Chapter Twelve: The Non-date Dates

The next day, Mrs. Jung knocked on the door of the kids’ cottage at 6 AM, and the only resident sleeping light enough to answer her is Eunkwang.

“Oh, auntie! Good morning. Won’t you come in?”

“It’s alright, Eunkwang. I just came by to ask a favor. I was wondering if you could go into town this morning to buy coffee. We seemed to have run out.”

“Sure thing, auntie. I’ll be out in a sec,” said Eunkwang, ever the reliable one.

Mrs. Jung smiled. “Thank you, dear. I owe you.”

“It’s okay. Don’t bother, auntie,” said Eunkwang with a grin.

On his way to the stairs, Eunkwang bumped into Ilsoon, who seemed to have just woken up.

“Oppa! It’s so early... What are you doing up?” she asked.

“I could ask the same of you,” replied Eunkwang.

Ilsoon shrugged and opened a few cupboards. “Do we have coffee or hot choco around here? I need a caffeine boost.”

“Ah, no. But your mother asked if I could go buy some in town. Wanna come?”

Ilsoon crossed her arms. Walk to town, or sit and use Ilhoon’s laptop? Walk with Eunkwang oppa, or sit alone. The choice was rather obvious. “Hm… Okay. Lemme just get a jacket.”

In 10 minutes Eunkwang and Ilsoon were walking on the street to town. There weren’t much people so early in the morning, so it was a quiet walk. As the chilly morning air blew, Ilsoon stuffed her hands in the pockets of her hoodie and put on the hood. Eunkwang glanced at her.

“You cold?”

Ilsoon nodded. What Eunkwang did surprised her and made her heart race. He pulled her close and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Ilsoon found her face an inch from Eunkwang’s.

“Better?”

Ilsoon blushed at the sudden close proximity. She could easily see the smallest details about his face, and she could see the little puffs of air his breath makes. When he turned to her suddenly, she instinctively jerked her head back and lowered it to hide her red face.

“Oh, you alright? You wanna head home instead? I could go on ahead,” said Eunkwang, trying to lift her hood.

“No, no, I’m fine. It’s just a little too chilly, that’s all,” said Ilsoon, noticing how her voice was a pitch higher. She cleared and wished Eunkwang didn’t hear. He didn’t.

Eunkwang blew a raspberry. “Hm… Yeah, I feel it too. I’m gonna get you coffee on the way back, sound good?”

Ilsoon’s lips broke out into a small smile. “Sure, but… It should be lo-fat, though.”

Eunkwang laughed and pinched her cheek. “It’s a deal.”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

When Madeleine woke up an hour later, she saw that it was still early and she could take a dip before the sun gets too hot. She slipped into her swimsuit and headed over to the pool in the backyard. She sat on the edge for a moment, dangling her legs in the water, testing to see if it was not too cold.

“You’re up early.”

Madeleine looked up and Hyunsik was standing across the pool in a jacket and pajama bottoms. Madeleine blushed instantly, but she waved at him.

“Good morning, Hyunsik-ssi,” she greeted him. “You want to swim too?”

Hyunsik shook his head. “No, not yet, anyway. I get cold easily, but do you mind if I stay and watch?”

Madeleine beamed. “Sure, I don’t mind.” She then got up and went over to one end of the pool. She put on her goggles, got into a diving position, and executed a perfectly angled dive. Hyunsik’s mouth popped open. He watched as Madeleine swam freestyle across the pool, turned, and swam back. She had such precise movements and slick that made her look like she was slicing the water and going right in between. In swimming standards, it was beautiful to watch. When she pulled up at the gutter, Hyunsik went and knelt on the gutter in front of her.

“How did I do?” she asked shyly, her face tinged with pink and her wet hair clinging onto her face and neck.

“Do you swim back in Paris?” Hyunsik asked.

Madeleine removed her goggles and hoisted herself up beside Hyunsik. “When I have time, I go to the neighborhood pool and swim a few laps. I was part of the swim in my middle school and we have won several awards in various swim meets.”

Hyunsik’s mouth bobbed open and close like a fish. Madeleine laughed as she hugged her legs to her chest and rocked back and forth.

“But that was a long time ago,” she continued. “Now I just swim for fun.”

“Well, that was the smoothest swimming I’ve ever seen,” said Hyunsik. “You were like a dolphin or something, swimming smoothly. It was beautiful to watch.”

Madeleine’s eyes widened and she looked up at Hyunsik. He was smiling sincerely and his eyesmile was very obvious. Madeleine could feel her cheeks burn. Just then the wind picked up and chilled Madeleine’s wet body. She shivered and hugged her legs closer. Hyunsik noticed this and draped his jacket over her.

“Here, wear this first,” he said. “I’m going inside; there might be coffee or hot choco I could mix up for us. Be right back.”

Madeleine watched as Hyunsik jogged back into the house. The wind messed up his black hair and whipped his shirt around him. Then she smelled faint scent of cologne on his jacket and smiled giddily. She pulled the jacket closer around her body and followed him into the house.

When he got to the kitchen, Hyunsik stopped in his tracks. He watched as Eunkwang and Ilsoon entered the front door together, laughing and drinking from identical coffee cups. When Eunkwang spotted the younger male, he gave him a hearty wave, apparently oblivious to Hyunsik's sudden guarded expression.

“Morning, Hyunsik! We have coffee and hot buns here,” he said as he put two boxes on the table. Ilsoon followed after him and placed a plastic bag down.

“Hyunsik-ssi, thanks for your—oh, Eunkwang-ssi, Ilsoon, did you just come in?” said Madeleine, suddenly bursting through the kitchen. Eunkwang noticed the oversized jacket over her swimsuit and assumed that she borrowed it from Hyunsik. And even though he didn’t know why, he felt a tug at his heartstrings.

“Oh, yup,” replied Ilsoon. “We have hot buns here, and some coffee and hot choco. What’ll you have?”

“Anything’s fine. Let’s take some to the backyard and eat while swimming!” suggested Madeleine. She grabbed her bestfriend’s hand and dragged her through the house, which left the two boys carefully apprehending each other. A curious tension hung in the air, curious because they both didn’t know why they were feeling rather uncomfortable.

“So, you and Ilsoon went out together?” asked Hyunsik carefully.

“Yes. Well, actually, it was supposed to be just me but she said she wanted to tag along,” replied Eunkwang. “How about you? You were swimming with Maddy? That was your jacket she was wearing, right?”

“Uhh, no. I was just watching her. The wind was a little chilly so I let her borrow it for a while,” said Hyunsik.

Eunkwang nodded with pursed lips. “Okay. Have a mug.”

“Sure.”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

“Hey wait, why are you wearing Hyunsik’s jacket, hm?” asked Ilsoon, wriggling her eyebrows at Madeleine.

The blonde girl laughed and playfully splashed Ilsoon with water. “Oh shut up. I was swimming, see, and the wind was a little chilly, so he lent it to me.” Madeleine was blushing, and Ilsoon noticed.

“Wait a minute, do you like our Hyunsik?” she asked excitedly.

“Shh!!” Madeleine jumped to Ilsoon’s side and clamped close with a hand. “You’re so loud!”

Ilsoon laughed under Madeleine’s hand. She pried it off and continued giggling. “You always were so obvious. But since when was this???”

Madeleine cupped her face with her hands and pouted. “I don’t want to tell you; you’ll tease me! And don’t tell anyone or I will kill you!”

Ilsoon laughed mockingly and said, “I’d like to see you try.”

Before Madeleine could react, Ilsoon dived into the water and swam across the pool.

“YAH JUNG ILSOON!!”

“My bestfriend Madeleine Beauregard likes—”

“Shut up!!”

The girls wreaked havoc chased each other in the water; Ilsoon trying to yell out Madeleine’s crush, and Madeleine subduing her. From the balcony, with a warm mug in hand, Eunkwang smiled.

Beautiful.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-