“Where are we going?” he asked as I beeped the car unlocked, rounding the vehicle to the driver’s side. After placing my stuff in the backseat of the car, I climbed in, Leo following my actions and then stared at me in confusion. “Are you certain Gunhee-hyung wants us to drive his car?”

“He gave me the keys, you saw him do it,” I mentioned airily, placing on my seatbelt and pressing the ignition button. The car purred to life.

“Very reluctantly,” Leo reminded, clicking his own belt into place. He glanced into the back of the car and then at me, and I caught the movement in my peripheral view as I focused on reversing the car out of its park. “Why do we have an overnight bag?”

I smiled. “Today we’re going on a trip.”

“Where to?”

“You’ll see when we get there,” I told him with another smile, feeling giddy as I navigated the early morning traffic. Leo was frustrated, he was a man who loved answers and I wasn’t giving him any. I could tell he was searching through his thoughts to figure it out, and for once, I welcomed his silence.

As soon as our chat last night was over, I had gotten everything organised as quickly as I could, wanting nothing more than to grant Leo some of his wishes. And it had been relatively easy to prepare, Gunhee lending us his car being the hardest task. But after promising him a free favour in the future with zero complaints he had agreed, and we were on our way to catch the morning ferry to Nami Island.

I hadn’t been to the tourist spot since I was a child but it was one of my favourite vacations I ever took with my family. And I wanted to share in the magic with Leo, knowing a lot of couples chose it as a romantic place to visit. I had found us a pension with beautiful views to stay in overnight and a few activities to do to fill in our day. I wanted to ensure that Leo got the best experience of his first date with me.

Just thinking of it being just us alone together made me extremely elated and anxious, hoping everything would run smoothly.

After some time of my driving, Leo couldn’t handle the silence any further and groaned. “I feel uncomfortable.”

“In my company?” I quipped, side-glancing at the dark-haired man and the back at the road. I saw his head shake rapidly.

“Not with you exactly, though I don’t understand why you won’t tell me what’s going on.”

“If I did, it would ruin the surprise.”

He huffed, his cheeks inflating and given him that innocence that I always adored to his otherwise manly features. Leo was unaware at how much the reaction made me swoon. “I feel like I dislike surprises. I don’t know what’s going on and that’s not comfortable at all.”

“In an hour I promise that you’ll feel like this is the best day of your life,” I assured, gripping the steering wheel and smiling brightly at the road ahead.

As expected, Leo was all smiles as soon as we were on the ferry. The experience was something new for him and he darted to the rail of the boat with a small smile on his face, glancing down at the water as the boat cut through the waves, and then inhaled deeply as if to smell the salty air. I laughed; he was just a little bit too cute.

“I don’t have to wear my mask?” he asked as I leaned on the rail beside him and I glanced around us before shaking my head. He frowned. “Are you sure? You always warned me-”

“Not today,” I intervened, smiling to myself.

“Why not?” he asked immediately, tilting his head lightly. “I don’t understand why you’re changing the rule for today.”

“Some rules can be broken for special occasions,” I tried to offer and Leo leaned closer to me, my own eyes widening at the sudden proximity.

“Why is today special, noona?”

“Why is your voice huskier?” I blurted out, blinking rapidly at how affected I was. It was Leo’s turn to have the upper hand and he knew it.

“After everything you’ve put me through this morning, can’t I have a little fun with you right now?”

“Leo!” I whined and he wrapped himself around me, leaning into my back gently. I sighed happily. The date was already too much for me to handle and we weren’t even at the island yet. I could see it easily in the distance though and hummed in excitement.

“Can I tell you what I think this is?” he asked into my ear and I nodded once. He took a deep breath, leaning into me further. “Are you taking me on a date?”

“An overnight date,” I mentioned happily and Leo froze. Gently spinning in his arms to see why, I tapped his shoulder lightly and he flinched. “Leo?”

“My search just now explained to me what happens on an overnight date. I didn’t expect you to want to use lover mode quite yfft-”

My hand was instantly over his mouth to muffle the rest of his sentence, my dilated focus darting around the early morning ferry to see if any of the other passengers had heard him. And then I snapped my eyes back to his, shaking my head rapidly. He motioned for me to let go, his small smile playing coyly on his lips when I did.

“I don’t know whether to feel disappointed or not,” he teased and I buried my head into his vibrating chest as he chuckled, shaking my head some more.

I could tell we would be making some interesting memories on Nami Island.

Like normal couples were doing, our time for most of the day was filled with sightseeing, trying to do everything the island had to offer from entertainment to nature walks, with a lot of photo taking along the way. I took so many photos that my phone storage kept threatening that it was close to full, reminding me of another part to our date. After we had returned from one of the gardens and back to the township, I looked around the brightly coloured buildings for one store in particular, hoping the island map was right and it hadn’t been relocated. Finally, I found the phone store tucked into the corner of a row of shops and dragged Leo into it, the taller man following me in with renewed interest in his eyes. I let him go to take in all the phones quietly, going up to the counter and asking to make a second contract on my account. I was unsure if Leo was actually paying attention to what I was doing or not, but for me, I felt incredibly hyper-aware in this situation.

I was buying a phone for my boyfriend.

It wasn’t exactly something I had ever imagined myself doing but right now I wanted to fulfil another of his wishes. I glanced over at him taking in the technology with an avid expression, no doubt scanning reviews online for what each device did. It made my hand shake as I filled in the paperwork. It felt foolish; I was putting too much weight into this decision. As if I was in the town hall and signing up for something more permanent than a 12-month contract. I didn’t realise how much I yearned for this normalcy in our relationship, and by the time I had signed the bottom of the form, I was pressing my lips together to try and control the thoughts racing around in my mind.

How was kissing Leo and sleeping in his arms all this week not enough to seem real enough that we were dating to me? This whole day could seem like a dream with how perfect the date had been going. But right now in this moment, I was all too alert.

This was real.

“You may pick a model of phone now, customer.” Blinking twice at the clerk’s words, I nodded distantly and then turned to Leo, each step closer making my heart beat faster. I wished for him to not hear it but of course he did, his eyes connecting with mine as he tilted his head to the side in concern.

“What’s wrong?” he asked quietly, moving to my side. “Are you okay? Why is your heart racing? Do you like technology too?”

I almost snorted; given that I was entirely in love with the biggest and most beautiful piece of technology I had ever seen standing right before me. As quick at the thought was to remind me he wasn’t human, I squashed it, smiling nervously up at Leo and taking his hand. He squeezed mine gently.

“Is there any phones you like?” I asked weakly and despite his brows being furrowed together, he nodded. “Want to show me your favourite?”

He took me over to a sleek black one, pointing at it and then looked at me. I gestured to the clerk and repeated the action he had done so she could grab it. I could feel his eyes boring into the side of my head as she finalised the sale and wrapped my purchase up.

Outside of the store, I then handed the small bag over to Leo. “Here you go.”

“Why did you buy this?” he questioned, his eyes deep in thought. And then he finally clicked. “Is this mine?”

I nodded, my face feeling as if it was on fire. His own seemed to mirror my shyness, Leo’s eyes widening as he pulled the box out of the bag and looked between me and the phone. I could tell he felt the weight of my decision as well as I had. To anyone else, buying a phone would have been no big deal.

But between us, well I could tell he was as affected as me since it was another of his wishes answered. He gently placed the box back into the bag and then pulled me into his arms, breathing more heavily than he needed to. “Thank you, Yerin.”