"He asked me out on a date. Me!"

There's silence for a second, and then, on the other side of the phone, Lina gasps. "Really? What did you say? How did it go?"

Haeri rolls over on her bed. "It was... so weird! I felt great at the time, you know, because we had just won math champs? And then he just... hugged me, and asked. I said yes," she finishes, face slightly pink even though Lina isn't even there in person.

"Aw," cooes Lina. "My baby Haeri, getting asked out to her first date." Her voice turns serious. "But listen. Didn't Sehun treat you like a jerk just before school started? You thought he was going to make your life hell on earth. Will you be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Haeri answers. "All that stuff we've heard about him and his friends - I don't think most of it is true, actually, or it's just exaggerated. He's really not bad at all, I promise."

"Alright, then," Lina says slowly. "But be careful. You never know what he might have up his sleeve."

"I will. Hey, do you want to go out for ice-cream today?"

'Sorry," Lina says bluntly, "I have some family stuff going on today. Another time, okay?" Her voice sounds strangely distant to Haeri.

Lina might be going through some tough family problems, Haeri thinks, and nods to herself in understanding.

"That's fine. Call me whenever."

"Sure, and I really gotta go now. Keep me updated on stuff."

There's a click, and then the line goes dead. Haeri puts the phone down and buries her face in her pillow, sighing.

Everything seems so surreal.

Sehun is set to pick her up five minutes from now, and Haeri is pretty much ready to cancel the date because she's so nervous. She spent an hour picking out an outfit and debating how much makeup to wear. Sehun didn't even tell her where they were going, so she has no idea if anything she's picked is even appropriate.

I'm low-key freaking out, she texts Lina. What if everything goes wrong?!?!!

Lina replies a few seconds later.

Haeri, girl, calm down! It's just a date. You got this!

Haeri frowns at the thumbs up sticker Lina sends and curses Lina in her head. 

Finally, with a minute left to spare, Haeri makes her way out the front door to wait outside.

"Mom, dad, I'm going out! Be back in a couple hours."

"Okay," her mom calls down from upstairs, voice muffled. "See you!"

Sehun is exactly on time, pulling up to the house in a stylish red sports car. He waves to Haeri and pats the seat next to him.

"You look nice today. But then, you always do."

"Well," Haeri says back, "aren't you just the gentleman today? What happened to the motorcycle?"

"I couldn't pick you up in that, could I?" Sehun answers with a laugh. "Besides, seeing as I basically ran you over in it... I won't subject you to that again."

"Thank god," Haeri laughs, though her stomach is full of butterflies. "By the way, where are we going?"

But Sehun only winks at her. "It's a surprise."

"Of course," Haeri groans in mock disgust. "Why did I even bother asking?"

Sehun turns on the radio and tells Haeri she can pick the station. When she sets the station on a rock channel, he raises his eyebrows, but says nothing.

"What?" Haeri says defensively.

"I hadn't put you down as a rock type of girl," Sehun replies. "But that's fine with me. I like rock too."

The drive is longer than Haeri had imagined it would be, and they spend the next twenty minutes or so chatting casually. Through it all, Haeri keeps her eyes on the scenery outside, noting that she has no idea where they are, until one of Sehun's remarks startles her.

"Haeri, is there something wrong with my face? Is that why you won't look at me?"

Haeri gasps in horror and turns to Sehun immediately. "Of course not! I was just-"

She stops mid-cry to the view of Sehun laughing.

"You meanie," she mutters. "You really had me scared for a second!"

"Sorry, sorry," Sehun chuckles. "It's just, you should loosen up. I won't bite, you know!"

Haeri blushes and turns to the window again. "Whatever..."

A couple minutes later, they pull up in a largely empty parking lot tucked away in the secluded green hills in the countryside. Haeri marvels at the scenery as she steps out of the car. Sehun goes to get things from the back (she isn't sure what) and appears a little later next to her, arms laden with a picnic basket, and two mysterious items covered in cloth.

Haeri reaches for the cloth-covered items right away, curious, but Sehun moves her hand away with a smile. "That's for later."

This doesn't bother her too much, because she's secretly thrilled and delighted at the prospect of having a picnic with Sehun in these quiet green hills. Once he's checked that he has everything, he locks the car and then they make their way into the area.

Just a little into the hills is a relatively flat grass-covered area with a small picnic table sitting in the middle of it. At their approach, a couple fat rabbits perk up their ears and disappear, and Haeri watches them with a childish delight, unable to get over how cute they are. At the other end of the clearing is another surprise: a small silver pond.

"This place," she declares, "is beautiful."

"I'm glad you think so," Sehun replies happily. He begins to unpack the basket and lay out food items: a plate of small sandwiches, another plate of fruit, and to top it all off, a small apple pie.

Haeri thanks Sehun profusely for preparing everything and bringing it here, and he waves off her thanks with a smile.

"I wasn't sure what kinds of things you like to eat," he confesses, "so I tried to bring a little of everything."

"It's perfect," Haeri assures him.

The meal is indeed as delicious as it looks and both of them feel refreshed and full afterwards. They end up dabbling their feet in the pond and throwing bread crumbs to the fish. Overall, it's one of the loveliest afternoons Haeri has experienced in a while.

When the sky begins to get dark, Haeri looks at Sehun expectantly, thinking they should probably pack up and head back soon. Instead, Sehun reaches for the mysterious items from before and takes the cloth off, revealing two mini telescopes.

"We're going to star-gaze!" he reveals, and hands one of the telescopes to her.

She handles the instrument carefully, afraid to break it, but Sehun takes her hands in hers firmly and shows her how to use it. With Sehun's light breath on her neck and his voice in her ear, Haeri feels hyper-aware of everything: the touch of his skin, the singing of the birds, the now vibrant colors of the sky.

When the sun sets completely and they are suspended in the darkness, Haeri and Sehun look through their telescopes into the star-flecked night. Sehun has an astonishing amount of constellations memorized, and he names and points them out to her one by one.

"See, there, the three stars in a line: that's Orion's belt. And if you look a little farther up, you can see Betelgeuse. Near that is Bellatrix, which is only a little dimmer than Betelgeuse...

"And there, see, a little farther up from Orion in Taurus, that's my favorite star cluster. It's called the Pleiades. Aren't they beautiful? The bright blue color they have means they're burning pretty brightly..."

As the night passes, Sehun's voice grows deeper and lower, as if he's honoring the quietness of the night; as if what he's saying is a secret meant only for Haeri's ears. He makes her feel like center of his world.

Like the center of his universe.

Before she knows it, Haeri feels drowsy, and she's leaning into Sehun's comfortable arms. He shifts a little to accommodate her more but otherwise continues listing stars. Haeri closes her eyes and snuggles up, content to just listen, and with Sehun's voice whispering in the background and the humming of the crickets beyond the hills, she is lulled into a warm, gentle sleep.

A little later, she wakes up when Sehun wraps a blanket around her and starts to pack things up.

"Sorry," she manages, and yawns.

"Shh, don't worry," Sehun soothes. "You can go back to sleep, if you'd like. I'll drop you off at your house and wake you once we get there."

"..'kay..." Haeri mumbles, already falling back asleep.

Before she knows it, Sehun is shaking her gently awake. She rubs her eyes blearily.

"Thank you so much. I had a great time."

"No, thank you," he replies, "for giving this a chance. I'll see you at school, okay?"

"Yeah, see you," Haeri answers, and waving one more time at him, she watches as the car headlights make a turn, and then disappear into the darkness.