The next afternoon Zelo gave me and Sunny a ride to the train station where we would meet Sunmi. Once we arrived Sunny thanked him for the ride and headed out. I was about to follow her when Zelo stopped me by putting his hand on my arm.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”, he said tapping his cheek.

“Someone’s being cheeky aren’t they?”, I said, smiling at my own pun.

“I see what you did there but your pun isn’t going to get you out of this.”

“What if I don’t want to?”, I teased. Before he could reply Sunny knocked on the passenger window.

“C’mon! Give him his damn kiss already and let’s go.” I could feel my face heat up slightly.

“You’re getting too used to this y’know. You’re being spoiled rotten.”, I said leaning over to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.

“And I’m loving every second of it.”, he said with a grin. I rolled my eyes.

“Bye. We’ll see you later.”

Sunny and I quickly found Sunmi.

“Hey Sunmi. Were you waiting long?”, I asked.

“We would have been here sooner if Zelo and Jenny hadn’t been too busy flirting.”, Sunny teased.

“We were not flirting!”, I protested. Sunmi grinned.

“It’s ok. I remember when Dae Honey and I were like that too. Besides, I just got here not too long ago.” Sunmi glanced at her watch. “Oh our train should be here. Come on. Let’s go.”

Soon we were headed to Hongdae. On the way there we talked about what to do in Hongdae. Our first stop was the Trick Eye Museum. It had been on my bucket list for awhile. The pictures people took there were so cool. We took some pretty hilarious pictures. I was totally going to post them on Instagram later. After the Trick Eye Museum we just walked around the streets of Hongdae checking out street vendors, eating street food, and stopping to listen and watch various street performers. We were watching one performer playing a guitar and singing ballads.

“I’m kind of thirsty. Do you guys want to go to a cafe or something?”, asked Sunmi.

“Sure. What’s good around here?”, asked Sunny.

“Hmm… well there’s a Hello Kitty cafe around here.”

“That’s too much pink for me.”, Sunny replied. I made a mental note to come back and check it out later. Maybe I could convince Zelo to come with me.

“Then, how about a meerkat cafe?”

“Meerkat? Like they actually have meerkats?”, I asked.

“Yeah among other animals.”

“I am intrigued.”, said Sunny.

“Me too.”

“Ok that settles it. Let’s go.”, said Sunmi, leading the way.

We played with the meerkats while waiting for our drinks. After our drinks were ready, we settled in at a table.

“So what do you guys think of Hongdae?”

“There’s so much to do! I love it!”, said Sunny.

“Agreed. It’s so much fun. I wish my mom could have seen how much Korea has changed. She would have loved it.”

“What kind of person was your mom? You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”, Sunmi quickly added.

“Nah it’s fine. She was gentle and loving but she was also a no nonsense woman. My dad always said she had fire and that’s one of the reasons why he fell in love with her.”

“She sounds like she was a great person. How did she and your dad meet?”

“Yeah how did they meet? You never told me this story, either.”, said Sunny

“Well when Ba was younger, he liked to travel. He found himself in Korea during the summer on one of his travels. He was travelling around the countryside and found lodging at a local inn. He liked it because the owners were immigrants from Guangdong which is an area in China where the people speak Cantonese.The owners were my grandparents. That summer Ma had just graduated from college and was home for the summer helping out around the inn. She was of course gorgeous so customers would always try to flirt with her. But that’s not what got Ba. One day he was headed back to his room when he saw one of the customers trying to put the moves on Ma. He wouldn’t take no for an answer. Ba was about to step in when the guy grabbed Ma’s hand when she tried to walk away, but then Ma flipped the guy over her shoulder. The guy had the wind knocked out of him. Ba always said it felt like he was the one who got flipped. She had taken his breath away. At that moment, she noticed him standing there and she gave him a sheepish smile. Then it was totally game over for him. He had fallen for her fire and her smile.”

“That’s so romantic.”, Sunmi sighed.

“That’s just like the boss.”, Sunny laughed. I laughed too.

“Yeah. It’s one of my favorite stories among the ones he used to tell.” We casually sipped our drinks and played some more with the meerkats. All too soon it was time for us to head back. It had been a while since I felt like a normal girl so this trip became a fond memory for me. I honestly didn’t want the day to end.