[7:15 PM]

She stood there annoyed. He was there. He hadn't even approached her yet but she felt annoyed.  He had never come before but now he had to be there. She'd just try to avoid him. Running with Eunjung she ignored him, but apparently he couldn’t do the same. He was taking a break from running and spotted her. He then kept looking over to her a few times to confirm it was her. Some time passed and Gyuri had completely forgotten he was even there... at least until he kept passing them up on the trail and turning around to look at her. Eunjung saw him looking and smiled.

“I think I have an admirer, look at him shamelessly looking my way. He’s good looking too.”

Gyuri choked slightly on her water as she took a sip.

“You see it too right? He’s keeps looking my way.” Eunjung brushed her hair behind her ear.

Gyuri took another sip of her water.

"You think I should approach him?” Eunjung asked, tilting her head as if putting together a plan. Gyuri stopped running.

“I think you should remember that you have Jangwoo.”

Eunjung stopped running.

“Ya! Why must you bring up his name right now!?” Eunjung said, throwing a small fit.

“You love him right?” Gyuri said poking at her friend.

“Of course but I just wanna play with this guy for a bit.” she said pouting.

“Let’s go already, I’m tired.”

“Fine.”

The pair turned to head back but just as they did Eunjung decided that she really wanted to play a bit and broke away from Gyuri to flag down the onlooker. Gyuri kept walking away. Luckily, Eunjung wasn’t too long and ran to catch up with Gyuri. Eunjung looked visibly irritated, intriguing Gyuri as to what rude words he had shared with her friend.

“What happened?” Gyuri finally asked, after listening to Eunjung huff and puff for a third time.

“I can’t believe I thought he was good looking, up close he’s ugly.”

“That was all?” Gyuri laughed knowing that her friend was lying, no one could look at his face and plainly say that he was ugly. It was just impossible. Personality? Yes. Face? No.

“He also said… he wanted… ah, I don’t know, who cares about him anyway? I have Jangwoo.” she said reassuring herself.

Gyuri laughed to see her friend so flustered. Getting closer to the apartment the temperature dropped as the daytime sky had now been replaced with darkness.

“Oh shi-, I forgot my jacket. I left it on the bench at the park.” Eunjung said to Gyuri. 

“You better hurry up and go get it. I’ll wait for you here.” Gyuri said.

“Can’t you get it for me Gyuri? You’re faster then me.”

“You can get it.”

“But it’s getting cold.”

“Use my jacket then.”

“Noooo, Please Gyuri? Please please please?” Eunjung used her round puppy-dog eyes on her friend. 

Gyuri swore it was unfair for her to use that against her… even women were hard to resist that look.

“Fine. You’re buying dinner tonight tho.”

“Call.”  

“I’ll be back.”

Gyuri ran back towards the park, it wasn’t too far and she smiled as she thought of the dinner. She saw the jacket still on the bench and let out a sigh of relief that no one had taken it. As she approached the bench she noticed a man sitting beside it. Despite trying to be quite, the man heard her and turned his head as she approached. It was him, Kim Jaejoong. She had done such a great job earlier but apparently it was her fate to see him today. She reached out for the jacket as he looked at her.

“You’re late.” he said as Gyuri turned to leave.

“Excuse me?” Damn reflexes.. she forgot to ignore him.

“I said you’re late. What kind of person makes someone wait for so long?”

“What?”

“I told your friend I wanted to talk to you. You made me wait for too long, I’m upset, make it up to me. Buy me dinner.”

“…” Was he serious……really? This is why she was supposed to ignore him. He was a leech…but she couldn’t help her own damn curiosity. ”Why did you want to talk to me?”

“We’ll talk about it over dinner.” he said confidently.

“I don’t have any money on me.” Not a lie, plus why would she spend money on him anyway? HE’S A STRANGER!

“I’ll pay, you can pay me back.” he said as if he already knew she didn’t have money on her.

“You know what? I actually have to get back to my friend, she’s waiting for me. I just came to get her jacket” Gyuri said taking a step away from him.

“You mean you didn’t come to talk to me?”

“Yeah I didn’t. Sorry.” Why did I just say sorry? He’s the one being rude to me. "Why were you here anyway?”

“What do you mean? It’s a park, anyone can visit it.” he said matter-of-factly.

“So you weren’t following me?”

Jaejoong laughed. “I happen to be moving into the area and found this park. I just saw you here and I wanted to ask you something, so let’s go.”

“Oh...” Duh. He wouldn’t follow me, plus how would he even know that I visit this park. “...and No, I really have to get back.” She stood her ground. She definitely would be able to stand up to him properly this time since last time she allowed him to get to her. She continued "…and to be honest I really don’t want to ever see you aga-” Her sentence was cut off.

Jaejoong had walked over to her and put his hand in front of . "You shouldn't be so quick with your words."  

Again with the lack of respect for personal space… but she kinda felt he was right. Being nasty to a person you don’t know is unbecoming even if the other person was horrid. Plus he was still a stranger. She only knew his name because of the person who was yelling at him at the airport. She stepped away from him again, but he closed the gap and reached for her hand.

“Stop it! I already said I wasn’t here for you, I need to meet my friend, she’s waiting for me, and you didn’t let me say it before, but I don’t want to see you.”

“Close your eyes then.”

“No, I mean I don’t want to be near y-.”

“Tell me during dinner.”

“You’re a stranger to me.”

“Then lets become friends over dinner.”

“NO.”

“How rude.” Jaejoong said, enjoying the back and forth conversation. 

“Rude!? Ya! You’re the one forcing me to go somewhere with you.”

“I’m not forcing you.” Jaejoong said innocently.

“You’re right, you aren’t. I’m leaving.”

“You don’t wanna know why I wanna talk to you anymore?"

“No. I don’t care.”

“Pfft. Fine, I don’t care either. See you around~” Jaejoong said.

"See you around~” He had said that to her before…and it happened... this guy was just too much.

“If I go now, will you leave me alone?”

“Sure.”

“Fine.”

She had only met him before a few times but she didn’t want “this” to continue. So she agreed. He grabbed her hand and lead her to the car. She shook off his hand and got in herself. This may have not have been the smartest decision in her life but she didn’t think of it like that. She just had it with him. He technically had only been rude, so she decided to take things into her own hands. Plus if he tried anything she had her pepper spray to rely on.   

They arrived and Gyuri was surprised to see the destination. It was merely a street food stand. She looked at him. What is this guy? All this fuss over street food? Gyuri’s curiosity got the best of her and she asked him another question.

“Why did you drag me out to a food stand?”

“What were you expecting? A fancy restaurant?”

“No, but you made such a fuss, that I thought.”

“Thought what?” he said, a smug look crossing his face.

“Nevermind. Anyway, we are here so what did you want to ask me?”

“Order first.”

She sighed “I’ll have one order of tteokbokki and some odeng bbokkeum.”

They both got their food and sat down at a small table across the street. Jaejoong broke the silence first.

“Is it good?”

“Uh.” she said nodding. Being as unresponsive as she could manage.

“It is right? I love this particular spot. I came here earlier. Isn’t it great?”

She looked around. She had been here before, in fact it wasn’t that far from where she lived. It looked just like all the other street corners, nothing special in particular. He seemed to be slowly stretching out the meal longer, so Gyuri spoke up.

“So what did you want to talk to me about?” He looked over to her a bit disappointed that she cut directly to the chase.

“What’s your name?”

“Park... Park Gyuri.”

“Park Gyuri.” he repeated, “That doesn’t sound familiar at all.”

“Was that all you wanted to know?” she snapped at him.

“Aren’t you going to ask my name now?” he asked brightly.

I already know you’re Kim Jaejoong.

“Listen... I told you I can’t be here long, and I-” Gyuri was cut off again.

“Can’t you just relax? Just for one moment?”

Jaejoong was visibly upset [Gyuri was essentially stopping the fun he was having and his face reflected that.] and it sent Gyuri off.

This guy was dense. How could he not understand. Anyone would understand… why not him?

"Listen! I don't care how you feel! I can't relax around you! You constantly put me down and pull me around as you please. We’ve only met once before this but I don’t want to make “this” a habit. I don’t want to see you again. So please leave me alone.” Hearing her own words, she felt triumphant.

The look on his face remained the same as before… but he walked towards her this time, titled his head to the side, reached out his hand and smirked.

“You owe me money for dinner.” He looked her straight in the eye, as if saying she lost. He managed to take her words lightly. Unbelievable.

“I’ll pay you back when I have my wallet. I told you I didn’t have money on me.” was all she could muster in reply. 

“So I'll see you later then?” he asked smiling.

“You know what? No. I’ll pay you right now okay? Then you have to stick to your promise of leaving me alone.”

Knowing where she currently was, she began to walk towards her house.

“Where are you going?” he yelled.

“To get money.”

“How do I know you are not just going to run off?”

This guy. “Follow me then, I don’t care.” she yelled back, “I really don’t care anymore.”    

She continued to walk hearing his footsteps behind her. She was close to being done with this guy, just a mere 6000 won and she’d be done. That thought boosted her speed and she began running.

Five minutes away from her apartment she realized that she didn’t have her keys. Everything was with Eunjung, her cell phone included. She only had her jacket & pepper spray. She could only hope that Eunjung was at the apartment waiting for her.

“You live around here?” Jaejoong asked keeping up the pace with her.

“Yeah I do.”  Stalker…

“Okay, here we are. Stay here, I’ll bring it down to you.”

“How can I trust you’ll come back down?”

“Are you really that suspicious? I only owe you 6000 won. Why would I? ...Forget it. Fine you can come up, BUT you can’t come in. You should also know I live with this HUGE GUY who will kick your if you even think about coming in!”

Jaejoong touched his index finger and thumb together. “Okay!”

The two moved up into the apartment complex. It wasn’t a luxurious apartment but it wasn’t horrible either, it was rather… it just seemed to fit her. Up the elevator to the fourth floor and down the hall she walked to her door with Jaejoong following behind. She knocked on the door hoping to see Eunjung. The door opened to another face. A less welcomed face, at least right at this moment.

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[Preview Chapter 5]

“I told you you’re wrong it’s not like that at all” Gyuri pleaded.

“Really now? You bring a man back to your apartment and you have no special relationship to him? That’s even worse.”

“That’s not what I meant either…. Ahhh!”

Jaejoong looked upon the scene baffled, scared and slightly amused all at the same time…

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Jaejoong's a pushy-one aye? More to come!