A message tune was heard from her jeans. Taking the phone out, she flipped it and read the message, ‘Go in first. I’ll be there soon’. She looked around. Most people have already entered the cinema. She scratched her head, ‘How is he supposed to go in with me having the ticket?’ She strode to the nearest bench and sit, waiting for her date. This was their first official date after the night at the park. Smiling to herself, she scanned through the tickets in her hand. ‘Avatar 3D, 4.30pm, cinema 5, seat 7&8’, she reread the tickets. It was not her idea to buy the couple seats ticket but her date insisted on it. For her it was too quiet and expensive with very little crowd. Cinema was supposed to have large crowds and some noise. It was an odd way of thinking since most people would prefer the cinema to be quiet so that they could enjoy the movie with little distraction but she can’t help the way she thinks.

Still looking around, she can’t see her date anywhere. She glanced at her watch. ‘The movie has already started. The advertisements are on now. We still have some time before Avatar starts. I should probably buy the popcorn and drinks first.’ She got up and walked towards the counter and ordered. With two regular popcorns, 1large pack of Twisties, 1bottle of mineral water and 1 Pepsi, she had her hands full. Carefully, she tried to balance everything together and walked towards the entrance to wait for her date when suddenly someone from behind grabbed the plastic bag containing the popcorns and Twisties from her hand. Startled, she looked to her side, to the person. Underneath the hood, a smiling face peered at her. With his free hand he took hold of her hand and together they walked to the entrance. She gave the tickets to the ticket attendant and entered the cinema.

Entering the cinema, he asked her, “Why didn’t you enter first like I asked you to?”

“Because, the tickets are with me. How are you going to enter without them?” she asked, looking at him questioningly.

Her answer made him grin and chuckled. “I forgot about that.”

They made it in time for the movie and after finding their seats, they took out the 3D glass and wear them. The movie really felt like they came alive and with the great animation, it was easy to forgot about the surroundings until she felt something heavy was on her shoulder. She glanced over and saw Hyun Joong’s sleeping face with his head leaning on her. ‘He must be really tired to fell asleep while watching Avatar in 3D. This is the best movie ever… we could have this date later but he was the one insisted to watch this on the same day he just got back from China.’ She felt sad while looking at him sleep. After adjusting herself to give a more comfortable placement for his head, she continued to watch the movie and slowly eating the popcorn so that Hyun Joong wouldn’t felt disturbed by her movements.

The movie ended a few hours after that and her shoulder has started to feel numb and stiffed. Other moviegoers have made their move out of the cinema. Looking at the person beside her who was still sleeping, she touched his arm and slowly called out to him, “Hyun Joong ah, wakeup, the movie has ended.” But he didn’t steered even a bit. She remembered that Hyun Joong had difficulty of waking up from all the variety shows she saw. She looked around. The cleaner has already started to clean the place. She tried to shake Hyun Joong harder than before. “Hyun Joong, Hyun Joong, wake up.” Again, nothing. Suddenly, she remembered the method Kyu Jong and Hyung Jun taught Hwang Bo in We Got Married. She pursed her lips and gulped, ‘How am I going to do this?’. Closing her eyes and put her other hand over to Hyun Joong’s body side, she tickled him. He began to twitch and grumbled. Grabbing hold of her hand to stop the tickle, he lifted his head groggily. Yawning, he looked over to her. “The movie ended? Sorry…”

Moving her stiffed hand around, she flashed him a smile, “It’s ok. You are tired. We could do this later you know, why did you want to do it today? You just got back.”

Leaning near to her, he whispered, “Because I miss you.”

She could feel her heart skipped faster and her cheek reddened. Looking down, she smiled sheepishly. “Come on, we better go. The cleaner need to do their work,” she said hurriedly, getting up to go when Hyun Joong grabbed hold of her hand and pulled her to him. She was shocked by his gesture and pushed away, looking at the cleaners. ‘Luckily the cleaners didn’t see anything,’ she mumbled and gave the grinning Hyun Joong a deadly stare. She turned and stomped her way to the exit with Hyun Joong following from behind.

Hyun Joong caught up with her and walked by her side, peeked a glance at her. “Don’t be mad Hye Sung. I’m sorry okay. It’s just that, I miss you,” he said, giving her a pouty lips and puppy eyes. Hye Sung couldn’t stay mad at him with his expression like that. “There are other people there. What if they recognized you? It wouldn’t be good for your image, would it?” she pointed out. “What is wrong by holding to my girlfriend?” he retorted.

“They don’t know that. Nobody knows that you have a girlfriend. Your fans would be in a state of shock if they knew and ran off to other idols. That would be bad! And I don’t want to be attacked by your fans either.”

Stopping on his track, he said, “I’m a normal man too. Fine, to not shock them in one go, I could give out clues and hints to my fans…”

She looked back at him, “Oh? Like hinting out you want to get married before 30? Or you would accept older woman as your girlfriend? You were hinting them out for Hwang Bo, right? That was what they say in the Internet.”

His smile faded, “That was in my past. For your information, only yours, Hwang Bo and me had broken up in the middle of this year. Besides, I have you now…the one I’ve been searching for, the one who gave me the secret love letter.”

“Shh…do you want everyone to hear?” she ran to him to closed his mouth, eyeing around them. “We are lucky no one is around. You’re an idol…you should be more careful,” she scolded him.

Taking her hands down from his mouth, he smiled, “I don’t care if anybody find it out. What’s in the past, is the past. And I don’t like to keep our relationship a secret. We are a couple, so what is so bad or shameful about that? If possible, I want the whole world to know.”

She stared at him. ‘How can he be so bold? He could lose everything…his fans would be upset knowing he’s taken. I don’t want to be the reason he lost what he has strived all this time to get.’

Probably reading her mind, he answered, “Ok, we’ll keep it low if that will make you happy. But promise me that we will publicly open up to everyone if they managed to sniffed out our relationship. No denying…deal?”

She thought about his suggestion and nod. “It’s not because I’m happy about being discreet but I don’t want you to sacrifice your stardom. You finally managed to get to your level now with so much hard work and not to forget about your group members. We can’t be selfish, Hyun Joong.”

“I know you want the best for me, but really, I don’t mind leaving the entertainment industry if they can’t accept that I am human too. That I need to be loved and fallen in love to the person I choose. “

Squeezing his hand, “Let’s not think about quitting. Like you said, if we got found out, we’ll tell the truth and accept whatever comes at us but before that happens, let’s take things slow and below the radar.”

He smiled at her, “Let’s go. I’m hungry. We’ll have our dinner and I’ll send you home. You did come by the subway like I asked you to?” he said, changing the topic.

“That’s another thing. Why did you want me to come by the subway? It’s easier to drive here,” she queried, walking by his side, her hand still in his, entwined together.

Looking at her, he answered simply, “Because I want to know where you live so that I could meet your parents and asked them properly about dating you.”

“What?” she asked, disbelieved by what she heard. ‘He wanted to meet my parents just to ask them their permission for us to date? Who does that anymore?’

“By the way, I like the way you dress. Don’t wear anything revealing. I really don’t like those revealing clothes. I didn’t just say them for the ratings in We Got Married,” he disclosed his true feelings, eyeing her and gave her an approval smile.

Smiling, she gave him an assuring nod, “You don’t have to worry about that. I don’t like those kind of clothes too though I do have some of them for special occasions. I can’t wear jeans and blouse to functions.”

“As long as it is not too revealing.”

She chuckled, “You have my word.”

Walking towards the exit, they stepped back into the shopping mall area. He still hid his face with the hood of his sweater but his hand never let go of her. They argued about where to eat and at the end they end up agreeing to go to the closest restaurant which happened to be McDonald. Looking at one another, both shook their heads and laughed. “I just eat burger yesterday,” she explained to Hyun Joong and he answered back, “I ate this for 2 days in a row at China. It was just beside our hotel that opens 24 hours. I need Korean food.”

Bobbing her head, she perked up, “I know! Let’s get out of here and I’ll bring you to a great place that serves jjangjang myun. Furthermore, we can have a room of our own. You’ll be safe. They only deliver but for me, they’ll set a room for us to eat.”

He eyes at her suspiciously, “Why?”

“Because the owner is my best friend’s dad. I could introduce you to her and surprise her as well. Don’t worry, she won’t tell anyone. You can trust her.”

“If she’s your best friend, and you trust her…of course I’ll trust her myself. It’ll be my pleasure to meet your best friend. Is she your friend from our school as well?” he asked, trying to get to know more about her friend.

Shaking her head, she answered, “No. She’s my best friend from the new school, after I left our school.”

“Just show me the way. I love jjangjang myun,” smiling widely at her and squinted his left eye as he dragged her towards the elevator to get to the basement where he parked his car. Looking at his childish act, she can’t helped letting out a small laughter. But her laughter died suddenly when she felt an eerie feeling like someone was behind her, following them. She turned her head to look but nobody was there. Shaking her head to elude the feeling, she followed suit Hyun Joong’s steps in front of her, not noticing the person that peered out from behind the wall of one of the stores, snapping pictures of the two of them with a cell phone and a displeased expression pasted on the person’s face.