After what seemed like a year of grovelling Hanbin had finally secured 30 minute slots every other day. It wasn't much but he quite looked forward to the dates. The real challenge wasn't trying to extend time. No, he was afraid if he did that she might cut him off completely. The real challenge was trying to decide how to spend that 30 minutes and although he did enjoy his time with her, sometimes he couldn’t help drop comments like, “Well, we can't watch a movie so let's watch a commercial.”

After that he would feel guilty because it wasn't her fault. She was busy but she was making time for him yet he was being ungrateful. Hanbin didn't like that. What was worse was that she never really got mad at him for it. He expected her to say something. Yet she never did. Perhaps Yowon had a high tolerance for rage. If he were in her shoes Hanbin would have dumped himself.

One thing was for certain though. He really did hate her scheduler. That rotten book was more beloved than he was. Now it didn't make sense for Hanbin to get jealous of a book but he couldn’t help it. 

On the other side of the spectrum was Yowon who really liked the change. Letting Hanbin into her life was probably the best decision she'd made. She didn't know why he had come though. There were better ways to spend his life than be with her who, she was sure, made him frustrated. She didn't question him, thinking he had an idea of what he was doing by sticking next to her.

Hanbin never really knew how to plan their dates. Whenever the scheduler gave him permission to date Yowon, he would dwell for ages trying to plan something that was spectacular and within the budget of two high schoolers. 

Once he caught her off guard, took her hand and they both skipped out on academy classes. Naturally she’d been surprised.

They went on a date-- nothing special really. He brought her to a park nearby. She was dubious whereas he plopped down on a swing.

“You’re not going to class?” She inquired.

“Let’s skip for today.” He grinned.

If she thought he was childish, she didn’t comment. Sitting beside him she wondered what they were doing. Beside her Hanbin began to swing. Yowon half smiled. She was thinking he would do something corny like push her. She was thankful he didn't.

Truthfully it felt odd to be at a playground, to sit on swings, play tag and use the slide. They were too big for the jungle gym but that didn't stop them. Eventually they tired and sat by the sandbox.

Drawing grooves with the front of her shoes Yowon reminisced, “I used to love making sand castles.”

A deep chuckle came from the boy beside her. “I didn’t bring you here so you could remember the past. I'm selfish you see.” He fumbled with something and produced a pair of earphones and put them on her.

“Wanted to boast.” A gleam twinkled in his eyes. A melody began to play. It was a little amateur, she could tell, and was and about to when his voice flooded. It was then that the tune stopped being scratchy; his rich tone complimented the beat. Since when had Hanbin been good at music? 

 She was smiling, she realised. Another thing to realise was that his arm had somehow draped itself over her shoulder and his head was close to hers as he tried to listen in. Yowon offered him an earpiece. Taking this as cue, Hanbin shuffled closer next to her and they listened to his compositions together. 

Perhaps it was the intimacy or comfort, Yowon fell asleep not long after that. When he noticed, Hanbin switched off her phone to allow her some well earned rest. 

From what he’d observed, she fell asleep all too easily. Oddly it happened a lot during their dates. Hanbin was used to it by now. At first, he’d been shocked to discover her snoozing when they were meant to view a short horror film. He had been shocked. How could anyone have slept through his torturous cries? 

The next time it happened was at a petting zoo. Hanbin had gotten distracted by the variety of animals. Once he’d gotten over the fact that the baby fox hated him, he’d sulked wanting to complain to Yowon and explain that foxes were generally mistrustful. It had taken ages but he eventually found her resting in the goat’s pen. Maybe she'd thought he’d call her ‘Sleeping Beauty’ however that went against his principles. No, he spent a long while ba-ing at her instead. 

Obviously this resulted in her being furious. She avoided him after that. Actually it had been hard for him to even find her. If Pepero Day hadn’t shown up Hanbin may have been doomed. On this magical day he’d tricked her.

It had been easy. He'd munched the chocolate draped goodness in front of her like a bratty child. At first she'd tried ignoring him but he kept his resilience. Eventually she copied him and before she knew it, he’d already kissed her using pepero as an excuse. Like that he’d secured their first kiss; the first of many. 

The petting zoo had taught him something. He’d had to revisit Disney’s classics for this one; ‘Sleeping Beauty’ in particular. Prince Phillip, as cheesy as he was, had taught Hanbin a grave lesson, that women liked being kissed awake. 

Now that he thought about it, Hanbin had been rendered a mush ball. No one who knew him would have ever related him to the present cheese ball. Heck, he’d raised his class ranking. Nope, this was not the Hanbin that had once reigned terror. 

“Why did I even do that?” He thought aloud. 

“Hm?” Yowon rubbed her eyes and with a yawn asked, “What did you do?”