“Pens down.”

With an audible sigh of relief, the simultaneous clatter of pens hitting the table echoed through the hall.

Youngjae could barely prevent the smile blossoming on his face as he stuffed his pens back into his pencil case. The last paper was finally over! The anxiety he felt at his scores was overcome by the loosening of the burden of studying on his shoulders. He felt free from any more worries about his results.

“You may exit the exam hall.”

With a scrape of his chair, he left the hall, grabbing his bag and heading to the cafeteria as his mind replayed the memories of the night before.

---

“Don’t forget to bring your pencil case and your exam proof!” she reminded anxiously.

“Yes yes,” his ever-patient voice sounded through the phone as he doodled on his notepad.

 “And don’t forget to bring your bottle!” she continued.

“Yes yes,” he said again.

“And don’t forget,” she paused, thinking.

“That you love me?” he joked.

“Besides that!” she spluttered. “You’re a pabo.”

“I love you too,” he cracked a huge smile as he imagined her beet-red face and her puffed-out cheeks.

“Tomorrow, after your paper, go to the sweets shop at cafeteria 9,” she said mysteriously. “I’ve got something there for you. Go back to study. I’ll see you soon.”

“Bye,” he ended the call and went back to work.

He was relaxing from his studying, taking a break to call his cute girlfriend whom he hadn’t seen since the first day of the exams. He still remembered the way she’d wrapped her arms around him tightly and told him she’d missed him.

God, he missed her so much. Her smile, her scent, her big brown eyes… Even though she sent him selcas every day, it just wasn’t the same as seeing her up close and in person.

He wanted to thread his fingers through her hair as she lay in his lap reading her comics. He wanted to look up and see her concentrate on her work opposite him, mouth pursed as she ran through the problems in her mind, scribbling away at her notebook. He wanted to lie down with her in the grass, his fingers entwined with hers as they watched the stars twinkle above.

He had a desperate urge to see her, but the top 50 promise haunted him from the back of his mind.

With a sigh, he turned back to his list of idioms.

His urge would have to be sated tomorrow, after the paper.

---

“Hi, I’m Yoo Youngjae?” Youngjae approached the counter lady.

“Ah, Mr. Youngjae is here,” the matronly woman burst into a fit of giggles before calling her assistant over. “Shinae, pass Mr. Youngjae what the young lady left for him!”

A 15-year-old girl popped up from under the counter and passed him a plastic bag of chocolate cookies, grinning knowingly.

He thanked her and took the bag of cookies. Opening the bag, he realised there was a note inside.

“Where we love to read!” it read, along with a few drawings of books and angry librarians.

He hid a grin and headed towards the library.

---

“He’s leaving the canteen, over,” Zelo’s voice crackled through the walkie-talkie.

“Roger that,” I replied and pocketed the walkie talkie that Zelo and I had purchased just for today.

Quickening my steps, I pushed through the large entrance doors of the library, gift in hand. I headed towards our usual table, hidden away at the back of the library. There was no one around and our table was uninhabited, as usual.

I placed the hand-wrapped gift on the table before taking a seat, sighing deeply.

I missed him so much. We hadn’t had much chance to talk for ages since he spent every night studying. Last night was the first call we’d had since the first paper. My arms ached to throw around his neck and give him the biggest hug ever.

Knowing he’d been studying hard for this exam, I wanted to prepare the best surprise ever for him, to reward him for his efforts.

As such, I’d properly done my research, which meant having a Q&A session with Zelo and Eunhye, the masters of the romance game. They'd drilled me over and over on what sort of things guys like, and what I should do to make them happy... It all seemed terribly cheesy and over the top, until Zelo had finall pulled out one of his fanfictions where the guy planned a romantic game for the girl by leaving her clues and hints on where to go, along with gifts, before finally ending with a big surprise, like a proposal or something.

Obviously I was not going to propose to Youngjae-oppa, but I thought it would be a nice way to perhaps have a memorable day together.

So, with Zelo's and Eunhye's help, I'd planned this elaborate sequence of events for Youngjae-oppa to celebrate his end of exams as well as our quarter-year anniversary. Without

Smiling, I couldn’t imagine his face when he saw the gift I’d got for him.

I left a note tucked into the ribbon and hopped off to the next destination.

---

Youngjae pushed the huge swinging doors of the library open, looking around wonderingly.

He headed towards their usual section, reminiscing of all the times they’d spent here until late in the evening studying their asses off, getting scolded by the librarian for staying too late, picking up cookbooks to look at the delicious food photography…

A bright pink parcel sitting on their table attracted his attention.

“What’s this?” Youngjae wondered aloud, walking over to the parcel.

It was a package covered in gaudy pink panda patterned paper, wrapped with a satiny red ribbon tied into a huge bow. Youngjae tested its weight, wincing when it was heavier than expected.

Gingerly picking apart the wrapping, he unravelled a huge set of IQ84, a series by his favourite author, Haruki Murakami.

A delighted grin blossomed on his face as he the pages gently, hardly believing his eyes.

How had she known that he'd wanted this for so long? 

He vaguely recalled browsing through her father's library and reading the IQ84 series to bits, but he'd never mentioned a word to her. She really had been observing him, hadn't she?

He’d never had much money to spend on things for himself, since his family was supported by his mother only and his allowance was meagre, so he treasured each gift presented to him deeply.

He unfolded the note attached to the wrapping.

“Go to where we first kissed,” he read out in his mind. Decorated on the paper was a couple of trees with a bird flying above it.

 “Pabo…” he chuckled, before getting ready to leave.

---

As Youngjae walked, he marvelled at how much he had changed since Dari said yes. Suddenly, life had seemed a lot brighter, and he’d become a lot more positive and confident of himself.

Somehow, being with Dari had made him a better person, and he was happy with his self-improvement. Though he wasn’t at the best he could be yet, he was sure that he would one day get there.

“I’ll be the kind of guy Dari deserves to be with!” he nodded to himself confidently.

He couldn’t wait to see what sort of surprise she had planned. Of course, it wasn’t the gift that mattered, but her. He just wanted to see her, and be with her.

His steps slowed as he neared the park.

It was autumn, and the park was littered with rich shades of red and brown leaves. A small wind gusted across his hair as he walked slowly through the path, unknowingly tailed by a Zelo clad in entirely black.

He paused beside a particularly huge oak tree.

He recognised this very oak tree. It was the one he’d pushed her against and kissed the living daylights out of her after all.

Coughing to hide the blush rising to his cheeks, he grinned as he spotted a telltale orange ribbon sticking out from behind.

“Hmmmmm, I wonder where Dari could be?” he wondered aloud, taking exaggerated steps around.

“Is she perhaps under the table?” he peeked under a table nearby, hmm-ing loudly. “Or maybe she’s in the flowerpot!” 

“Mou, you ruined the surprise!” she peeked out from behind the tree and pouted, before getting out and running over to him.

She wrapped her arms around him tightly as his automatically went around her waist.

The scene was strangely reminiscent of the time at her house, he noted as he inhaled her orange-scented perfume, burying his nose in her hair, lips against her forehead.

“Missed you,” she mumbled into his shirt, face pressed tightly to his chest.

“Missed you too,” he smiled tenderly at her brown head. “You’re... pretty today.”

And she was. Clad in a golden yellow sundress patterned with tiny sunflowers, she looked the epitome of summer, though the leaves on the trees were orangey-red and the grass was turning brown. She had on an orange ribbon around her waist, tied off at the side, and a pair of white ballet flats completed her look.

He took a good look at her face.

Her beautiful eyes were framed with a warm pink eyeshadow, fringed with long lashes and a touch of glitter on the inner corners. Her lips were tinted with a pale pink gradient, shining with gloss.

“Do you like it?” she tucked a hair behind her ear shyly, looking up at him with those irresistible chocolate-brown eyes of hers. “Hyosung-unnie said she wanted to give me a makeover cos we’re going on a date today.”

“We’re going on a date?” he asked curiously, as she nodded happily.

Running to behind the tree, she pulled out a huge wicker basket, followed by her faithful doggy, Popo.

“Shall we go?” she grinned and took his hand, leading the way further into the park.

Dari led him through the trees as the birds chirped happily. Her coffee hair glowed golden in the warm afternoon sun, and her palm was as smooth and soft as satin.

He gazed at her warmly as she looked around the park in fascination.

“I’ve never been this far in,” she commented as they neared a growth of trees, providing lots of cool shade.

“Let’s eat there,” he pointed at the thicket.

Dari nodded happily and headed over to the thicket. Taking out a large checkered mat, she laid it onto the ground before smoothing it out and patting it off. Youngjae followed after her and began to take out the plastic containers of food.

“There’s kimchi and kimbap and sandwiches and samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) and rice and some side dishes and some extra bread,” Dari rattled off, pointing to the respective boxes. “And there’s fresh watermelon juice too!”

“This looks amazing, you made it?” Youngjae stared at the food in wonder.

“With Sunhwa-unnie’s help,” she confessed guiltily. “I’ve only cooked once or twice so I wasn’t sure it would taste good.”

“Anything you make would taste nice,” he ruffled her hair before opening one of the boxes. “Shall we eat?”

“Okay!” she nodded her head happily.

“Say ah~” she cooed, holding out a piece of kimbap with her chopsticks.

A red tint descended on the bridge of his nose as he leant forward and ate the kimbap whole, chewing thoughtfully.

“How is it?” she asked anxiously, readying the second one.

“You wanna try it?” he winked seductively.

Without another word he ate the kimbap whole and moved to touch his lips with hers.

Moving rhythmically, he coaxed open, before pushing the kimbap through with his tongue.

Dari chewed and made a face, her cheeks blushing brightly.

“It tastes like saliva,” she groaned as Youngjae grinned cheekily. “If you’d wanted a kiss you could have just said so.”

“That would have ruined the fun~” he smirked with in a sing-song voice.

“Pabo,” she flushed a dark red, before pecking him on the cheek. “There, now you get two.”

Sighing, he leaned his head onto her shoulder.

“I love you,” he sing-songed in aegyo as she munched on a sandwich.

“Wuff chu chu,” her reply was garbled through her stuffed mouth as Youngjae laughed, true bliss descending on him like a bird landing on a branch.

---

We walked hand-in-hand as the sun set behind us, casting a warm golden glow on everything.

After the picnic, we’d taken a leisurely stroll around the park. We’d fed the extra bread to the ducks, and one seemed to take a special liking to Youngjae-oppa, waddling up to him and sitting in his lap. I’d taken a photo of that exact moment and it was hilarious to see his face so freaked out as the duck snuggled into him. Of course, I’d chased the duck away after that, cos he’s mine.

“Today was fun,” his low voice interrupted my reverie.

“Yeah,” I leaned my head into the crook of his neck. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. I planned it especially for you.”

“A memorable first date indeed,” he turned to smile at me, brown eyes twinkling.

We paused in the middle of the pavement, right outside my house.

Somehow I knew what was coming next.

I closed my eyes as his lips touched mine gently. I smiled against him, feeling utter joy pricking the back of my eyes. My heart danced as his rough calloused hands caressed my cheeks, holding my face to his. I relished the feel of his lips against mine, moving slowly to an inaudible beat. My hands were held against his chest and I felt the steady rhythm of his heart pounding. We fit together like matching puzzle pieces.

A loud car horn blared, interrupting us.

I ripped away from Youngjae-oppa in horror. My mother’s car was right beside us, her window rolled down. Her face was black as thunder.

“Jung Dari, I would like to have a word with you,” her voice was low and threatening as she opened the car door.

Never had I seen Mother look so furious, unless her Cabinet Ministers were screwing up. Youngjae looked at me with understanding eyes and bowed to Mother before squeezing my hand tightly and leaving. The car drove silently into the house, leaving Mother and me on the sidewalk, staring at each other.

Wordlessly, she turned and entered the gates of the house, black heels clicking on the ground angrily.

I gulped and followed her, praying to God above that she wouldn’t murder me.

---

“I knew this was a problem from the moment I saw the both of you that night!” Mother screamed, her stockinged feet padding back and forth in front of me.

I sat in front of her on my calves, head bowed, but mind reeling indignantly.

“I should have talked to you then,” she huffed, sitting on the sofa angrily. “You know he’s not part of our society. How could you go off gallivanting with such a commoner?”

There was silence as she breathed in and out slowly, evidently trying to cool down.

 I should have nipped this in the bud. When I’d seen the two of you fooling around a month ago, I should have talked to you immediately,” her voice had calmed, but she was still fuming, evidently. “Why was I so stupid to not confront you about it?”

“He… he’s not a bad guy,” I argued feebly as Mother rubbed her temples with her index fingers.

“Youngjae isn’t a bad boy, I know,” she sighed. “He is a very nice boy, but he’s just not compatible with you, you understand? Can Youngjae provide for you when I’m no longer around? Is he capable of taking care of you? Can he make sure you live comfortably? He’s smart, and he’s hard working, but sometimes that’s not enough, Dari.”

She took a breath.

“Can you imagine the daughter of a member of the government and the CEO of Korea’s top bank to be dating a boy who doesn’t even have a father?”

“Mother!” I stood up indignantly but she held her hand up.

“No complaining. I hope I’ve made it clear that you will not see Youngjae ever again.”

With that, she swept off to her bedroom.

I sat on the ground, tears leaking from my eyes.

Today was supposed to be one of the most memorable days we would ever have. One we could look back on and reminisce about.

I didn’t even get the chance to say a proper goodbye and now I could never talk to him again?

A hand patted my shoulder. I looked up with teary eyes as Hyunnie-oppa smiled tenderly at me. Heaving deep sobs, I threw myself onto him, crying as hard as I could.

He sat there silently, hugging me to him as the sun went down, the house bathed in the cold, dark blues and blacks of the night.