Chapter 4

Zelo couldn’t help but feel nervous. He didn’t sign up for this but he had no choice. A bargain was a bargain. He had to do it for the babys. He just wished there was some other way to record their song. He sat on the bench of the park where Seulki asked him to meet her. He saw children playing soccer on the grass. He looked at them in nostalgia. He remembered the times when he used to play soccer as a kid with his friends in Mokpo. It was fun then but luckily he didn’t miss it that much since he also played soccer with his hyungs. The ball suddenly rolled towards him. He picked up the ball and looked at the kid who approached him. The kid looked at him in awe. “Are you by any chance Zelo from B.A.P?” the kid asked.

Zelo smiled. “No, I’m Junhong. Is it alright if I play with you guys for a while?” he asked.

“Sure” the kid smiled in agreement.

Seulki arrived at the meeting place dressed in her best outfit. “Aigooo…where the heck is that Choi Junhong.” She glanced at her watch. “Does he expect me to wait for him?”

“Seulki?” a familiar voice said.

She turned and saw her ex boy toy Kang Minjun. She blinked seeing him then bowed. “Long time no see.” She said.

He smirked. “I’m guessing you’re waiting for your next experiment to come.” He was still bitter about their split or the way they separated. The guy couldn’t fathom the fact that he was just another character in her story. Seulki didn’t really care. All she cared about was finishing her story at that time. When she did, she immedietly called it quits. He was good material back then but afterwards he grew boring. She had to let him go.

“How did you know?” she smiled innocently.

The way she always countered with a smile always infuriated him. He grabbed her hard by the wrist and looked at her with a pathetic expression which disgusted Seulki so much. “Why did you use me like that huh? Am I just some toy you just throw out when your bored?” he asked desperately.

Seulki struggled from his grasp. He looked crazy but she tried to keep her cool. She couldn’t look scared in front of this guy. It would just encourage him more. “Oh contrare Minjunnie, you were my best seller.” She said with forced confidence.

Minjun then pushed her on the ground. Seulki fell flat on her bottom. She rubbed her wrist which hurt from the tight grasp Minjun had on her. Minjun was about to punch her when suddenly a soccer ball came flying across his face.

“Yah, what are you doing to a girl? Haven’t your parents taught you that you should treat them with respect?” Seulki looked towards the direction of the voice and saw Junhong, along with some kids who hid behind him. One kid stood forward. “How dare you do that to pretty unnie!” he yelled.

“Yeah!” one more said.

“Seulki-shi, are you ok?” Zelo asked as he approached her.

Seulki nodded. “Yeah.”

“Junhong hyung.” One kid approached them holding the soccer ball. “I think the guy’s unconscious but he’s still breathing.”

“That’s good to hear. Can you do me a favor and ask the nurse from that clinic nearby to come and check on y hyung? I might get in trouble.” Zelo said with a smile.

“Alright but you have to promise me you’ll teach me how to kick hard ok hyung?” the kid said.

“Alright.” Zelo agreed and the kid went on his way.

“Sooo….you were out playing soccer with them?” Seulki asked him.

“You were taking so long, it couldn’t be helped.” He replied with a shrug. “Who was that by the way?”

“Oh, my ex-experiment. He couldn’t handle the fact that he was just another character in a page.” She explained.

“That’s harsh. Anyways, you ok?” he offered his hand.

“Yeah,” she stood up holding Zelo’s hand. When Zelo noticed what he was doing, he finally let go and looked away. “Uhhh…well….should we go?” he scratched the back of his neck.

Seulki smiled at the gesture of his shyness. “Yeah.” And held his hand.

They arrived at an amusement park which Seulki’s parents owned. She had free access to rides there so she thought of going here instead for their starter date. She had to take the lead since Zelo was still new to these kinds of stuff. “So, what do you want to ride first Junhongie?” she asked.

“Hmmmm….I don’t know. Truthfully, I never really thought of what to do on dates.” He never thought of it cause the only thing he thinks about is training, dancing and rapping. His life centered fully on his dreams and love never slipped his mind. Sure he thought of getting a girlfriend someday but right now it never really came across his mind.

“My parents own the place by the way.” Seulki said.

“Jjinja? (Really?)” Zelo turned to her in shock.

Seulki nodded. “Yup.”

Then she remembered an interview regarding Zelo's ideal date.

“There’s something I want to show you.” She tugged his hand. “Kaja?” and led him somewhere behind the stores of the amusement park. They walked through narrow places and alleys. Afterwards, Seulki led him to a back door. When she opened, inside was a dance studio with large speakers and wide empty space. They went inside and Zelo looked at the room in awe seeing how large the dance studio was.

“I saw in an interview that you don’t like the typical sort of date where we eat and go out or go to amusement parks so…….here, our dance studio.” Seulki said.

“Why do you even have a dance studio?” he asked.

“This dance studio is Chanyeol oppa’s. I borrowed it from him for a while.” She replied. “So….truthfully, I really wanna learn how to dance one shot.”

“One shot?” he looked at her confusingly. “Why one shot? Why do even want to learn how to dance that? Are you also a dancer of some girl group?”

 “You have tons of questions there baby maknae.” Seulki laughed. “Firstly cause I think One shot looks like a cool dance. No reason, exercise. I’m not. Did I answer all your questions?”

Zelo nodded. “So, do you want to learn the chorus first?”

Zelo started teaching Seulki how to dance the chorus of One Shot. Luckily there was no head spinning or b-boy dancing during the chorus part so the demonstration was easy. For Seulki, the hard part was learning how learning the dance. It looked easy when she watched it online. She couldn’t get the gracefulness and the agressiveness of the dance. Zelo was patient though. Whenever she did a mistake or forced her agressiveness, he tried his best not to laugh.

When Seulki finally gave up, she sat on the floor, opened her bag and prepared the lunch she brought. She actually worked hard on the meal she made. It was a first for her actually. Normally, she asks guys to treat her for lunch instead but for some reason, today, she wanted to impress Zelo.

“There. I made this morning so you should eat it heartily ok?” she smiled.

Zelo looked at the food she prepared. It looked wonderful. He took the chopsticks she prepared and ate. “Its yummy.” He commented.

“Jinjja?” Seulki happily said.

“Deh” Zelo nodded.

Seulki took out another lunch box from her bag and opened it. Inside it was full of fresh cherry tomatoes that Zelo really loved. Zelo’s eyes shined. He ate quickly, obviously wanting to get one pop out of those cherry tomatoes. He almost choked on his food which made Seulki laugh. She quickly gave him water and gently rubbed his back. “Aigoo…Junhongie…. The cherry tomatoes won’t run away. No need to rush.” She said.

“Mianhe..(Sorry)” he said.

Seulki wiped his face that had rice crumbs all over. “Junhongie’s so cute.” She said.

Zelo smiled. “Is that so?”

B-bmp! B-bmp!

Seulki sat dumbfounded. ‘So cute’ she thought. She snapped out of it. What was she doing? Why was she dumbfounded by some smile by some guy who just happens to be her experiment? It was just a smile. She must be feeling sick or something.

“Seulki-shi, are you ok? You’re red all over…” Zelo said.

Seulki looked at him. Was she by any chance falling in love for the first time? No way….

Zelo happily ate his cherry tomatoes as Seulki fought herself.

“Here.” Zelo popped a cherry tomato in . Seulki blinked and swallowed the cherry tomato. Zelo flashed another heart beating smile. “Sweet right?”

Seulki unknowingly pecked him on the cheek.

When she realized what she did, she blinked again and turned away.

“Pabo…” she muttered. “Of course its sweet.”

Zelo  dropped his box of cherry tomatoes and got flustered all over. “Y-Y-Yah!” he stuttered trying to protest.

Seulki looked at him, looking all pouty. “That’s for making me flustered all over.”

Zelo stood up. “Well, that doesn’t give you the right to just randomly kiss me on the cheek.”

“Yeah well who’s fault was that? You just randomly used aegyo on me!” When she tried to move a step forward, she accidentally slipped on one of the cherry tomatoes and fell. Zelo caught her but fell as well. She landed on top of him, their faces closer than ever. Seulki was more flustered than ever. She had many experiences with other guys before but the feeling she had with Zelo was totally different. Was it because Zelo rejected her immedietly? Something the guys in her past never did? Guys never said “no” to her. She had that power over them but Zelo was different. He brushed her off easily and without second thought. Was that what made him intriguing?

Seulki lightly touched his cheek which made Zelo lowered his head. “Waeyo, Junhongie? You don’t like me?” she said. “Aren’t you interested in me? I’m sounding so pathetic right now.” She lowered her head as well.

“Seulki?” another voice came.