9.00 a.m.

Minsun pressed the buzzer as the bus neared a bus stop in front of a shopping mall. That was where she promised to meet Taecyeon. After more than a month, they finally get to go on a date. Minsun told him that she had their date for that day all planned out so all he had to do was to show up at the place they had promised.

“Hi,” Taecyeon waved with a sweet smile on his handsome face as he got up from the seat at the bus stop. Minsun waved back and then quickened her steps towards him.

“Did you wait long?” Minsun asked as she smoothened her slightly crumpled knee-length skirt.

“Oh, not at all. I just got here myself,” Taecyeon shrugged, and then looked around. “So, what is our first agenda that you got all planned out?”

“Are you mocking me?” Minsun narrowed her eyes at him, but he just shook his head and laughed.

“No, it’s just… when you said those stuffs on the phone, sounding so serious, I thought you were really…”

Minsun waited a little nervously for him to finish his sentence.

Then, looking gently over her while smiling so, he continued, “Cute.”

Minsun’s cheeks pinked from his little compliment. It was just that nobody ever told her she was cute, not when even she was a toddler. She was born with a cold, serious persona. 

“Well, let’s go.” Without looking into his eyes, Minsun reached for Taecyeon’s fingers, holding onto them tightly, which took him by surprise, and then led him into the shopping mall behind them.




“Before I tell you anything, let me ask you one thing. How far have you guys been?”

“What do you mean?” Minsun asked shyly, a bit embarrassed at what Jaebum actually meant by that question.

“I mean, have you kissed? Held hands?”

“Well… he kissed my forehead a few times, but very rarely… We held hands before too, but not when we were just walking together.Only on special occasions, which is quite rarely as well.”

“Ah,” Jaebum sighed and palmed his face. “Just as I expected from Taecyeon.”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“Listen, for your next date, grab his hand first. That way, he knew that you like him too and he’ll have more confidence. From then on, he’ll lead the relationship.”

“O-oh…”




“Where are we going?” Taecyeon asked as his eyes darted back and forth from their tightly clasped hands and Minsun’s face. She was looking ahead, walking in a rush as if chasing the time. Taecyeon found that to be a bit weird.

“We’re going to the arcade.” She said, still not looking bad. Partly because she was trying to lead the direction, partly because she was shy at the fact that she was the first to grab his hands, and so tightly at that.

“Arcade?”

“Why? You don’t like the arcade?”

“No, I love it, but do you?”

“Of course.”

“Minsun, wait.” Taecyeon slightly pulled her towards him, which was enough for her to get halted in her steps and pulled back. Her body slightly bumped to his. 

“Why?” She finally looked up at his face, loking impatient, anxious more likely.

Taecyeon laughed lightly. He gently peeled off Minsun’s fingers from his hand. 

“You held onto me a little too tight. Your hands are sweating now.” Taecyeon said as he took her hand and rubbed it on his sleeve to dry it off. Then, he hold onto Minsun’s hands again, this time loosely. 

“Well, I love the arcade, but you shouldn’t rush. You’ll tire yourself that way. We have the whole day, don’t we?” Taecyeon said gently to get her a bit relaxed. He could tell that Minsun was nervous for some reason, but she seemed determined to lead the date this time so he thought he’ll just follow her around. 

Minsun nodded to him, and she did relaxed a bit than before.




“Why the arcade?”

“Because you could score combo points!”

“Huh?”

“There are a few things you could do there to get your points up, in Taecyeon’s scoring sheet, I mean.”

“Oh,” Minsun nodded, even though she still hadn’t completely understand him. Sometimes, Jaebum could get really weird. Even Gohee said so to her before.

“First, Taecyeon is unbelievably superstitious, and there’s a broken fortune telling machine at the arcade at COEX.”

“Uh-huh,”

“The fortune machine kept giving the same result. ‘You’re with the right person. Don’t ever let him/her go, and you’ll find ultimate happiness.’ Get your fortune told by that machine, and Taecyeon would be super happy to get that result I bet he’ll keep that paper as a charm.” 




“Hey, look! The fortune teller machine! I want to try that!” Minsun pointed to a large machine with a big Aztec sun sculpture in front of it.

Taecyeon looked at Minsun weird.

“You’re into these stuffs?” He asked, a bit unconvinced at how excited Minsun was to see the machine.

“Yeah, I mean, recently.”

“I see,” Taecyeon nodded, but still feeling weird that Minsun was was acting that way. Minsun weren’t into nonsense stuffs like these, not that he ever seen her. Wasn’t she always the logical, no-nonsense type?

Minsun dragged him to the machine, and put come coin into the machine. There was a hole at the Aztec sun’s mouth for her to put her palm there, supposedly the machine would read her palm so Minsun quickly put her palm in there. After a few moments, a piece of paper was printed out by the machine. Taecyeon took it and read the result out loud with Minsun by his side.

“You should think twice before making decisions because you might surprise/disappoint yourself later. Try to control yourself because you have high drive- WHAT THE-”

Minsun gasped at the unexpected result and quickly grabbed the paper from Taecyeon’s hands and crumpled it up angrily as Taecyeon broke into laughter, so loud that people passing by turned their heads at them.

“What was that? Who would believe that?! Sunbae, did you believe that?” Minsun blurted. She couldn’t believe the machine suddenly gave a different reading. It probably got fixed last night because yesterday, she tried for at least five times and all the results was ‘You’re with the right person. Don’t ever let him/her go, and you’ll find ultimate happiness.’

“No, no! I don’t because that was just too… I’m so sorry, Minsun!” Taecyeon laughed again.

“Wha- I don’t have a high se-”

She couldn’t believe that that had to happen to her!




“And remember the next score point,”

Minsun nodded patiently, waiting for Jaebum’s explanation.

“You know how there were a lot of plushies prizes at the arcade? Find or win him a cat plushie. He loves those to death.”

“Taecyeon sunbae loves cats?”

“Correct! But if that is too difficult to find, you can just get him a teddy bear. That would work too,”




“Oh, god. I haven’t laughed that much for a long time,” Taecyeon said as he wiped a tear away.

“I can tell,” Minsun said, her lips slightly pouting. She looked so cute that Taecyeon felt like kissing her right then and there. He quickly shook the thought off and diverted his thought to something else.

“Hey, why don’t I get you a doll or something?” Taecyeon pointed to a crane machine. They went near  the machine and Minsun’s face brightened as soon as she saw a black cat plushie in it.

“Wait, let me do it,” Minsun said before Taecyeon inserted the token inside the machine.

“You sure? You don’t want me to get you the prize?”

“I… I want to try myself.”

Taecyeon smiled and made way for her. It took some time before she get used to controlling the claw around and choosing the toy she wanted, but by then, the time reached it’s limit. Minsun inserted more tokens and immediately continued her mission of getting the black cat – for Taecyeon.

“Hey, you’re pretty good,”

“Ssh. I’m concentrating,” Minsun said absent-mindedly as she paid her full attention at the machine. Taecyeon smiled secretly. She looked like a little child as her eyes glistened at the sight of the plushies. This time Minsun managed to get the black cat hooked by the claw, but right before she dropped the plushie into the drop box, the cat fell. Minsun tch’ed.

“Just a little bit more.” Minsun inserted more tokens in hope that she could get the black cat this time around, but she was wrong.  The hook wasn’t working at all, and she couldn’t get back the token, or even the black cat.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” She turned to Taecyeon.

“I guess the machine is stuck.” Taecyeon lightly hit the machine, but the token was still stuck in the crane machine and the claw wouldn’t move.

“But it was so close, if only…” Minsun stared at the cute, fuzzy little black cat in the machine through the glass. Her spirit dropped a bit now that she had already lost two points, topped with her looking silly and clumsy in front of Taecyeon  when she wanted to make this date great for him. Minsun sighed sadly against the glass of the crane machine.

Taecyeon felt sorry to see her like that. She seeemed like she really wanted that cat doll.

“Hey, there’s a toy store upstairs. Why don’t we go there? I’ll buy you something,” Taecyeon said as he smiled gently.

Minsun hesitated a bit before she replied. Her lips slightly pouted as she explained Taecyeon the truth. “Actually… I want to get that cat doll for you…” Minsun looked down, feeling embarrassed having to tell him that but wasn’t able to fulfill it.

Taecyeon raised his eyebrows in amusement, but broke into laughter shortly after.

“What?” Minsun asked, confused with his reaction.

“I’m sorry,” Taecyeon shook his head, still trying to shake off the laughter that was left in him.

“Why? You don’t like cats?”

“No, no. I love cats. Just…”

“What?”

“Who told you I like cats?” Taecyeon suddenly asked, smiling adoringly at her.

“Oh, er… No one.” Minsun stuttered, caught off-guard. She didn’t expect him to ask ‘Who told you?’ instead of ‘How do you know?’. “ Just, based on my observation.” She quickly added.

Taecyeon patted her head gently. “Well, I appreciate it very much, but no need to sulk, ok? You can get me that any time,”

“O-Okay…”

She was embarrassed again that Taecyeon had to comfort her – but she was supposed to comfort him! Even though he never asked for it. Khun was probably right, when Taecyeon said he was okay, then he really was okay.

But then, she still have one last chance to make Taecyeon really happy. She just had to do it no matter what! It was fine if she missed the previous chances but she really couldn’t for the next one.




“This one is a little tricky. You don’t have to do it if you can’t, but there was this booth that was offering a special, limited edition grand prize.”

“Really?” Minsun’s eyes widened as she took more interest at what Jaebum was about to tell her.

Jaebum nodded seriously.

“They are offering a coupon of free lunch set at Sushi King for a month! Taecyeon and I have been trying to beat the challenge everyday, but we still couldn’t make it!”

“Wow… But how am I supposed to win the challenge then?”

Jaebum narrowed his eyes and lower his voice. In all seriousness, he said, 

“Remember, this is the last resort in case the previous plans fail. I advise you not to do it, but here’s  my strategy.” 




Minsun should first let Taecyeon be away from her. Get him distracted or coccupied with something. Better if she could send him away somewhere else for a while. That wasn’t difficult to do, albeit a little mean. But she had to do it no matter what. Taecyeon would definitely love what she would get for him. Well, according to Jaebum.

“I’m getting something to drink. Do you want something?” Minsun asked while they were walking around. Teacyeon suggested earlier that they look for something that they both could enjoy.

“Nah. I’ll wait here.”

“I’ll be right back.” Minsun quickly ran off somewhere. She found a vending machine after a while and looked around to make sure that Taecyeon wasn’t watching her before she bought the drink; even though it didn’t matter if Taecyeon did. She carefully made her selection. The drink had to be something ‘strong’, but easy to be washed. She finally picked a strawberry carbonated drink. Next, she planned on approaching Taecyeon without him noticing her. 

Minsun walked quietly behind him, hoping he would never turn around, because it would be so awkward if he did and she might not be able to do it at all. Minsun took a deep breath and took a couple steps back from where she was standing, which wasn’t that far from Taecyeon. Right then he was standing in front of a booth and was checking it out, probably thinking if he could win at least the consolation prize.

Minsun took a deep breath, calm herself down, and then charged towards Taecyeon, with the can in her hand opened.

“Ah!” Minsun squeaked a little as she accidentally pour the whole drink on Taecyeon’s wide back.

“Woah!” Taecyeon jumped a bit when the cold drink wet his back, sending him chills all over his body.

“I-I’m sorry. Somebody bumped into me.” Minsun stared at Taecyeon who seemed really surprised.  Minsun tried her best to look guilty or worried, but she appeared more like, dull and a bit bland. She guessed Wooyoung was right about her, she was a bad actress.

Taecyeon looked at her, looking confused. He waited for a while before reacting to her, because if he didn’t replay in his mind what she just told him before, he would still think that she was pouring the drink on him on purpose because the incident just now sure didn’t feel like an accident.

“A-Are you okay?” Taecyeon asked, but he still felt a bit weird.

“Yeah, I am. But your shirt is ruined. Why don’t you wash it the toilet first while I wait here?” Minsun quickly suggested.

“Yeah, I,” Taecyeon paused to glance over his shoulder and he could see the bright pink stain starting from his left shoulder to all over his back, “I think so,”

“Go quick before your shirt dried up. The stain will be difficul to be cleaned then,” 

“O~kay…” Taecyeon chuckled. He smelled something fishy with all these weird remarks Minsun had been showing him from the moment they met this morning. Taecyeon decided he should wait until she told him herself what she was up to, and until then, just played along her little scheme.

When Taecyeon finally left for the washroom, Minsun quickly ran to an adjacent section from the area she was. There were a lot of mini basketball loops, placed side by side, but separated by net divider and along those loops a long container for the basketballs. When Minsun turned to her left, there was a large poster at the redemption counter right by those basketball loops. It was the poster for the special challenge they were holding since a month ago. The grand prize was the coupon Jaebum talked about, in condition they managed to score 100 shots in 30 minutes. Sounds impossible to Minsun, but there were still other ways to get that coupon, and that was why she sent Taecyeon away in the first place.

“I would like the Sushi King coupon. The grand prize.” Minsun told the attendant of the counter.

“Do you mean you want to take on the challenge?” The attendant asked back with a really confused look on his face.

“No, I want to buy the grand prize. I’ll pay twice, thrice time the amount for the prize.”

The attendant was really shocked that he lost the words he wanted to tell her. He quickly cleared his throat and regain his conscience.

“Please? I need it badly! It’s for someone important. I have to get it no matter what. I’ll pay you whatever amount you want.” Minsun told him, determined to even risk her bank account.

“Well, miss, for your information, nobody had ever win the  challenge ever since we started it, but…”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“Actually, yesterday…”




Taecyeon looked at his watch as he held up his shirt at the hand dryer. It had been a little over 15 minutes since he entered the washroom. He had to take off his shirt and thoroughly washed it because the right pink stain was too large and obvious. Taecyeon sighed and shook his head at what he was doing. He sometimes chuckled to himself, thinking how into Minsun he was that he found everything she did was cute, including pouring drinks on his shirt, whether on purpose or not.

Taecyeon took the shirt away from the dryer, closer to him to inspect the shirt. It was still a bit damp, and he could still see faint pink stains at the back of it. Taecyeon looked at the watch again, and decided that that would do for now because he didn’t want Minsun to wait for him too long, despite whatever she was planning on doing while he was away from her.

Taecyeon quickly put on the shirt again and walked out of the washroom calmly as his eyes searched for Minsun. Surprisingly, he found her standing still at the same spot before he entered the washroom. He thought she was busy doing something she didn’t want him to see.

“Hey, Minsun. Sorry if you waited long.”

Minsun didn’t replied. He couldn’t see her face since she was looking at the ground, her shoulders slumped. She seemed really sad, or that was how she looked to him at the moment.

“Minsun? You okay?”

“Sunbae,” Minsun slowly looked up. She took a look at his shirt first before she looked at his face.

Minsun closed her eyes in regret and said weakly, “I’m so sorry. I really didn’t meant to ruin your shirt, or our date, or make you wash the shirt yourself. I-” 

“Hey, it was an accident. It wasn’t your fault, don’t worry about it. Didn’t I told you to stop apologising already?” Taecyeon asked, smiling, but that didn’t make Minsun felt better. She had nothing else in her plan for Taecyeon that day. She wished she could have made this date a great day for him after so long since they ever spent time together. Minsun looked down again and pouted.

“Why don’t we have brunch first? I won this sushi coupon yesterday, so we can have a nice set for free,” He smiled, showing his teeth. Minsun quickly looked up at him, wide-eyed.

“S-sushi coupon?”

“Yeah. Actually I won it from a game here yesterday. Me and Jaebum had been trying to win it for like weeks. I have to bring him for sushi next time,” he laughed.

“A game here? Was it that game?” Minsun turned around to point to the basketball mini game.

Taecyeon nodded, looking curious now.  “Yeah, how do you know?”

“O-oh… I-I saw the poster when I was waiting for you. The challenge was really difficult, huh?” Minsun faked a smile.

“Yeah, I mean, 100 shots in 30 minutes? I was surprised that I did it yesterday.”

“Yeah, wow…” 

It was the first time in her life that she felt really bummed.




After the brunch, they just had a casual outing. They watched a movie together, took a walk at a nearby park, took pictures together, lying down under a shady tree together and talked about all the things they had missed for the past month. Minsun shared him some pictures she took at the charity event while Taecyeon told her how Wooyoung had been a little nicer these days. Minsun was surprised to know that Wooyoung had been actively participating in Gohee and her Christmas Project for the kids at the shelter home.

The time felt like it passed in a flash when they saw orange streaks had begun tainting the sky that was just now blue and bright. Minsun decided that she would just spend the night at her grandmother’s, after all, it had been a while since she saw her. Taecyeon walked her home since Minsun’s neighborhood wasn’t that far from his, even if it wasn’t in the same route.

Minsun took off at that crossroad before she had to walk her way to her grandmother’s house. She was surprised to see Taecyeon got of the bus together with her because she thought he’ll just bid goodbye there.

“Why did you get off? The bus will-”

“Hey, I told you I’d walk you home,” He shrugged.

Minsun just smiled and they both walked side by side. Not rushing, just enjoying the warm evening sun as they slowly passed rows of houses. Just like they had always been, they just appreciate each other’s presence without saying a word, not even holding hands. Minsun’s heart skipped a beat however when Taecyeon’s big hand wrapped her slim fingers all of a sudden. When she peeked sideways to look at him, he was staring ahead while smiling.

Minsun too smiled lightly. She was still disappointed that her plans for him wasn’t going well, but he seemed happy that day. He kept asking her throughout the day if she was okay or if she was bored. He was always so nice to her that sometimes, well, recently to be exact, made Minsun felt sorry for him that she was really bad at expressing such kindness.

“Can I ask you something?” Taecyeon suddenly spoke, breaking the silence.

“H-huh?” 

“Why did you take me to the arcade today?”

“Well…” When he asked that so suddenly, Minsun didn’t have the time to find a reason. “B-Because you love the arcade, of course.”

Taecyeon nodded, but his smile said something else, like he wasn’t buying her reason. “And how do you know?”

“I…”

“Jaebum told you all those, huh?” He smiled, showing his teeth. A very knowing smile. He had noticed all those little quirks that Minsun usually didn’t have, and knew right away. The holding hands, the fortune telling, the black cat, and the sushi coupon. Only Jaebum knew Taecyeon that well to know all those little things that he love, and Minsun was trying to get them all for him.

“I…”

“It’s okay,” Taecyeon smiled reassuringly as they stopped walking. Minsun didn’t realize herself that they had arrived at the gate of her grandmother’s house if Taecyeon hadn’t stop walking. He raised an arm and patted Minsun’s head gently.

“The thought that you’re trying to make me happy was more than enough. I’m really glad. Thank you very much, Minsun ah.” He said. He stared at her for a while before his face slowly leaned closer to her, which made Minsun felt more nervous, almost panic. She wasn’t sure if that was how every girl feels before their first kiss, but Minsun realized that she was quietly hoping for him to stop. Her body became stiff, her fingers tightened around the handle of her tote and she couldn’t bring her eyes up. When Taecyeon was close enough to her that their lips would met if she looked up, Minsun quickly looked away. And never looked at him again.

There was a brief of awkward moment passed by until one of them spoke.

“Get in, quick,” he said, smiling handsomely.

“A-Aren’t you com-”

Taecyeon shook his head. “Halmeoni must have missed you a lot. Get in,”

Minsun nodded once, feeling bad about what had just happened. “Bye,” she said softly, and then Taecyeon waved her goodbye as she pushed the gate open, timidly looking back at him.




Minsun softly pushed the door opened, and then leaned against the door after she let herself in. She sighed softly and stared at the ceilng. 

“Seo Minsun, you are such an idiot!” She whispered to herself. She wondered if she did the right thing? She wondered if it was better if she let Taecyeon kissed her? Would that make her felt better that Taecyeon seemed to like her more than she liked him?

“Oh, Minsun! You’re home!” Halmeoni who passed by the living room saw Minsun leaning against the door. Minsun quickly stood straight and smiled at her grandmother.

“Halmeoni,” she said and made her way towards the old woman. They hugged each other tight, releasing their longing for each other, even if it was only slightly over two weeks since Minsun left. Minsun was everything halmeoni had, and same goes for Minsun too. Halmeoni was her everything. There was nobody else in the world who knew her better than halmeoni.

“Where is Taecyeon? He didn’t come in?” Halmeoni asked, knowing that she had just returned from her date because Minsun had told her that she will be spending the night there after her date with Taecyeon.

Minsun shook her head. “He went straight home.”

“You don’t look good. Did you two had a fight?” Halmeoni looked worried.

“Oh, no, not at all. Today was great. We really had fun.” Minsun said, quickly forcing a smile on her face as halmeoni led her inside.

“Why don’t you go up and change first? Dinner will be ready shortly,” Halmeoni softly patted her back.

“Nae, halmeoni,” Minsun said and dragged herself upstairs. She wasn’t sure what it was but something felt wrong right after the date ended. She supposed she would felt better now that Taecyeon said he was happy but then… Minsun shook her head. She should stop thinking about that and appreciate this little time she had with halmeoni. Who knows how much longer Jihee, Minsun’s mother, would keep her in that big house. She always come up with so many excuses for Minsun not to return to her grandmother.

“One more thing, Minsun,” Halmeoni said when Minsun was in the middle of going up the staircase.

“Yes, halmeoni?”

“Taecyeon left you a gift in your room when you weren’t around.”

“He did?”

“Yes. That fine boy came to visit me. He helped me with so many things and even left you a nice gift. I’m sure you’d love it. Go and take a look!”

Minsun jogged upstairs, her heart was racing. All these feelings made her confused. There was this tiny wish deep inside that she didn’t realize herself, hoping it was nothing special because she was scared that she couldn’t return the same thing for him. Worse thing was she began to slowly think that this relationship was becoming a burden to her. But of course, she hadn’t realize that yet.

Minsun rushingly pushed the door to her room open and turn the switch right by the door on. Instead of the light of her room as she had expected, her room changed into a totally different place she had never seen before. Strings of wires criss-crossed in the air with probably hundreds of small, star shaped luminaires dangling from those wires.

It was beautiful. The warm orange lights, filling her room like stars adorning the black sky, it almost felt magical and unreal. It felt ore special than what Jaebum did for Gohee at the park.

For about a minute, Minsun just stood there, mouth-opened at the sight in front of her eyes.

“Oh my god…” she blurted out in a whisper.

She didn’t know what to do, or what to think. But she sure know what she was feeling right then.

Minsun rushed back downstairs, ignoring her halmeoni calling her name and went out, even with slippers that didn’t match because she didn’t see what she was putting on her feet. All she had on her mind right now was hoping that he was still outside, waiting for her, smiling like he always did. She knew now what was going on with her, and she had to let him know.

Minsun ran all the way to the bus stop they stopped at before they walked to her grandmother’s. 

“Sunbae! Taecyeon sunbae!” Minsun looked to her right and left, calling his name from the top of her lungs. A few kids who were there looked at her weird but that didn’t matter to her. However, to her disappointment, he was no where to be found. Her breath was still ragged when tears started to silently streamed down her pale cheeks. Her crying made breathing even harder that Minsun had to clutch on her chest, telling herself to stop crying, but the tears kept coming out, more and more.

“I’m sorry… Sunbae, I’m so sorry…”

She was supposed to feel deeply touched, deeply happy, deeply in love with him for such beautiful gift just because he missed her and wanted to surprise her with his declaration of his special feelings towards when she returned. That was how it was supposed to be, but unfortunately it wasn’t. Minsun was sure of that.

She should have realized all that from the moment he told her,

“I love you,”