It’s been a week since that day, and every single day, Choi Seunghyun couldn’t stop thinking about Aerin. Funny, that he felt easily comfortable with someone he barely knew. Jiyoung was aware on the conflict that was going inside his friend’s hard and as a good friend, he had asked him numerous time to just text her or call her. However, every single time, Seunghyun just shook his head lightly.

“Seunghyun, c’mon, don’t do this to yourself!” Jiyoung said.

“Do what to myself? I’m just fine, as always.” Seunghyun said and faked a smile.

“Since when you’re a liar?” Jiyoung spatted.

“I’m not lying!”

“Yes, you ing are!” Jiyoung was very annoyed at Seunghyun’s denial.

Just when Seunghyun was about to talk back, someone knocked the door and Seunghyun quickly fixed himself and cleared his throat before said, “Come in.”

His secretary –Lee Ara came inside and she greeted them, “Good morning Sir Kwon and Sir Choi. I bring a memo from Mr. Oh.” She approached Seunghyun’s table and gave him the memo.

“Thanks.” Seunghyun and Jiyoung said in unison and Ara nodded her head politely before excusing herself to go out.

“How is your progress with her?” Seunghyun asked Jiyoung.

Jiyoung grinned widely and replied, “Very well! Thanks to your party, by the way. Oh I forgot to tell you that she has agreed to come to a date with me this Saturday.” Jiyoung announced happily.

“You are aware that you are against the rule right?” Seunghyun reminded his partner and the latter just shook his head in victory, “Of course not. The rule clearly states that there can’t be a love relationship between agents. She is not an agent, so that means, I’m not against the rule, which also means we are allowed to be a couple, even to be married.” Seunghyum knew that Jiyoung was fantasizing all the things as he spoke.

“Well then, good luck for you!” Seunghyun said but the moment he said that, his mind was drifting back to last week’s night. He still could not get rid of the memory.

“Just call her.” Jiyoung noticed his partner’s sudden gloomy expression and still persuaded him to do something that his partner always refused to do.

“I think I might call her tonight.” Seunghyun sighed.

“Do not say ‘might’ if you know you need to.” Jiyoung said wisely. He knew that Seunghyun was going to argue, therefore, before Seunghyun could even utter a word to reply him, he had continued, “So, what the memo says?”

Seunghyun almost forgot about the memo that he held in his hands. Seunghyun put it to the right, so Jiyoung could read it together with him.

Seunghyun furrowed his brows upon finished reading the message. “What’s the important thing, eh?” He asked his partner, but Jiyoung had also no clue as he just shrugged. “Let’s go to his office then.” Jiyoung suggested and Seunghyun just nodded as they both made their way to their boss’ office room.

“Come in.” The familiar voice said when they knocked the door. “Have a seat, gentlemen.” He said as he put aside some papers on his table.

“What’s the important thing, Sir?” Seunghyun asked the boss.

“Your promotions of course.” The chief said as he threw two sealed brown envelopes across the table and landed exactly to Seunghyun’s and Jiyoung’s hands.

“I think I do not need to utter a word for that except the fact that I’m very proud of you guys. I just want to remind you to my farewell party. Don’t you dare not to come there! I’ll smolder your for real if you don’t come.” The chief grinned.

“We are going to be there, Sir.” Both Seunghyun and Jiyoung said. Just as they were about to get up, the chief said, “Don’t forget to invite those 2 pretty ladies to accompany you.” Jiyoung and Seunghyun looked at each other in confusion. How the hell did they boss know? Rumors were spread widely and fast, weren’t it?

“Okay, Sir. Thank you.” Jiyoung said as they stood up and went back to their room.

“Unseal it now.” Jiyoung said excitedly as they reached Seunghyun’s office room. You might wonder why Jiyoung always hang around there and rarely was in his own office. That was because he couldn’t get any inspiration if he was working alone, therefore, he usually brought his works to Seunghyun’s room and they were going to work together.

Seunghyun was also excited as he unsealed the envelope. Both Jiyoung and Seunghyun had promised to read the papers together. Jiyoung held his while Seunghyun held his and at the count of three, they started reading together.

“………………Congratulations, Mr. Choi, you are honored to be our next head field agents.” Seunghyun read.

“………………Congratulations, Mr. Kwon, you are honored to be our next chief.” Jiyoung also finished reading the last line.

“So, you’re the head field agents?” Jiyoung grinned.

“You’re the chief, eh?” Seunghyun smirked.

“We are still partners anyways.” Jiyoung and Seunghyun high fived each other.

“We are stuck together for more years now.” Jiyoung said jokingly.

“Be glad it’s with me.” Seunghyun smirked.

“Now call her!” Jiyoung said.

“Oh man, fine, fine.” Seunghyun said as he searched for a particular contact in his phone. He was still nervous and tried to arrange the words before pressing his thumb against the call button when Jiyoung had lost his patience and pressed the button himself.

“What the -?”

“You’re going to thank me.” Jiyoung said before Seunghyun even finished his sentence.

Seunghyun breathed heavily and the strange feeling while waiting for her to pick up the call started to appear once again. His palms were now sweating and he could feel his heartbeat was getting faster. He waited patiently to hear her voice and it did feel like ages, even though she actually picked it up on the fifth rang, “Hello, who is this?”

“Aerin, this is me, Choi Seunghyun, do you still remember me?” Seunghyun answered.

“Of course, what took you so long to call me?” Aerin pretended to speak in annoyed tone but Seunghyun was sure that she was just joking.

“I guess, I was not ready.” Seunghyun said and he knew he had blurt it out and he couldn’t take his words back.

“Ready to what? To call me?” Aerin asked. Judging from her tone, he was pretty sure she was curious.

“Tell her honestly. No more lying, Seunghyun.” Jiyoung whispered beside him. There was a long pause and Aerin waited patiently for Seunghyun to answer her question. Seunghyun shook his head to Jiyoung as he still wasn’t ready. He hadn’t even sure about his feeling. He just knew that Aerin could understand him well and that he was comfortable around her.

“Really, tell her, ask her!” Jiyoung said impatiently. Seunghyun fidgeted while taking a deep breath before he spoke the words that he had never said in his whole life, “No, Aerin. Ready to ask you to have a date with me tomorrow.”

There was a pause and Seunghyun was worried that Aerin might turn him down. “I would love to, Seunghyun.” Aerin finally spoke and that really made Seunghyun happy. He didn’t even know why he felt so happy if he didn’t really mean it. But he learnt something from that. It meant, that from the bottom of his heart, he really did want to have a date with her.

“Thank you. Text me your adress and I’ll pick you up there at 6.” Seunghyun said and hung up the call.

“How are you feeling now?” Jiyoung but Seunghyun didn’t intend to lie as he was feeling really happy, “Very good.” Choi Seunghyun finally had to admit that he didn’t just feel comfortable around her. He wasn’t just a bit attracted to her, but he was indeed very attracted to her. He had to admit that he was developing feeling towards her. He didn’t want to make things complicated. He had always been a simple person, hence he decided to let the feeling grow and let time to tell him what the feeling was. He didn’t want to get rid of the feeling either because one thing he knew about this feeling he felt was that it made him happy –The feeling that probably had been taken away from him since his parents’ death.

You’re going to be ing late Choi Seunghyun!” Jiyoung reminded his best friend once again as he glanced at his watch worriedly. Seunghyun had asked him personally to come to his apartment and helped him out to make the date successful. Jiyoung found it funny that the fast Choi Seunghyun needed almost an hour for just bathing and putting some jell on his hair because the Choi Seunghyun he used to know would not even bother a twenty minutes for doing those.

“Just need a little bit more time.” Seunghyun replied as he still wasn’t satisfied on how his hair looked like.

“You are already handsome! Now, all you need to do is pick up her and act as a gentleman!” Jiyoung said, pulling Seunghyun away from the mirror.

“Thanks for the compliment but I still am not satisfied with my hair. It is never this hard to –“

“It is like that all the time! Don’t blame your hair! You’re just so nervous that you’re going to ruin the date so you start to be a perfectionist.” Jiyoung said.

“Aren’t I always a perfectionist?” Seunghyun raised his brows.

“Yes, but only in a term of job. You never even paid attention to your clothing before.” Jiyoung replied. Jiyoung sighed in relief when Seunghyun nodded and decided to go out. Just when he was about to turn the door knob, he turned back again.

Jiyoung looked at him strangely and asked, “What again now?”

“Are you sure that it’s okay I’m going with this outfit?” Seunghyun asked again. Jiyoung looked at Seunghyun’s outfit –White polo shirt, black jeans, paired with his nicest shoes. Personally, he thought that Seunghyun looked awesome. Simple, but handsome. He even was sure that if he were a girl, he would definitely fall for this guy in front of him.

“It’s definitely fine. Why do you even ask?” Jiyoung replied.

“You know guys in the movies usually wear blazer or nice tuxedo.” Seunghyun replied and Jiyoung instantly dropped his jaw. What in his mind was what era Seunghyun lived in because he was sure that he never went dating with that outfits.

“Hello Choi Seunghyun, those movies that you watched probably took place around 1900s. Today is 2015! God damn it! It is now already 5.30.p.m. You do not want to be late on your first date, do you?” Jiyoung replied in frustration.

“Yeah, probably. But what if she is wearing a gown or -?” Seunghyun was still being stubborn.

“Then you can kick my !” Jiyoung said instantly. Seunghyun smirked and nodded in satisfaction. Jiyoung once again sighed in relief as Seunghyun was already in his car. Just when he thought his duty was over, Seunghyun let down the car’s window and asked him again, “Jiyoung, what should I say to her?”

“Are you this clueless?” Jiyoung asked in unbelievable manner and Seunghyun just nodded.

“Anything! Duh, this is your date! How am I supposed to know?”

“But you are experienced!!” Seunghyun argued.

“Each girl is different which means, you will have to treat them differently too. However, there are some similarities between girls. First, they always like attention, so they mostly like a caring guy. Second, they treasure honesty, so try to be honest with her. Third, be a gentleman! Fourth, be a good listener, girls like it when there is someone who is willing to listen to all their s. Fifth, the most important point, make her feel like she is the only one! Nah, those are five steps to be successful in dating!” Jiyoung smiled in satisfaction.

“Not bad, man! Thank you, and wish me luck!” Seunghyun said as he waved and drove his car fast. Jiyoung could only chuckled and wished his friend the best luck in his heart. He really hope that this Aerin girl could change his best friend to be a better person. It was not that Seunghyun was a bad guy, but he surely was not an opened up person. He just hoped that Aerin was someone that could melt his cold heart and brought happiness to his friend because Jiyoung knew perfectly that Seunghyun needed love. Even though Seunghyun believed and said that love was only a destroyer, Jiyoung understood that he only said that because of his bitter life. Moreover, Jiyoung believed that Seunghyun deserved to be happy and he deserved to get love. As a man, he somehow could feel that Aerin would slowly fixed his friend’s heart.

Meanwhile, Seunghyun was really nervous. He drove his car fast because he really didn’t want to make a bad impression on his first date by showing up late. He convinced himself that it was going to be fine, everything would go well.

As he was coming nearer to Aerin’s house, he slowed down his car and stopped his car right in front of her house. He turned off the engine and took a deep breath before he gave a final glance on how he looked in the mirror and with his hands in his pocket, he approached her door and knocked it up. After waiting for 5 seconds, Aerin opened the door. Seunghyun was really amazed. She looked stunningly beautiful with her simple white dress. She let her hail fell perfectly, put a thin make up on her already beautiful face, and her smile made her look even more gorgeous!

Even though he was deadly nervous inside, he looked really confident when he smiled and said, “You look very pretty.”

Aerin blushed slightly as she said, “Thank you, you look handsome as well.” Seunghyun couldn’t help but to smile at her sudden compliment. It wasn’t the first time he got such compliment, but it was really the first time he got it from the person he wanted to say it to him. Seunghyun didn’t forget Jiyoung’s advice to be a real gentleman and treat Aerin as a real princess. He opened the door for her and Aerin chuckled as she said, “I can open it myself, you know?”

Seunghyun raised one of his brows but slowly a smile formed on his face, “I know, I don’t want to ruin my first impression.” Seunghyun knew perfectly that he just blurted out but he didn’t feel regret. Strangely, he felt so right when he told her that. Seunghyun closed the door and then went to his own seat.

“You are not ruining your first impression just by not opening the car’s door for me.” Aerin spoke right when Seunghyun turned out the engine.

“I know that too. Let’s just say I’m being perfectionist for the day.” Seunghyun replied as he kept his eyes to the street. As much as he wanted to drive fast like he usually did, he couldn’t because this time he was bringing Aerin along with him.

“You can step on the gas harder if you wish.” Aerin couldn’t help but to giggle.

“You are really a good psychologist, eh? I mean, how did you even know?” He asked as he turned his head to his right side only to meet eyes with her.

“It’s obvious, actually. You looked impatient and judging from the way you hit the honk and the way you drive, I think I can know easily that you have a habit to drive fast.” Aerin replied as she broke the eye contact.

“Well, won’t you be afraid?” Seunghyun asked, but he sure was just teasing her.

Aerin let out a melodious laugh as she spoke, “Of course not. You should see the way I drive. I bet my driving skill is even better than you.” Her tone was like challenging him. Seunghyun couldn’t help but to raise one of his brows. In his heart, he was thinking about how impossible that would be as he had the best driving skill in his agency, he even had beaten Jiyoung and the chief.

“Don’t keep your hope high, you know.” Seunghyun replied.

“Well –How about we compete?” Aerin challenged.

“Woah, woah! That’s an interesting challenge! Let’s bet then!” Seunghyun immediately got excited.

“Alright, what if I win?” Aerin winked.

“That’s up to you, you pick the prize yourself then.” Seunghyun said.

“Okay, I want you to do everything I want for one month straight.” She said in an evilly manner which Seunghyun knew she was pretending to look like.

“Wait, you mean I’m going to be your slave?” Seunghyun asked to clear out. Aerin shook her head instantly and spoke, “Of course not. That would be so rude of me. What I mean is you will be my companion, but a very faithful companion.” Aerin emphasized the word ‘faithful’ as she smirked.

“Okay. Now, what if I win? What’s my prize?” Seunghyun smirked.

“Since you let me choose my own prize, I guess it will be fair enough if I also let you choose your prize yourself.” Aerin smiled. Seunghyun honestly didn’t know what would be a good prize and he hadn’t thought what to ask before. So there was a bit pause before he finally spoke, “Well, are you sure you want me to pick my own prize?”

Aerin nodded without hesitation and Seunghyun smirked as he named his prize, “By the time I win the race, I will have won your heart.”

Aerin didn’t seem to be affected at all. With a more serious face, she confessed, “To be honest Choi Seunghyun, that’s a very forcing prize. However, since I have promised earlier that you could name your own prize, I should keep my words because I –Hwang Aerin would hate myself for the rest of my life if I lied.” She smiled. Seunghyun had worried that Aerin might be mad at him, but guess that the girl beside him was really one of a kind.

“That’s also one thing I like about you.” Seunghyun smiled in satisfaction. At the same time Seunghyun uttered, they had reached their destination. Seunghyun parked the car and once again opened the door for Aerin and led her to the place that he had booked for both of them.

Aerin smiled widely as she teasingly said, “I think you are really a man full of surprises. I guess there is one thing I can’t guess correctly about you. You can be romantic, eh?” She said while glancing at the dinner table that had been arranged –Candle, a bouquet of flower, under the starry sky, with a lake surrounding them.

“I guess, you’re not the only one that is full of surprises here then.” Seunghyun smiled in victory. He made a mental note to thank Jiyoung later because apparently, Jiyoung booked it for him.

Seunghyun pulled out the chair and gestured Aerin to sit before he went to his own seat. He clapped his hand once and a waiter came bringing their appetizer –Mushroom soup.

“How do you even know that I like mushroom soup?” Aerin raised her brows as he asked Seunghyun.

“To be honest, I don’t know. What a coincidence, we share the same favorite.” Seunghyun grinned and Aerin chuckled in amusement. Just when they had finished the appetizer, Seunghyun clapped his hands twice and the same waiter came to pick up the dirty plates and set the main course on the table.

“Thank you.” She said. When they were eating, they shared some introductions, like their hobbies, interests, and et cetera. Seunghyun thanked God that Aerin didn’t ask what his job was because he wasn’t prepared to answer the question if she asked him that. He didn’t want to lie but it would be a taboo to tell other people outside the agency.

Just when they finished the dessert, music was played from somewhere and Seunghyun stood up. He held out his right hand as he asked Aerin, “May I have the dance?”

Aerin grinned as she took his hand delightedly.

“You know, I didn’t ask you properly back at the club, so I think it’s a good idea to replay it.” Seunghyun whispered through Aerin’s ear as they moved along the rhythm.

“Good idea.” Aerin laughed and then they just stared at each other. Seunghyun was used to eye contacts, but he didn’t know why he must feel nervous whenever he made eye contacts with her. Slowly, they leaned closer to each other and their lips were pressed against each other’s. Nobody made a move, they just enjoyed the moment. Slowly, Seunghyun deepened the kiss and Aerin seemed to just go with it before Aerin decided to pull up. Aerin rested her head on his shoulder as Seunghyun rested his on her head.

“I don’t want this to go too fast.” Aerin whispered. It would be a lie if Seugnhyun said that he wasn’t disappointed when Aerin pulled up and a total lie if he said that he wasn’t disappointed with what she just said. Nevertheless, he understood completely. After all, they just knew each other for 8 days even though he felt like they had known each other for such long time.

“It’s okay, I’ll be waiting.” Seunghyun replied with a smile. He wasn’t faking the smile, he really smiled sincerely and Aerin knew it somehow. They walked hand in hand to the parking lot and Seunghyun opened the door for Aerin before he went to his seat. Guess that it had been his routine since then. The way back to Aerin’s house was filled with other chit chats about their daily life. One thing they liked about each other was that they never felt awkward to each other. It was funny actually, but that was whwat they really thanked God for.

“Thank you for your willingness to spend this beautiful night with me.” Seughyun said when he led Aerin to her front door. Aerin smiled as she said, “Thank you for choosing me to spend the night with you too.”

“May I?” Seunghyun asked suddenly.

“May you what?” She asked perplexedly. Before Seunghyun answered, he had landed a soft peck on her cheek and Aerin instantly blushed.

“Let’s have another date, shall we?” Seunghyun asked before he drove home.

“Sure, just don’t forget to text me.” Aerin smiled beautifully. Seunghyun smiled in satisfaction and waved at her.

“Drive safely!” Aerin managed to yell before Seunghyun completely disappeared from her house’s gate. Aerin smiled as she knew he had heard it because Seunghun gave her a thumb up.