"So," Ga In said, sprawled out on her bed, eating another slice of pizza. "Anything new happen since the last time we talked?"

I was sitting reclined in her swivel chair, feet resting crossed on her bed in front of me as I ate my own slice. I had gotten to her place later than I had intended to, having been stopped by my mom and questioned about my choice of clothing after I got back from my date with Kai. I tried dancing around giving her an honest answer, but it was pretty obvious I was avoiding her questions. I attempted throwing in some small truths-well, at least I think they're truths-like how the person I had met up with likes to dress nice and I felt better matching their level of nice dressing. Or whatever. She let it go, but I'm sure she knew I was keeping something back. It was still just too weird to admit that I already had a boyfriend when I still hadn't managed to make any new friends.

When I got to Ga In's she was practically ravenous, having a metabolism that burns calories like a furnace burns wood, and I hadn't ended up eating much at lunch having lost my appetite part way through the meal due to nerves. As a result the moment I arrived we ordered pizza and were now sitting in her room eating while her parents and two of her siblings were out, the youngest in his room with his own pizza playing video games.

"I made a friend," I answered thinking it would be best to ease her into the news.

"Really?" she asked, looking at me in disbelief while she took another bite. "I thought you didn't like people."

"My parents are forcing me to socialize."

"I'm surprised you agreed to go along with it."

"Well, I hadn't actually planned to make friends, just make a small noncommittal effort here and there so I'd have something to tell them about until they forgot. It was more of an accident."

"I can't imagine you accidentally making a friend," she said, grabbing yet another slice. "Losing, yes. Making, no."

"You're so supportive."

"You barely remember to text me every month."

"You're no better."

"Don't try to change the subject."

I gave her a look as she stared back with an innocent face; wide eyed and dabbing at with a napkin.

"Anyways," I said, trying to steer the conversation back into easing her into the news. While Jin Ri had been excited, I wasn't so sure how Ga In would be. She was more rooted in the real world than Jin Ri was, more practical, usually. She might be supportive of it, but she might also want to meet him. I wasn't as nervous of that as I would have been before. As I've mentioned, guys have tried to use me to get to Ga In before. Kai, on the other hand, already knew about Ga In, had seen her, but still had asked me out, still had told me all about how he started liking me, even when Ga In had been standing next to me. He had barely mentioned her when he told me about seeing us. He only mentioned her because it was necessary to the story, not because she was a key player. It made me feel better, because I believed when he said he liked me, even after having seen Ga In. He could still fall for her after he got to know her, people were always drawn to her, but she did have a difficult personality for long-term relationships, at least close relationships. She'd been called a on more than one occasion, and would even use the term to describe herself. I would probably use the word to describe her, too.

But I guess that's all a problem that I'll have to cross when I get to it. Right now, I still just needed to tell her.

"This one friendship makes it easier," I said. "He has a lot of friends, so I'm sure that will make my parents feel better."

"He?" she asked, arching an eyebrow, catching on fast.

"Yes, he. As in not female."

Ga In stopped eating and stared at me, observing.

"And is he the reason you were late today?"

I looked away to a corner in ceiling on the other side of the room, suddenly finding it fascinating.

"In a way."

"And how does that work?"

"It was more because my mom stopped me to ask about my clothing choice."

At this she dropped her pizza, grabbing a napkin to wipe the grease off her hands as she scooted to the edge of the bed by my feet. She leaned forward when she reached her spot, all seriousness.

"And how were you dressed?"

"Like I was going on a date," I answered, now inspecting me pizza.

"And why were you dressed like that if you were just hanging out with a friend?"

"Because it might have actually been a date."

She didn't respond, and I looked at her and saw she was just watching me, waiting for me to elaborate.

"Because he might actually be my boyfriend."

She stared back at me for a second, completely still before bursting out into wailing and fake tears before rushing over to me and throwing her arms around me.

"My baby's all grown up!"

"Stop!" I said, trying to push her away while getting the pizza in my hand away from her. "Think of the pizza!"

"Sorry!" she said, pulling back, smiling proudly down at me. "I just never thought this day would come."

"So you thought I'd die old and alone with fifty cats?"

"Well, not fifty."

"Thanks," I answered back, relieved she was happy for me. "That's very encouraging."

"Well," she said as she leaned back against her bed, grabbing her pizza and taking another bite. "You never really seemed that interested before."

"Touché," I said, not mentioning how part of the reason was because most of the guys were more interested in her than me anyways. It'd just make her feel bad, and it wasn't really her fault.

"Wait," she said while chewing. "I thought you said it was an accident. What did you mean? That you accidentally met him? Or did you accidentally start dating him?"

She said the last part sarcastically, waiting for my answer as I stared down at my pizza, too embarrassed to answer.

"You didn't accidentally start dating him did you?"

I remained silent.

"How in the world do you accidentally start dating someone?"

"Serendipity?"

"Be serious, Soo Young. What happened?"

"Well, he told me he liked me, and I told him I liked him, too."

"I didn't know you liked anyone."

"Well, not like that. He meant it like that, I meant that I liked him as a person, and he misunderstood."

"How did he say it?"

"He said, 'I like you.'"

"And how did you say it?"

"I said, 'I like you, too.'"

She gave me a flat look.

"You can't really blame him for not understanding. No one would have guessed that's what you meant. I wouldn't have guessed that's what you meant, not unless you specifically said so."

"Well, I didn't realize how he meant it was different from mine."

She heaved a sigh and lowered her head into one of her hands, rubbing her forehead.

"And then what?"

"Then he asked me a question while I was leaving and I couldn't hear him and I just said yes without thinking and left. I didn't realize what I had done until the next day, yesterday, and all his friends started coming up to me to talk. And the wolves descend and all that."

She looked at me and sighed again, shaking her head.

"Serendipity."

"Serendipity," I nodded.

"And you plan on continuing to go out with him?"

"That is my present plan."

"Does he know?"

"I may not have the best social skills but I know better than that."

"Just checking," she said, leaning back on the bed. "So I take it he's nice?"

"Seems to be."

"Smart?"

"He has smart friends."

"Good looking?"

I blushed without thinking, and Ga In smiled at me, looking genuinely happy for me.

"I'm still having trouble imagining you dating someone."

"But you can picture me with fifty cats?"

"I told you, it wasn't that many."

"Excuse me, forty-nine."

"More like forty-eight."

"Oh, no, you're right. There's a huge difference between those numbers."

"You're so sassy tonight, Miss I-Got-A-Boyfriend," she paused again. "You know I'm going to have to meet him."

"I assumed as much," I answered as I finished my pizza and then grabbed a napkin; finally full while Ga In went in for another slice.

"I have to meet him soon. I have to approve him, you know."

"I've never had to approve your boyfriends."

"That's because I know how to handle boys. I can read them better than you can. You still have issues understanding the psychology of a five year old."

"Children are very complex these days." 

"All my brother liked to do a that age was play video games and eat."

"I can't relate to that."

"All you like to do is read and eat."

"Those are vastly different."

"Whatever," she said, pulling her legs up and crossing them. "I have some news of my own."

"What is it?" I asked, interested. Ga In's news tended to be much more interesting than mine. She spends a lot of time with a lot of people, so the things that happen to and around her are very different and very interesting.

"I got a boyfriend, too."

I stared at her for a second, surprised. She hadn't told me she liked anyone, either, and had actually seemed pretty annoyed with most of the guys at her school recently. On the other hand, I wasn't too surprised she dropped this on me without any forewarning, at least if it all stemmed from a very recent development. Ga In thought these kinds of things should be told to people face to face, not over the phone. So the situation itself wasn't that surprising. I think the main reason I felt so caught off guard was because the past couple of days I hadn't been thinking of other people's love lives, just my own (though there still wasn't any love in it).

"You did?" 

"Yeah. His name's Kim Jongdae."

"Have you mentioned him before?" I asked. I was never very good with names, and Ga In knew a lot of people so it was always really hard for me to keep up. I was able to remember a few, but this guy wasn't one of them.

"No, I met him when I was at my sister's school," she clarified, her sister being her older sibling, and in her freshman year of college, which was the same college Jin Ri attended. "They're in a study group together. When I went to meet her she was finishing up with them, and that's when I met him. He ended up coming with us to dinner and he asked me out after that."

"So he's nice?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Smart?"

"Yes."

"Good looking?"

"Yes."

"But not my type."

"They never are."

"At least it makes it less likely for us to like the same guy," I said. Ga In and I had very different ideas of what made a guy good looking. I've never thought her boyfriends or the guys she thought were attractive were ugly, but I was never attracted to them myself. And it had been the same way in reverse, the guys I thought were attractive she wouldn't look twice at. That meant she probably wouldn't like Kai.

That made me feel better than it should.

"Well, I'm happy for you," I added.

"And I'm ecstatic for you," she answered, falling back on her bed, seeming to be finally full. "Although I don't know what I'm going to do with all those cat names I had picked out for you."

"I may get cats regardless of my relationship status, so there is hope yet."

"Good. That was an almost devastating blow after all my efforts."

"I'm just glad you have your priorities straight."