September 19th, 2010.

By the time Deon finished unpacking, Seon Yul had already made dinner reservations at a local restaurant she was very familiar with. When they were both dressed, Seon Yul drove them to the restaurant where they were seated at a table for two by a window.

“Good thing you like Italian just like me because this place is my absolute favourite,” she told him as he scanned through the menu.

“It is indeed,” he smiled over the top of the menu. “Alright I’m ready to order if you are.”

Seon Yul waved over Jason, the waiter she had made friends with over the course of her frequent visits. “Mel! Back already I see. Aaand with an acquaintance eh?” Jason remarked as he took note of Deon.

“I practically live here,” she joked. “This is Deon. Deon, Jason. He’s keeping me company for a week at home,” she informed him.

“Nice to meet ya man. What can I get for you?”

“Nice to meet you too. A fettuccini chicken alfredo thanks.”

“Carbonara day for you Mel?” Jason asked.

“Spot on.” She winked at him playfully.

Jason flourished his tiny notepad with unnecessary exaggeration and ended his scribbling with a loud dot. “Won’t be too long my good friends,” he said before walking off.

Seon Yul smiled at Jason’s retreating figure before turning her attention back to Deon. She caught him gazing out the window with his line of sight seemingly directed at the top of the light post on the opposite side of the street. “Is the street light that interesting?” she joked.

Deon smiled and briefly glanced her direction before staring back out the window. “Not the street light—I’m looking at the stars. Or the lack thereof.” He turned back to face her and created a platform with his hands to rest his chin on. He tilted his head to the side cutely and said, “Is it like this as well in Korea?”

“Haven’t you ever been there?” she asked in reply.

“Only when I was young, so I don’t really remember too much about it.”

“Ahh I see. Well, I’m from Gyeonggi-do, so if you wanna know from like a Seoul perspective, I can’t really answer. But I remember the stars being very visible at night, and me an—” She cleared . “I mean, I often just stared out my bedroom window at night when I couldn’t sleep because the stars were so pretty.” She scrunched her brows a bit. “Why do you ask?”

“My parents suggested for me to visit my aunt and uncle for a while and maybe see if there are any job opportunities over there,” he shrugged. “I know enough Korean to survive perfectly fine, but I’m just not sure if Seoul is where my future lies. Cali’s always been my home, so it feels weird to think about settling in a ‘foreign’ country.” He leaned back and stretched his arms out. “How about you? Any plans to go back?”

Seon Yul contemplated his question. “Hmm, I’ve never actually thought about it… I’ve kind of lost contact with most of my friends there, so if I were to go back it’d probably be as a tourist almost.”

Before the conversation could progress, Jason appeared out of thin air and served them their meals. He placed two champagne glasses in the middle of the table and served them a glass each.

“Uhm, I didn’t order this,” Seon Yul told him.

“On the house, my aunt said. I told her you came with a friend and she insisted. Enjoy!” Jason smiled and went off to seat a family who had just walked in.

Yah, what’s with the weird ‘friend’ exaggeration? she thought as she daggered the waiter in her mind.

“Wow, this place is pretty awesome,” Deon remarked as he studied his glass of bubbly. Since he didn’t seem to notice, Seon Yul cleared and picked up her glass too. “A toast? To the unpredictable future—please don’t be a pain in the ,” he smirked.

Seon Yul laughed at his witty toast and they touched the glasses with a crisp clink! sound.

“Come on, even you have to admit that it was hilarious.”

“No, it was totally mean and it appals me that I’m associated to guys who play that kind of prank,” Seon Yul said as she closed the front door behind her. Deon spun around on his heel and gave her a quizzical brow raise, questioning her response.

“BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!” They both cracked up, bending over and clutching their stomachs.

“Alright, I can’t help but agree that those med students were totally asking for it; walking around campus with their heads held high—”

“Like they’ve got a stick up their ,” Deon finished for her before cracking up again.

“Okay enough now, you silly little child,” she teased. “I am actually pretty tired so I’m gonna hit the shower and then call it a night. There’s a bathroom just down the hall from your room.”

“Shucks, and I thought you’d be fun and play Truth or Dare with me and then we could have a pillow fight after,” he said in his best teenage girl impression.

“Aish~ Go clean your filthy self up before I throw you out the house,” she said as she feigned a punch and pushed him up the stairs.

“Last one out’s a rotten egg~” he sang in his best kiddie impression this time before closing the bathroom door and turning on the water.

Seon Yul stood and stared at the door before shaking her head. “I question this kid’s mentality.”

Once Seon Yul was out of the shower and feeling squeaky clean, she walked down the hall to collect the hair dryer from the guest room’s bathroom. Before walking back to her room, she popped her head into the guest room to find Deon rummaging through his luggage. “How goes it my squeaky clean friend?”

“Greatest feeling in the world,” he replied without turning around.

“Looking for something?”

“Nah.” He left his bags opened and turned around to face the door. “I thought you didn’t like blow drying your hair,” he said as he spotted the blow dryer in her hand.

“I don’t. I mean lookit, the last time I used this was who-knows-when coz it was in the guest bathroom. Like I said, I’m just way too tired right now to wait for my ever-drying hair to dry so I can sleep.” She concluded her reasoning and walked back to her room.

She plugged the hair dryer into the power socket closest to her dresser and saw Deon sitting on her bed through the mirror. “Coz watching me blow dry my hair has got to top the list of greatest sources of entertainment of the 21^st century.”

“Oh yeah, totally,” he agreed as he flopped himself onto her bed. “Snooze time.”

Ignoring him, Seon Yul blow dried her hair until it was about 90% dry. Whenever her gaze from her hair in the mirror slipped to Deon “snoozing” on her bed, she caught him watching her; before it got any more awkward, she would sweep her gaze back to her task at hand (or head).

“Are you really going to block access to my bed knowing that I’m tired and really want to sleep? I really don’t think that’s a good idea. Should I really remind you of the last time you and your roomie thought it’d be funny to open my blinds in the morning when I specifically said that I would rip off anyone’s head who dared disturb my sleep? Because the concept is transferable you know.” She narrowed her eyes at him in faux threat and waited for him to roll off her bed or something.

“Aigoo, why sho grumpy Misses Grumpy Pantsh?”

“Are you seriously not tired at all? Ah, idea: you can roam around the house while I slip into dream land. If I hear any crashes though I will assume robbery and call 911.”

He laughed and said, “Calm your farm, I’ll go to bed too. In case you didn’t remember, I am the one who had to travel all the way over here you know.” He rolled himself to the edge and got off her bed.

“Greatest piece of information I’ve heard from you all day.” Seon Yul crawled into her loving bed and settled the blanket around her with a smile. “And while you’re so conveniently already here, you can turn out my light on your way out!” The enthusiasm in her last comment was comparable to that of a child on Christmas morning. “I promise I’ll be more fun and alive tomorrow kay~?”

“You have no aegyo skills.”

“Who said I ever did?”

He shook his head and smiled. “Alright then, well, goodnight Mel.”

“Goodnight Deon.”

“Don’t let the bed bugs bite.”

“Ew.” He laughed at her typical response. “And don’t forget the light… on your way out…”

“I know.”

“You’re not gonna leave me in peace are you?”

“Don’t worry, I will.”

He still stood in front of her bedside table where he had rolled off earlier. He cocked his head to the side like a curious puppy as though analysing something while staring at her.

“If you’re going for cute, it’s actually kinda creepy dude.”

Instead of laughing it off like she had hoped, Deon leaned down slowly until his head was only inches away from her own. As much as she wanted to move back or push him away, every atom in her body froze and just kept still as his face got closer… and closer still…

And then the phone rang.

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

A/N: LETTUCE NOT EVEN DISCUSS MY SIN OF BEING AWAY FROM MY STORY FOR SO FREAKEN LONG X(

*ahemm* I have no excuses, and yes I know this chapter is sorta sloppy, but I realllyyylylylyl wanted to put something up since my last update back in WHOFREAKENKNOWSCOZITWASSOLONGAGO.

I just had this weird desire to write/type again and the motivation to finish this chapter finally came back to me. But it's been so long that I actually had to cross reference with the previous chapter so I could catch myself up (bad author, bad *slaps self*) >.> My typing is not up to par might I add; since school ended and I stopped using instant messengers on my laptop, I feel like I've (my typing) devolved.

OK enough randomness. I'm working on the next chapter NAO.