“Come on, mister! I’m telling you. We’re over age!” I 
shouted.

“I can’t let you in unless you show me some ID. 
It’s policy, I’m sorry,” the waiter said.

I looked at my phone. Three unanswered calls to 
Jaejoong. I was going to kill him. I couldn’t believe he 
asked us to come all the way here and then wouldn’t pick up 
my call. I wasn’t sure what to do now that we were unable 
to get to the bar. Not to mention the whole question of 
whether or not he’d tell the entire world that we’d slept 
together was still looming over my head.

“Hey, come on. There’s a guy called Jaejoong in 
there, right?” I asked, peering in.

“I can’t tell you that, miss. I’m sorry.”

“I’m telling you! Just ask him. I’m with him, you 
know.”

At that moment I three guys came out holding 
cigarettes. They were all tall and handsome. One had blonde 
hair, and the other curly black, and finally the last one 
had long hair that he tied in a ponytail.

“,” the one with blonde hair said. “What’s up 
with this place today? Every girl in there looks like .”

“Yeah, I know,” the curly black one—who looked a 
little like an ape—said. “Kind of like them,” he said, 
pointing at us.

I glowered at the ape.

“Hah. Don’t be such an ,” the one with the 
pony-tail said. He looked like he was the nicest out of all 
of them. “It’s not their fault they’re ugly.”

Okay. That was it. I could no longer stand the 
shame of standing outside the XXX bar. I went up to the 
waiter and held him by his collar. It didn’t go quite as I 
expected—I tried to lift him off the ground but he wouldn’t 
even budge—but nevertheless, I held on.

“Okay, listen. I’m Jaejoong’s girlfriend. Alright? 
Now let me in, right now. LET ME IN!”

Yura poked me in the ribs. I looked around and saw 
the ape walking towards me, a cigarette in his mouth. He 
smirked. “Did you just say that you’re Jaejoong’s 
girlfriend?”

I gulped. Okay, maybe I wasn’t really his 
girlfriend. But wait. There was no reason for me to be 
scared of the ape, because I was here for a legitimate 
reason. My of a boyfriend had called me in the middle 
of the night. “Yes,” I said, gaining courage. “As a matter 
of fact, I am.”

“Oh really?”

“Really.”

“You?”

“Yes, me.”

He laughed. “You look like you just came out of the 
dumpster.”

“You look like an ape,” I said.

He frowned. I must have hit a nerve, because he 
took out his phone and pressed something. And then he put 
it to his ear and said, “hey. There’s a really ugly chick 
who claims to be your girlfriend. Want me to beat her up?”

Yura came and poked me in the ribs again. I told 
her to wait. It would be okay. Right?

“What?” the ape said, speaking into the phone. 
“Okay, fine. Bye.” He closed the phone and looked at me. I 
thought he really was going to beat me up with his ape 
fists. “Come on,” he said, surprisingly.

I looked at Yura. She looked dumbfounded too.

“They’re with us,” the ape told the waiter, and me 
and Yura, along with his two other confused friends, 
finally entered into the XXX bar.

It wasn’t much of a bar. It was more like an 
apartment with different rooms where people went to drink. 
There were glass windows, and from outside I could see 
people crowded amongst a table drinking and eating. Our 
room was around the corner, and as the waiter led us there 
I couldn’t help but stick out my tongue at him. Upon seeing 
me do this, the waiter faked a cough and tried to keep his 
composure. But deep inside, I knew he was annoyed.

“I’ve never been to a bar before,” Yura said, 
gaping at the scenery.

When the waiter opened the glass doors for us, we 
went inside. There were a total of ten people including me 
and Yura: four guys and six girls. Jaejoong sat on the edge 
of the seat. He wore a simple t-shirt that had a smiley 
face on it, and jeans. He looked up at me.

“What took you so long?” He asked.

I walked over and stepped on his foot.

“What the !”

“Why didn’t you pick up my calls?” I demanded. “You 
know I stood out there for a good twenty minutes trying to 
convince the waiter to let me in? You little sick-faced 
raccoon…”

“First of all, my phone was off,” he said, rubbing 
his toes. “And second of all, what the hell is a sick-faced 
raccoon?”

“Nothing,” I said, still angry. The room went 
silent. Realizing this, I let out a sheepish smile and took 
a seat.

“And why are you dressed like that? You look like a 
transvestite,” he said, adding on to my anger.

“A WHAT?”

“Don’t you know how to put on makeup?” He asked, 
passing me a beer.

I passed it back to him. “I’m sorry I look like a 
transvestite. Why don’t we just stop talking?”

“Who’s this?” One of the girls asked, looking at 
me. She had long hair that came down to her s and was 
wearing a pink headband. Not to mention she was really 
pretty.

“She’s a comedian,” Jaejoong said. “She’s so cheap 
I hired her. Isn’t it funny just looking at her?”

The girl laughed. I stood up and grabbed Yura. 
“Come on,” I said, “we’re leaving.”

“Wait,” Jaejoong said and caught me by the arm. 
“Remember my text?”

He slowly took out the phone from his pocket and 
showed it to me. That bastard.

“Yes,” I said.

“Well sit down. Get comfortable.”

And so I did. Yura gave me a worried look and I 
flashed her a smile, even though I was so not okay.

“I’m Mira,” the girl said, holding out her hand. 
“What’s your name?”

“Eun Hye,” I said, taking her hand. I felt so 
inferior. After all, I was a member of the RS club. But 
what was it with all these attractive looking people coming 
together at once? Mira looked like she just came out of a 
fashion magazine. And the three other girls? Well, they 
weren’t as pretty as Mira was but they were just about the 
same. And not to mention Jaejoong’s friends. Yura and I 
really did look like we just came out of the dumpster, 
compared to them.

“How do you know Jaejoong?” She asked.

“I met him—”

“Hey,” Jaejoong said, interrupting my words. “Sing 
for us, comedian.”

I glared at him. “I don’t sing.”

“Yes you do,” he said, showing me his phone. It 
shone in the light like a golden treasure. “Right, 
comedian?”

I grit my teeth. What else could I do? So I stood 
up, gave a fake cough, and began to sing.

“Silent night ho-oh-ly night…something something 
something, ho-ohly- something…”

The room was silent, and my voice filled the air. 
Everybody stopped drinking and focused their attentions on

me, even the ape. I could hear my voice stuttering, and I 
forgot allt he lines to the song. Finally, the ape said, 
“Tell her to stop, Jaejoong. She’s hurting my ears.”

I continued singing. “Holy holy fa la la la la 
silent something something, three blind mice! Ultra-man 
spidey pig, spidey pig…”

“Okay, that’s enough,” Jaejoong said. “That’s not 
even a real song.”

“So what?”

“Forget it,” he said. “Let’s just drink.”

Mission accomplished. I took my seat and accepted a 
beer, which Jaejoong forcefully pushed in my direction. 
After my little performance, the rest of the crowd seemed 
to have no interest in talking to me, so I began to 
daydream about Yunho, occasionally turning to chat with 
Yura, and sipped on my beer.

***

By the end of the night, most of us were drunk. 
Even the ape. We piled out of the XXX bar, all of us 
smiling and laughing and singing as the moonlight shined 
above us. The crowd broke into smaller groups, and Mira 
gazed back for a minute but then linked arms with the 
pony-tail boy and wandered off.

“Come here,” Jaejoong said, pulling me over. He 
took out a cigarette and lit it.

“But the others. They’re going away,” I said, 
pointing over.

“Forget about them.”

“But Yura! I need to take care of her.”

“Dong-ki will take care of her,” he said.

“Who’s Dong-ki?”

“The guy with curly hair.”

“The ape?!”

“What?”

“Oops.” I covered my mouth. “Nothing, I mean.” I 
couldn’t tell him that I thought his friend looked like an 
ape. During the night Yura and the ape had become quite 
close, and I saw them in the distance linking arms and 
hopping away. I couldn’t quite remember, but I think that 
the ape had asked her what her horoscope was. And when they 
realized that their horoscopes were the same, they went 
onto a deep conversation on fate and coincidence and 
chance. Blah, blah, blah. When I was sure that everybody 
was gone, I turned to Jaejoong and slapped him on the 
shoulder.

“What did you do that for?” he asked.

“Why did you call me?” I said, all my previous 
anger pouring out. “To embarrass me in front of your 
friends?”

“You were funny, though.”

“Do you think that it’s funny, playing with other 
people’s emotions?”

“A little bit.”

“ you. Don’t ever call me again.”

“But my text,” he said, smirking.

“You know what? I don’t care. Go ahead and tell 
people. See if I care!” I walked away, angry that I’d spent 
the night being laughed at by a bunch of jerks. And then I 
wished Yura was here. I didn’t even know where the ape had 
taken her.

“Wait,” Jaejoong said, catching up to me. “I’m 
sorry.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“No, I didn’t. What did you say?”

“I’m….sorry.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. 
Was he really apologizing?

“Say it just a tad bit louder.”

“That’s it,” he said. “Don’t make me mad.”

I laughed and pinched his cheek. “Well, you 
shouldn’t have done something you’d be sorry for, should 
you?”

He frowned. “It’s not like I’m a jerk. I just 
wanted you to come.”

“Why?”

“Because.”

“Because?”

He shuffled his feet. “Because it’s kind of my 
birthday today.”

“Kind of?”

“Stop repeating everything I say,” he said, giving 
me a glare.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “But what do you mean kind of?”

“Well, my birth certificate says I was born in 
December. But my real birthday is today. May fourth.”

I realized he was telling the truth. “How come 
nobody sang you happy birthday?”

“Because they don’t know.”

“Why not?”

He put out his cigarette and pushed his hair away 
from his eyes. “I don’t know. I mean, it doesn’t really 
matter. Technically today’s not really my birthday anyway.”

For a second, his dark eyes seemed sad, and he 
seemed hunched over. He looked like a lonely child who 
desperately wanted to be noticed, to be acknowledged. And 
then I remembered the time he’d helped me when those guys 
had thought I was Yunho’s girlfriend. The way he’d gently 
cleansed my wound. How small and lonely his house had been. 
And for some reason, he didn’t seem all that bad. Sometimes 
he was a good guy, I think. I grabbed his arm and began to 
sing.

“Happy birthday to you-ooh! Happy birthday…”

“Stop, stop,” he said, putting his hand over my 
mouth. “Please don’t sing.”

I shoved his hand away, slightly disappointed. 
Nevertheless. It was his birthday. I had to do something, 
right?

“I have an idea,” I said, pulling his arm.

***

“We’ve been at this for an hour,” he said, 
exhausted.

“No. I’m not giving up. Trust, me, this is my 
specialty.”

One hour and ten thousand won later, I was getting 
no closer to winning a toy. We were at an arcade, standing 
in front of a crane machine. It was intimidating, really. 
500 won and you get two chances. And out of all the toys, 
he wanted the spiderman one because it was the least girly. 
Out of all the easy-access toys, he wanted to get 
spiderman. The one that was at the very corner of the 
machine. Corners are the hardest to get.

“Why don’t I try?” He said, reaching over.

“No! It’s my present to you. I have to get it.”

He sighed. I put in another coin and watched as the 
crane went down, grabbed spiderman’s legs, and then let go. 
So close.

“This is bull!” I said, hitting the machine. 
The spiderman doll sunk further into the pile.

“Listen. You don’t have to do this,” he said. “I 
don’t need a present.”

“I can do it. Leave me alone!”

I insert another coin and watched as the crane went 
up. Miss, again. I had one more chance. I had to get it. I 
watched as the crane went down, down, reached spiderman’s 
head and then…

“We did it! We did it!” I screamed, and reached 
into the hole to get the prize.

I handed him a brown teddybear. Spiderman had been 
to out of reach, so I’d decided to go for the easier target

“It’s a teddybear.”

“I know,” I said. “Isn’t it cute?”

“What am I supposed to do with it?” He asked, 
annoyed.

I put the teddybear in his arms. “Happy birthday, 
Jaejoong. This is my gift to you.”

If he was annoyed, any trace of it seemed to have 
disappeared. He looked at the teddybear for a while and 
then smiled. He smiled. I think it was the first time I’d 
seen him really smile, like the way he was now. He looked 
kind of cute, actually. Like a little boy holding a 
teddybear.

“Where’s the shoelace?” He asked suddenly.

“What shoelace?”

“The one that I gave you.”

I looked down at my wrists. . It was gone. I 
couldn’t remember if I’d taken it off while I was 
showering. Or did it slip of when I was sleeping?

“I…”

“I told you not to lose it,” he said. And then he 
reached down and pulled out a shoelace from his shoe. I 
noticed that the other one was missing shoelaces.

“Wait, Jaejoong—”

And then, still crouching, he reached for my ankle. 
I almost stumbled but kept my balance.

“I don’t have any more shoelaces left. If you lose 
this, then it’s over. For real.”

I didn’t know what he was talking about, or what he 
meant would be over, but at that moment when he knelt on 
one knee and wrapped the shoelace around my ankle, I felt 
like I was Cinderella and nothing in the world mattered 
except for the warmth of his hands and the thumping of my 
heart.