The next morning, Luna turned off her alarm quickly, tip-toed into the walk-in closet and sat down on the floor. She was so very tired. When she came out of the shower the night before, she found a note from YoungBae saying he was going to the gym. Serves him right, she thought uncharitably. She found it hard to sleep while he was gone. She also found it hard to sleep when he came back in the wee hours of the morning and showered. Stupid shower!, she complained internally.

With every noise she made while prepping for the day, she would peek into the bedroom to make sure he was still sleeping peacefully. Suit looks good, shirt is pressed, hair and makeup are—Oh my God! Luna moved closer to the mirror and noticed a circular shaped bruise on her neck. How did I get that?,she asked herself. While leaning forward for an even closer inspection, she ran down a mental check list of her activities. She froze and stared at herself as a flashback of rolling around in the bed with YoungBae and him kissing on her neck passionately slammed into her mind. She placed her hands on the sink and dropped her chin to her chest. Great. Just what I need. Physical evidence, she grumbled to herself before applying layers of concealer to the hickey.

Admitting to herself that she was a coward, she kissed him lightly on the forehead and snuck out of the room without talking to him.

*****

Luna was incredibly nervous. She sat by the podium while the MC announced her and she could feel beads of sweat trickling down her spine. She had a routine that she usually went through to shake off nerves, but with YoungBae in the room, she was unable to.

“And now, I am pleased to introduce to you, Ms. Luna Rae Kirk.” came the MC's voice along with tepid applause. Here goes nothing.

It was only supposed to be a fifteen minute speech, but immediately, she was finding it hard to get into the groove.

“The best root, um, route, in my opinion, to securing a, um, a *cough,sniff* -excuse me-more mutually beneficial future between *gulp* America and any and all Asian countries, is through the children. If w-we are able to...to...,” Luna looked up from her notes and saw YoungBae standing at the back of the room. Her breath caught for a moment and then she smiled a shy smile. He gave her a 'hwaiting' fist pump. She closed her eyes, rolled her neck and took a deep breath to relax herself.

“Let's try this again, shall we?,” and the crowd laughed with her. “The best route to securing a more stable relationship between America and Asia at large is through the children. If we are able to forge strong ties and promote a positive image of ourselves as a country to a younger generation, a lot of the hostility and resistance that we face today will become a mute point in the years ahead. With that being said...”

From there on, she was able to finish her speech with passion and confidence. She would look out at the crowd every once in a while and see him standing there, silently giving her strength. At the end of the speech, she got a surprisingly robust round of applause. As she walked off of the stage, people came forward to shake her hand and congratulate her. Some even joked with her about her rough start before the next speaker came to the podium. During all of this, she kept one eye on him. When she finally made it back to the lobby, she nodded her head in the direction of the elevator and he followed. Once they were alone, she wrapped him in a tight hug.

“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for coming down. I was so close to bombing that talk.” YoungBae hugged her back a little stiffly.

“You're welcome. I'm glad I could help. I only understood parts of it, but the crowd seemed to have a good reaction.” They broke apart as the elevator signaled that they had arrived at their floor. Once they crossed the threshold to their room, the tension from the night before seeped back into them. They were once again nervous and shy around each other. They sat in the living room and he fiddled with the remotes, but didn't turn the TV on. The only sound in the room was the faint hum of the air conditioner.

“Did you eat breakfast?” he asked eventually.

“No, I skipped it. I was too nervous.” More silence.

“Do you have to go back down to the conference?”

“Nope. I am done for the day. We've got the rest of the weekend to do whatever.” Bad choice of words, Luna Rae, she chided herself.

“How about you change into something comfortable. Then, we can grab something to eat and go exploring. I did some checking on the internet before I went down and the opera house is 20 minutes from here by bus. There's a huge botanical garden close by as well. We can wander around like tourists are supposed to.”

Luna recognized this for the olive branch it was and grabbed tightly to it. “Give me 5 minutes to change and you're on.”

*****

YoungBae and Luna made an unspoken agreement to pretend the previous night didn't happen. They used this truce as a way to avoid the awkwardness that had plagued them earlier in the day.

After a quick breakfast at Antidote, their first stop was the Sydney Opera House. They took the requisite touristy pictures before ambling through the extensive Royal Botanical Gardens. They found a small cafe to eat lunch in, then took a ferry to Anthol Bay to get to the zoo. For them, it was like being in Jeju, but better. YoungBae felt bad about it, but sent a silent prayer of thanks that Big Bang wasn't very popular in Australia. The crowds ignored him and he saw very few Asians, so he felt comfortable holding her hand as they roamed the sites.

When they returned to their room late in the evening, they were both exhausted from all of the walking and carrying the souvenirs they had purchased for friends. They tried to talk, but both were yawning so often that they decided to take a nap before dinner.

When they woke up, neither were feeling very motivated to do anything special, so they had dinner in the hotel sports bar. Over beer, wings(a rare treat for YoungBae) and potato skins (with no bacon for her)they had one of the least romantic nights ever. They watched a soccer match with the raucous crowd around them. Everything was fine. They were friends again...until they got back to the room. The and awareness came crashing back on them as soon as the word 'shower' was mentioned.

They avoided the awkwardness by turning the TV up louder than usual. YoungBae went first. In Luna's mind, she could see him in the shower. Standing in there glistening...and sudsy...and wet. Stop it!, she scolded herself. Checking the TV guide menu she scanned through until she found a marathon of 'Law & Order: SVU'. Nothing y there.

From the seat she was in, she could see when he walked out of the shower with the towel wrapped around his waist. If she leaned a little to the left, she was sure she would be able to see him changing. Instead, she shook herself and lay down on the couch with a pillow over her face.

“You okay under there?” YoungBae inquired in an amused tone. He was back in shorts and a t-shirt with a towel draped around his neck.

“Uh, yeah. Just fine,” Luna didn't believe herself and doubted he did either, but he didn't push. “I guess it's my turn. I'll be back out in a minute.”

YoungBae took Luna's spot on the couch. He tried to watch the show that she had turned to, but it was in English. As was almost ever thing. Giving up, he turned the TV off and went into the bedroom to grab his laptop and headphones. He didn't mean to look. He really didn't. It wasn't really a look, it was more like a glance that lasted several seconds. In that time, though, he saw her from the back. Her hair was pulled up and she was in the process of washing her shoulders. He watched her hands move over her upper body. The suds trailed down her back and his eyes followed them down...down. Waaa. He spun around quickly to face the window. His eyes darted around the room until he saw his laptop, grabbed it and ran out to the couch.

When Luna came out of the bedroom after getting dressed, she found YoungBae in the exact same position she had been in. She laughed as she threw his words back at him. “You okay under there?” He pulled the pillow away long enough to give her the evil eye.

*****

In the morning, Luna woke up before YoungBae and decided to explore the complex. She wasn't planning to shop, but as she passed by IM Lingerie, she had to go in. When she walked out, she had a bag of garter belts, bras and pretty .

YoungBae was awake when Luna walked back in. She put the bag behind the couch as she talked to him about breakfast and plans for the day. She got up to go to the bathroom and noticed him reaching for the bag.

“Uh uh. Stay out of there.”

“Why? Is it a gift for me?”

“One day, maybe” she said with an enigmatic smile before walking into bathroom.