The rest of the week went by quickly, and nothing particular happened until Sunday morning when Sehun and Jinho asks us to go to the town for some entertainment. I’m excited to go because I haven’t explored the street with the shops I saw whenever I went to town, and glad that we finally have time to go.

          Yumi unexpectedly isn’t as pumped as I am, and I’ve noticed her gloomy expression since yesterday. I asked if anything is wrong, but she didn’t answer. Did something happen between her and Jinho? But Jinho looks as cheery as usual during our way to the town.

          We see pop-up booths along the street as soon as we enter the area, and I notice that they’re mainly selling seasonal food or antique things. We get out of the car, and I do small jumps. This is probably the first time I’m being more enthusiastic than Yumi in anything.

          I was going to walk beside Yumi, but Jinho snatches the spot first and I end up walking next to Sehun behind them. Well, they’re dating, I can’t even be mad. We start walking along the crowded street, and I have my head turning right and left to see everything when suddenly I’m pulled to the side, to an empty alley.

          It took me a second to realize that Sehun is the one who did that, and I’m still puzzled but I have the urge to shout. “What—what are you doing?!”

          Sehun has a finger on his lips, signaling me to lower my voice. He takes a look at the street, as if making sure everything is safe. “Calm down. I’ll explain it to you.”

          I furrow my brows, still in a bit of shock because of the unexpected movement. Sehun runs his hand on his hair, making it messy for a second but it gets on place again in no time, making me wonder what shampoo he uses. Damn it, Nana, get a grip. “What is this? Why did you bring me here?”

          “Did Yumi tell you anything?”

          “What?”

          “As expected.” Sehun says. “It’s their first month together, yesterday to be exact. Jinho wanted to surprise her. I’m assigned with the job to… Well… Bring you somewhere else.”

          My mouth parts a bit, then I laugh in disbelief. “Wow… Kim Jinho, that guy, really… Why isn’t he telling me in person? I could’ve helped! I’m a great planner, you know.”

          Sehun just smiles, and shakes his head. “I guess he didn’t find the time.”

          “So what are we going to do?”

          “Um… We’ll just go the opposite way. We can still go around the shopping street, but we shouldn’t be seen by Jinho and Yumi.”

          “How long are we going to do this?”

          “Probably three hours.” Sehun answers. I swallow. So am I going to be wandering alone with Sehun for that long?

          What am I thinking about? We’ve been literally spending two weeks together as partners, three hours shouldn’t be a big deal. But this setting is too much like a weekend date, and we have no clear direction unlike our daily activities during this community service.

          “What do you want to do?” Sehun says, breaking my thoughts.

          “What? Me?” my voice nearly cracks. “I… I want to eat good food and find interesting stuff to buy.”

          “Then we shall go find those.” Sehun moves next to me and we start walking.

          “Huh, no wonder Yumi was so quiet. She might think that Jinho forgot or didn’t do anything for the one month commemoration.” I fold my arms on my chest. “So he’s been planning this all along?”

          “I think so. He even reserved a place down the street.”

          “Tsk-tsk, such lovebirds.” I click my tongue. “Yumi must be happy.”

          “Jinho said he’s ready to be beaten up by you in case you’re mad about this.”

          “Wow, he—” I hold onto the back of my neck. “No. I’m happy for them.”

          Sehun laughs, and spots something across the street. “There’s a line of shops here.”

          We prepare to cross the road, and as he checks the vehicles, Sehun puts exactly three fingers on my shoulder and pulls me softly to move when it’s safe. I try not to look at my shoulder, but it happened anyway. I clear my throat, and start looking around. A clothes store takes my attention, and Sehun follows me there.

          The store is quite wide, and Sehun goes to the men’s section. I keep myself busy in front of a pile of shirts, and silently comment on how vintage some of them are. I’m picking a few pieces to be tried on when Sehun comes next to me. “You’re done? I’m just started.”

          “Stay near me.” Sehun says slowly.

          “What?” I look up, and Sehun has an alert face on. “What do you mean?”

          “Just go on, but be near.” Sehun says again. I’m a bit confused, and hurry to the fitting room. I get anxious, so I quickly pay for the ones I chose and walk out from the store.

          “Hey, what’s going on? Is Jinho and Yumi nearby?” I ask. But Sehun’s face is too serious for that case.

          “Keep walking, let’s find somewhere to stay.”

          Sehun glances at the back, but I’m too scared to do the same. What did he see?

          On the intersection he suddenly takes my wrist and takes a sharp turn to a narrow alley, and we keep turning left and right until we find the main street again. We enter a café, and Sehun directs me to a table far away from the entrance. “Wait a minute.”

          He heads to the front window, and monitors the surrounding for a few seconds. He goes back to the table, and I realize my hands are sweating. “What happened? Tell me.”

          “Someone suspicious was looking at you starting from when we entered the clothes store. I thought he left, but he was still doing it when we were inside.”

          My heart starts beating faster, and I blink repeatedly. “Did he follow us?”

          “I checked, and I didn’t see him nearby.”

          “How was he like?”

          “A middle-aged man with dark clothes.”

          I swallow, and look at the table emptily. What would happen if I were alone?

          “Let’s sit here. I’ll order drinks. What do you want to have?” Sehun asks.

          I let Sehun go first, and control my breath audibly after he was gone. Sehun comes back with water for me and menu book. “You should at least drink a bit, I’ll order again after you pick something from this.”

          “Oh, thank you.” I say slowly. Sehun stares at me, looking concerned.

          “Are you okay?”

          “I am. Thanks to you.” I immediately respond, then take a big gulp of water. I try to smile, but my muscles are stiff. “Oh God, it was creepy. And I didn’t even see the man.” I cover my face with my hands.

          “It’s alright. He must have gone by now. We can have lunch here, they have food too.”

          “Okay.” I say, and exhale deeply.

          We spend the lunch in silence, and I look at the window. “Shall we go out?” I ask. “It starts to get stuffy.”

          Sehun nods, and offers to bring my shopping bag. We are both cautious once we’re outside, but Sehun has his guard on and looks at me, making sure I’m good to go. “Here.”

          He has his hand reaching out to me with his palm facing above, and I look down on it for five full seconds. What is this? Is he asking for something? Did I borrow something and he wants it back now? “…huh?”

          “Your hand.”

          My heart starts drumming again, for different reasons now. “Oh—oh.” I stiffly take his hand, and we start walking.

          “Maybe we can trick suspicious people.” Sehun says. “Where do you want to go next?”

          “I’m… not sure.” his hand feels dry and rough, just like I remember. I can’t really focus right now. “What about that way?”

          I see a green area in front, ending the shops and buildings. It looks like a park. As we come closer, there is actually a clear stream inside, and a few children with their parents are playing on the side.

          We enter the park, and I head straight to the stream. I squat to touch the water, and shudder. “It’s cold! But refreshing.” I say. Sehun stays next to me, and feels the water as well. He smiles, and we walk along the stream together.

          We find an empty wooden gazebo, and decide to rest there. I straighten my legs, and Sehun looks up to the cloudy sky. “I think it’s going to rain.”

          “Oh… Right.” I notice the grey highlights. Even after the realization, we don’t move and continue leaning on the gazebo. I think the lunch made us sleepy. “Sehun, don’t tell Yumi and Jinho about what happened, okay?”

          He turns to me, and presses his lips a bit before he nods. “Alright.”

          A raindrop lands on the back of my hand, and my eyes widen. “Wow, it starts already.”

          “What?” Sehun asks.

          “The rain! Move to the center.” I drag our bags further from the side, and Sehun follows suit. Droplets of water start showering the park, and hit the roof of the gazebo with loud scattering sounds. We both marvel at how quick it happens, and stay silent on the gazebo. Sehun lies down on the floor with his hands under his head, and this reminds me of the day we were making tofu.

          “What’s Yumi and Jinho doing now?” I wonder. “I hope the rain doesn’t ruin their day.”

          Sehun scoffs. “When two people are in love, they wouldn’t mind getting drenched by the rain as long as they’re together.”

          “Oh, you’ve experienced it before?” I tease.

          “Nah, I just feel it.” Sehun replies blankly.

          “You may be right. It turns like a movie for them.” I ponder. “Must be nice.” I add with a low voice.

          “Here’s fun too. Here is exciting because there’s Shin Nana.” Sehun comments. I turn to him with an irritated face. Another play with my name and exciting (shin-na) again. A lot of village residents joked about this a lot after I came, but Sehun hasn’t used it again for a long time. Sehun laughs, and looks at the ceiling.

          “Exciting is good, heart-fluttering is better. It’s spring anyway.” I look at the rain emptily. “I want to visit the cherry blossom field again.”

          “Heart-fluttering?” Sehun asks.

          “Yeah.”

          Sehun frees one hand from his position, and takes my hand near his side. “Like this?”