Seungyoon watches intently as Jinwoo jogs down the steps in front of the main entrance of his house, a quilted Burberry coat draped across his left arm. A servant bows and wishes the young master a good day as Jinwoo gets on Seungyoon’s silver BMW convertible.

“Good morning, Jinwoo-hyung,” Seungyoon greets with a bright smile. 

“Morning, thanks for picking me up. Where are we going, by the way?”

“It’s a surprise! I’m gonna bring you to somewhere fun.” Seungyoon puts on his sunglasses and starts driving out of the mansion.

“Really?” Jinwoo tries to peek at the car’s GPS to see where they are going, but there is no location input. He is left wondering where they are heading, as Seungyoon is navigating through the smooth Sunday morning traffic in downtown Seoul.

“Juice!” Seungyoon reads a text message from Mino at a red light, quickly grabbing a bottle of poisonous-looking purple substance and handing it over to the person in the passenger seat.

“What’s this?” Jinwoo eyes the bottle carefully.

“It’s red dragon fruit juice! I made it for you this morning.”

“Oh, that’s really nice of you,” Jinwoo uncaps the bottle and takes a sip of the nutritious drink, “I thought you’re testing a sample from your client.”

Seungyoon laughs, “Yeah, now that you say it, I realize the juice looks kinda scary.”

Jinwoo takes another sip and comments, “I really like fruits. Thanks, Seungyoon.”

Seungyoon only beams, hands reaching back to his phone to send Mino a high five emoticon. He starts a conversation about his new client, an exporter of exotic health products from China, and his work in Kang Holdings, and Jinwoo is too immersed in their talk that he does not notice a Porsche Turbo following them not-too-stealthily.

***

“Dude, what are we doing exactly?” Seunghoon asks lazily before letting out a big yawn.

“Trailing Seungyoonie and Jinwoo-hyung.” Mino replies, eyes fully concentrating on the attention-grabbing car in front of them.

“Yeah, but why? Shouldn’t we let them have a proper date?”

“Of course we are gonna let them have a proper date. But Seungyoon-hyung said he needs help.”

Seunghoon yawns again, this time longer and louder than the previous one. “Didn’t we help enough in his first date?”

Mino clicks his tongue. “No, this is different. He wants me to help him observe them at a distance and tells him what to do. I thought the more eyes the better, so I dragged you along. Yoonie is inexperienced, you see.”

“All three of us are equally inexperienced, you stupid!” Seunghoon retorts in annoyance. “What dating tips can we give him? Not like we ever dated anyone. And this is the ice prince Kim Jinwoo! Only heaven knows how to catch his attention.”

“Hyung, where’s your loyalty? This is our best buddy Seungyoon we’re talking about!”

“Let me guess. He promised to reward you with a nice dinner.”

“…”

“Seriously, Mino, I thought you’re on a fat management programme.”

***

“We’re here!” Seungyoon exclaims excitedly, entering into the parking lot of the newest amusement park in Seoul. It is a mammoth complex of outdoor and indoor attractions for all ages and it is linked to a shopping mall for bored parents or for those who want to take a break from playing.

Jinwoo cannot bring himself to utter a single word. His first memory of amusement parks was Disneyland Paris with his parents, barely months before they passed away. Since then, he refused to go to any more theme parks, until a certain someone brought back the childlike happiness in Jinwoo. He held Jinwoo’s hands and brought him to all the Disneylands he never had the chance to visit with his parents, and when they were watching the fireworks of the parade in Magic Kingdom in Florida, their last stop before going back to New York, Jinwoo had his first kiss. The memory is slowly rising to the surface of his brain, so vivid that he subconsciously raises his fingers to touch his plump lips, reminding himself of the warmth of -

“Jinwoo-hyung? Are you alright?” Seungyoon’s solid voice breaks into the reverie.

Jinwoo jumps slightly and blinks his eyes a few times. Shaking himself out of the foolish daydream, he forces a small smile, “Of course. Let’s go before the place gets crowded.”

“Don’t worry. I have VVIP access, because Seunghoon’s family owns the entire thing.”

“Great.” Jinwoo wears his coat and tightens his muffler around his neck, while picking up his pace to keep up with the super enthusiastic Kang Seungyoon.

Jinwoo is determined to have fun today, and he is not going to let his past get the better of him. He forces himself to focus on the sunny sky, the joyful atmosphere and his bubbly and chatty date. They wear stupid-looking hats and furry neon-coloured earmuffs from a stall and go on a series of rides without stopping even once. 

After they step off the platform of an extremely scary roller coaster, Seungyoon peeks into his phone. It is past noon and there’s a new message from Mino: “Dude, take a break and eat some lunch! Jinwoo-hyung looks tired...” and a string of complains from Seunghoon, basically telling Seungyoon to end the date soon because he is sleepy and that Seungyoon owes him a nice dinner too.

Seungyoon chuckles and throws his arm casually around Jinwoo’s shoulder. “Are you hungry? Let’s grab some lunch! What do you feel like eating, hyung?”

Jinwoo stiffens at the unfamiliar touch, but calms down when he notes that it’s just Seungyoon’s arm. “Fastfood? I miss cheap burgers and fries.”

“But it’s so unhealthy! Do you know the burger patties are actually - ” Seungyoon starts nagging, but when Jinwoo starts frowning he quickly says, “But once in a while it should be alright! Let me check the map and see where the burger place is. Hmm…”

***

Mino tries to contain his drool as he watches Seungyoon and Jinwoo walking around and eating their popcorns, cotton candies, caramel apples, lemon sodas. After finishing all of them, the two approached a Korean snack stall and Jinwoo takes a bite out a steaming scallion pancake. Mino declares, “I cannot take it anymore.”

Wiping his snot with a tissue paper, Seunghoon spits out, “I’m the one who should say that! I didn’t get enough sleep yesterday, and just when I thought I could rest today, I have to be here and become a spy in my own amusement park.” He starts coughing lightly.

“No - I mean I should go and buy some snacks too.” Mino says. “You okay, hyung? You seem sick.”

“What do you think!” Seunghoon replies angrily. “Kang Seungyoon seriously owes me five dinners and I’m gonna make sure they’re all nice dinners."

“Okay, sorry sorry. Look, they just left the stall! Let me buy some food and a warm drink for you. They should head back soon, don’t worry, it’s already getting late and Seungyoon wouldn’t wanna be tired for work tomorrow.”

Seungyoon blows his nose loudly into his shrivelled tissue paper. “Oh, you never know. He seems obsessed with Kim Jinwoo.” 

***

Jinwoo sits down on a long wooden bench and straightens his legs. Seungyoon follows suit and when he starts feeling uncomfortable with the silence that sets in, he takes out his phone and says, “Hyung, let’s take a selca!”

Jinwoo replies, “Okay,” and scoots closer to fit into Seungyoon’s phone camera. The younger is enjoying the warmth of Jinwoo’s body heat and patting himself on the back for the brilliant idea. 

Saving the picture, Seungyoon starts complimenting Jinwoo, “Ah, it’s dark but your picture comes out well. You look really handsome today, Jinwoo-hyung. Actually, when I first saw you, I couldn’t believe my own eyes because you looked really good.”

Not used to the flattery, Jinwoo only smiles awkwardly and says, “Thanks. You look good yourself.”

“Am I?” Seungyoon lets out a nervous laugh. “Honestly, hyung, I thought it would be difficult to talk to you and I was scared, but thanks for being nice to me so far.”

“You must be doing it for your mother. Thanks for treating me well too. I know my reputation is not really good in Korea.”

Seungyoon turns to look at Jinwoo’s face, half hidden in his thick wool muffler. “Initially yes, I only went through with it because my mom wanted me to, but now I am doing it out of my own - "

Suddenly there was a fit of loud nonstop violent coughing. Seungyoon pauses and asks, “What’s that?"

Jinwoo stands up, starting to look around when he spots two figures beside a nearby empty shack. He gestures at Seungyoon to follow as he walks over and ends up finding Seunghoon coughing like there’s no tomorrow and Mino beside him wiping tears and snots that start to form on his hyung’s face. Jinwoo passes Seunghoon his own cup of warm strawberry tea and the coughs gradually recede.

Soon after, Seunghoon shouts with a hoarse voice at Mino, “Dude, I pointed to your hot chocolate cup! Why did you pass me your spicy tuna kimbap? The smell was so freaking peppery!”

“Sorry, hyung, I wasn’t paying attention - are you okay now?” Mino’s voice is full of concern.

“Yeah, much better. Thanks to Jinwoo-hyung,” Seunghoon says, addressing the person behind Mino.

Mino turns around and his eyes widen in shock at the sight of Jinwoo and an obviously stressed Seungyoon.

“You’re welcome. But what are you guys doing here?” Jinwoo looks at the faces of the other guys with a cold and suspicious stare. “Is this a prank or - “

Seunghoon blurts out to save the day, “We’re on a date!” He grabs Mino’s hand and intertwines their fingers. “I wanted to show him my new theme park complex. Are you guys here on a date too?"

Jinwoo comments, “Oh, I didn’t know you two are together.” He glances at Seungyoon and back at the two other men.

Sensing that Jinwoo’s suspicions are not fully allayed, Seunghoon says, “Should we all head back now?” Seungyoon looks reluctant to leave, half-hoping he can get his plan to confess back to motion.

Unfortunately Jinwoo says, “Sure. It’s getting dark and cold and I have a morning flight tomorrow." 

Seungyoon lets out a barely audible sigh. “Okay, I’ll drive you home.”

“Wait, I live much nearer to Jinwoo-hyung, won’t it be better if I drive him?” Mino asks innocently.

Firmly gripping Mino’s wrist, Seunghoon wriggles his eyebrows suggestively, “But Mino, babe, you need to drive me home and your car can only fit two.”

Jinwoo taps Seungyoon’s shoulder and says, “It’s getting really cold here. Can we go to your car now? Mino, Seunghoon, I’ll see you guys around.”

Walking back to the parking lot, Seungyoon hands Jinwoo a heat pack and asks, “Where are you flying off tomorrow, hyung?”

“Jeju-do. I have to stay there until the weekend for a project.”

“Ah, if you’re not tired, do you wanna hang out after you get back?”

“Alright. I’ll text you.” 

The two other guys are still inside the theme park, escaping to the indoor arena for warmth. Mino starts complaining, “What the hell was that, hyung?”

Seunghoon replies caustically with the iest face he can muster in his sick state, “You mean you can think of a better excuse? Did you see Jinwoo-hyung’s face? He almost thought all of us were playing around with him!”

Realizing the truth in Seunghoon’s words, Mino keeps his mouth shut.

“I think we should stay away from the both of them now. Jinwoo-hyung looked seriously scary just now.”

Mino nods in agreement. “Not like I can meet them if I want to. I will be very busy.”

“You keep saying you’re busy, but somehow you have time for weird spying mission like this?”

“No, hyung, next week my work will be really really really intense. You’ll seriously miss my face - “

Seunghoon mumbles, “Keep dreaming."