To Winter’s surprise, Eun Woo was already waiting for her by the time she reached the lobby. She trotted towards him while smoothening out her crumpled training pants subconsciously— how she wished she brought something more flattering to change out of instead of the ugly training clothes she was wearing. But she guessed her sweat-stained attire would have to do, since she was going out with Eun Woo and that made her happy enough to fly to the moon.

            Unsurprisingly, Eun Woo was dressed like the gentleman he was, in a crisp, buttoned-up blue shirt that smoothened his features and that only made him look more endearing than he already was. When he smiled at her, Winter thought she might melt on the spot.

            “Shall we go?” he said kindly, his smile crinkling his eyes. With a small giggle, Winter nodded vigorously.

            The movie theatre was unexpectedly empty for a Friday night. Eun Woo and Winter made their way to their seats without much trouble, since there seemed to be no one seated at the same row as them. Winter plumped down on the plush velvety seats, trying not to think about how they were more so alone if there was no one with them. Eun Woo followed down beside her, placing a large-sized popcorn in-between their seats.

            “I’m sorry for calling you out tonight,” he whispered over to her, sending down chills to her spine, though she pretended not to care.

            “What?” she whispered back. “What for?”

            “I know it’s barely a week left to your first performance evaluation. It makes no sense for me to distract you when you should be focusing on your preparation. But I also know that things have been hard for you lately, so I wanted you to relieve some of your stress before things get even more busy for you. I’m sorry I made that decision on your behalf.”

            Winter stared at his face in disbelief. How was it possible for his eyes to still reflect light in such a dimly lit room? If only he knew how excited she was now, he would never have said those words.

            “Are you being serious? I love taking a break, and I love it better that I’m spending it watching Love Boat with you.”

            Winter caught her tongue the moment she finished those words. There was no need to go that far to express your appreciation, Winter—

            “And I love coming out on a date with you,” he replied, a shy smile escaping his lips.

            Her heart was pounding, running at an impossible speed. Heat crept up her cheeks and she looked around urgently for a sign of distraction. Finally, she settled on stuffing a hand-full of popcorn into just as the screen dimmed, signalling the start of the show.

            It must have been barely five minutes into the movie but what felt like an hour to Winter when an angry beep sounded from between them. Being nervous and jittery as she was, Winter jumped at the sound and a waterfall of popcorn came running down onto the couple seated in front of them.

            “What on earth?” came an angry grunt from the couple. Embarrassed, Winter rushed to say her apologies and brush off the fallen popcorn on their heads. Luckily enough for Winter, the couple seemed forgiving and decided to accept Winter’s apology without any problems. As she turned back, however, the seat beside her was empty. She glanced around the back of the theatre, but Eun Woo was nowhere to be seen. Confused, she refocused her attention back to the screen, wondering when he had made his leave.

            A few minutes later, a hand lightly touched her shoulder and she felt her heart beat twice as fast.

            “Eun Woo!” she gasped. “Where did you go?”

            “I’m so sorry Winter,” he whispered apologetically, “I’m afraid I have to leave. My manager called and he said there is an urgent meeting for one of the broadcasts I’m scheduled to be in. It must have slipped out of my mind! I can’t believe I forgot about it.”

            In normal circumstances Winter would have thought that he deserved to be slapped. But