The way I update is very inconsistent, and that bothers both you and me. As I get more into every story, writing gets a bit more easier. That's how I am. The establishing of the entire plot and story is kinda hard for me to do because I tend to want it a certain way, but end up sometimes not getting it to start my way. Nonetheless, they do start off pretty decent, and they build up as each chapter progresses. So now it's gradually starting to get easier to think of ideas. I want to be able to get them published on here like that! But it makes things difficult.

Fortunately, I have this chapter ready to go!

Lip gloss. Eye liner. Blush. Mascara. Concealer. Foundation. Eye shadow. Moisturizer.

Ah, I am in heaven~ Etude House has everything I need to care for my skin. It is summer, after all, and as the temperature rises, my skin needs a lot more attention than what I am giving it now.

I picked up a shade of pink lipstick from the counter and held it out in front of the lady standing on the other side. "Is this the testing one?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yes, it is."

I returned the smile and leaned toward the mirror sitting on the counter with my elbows propped on top. Slowly, I traced the lipstick on my lips until the entire surface was covered with a rosy pink color. I rubbed my lips together to spread it around then puckered, hearing a light smack. I examined my lips in the mirror.

"It suits you well," the lady complimented.

She looked to be around her early twenties. She had platinum blonde hair, but you can easily tell that it was not her natural hair color, and green contacts. It was a rare, but beautiful, sight to see. She had the air of an undercover fangirl. It was noticeable, especially around me.

I smiled and bowed. "Ah, kamsahamnida. I guess I'll take this one, too." I covered the lipstick and handed it to her. She reached below the counter to a storage inside and placed the tester in, then brought out a fully cased one.

"Will that be all?"

"Um..." I scanned the rest of the products. "Since I tried them all already, I guess I'll take that one." I pointed to the light blue eye shadow. "That one." The dusty pink blush. "And that one." The brown eye liner.

"Ah, very interesting choices."

I nodded. "I like diversity."

She nodded and smiled. "It's good to try something different." As she finished scanning all the products and adding them to the total amount that I have to pay and went to grab a bag from inside the counter, she continued, "You must be an ulzzang." I blushed. "I wouldn't be surprised at all if someone from a modeling agency randomly approached you and offered you a job on the spot." She glanced at me and flashed a quick smile. "You are beautiful."

I held the back of my hand up to my mouth to cover the redness on my cheeks. "Kamsahamnida."

"Are you thinking of becoming a singer?" She began to fangirl. "Omo, you could be the next BoA! You look perfect to become a singer. If not, an actress."

"I am practicing to make my acting debut," I sheepishly admitted.

Her eyes widened. "Ah, chincha?" She grinned. "See? You're perfect for that job. What is your name?"

"Lee Cho Ae."

"Ah, you even have a beautiful name."

I chuckled and blushed. "Kamsahamnida."

The silver bell hanging above the door that rings whenever people enter and exit the store had rung, and when I lifted my head from staring at the counter, I caught a glimpse of blonde hair and broad shoulders make their way past me and toward the back of the store.

My eyes followed him, then landed on the woman beside him. Must be his mother.

The lady who was talking to me followed my gaze. "Ah, he's one of our regulars. He comes here with his mother every time."

I turned back to her. "Chincha?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I'm not sure whether he's accompanying his mom, or if his mom is accompanying him." She giggled softly. I joined her and looked back at him.

I never thought I'd seem him this soon. I mean, I've always wanted to see him, but I just didn't expect it to be now. It seriously caught me by surprise. And in a really good way.

Suddenly I realized something. My eyes widened and I turned back to her. I bowed. "Mianhe, I've been here for too long. There must be others waiting." She smiled as I began to move toward the back of the store. I turned around and met face to back with Kris. I craned my head forward, heart beating faster, and said, "Kris?"

He whirled around and his eyes widened at the sight of me. He tried to avoid any eye contact and stay perfectly still, as if I would walk away from him if I didn't notice any movement he was making, but his mom looked toward us, her eyes landed on me, and she smiled.

As she walked to me, Kris' eyes widened even more, like a deer caught in headlights, and he pointed daggers at her.

"Annyeong," she greeted, reaching out for my hand, which I gladly gave her, and firmly grasping it. "You must be one of Kris' friends. What is your name?"

I bowed. "Annyeong, umma. I'm Lee Cho Ae."

"Ah..." She slightly leaned back and nodded her head in approval and amazement. "You are Cho Ae. I hear from you sometimes from my son and also on the tabloids about your family's very successful business. Tell me, how is that going so far?"

I smiled. "My family's business is doing excellent in collaborations. But you do know, umma, that my family co-own's the business alongside Kim Hyo Yun's family, too."

"That's right, excuse me." She bowed her head and smiled apologetically.

"Mama..." Kris interrupted, hissing at her. She smiled at me before turning to him. He began to speak in Mandarin.

What are you doing?

I'm just talking to your friend.

She's not my friend. I don't even know her.

Don't lie to me, Wu Yi Fan. Why are you being so mean?

Because I don't like her.

Why not?

Because she's liked me since the third grade and she's so an—

"Um..." I interrupted. They continued their quarrel, and I said in Chinese, "I do understand what you're saying."

Both their eyes widened. Kris cleared his throat and looked away, tensing up at the same time. His mom turned to me and bowed. "Mianhe, sweetie. I had no idea you could speak and understand Mandarin. Kris," he turned to us, "say sorry to her."

His jaw clenched and he faced his whole body to me, and muttered, "I'm sorry," in Chinese.

I smiled at him. His eyes widened again, and he turned away. I fixed my eyes on his mom. "I learned from my being my parents' little assistant."

"Oh, that's great! You're very talented, young lady."

"Kamsahmnida," I bowed, turning the Korean switch back on.

"I'll be right back." She began to move away from us. "You two get along. And Kris," she said with a firm tone, just as every mother would do, "be nice."

Kris rolled his eyes. As soon as she was out of earshot, he mumbled something under his breath and moved away from me, looking at the products laid out in front of us instead of looking at me and attempting to initiate a conversation.

"So..." I started, leaning toward him with my hands clasped together behind me, "I hear that you're a frequent customer here."

He scoffed. Then he his heels, causing me to step back with widened eyes, and stared down at me with piercing eyes. But he had a difficult time holding his glare with me because his eyes were like lie detector spikes that constantly run side to side and not stay in one place for too long. He gave up and stared at the ground without a word.

I chuckled softly. "Or would you prefer that I just think that you're accompanying your mom here instead of the other way around?"

He looked up with a rare desparate look in his eyes. Does he really like to keep his bad boy image intact? Is going to Etude House—a store that usually guys and probably both genders would label as a girls' makeup store—really the demise of boys who are caught shopping there? Of course, for Kris, that possibility is something he can never have happen.

"I only come here for the moisturizers they sell here," he admitted in a firm voice, "that's it."

My head bobbed up and down in immediate understanding. "Of course."

He smiled. A genuine, relieved, very much appreciated smile. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, especially coming from him.

"Kamsahamnida," he said. "I don't know what I'd do if my reputation was ruined."

My eyebrows furrowed. "Does it really matter to you how people view yourself?"

He straightened his posture and nodded. "Yes."

"Well, why?"

He shrugged. "I just like to keep my image the same."

I raised one eyebrow. "As the bad boy of Asia?"

He chuckled. "I guess."

Suddenly he looked at me and said in Chinese, "So you're fluent in Mandarin?"

I shrugged and replied back, "Are you gonna test me?"

He smirked. "No." Then he turned serious. "But I—"

"Excuse me," a soft voice emerged from behind me, and I was swiftly being propelled forward. Into Kris, who stumbled back and held out his arms for me to safely fall into.

Thus, time ceased to exist.

Never have I ever gotten this close to Kris. The only time I did was in third grade when he was assigned to sit next to me. So being in his arms was like standing at the doors of heaven. But of course, I'm not dead, even though, I swear, my heart just stopped, too.

It felt like the timekeeper of the world had finally decided to rattle with the watch and gaze down at who would spend those endless moments in perfect bliss, or total destruction, lingering for a while, tapping fingers on the eternal watch and slowly savoring the lustful power.

It felt like I was the timekeeper, and this was the only moment where I could control the reigns of my power and tame them, molding them into the shape of my desires. And so far, I've been living this moment in perfect bliss.

We stood there for that moment before I finally gazed up at him. The size of his eyes matched mine. They switched between his arms holding me in place, and he recoiled and dropped his arms at his sides, suddenly looking insecure and physically hostile.

I brushed myself off and adjusted my slightly out of place clothes. "Kamsahamnida," I said.

He rolled his lips into his mouth and nodded once. "Mhm."

I smiled, then grinned. It's cute when he does that, and it's my first time seeing him shy like this. I shook my head. It's impossible for Kris to be shy, his personality is far off from those types. I stared at the ground to hide my face until the redness in them faded away. I cleared my throat and forced my eyes to look at him. "Aren't you gonna get your moisturizer?"

His eyes widened for a second before he nodded and said, "Uh, yeah. Yeah." He turned his body to the crowd of moisturizer sitting in front of him. He reached out fast to grab a random bottle and clutched it in his hand.

I gazed at it, then at him. He caught my look and replied, "All of them work on me, so it doesn't matter which one I take."

"Mmm..." I nodded, knowing that, of course, it was false, but not wanting to doubt him. I giggled, and he let out a small chuckle.

Again, he turned serious. "Anyway, I'm sorry I said those kinds of things about you. I had no idea you could understand and speak Mandarin and you actually aren't—"

"It's okay." I nodded. It seemed as if he staggered back like I had punched him or something. "Yeah," I confirmed, "it's okay. It's not like no one says anything bad about me. I can't make everyone like me, so"—I shrugged—"it's fine."

"But," he paused to select his words carefully, "you like me, and I said that about you..." His voice trailed off and he looked lost.

"Yeah, I know. Like I said, I can't make everyone like me, and I'm a little glad you said that because now I know how you really feel about me. But it's really okay," I smiled, "because you're actually the one whose mind I want to change so you would like me, too."

"Chincha?" I nodded. He nodded, too, clearly impressed. "Well, then." He smiled. "I guess we'll see if you do change my mind."

I nodded, holding back my obviously blushing face. "I guess we will." We smiled at each other.

"Wu Fan!" His mother called.

He broke our gaze first to search for his mom. When she appeared beside us, she asked, "Did you get what you need? We have to go now, your father called."

A furious look crossed his face for a split second before he nodded. "Okay, mama." He glanced at me. "I hope to see you again, Cho Ae." He bowed his head in my direciton.

His mother placed her hand on my shoulder and pulled me into a hug. "You are a lovely lady, Cho Ae." She patted my hair then pulled back and grinned at me. "I hope we can run into each other like this again."

I giggled and bowed. "Kamsahamnida, umma." Her grinned widened and she said, "Yes, yes you can call me umma," as if I had an ulterior question within that word. She embraced me one more time. Then she grabbed Kris and began to pull him towards the register. "Come on, Wu Fan, we don't want to be late for your father again." She looked back at me, smiled, waved, then headed over to pay their way out of here. Kris didn't look back.

As soon as they walked out and turned right and out of eyesight, I strolled to the aisle where I found my lipstick and conversed with the lady who worked there and bowed to her. "Thank you for helping me."

She grinned and returned the bow. "It's no problem at all. I can't wait until you come back."

I giggled. "Kamsahamnida." I took a step forward, but she stopped me by blurting out, "Is he your boyfriend?"

"Huh?" I turned back to her.

"That man you were talking to a while ago." She paused so I could remember that Kris was the one I was talking to in this store instead of Woohyun, who walked me to this store. "Is he courting you? Because you two look great together and you seemed very close to him."

I shook my head. "No." I glanced at the door where he and his mom just exited from. "He's not my boyfriend."

I found this really funny EXO fanfic meme that said that the members spoke fluent English, Korean, and Mandarin, so the lead female OC has to be fluent in those languages. I laughed, but then I realized that this chapter clearly reveals that Cho Ae can speak all three languages fluently and I didn't see that meme until a few days or so after I wrote the Mandarin-speaking part. HAHAHA. God, I'm such a loser.