On monday night I got a call from Hanna. 
"ALICE, I was going to tell you last week, but I couldn't because I was grounded! BRACE YOURSELF! I KNOW HIS NAME! IT'S-" 
"Niel? I know." I grinned as I pictured her jaw dropping on the other end. 
There was a few seconds of silence, and finally she replied in a dumbfounded voice "Yeah but- ah- you- wha- HOW?" 
"Well, a lot happened while you were gone, actually! It's a shame you were grounded~~~"
"Aigoo, you know I was at my cousin's wedding, too! And- Omo~ Tell me everything!"

I told her the story, and she interrupted every two sentences to ask a thousand questions. 
When I finished, she burst out with "WAHHH, Alice! This is big! He totally likes you. I'm going to ask him about you! I wonder if he'll tell ME that I'm pretty... Hanna~ IPPEUDA~~" she said in her best "man" voice, and then went into a fit of giggles. 
"Yah! You better not say anything! And no teasing, either! Seriously, I don't want anything to be messed up, *arasseo?? (understand?) I mean, he might not even like me, he could just be really really nice. Or maybe he's a complete flirt with everyone he meets. I need you to hold your tongue long enough for me to learn more about him." 
She calmed down and sighed. "Fine. I won't say anything.... ALISEU~ ♥" and she started giggling again. I couldn't help but crack a smile. 

I asked her to tell me more about him, and she told me his work days were tuesday, wednesday and saturday, and that on his break he liked to come in and order kimbap. He was very polite to everyone in the store, and had started to become fairly good friends with CAP. 
"Oh, isn't it wonderful Alice? Our future husbands are friends with each other!" she said with a content sigh. 
"Hey, who said anything about husbands? I still don't know much about him. He may be amazingly cute and attractive, but I'm not that easy!" 
But as I said this, I imagined a small church with colorful stained glass windows. Niel and I were standing at the altar. He was wearing an all white tux, and I was in a beautiful white gown. I could just hear him say the words "I do." until Hanna interrupted my fantasy, asking what I thought CAP's favorite color was. We discussed it a bit, and she was guessing every color possible. 
"Probably red, right? Or maybe he really is manly, and he'll go for black. Unless he has a sensitive side, and it's pink or a light lavender." 
I smiled at her guesses. 

After a while, we said goodbye and I put down my phone. I looked down at my ankle and frowned. It didn't hurt a lot, but I still couldn't walk on it. We had gone to the doctor, and he said it was twisted. He gave me a special cloth thing to wrap around it, and told me to put ice on it. I'd have to walk around on crutches for the next couple of days while it healed. Aigoo.
The biggest problem for me though, was that I couldn't dance on it. I smirked as I realized the irony. I sprained it while trying to dance, yet I still missed dancing. Since I couldn't practice any dance steps, I was really bored. So I decided to just go on youtube and watch music videos, even though I knew I had better things to do.
I was thinking about what Hanna told me. "He works on tuesdays, wednesdays and saturdays." 
Hmmm... Tomorrow is tuesday. Mom probably wouldn't want to go that soon since we just went... But I don't know if I can wait until saturday to see Niel again. Maybe.. AHA! 
I typed into the search box "Korean Food Recipes" and hit enter. I picked out a recipe that looked good, and printed it out. "She won't be able to resist!" I said to myself. I hobbled downstairs, as quickly as one can hobble, and showed it to her. 
"Mom~~~ I really want to try this! All of my Korean friends have it, and I've never had it! They always talk about it and I don't even know how it tastes~~~" 
She looked at it, and pondered for a minute. 
"Well, this does look good! The recipe doesn't look too hard. But we don't have dried squid... We can make it on saturday after we go to the store!" 
I frowned. "But MOM! I want to try it really soon! Then I can talk to my friends about it! Can't we go tomorrow? I know it's not our usual, but I don't know if I can wait that long~ .... All of the other kids' moms make it for them a lot." 
She sighed and thought about it. "Hmmm. I DID just run out of anchovies. Maybe we can make a quick stop tomorrow after school." 
My heart jumped. "YES! Thank you *eomma! *Saranghae! ♥" (Mom! I love you!) I said as I hugged her. 
I said goodnight to my parents, hobbled back upstairs and hopped into bed. I slept better that night than I did last time. I dreamed about Niel, but when I woke up I couldn't remember the dream, only that it was a good one. 

As soon as school was over, I clumsily made my way outside on my crutches and waited for my mom to pick me up. 
She was right on time, and I reminded her "We're going to the store, right?" She nodded, and I felt a big smile on my face. 
We got there, and I crutched in. I checked my watch. 3:45. Hanna said he doesn't start work until 4:00 on weekdays. I have fifteen minutes until he's here.
I headed over to the food court to see Hanna. She started at 3:30, so she was already there. The food court was empty except for a few workers at the counters.
"Annyeong~" I greeted my friend. 
"Oh, Alice! I didn't expect to see you here today! But after what I told you last night, I'm not surprised~" She said as she stuck her tongue out at me. 
We chatted, and she told me about how CAP had just come in to get a bottle of water. 
"He asked me for water, Alice! It was adorable. And he gave me ten dollars, and I gave him nine dollars and twenty-five cents back. And I said 'here's your change~' ... It was so romantic."
I laughed and told her I was happy for her. 

Her eyes turned toward a person behind me and she grinned at me. 
"Niel! What's up?" she called. I jumped and turned around quickly. 
"Hey Hanna! Not mu-" he spotted me, and I shyly waved at him. 
We stood there for a while and Hanna finally said "Gosh guys. Why are you just staring? If you want to talk to each other, just do it! It's too quiet... " 
We both blushed and finally the silence ended. 
"Alice! What are you doing here? I thought you only came on saturday." he said awkwardly while fixing his messy hair. 
"Hmm yeah. Well, my mom needed an ingredient for something, and it was kind of uhh urgent. So here I am!" I shrugged. 
Then my mind went blank. Apparently so did his, since there was some more silence. 
Hanna finally said in an annoyed tone "Aish, I can't take it anymore. I'm going to go clean or something. Later, guys." and she walked away, leaving me to fend for myself. 
Niel spotted my crutches and winced. 
"Yikes. I was going to ask you how your ankle was, but I guess I know now. Does it hurt a lot?" 
Act cute, Alice! Act cute! "Not so much. I'm just disappointed that I can't dance on it." I said while pouting. 
He frowned. "Well hopefully it will heal soon, and you can come back and dance some more for me!" 
*Omona! I blushed remembering the accident. (Oh my gosh!)
"Well what about you, you dance too, right? Are you good? Dance for me!" I requested with a grin.
He hesitated, but I pumped out as much aegyo as I could. 
"Oppa~~~ Please? Come on, it will make me feel better since I can't dance right now. Please? I wanna see~~~" 
Just then Lucifer by SHINee came on over the loud speakers. "Perfect, go now!"

He looked around to make sure no one was watching, and finally he broke down and started moving. I was amazed to see that he was actually doing the dance that went with the song, and not only that, but he was REALLY good. He was throwing in his own moves and danced with his own flare and I just stood in awe while watching. 
Eventually, he got embarrassed and stopped to cover his face. I clapped furiously. 
"Oh, wow! That was really good! *Jjinja~ daebak! You learn kpop dances too?" (Really~ jackpot!)
".... Ne~" he said in an adorable embarrassed voice that made me squeal inside. 
"Oowah, you just made my day. Thank you for performing for me! *Kamsahamnida!" (Thank you!)
He smiled at me, and from there the awkwardness was mostly gone. 

We went walking around the store a bit, him stopping every now and then to move something or help a customer. 
We talked about a lot of different things, and we even found a way to talk about nothing and make it totally interesting. I was happy. I found out so much more about him, and from then I decided... I really do like him. Some employees had looked at us, and whispered to each other, but I didn't care. I was just happy to be learning about this amazing person. 
Then I saw one of the pretty manager ladies who worked in the store coming towards us. 
"Daniel Ahn, where have you bee- Ah! Alice! Just the two people I was looking for!" 
I bowed to her as best as I could on my crutches. 
"Annyeonghaseyo!" I said with a big smile. 
She saw the two of us together and looked surprised. "Oh, Niel. Do you know Alice?"
"Ne, eomma! We are getting to know each other very well!"
"Eomma? You're Niel's mom?! But you look young enough to be his sister!" I blurted out.
She let out a big chuckle. "Oh, Alice. I've always liked you. You're so cute and polite. Anyway, I'm glad you two have met already, because I was just talking to Alice's mom, and through her visits to the store in the past year we've come to be good friends, but we don't get to see eachother except in the store. So, I had a great idea! Alice, I just invited your parents and you over to dinner on friday! Oh, it will be great. I'll make lots of good food, I promise!" 
I felt my jaw drop, and I looked at Niel. He had the same expression that I had, and then we both smiled. 
"Really? Awesome! Wow, I can't wait!" Niel yelled, and I grinned at this. He can't wait to see me~
"Ah, that's right, I was so excited I almost forgot. Niel, CAP was looking for you. And Alice, your mother looking for you too. She's checking out." 
"Aw, man! She's checking out already? I didn't get my snacks though, and I forgot to pick them up last week, too... Oh well, I'll get them next time." I said shrugging it off. 
We heard a loud crash that sounded like boxes falling, and she winced. 
"Well, I should go find out what that was, but I'll see you soon!" 
"Ne, I am looking forward to it!" 
I "bowed" as best as I could on my crutches, and she hurried off. A couple of seconds later I heard her yelling, "YAH. WHAT WAS THAT?"

I turned to Niel and laughed out of disbelief. "This is crazy, right? I knew my mom had a friend here, but I didn't know she was your mom! Wah, this will be great!" 
"Yeah! ... Aish, I should go before hyung gets mad. See you friday, Alice!" and before I knew it, he had run off. 
I crutched away and found my mom waiting by the cash register. "Mom, you're the best~" I said as I leaned on my crutch and half hugged her.
"Oh- okay then." she said as she patted my head. On the way home I had something stuck in my head, but I couldn't put my finger on what song it was. "Friday, Friday, Gotta get down on friday" 
I was horrified when I finally realized what I was singing...  But honestly, I really WAS looking forward to the weekend.