*Chaeyoung’s POV*

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”How was your audition yesterday?”

We were walking toward my favorite restaurant in Seoul - Tavolo. It was a Japanese restaurant right in the centre of the city - very close to my acting headquarters. I used to go there almost every day after class. I actually hadn’t gone there in a while lately, so I was more than eager to see what they had on the menu nowadays.

Bobby had changed into a pair of jeans and a red hoodie before we had left the apartment. So basically, we now looked like a couple to everyone else. Bobby didn’t seem to be aware of this, which was why he kept glaring at people who smiled at us wholeheartedly. I had decided to spare him from the fact that we indeed, were considered as a couple.

”It was okay”, I said, nodding my head as I threw my legs forward. ”I don’t think I’ll get the role though. There were dozens and dozens of participants.”

”There will always be dozens and dozens of participants”, Bobby chuckled hoarsely. ”You just have to be in the top five.”

”Top five?” I asked, arching a brow at him.

”Yeah”, Bobby nodded. ”There will always be work for the top five.”

I guess he was right. It did sound logical, I’d just never heard it like that before.

When we arrived to the restaurant, the cashier recognized me immediately. That often I had visited here. 

Imagine. 

Now you probably get why I wanted to start dieting.

Bobby picked a table at the back of the room, where others couldn’t see when they walked past the gigantic windows. Maybe he had a secret motive to it, maybe he didn’t. I couldn’t really read him, like I could read Jennie. Or other guys. Bobby was more of a mystery.

”What do you want to eat?” He asked while eyeing the menu. I stole a glance at his contemplating expression.

His lips looked extremely kissable.

Just saying.

When he raised his head, I quickly looked at my own menu. ”Soup.”

I could see the corner of his mouth twitch.

Had he noticed me? Crap.

”Which soup?”

”The most popular one”, I said.

”Miso soup?”

”No.”

Bobby shook his head briefly. ”You’re so different.”

My head jerked up from the menu. ”Different, how?”

He just shrugged.

”You said you didn’t have any expectations.”

”Yeah, about your looks. I did expect a certain personality.”

I leaned back on my chair. So I was acting different now? How about he looked in the mirror for instance? This cold treatment wasn’t exactly what I had expected. ”Well, right back at you.”

We sat in silence, listening to the faint indie music playing on the background. I could feel Bobby’s short glares on my face. He had these piercing eyes that made even me uncomfortable. I was never uncomfortable with guys.

Maybe that was why I was acting so strange?

Did he intimidate me?

Or maybe I was pissed that he was the relaxed one out of us two? I had always been that party. Now that I thought about it, it actually started to make sense.

I was indeed the uncomfortable one.

No, I was the nervous one. Who would’ve thought?

The waiter came to take our orders and brought us salted chicken wings (that Bobby had requested) for starters. I desperately wanted to say something to ease the atmosphere, but I couldn’t bring myself to it. I knew he sure wouldn’t do it, so we were trapped in this vicious cycle of pride.

The background music made the situation even more tragic. The sweet male-female-harmonies didn’t exactly walk hand in hand with our gloomy glares.

I would’ve given anything to start it all over again. I at taking my words back.

To my surprise, Bobby was actually bobbing his head to the music. He didn’t seem as hurt as I probably seemed to him. He looked at me curiously.

”Should we start this from the beginning?”

I furrowed my brows. ”The chicken?”

He choked on his water as an unexpected laughter flowed out of his throat.

I quickly stood up and grabbed a tissue for him. Then I rested my palm on his back.

And immediately removed it.

He coughed his lungs clear. ”No, I meant this. Us.”

I sat back down and our eyes locked for a few seconds. Was this guy a mindreader too? ”Yes, thank god, let’s do it.”

”Great”, Bobby chuckled hoarsely, still clearing his throat.

I had never heard a guy sound so hot while choking.

What the hell Rose? Focus.

Bobby extended his arm with a friendly looking grin on his face. ”Right, okay here we go - nice to meet you-”

”-Rose”, I spoke and wrapped my fingers around his. This time I noticed the smooth surface of his skin, and how warm his hands were. ”Nice to meet you too.”

Finally the acoustic background music fit the atmosphere.

Bobby shook my hand gently before pulling away. ”Much better.”

”Right?” I agreed.

”Yeah. I think I just got up with the wrong foot”, Bobby explained.

”Same”, I said nodding.

Bobby eyed me. His lips curved into a smirk.

”What?” I felt my lips quivering as well.

He shook his head. ”Nothing.”

I grabbed my chopsticks and started nibbling the food. I think I knew what he was so amused about.

We had literally just met and we were already arguing like an old couple. It had to be it.

Now that the atmosphere was finally closer to normal, we started to open up to each other - just like on the phone. Bobby told me about his money situation back in Sanggang-ri; he could barely make his ends meet now that tourism wasn’t as big as it once used to be. He told me that he would have to sell his boat if things wouldn’t work out the way he had planned them to. Then he told me about his parents, who were still in the states, waiting for him to bring back fortunes when all he had was a sailboat.

It did make me shiver a little. Thinking how he was supposed to feed himself and his family. He did have an older brother, though. So I assumed he wasn’t all by himself with the responsibility. But still, it was a lot for a young man like he was. I could barely feed myself, and I happened to get help from my parents who still lived in Australia.

”It’s not easy”, Bobby sighed, emptying his glass of water. ”But I’ll manage.”

It was hard to be my usual self with him. I wasn’t used to talking so bluntly with people, especially if I had met them just today. But there was this odd confidence in Bobby. It somehow made him able to undress all my shields, which made me talk to him in a way I normally couldn’t talk to people.

I rarely talked about anything serious. Even Jennie wasn’t able to dig that raw conversation out of me, but for some wicked reason Bobby knew how to do it. I wondered if Hanbin had the same gift. Maybe that was one of the reasons why Jennie had fallen for him in the first place.

He was so real. So… human.

After finishing the breakfast (or brunch), we walked by the Han River and I showed him some places I liked, like the park and the little boutiques where I enjoyed shopping.

Bobby ended up buying a new phone case. He even ended up losing his driver’s license. We found it at the shop though, eventually - the owner had found it and taken care of it until we came back to get it.

”I didn’t know you were so clumsy”, I laughed once we walked out of the boutique by the river. The streets were getting more crowded as time went by. I wondered whether Jennie and Hanbin had made it out of the bedroom.

Probably not.

I bet they hadn’t even started yet.

I chuckled to myself.

”Well, now you know”, Bobby admitted, examining his license. ”God I was an ugly kid.”

I turned my head toward him. ”Hm?”

Bobby shook his head and put the card in his pocket. ”My headshot. It looks terrible.”

”Let me see.”

Bobby shook his head again, with a grin on his lips. ”No way.”

”Come on. You basically begged for me to ask.”

”I didn’t”, Bobby said amusedly. ”I precisely told you it looks terrible.”

”Yeah, in a way that was intended to intrigue me”, I barked back. ”Let me see.”

His mischievous grin just widened as I tried to grab the card from his pocket. ”Don’t do it”, Bobby warned me. ”I’ll scream.”

I let out a chuckle. ”By all means!”

I grabbed the card from his hand.

I could recognize him from the photo, but he did look different. His nose was even smaller and his face rounder. But he still had those slightly crooked bunny teeth. And I couldn’t see anything ugly about it. ”What are you talking about? You were adorable!”

”Nonsense.”

”It’s not!”

”Let me see your ID then”, Bobby suggested, glancing at my purse. I held it tightly against my hip.

”No way.”

”Come on, an eye for an eye”, he fished.

”Did you arrange this so that you would see my ID?”

”Uh-uh.”

”You did!”

”Wow, you’re so loud”, Bobby chuckled, grabbing my arm to move me out of the way of a cyclist. The bike whizzed past us. The person riding it looked over his shoulder and gave us an apologetic nod, which Bobby replied with a hand wave.

”So you admit it?”

”Huh?” Bobby raised his hand off of my arm.

”You did want to see my ID.”

”Yeah but I didn’t plan it.” He had a weird amused grin on his face. ”You sure practice a lot of assuming. Just like Jennie.”

I just