On Sunday, Seunghyun rode with them to Mom’s house, as his car was in the shop. Again. Seunghyun liked to buy old foreign luxury cars that were as high maintenance as they were beautiful. Dara took the middle seat, leaning in towards Jiyong as a real girlfriend would. He rolled his stiff neck, and she automatically ran a hand over the back of his hair, stopping to rub her thumb and pointer finger into the pressure points at the top of his neck. She was so naturally thoughtful, and once again he wished he’d never asked her for this favour. He wanted to know what she’d be like without the pretense, and whether she really liked him. But how did you ask something like that?

If he told Dara he wanted to start over and date her for real, would he freak her out? He hadn’t thought anything could faze her, but yesterday morning during their workout, she’d given him a bit more detail about how things had gone at the dentist office with Mom and Dara’s boss, Kiyong, and his unwanted advances.

The last thing Jiyong wanted was to be that guy.

It was better to take things slow and be sure. It wasn’t like their pretend breakup meant they couldn’t see each other anymore. They’d still be gym buddies. There would be time for their relationship to grow without worrying about faking it in front of his family.

“Dude, are you two always this quiet in here?” Seunghyun looked over at them, continuing to tap his fingers against the door panel.

“Jiyong is deep in thought,” Dara said, giving Jiyong a little nudge.

Jiyong turned to look at her. She’d been studying him. Maybe she’d been doing that the whole time.

“Just concentrating on my driving,” he said. But as he looked at the stoplight up ahead, he panicked, realizing that wasn’t true. He had no recollection of how they’d gotten from the left turn out of the parking garage to this intersection.

“What’d you bring?” Jiyong asked, feeling like he needed to get a normal conversation going. He gripped the steering wheel and checked his mirrors before glancing at the Tupperware in Dara’s hands.

“Cornbread. I called and asked. Giran’s making stew so I figured this would be a good side dish.”

“Did you put jalapeños in it?” Seunghyun asked, sounding hopeful.

“Nooo. Does that disappoint you?”

“Only a little.”

“It doesn’t disappoint me.” Jiyong to the lane that would take them up to the house. The dogs came running, their tails wagging in excitement.

Seunghyun was not a dog person and gallantly offered to Dara up to the door while Jiyong corralled them. It was more effort to argue, so Jiyong took care of the dogs and came in a few minutes later, stopping to look at the big tree they’d decorated the week before. He noticed his ugly elementary school ornaments were now front and center, though he wasn’t sure if that was Dami’s doing or Dara’s.

In the kitchen, his stepdad was crooning an old Lee Seunghwan song. Mom’s laugh sounded delighted. She was so much happier when YoungHwan was here.

Jiyong stepped into the kitchen and slid in next to Dara, who was busy chopping up vegetables for a salad.

“Wash your hands,” she murmured, bumping him with her hip.

“What, you don’t like dog hair in your food?” He moved to the sink and put a dollop of soap on his hands before scrubbing them under the water.

Dara rolled her eyes. “Men.”

Maybe it was all the teasing she dished out on a regular basis rubbing off on him, but it was a natural reaction to flick the water from his hands onto her neck.

She scrunched her shoulders and shot him a look. “Here, peel this carrot for me, will ya?”

He was happy to have something to do, and happy to have an excuse to stay near her. This time, he ignored all the sets of eyes watching them interact. Whether she was here as a real girlfriend or not, getting stuck in the same panicked mind rut would not help them.

At dinner, YoungHwan monopolized the conversation, which was typical, but his stories about flying were pretty good, and Dara had never heard any of them. Just as Jiyong was beginning to zone out, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out to see a text from Dara.

Not all math puns are terrible. Just sum.

He glanced over at her, but she was resting her chin on her palm, paying perfect attention to YoungHwan’s story. It was a terrible joke but she must be an amazing stealth-texter.

He started to type out a joke in response, when a new one from her popped up. People are usually shocked when they find out I’m not a very good electrician. It took him a second to get it, and then he snorted, causing YoungHwan to pause mid-sentence and look over at him. Jiyong put his phone away and elbowed Dara instead. She elbowed him back.

Yep, he was definitely going after Dara when this whole stupid favor was over. He just needed to be patient.

After dinner, Dara suggested a walk again, though she invited everyone else to come with this time. Ever the matchmaker, Mom told them to run along and have some alone time. As if they never got that.

“Lead the way,” Dara offered.

Jiyong thought for a minute before heading toward the gigantic mesquite tree near the road. They had a ways to walk, but it was his favourite landmark on the property. The branches were as thick as barrels and grew out in every direction. Jiyong had a feeling Dara was a tree climbing kind of person, and this one offered the extra benefit of being low enough to the ground that you could hop from branch to branch, with no fear of falling.

Once she realized where he was going, Dara outpaced him and reached the tree first. It wasn’t nearly as pretty at this time of year, with its tiny leaves a dull brown rather than the vibrant green of spring. But it was still an impressive sight.

She pulled herself up first and walked across the branch to the trunk, before turning and resting her back against it.

Jiyong hopped up on the same branch before working his way around the tree, branch by branch. There was one section too far apart for him to jump, but he walked to the next one and climbed back up.

He looked back to see Dara smiling at him. “What?”

“You brought me to your favourite spot,” she said, crossing her arms. “I feel honoured.”

“You should. I’ve never brought a fake girlfriend here before.” Not a real one either, but he wasn’t about to mention that.

He rested his back against the trunk, close to her, but not touching. The moon was out, big and bright and almost full except for one sliver missing.

“Will this be a new favourite spot for you?” he asked.

She nodded, but her eyes surveyed the land in every direction, as if looking for something. “I was actually hoping to walk through the corn, but I don’t see any. Too late in the year?”

“Yep. Sorry. We’ll plant again when it warms up.”

“Dang. I really wanted to see if walking through a cornfield at night is as spooky as I always imagined.”

Jiyong couldn’t help laughing at her. “Have you not been through a corn maze?”

“That’s not the same. That’s fake scary. I’m talking about a regular ol’ cornfield next to a farmhouse, the stalks so thick you have to slip through sideways. One night, you step out on the porch and suddenly hear a rustling noise. The beloved family dog takes off into the field to investigate, and you run after him with a faulty flashlight and get all turned around in the dark.”

“And then you hear a clicking sound coming from an alien?” he asked.

“Naturally.” She turned to face him. “Does it ever scare you, being out here at night when the corn is high enough to go over your head?”

“Not one bit.”

“Are you sure? I thought you were terrified of scary movies.”

“It’s my corn. It’s not allowed to be haunted or infested with aliens. That would be bad for business.”

She laughed, pushing one hand against his chest