I’m not moving until you give me a better compliment.”

“What? Are you serious??” Sehun asked letting out air, in exasperation.

“Does it look like I’m joking?” I turned my back to him.

“Krystal, you look good alright?”

“I called you ‘hot, young, and dangerous’…Can’t you say something like THAT to me??” I knew I shouldn’t be making such a big deal out of this, but it was fun to mess with Sehun so far. It wasn’t often that I went out on dates, and I guess this little game was just a fun way for me to get the mood started. So far, I could tell that Sehun was going to be his y, charming, yet calculative self while I was turning into those girlfriends who clung onto their boyfriend like a claw.

Sehun sighed. Silence hung in the air. Was he still standing there being just as stubborn as me? Or maybe he already left me standing here—

“Okay. You look y, adorable, and way out of my league.” I turned around and saw Sehun walk up and grab my hand. Without another word, he pulled me along behind him; I was drinking in the words he just uttered. If you could get intoxicated by such wonderful words, then I would never need alcohol or drugs. I pulled myself closer to Sehun, putting my cheek against his shoulder, looking up at him with my best puppy eyes.

“Thank you for the compliment Oppa!” I placed a kiss on his cheek, wiping the gloss off of it. Though he kept his face forward, I could tell that his cheeks were turning a bit red from the sound of me calling him the “O” word. I silently cheered that I could make him feel that way just as if he did with me. Even if this was a fake date, and every move we make with each other is planned…Might as well use this as practice for the real thing…whenever that came along.

“So, how is this going to work?” I asked still clinging on to my “boyfriend”. I can call him that, right? As long as I included the quotation marks and stuff right? “Is there a schedule to follow? A piece of paper you should be sneaking into my back pocket? Or maybe I need to just—“

“Go with the flow.” Sehun gently pushed my arms away, and instead took my hand in his. The best part was he didn’t even do the loosey goosey finger hold; he actually gave me the waffle hand hug: those were the BEST. “It’s a date. Have you never been on one before?”

I looked down at both of our hands, too shy to look up. “Well, it’s been a while actually…” I wasn’t lying. I haven’t had a date since I've arrived in Korea. Sure, I’ve received love confessions and chocolate on Valentine’s Day, but I always kindly rejected them or just ate the chocolate. I mean, I never really saw having a boyfriend as a necessity anyways… “I’ve been focused on things other than having a boyfriend.”

Sehun nodded as he started swinging our intertwined hands back and forth. “Oh my my my, what problems does an 18-year-old girl have in this day and age?”

“You’re joking right?” I stopped in front of him playfully giving him the “dropped mouth, you did not just say that" look. Sehun smiled and poked my head, turning me around to look forward again, as he lead the way down the path once again.

“Actually, no I’m not joking…” Sehun turned the corner and now we were on the city streets. “What problems do you teenage girls deal with?”

I looked up at the sky, tapping my pointer finger on my chin. “Well, I have to get good grades and pass exams to get into college. Once I get into college I have to graduate. Once I graduate, I have to find myself a job. Once I find myself a job I have to find a potential husband. Once I get married—“

Sehun stopped at the stoplight pressing the button to cross the street. “Really? Those are teenage girls problems nowadays?” He chuckled shaking his head. “That sounds so… normal. I mean things like...” Sehun cleared his voice. “Oh my god, DaeHyun so likes me, but his girlfriend is such a ! And ugh, my bias is dating somebody now and I want to go die! Ahhhh, I don’t have a dress to wear—“ I started to laugh at the sudden change of his deep toned voice to a high pitched girly voice. The light turned white to cross and we both stepped off the sidewalk, crossing the street.

“I don’t really have problems like that,” I said as we both made it onto the sidewalk again. “To be honest, I think my problems are more grown up.” Sehun tugged my hand and we turned into a small alleyway. It was the kind of alleyway that looked as if a hold-up would occur at any minute, and I grew scared; I stepped a bit closer to Sehun, our arms now touching as we walked. Sehun wasn’t going to do anything bad to me was he? He wouldn’t, especially if this date was supposed to be in the tabloids for all the right reasons…Unless he intended to use the headlines to do something drastic to me, forcing a “break off’ or something… Okay Soo-Krystal. Stay focused. He wouldn’t.

“Relax…” Sehun rubbed my shoulder with his hand. “This is just a short cut…see?” We walked out of the alleyway and arrived at a little shopping district. I immediately pulled away, letting out a sigh of relief. We walked on a bit more, occasionally stopping to comment on something in the window or thanking the ahjummas for the compliments about how we looked like a sweet couple . With each compliment we received I couldn’t help but feel my smile on become brighter then the last... So this is what it feels like to have a boyfriend, huh? And a boyfriend such as Oh Sehun just made the situation even better. Why didn’t I have a “real” boyfriend sooner??

We soon came to a little food stall with a few plastic tables and chairs set under a plastic tent. We had barely sat down for a minute or two before a loud shriek of joy rang through my ears. An old lady who looked a little more than 60ish, dressed in ahjumma pants and t-shirt came into my view immediately giving Sehun kisses on both cheeks. He didn’t even flinch or look disgusted, meaning that this lady must mean something to him…

“Omo! My little Sehunnie is back from Europe!!” The old lady exclaimed as she started to pinch his cheeks. Sehun gave that little eye smile beofre hugging her around the waist.

“I missed you too halmeoni.” My eyes widened at the words he had just said: did he just say halmeoni!? As in…his grandmother?! Without another thought, I stood up giving a bow and introduced myself without any further adieu. When I looked up, the old lady looked at me confused. Sehun leaned in whispering into her ear, about god knows what, to make her confused look turn into an “oh I understand” thing. Once Suits pulled away, she walked up to me and suddenly started giving me kisses on the cheeks as well.

“Ahhhhhhh so you’re the girl my grandson has fallen for??” She took my face in the palm of her hands, turning it whatever way she could as if she was carefully examining me. “Whaaaa…she’s prettier in person then how you described her my dear.” She turned my head towards Sehun as she looked at him as well; he was a bit red in the cheeks. “You two will make such beautiful children!” If I could choke/spit on the non-existent water that was in my mouth, I would; Did she just mention us having children together?! I gave Sehun a look with my eyes, making him scratch the top of his head just agreeing with his grandmother.

“Halmeoni… We aren’t even married yet...” Married!? Yet!? What the hell was this thing really planning to go THAT far?! I mean, I was just graduating high school!! Who get’s married out of high school unless I was knocked up or something…OH MY GOD DID HE TELL HER I WAS KNOCKED UP TOO!? THAT’S WHY SHE MENTIONED CHILDREN!?

“I’ll go get your favorites from the kitchen and come right back, eh??” His grandmother let go of my face and danced away. Immediately after I watched her walk inside the store, I reached across slapping his shoulder causing him to flinch.

“YAH! WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT!?” I exclaimed. Sehun rubbed the shoulder I slapped him.

“What was what about?”

“That whole thing with your grandmother!” I pointed out. “How long have you been talking to me with her?! What marriage are you talking about?!  And OH MY GOD AM I PREGNANT?!” I stood up at the last sentence causing a bit of a scene, cauing the customers to look at our table. Sehun’s eyes widened at my words and asked me to calm down as he pushed me down to sit down in my seat.

“Look, so I lied a bit, here and there okay? Not exactly about you though... just, a girl in general.” Sehun grabbed two chopsticks from the stack of plastic ones in the middle of the table. He began to nervously play with them in his hand, twirling it between his fingers as if it was a drumstick or something.

“A girl in general?” I questioned grabbing the chopstick he was spinning in one hand. “So what? Are you saying that we were in a relationship even BEFORE we met each other?”

Sehun wavered his fingers back and forth. “Sort of. Kind of. Not really…”

I sat back letting out a breath of air, trying to take in what was happening. I was either hungry or the confusion was getting to me so I massaged my temple slowly. “Would you care to explain to me the web of lies I have caught myself in now before I lose my mind?”

 “First thing is first: She isn’t my real grandmother…She was actually my nanny from birth till high school… More like, well, a second mother to me since both of my real ones are never really there for me.” Sehun checked left and right to make sure that no one was eavesdropping before leaning in lowering his voice. “Well, ever since she retired and I left for Europe we always kept in touch. She was always nagging me to find a girl to marry so she could see me well off with grandchildren, since she has no children of her own to bear any, and I got sick and tired of hearing that…So, I made up an imaginary girlfriend without really having one to take the role. I was planning to tell her when I came back that I broke up with ‘her’—“ He put little bunny ears around this “her” he was talking about. “But, then you know the situation with my parents came along and since you’re already here playing the part I figured that I could show you to her, so she knows that I'm ‘really seeing someone right now’.”

I slapped my face dragging my hand down. “Let me guess….you told her a COMPLETELY different story then what you’ve made of me now?” To my fear, Sehun nodded his head. Meaning, I would have to memorize a completely NEW set of lies in my head… Oh my god at this rate I was seriously going to get that disorder where I wouldn’t be able to tell my real self from my fake self.

“Oh….I didn’t realize that…” My jaw dropped from my mouth. Didn’t realize that!? DIDN’T REALIZE THAT?! How could he have a memory like that and become CEO of OFI… Unless—or of course—he earned that title because he is the son of the Oh family himself. Yes, that must be it. “Look, I’ll pay you extra alright??” Sehun suddenly started to panic as he started to look around. I eyed what he was looking at and Halmeoni was coming back out with a tray of food. “Please, just—“

“Leave the details to you and I follow along…” I waved the thought off as I grabbed my own chopsticks. “Yeah, yeah, as if I haven’t heard THAT one before…”

“Thank you…” Sehun mouthed as his halmeoni set down the tray in front of us. She began setting the dish in the center of the table and my dropped jaw started salivating…

“Fried chicken…” I gazed in awe at the assortment of fried chicken in front of me. I haven’t had meat like this in so long that I was too excited to even think about the conversation Sehun and I had just had. I could follow whatever he said as he provided me with good food like this all the time. That way, my mouth would be too stuffed to add any unnecessary lies to add onto the lies he was already making up.

“So Jessica-ssi I heard that you and my Sehun have been dating for quiet a while now.” She pulled up a chair and sat down on it pointing between the two of us. “Now tell me…what made you fall for my boy, huh?”

I stopped midway on my third bone putting it down carefully; Note lie: My name is supposedly Jessica to her. I put down the chicken on my plate and looked at Sehun who was eating along happily without noticing my silent plead of help. Oh well, I guess I had to tell of the details… “To be honest, I didn’t fall for him right away.” Sehun looked up right away catching his attention. He started to make a slicing motion across his neck to probably tell me to shut up, but it was too late; Halmeoni squinted her eyes turning her head a bit.

“Oh? Why does Sehun tell me that it was love at first sight then?” Sehun palmed his forehead while my mouth formed into an “O”.

“Uhm, you see…It’s just that I didn’t TOTALLY fall for him at first sight.” I tried to cover my mistake up. “Actually, I fell for him at first sight because he was dressed so nicely and looked good you know? I mean, come on—“ I leaned forward taking Sehun’s face in my hand to turn it towards his grandmother, my cheek on his cheek. “Who wouldn’t fall for this little gem?” I placed a kiss on his cheek then sat back down at my seat. Sehun nodded his head happily as his halmeoni nodded her head.

“And so how did he finally capture you’re whole attention then?” She asked setting her elbow on the table as if she was watching a scene in a romantic-comedy drama. I looked at Sehun and he motioned something that I couldn’t exactly tell. So, once again I made up another lie.

“His qualities.” Okay, well I didn’t know him for THAT long to exactly know any to name other then he was hot & dressed like it. Come to think of it…I jumped into this relationship without knowing a single characteristic trait about him. I mean, sure I’ve read facts about him online, but you never really get to know a person until you get to “know a person” you know?

“What kind of—Ah! Oh! whoa!” Halmeoni jumped up from her chair suddenly patting her . She took out a cell phone from her back pocket then laughed. “Oops…still not use to the new technology these days…Now if you excuse me, I have to take this call.” She walked back into the store leaving the two of us behind once again. When I went back to eating my chicken, I couldn’t help but have this feeling that someone was looking at me…I looked up from my plate and found the stalker.

“What are you staring at, huh?” I pointed the chicken bone at Sehun, my stalker, who was just watching me eat. Not that I had any problem of him watching me, it’s just that the look he was giving me was pissing me off; it was as if he had just won some kind of an argument or something of that sort.

“You fell for me at first sight?” He smugly smiled, crossing one leg over the other and leaning back on the chair. It was like he KNEW he was the .

“You’re a good looking guy who dresses well…Who wouldn’t fall for you?” I replied as I added a bit of hot sauce onto my plate to dip the meat of the chicken in. Sehun shrugged as if he was agreeing with what I had said.

“That’s a given, huh?” Sehun swiped his palm over his hat hair, then put the hat on backwards. I tore the crispy chicken skin off the bone like a carnivore then placed it on the bone plate. Sehun cringed a bit as he daintily started eating his chicken with poise and mannerisms intact. Have we switched gender roles or something now?

“Can I ask you a question? You know…just out of curiosity.?” Sehun nodded. “Why me?”

“Why what—you?” Sehun pointed at me.

“Why did you choose ME to be your ‘girlfriend’?”

Sehun shrugged. “You were just there at the right place and right time. Plus, I remembered you from school and the convenience store across the way so, it was like God answering my prayers right when I needed a girl. Then I thought, ‘what better time to announce a girlfriend then now?’”

“Then you made me look like a fool. Made me wait in your office for how long an then didn’t call me for…how long??” I pointed out shaking my head and clucking my tongue. “I don’t think that’s how a relationship works.”

Sehun arched a brow. “So tell me…Soo Jung.” The way he said my REAL name shocked me a bit. “Why don’t you tell me how a relationship should REALLY work then, huh?”

“Uhm…I don’t know! Like in the movies…” I tried to think back to some of the most recent Romance movies I watched. “How you know…the girl and guy meet. They start out as friends—“

“But then something happens and the girl falls for another guy. Then it’s a one sided love as the guy watches on the side line saying bull about how ‘it’s all right to be with him because as long as your happy, I’m happy’ .” I watched as Sehun angrily ripped the meat off the chicken with his bare hands. “When in reality, that guy feels like he’s being stabbed in the back because he thinks after all he has done for the girl, the girl sees it as nothing because she’s off now getting married to some other guy.” Once he finished the sentence he threw the, now clean, bone on the plate. Okay, so obviously something in his love life from the past is haunting him or…he watches a lot of romance movies too.

Just as I was contemplating on whether to push the topic further, Sehun’s halmeoni came by again and striked up a different conversation. This time though, Sehun didn’t even try to give me any signals or motions on whether or not I was saying the right thing. Instead, he stayed silent and out of it; drinking each shot glass of Soju one after the other. I know how before I said it would be nice for me too add the details every once in a while, but now that Sehun wasn’t into it….It didn’t feel…right.

“Oh my lord, look at the time!” Halmeoni looked at her cell phone. “We’ve been at this for 2 hours now and its almost midnight—“

My eyes widened. “Did you just say almost midnight!?” I stood up quickly and started to panic; I was supposed to be home BY midnight! “Mian-he Halmeoni for everything tonight, but we have to go right away.” Oh my god, as if Soo Yeon wasn’t mad enough at me already…. I looked over at Sehun and he was almost knocked out from all the alcohol he had drunk. I couldn’t ask him for a ride home in that state! If anything, I would have to fetch him a cab so he could go home which was…where?

“Oh course, of course! Wouldn’t want to keep you two around this place all night when you two have a nicer home between the two of you to share, huh?” She gave me a little nudge on the side. “Just so you know, I’m glad Sehun has a woman like you in his life….” She looked at a half awake-half sleeping state of Suits in the plastic chair. “I’m worried about him…Being so lonely after everything he has been through.” She looked at me. “But, now meeting you I’m reassured that someone will always be by his side. I don’t have to worry too much about him anymore.” She gave me the grandmother-ly smile. I looked at Sehun in the plastic chair and looked at him closely; a few strands of his hair was falling out the front of his cap, he was wearing the plaid shirt that was around his waist around his shoulders from the chilliness of the night, and his mouth a bit agape with small snoring sounds coming out from it. I guess there was a past behind that pretty face of his, huh?