“_____.” Eli blurted out as he continued to walk and look at some of stores you two passed by.

“Hmm?” you asked as you looked at the stores on the opposite side he was looking at.

For some reason you had created a huge gap between the both of you. The gap between the both of you was big enough to fit another person comfortably in between the both of you. It looked as though the both of you weren’t together.

You looked over at Eli who was looking at you. He motioned at you to come closer with his hand. So you did.

“Why are you walking so far away?” he asked. “Do I make you that nervous?” he joked as you both continued to walk.

“No. Sorry.” You mumbled as you awkwardly kept some distance still. Eli chuckled and reached for your hand. He then pulled you close and wrapped an arm around your waist. It felt awkward with just him hugging you.

He smiled down at you. “Act like a couple.” He started, “Put your arm here.” He pointed to his waist with his free hand. You did as you were told and paused as you started to remember something.

“Aren’t I supposed to be telling you what to do?”

He paused as he was unsure of what you were speaking of him. He pursed his lips as he tried to recall what the agreement had been. “Nope.” He firmly finished.

“Oh.” You paused as you accepted his answer. You weren’t sure if he was lying or if he honestly forgot about the whole ordeal.

You both window shopped until you both reached the movie theater. He looked at the times of the movies and pointed at a few that seemed to interest him. “Which one do you want to watch?”

“Um, nothing boring?” you replied with in indecisive question. You looked at a few that he started pointing at. Some of them seemed interesting by the titles and movie posters, but you had no idea what they were really about.

“That doesn’t help.” He frowned as he stared at the posters with the perfect times. He sighed and finally picked out two that seemed decent. One was a comedy and the other was an action movie. He roughly explained to you the summary of them and you patiently listened to his explanations. “So which one sounds good?”

“Does it matter?” you replied with a question once again.

He sighed and pulled your arm to the box office. Once he bought the tickets, Eli pulled you to the lines for the food. He read the menu as his stomach rumbled. He was starting to feel hungry. You smelled the aroma of the various food that was available to buy and then your lips.

“What do you want to eat?” he asked as he eyed the pretzels. You were also eying the pretzels that the people in front of you were receiving.

“Anything?” you unconsciously replied. You were too busy reading the menu as the prices were too high. He looked at you as he was slightly amused and annoyed. He wasn’t sure if you were paying attention to him or not.

“How about some roaches?” he asked jokingly.

“Sure.” You replied. He chuckled and went ahead to order two pretzels with some drinks. He was hungry, but he didn’t want to eat a bunch of food there. He wanted to go out to eat later. Make a decent date is what he wanted.

As you two waited for your order, Eunmi stood far away with an irritated Yoomi. Yoomi had already had an argument with Eunmi in the car, but somehow Yoomi ended up coming into the mall as well. For awhile all Eunmi wanted to do was follow Eli around, but now Yoomi was starting to feel irritated with her. Yoomi had received a part in the play and she wanted to rehearse. In the car, Yoomi had argued with Eunmi about using this time to practice their lines, but Yoomi was persistent on following the two of you around.

“What movie are they seeing?” Eunmi asked an Yoomi was busy looking at the script in her hands.

“I don’t know. I don’t care.” Yoomi replied in a monotone voice.

Eunmi peaked from behind the pillar she was hiding and looked at the both of you. Eli was laughing with you as you both ate some food. He seemed to be happy. That’s all Eunmi wanted to be sure of. For a while now, Eunmi has been having failing relationships and felt as though the relationship she used to have with Eli was the cause of it. Perhaps because she felt guilty about what she had done, but either way she was trying her hardest to get it out of him. So far everything she had tried failed. Maybe she was trying hard to get the answer because she two had feelings for Eli still.

“Maybe he has moved on…” Eunmi whispered to herself. Yoomi then looked at her as she furrowed eye brows. “I told you. I think you’re the one who hasn’t completely. Maybe out of guilt.”

Yoomi didn’t reply and continued to watch the two of you.

“Just apologize.” Yoomi suggested as she flipped a page. At this point she was sitting on the floor and leaning on the pillar.

“Oh, did Kevin give you the invitations?” you asked Eli as you took a sip of the drink he had bought for you. Earlier in the day you had given Kevin the invitations to Minsoo’s play. Kevin was supposed to give them out to everyone else as you didn’t have time.

Eli nodded and smiled at you as he watched you cut the giant pretzel into smaller pieces for you to eat. “Yeah. Are you my date?” he asked.

“Of course.” You smiled as you dipped a piece of the pretzel into the cheese.  Eli took a bite out of his pretzel and swallowed before replying.

“Who said I wanted to go with you?” he smirked and waited for you to respond.

You finished eating your piece of the pretzel and then looked up at him. His smile was radiating at you. “You have to do as I say.” You responded.

He was a bit taken back; he wasn’t sure what you were referring to now. “Did you forget? You do as I say and in return you get to be my boyfriend.” You joked.

He genuinely laughed at you as you used his line against him. He had forgotten for a bit what the deal had been. “Well maybe I did want to go with you.” He stuck his tongue out at you.

You stuck your tongue back out at him as you blushed. You crossed your legs in your seat as you realized that you had to go to the restroom. “I’m gonna go to the restroom real quick.” You stated as you stood up and wandered over to where the directions indicated the path to the restroom.

You tried to control yourself as you walked away from the table. Your sanity wasn’t in place at the moment. Or that’s how it felt. You walked into the restroom to find the janitor sweeping the floor. She smiled at you and motioned you to go on in. The truth was, you didn’t have to use the restroom; you just needed to compose yourself somewhere out of his sight.

“Are you alright hun?” the janitor asked you as she walked over to you. The wrinkles near her eyes appeared as she smiled at you. Her hair was aging and tied back in a bun. Her uniform was a pastel blue.

You nodded at her as you didn’t want any stranger to now about your issues. She smiled at you and continued to clean the restroom, but it wasn’t too bad in there so there wasn’t much that needed to be done. You proceeded over to the sink, as you completely forgot why you even came to the restroom, where you motioned your hands by sensor so the faucet would splurge water out.

You looked in the mirror and noticed your cheeks were still flushed. You diligently washed your hands as you tried to regain control of yourself. You wondered if Eli knew of your feelings for him or if he didn’t at all. It’s not like it should make a difference tough; you two made a deal. In a way it wasn’t a real relationship, but that’s what you wanted at least.

“It’s not real…” you muttered to yourself as you shook your head.

The janitor came back with a roll of paper to put into the dispenser. You waited for her to finish so you could get a paper towel. You noticed that she was around your height. You figured she was probably in her mid fourties.

“Is it a boy?” she probed as she inserted the paper into the dispenser. She hadn’t even looked at you so it seemed as though she hadn’t acknowledged your presence behind her.

You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion. “Excuse me?” you asked politely as you waited for her to explain.

“Is that what’s bothering you?” she asked as she closed the dispenser and reached for her key in her pocket to lock it. You remained silent as you didn’t know how to respond to her. It was what was bothering you, but admitting it to some arbitrary stranger, whose name you didn’t even know yet, seemed anomalous.

“You look like you’re in love.” She explained as she locked the dispenser. She was having issues with the lock as she spoke. She still hadn’t looked at you. “You seem frustrated over it as well. You were over there muttering to yourself rather loudly. He doesn’t know how you feel does he?”

“I don’t think so.” You startled yourself as you finally responded to her. The janitor waved her hand in front of the motion sensor. Some paper was dispensed from it and she handed it to you.

“Perhaps you should tell him.” She placed the key in her pocket again.

You gripped the paper towel in your hand. A part of you wanted to tell him and the other was afraid. Whenever Eunmi was around, Eli would argue with her, but every now and then you felt as though he was trying too hard. Possibly because he still liked her. You felt insignificant around her and Eli. They once had a relationship, who’s to say they still don’t feel the same anymore.

You frowned and started drying your hands. “I think he likes someone else.” You confessed.

“You’ll never know unless you ask him.” She stated as she put her hands on her petite waist. “I think you’d be more at ease knowing whether or not he likes you or the girl.” You nodded at her and threw away the paper in the trash can.

“If you ever need advice you can come and talk to me.” She smiled at you. “My name is Park Jihyun.”

“Kwon _____.” You introduced yourself and then bowed at her. “Thank you for the advice!” you chirped as you walked out of the restroom. You noticed you had started picking up your pace; you were getting closer to the table.

The table where Eli was supposed to be at by himself now had Eunmi sitting in your seat. They were talking casually as well. They weren’t shouting at each other and nor was Eli trying to get away. Eunmi placed her hand on Eli’s as she spoke and he didn’t move his hand away.

You were starting to feel jealous, but if Eli liked her, who were you to stop them from getting back together? Perhaps he didn’t even have feelings for you in that way. After all the two of you started off hating each other.

Eunmi got up from the chair and headed into the line to get some food. You took this chance to talk to Eli alone. Eli watched you as you sat down. He seemed distraught at the moment. He didn’t even say ‘hey’; he just watched you.

“Do you like Eunmi still?” you bluntly asked Eli as you took your drink you had left on the table.

Eli shifted uncomfortably in his seat. You caught him off guard. He placed his hands on the table and laced them together as he started at them for a while. You’re head felt as though it was going to explode at any moment from the anticipation of the answer. You wanted him to say no, but you had a feeling that he was going to say yes.

“I don’t know.” He answered softly.

That definitely wasn’t the answer that you were searching for. In fact you didn’t even want to be at your very spot at the moment anymore. You just wanted to disappear to your room. You looked past Eli and noticed Eunmi heading back to your table.

“Well I’ll help you with that.” You burst out out like an idiot. Eli looked at you confused. His face showed confusion and frustration. As if on cue, Eunmi appeared next to you. “I mean something came up so I have to go.” You stood up and looked at Eunmi. “Would accompany Eli please? I feel bad that he bought the ticket for me and I can’t go now.” You croaked out. Your voice was starting to strain as you felt yourself yearning to cry. As that’s what humans do when they overwhelmingly become troubled.

Eunmi stared at you in disbelief. She nodded slowly and then you turned your attention to Eli. “Thank you for everything anyway. It was fun while it lasted.” You spoke softly to him and bowed. Eunmi couldn’t make out what you were saying, but Eli could. Eli was about to protest, but by that moment you had already started heading out towards the entrance of the mall.

“_____!” he shouted from where he was standing at. You pretended to not hear him, but that only made him shout even louder. That was your cue to start picking up the pace. His shout becoming more distant as you increased the distance. Once you reached a corner you started running out of the mall in hopes of somehow making it to the bus stop so that you could go home. You accidently ran into others and quickly apologized to them afterwards. People kept giving you dirty looks as you ran.

As luck would have it, you ran into someone on the way out and ended up on the concrete of the parking lot. You placed your palms on the hot concrete as you attempted to get off of the floor. “Ouch!” you screeched as you tried to stand on your ankle.

“Noona, are you okay?” a familiar voice asked as it got closer to you. You looked up to find Minsoo’s concerned eyes looking down at you. You stared at him as he looked back into your eyes. “Let’s take you to the hospital.” He smiled and picked you up. “You can explain to me why you’ve been crying as well.”