-i'm on my guard for the rest of the world but with you, I know it's no good-

 He spent the whole morning trying to find something that will make him look both like he didn’t try all that much but also quite like he knew how to get dressed for a movie date in her apartment in Cornelia Street and he squeezed in some chores in the way, brooming the whole apartment and arranging the books on Yerim’s shelf. Around 2:30 p.m. he was back to staring at his closet with a big frown on his face.

 “I...don’t know. I’m not sure. I think I look weird,” he said into the phone while fussing around with his hair before the long mirror. Jennie chuckled from the other end. Sehun pressed the speaker button before throwing the phone to the bed. “I mean...she doesn’t really care a lot about how I look...which is obvious because otherwise she won’t date me. Jennie...why am I so clueless about freaking clothes?”

 “Did you just...Sehun, you think I’m lying every time I tell you that you’re handsome?”

 “No...But I do think you’re just being nice--what should I buy for her? Food? Flowers? And when I go there, should I choose the movie? Will it look...bad? I just really don’t want to watch Jumanji…”

 “She wants to watch Jumanji so you watch it with her, Sehun,” she suggested, making Sehun frown more. “She’s really something, huh? Got you so whipped.”

 Sehun contemplated his answer. Whipped. That was exactly what his situation was but he preferred using a heavier vocabulary to weigh it. But that word hit him like a truck. Yes, he was whipped for Irene. He had never felt this way for a girl. “Uh...I wanted to watch something...couple-like--”

 “Romantic.”

 “Yes yes, that word.” His responses made Jennie laugh. Sehun thought it was because of how stupid he sounded but that was alright. It was just Jennie. They had gone shopping after school yesterday and Yerim made him try all these stuff that had looked weird at first. Yerim told him they were trendy. And she didn’t buy anything for herself.

 “Sh-Should I ask her today…?”

 “Hmm, what? Yeah, ask away everything--”

 “You know...if she wants to be my girlfriend?”

 He tied the laces of his white shoes in silence, he waited with patience as he knew her advice will always work. So whatever she said, he would do. “Hmm, I guess it’s time,” she finally said. “Okay show me what you’re wearing.”

 “I think...I look like a motorcycle...I don’t know how to show it to you--”

 “Just turn the video on. And turn your camera to the mirror,” she instructed him. Turning her own camera on, she waved at him sleepily. Sehun quickly did as he was told, brows arching at the marvelous idea.

 “This is so cool,” mumbled at the way Jennie could see him too.

 “Okay, take that jacket off. And wear something soft.”

 Jennie made him change twice. Sehun was advised out of his white t-shirt into a half sleeved shirt with watermelons printed on the soft material. With haste, he pushed the ends of his shirt inside his pants. Dressing up was a real hassle. But he wanted to look perfect, especially if he was going to ask her that question today. She was standing at the bus stop when he stopped some meters away to fix his hair. He was so giddy, only he knew.

 Their eyes met and Sehun shyly returned her smile. She jumped in the middle of the sidewalk and waved at him. She was dressed less formally, mainly because she wasn’t coming from one of her classes at the university. Sehun walked towards her, wondering if the watermelons looked stupid. But she barely looked anywhere else other than in his eyes. 

 Her twinkling orbs held him in a competition. Sehun returned the gesture, staring and staring as he drank in all that she wanted to say. Irene raised her two cold hands and cupped his cheeks, tilting her head with a smile. It was a weird cycle, Sehun wasn’t nervous at all at this moment. He was calm, and he wanted to make her smile by saying something very stupid. But then he compared it to how crazy he was going even an hour ago, thinking how else to impress her.

 “We’re not watching Jumanji.”

 She pursed her lips together as she read his lips. Sehun smiled, tracing her hairline before leaning in to leave a chaste kiss of affection on her frozen lips. Irene blushed but shyness wasn’t a word in her dictionary, so she stood on her toes to kiss him on his cheek. And then she blinked up at him, smiling in the prettiest manner. She was the purest. Sehun wanted to protect her.

 “Stand here,” he gestured to the spot in front of him before wrapping her up in his coat. Her tiny body pressed to his made him feel safe. Irene frequently looked up, her forehead barely touching his chin. She shuffled inside his coat to bring her hand out and succeeded. Irene summoned his face closer before making him hook his chin on her head. And then she stuffed back her arms into his coat.

 The bus finally came. They sat in silence, side by side, texting each other on their phones. Sehun liked it very much. When the rhythm of the vehicle’s speed made her yawn, she wrapped her arm around his and leaned against his body. She trusted him, she was taking him to her living space. Sehun wanted to keep her trust.

 She lived in one room of an apartment that belonged to a family of four. They were out today on a picnic and wouldn’t be home until later. Irene took his hand and showed him around her relatively large room. There were a lot of bulbs on the walls. Since she couldn’t hear at all, knocking on her door won’t work. So if you pressed the switch at her door, the bulbs would light up, notifying her that someone was at her door. 

 Romance books lined her shelves, John Green, Colleen Hoover, along with an interesting mix of Agatha Christie. For someone who had moved in only several months ago, Irene was definitely doing better than he and Yerim were with their house. Photo frames of all the random drawings decorated her wall. Irene was the only daughter so she kept the drawings of her baby cousins in frames, their names written underneath in her clumsy handwriting. There were three clocks on her study table, one according to Seoul, one for New York and the other one for London. Her room just spoke a lot about her.

 Irene came back to her room with two plates of neatly decorated pudding servings. Sehun’s eyes widened at the preparation and he felt flu