Why Mino agreed to go on a date is beyond him. His little prick of a friend had pressured him to go out, not to feel—stressed—he believed it’s the word Jihoon used to describe him for the past few days.

“It’s just a date,” Jihoon persuaded yesterday. “You need to meet someone, you know, be happy,” it had sounded so cheesy then, but when Mino woke up at three in the morning, hungry with no food and feeling like a total , maybe he needs a little cheesiness in his life, after all. Besides, going out on a date will serve a solid alibi to avoid going to his parent’s house since it’s a holiday.

The date had been going on fine until they sat down at the restaurant for lunch and suddenly in the middle of an open debate on why Children’s Day is momentous. It’s apparent that he was surly about the topic, and it’s not like he’s going to get philosophical about a holiday. Growing up, he participated in a healthy amount of events to celebrate it, but at the end of the day, it always feels like one of those days of playing with friends because the weather is nice. It seems thought his date has a different point of view.

Mino’s reluctant participation in the debate seems to drive his date to an edge of insanity. She went as far as calling him an ignorant adult for not knowing the full history behind it. He knew better than anyone that he wasn’t one of those smart people that have 4.00 GPA or some overachieving people have, but he did graduate with an average grade. The point is, he’s not stupid enough to get scolded about the importance of Children’s Day to the Republic of South Korea.

The only good thing that happened from the debate is that she’s pissed enough and storm to the restroom to calm herself down. Mino let out a sigh of relief, albeit short-lived, because his phone rang the next second. He glanced over at the screen to check the caller ID.

.

The dreaded call he’s been anxiously avoiding is finally here. He quickly backtracked, thinking when was the last time he had an actual decent conversation with mom. He had gone incognito from her, but of course, to his mom, a family drama doesn’t mean he got exempted from coming home, it could be in the middle of the storm, and if she wants him back, he bet his he’s going home.

Bracing himself, he slides the screen upwards to answer the phone. “Mom–I was just about to call you,”

“Sure, I could be dead, and you wouldn’t know it.”

Ah, so she’s pissed. Maybe because it’s way past lunch and there’s no sign of him showing up.

“Are you on your way already? I’ve already got a pot of soybean paste stew on the stove. Who knows how long it’s been since you have a decent meal.”

Mino closed his eyes, wishing that someone would just shoot him now. How could the universe be so cruel to him for letting his mom cooked his favorite meal?

Despite the food bribe, Mino found himself still adamant about not coming. Hell, he already has one woman who is mad at him regarding Children’s Day, what’s another one? Not delaying the inevitable, he says, “mom, I’m currently on a date. I don’t think I can come.” Purposefully leaving out the fact that he’s actually about to bail and probably go home to sleep. But she didn’t need to know that. 

“A date?” She sounds elated. If there’s one thing Mino knows that will make her mom be over the moon in seconds is an update about his love life, good thing he still knows his way around her. “Bring her over, then. I want to meet her.”

Sometimes Mino forgets that his mom was never a worrier. Things at home might be a wrecked ship, but nothing is going to stop her from inviting strangers for a meal. She lives and dies by the words ‘the more, the merrier’ when it comes to holiday. Sometimes, he thinks she just acts extra festive so that she can have something to talk about on Monday while playing tennis.   

“I don’t think she wants to.”

“Let me talk to her,” 

Yikes! Not gonna happen. “Mom, I’m about to go on a train, I might lose you,”

“How convenient,”

“I’ll talk—” Mino makes a fake static sound and hangs up.

So, that’s one down. Considering the circumstances, he knew she wouldn’t stop trying to reach him, it was never the end with a single phone call. He might have to turn off his phone for the rest of the day to escape her. Mino racked his brain for an escape route when his eyes landed on the menu left opened at the table. He comes across curry, which is one of Seulgi’s favorite food. He wondered what she was doing, so he scrolled down to her number.

She picked up on the first ring. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Don’t tell me you’re working?” He immediately asked because after knowing Seulgi in the past months, there’s a big fat chance that she’s working on her day off again. After all, the girl seems to be prepared to lose sleep to achieve her goal. Working on holidays was nothing for her.

A week ago, Mino had learned about her goal to be promoted over dinner. Sehun rarely came home early and added with the fact that Mino can’t cook a decent food to save a life, he did what he needed to do to survive, mooch food from Seulgi that is. Since then, it had become a habit between them to have dinner together. He tried to help with the cooking once, but she quickly demoted him to set the table and sit still. Sitting at her usual low table had made him familiar with the endless work she has and the laptop that hadn’t been shut down for months.

“You’re trying for the promotion?” He asked that night while tidying up the paper into a neat stack as much as he could. Or as willing.

“No, I will get it.”

Mino let out a low whistle. “Wow. Will. I like the confidence in you.”

And he’s not lying. He really admires the sheer determination Seulgi shows through her action. Somehow, it makes him want to do much better in his own field too.

The frustrated sigh from the other line brings Mino back to reality. “I’ve been trying for hours to come up with the opening,”

A small laugh slips out naturally from him, thinking how she must be failing miserably because Seulgi is a sore loser as much as he does, and she won’t ever settle for less when it comes to her writing. “Sounds tough,”

“No kidding. Aren’t you on a date?”

“Yeah, about that,” he cringed while looking at the general direction of the bathroom, checking his date whereabouts. Okay, the date wasn’t that bad enough for him to avoid her like a virus, but it’s not like Mino is enjoying himself either. It’s like he doesn’t know what he’s doing, wasting his time when he has Seulgi. He can imagine how nice it would be to just hang out with her on such a ty day. Plus, her apartment is much more comfortable with a softer couch.

At his long pause, Seulgi tease, “What? You want me to rescue you?”

He plays with the bowl in front of him and thinks about how much he misses her laugh. Finishing the illustration for Kyungsoo ad placement had taken more time than he expected. In less than two days, he had to come up with a design alongside a story behind it, and while it was a good way to distract him from whatever was going on in his life, but also mean less time to hang out with Seulgi.

“No need,” he looks at the clock. “Do you want anything? I’m dropping by,”

Last time he ran an errand for her, she asked him to buy a menstrual pad and spent 10 minutes trying to find the exact brand she asked for, only to come up short at the cashier. And no, it wasn’t embarrassment from buying a woman product that makes Mino refuse future errand; it was because she’s so damn picky about brands and he didn’t have enough brain cell to pick the right one. “Soy sauce, please,” she said fast enough before he could change his mind.

“I’m on it.”

In less than an hour, Mino pushed the button for Seulgi’s door password. 

She’s in the middle of pouring hot water to make coffee when Mino walks in and put the soy sauce she had asked on the kitchen counter. The slope of his shoulders and the tightness in his cheeks told her plenty about the date.

It’s definitely a bad date.

“You want coffee?” she offered.

Mino cast her a sideways glance, about to decline the offer, but stop mid-walk. She actually looks even more hideous than him. Bleary-eyed like she hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep, frizzy hair framing her round face like a lion's mane, and maybe before she could waste her time worrying about someone else, she might need a quick shower. 

Not feeling the need for caffeine, especially made by someone who looks like that, Mino shook his head and made his way to the living room. He figures he would have plenty of time to nag her about the importance of sleep, not that she would listen.

“How bad was it?” She peered over the plastic bag she’s rummaging, checking if Mino had bought the exact soy sauce. 

He reeled back to all the low insult the girl throw at him. Ignorant, lack of nationalism, and allegedly everything that comes out of his mouth sound like nothing but stupid.

“Apparently, I have an intellectual capacity as a shrimp,” He plops down on the sofa with his left arm cushioned beneath his hand. He was about to doze off when a shadow fell over his face. He pried his eyes open and saw Seulgi peering down over him.

Ignoring the stare, he shifts his body to lie on his side and stares at the TV. It’s the usual home shopping channel Seulgi always put on when she’s working.

Then suddenly, Seulgi slap Mino on the side of his head, followed with an indignant yelp. He rubbed the sore spot with his hand, shooting dagger at her while at it. “What?”

“You bought the wrong one,” she narrowed her eyes while holding the bottle like it’s a kitchen knife. 

“No, I bought the cheapest one. It’s not like what you want will make your cooking taste any better.” Mino thinks that it’s time for Seulgi to realize that the problem was never with the brand of the soy sauce or anything in that matter, but that a good food requires its own set skill, in which she seems to lack. 

She kept on staring, waiting for his explanation.

“Sorry,” he finally muttered, thinking it’s better to say so just so that he can be dismissed.

Or not.

Because Seulgi slaps Mino’s hand this time, gaining attention. 

He curses under his breath, feeling extra pissed but at the same time cowering under her knowing stare, that somehow she knows what he’s feeling at the moment, that it wasn’t because of the date. Just by looking at her brown eyes, he felt like he already poured every damn problem right there. Damn her and her intuition.

Seulgi wasn’t about to push him, but when she sees what she had missed earlier, which is the ominous dark circle under his eyes, she can’t help but ask, “are you okay?”

Terrible, but he wasn’t going to say that.

Instead of answering, he groaned like there’s something wrong with his throat. He scrubs his face, laying limp. Seulgi scoots to the side of the sofa and sits on her heels. “I’m not asking you to tell me… it’s just, it’s weird seeing you like this.”

“I’m fine,”

Seulgi nudged her arms with his. “You’re so full of ,” she laughs while turning around and sits on the carpet, facing her computer. Maybe her word count that’s stuck at 39 needs more attention than the self-whining bastard behind her.

At that, Mino let out a stifled laugh because Seulgi was right. He is full of . He’s been using denial as his coping mechanism for so long he forgot when was the last time he asked himself if he’s really fine.

From the beginning, there was something about Seulgi that reminded Mino of friendship you often find in childhood, in which they can talk about almost anything. On movie, she like horror. Mino admitted, that he can’t watch such genre out of fear of being haunted by the ghost. On religion, she claimed to believe in the existence of hell even though she’s a Buddhist. Mino though, seemed to not have any specific view on religion or interested in what’s coming after death. They were also always brutally honest with each other about their future too, namely in agreeing that there wasn’t one.

He wanted to curse at himself for doubting Seulgi’s comfort that she always offer at any given time and most of all, for free. It occurred to Mino that this is what he should have been doing from the start. He didn’t have to work hard at hanging out with her, to talk to her, or even just to be stuck in comfortable silence.

Seulgi holds the cup in front of her, blowing on it. “Family issues always seem complicated, don’t they?””

He tilt his head to the side to see her but only seeing the back of her head. “You knew, huh?”

“I had my suspicion.” It was easy to guess anything about Mino, for her at least, because the guy was basically an open book. Also, it’s Children’s Day. It’s a dead giveaway that there’s something wrong in his house if he’s here moping instead. 

“I don’t understand, I’m an adult. Why do I still need to celebrate the holiday?” 

“Maybe it’s because to them you’re always going to be a kid?” She takes a sip of her coffee and stares at the computer. The dreaded article that she can’t seem to start. She needs to come up with a whole story fast about the holiday but her own family wasn’t the type to celebrate it, when she was a kid, her parents would take her and her brother to a zoo or just watching TV at home without having to do chores. No matter how good her writing skill is, she can’t make dull experiences into a touching one with a snap of a finger.

“What about you? Don’t you visit your parents?” He poked her in the shoulder.

Seulgi glanced behind her and shrugged. “I slept there yesterday.” Her family wasn’t one of those families who’s strict about being home during the holidays. As long as she makes time to visit every two weeks and call every other day and that she’s alive, it’s more than enough. “Unlike you, I’m a doted dutiful child,” she added, just wanted to rub the salt to the wound, knowing well how Mino will react.

As always, quick to defend himself, “I have my reason, okay? It’s not like I don’t want to come, it’s just that things are weird at home. My dad...” Mino looks at the ceiling, closing his eyes, hating the fact that he fell for Seulgi’s trap. “I’m sor–it’s nothing. I’m just acting like a child.” He hadn’t meant to say it but he wants someone to tell him that it’s fair to miss family occasion because he’s more than reluctant to be playing Switzerland amidst the family drama, that he was not simply acting like a terrible child. 

Seulgi chuckled, satisfied with Mino’s revelation. “What? You hate him?”

The tight feeling in his chest eases a little at Seulgi’s question that she had made sound very casual. He felt lucky at that moment that someone can be so cool about family topics. He knew how off-limits this topic can be even among closest friends, so he really appreciated that Seulgi didn’t make anything about this weird or feeling sorry for him. “It’s not that I hate him, but, then again, he’s the man who criticized me for not having a proper job, then he quit himself?”

Thanks to his dad, the constant feeling of not doing anything right loom over his head like dark clouds. And he wasn’t proud to admit that he’s a little more than hurt by the preconception his dad set on him. By the time he noticed that it would be a long time before he can get approval from dad, he was already involved in numerous odd jobs just so he can save money to buy the tools he needed. Not only that, Mino never really ask money when it comes to painting, not a single cent, because it was clear that his dad was never going to give any in the first place. To Mino it may be more than a job, it’s a hobby and passion all in one, but to his dad it is another dead end career. Now, he couldn’t blame himself for feeling petty over his dad quitting the-so-stable job he always glorified.

“Not to defend your dad, but he’s right, you don’t have a stable jo—” suddenly Seulgi feels her left cheek being pinched. Her hands quickly try to pry Mino’s arm.

Mino, who was already sitting, gain the upper hand and squeeze her cheek even more at her fussy movement. “This isn’t the time for you to be a smartass,”

Seulgi’s hand starts flailing around, trying to blindly swat Mino’s hand away as her face contorts to one side.

He wasn’t going down easy. He leans back on the couch, trying to gain leverage he needed to pull Seulgi towards him. Though he should know that she wasn’t a quitter either, in a desperate attempt she twists around until they’re in the awkward position that yoga classes can’t even recreate. Finally getting a hold of Mino’s wrist, she pries it from her reddening cheek and yelled out a frustrated scream. “Admit it, you jump from one job to another and all you ever wore is pajamas. If that isn’t peak unemployment culture, I don’t know what.”

Seeing the red mark on her left cheek, Mino laughs in satisfaction. “Like you’re doing any better, don’t forget that your friends are getting married. The same age as you, settling down, and here you are writing god knows what on a holiday,” he was looking extra smug now that he knows he’s getting on her nerve. It was around a week ago when Seulgi had come running to him in disbelief that one of her friends was getting married. To her, it’s very new, and she didn’t know how to react, but the question she asked the most was how people in her age can get married. With what money? She asked. Mino didn’t even try to console her, he just said that ‘it seems everybody has money to spare except us.’

Seulgi still holding the sore spot, trying to soothe its pain. “Why is it always the two of us alone on a holiday?” Christmas last year had been the beginning of their friendship and it stemmed from being ditched, then on New Year, while they went with their respective plan, as fate would have it, they bumped into each other. After that, comes the Korean version of New Year and spent the three days off together, holed in with frozen food, trying to get work done before the deadline. Why they’re not spending holidays like any other people would is beyond them. They could visit family, they could go out with friends, they could make a quick trip to Busan even, instead of acting like a boring, miserable adult. 

While not having the general idea of what to do in life has been their trademark, deep down Seulgi felt crazy for not knowing what to do, especially now. She knew she always wanted to do something with writing but it seems that she just reviewing people’s writing for the past year and when she finally has given the opportunity to write one, she can’t type a single damn word without crying. She wanted a good impression and showcase her writing skill so b