"It's been a long time Yonghwa," Leeyoung greeted. His grip on Shinhye's wrist tightened hearing his name roll off his first love's tongue. Up close she looked wickedly beautiful as he remembered. With difficulty, he stood his ground looking straight into her striking hazel eyes. It was her eyes he felt weak at the knees for those years ago. He could smell the same honeysweet scented perfume she wore that he once adored, though now finding it overbearing. Shinhye looked at his trembling hand around her wrist, shocked that the girl in front of them had such an affect on him. Could it be..?

"Not long enough," Yonghwa coldly stated. It is.

"I didn't know you'd be this hostile," Leeyoung ran her manicured nails through her thick black locks. "We weren't even together that long." His blood boiled as she spoke. I really meant nothing to you, while you were everything to me.

"Who is this guy, your ex?" Daehyun asked her. Shinhye darted her eyes to him, forgetting he even stood so near until he spoke. Leeyoung half smiled as though she were caught in a silly act, Shinhye wanted to wipe it off. She looked to Yonghwa and heard his uneven breathing. "You always had a unique taste in guys," Daehyun added. That did it.

Shinhye adjusted Yonghwa's hand so that their fingers now interlocked and their palms pressed against each other. "He's my boyfriend," she declared unexpectedly. All three gaped at her words, unsure of how to handle the tension. "I'm glad you two didn't date for long because I feel a little jealous right now seeing his ex stand in front of me." Yonghwa stared down at her unable to comprehend where her boldness came from.

"You sure got a possessive girlfriend," Leeyoung sniggered at him. Before Shinhye could retort Daehyun spoke.

"Well she was rather eccentric back in middle school," he chuckled. This time Shinhye gulped. There he goes again bringing up old times because it's so easy for him. "I didn't know you had a boyfriend. You're always alone studying in the library everyday."

A bit flustered at his accurate observation she squeezed Yonghwa's hand. "Well as you can see, I'm not in the library. I'm on a date with my boyfriend who isn't feeling so well," she tiptoed a bit to touch the back of her free hand to Yonghwa's forehead. His temperature was fine. "He's burning up. I should probably take care of him back at his house. It was... nice seeing you Daehyun. And I'm sorry I didn't catch your name?" She turned to the girl beside him. Wouldn't matter because I already named you ',' she thought.

"I'm Leeyoung," his ex practically flipped her hair. "And you?" Like it matters, she thought.

"Park Shinhye," she answered with a forced smile. "We'll get going now. Bye!" She pulled Yonghwa's hand hastily leading them out of the stuffy food court. Yonghwa was at a loss for words until they were a far distance from the opposing couple. 

"What the was that?" He questioned Shinhye. 

"That was me saving your ," she responded. "Besides I should be asking you the same thing. The Yonghwa I know wouldn't cower in front of some cocky girl like that. Even if it were...her.

"You're the one teaching me about moving on from a first love. And yet you're also the one who could barely keep calm in front of her," she lectured. 

"I'm not perfect so what? Neither are you," he scoffed. "You lied about us dating just so you could make Daehyun jealous. That's not how you move on from someone. It's only a reminder that you care while playing with someone else's feelings."

"Since when did you care about playing with someone's feelings? You're the player here!" She argued.

"Since I met you!" He bursted. "I'm done with that because you're right." Her facial muscles relaxed and she waited for him to continue. He sighed and pushed his bangs back from his forehead. "I decided not to treat girls like they're toys just because I was played with. Especially when I could be hurting someone that might be like you. Or even worse- break them." 

"And why would it matter if they were like me?" She asked. 

"Well you're too strong to break," he answered without hesitation. "But you're also too amazing to even think about hurting." Her lips were parted for her turn to speak but no word left . She was too awestruck. She was confused. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know the answer to the problem that was Jung Yonghwa. He wasn't a test she could study for because she didn't know or had the material. For the first time in a while, Shinhye was unprepared. The surprises continued from her dreams to her reality. Scarily enough, she didn't want to stop being surprised. It was quite addicting, the warmth filling her cheeks and the bottom of her stomach. It was only then she realized their hands were still embracing each others so she immediately pulled away. But looking into his eyes, her action gave off the wrong signal. So with her other hand she awkwardly grabbed his other hand that she didn't hold before. 

"Our hands were getting sweaty so...yea," she looked away dying at her embarrassing cover up. Wait why am I even holding his hand again? It's not like I want to. Do I want to?

"Yeah your hand was feeling gross," he took her out of her thoughts. Her head snapped back to face him and she glared. He smiled and properly weaved their fingers together, "but thank you for thinking about me. Back there." 

She rolled her eyes, "it seemed like I was the only one thinking at all in that group." He laughed and it sounded like music to her ears. 

"You're probably right," he chuckled.

He's actually agreeing with me, she marveled.

"C'mon girlfriend I gotta continue teaching you about dating," he took the lead this time. "Because even though I'm still having issues moving on, I can still share my experienced knowledge on dating." 

"Fine," she gave in and let him lead the way through the mall. 

---

Shinhye POV

Okay I seriously don't know what got into me when I declared Yonghwa as my boyfriend to Daehyun and his girlfriend. And I can't even believe the same girl that confessed to him at school is Yonghwa's first love! When people sing it's a small world after all. No kidding. Any justification I can think up for what I did back there is just invalid. I did it in the spur of the moment and ultimately to protect Yonghwa. 

Why did I feel the strong urge to save him from that Leeyoung I literally just met? I don't know. And because I don't know, I'm scared.

I always know. I'm sorry for boasting the way Yonghwa openly does, but yes. I usually know the answers. 

And now we're holding hands strolling through the mall just like any other couple usually did on a date. But we're not a real couple and we're not on a real date. Did I want this to be real? Do I want to admit the sensation of having his warm and big hand around mines makes me feel secure and cared for? 

More importantly, why am I asking myself this? 

No scratch that, more importantly why is Yonghwa buying us movie tickets for a sappy romantic comedy. We now had to wait about half an hour for a special showing of The Proposal. The film starred the inspirational Sandra Bullock as the leading lady and hunky Ryan Renolds as the leading man. I didn't see this movie nor did I ever plan to. But I did see the trailer when it first came out and I wasn't motivated to watch two unlikely people fall in love. I wasn't motivated to involve myself with anything romantic. Yet here I am, on a pretend slash practice date with the world's school's player. 

"How much did you pay?" I asked him. 

"I got a discount because I just signed up for a membership card," he replied.

"Cool but how much do I owe you?" I corrected. He shook his head wordlessly. "Don't do that thing where you're 'being a gentleman' because I will pay you back. Even though you didn't even ask me what movie I wanted to see nor if I wanted to see anything at all." 

"You can be so technical sometimes," he leaned against a wall. "I feel like if I'm quiet enough I can hear all those gears clicking and turning in your head." I made a mocking face at him then realized something. 

"Isn't it funny how both our first loves are together now?" I asked. 

"Yup it's hilarious," he rolled his eyes. "All the more reason to hate them." I hummed in thought of what he said. Why would he hate Daehyun? 

"But you didn't even speak to Daehyun once. How could you hate him?" I asked. He crossed his arms shrugging. 

"He hurt you didn't he? That's more than enough to hate him," he said in the most casual way possible. But it wasn't to me. My heart doing these backflips in my chest weren't normal. Before I knew it my body acted without my consent. I stepped closer to Yonghwa wrapping my arms around his body and rested my head against his chest. "Wh-What are you doing?" He lifted his arms and his hands hovered over my body. He wasn't sure whether to embrace me back or not. I wasn't sure if I wanted him to. 

I screamed at myself in my head. He doesn't mean anything he says! He's a player Shinhye! You're falling for his extremely corny tactics! He's lying to you. 

But if he's lying to me then why could I feel his heartbeat accelerate? 

I'm hugging you because I'm thankful that you care too much. Even though I won't admit these words to you now. I don't know if I ever will but thank you. I embraced him tighter, hoping he understood the message without me having to embarrass myself by explaining it. The hug lasted around three minutes. Probably more but I won't reveal how long exactly because it felt like an eternity. "We should find seats for the movie now," he coughed awkwardly. 

As I pulled away I skillfuly slipped the same amount of cash as the price of one movie ticket in his jacket's pocket. He didn't notice I read the receipt in his hand but he caught the money. "Is this why you hugged me?!" 

I giggled at his tiny outburst, "sure." 

"And to think I was getting some action," he grumbled teasingly. I scowled at him and hit his shoulder when I walked past into the theater. 

We were full, well he was full from eating McDonalds earlier. So we didn't get anything from the concession and sat in the middle row of our theater. There were couples scattered and two of them were already liplocking. If I turned around I'd find the source of all the I was hearing. The back of the theater was traditional for couples to makeout and when Yonghwa smirked at me, I refrain from throwing up in my mouth. A series of trailers played and a few interested me. Those without a love story involved, that is. 

I have to say the movie definitely tickled my funny bone and poor Yonghwa suffered from it because every time I laughed I either hit his arm or slapped his thigh. "You might actually hit the goods," he groaned. 

"Shut up," I whispered. When a somewhat scene came up I couldn't stop myself from hiding my face in Yonghwa's arm. "Tell me when they're clothed," I said.

"They're clothed," he replied instantly.  I looked up at the right timing to catch the two leads crashing their bodies against each other accidentally. I gasped and hid my face again. I felt Yonghwa shake a bit due to his laughing at me. I dug my nails into his arm and stopped when he growled in pain. Serves you right . "You'll pay for that wifey." 

I clicked my tongue, "sure I will." 

When we got to the scene of their fake wedding, I could not believe several tears flowed out of my eyes when Ryan Renolds was left alone at the alter. I half choked half whispered to Yonghwa, "how can she leave like that when she loves him so much? And she needs to pull through if she wants to be a citizen right?" 

"She's just scared," he whispered back. 

"But he loves her too," my stupid voice broke. I felt fingers intertwine with mine and I held onto Yonghwa's hand tightly. "When you finally find someone you might love you hold onto them regardless of your heartbreaks in the past. She's lucky to have found him." 

"Shh, I know." He whispered gently in my ear removing his hand from mine. I felt empty for a split second until he wrapped his arm around me and my head leaned on his shoulder. "It's going to be okay because I already watched this movie so I can guarantee you that. And you know what, he's just as or maybe more lucky to have found her." 

I sniffled and stayed silent until the ending of the movie. "I'm scared," Sandra barely whispered. I glanced at Yonghwa because he was right. But then again, he already did see the film. 

"Me too," Ryan Renolds admitted before kissing the hell out of her. I squealed and my once sad tears became tears of joy. I clapped my knees together because I hugged my legs to my chest on the seat. My hands were covering my mouth in an attempt to muffle the annoying happy sounds I was making. I eventually couldn't contain it because I ended up cracking up at the credit scenes as well. 

"Oh man, I ing loved that movie!" I cheered as we took our time leaving the theater. "Remember the part when Betty White was chanting by the fire? That was so funny!" 

Yonghwa nodded and I pouted because he didn't seem as excited as I was. He noticed this and spoke, "I'm sure it was funny I just don't remember it." 

I tilted my head, "how could you not remember it? You watched this movie before." He hesitated before nodding slowly again. "You lied huh." I figured. Why would a guy like Yonghwa sit down and watch a romantic comedy? Unless it be for a date. "But you didn't pay attention earlier then?" 

"I guess not," he shrugged. Right. He's probably more into action movies.

A couple of loose strands got in the way of my face. I was about to tuck them behind my ear until I noticed my hand was in Yonghwa's. It felt so natural that I guess I didn't even notice. We stopped walking after we were outside of the theater and Yonghwa faced me. He grinned softly as he tucked my hair behind my ear and my skin felt prickly from just the slight touches of his fingertips. "There we go," he said looking into my eyes.

Surprise again. They just keep coming and I feel weirder each time. 

But the biggest surprise from today was myself. 

Because I didn't want our pretend date to end anytime soon.

A/N: How was that??? Was it good? I myself liked it, I changed their movie date to a first person perspective and decided to have Shinhye try to find herself in this chapter. I'm sorry if you guys didn't get some references to the movie The Proposal. I recommend that movie, it's simple and funny and a good amount of romantic. This chapter was kind of long I think, it felt long for me to type it lol. I'm even typed this at work ^^ Please tell me how you guys liked it~