Lu Han has already been waiting for me in front of the door when I swing the door open. For the record, we are supposed to meet at 12 o’clock, but he came a tad earlier than I expected. To say he’s afraid he’d be late, it would be pretty much laughable since he’s just living next door. I guess he’s got nothing to do or something? Well, I don’t know and wouldn’t bother asking.

“Oh, you’re here,” he says as soon as his gaze fall upon mine.

“Hi,” I say, scanning his appearance. Wow, I’m impressed. He’s handsome with the dandy looks. It’s like anything he wears goes perfect on him. “Wow, you look handsome, Lu Han.”

“Do I?” He coughs and rubs the back of his nape in embarrassment. “Thank you, then. You… uhm, look pretty, too!”

I let out a laugh. I have no idea if he was just saying that in return—give and take or whatever people call it as. “Let’s get going,” I say to him.

He nods. “All right, let’s go.”

Along the way to the elevator, we have a small chit-chat. “Lu Han, what time will the movie start?”

“At 2,” he simply says, “We have pretty much time left.”

“I guess so.” We’re lucky that the elevator doors haven’t closed when we reach there. We enter and find ourselves standing between a middle-aged woman and a high school boy. Lu Han was about to flick the ‘G’ button, but moves back to his place when the button has already been pressed.

“Lu Han, why me?” I suddenly turn to him, throwing him off guard.

“Sorry?” The blond is startled; his eyes bulging out.

“Why me?” I repeat, our eyes meet. “Why did your ex-girlfriend’s mother ask me to go watch the movie with you?” I recall his words the other night when he was asking me out. He said that Sora’s mother gave him two tickets and forced the latter to bring me along to the cinema. When I thought it deeply, why would she do that in the first place? Is there any motives behind or anything?

“I don’t know.” He shakes his head. “She didn’t tell me anything and just did that.”

“I see.” If she were Lu Han’s mother, it would have been understandable. You know, like she wanted to hook up her son with me. I just don’t get it, seriously. I don’t bother asking him further, though. “So how’s Jun? Did he know about us going out to watch the movie?”

“He knew and strangely, he was like, ‘oh, appa, enjoy yourself!’ Plus, he even asked me to go send him to Ahjumma’s house right away.” Lu Han furrows an eyebrow. “I was really wondering what got into him. He’s not that kind of kid I know this whole time.”

“Maybe he wants you to have some fun, I guess?” I cannot help giggling. Jun’s really cute, isn’t he?

“Well, I guess you’re right.”

The elevator stops at the ground floor and the doors pop open later on. We’re now headed to the subway station where it’s going to take us about ten minutes. Five minutes if you walk fast. But I don’t think I can. I’m wearing short skirt and it’s pretty uncomfortable for me to walk fast.

He halts his footsteps. “Should we go by cab instead?”

“What do you mean?” I frown at him in bewilderment. “I’d rather walk to the subway station, Lu Han. The mall we’re going is pretty far from here. We’re going to be charged quite a lot if we go by cab. If we go by subway, not only is it cheap, but the station is also near the mall.”

“You look tired already, though.” He seems worried. “I’ll call a cab, okay?”

“No need to, Lu Han,” I say firmly this time. He doesn’t have to do that just because he’s worried about me. “I’m just fine, really.”

“Are you sure?”

“Completely. Now let’s get going or else, we’d be late.”

///

We arrive at the mall roughly at 1:30 PM and head straight away to the level 5, where the cinema is located. Since we already have the tickets, we need not join the super long queue at the ticket vending machine.

“What do you want, Yoona?” Lu Han asks as we are lining up at the concession store. “Popcorns? Meatballs? Nachos?”

“Popcorns is fine,” I say, nodding. “You’re fine with popcorns, right?”

“Yeah, I’m fine with it.” He turns to me again. “What about drinks?”

I don’t really know what drink I should have, but since people tend to have cola when watching a movie, I guess it would be okay. “Cola,” I say. “I want Cola.”

When our turn finally comes up, Lu Han smoothly orders foods that we have already discussed before.

I raise an eyebrow the moment he only orders my drink—Cola. “Where’s yours, Lu Han?” I ask. “Why did you only order mine?”

“Oh, I’m, uhm, not really fond of cola,” he says in hesitation. “I can drink it, but you know, not that much. My stomach can’t take it.”

“Then, why didn’t you order another drink?” I say. “There’s a lot of choices, as you can see. There’s Lemon Tea, Sprite, Soda and others.”

“Nah, it’s okay.” He suddenly lets out a chuckle.

“Should we share, then?” A thought comes across my head. “I don’t think I’m able to finish the drink alone, so yeah… I guess we can share.”

The latter looks taken aback.

“Why?” I stifle my laugh when he’s like, spacing out for a moment. He just gives me a blank look. “You don’t want to share Cola with me because you think I have some sort of salivary gland problem?”

“No!” he shouts. “Of course no!” He looks down, blushing.

“All right then, let’s just share it.” I look at the male worker and says, “Just one Cola.”

“Anything else to add, Miss?”

“No, that’s all.” I take out my purse from my handbag only to grab some notes.

“What are you doing, Yoona?” Lu Han frowns at me.

“I’m paying. Can’t you see it?”

He puts a hand on my hand in which I jerk my head in surprise.

Lu Han pulls back his hand and looks up at me. He chews on his lower lip, looking a little bit serious. “Yoona, I may not have a lot of money, but I prefer not to have girls pay for me.”

“But I—” I intended on saying that it’s just my conscience since he had paid for the cab fee, but he has cut me off.

“No, it’s fine.” He nods firmly. “I mean it.”

“Well…” I close my purse and put it back into my handbag. “If you insist.”

A smile takes over Lu Han’s slightly gruff look on his face, and then he pulls out his wallet and asks the worker how much the total price is.

After we have left the concession store, we head right away to the entrance since the cinema hall has been opened. It’s usually open 10 minutes before the showtime, just so you know.

It is not really hard to find where our hall is since I’ve been here quite a few times before. As for Lu Han, he does not know a thing which makes me crack up in amusement. He told me that he hasn’t been to cinema in years.

The moment we enter the hall, there have been people in there. Most of them are couples. Well, I usually would be a bit mortified because whenever I go out to watch a movie with Jihyun, she would always bring her boyfriend, which totally makes me feel like a loser. Now I can feel a little bit proud since I’m here with a guy—Lu Han—though we don’t have any kind of romantic relationship. 

“Lu Han, what movie are we going to watch today?” I ask when we are finally seated. “It’s funny that I don’t even know what movie it is!”

“I don’t know, either.” Lu Han takes out the tickets from his pocket and reads, “Fifty Shades of Grey.” His face contorts with confusion. “Do you know what movie it is?”

“No idea.” I shrug. “Maybe it’s a typical love story.”

“Oh, really?”

“Well, I guess so.”

///

After the movie ended at 5, Lu Han was thinking if we should grab a bite before we left. Since I was pretty hungry and that wouldn’t hurt, so I said yes.

By the time we return home by subway, it is already dark at night. I glimpse at my wristwatch and it reads 8:05 PM.

Then I steal a surreptitious glance at Lu Han. He’s composed as we walk down the street to our officetel. To let you know, we have been pretty awkward with each other ever since the movie ended. We didn’t even talk at the restaurant—like we just literally dined and left. It was all because of that stupid movie. If I had known it was going to be a movie, I would have refused going out with him today. Damn, why didn’t Lu Han notice that the movie was all about ? And why did Sora’s mother ask us to watch this movie in the first place? Was there an ulterior motive or something? It was so awkward and suffocating to watch the movie until the end.

“Uhm, hey.” He suddenly looks at me when we reach the park, catching me off guard. He still looks awkward, by the way. “Do you want to sit at the park before we go up?”

“Can we?” I question him back. “No, I mean, we’ve gone out for too long. I’m just worried about Jun. He must be wondering why we haven’t returned home yet.”

“Oh, it’s okay. I’ve told Ahjumma I’d pick him up at 9 o’clock,” Lu Han enlightens, “and Jun is aware of it.”

“I see,” I say, making up my mind. “Then, I guess we can stay here park for a moment.”

Upon my agreement, we enter the empty park and settle on the wooden bench facing the mini lake. There is no one here except us. No one wants to be here at night, do they?

Lu Han does not sit. He looks like he’s going somewhere.

“Are you going somewhere, Lu Han?” I ask.

“Are you thirsty? I want to go to the nearby convenience store.”

“Sure.” I nod. “I want beer.”

“What? You want beer?” He’s surprised. “Are you serious?”

I burst into laughter. “Yes, I am serious. I don’t know why, but I feel like drinking beer tonight.”

“Oh, all right, then.” He nods awkwardly. Before he walks off, he takes off his cardigan and passes it to me. “Take it. It gets really cold at night.”

“Thanks, but what about you?” I look down at his cardigan. “Aren’t you cold too?”

“I’m fine. Don’t worry,” the blond says before turning around. “I’ll get going now. Bye.”

I watch him leaving the park and me alone. Then I put on the cardigan he gave me. Lu Han’s kind of right. The wind suddenly gets strong over here. Now I have his cardigan, I feel warm. I can literally feel his warmth wrapping around me and his sweet-scented cologne.

Hmm, this is perfect.

///

“Here you go.” Lu Han hands me a can of beer and plops down next to me. He came back like a few moments ago, and I think he just took ten minutes or less to the convenience store. He was rather fast considering the fact that the store is located quite a distance from the park.

“Thanks,” I say and look down at the can in his grip. “Oh, Lemon Tea. I thought you would have beer for yourself too.”

“I’d rather not.” He laughs. “I have Jun and to have him see his father in a drunk state, that would be inappropriate, right?”

“Well, I guess that’s underst