My heart pounded heavily against my chest. Soojin kissed my cheek, such a simple act, and yet my body reacted in such a way. I could not understand it. Of course I had feelings for her, but how could she so easily do this to me? I had almost forgotten about Hyesun's sudden return through Soojin's body.

"Jiyong, how about we get ready for our date?"

"I'd love nothing more than that," I smiled. This was nothing but the truth. I was excited. Excited to go on a date with Soojin. Excited to move on from Hyesun. Excited to learn more about this day and age.

"I would," she said, suddenly, confusing me. "You're supposed to talk like a gentleman, remember?"

"Right, of course," I replied. I felt somewhat embarrassed for speaking informally, for the first time. I had wanted to speak informally to assimilate into today's society. And, although I know Soojin was joking, I felt somewhat ashamed. It was then that I realized, I was no longer a nobleman's son and scholar, but a commoner. And, the more I spoke like a commoner, the more I would become one, slowly detaching from my roots.

Lost in my thoughts, I went back to the safe room to change my clothing. I chose a white shirt with metallic spikes around the collar, a black sweater with black spikes all around, black pants and black shoes. The pants seemed to fit tightly, however, as I looked in the image reflector against the wall, which I now knew was called a mirror, I realized this style was quite interesting. I liked it. I wanted this to be a part of my everyday style in this new age. 

After changing my clothes, I thought to myself how much I would like to wear earrings. I had seen my friend Choi Seunghyun wear them, and they did not look the least bit feminine. In fact, they enhanced his cool appearance. But back in my time, earrings worn by men was not something common.

I did not own a pair of earrings, and so I returned to Soojin's room after hearing her turn on the shower. Browsing around, I found a unique pair of earrings in the shape of a cross. Taking them, I went back into the safe room, and carefully, as seen in a movie I had watched last night, stuck the earrings into my ears. The new holes in my ear stung, and so I tried not to make a sound, pacing the room while biting onto my index finger. What was I thinking? But in the end, the results were satisfactory. I went back into Soojin's room in search of rubbing alcohol, which I used to disinfect my ear piercings, and waited patiently on her bed.

Soojin returned to her room just a few moments later, smelling like cherry blossoms again, and was dressed up in a skintight black shirt and a dark blue skirt complete with a big, blue bow in the back. She inspected me, making the cutest face. Then, she asked about my new piercings, to which I answered.

"I have spent a lot of time last night watching the television, studying language, culture and style. Everything is very quite different from the time I am from. Since I now live as a human in this time period and blend in, I figured I would like to have my own sense of style. I found these earrings in your desk. I pierced my ears myself after watching a guy do it in a movie. I would like to get a tattoo next."

"Wow, you sure do change fast," she laughed. "Piercings? Tattoos? Are you going to stop speaking like a gentleman to me, next?"

I laughed along with Soojin. "Maybe."

"You can if you want to," she told me. "I know speaking so formal makes you stand out. But it would be nice to hear it occasionally."

"No problem," I smiled. "Now let's go eat. I'm hungry."

"Alright," Soojin laughed. "Let's go."

With that, we took off. Soojin drove us to her favorite restaurant: a French one, called "palais de Séoul," which Soojin explained meant "The Palace of Seoul."

Upon our arrival, we were immediately welcomed and seated. It seemed as if Soojin was a regular here. The interior of the place was impressive. It was a combination of black and white. The walls were white, while tables, chairs and chandeliers were black. We were seated between a window with white curtains and a foreigner couple. The host placed menus in front of us while a server walked over and poured water into glasses that were already placed on the table prior to us entering the restaurant. "No need for menus. We will have the special of the day," Soojin told them, to which they smiled and nodded, taking away the menus.

Like clockwork, servers came around our table, brining a bottle of red wine over to pour into glasses for us and then bowls of soup, which I was told is called "bisque." It was a light brown color and very much creamy. Once we finished our bisque, the waiters came and took away our empty bowls and poured us more water. "Your entrees will arrive shortly," the waiter informed us.

A few minutes later I could smell our food coming out of the kitchen. The waiter came over to our table, balancing both plates on an even bigger round plate. After our food was placed in front of us, the waiter spoke. "This is the boeuf bourguignon, madame and monsieur. Bon appetite."

The smell of beef and onions was strong, thanks to my gumiho nose. My mouth watered. I looked up at Soojin to see her laugh. "Bon appetite," she said.

"Bon appetite," I repeated, before demolishing my lunch.

The beef was my favorite part of this meal, however, upon looking at Soojin, I could see that she favored the potatoes, and so I took some of my potatoes and placed it on Soojin's plate. "You eat," she told me.

"No, you eat," I said. "I can see how much you enjoy the potatoes. You have eaten them all, leaving the beef behind."

Soojin blushed. "You caught me. Well, you can take some of my beef if you'd like."

I shook my head. "I am okay, my dear, sweet, Soojin. Please enjoy your meal."

Seeming a bit flustered, she ate the potatoes I had given her, and then some beef. Once we had both finished eating, the waiter brought over more food. It was a dessert. He told us it was called "cafe liegeois." It was cold and slightly sweet, but also bitter. "Delicious," Soojin smiled.

Finally, the waiter gave us the bill. Soojin took out her money and paid for the food. How I wish I had my past wealth. I would treat Soojin out to eat myself, possibly every night, and anywhere she wanted.

"I would love to have a job," I said, as we walked out of the restaurant.

"What? Why?"

"Because, I would like to be able to treat you out to dinner. It's shameful for a man to have their woman pay for everything," I answered. "I would love to be able to take you out to dinner, buy you a gift or take you around the world with me. Back in my time, I was wealthy enough. But, now I have not one coin to my name."

"You don't have to worry about that right now, Jiyong," she told me.

"But I do," I insisted.

Soojin sighed. "Fine. Let's see if we can get you documents as a citizen of Korea. I know someone who can help you."

"Really?!" I exclaimed. "That's great!"

"Yeah, of course. There's nothing you can't do when you have the money, even if sometimes it's a bad thing."

I nodded, understanding Soojin's words, and then changed the subject. "Do we get to go to your museum now?"

"It looks about that time," Soojin smiled. "Let's go."

Soojin drove us to her family's museum. The building appeared larger than I remember. In front of the museum, on the left hand side, there was a sculpture of a lotus flower in the middle of a small pool of water, surrounded by bricks. Beside the two sets of glass doors were statues of men and woman who were almost . Soojin explained to me that the statues were of Roman gods and goddesses. There was Venus: the goddess of love, Jupiter: the king of the gods, Juno: the queen of the gods, and Minerva: the goddess of wisdom. I was not even inside the building and already learning so much.

Once we were inside the building, we were greeted by Soojin's cousin. His face seemed somewhat displeased. Regardless, I showed my respects, saying hello and bowing my head. He did the same.

"Daesung, I hope you can learn to like my friend here," Soojin said. "He's not going anywhere."

"Sure, of course," Daesung replied. "Are you two dating?"

Soojin coughed, awkwardly. I looked over at her, to which she looked back at me, and back to her cousin before answering. "Not yet, but maybe one day."

I could not help myself from smiling. "But maybe one day" was all I needed to hear.

Daesung granted us entry into the museum, which was now closed to the public, and Soojin began to teach me her lessons. She first took me to a room which was dedicated to Ancient Roman culture. There were more statues of other gods and goddesses as well as pottery amoung the lot. The statues were beautiful and the history behind them all were interesting.

After the Roman room, Soojin took me to a room dedicated to Japanese woodblock printer: Hokusai. This entire section of art was only borrowed temporarily and to be returned to their original gallery by the end of this month, which Soojin had let me know was February. Today was February 15th in the year 2014.

Everything about today was amazing and I had learned so much from Soojin and through art. The Hokusai gallery was my favorite. The pieces were beautiful and so carefully made. The stories behind the pieces also made the works all the more intriguing. I also found the 3-Dimensional art gallery to be interesting. It was not until today that I realized how interesting art is. When I was a scholar, I studied language, sciences, and math, among other subjects. However, art was not one of them. And yet, how I've come to love art in such a short period of time, and this museum. Soojin's passion for these works of art fueled my passion even more. She opened a whole new world to me. A colorful world full of creativity. And how I appreciated her for it. She not only introduced me to this beauty, but also managed to show me that a lot can be learned through these works.

I now sat in my bed, thinking about all I've learned today, considering now that perhaps I would like to attempt to create some works of art myself. Or perhaps I would like to collect art. Now I could no longer wait for days, weeks and months to pass, as I would learn many new things about the world and about myself. Soojin said tomorrow we would get documents for me to be able to work in Korea, which would be the official start of my new chance at life. Everything seemed to looking up for this gumiho. I started to think, perhaps this was more a blessing than a curse.

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First off:

-I want to thank my (currently 2) subscribers, as well as any new subscribers or returning readers from my old account (naninanoda).

-The reason I chose February 15, 2014 (which was a Saturday, btw)is because I need 3 years to pass in my story, and I want it to finish this story this year (2017), and would like for the date in the story to end in our current year, instead of 2020 or something. If that makes any sense.

-About updates: I want to try and write 1 chapter a week, though sometimes it may take 2 weeks or so, depending on what happens in life. I'm a recent college grad, working part time but looking for a full time job. Based on my schedule or any changes, that affects how often I can write.

Also, it makes me happy to know that my writing is enjoyable. That being said: If you enjoy this story so far, please subscribe (if you haven't already), upvote, comment on what you liked best, and / or share with friend who you think would also enjoy. Only if you want to, but it lets me know my writing liked. :)

I have a question:

When I wrote "I felt somewhat embarrassed for speaking so informally, for the first time." ... did you think of it as "Jiyoung spoke informally for the first time" or "Jiyoung was embarrassed for the first time" ? I wanted to say he tried to speak informally in the past but this time is the first time he felt embarrassed to speak informally. BTW informally is partly in style as well as conjunctions. That's the best I can do. I want to have Jiyong speaking informally soon, though.

AND: "palais de Seoul" is just a made up place... I thought about using a real place but changed my mind, so that I could make up my own menu and details of the place. :P