Kim Jaejoong was ing late.

‘Fashionably late,’ he corrected you when he came secretly from behind you to jab your sides, causing you to jump in your seat and curse at him all the way to the entrance of the zoo.

‘Why were you so damn late?’ You asked, rubbing the sore sides of your body.

‘You can’t blame me, I had to walk from the carpark, which was located so dreadfully far away from our meeting point. When I got out of the car, it was soooooo sunny that I had to get back into it car to slap on another round of sun block. Then I recalled leaving a pair of shades in the car so I spent another few minutes looking for it. When I got out of the car once more, it was sunnier than ever, so I opened the trunk of my car to get an umbrella. I then spent the next 5 minutes or so walking here to meet you.’

‘If I weren’t that desperate to date you, I would have punched that face of yours and ditched you,’ you spat while getting tickets to enter the zoo.

‘I have my face insured, so don’t worry. Go ahead and hit me then, I can claim some money to buy a little something for myself.’

‘You’re impossible!’ You shoved a ticket onto his chest and walked into the place.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘They look like you,’ Jaejoong muttered when you were both looking at elephants.

‘And that is you,’ you jabbed a thumb behind at the tiger enclosure.

‘I love cats,’ Jaejoong grinned.

‘I’m not surprised if you’ve got claws hidden somewhere,’ you rolled your eyes.

Ignoring you, Jaejoong stated, ‘I’m hungry, you think they sell proper food around here?’

‘Your definition of proper food and mine are worlds apart,’ you drawled but looked around and pointed to a sign that stated ‘Rainforest Café – 50m ahead’.

‘My definition is correct, yours is whack,’ Jaejoong tugged at your arm to head in the direction of the café.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You grinned at the menu.

Jaejoong sulked.

The waitress came and asked if you guys were ready to order.

‘Yes. Erm… I would like to have the chicken lasagna and a glass of apple juice, please.’

‘Yes of course. And how about you sir?’

‘Is it possible to get the chicken wrapped in lettuce minus the chicken?’

You almost spit out the ice water in Jaejoong’s face.

The waitress coughed into her hand and when she recovered, ‘Yes, of course sir. But that would mean the meal will only have lettuce and a side serving of pineapple rice.’

‘Rice?’ Jaejoong shuddered, ‘Is it served in a pineapple?’

She nodded.

‘Then just the lettuce and pineapple, I don’t want the rice,’ Jaejoong told the waitress.

‘Any drinks for you then, sir?’ she noted on her stack of order forms.

‘Get me another glass of water, no ice this time, and I want it lukewarm.’

She stared blankly at Jaejoong but nodded a few seconds later and left with the order.

‘She was going to hit on you until you scared her away with your order.’

‘I’m used to it. Anyway, are we going Dutch for this meal?’

‘Jaejoong, I’ll pay. Besides, I have been paying for everything so far,’ you rolled your eyes, ‘Do you also want to claim back the money you spent for the fuel you used to get here?’ 

‘I’m not that cheapo,’ Jaejoong pouted angrily, ‘Oh, mine’s here already.’

‘Here’s your lettuce and pineapple. Enjoy,’ the waitress said sarcastically.

‘You made it sound like you wanted me to choke on my food,’ Jaejoong drawled, looking up at the waitress.

‘No, I didn’t,’ the woman replied.

‘Right,’ Jaejoong rolled his eyes.

The waitress was about to leave when –

‘Where’s the water I asked for?’ Jaejoong raised his voice, causing the diners at the surrounding tables to look your way.

‘I’ll go get it now,’ the waitress hurried off.

‘Jaejoong, don’t,’ you warned.

You didn’t want the date to go downhill from here.

The waitress hurried back with the water and placed it on the table.

‘Does this café have a feedback form?’ Jaejoong asked in a surprisingly calm manner.

She nodded, left and came back with one.

‘Is the manager around?’

She got the manager to the table before you guys.

‘Hello, Mr. - Song,’ Jaejoong read the manager’s name tag and pulled out a fountain pen from his blazer’s inner pockets.

‘Good afternoon, sir.’

‘Feedback forms are quite the mystery aren’t they? You don’t know who fills them up and you don’t really know who served who.’

Mr. Song simply nodded in agreement.

‘I have absolutely no problems with the food, even though I haven’t eaten it yet,’ Jaejoong circled ‘Good’ for all the ‘food section’ questions of the feedback form, ‘Service. Now that’s the problem. Friendly? Initially. Professional? Not at all. Mr. Song,’ Jaejoong handed the feedback form to the manager, ‘This lady here is forgetful and tactless. I think this café should have a selection of dishes catering to people with special diets, like for example, people who eat kosher or are vegetarians. After all, this is one of South Korea’s tourist destination spots, am I correct to say that?’

Mr. Song gulped, ‘Yes, sir. Thank you for your valuable feedback. I will report back to the head office about the quality of service rendered here and suggest a revision of the menu.’

‘If only this café hired more efficient people like you, Mr. Song,’ Jaejoong sighed, ‘You’ll go far if you stopped managing a café in a… zoo.’

‘Thank you, sir,’ Mr. Song bowed, ‘I shall take to this staff member away to settle this. I apologise for all the inconvenience caused so far.’

With that, the waitress left with her manager to the back of the café.

‘Do you think she’ll get fired?’ You asked softly.

‘What do you think?’ Jaejoong stated while busying himself with his phone.

You shook your head sadly and tucked into your food as it had finally arrived.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You ended up with a free lunch.

A form of apology, Mr. Song had said.

You declined the café vouchers handed over to you both, as you two weren’t planning on visiting the zoo anytime soon.

‘Hand over the car keys,’ you lifted your palm upwards, demanding for them from Jaejoong.

‘Why?’ But he handed them over anyway.

‘Destination 2.’

‘What… Bird park now?’ Jaejoong muttered.

‘No, but since you brought it up... Lead the way to the carpark,’ you ordered following behind Jaejoong.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nope, destination 2 wasn’t the bird park.

‘Wow, I’ve never been here before,’ Jaejoong said.

‘I’m not surprised,’ you rolled your eyes, ‘You haven’t been to a zoo either, and it was your first time just now.’

‘I spent my entire childhood learning and analysing fashion,’ Jaejoong explained.

You both were on a huge grassy patch of land with lavenders growing everywhere. The weather was on your side as the wind blew gently on your faces and the sun was setting beautifully in the background.

You trudged up to the highest part of the land and settled down. Jaejoong did likewise.

‘It used to be really busy here, with rows and rows of small shops. And on this hill, there was a wishing well. I used to come here everyday after school with my friends to wish for silly things.’

‘Like?’ Jaejoong looked at you.

‘Really silly stuff... like how I wanted to get to use a pen in school, wishing for a good grade at spelling, no homework,’ you began laughing, ‘School stuff.’

Jaejoong nodded, ‘Your school was nearby?’

You pointed at the big lavender field below, ‘My school was in the middle. And the back half of the field was a residential area. I used to live there.’

‘How come… it’s all gone?’ Jaejoong got curious.

‘It’s a tragic yet beautiful story… really,’ you smiled to yourself.

‘Do share,’ Jaejoong muttered while leaning his head on your shoulder.

Your smile became wider.

‘Ran out of y-energy?’ You grinned.

‘We walked so much today…’ Jaejoong yawned, ‘Story time.’

‘Okay,’ you took a deep breath before beginning, ‘There was a shooting incident in the neighbourhood. A robber was being chased by the police down the streets. He had a gun and just grabbed a random passerby. This place was a close knitted community so everyone knew everyone else, or by face recognition, to say the least. The robber got so scared that he shot the girl he held hostage. The poor girl who got shot was a newlywed and the lovely couple only got married a few weeks back.

‘The guy came from a rich family but he threw it all away just to marry a simple girl. Of course he couldn’t take the heartbreak of losing his new wife. He bought the entire place and made everyone move out. He demolished everything and single handedly grew all the lavenders you see here today. The girl loved lavenders, and she got buried under that lonely tree over there.’

Jaejoong and you looked at the gigantic and tall tree at the far end of the lavender field.

‘Devotion.’

‘What?’ You questioned.

‘The flower symbolises devotion.’

‘Oh, I never knew that.’

‘Now you do.’

You nodded slightly.

‘You sure know a lot about fruits and flowers,’ you giggled.

‘It’s necessary, I write the damned Valentine’s article every year for Blitz.’

‘Right,’ you recalled reading them but never took notice of the writer’s name under the article’s title.

‘Let’s just kiss and call it a day,’ Jaejoong grabbed the back of your head and his lips met yours with fervent need.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘My Gawd, he really did write these senseless columns,’ you blushed as you dragged out old February issues of Blitz and scanned for Valentine’s related articles and found the beautiful name of the equally beautiful writer: Kim Jaejoong.

Your Blackberry buzzed in your pocket and you whipped it out.

It was a text from Jaejoong.

4, look into your fridge.

Anyway, I enjoyed myself immensely today, so thank you.

See you at work tomorrow.

You grinned till your cheeks hurt and went to open your refrigerator.

It was a bunch of red roses.

You started to jump around like a bunny high on sugar and hugged the bouquet to yourself.

‘How did Jaejoong put the flowers in there?’ You became curious.

Jaejoong,

How did you manage to chuck the roses in the fridge anyway?

Oh, and thanks for the flowers.

I love them loads.

4,

I made friends with your landlord downstairs and paid him to open the door so I could put them in there.

Jaejoong,

You’re ing awesome.

4,

How many roses are there?

Jaejoong,

12. Why?

4,

Silly girl.

Jaejoong,

Isn’t it always given in a bunch of 12?

4,

I don’t do things without a reason.

I’m truly hurt.

Jaejoong,

I’m sorry.

Okay, now I’m sure there’s a meaning.

Tell me o-wise-one.

4,

It means…

Jaejoong,

Tell me already.

4,

Be my girlfriend.

Jaejoong,

I thought I was the one courting you…

Anyway, YES, YES, YES!

A ING BIG YES!

4,

It just means you succeeded.

Good night.

Dream of me.

Jaejoong,

I always do.

Wet ones.

4,

Naughty girl.

Jaejoong,

Good night.

And… I love you.

4,

I know.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~