“Seung Jo Ah, please, please, please take me shopping. I really need a new pair of shoes.”

“No.” Of course he would say that. He just needed a little push. So I tried again.

“Seung Jo,” I peered up through my lashes. “I really need them for work. These heels,” I pointed to the black and white pair near the door, “Are killing my feet.”

He sighed heavily and ran a hand down his face. His nose did that cute screwing up thing when he was about to give up. I internally cheered.

“Okay.” I cheered, but he cut me off, “But! But, you have a spending limit.”

“Yay! Thank you so much. Let’s go.” I pulled on a pair of slippers, grabbed my purse, and ran out squealing.

Seung Jo followed much slower, and much more reluctantly. He jammed the keys in and twisted them angrily to start the engine. When I reached over to open the roof, he snapped at me and told me to put my hand back where it belonged.

“But it’s more fun when it’s open!”

“So?” And that was the end of that.

/_-_-_\

We reached the giant mall and hour and a half later. I was quivering excitedly, and shot out of the car like a bow from an arrow.

“Wait up, crazy lady,” he called from the car as he locked up.

He caught up to me and fell in step beside me. I hooked my arm through his and flitted from one shoe store to the other.

“Does it really take this long to by one pair of shoes?” he asked.

“Yes, Seung Jo. You need a pair that calls out to you and feels like magic on your feet.”

“Yea, well if you had found on like that the first time, we wouldn’t be here.”

I scrunched up my face at his annoying logic. “Whatever,” I said flippantly and continued to drag him through the mall.

We reached a small shoe store in the corner and I pulled him in after me. I picked up a navy blue pair of flats with a cute flower on the toe.

“How does this look?” I asked him.

He looked at it quickly and said, “Good.”

I pouted. “Sung Jo Ah! Tell me what you really think.”

He filled his cheeks with air then puffed out noisily. “You’re the one who’s going to wear them. You should be choosing.”

I became angry and stomped the other direction. “Fine! Go look at the men’s shoes or something. I’ll look myself!”

Without Seung Jo, I was able to look at shoes much quicker. It was nice and quiet too, so could actually think. I know what Seung Jo would say to that, you can actually think?

Sometimes he made me so mad. I can’t even explain, but he didn’t have to be so obnoxious about his brains, flaunting them every single time and outing me down. Or being just plain rude.

I peeked over the shoe rack to see what Seung Jo was doing. He was actually looking at men’s shoes, that idiot!

I angrily huffed and furiously began shuffling through the giant shoe selection.

“Madam, would you like some help?” someone next to me asked.

I looked up in surprise, first thinking that Seung Jo had come back. It wasn’t him, but another boy, about a year or two older than me.

“Oh, no. I’m just browsing.”

He chuckled. “You’re browsing pretty determinedly though. You just about destroyed my whole display.”

I looked at the racks behind me and smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. I’ll help you clean.”

His eyes got wide. “Oh, no. It’s okay. Just ask if you need help finding anything.”

“Um, can you just measure my foot size?” I asked. I had better check to see if my size hadn’t changed. I looked back quickly to see if Seung Jo was okay, but he wasn’t in my immediate line of vision.

I plopped down on a chair as the sunbae came back with a foot measuring ruler. He slipped off my shoe and looked at me, quickly smiling.

“You are a 240.” He helped put my shoe back on and I thanked him.

“What kind of shoe are you looking for?” he asked seemingly interested.

“A yellow ballet slipper type, with a bow on top. I’m a nurse, so it has to be comfy.”

He instantly perked up at that. “A nurse? Where?”

“It’s about an hour and a half away from here.”

“Oh. I work just down at the hospital the road as a nurse too. This is just a weekend part time job.”

“That’s nice.”

I continued browsing, trying to ignore the sunbae behind me. He was much more eager to help me shoe shop than Seung Jo. By the way, where was he?

“Are you with anyone?” he asked suddenly.

I looked at him and smiled. “Yes. Seung Jo Ah. But he doesn’t seem too interested in shopping with me”

“Who wouldn’t like to be with you?” I laughed at his quick complement.

He fell silent and continued to follow me as I made my way through the racks of shoes.

Then he said, “Come with me to the back. I’ll show you some really nice discount shoes.”

“Oh Ha Ni!” Seung Jo called, and I saw him walking towards me with a pair of yellow flats with a cute black and white bow on them.

My eyes widened and I squealed. “Seung Jo Ah! They’re perfect. And they’re my size too!” I weighed them in my hand, and then peered at the inside. “They have a jell bottom. Wow!”

“Are they calling to you?” he asked with a smirk, but his eyes were above my shoulder to something behind me. I turned remembering the sunbae behind me.

“Are you sure you don’t want to see the selection we have inside?” he asked, glaring slightly at Seung Jo.

“Um…” I said hesitating.

Seung Jo cut in quickly, “Let’s buy these.”

I looked at the shoes in my hand. I couldn’t believe Seung Jo had brought me the perfect flats, with the exact description that I had wanted.

“I think I’ll buy these,” I said happily, and walked past Seung Jo. He handed me thirty thousand won and I went to the register to buy the shoes.

I waited near the door scanning the shop for Seung Jo. Two minutes later he appeared, a small smile gracing his handsome face.

“What took you so long?” I asked him curiously.

He replied mysteriously, “Oh, I just had some business to take care of.”

This time, he was much more lighthearted, and asked to carry my bag.

“Do you want to go home now?” I asked, just in case he was still annoyed with having to come to the mall for shoe shopping.

“No, it’s okay. But this time, I think I’ll help you choose your things.”

I shrugged, not thinking too much into it. We walked into another store and promptly Seung Jo dragged me to the back of the store and had me pinned against the wall.

“Wha… what are you doing?” I asked him tripping over my words.

His mouth crashed on mine and he trapped me in his arms, not letting me move. I struggled, confused as to what he was doing.

“We’re in public!” I hissed, peering around him once he pulled back.

“Don’t say you like any other guy,” he whispered, his voice deeper than normal, his sweet breath fanning over my face.

I was momentarily dazed. What was he talking about?

“The shoe shop?” he said, jogging my memory.

“Oh! What? I never said I liked him.”

“But you were laughing at his jokes and being friendly.”

I looked at him weird, but his mouth was on mine once more. His lips pressed down on mine possessively and I could feel his tongue flick in and out between us. We were pressed together everywhere, his lean body against mine- hard against soft. His form was leaning over mine; a protective lion protecting its mate. And, did his lips on mine feel oh so good!

I hadn’t known Seung Jo Ah could be so jealous, but I quite liked it.

He gripped my hips tightly, as if saying you’re mine. I twined my hands around his neck, kissing back eagerly.

“We better stop,” I managed to pant out, reluctantly pulling away from him, and still feeling wobbly from the kiss. I looked past him to the window near the front of the shop.

The sunbae from the shoe store was standing near the window, eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

I scrambled away from Seung Jo in embarrassment.

“What?” he asked worriedly. He glanced back and saw what I was seeing. He tensed and pulled away from me.

I swear I heard him growl, “I thought I had finished my business at the shoe store,” under his breath.

“Wait! Seung Jo Ah! Let’s just go home,” I yelled after him and dragged him to the car, hands swinging between us.

“Thanks for the shoes,” I said cheerfully.

“I hate shoe shopping,” Seung Jo muttered forcefully, glaring out the windshield. But I saw those lips twitch into a quick smile…

I just laughed happily in response and pressed the button to bring the roof down.

This time he didn’t stop me.