3 Years Ago/ ALICE’S POV

After a long day being outside, Alice was glad to go back home. It was 5 in the afternoon. Alice started the engine of her car, fastened her seatbelt and started driving. She arrived at the car park of her apartment in 20 minutes. While she was walking to the apartment, she received a call.

“Yebosaeyo?”I answered the call with a polite manner.

“Alice-ah! It’s Lydia.  Are you on your way home already? I’ve just finished cooking dinner and Dujun is here with one of his friend. Care to join us for an early dinner?”she asked me through the phone.

“Deh, I just arrived. Dujun’s chingu? Are you sure this is not a set-up you and Dujun planned out earlier? Ah, arraseo, I’ll be up in 5 minutes time.”I ended the call and get all nervous as I panicked by what she had just said. Dujun’s friend? Aish..  I wasn’t in a good mood to be entertaining a guest at home.

Before the lift stops at my floor, I decided to gussy up a little bit, fixed my hair and bangs and applied some lip gloss. Once the door opens, I took a deep breath and walked out to my apartment.  I pressed the doorbell and fixed my top and skirt again. In a few seconds, Lydia escorted me in and whispered “You’re going to love him!” and smirked at me. There he was sitting in the living room with Dujun, his body back-facing me; talking to Dujun about some stuff which I decided not to listen to. Hey, isn’t it rude to be ears dropping? Haha.

Dujun and his friend stood up as he saw me and smiled politely. “Alice! You’re back! I bet you must be pretty tired and.. Hungry am I right?” he laughed at his own words. I only managed to smile and nod. Suddenly, his friend spoke “Mianhae, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Son Dongwoon. It’s nice to meet you. You must be Alice.” He greeted me with a 45 degree bow. I couldn’t help smiling to how polite how he was.

“Annyeonghaseyo Dongwoonsshi. It’s nice to meet you too.”I smiled at him and bowed back to him. I couldn’t stop noticing at how tall he was and how he doesn’t look.. Korean. After that awkward greeting, all of us walked to the dining area and started to eat dinner. The food spread was amazing. There’s kimchi, dobbokki, black noodles and some dim-sum soup. Being gentlemen, Dongwoon took a bit of everything and put it on my plate. I replied him with thank you and we all started eating. As we talked about how everyone’s day went, Dujun and Lydia decided to talk about our hobbies.

“Did you know that Alice is very good at Photography? She won the competition last year. That’s the picture she captured. Beautiful isn’t it?”Lydia pointed to the picture which was being hung at the wall as she talked.

“It is an amazing shot. You really have a great talent, Alice. Maybe we can exchange some tricks and tips with each other.”Dongwoon replied. His replied made my cheeks turn red a little bit. This was not supposed to be happening. As the others talked among each other, I examined Dongwoon a little bit. He has a very sharp chin. His features make him look more foreign. To be honest, I was stunned at how tall he is. His body was toned. Suddenly, our eyes met with each other. The strong connection between our eyes was deep. I looked somewhere else and pretended to cough. He led out a chuckle and everyone looked at him. He tried to put a straight face and then apologized.  About 10 minutes later, dinner was over. I decided to clean the used plates and utensils but Dongwoon insisted that he would like to help too. Lydia and Dujun looked at each other and gave a thumbs ups signal without us realizing it.

Dongwoon decided to separate the task. I will wash the plates and he will wipe it dry and place it back into the original placed where it was being kept. We did our jobs quietly, but I felt really uneasy; So I started the conversation first.

“Dongwoon-sshi.”I called out his name.

“Deh?”he stopped wiping the plates and turned to me.

“Are you really a Korean?”I shut my eyes and hit my hand on my forehead. I did not just asked a silly question. He looked at me and laughed. His laughter was cute.

“Ah.. I am 100% a Korean. Would you like to take a look at my identification card?”He took out his wallet from the back of his jeans and showed the card to me. He used his thumb to cover his face that was on the card.

“Yaah.. why are you covering it? I want to see the younger Dongwoon!” I pleaded.

“You really want to see this?”he questioned me in a nervous tone.

“I bet it's fine; It wouldn't be that horrible, right?”I replied him with a smile.

He let out a sigh and took away his thumb from the card. He passed his wallet to me so I could see the picture being printed on the card in a better view. To my surprise, he looks really adorable! My eyes grew wider and I laugh hysterically. Dongwoon covered his face and shook his head with embarrassment.

“You are so cute in this picture! That up-do suits..you.”I laughed even more. “June 6, 1991. I'll remember your birthday then.” I then passed back his wallet to him and poked him. He dropped his hands and jumped in shock. “Don't worry Dongwoonsshi, you look okay. Besides, you don't look Korean at all so, be happy about it.”

“Um Alice? Is it okay if we drop the formalities? We're friends right? And you're younger than me too. I don't mind if we talking normally.”He smiles while rubbing the back of his neck. His question made an impact on me so I was showing a “are you sure” kind of face.

“Well.. I guess it's okay. So does this means I have to call you Oppa?” I pouted.

Dongwoon literally blushed to my actions. “O-oppa?” He laughed. “Aigo.. I'm so shy!”

I came nearer to him and poked him again. He jumped and ran away from me. I wanted to run, but I decided to let him off this time around. Since we've just get to know each other better, I might as well save my energy for something else. I walked out from the kitchen and saw Dongwoon explaining to Lydia and Dujun who was at the balcony, about why he was running out from the kitchen. They laughed and then talked among each other. I came over to join them and gazed at the amazing sunset which was setting down. With such view of Han River and the busy roads, I sighed to myself and shut my eyes for a while.

“Pretty amazing isn't it, Alice?”his voice made me came back to my senses.

“Oh yes, certainly. Dujunsshi, how's work? Everything okay?”I asked Dujun.

“It's been a tough week, but things are excellente!” He spoke with his Italian accent. “You izzeu havingz e roughz dayz?”We laughed and Lydia hit his chest lightly.

In case if you were curious, Lydia and Dujun had been friends since they were little kids. They had some family connection between their fathers. Everything was perfect for them. They attended the same school from elementary till high school. And guess what? The both of them now are in the same music entertainment called CUBE. It was hard for them to be separated from each other, but with such connections, they managed to pull it through and managed to be in the same group. As for me, I'm still a college student.

“What are you currently doing for a living, Dongwoon?”Lydia asked Dongwoon who was so awed by the view from the apartment.

“Oh, I am a freelance model. I've worked for Marc Jacobs, DKNY, LV and more. I live alone in a studio apartment near Hanok Village and can ride or drive. My parents are always out from the country for work.”

Dongwoon sure amuses me.

At about 7:30pm, the boys decided to leave. We followed them to the narrow alley of our apartment entrance and said our goodbyes. Dujun gave a peck on Lydia's cheek and then hugged her tightly. Dongwoon and I were shy to be seeing them being that intimate, so we decided to let them be and decided to have a little chit-chat before he leaves.

-

“Dongwoonss-”He stopped me from completing my sentence.

“Alice, it's Dongwoon. D o n g w o o n.”He spelled out his name and laughed. “ No need for formalities.”

“Ah yeah sorry about that. Mianhae.”I apologised shyly.

“What is it that you wanted to tell me or ask me?”he questioned.

“Oh it's nothing, just gamsahamnida for coming over for dinner. Was Dujun the one who invited you here?”

“Oh, chumaneyo; It's alright. And deh, he did. He said about how his future wife is good at cooking gooddishes and he wanted me to get to know..you.” He emphasized the word you slowly. He then looked at me with a urge to ask me something.

“Oh. Haha aigasimnida. Is there anything you'd like to ask me?”

“Erm, is it okay if I ask for your mobile number? You know, so we can catch up with things and also go all around town to do some photography shoot. What do you think?”He was being very serious and suggested politely.

“That would be lovely.”I replied him happily. Dongwoon then displayed a smile that i've never seen before. His eyes were smiling too. That was the cutest thing ever. He took out his phone and passed it to me. I keyed in my mobile number and passed it back to him.

“I shall name you.. Alice Wonderland.”