[Nikki’s POV]

“Ya. You’re 5 minutes late.” Wang Kong nagged as soon as he saw me entering the small Toppoki House where we agreed to meet.

I’ve been holding myself back all these time but I just couldn’t help but feel that unexplainable little taste of heaven every time I see his face and he looks back at me.

“Peace yo!” I raised my two fingers for a V-sign. I dragged the chair out of the table and got seated. “I sincerely apologize for making a global Hallyu star wait for five minutes.” I grinned.

“I waited for 20 minutes, dude.” Wang Kong rebutted.

“But we agreed to meet at 10:00, DUDE. And it’s still 10:05.” I countered.

“Fine.” His eyebrows finally stopped creasing and he let out his usual heart-melting smile. My headache magically disappeared for five seconds.

“How are you?” His smile persisted as he asked and motioned the menu towards me. I got lost for a good few seconds as I tried to take in the perfection in front of me. Jackson Wang’s smile has always been a wonderful sight.

“Hungry.” I immediately dismissed my daydreaming thoughts and scanned the menu in front of me although I already perfectly knew what I was going to eat. And although I lacked sleep the entire week, my insides suddenly felt so alive the moment I got to see his face up-close once again.

He chuckled. “You always are.”

“I know. You should stop going out with me, or else your diet will be ruined.” I said, running my fingers on the menu.

“I have no choice. The others are yet to arrive tonight.”

“Right.” I nodded my head in agreement and looked at him again. Our eyes meeting still give me inconceivable pleasure. “I wonder how they’re doing. Mia isn’t replying to any of my messages for the last 24 hours.”

“ATM please.” Jackson said with his wang puppy smile.

“Huh? Do you need to withdraw money? Don’t worry, I’m paying. I still owe you, remember?”

“No. ATM. At the moment.” He placed both of his hands on the table for dramatic emphasis. My forehead wrinkled in confusion. “Just stop wondering how they’re doing, okay? Let’s just talk about what's now... about the two of us.” He was motioning his point fingers back and forth.

For some reason, his words made me smile frenziedly. He smiled back ever so handsomely that my heart almost ended up on the floor.

“You shaved.” I said.

“Oh. Yeah.” He was instinctively touching his own face. “You must’ve seen my photos at the airport. Of course I shaved as soon as I arrived at the dorm. How am I going to face you with an unshaven beard? You’re just going to make fun of me.”

I laughed. “No. Well, yes. But you still look good though.”

“I know. I know. Stop praising me and just order. I know you’re already hungry.” He said and motioned for the restaurant staff.

“Order me one Toppoki Cheese.” I told him.

“Okay. Mine would be Rabokki. It’s the best here!”

“You’ve been here before?” I asked.

“Of course! Our dormitory is just nearby.”

“Seriously?”

The restaurant staff arrived and Jackson stated our orders in fluent Korean.

“Hey, add some kimbap.” I told him and he nodded right away.

When the staff left, we continued the conversation.

“Yeah. I just walked on my way here.” He responded.

“Me too! I mean, I was in Seoul since yesterday and I spent the night at my friend’s place. His apartment is also just a walking distance from here.”

He eyed me suspiciously. “His? A guy friend then.”

“Ya. It’s not what you think. I don’t do such things.” I crossed my eyebrows at his unexpected attack.

“I didn’t say anything. Why are you being defensive?” He shrugged his shoulders and poured some water to my glass and then to his own glass.

“I’m not.” I chuckled at how our conversation was going.

“Okay. I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear anything.” He cocked his head to one side. “So where did you film this week?” He asked.

“Sejong.” I replied.

“You mean, in Gwanghwamun?” He asked innocently.

“Ya. Not the Sejong Statue, you idiot.” I laughed at his adorable stupidity. “There’s Sejong City 75 miles away from Seoul. It’s near Daejeon.”

“Oooh.” He was obviously amazed. “Ya. I’ve been in Korea since 2011 but it seems like you know more about Korea than I do.”

“I ought to know. It’s my job.” I just replied coolly. And finally, our food arrived.

“Whoa. I miss Korean food!” Jackson expressed as he rolled the chopsticks in between his palms and successfully had them separated.

“Ya. Don’t you think you’re over-reacting? You’ve only been away for just a few days.” I chuckled and grabbed my own chopsticks.

“You have no idea what we ate at the jungle. I never imagined I could eat such creatures in my whole life!”

I continued to laugh at his quirky expression when I suddenly saw a familiar face sitting on a table just behind Jackson.

“What’s wrong?” Jackson asked when he possibly noticed my reaction.

“Nothing. It’s just… I think I’ve seen that girl before.” I said in a low voice.

“Who?” He asked, his eyes trying to follow my own gaze.

“Don’t look back!” My whisper came with force into it. “She’s sitting right behind you.”

“Ya. You make it sound like a scene from a horror movie. So creepy.”

I suddenly laughed at his comment. “Really?”

“Ya. Just eat.” He said, pushing a kimbap into my own mouth. I struggled as I chewed it in one go. He laughed. I eyed him with daggers. We continued feeding our hungry stomachs.

“Ya. Can you just freely roam around here? What if your fans see you?”

“It’s okay. It’s not something I should be guilty for anyway.”

“Ya. Your fans have been bad-mouthing about me on SNS. I just don’t react to their comments but I read them… all of them.”

“Stop being so active in SNS. You’ll have a much peaceful life if you do that.”

“But I could fully understand them. I perfectly know how they feel. I am a fangirl, after all. I’m just lucky that my idol goes out to eat with me.”

“Did you just realize that one now?” He smirked.

“I already know since December of 2014. I just didn’t know back then I could get any luckier.”

He smiled at me once more.

“I’ll tell you a secret.” He said.

“What?” I asked.

He neared his face to me and gestured for me to come closer. I hesitated for a moment but I did it anyway. “We’re currently preparing for another comeback.” He whispered.

I distanced an inch away out of surprise. “Seriously? You’re still even promoting Just Right!”

“Yeah. It’s a dark and y concept this time.”

“Wow! Seriously?!”

We were whispering to each other as if afraid of getting caught.

“I’m only telling you this because you’re buying me food.”

“I’ll buy you more food next time. When’s the comeback?” I asked in a low voice.

“Eyyy. You’re too nosy.”

“You started it!”

“Next month.” He continued to whisper.

“Wow.”

“We’ll do a live showcase on the day of our comeback. The song is really catchy.”

“That’s so cool. I hope it’s a weekend so we can go to Seoul during that time.”

“Why? What’s your schedule for the next few weeks?” His voice got back to its normal state and I followed suit.

“We’ll be all around the North and South Chungcheong province for this month and next month. We have to capture how the sceneries look like during summer and autumn.”

“Right. It’s already autumn season next month.”

“I’m actually looking forward to the autumn season. I like how the leaves change their colors. It’s really beautiful.”

“Me too.” He nodded. “So, who’s this friend you stayed the night over?”

I laughed. “I thought you’re just going to pretend you didn’t hear anything.”

“Fine. I’m not asking.” He sounded like a total kid. I continued to laugh.

“It’s Hoya. Mia’s ex-boyfriend.” I replied.

“The… the… gay… that one?” He asked ever so slowly as if it’s a delicate topic.

“How did you know that?”

“Mark mentioned it to me once.”

“Wow. You guys are such a chatterbox.” I said and whispered the next sentence. “Well, yeah, he’s gay so you don’t need to be jealous about anything.” I teased.

“Whoa! I’m not jealous! I’m Wang Jackson. Wild and y. Never jealous. Never. Get that?”

I was already holding my stomach while laughing so hard at how funny he sounded. “You don’t have to give me a tough retort. I’m just kidding. You’re too gullible.”

“I’m just kidding as well.” He said and moved closer to me again. He then whispered, “I know your eyes are just on me.” He shrugged his shoulders and continued eating.

“Wow. Wang Jackson. Wild and y. Forever conceited. Forever. Get that?”

“There’s no such thing as forever.” He countered.

“Ya. There is forever. Well, human beings… mortals… can’t create something that lasts forever. But the One up there is forever. Spirituality is forever. Bodies die. The soul does not.”

“Oohhh!” He paused from eating and sarcastically clapped his hands in a slow motion. “Wow. Nicole Sy. You don’t have to give me an intellectual retort though.” He was shaking his head in astonishment.

“How did you even know my full name?”

“Oh. Ah. Didn’t you tell me before?”

I shook my head. “No. I don’t remember telling you my full name.”

“Really? Then I must have read it from your blog.” He casually shrugged again and continued eating.

“You visited my blog?”

“Ya. Your Instagram posts always say ‘More details about my adventure on the blog’ blah blah and then you always put the link on the caption so I got curious once and tried to check your blog posts. How do you even get the time to do all of that? You’re so busy with work and you’re still even running a blog!”

“I haven’t been updating lately actually.”

“Get some rest. You deserve it.”