2-

                They walked side by side. She tried to make sure that there was always space in between them, but he seemed to always be moving closer and closer to her.

                His arms flailed wildly while he walked, making grand gestures to demonstrate the points of his conversation. Jia smiled and politely tried to listen, but Joon spoke 5 words a second and got easily distracted.

                He stopped in the middle of his previous sentence pointed at a colorful candy store. “Oh! Let’s go in!” He bounded into the sweet shop, and she followed.

                Immediately, Joon began to run around, grabbing whatever bags of candy he could. Jia watched him amusedly, thinking, He’s so dorky. Then her eyes strayed over to a large lollipop display, holding many multicolored lollipops. Among the rainbow sea of candy, Jia recognized a pair of sapphire blueberry flavored ones. They were ones that Yunho frequently bought to share with her.

                Her smile dropped, and she stood in that single spot, her face frozen. Her eyes got misty as she remembered the time he had ever-so-sweetly kissed her neck and forehead as they sat on the edge of a dock, the blue candy.

                Jia unconsciously began rubbing her arms again, as well as her neck.

                Then Joon returned and beckoned Jia to leave the store. She complied, happy to get the lollipops out of her sight. I don’t want to think about him anymore. She had repeated that phrase so many times, yet it never seemed to work.

                They walked side-by-side again, perusing the stores that they passed by. Jia continued to stay quiet, while Joon endlessly chattered about various things.

                He suddenly stopped walking, causing her to pause as well. Joon had caught sight of a bright and colorful flower vendor, and made his way to it. He made a purchase, then walked back over to Jia and handed her the bouquet. “For a special lady,” he dramatically presented.

                The way he held those flowers out reminded Jia of the time Yunho had asked her to be his girlfriend. He had so shyly the roses at her and told her in his calm, quiet voice that he liked her. She remembered how he had earnestly taken her hand and stared into her eyes with his fierce ones. All the features of his face clearly presented themselves to her, right from his sharp eyes to his defined cheekbones, to his pointy chin and his smooth skin. Jia could still see his pearly white teeth clenched in a smile, lined with thin, pink lips.

                The very thought of Yunho made Jia’s head spin, her eyes watered. A numb tingling was present at the tips of her fingers, the core of her chest, the extent of her legs. She unconsciously rubbed her arms, as if chilly.

                Joon noticed she was tearing. “Jia, Jia, are you alright?” He sounded startled, and looked at her with furrowed brows and worried eyes, like he had earlier that afternoon. “Did I do something wrong?” The hand holding the flowers quickly dropped, and his shoulder’s sagged. After catching sight of his face, Jia deeply inhaled and tried to regain her composure.

                “I’m sorry,” she apologized, sniffling and wiping her invisible tears away with the back of her hand. “You didn’t do anything wrong,” she assured him. “It’s just, I keep thinking of my ex-boyfriend” Her voice dripped with regret. “I really think you’re a great guy, Joon. Stupid Yunho is the one who’s getting in the way.” She bitterly shook her head.

                Joon scowled, unhappy to be compared to another guy. “Well, even though I’ve never met him, I bet I can be a much better boyfriend than this ‘Yunho’ ever was, if you’d give me the chance.” He stared at her with a hopeful expression. Looking back at him, Jia fondly smiled. Her smile was replaced by a look of surprise when Joon unexpectedly jumped up and began doing an energetic, silly jig, right there in the middle of the plaza.

                “What are you doing?” She giggled, eyeing him up and down.

                “See, I’m already better than him, I’m making you smile instead of cry!” Joon earnestly explained, panting in between words. Jia hid her grin behind her hand. “Would your ex ever have done that?” He asked, once he had finished his jive.

                Jia thought, then shook her head. “No, I can’t even imagine Yunho ever attempting something that weird.” She giggled some more. “You’re very funny.”

                Joon twirled his arm before putting it to his stomach in an elaborate stage bow. He straightened back up, pointed his fingers, and said, “Ah thank you, thank you very much,” in his best Elvis impersonation. Rolling her eyes, Jia just began walking again, Joon following. Although she said nothing outloud, she inwardly thanked Joon for stopping her tears.

                They went through various shops, oohing and aahing at a random assortment of objects. Jia couldn’t hide a smirk when Joon paid extra attention while walking past a rack of women’s lingerie. She heard him snort when he caught her gazing longingly at a pair of ridiculously high heels. The whole experience was full of laughs and giggles, and Jia had never felt that carefree in a while.       

                One last time, before finally letting herself be immersed in the shopping trip with Joon, Jia thought, a date with him would have never gone like this. And as she smiled, she felt Joon slip his warm hand into hers. Jia gave it a little squeeze and looked up at him with wishful eyes, hoping that maybe she could bring herself to trust someone again.