Gongchan pulled Kyungmi along with him and walked quickly. Kyungmi looked back at the restroom hesitantly.
 
"But Chansik oppa, Changjo's still in the restroom. Shouldn't we wait for him?" she asked.
 
Gongchan mentally cheered. Why should he wait for his love rival when there came such a chance for him to spend time with Kyungmi?
 
"It's okay. He told us to go first." Gongchan fibbed. He quickly pulled Kyungmi away from the place. "Come on, oppa will treat you to origini balls and walk you home."
 
Kyungmi looked back at the rest room once more before following Gongchan. "Arraso." she responded.
 
Gongchan squeezed her hand tightly and smiled to himself as he glanced at Kyungmi.
 
He was going to make sure to make her his mate this year. He had been too ind the precious year, insisting on going after Miyoung when she so obviously loved Chunji already.
 
He had been stupid. He didn't see the girl that had always been his beat friend.
 
He had made her cry.
 
And now he wasn't going to let her go unless she didn't want him.
 
Gongchan bought them origini balls and watched as Kyungmi into the rice. He smiled. "Good?"
 
"Jjang." Kyungmi smiled back. Gongchan took her hand and led her back. "Come on, I'll walk you home."
 
Kyungmi stared at his hand that had enveloped hers and blinked.
 
A thousand emotions flowed through her that moment and she looked up at  Gongchan. He smiled.
 
Kyungmi squeezed her cheeks together so that her lips would lift up in a fake smile.
 
Strange feelings those were.
 
___________
 
He walked her to her home and they stopped outside her door.
 
"Thanks for the origini balls and for walking me home Chansik oppa." Kyungmi smiled at him softy. "See you tomorrow at the financial department." she turned to go.
 
Gongchan reached out to stop her and Kyungmi blinked at him. "Babo, tomorrow's Sunday. No work."
 
Kyungmi blinked in realization. "Oh."
 
Gongchan chuckled and took a step nearer to her. "I was wondering if you want to go out with me tomorrow?" he asked steadily.
 
Kyungmi looked at him in surprise and she contemplated for a long time. "I uh...okay then-"
 
"WAIT!" Someone shrieked.
 
Both of them turned to see Changjo running madly to catch up with them. He reached their side and panted heavily, shooting Gongchan accusing looks. "Why the hell didn't you wait for me?"
 
Kyungmi looked confused. "But Chansik oppa said you said to not wait for you-"
 
"Anyway tomorrow Kyungmi's going out with me so that's that." Gongchan quickly said. "So you better don't show yourself to spoil out date tomorrow." he warned.
 
"No fair! You played dirty!" Changjo pouted. He looked at Kyungmi with hopeful eyes. "I wanted to ask if you wanted to go out with me tomorrow."
 
Gongchan stepped between Changjo and Kyungmi. "She's going out with me."
 
Kyungmi jumped and looked at Changjo above Gongchan's shoulders. "I'd love to, Changjo."
 
Changjo beamed and sent Gongchan a triumphant look. "See? She wants to go out with me." he grinned.
 
Gongchan pouted and turned to Kyungmi. "But Kyungmi you agreed to go with me~" he frowned.
 
Kyungmi bit her lip and looked between Changjo and Gongchan. "How about I spend the first half of the day with one of you and the second half with the other?" she asked hesitantly.
 
Gongchan nodded. "Okay then Changjo gets the first half of the day and I'll take Kyungmi out from 3pm onwards till night."
 
"Wait what?" Changjo frowned. "Hey I want to take her out at night. It's more romantic then!"
 
"You think I don't know that?" Gongchan retorted. "I'm taking Kyungmi to see the fireworks that's why you're taking her out in the morning. I asked before you did, I should think I have the right to choose my time slot."
 
Changjo grumbled under his breath and killed Gongchan a thousand times in a thousand different ways. "Fine." he reluctantly agreed.
 
He pushed Gongchan away and smiled softly at Kyungmi. "I'll be here to pick you up at 9 in the morning tomorrow, okay?"
 
Kyungmi blushed and nodded, smiling brightly. Gongchan pushed Changjo away with his bum and beamed at Kyungmi. "And I'll pick you up at 3pm from wherever you two are then. If you want to cut short your time with him, you're free to do so and call me anytime-"
 
"Shut it." Changjo grumbled. He pushed Kyungmi to the door and waved. "Have a good rest Kyungmi. See you tomorrow!" he beamed.
 
"See you tomorrow!" Gongchan waved.
 
Kyungmi giggled and nodded, shutting the door. She leaned against the door and bit her lip to contain her excitement.
 
She couldn't wait to spend the day with him. Okay perhaps half the day.
 
Perhaps she shouldn't be mean to think that, but she wished she didn't have to spend the other half of the day with the other guy.
 

"Kyungmi?" Changjo's voice came from the other end of the line. He sounded exceptionally nervous which was pretty cute for the normally loud and straightforward Changjo.
 
Kyungmi bit her lip to contain her smile. "Changjo?"
 
She heard Changjo take a super uber large breath. "Uhm Kyungmi are you ready? I'm outside your house right now."
 
Kyungmi wanted to laugh at how nervous he sounded. "Yeah I am. I'll come out now." she responded.
 
She checked herself in the mirror one last time and arranged her short bob hair, before darting to the door. "Hi Changjo." she smiled, opening the door.
 
Changjo's face brightened up when he saw her and his eyes travelled up and down her entire body, taking in the sight of her in a dress.
 
She usually wore pants or shorts but never skirts and dressed. Kyungmi had put on a casual off white dress that had dark blue flower prints, and even matched with a similar blue flower hairband she borrowed from Miyoung.
 
"Wow." Changjo breathed. His heart gave a loud thump and he felt as if all air was knocked out of his system. "Y-You look g-great today, Kyungmi." he stuttered.
 
He brought a bouquet of red roses from behind his back as presented it to her. "These are f-for you." he smiled nervously.
 
Kyungmi took it gratefully. "Thank you. Come in and wait a bit, I'll find a vase for this."
 
Changjo nodded, stepping into the living room hesitantly. He had been there tons of times but today he felt exceptionally nervous. Today he was on a date with Kyungmi.
 
Oh gosh a date. He couldn't even comprehend it. A date!!
 
As Kyungmi went to find a vase, her parents came down to the living room and saw Changjo. "Oh Changjo, finally on a date with Kyungmi?" Mr Kim grinned.
 
Changjo reddened completely, his face so red that he really looked like a tomato. "Uh..." he rubbed the back of his neck.
 
"Young man, if you want to win our daughter's heart you've got to be confident." Mrs Kim told him. "Look at Gongchan. He's shy and all but when he wanted Miyoung, he fought for her. And now he's fighting mercilessly for Kyungmi. If you want to beat him the least you could do is to be confident."
 
Changjo nodded. "Thanks Mr and Mrs Kim." he grinned. "Aja Aja fighting!" he punched his fists in the air.
 
Kyungmi appeared at this point and eyed Changjo's fist. "Is....something going on?" she asked in wonder.
 
"Nothing." Changjo quickly hid his fist. He smiled at her. "Ready to go now?"
 
Kyungmi pinked and nodded, grabbing her purse. "Let's go then. Bye Umma, Appa."
 
"Bye~ Have a good time~" her parents chorused.
 
Changjo waved too and followed Kyungmi out of her house. His eyes followed the back of her head and trailed down to her hands.
 
Should he....?
 
Kyungmi turned around and caught him looking at her skirt. "Is something the matter?" she brushed the skirt. "Do I look weird in a dress?"
 
Changjo reddened. "No no. You look wonderful." he bit his lip embarrassedly. "Let's go. I have lots planned." he smiled hesitantly, leading the way.
 
Kyungmi nodded and followed, wondering why he was behaving so weirdly.
 
Changjo brought Kyungmi to watch a morning water fountain show at the grand complex. There were a lot of couples there as well since it was a Sunday.
 
Changjo and Kyungmi sat together with an awkward distance between them. There seemed to be an invisible line between them that refrained any of them from crossing it.
 
Changjo glanced at Kyungmi from the corner of his eye and saw her warning the show. He bit his lip nervously.
 
Why was he such a wimp? He always saw L.Joe holding Mihye's hand, Ricky cuddling Jaemi, Chunji sneaking kisses on Miyoung's cheek in the broad daylight.
 
It seemed so easy!
 
So why was it so difficult for him to cross that invisible line right now and grab Kyungmi's hand? Why?
 
Changjo sighed to himself and mentally cursed himself to death.
 
Kyungmi heard him sigh and glanced at him. She wondered if he was regretting this date thing. That's why he was sighing right?
 
The two left the fountain show an hour later in an awkwardly quiet state. Changjo didn't know why Kyungmi suddenly looked upset and he was so disappointed in himself.
 
Why couldn't he be confident? He has waited for this chance for so long so why couldn't he do well like in his dreams?
 
But the other part of his mind screamed him warnings. What if Kyungmi was just waiting for time to pass till it was time for Gongchan's date? She did like him in the past after all.
 
Changjo stopped walking and watched as Kyungmi continued on her way, dragging her footsteps lethargically.
 
She seemed so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't realize Changjo wasn't by her side.
 
Changjo took a deep breath. "Come on Changjo you can do this." he told himself. "It's just a hand. Go grab her hand it's so easy you can do this. Just do this okay?"
 
His eyes fixated on Kyungmi's hand that was swinging slightly while she walked.
 
Taking another large breath that seemed to deprive everyone of air, Changjo walked up to Kyungmi, or rather, half ran, and took Kyungmi's hands in his, intertwining their fingers.
 
He squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for her to pull away.
 
He waited. And waited. And waited.
 
Until he heard a soft giggle.
 
He opened one eye and peeked at Kyungmi. She was looking at the other direction but Changjo could see her biting back a smile.
 
Hope burst in his heart. Could she...could she like him too?
 
Kyungmi kept her face turned away but Changjo could feel her smile. "Let's go to that store and see what they're selling, Changjo." Kyungmi pulled him along.
 
A permanent smile lighting his face, Changjo followed.
 
"Kyungmi let's go to that store!"