Nichkhun got back home after the incident at the restaurant and he could still remembered the last thing she said to him

“You forced me into accepting to treat you this meal and you proceed to order the most expensive dishes so you can see the look on my face when I see the bill and humiliate me in front of my friends and now you feel guilty? Am I supposed to feel grateful to you now? Keep your money Mr. Nichkhun. I don’t want it.”

“Aishhh It wasn’t THAT bad right? I mean yeah I ordered lots of dishes but I finished them all. Besides I offered to pay her back but she refused……….Forget it I didn’t do anything wrong, there’s no need for me to feel guilty” Nichkhun started talking to himself, trying to convince himself (and succeeded too) that he did nothing wrong.

The next morning Nichkhun arrived at Seoul Kindergarten earlier than he should have. In fact he was there even before Victoria did.

He had time to examine the classroom more carefully today. He walked over to one of the walls of the classroom that have pictures of Victoria and her kids taped on it. There were pictures of Victoria and her kids at school, pictures of them at school play, pictures of them at a field trip to the zoo, pictures of them playing in the school yard and so on.  In every single picture on that wall, Nichkhun could see Victoria smiling so brightly that even her eyes are smiling too. He could honestly tell from those pictures that she was truly happy.

He began to wonder what would it take to make her smile like that…..Sure the kids does, that’s obvious, but what else? What kind of a man can make her smile like that?

Victoria was already in the room observing Nichkhun. What struck her was the expression on his face when he was looking at the pictures of the kids. His smile is different than the one he had when he tried to charm her friends. It’s more real, it seems like a real smile rather than a practice-perfect smile that he put on.

“Why are you here so early?” Victoria broke the silence

“Oh….I….I….I  just couldn’t sleep, so I decided to come early today” Nichkhun startled at the sound of her and couldn’t think of a response so he did the only thing he could think of, he lied

Victoria didn’t really care much about his answer to be honest. She didn’t even reply to his obvious lie about him couldn’t sleep. Instead she started preparing for class to start. For the rest of the school day things remained pretty much the same. Nichkhun was seated at the back while Victoria taught her class in front.

However, little by little and as the days gone by things began to change.

It had been two weeks since Nichkhun had started coming to the school. He began to feel a lot more comfortable with this routine of his. He would begin the day at the school, meeting the kids who had warmed up to him nicely by now, played with them, take care of them (without Victoria ordering him to do). And little by little he had begun to warmed up to Victoria as well. Ever since the first day that they met and the tricked that he pulled on her, he had been more observant of Victoria through the interactions that she had with her surroundings.

He had come to realized that Victoria Song is not only a great teacher, but she is also a very good person too. This is quite a significant development for Nichkhun because he rarely had the time and especially the will to actually really get to know a person. He was afraid of what he would find once he got to know them. To Nichkhun it was impossible to get to know a person without giving some part of you away whether you want to or not. Most of the time he ended up being disappointed and whatever part of him that he had given away was lost forever.  That’s why Nichkhun was content with the friends that he already have and he told himself he didn’t need more. However, after spending 2 weeks working and observing Victoria, Nichkhun began to reflect on his actions on the day that they first met and he could still remember the words that she said to him clearly in his mind. After the kids had all left, Nichkhun walked up to Victoria and said

“Look I know it’s been two weeks already since that incident. I’m sorry about the way I behave the day we first met ok? I shouldn’t have tricked you into treating me that meal. I’m sorry” Nichkhun apologized

Victoria was a little bit shocked to be honest. She didn’t expect an apology from him especially after all this time. She was glad though that he finally apologized for his action. It showed that he’s really not a bad guy. She had been observing him during the past two weeks as well. He seemed to keep everyone and everything at a distant at first, but she had noticed that he had opened up more especially towards the kids. Victoria was never the kind of person to hold grudges so when he apologized she was willing to let it go.

“Apology accepted Mr. Nichkhun. I too have to apologize for saying that you’re not as handsome in real life” Victoria said with a smile on her face

“Does that mean that I’m actually as handsome in real life as I am on TV?” Nichkhun asked

Victoria blushed at that question of his. Watching her turned a few shades of pink was amusing to him “That was kind of…….cute” he thought

“Let me make it up to you then. Let’s go to Luna’s for lunch. It’ll be my treat of course and we can ask Krystal to join us too” Nichkhun proposed

“Ok I’d love that” Victoria said with a bright smile that reached the eyes

They went out to fetch Krystal and told her about the plan, she thought it was a great idea. When they get to Luna’s Nichkhun discovered his best friends were also there too, which surprised him.

“What the hell are you guys doing here?” Nichkhun asked confused

“We’ve been here many times Khun, we love the food here. What about you? What are you doing here?” Teacyeon asked looking over at the girls

“You guys know each other?” Luna asked looking a little confused

“They are my best friends. How did you know them Luna? ” Nichkhun asked

“Oh they’re regulars here. They’ve been coming here for a while now. What a small world!” Luna said excitedly

“Here let me introduce you guys. This is Victoria and this is Krystal her best friend and of course you know Luna already. These are my best friends Ok Taecyeon the famous director and the best dance choreographer in all of Korea Jang Wooyoung”

After everyone had introduced themselves they all settled at a table outside on the wooden deck seeing that the weather wasn’t that hot that day. They all enjoyed the meal and each other’s company immensely. The conversation was flowing, laughter could be heard continuously. Nichkhun really had a great time. He was relaxed and smiled a lot which hadn’t gone unnoticed to Victoria. She was surprised to see this side of him. He’s handsome and pleasant to the eyes for sure, but when he let his guard down and allowed himself to fully enjoy the moment it was truly a wonderful thing to witness. Victoria didn’t realized that her eyes were glued to the man sitting across from her for just a second too long when all of a sudden Nichkhun caught Victoria’s eyes looking at him with a smile on her face.

Victoria quickly looked away from the table, blushing and feeling embarrassed at herself.

Vic POV

“Oh I hope he didn’t notice me looking at him!! This is so embarrassing!”

Nichkhun just chuckled at Victoria’s reaction “Cute” he thought

Victoria glanced at Nichkhun again to see if he was still looking at her. When she saw that his eyes were still fixed at her face, she quickly looked away again feeling her cheeks getting hotter by the second. Nichkhun caught her second attempt at stealing glances of him to which he started giggling because he found it absolutely adorable.

“Can’t stop looking at me huh? Kekeke” Nichkhun thought

For the rest of the evening Victoria didn’t dare look at Nichkhun anymore. She was afraid that her face would exploded if she look at him again. Unlike Nichkhun who stole glances of Victoria every now and then throughout the whole meal. After the meal, it was time to leave, Wooyoung and Teacyeon were headed back to work, Krystal was headed back home to get ready for a sit down dinner type of event that she had to attend with her parents and therefore, she couldn’t drive Victoria home.

“I’m really sorry Vic. I really have to get home and get ready for this thing…oh gosh I wish I don’t have to go!” Krystal said pouting her lips

“It’s ok Krys. I’ll be fine. I’ll just take the bus. It’s no problem” Victoria said trying to make her friend feel better

“Actually I can drive her home. I don’t have anything to do this evening anyway.” Nichkhun offered

“Really? Thank you very much Khun” Krystal said with a bright smile on her face

“No! it’s ok…really no need to bother him Krys. I’m fine taking the bus” Victoria said trying frantically to refuse his offer. Nichkhun quickly interrupted and said to Krystal

“Don’t worry I’ll get her home safely. You should get going then. Bye”

“Ok. Thanks again Khun. Bye Vic. See you tomorrow” Krystal said goodbye to her friend and then left.

Nichkhun turned towards Victoria who was busy looking and examining her own shoes at the moment.

“Shall we go?”

“Yes..yes…we should get going” Victoria replied without looking at his face

Vic POV

“Oh my god! It was awkward enough at the restaurant and now it’ll just be the two of us in the car???? Ok inhale Vic…you can do this….just act COOL!!”

On the way to her house, Victoria just kept looking out the window. She didn’t dare to look at him or say anything. Nichkhun who kept looking over at Victoria with a mischievous smile on his face was amused at her reaction.

“Do you realized that we have been driving for 10 minutes and you still haven’t told me where you live yet” Nichkhun said looking at Victoria with a teasing smile on his face

“Oh sorry…I forgot” Victoria gave him directions to her house and after 25 minutes of driving in silence they had reach Victoria’s house. Victoria’s house is a small 2 story house with a nice little garden in the outskirt of Seoul.

“Thank you very much for driving me home” Victoria turned to face him while giving him a 90 degree bow while still sitting in the car

“Bang!” She hit her head with the arm rest while bowing to him

“Hahahaha” Nichkhun burst out laughing. 

“Aishh is it really THAT funny!” Victoria glared at him while rubbing her forehead with one hand

“Actually…..yes hahaha” Nichkhun answered and continued laughing, stomping his feet and with his answer Victoria started laughing at her own clumsiness too.

When both of them could control their laughter, they were both looking at each other smiling at what just happened. Victoria smiled at Nichkhun and bowed again and said

“Thank you very much Mr. Nichkhun for driving me home”

“Khun please…....just Khun” He said looking in her eyes with a sweet smile on his face

Victoria smiled and looked at him in the eyes and finally she said “Thank you very much Khun” before getting out of the car and let herself into her home.