“So, what exactly are we looking for again?” Ji Yong raised a brow and looked at me. Once again, I explained to him that my father’s birthday is in three days and I have to find him a nice gift.

“You don’t really have to go with me, you know.” I told him. “Besides, you might go home late or something…”

“And leave you here?” He replies. “Plus, aren’t you the one who’ll go home late then?”

“Nah, it’s not much of a problem, as long as I buy something for him.”

We go inside a shop for men’s clothing and he asks me, “What are you going to get for him, then?”

I take out a pinstripe suit from a clothes rack and observe it. “I’m not really sure, but my dad’s a lawyer and I guess I should be getting him… something business-y?”

“You’re getting him a suit then, because lawyers usually wear suits? Why not get him a book or something like that, the inspirational ones? Or maybe a perfume?”

“Or a watch?” I ask him. He thinks for a while and nods. “Perfume and watch, then?”

“Okay so I’ll find a perfume and watch!” I said as we exited the shop. He leads me to a watch shop first and the saleslady shows us a glass case with different kinds of watches. The saleslady asks Ji Yong if he was the one looking for watches (with a bat of her eyelashes at him) and he “politely” tells her that it was for my dad. I tell her that we were looking for either leather or steel watches. While the saleslady was looking for the watches, I elbow him.

“Hey, what was that for?” He whispers.

“Stop being such a flirt, you idiot.”

The saleslady comes back with boxes of watches and for half an hour, Ji Yong and I try on some watches and critique it. Finally, I decided to get my dad a steel watch.

“Thank you, please come again.” The saleslady tells us and I thank her, while Ji Yong winks at her and say thank you. Annoyed, I grab him by the sleeve of his hoodie and drag him outside. For some reason, I felt really uncomfortable, and fine, jealous. If that saleslady knew who winked at her, she’d probably be dead. Such a lady-killer, that idiot.

“Why are you dragging me all of a sudden?” He asks. I ignore him and continued walking.

“Ah, I get it. You’re jealous of that saleslady, then?” I scoff at him and let go of his sleeve.

“Just keep walking okay? I need to get home immediately.”

“Well I also need to go home,” he says, catching up with me. “I need to feed my dogs, you know.”

“Then go home and feed your dogs! I can finish this by myself!” I shouted, and then realized that I was mad at him for a pretty selfish and stupid reason. I shake my head and sighed. “Sorry for that, I’m just really tired.”

“Apology accepted.” He replied nonchalantly and we continued walking.

“Like I said, you can go home if you want. I don’t really want to be much of a bother to you.”

“No, I’m staying.” He said, and I made the right and wrong decision to look at him, who was gazing at me. Our gazes held each other for a moment until I looked away, telling him that we should look fast before the mall closes. We didn’t talk much after that, unless I had to ask him of this scent was okay and vice versa. Apart from that, there was nothing much we talked or argued about.

We finally finished shopping an hour and a half later. I got the steel watch and a bottle of perfume that I knew my father would like and bought a gift box for the things I bought. Once again, I thanked Ji Yong for helping and accompanying me and apologized if I took up his time.

“Glad I was able to help you, though.” He grinned. Because the mall was fairly close to my house, I decided to take the bus instead of the train.

“You’re going to ride the bus as well?” He asked and I nodded. “I’m taking the bus as well. Come on, let’s go.”

I sighed. Just when I thought I was going to get away from him, we have to be on the same vehicle. When we came to the bus stop, a bus had just left so we had to wait for fifteen to twenty minutes before another bus would arrive. Thankfully

Great. Just great.

“Hey,” he said. “You haven’t told me that much about yourself.”

My heart skipped a beat. He wants to know more about me? He, who gave me a very bad impression of himself when I stepped in to YG Entertainment’s territory, wants me to tell more about myself?

“Is that really necessary?” I laughed to ease the awkwardness, if ever there was.

“Well, yes. We went to the bubble tea shop twice and now I just accompanied you shopping and I still don’t know you except for your name some little stuff about you.” He looked at the ground. “Like who your parents are, what they do for a living, if you have siblings or not and your favorites. Something like that.”

I squinted my eyes at him. “And why do you need that information, if I may ask?”

“I’d just like to get to know you, that’s all.”

I took a deep breath. “Well since you insist. I’m an only child and my mother’s a dentist and like I told you, my dad’s a corporate lawyer. He works for this automobile company somewhere at Gangnam. I was born in Boston and when I was around twelve, my mother decided to open up a clinic here so we moved.

“I like BoA. I really, really, really like her and she was the reason why I auditioned at SM. Although we met a couple times few years ago, I still couldn’t get that memory off. I also like Nell because they write such great songs and Kim Jong Wan is my ideal type. Writes great songs, looks smart, heavenly voice and is definitely good-looking. Oh! And my friend Ji Sung and I went to their concert once and it was really awesome and I even think that Jong Wan looked at me once!”

He nods and smiles. “Ji Sung, that friend of yours you were with earlier? Wow, I never knew you were such a die-hard Nell fangirl.”

“Yes, Ji Sung was the one I was with at the mall and yes, I’m such a Nell fangirl that almost all songs on my player are their songs and BoA’s.”

It was easy to talk about others, but when you had to describe or talk about yourself, it’s not easy. Especially when you’re with someone that made you feel weird, whether it was the positive weird or the negative weird. As I talked, Ji Yong stayed very attentive, even when I talked about the smallest details about myself. Even when we were at the bus, he urged me to talk more, despite the other passengers sleeping.

“I think we’re disturbing others here, they’re sleeping.” I said. Apart from the music from the bus, the only source of noise was me chattering.

He shook his head. “Your voice isn’t that loud anyway. Go on, tell me more.”

“But I’ve been babbling here for a long time already, it’s your turn!” I whispered.

“That can wait anyway. Tell me more...” He nagged.

“Fine, fine.” I looked out the window, thinking of what to say. Geez, this man is like a walking slumbook. “I have a fear of snakes, like, a huge fear for them. There was a time when I was around four years old and I was playing hide-and-seek with my cousins so I decided to hide at the garage. So while I was looking for a place to hide, I noticed that there was this rope-like object at my foot. I looked down and, voila, a snake at my feet.”

“Hm, I should find some fake snakes here once in a while and―”

I slapped his shoulder. “Hey, stop that!”

“I’m just kidding!” Ji Yong laughed.

“Ah, this jerk.” I sighed.

“But, seriously,” he said. “I think I learned more things about you and I have to say, I misjudged you.”

“What are your judgements about me, then?”

He thinks for a while. “Well, when we first met, I thought you were this really cold and snobbish girl because you kept avoiding me and we always bickered.”

“We still bicker until now.” I mumbled.

“But after the past days and today, I realize that you’re not that bad and you’re such a fangirl, geez. I even think that if a Nell song plays here you’d stand up and sing your heart out.”

“Depends on what song will be played.” I smiled at the thought of ‘Separation Anxiety’ being played here.

“And you look really beautiful when you smile.” He said, gazing at me like before. He looks so different now and when he’s on stage. The Ji Yong (aka G-Dragon) on stage looks really fierce and charismatic yet the Ji Yong I’m now with looks very endearing and calm. My stomach got very tingly and I could feel my knees weakening. He told me I was beautiful when I smile. Kwon Ji Yong just told me that.

If looks could kill, my parents would probably be mourning for me now.

“My stop’s here now.” I said, slightly dismayed that our day had to end. “Thanks for everything, Ji Yong.”

“No I should thank you.” He replied. “I got to know more about you, thanks. I’ll look forward in seeing you tomorrow.”

“Okay since you insist. You’re welcome, then.” I got up from my set when the bus stopped. “Have a safe trip back, okay? Good night.”

Once again he smiled at me. “Good night, too.”

When I got off the bus, I felt really light-headed, as if I was in a dream that hasn’t ended. From the back of my head, I could hear BoA’s ‘Only One’ playing on repeat as I walked back home. I don’t really have a tight grip on what happened or how he ended up going with me at the mall and all the way home, but I was sure that I’m happy with it. No complaints, no regrets. And, hey, I got my father’s birthday present so I accomplished a lot of things today.

After a long time, I felt very enthusiastic about something. Like, I’m motivated to accomplish something. Maybe Ji Yong isn’t a jerk after all; maybe deep down he’s just the lady-killer who has a nice smile and humble aura. I guess we had a very awful start, but I’m optimistic that we’d be friends sooner or later.

And if you ask me if I like him, I can’t say I do because I don’t really know that much about him, but hopefully I get to know more about him and then we’ll see.

It sure was a good day.