You're at a family gathering. It's a christening of a distant niece, so distant, that you'll probably never meet her again, when she grows up. It's not that you don't like your family; it's just that after an hour you're sick and tired of answering all the 'how are you doing' and 'what are you doing' questions. So you walk around the back of the church, skillfully avoiding anyone who tries to approach you with a very busy look (you pride yourself on your current acting skills, since you're, at the moment, the very opposite of busy).

You keep walking and avoiding until you suddenly notice there's a child, a little girl, sitting on one of the back pews, almost hidden among them. You hesitate for a moment, children are not your strong point but you decide not to leave her alone. You approach her carefully and she notices you and looks in wonder, her cheeks puffed and eyed watery. You wonder if she's crying and begin to panic mentally. A crying child is anything but your strong point. You hesitantly smile at her and say,

"Hi there, is anything the matter?" The little girl shakes her head but her eyes are watering once again. You look around frantically for somebody, anybody else but like all other perfect families of the world (or is it just yours, you wonder), no one happens to be around right now. You sigh in resignation and gingerly sit down next to the child. You ask her where her mother is.

"Mommy ish bishie," she answers in a small voice. Your heart just about melts. You ask her who she's with and why she's so upset. She looks at you with her big, watering eyes again. "He mean to me." She says very definitively. Your insides bubble with anger. What low-life could be so mean to such an adorable creature? You're interrupted by the sound of dress shoes clicking on the marble floor, a heavy panting sound and an exclamation of,

"There you are!" The little girl puffs out her cheeks in annoyance and almost hides behind you. You turn to this low-life and are almost blown away by how not like a low-life he looks. He's tall, very handsome, his dark suit complements his very light skin, his brows are crinkled (rather cutely, you think) with worry and you're praying fervently for the two of you to be unrelated. A small tug at the side of your dress reminds you that this prince-like person is supposed to be a low-life (if only more of them looked like this, you think) currently. You rise quickly from your seat, ready to give him a piece of your mind. A very bad move because you're wearing heels, and that, combined with your natural propensity for accidents and disaster, causes you to lose your balance and fall backwards, until you’re caught on both sides of your waist by two strong arms and pulled to your feet. Your face must, most definitely resemble a beetroot now. You realize he’s asked you the same question about three times- are you alright- before you meekly nod, mostly because you’re afraid you’ve lost your linguistic capabilities. All thoughts of him being a low-life have been banished from your mind as he looks genuinely concerned at the little girl who sinks further back into her seat.

“What’s the matter with her?” You ask, with your newly-found voice. He sighs (and looks oh-so-lovely doing it) and says,

“She’s bored out of her mind because her mother’s busy with her sister’s christening. My father is her father's old friend so they left her with me but I’m not really familiar with this place so…” The wheels in your mind begin to turn as you realize there might have been an older niece in the picture. It’s your turn to sigh (though, you think, you look like a ninety year old ajjhumma doing that). He asks you what the matter is.

“There is a café down the street where you could take her and I just realized I’m her aunt…” His face breaks into a dazzling smile (that is almost blinding) and he asks you to join them. You’re a little taken aback. Did this creature from heaven just ask you to join him? You smile at him and decide to take care of more important businesses first. You walk up to your little niece and sit on your knees in front of her to reach her eye-level.  With the child-friendliest smile you can muster you say, “you may not know this but I’m your auntie, I’m sorry I did not know that either. What’s your name?”

“Eunae,” says the little voice. You smile at her again.

“Eunae-yah mianhae, would you like to go to eat ice cream with auntie and-“you realize you don’t know his name either. From your haunched position you raise your right hand and say, “I’m definitely not good with this introduction thing, so hi.” You tell him your name. He smiles and takes your hand,

“Choi Siwon,” he says with another one of his brilliant smiles. You turn back to the child, who by now has caught a drift of things and has proceeded to jump off of her seat and nudge your shoulders with her little hands. You realize with a jolt that he’s still holding your hand and he pulls you to your feel, gently, and you miss the warmth the moment he lets go. Eunae slips her hands into yours and her other into his and walk out of the church.

The café is a two minute walk and it’s not long before you’re in its warm interiors. He helps you out of your coat and then without batting so much as an eyelash helps Eunae out of hers. You’re seated the waitress arrives to take your orders and then drops a bombshell.

“Can I get your daughter something from the children’s menu?” You look at her in shock. Daughter?! She notices that and mumbles a hurried apology, which is not very helpful either because she says, “Oh I’m sorry, I thought your husband and yourself…” You’re ready to be struck down by lightning because your face must resemble a tomato now. Siwon, for the gentleman that he is, calmly smiles at the waitress (and you not with seething jealousy how coy she becomes after that) and places the order. You realize that he hasn’t bothered to correct her. For a moment you get the weird sensation of butterflies doing the samba in your stomach but you think about the harsh reality where he could just be very irritated with it all and not bothered to correct her. You don’t get too long to think as Eunae’s ice-cream sundae and two glasses of bubble tea arrive. You watch him as he tucks a paper napkin into the collar of her little dress. He’s so gentlemanly, so kind, so caring, so perfect and you realize he’s watching you, watching him. You blush furiously and duck your head, trying to cover your face with your hair but all you succeed in doing is having the straw from your glass hit your face. You pull back with a shocked grimace and he laughs. You look at him ruefully and are pleasantly surprised when you see there’s no malice in his face. He’s just plain amused.

“You have some….” He touches his own cheeks and you try wiping yours but to no avail. He reaches across the table with a paper napkin and wipes your cheeks. His thumb only slightly grazes your skin as you feel like an electric-current has passed through. You hope he hasn’t seen your blush, but maybe he has because he asks you, “has anyone ever told you that you look very cute?” You look at him, wide-eyed, wondering if that is supposed to be some sort of joke, but he looks like he genuinely means it. The pink blush on your cheeks deepens and you furiously shake your head.

“A-ani yo, I’m just clumsy, ditzy and accident-prone,” you sigh, “who on earth would call that cute…?” He smiles and shakes his head too (but, you think, he looks like a model while doing that) and corrects you,

“That’s what makes you so cute, perfect people are really scary to be around.” You almost gape at him (but catch yourself in the last minute) and wonder how the epitome of perfection talks about being sacred about perfect people. He looks like he’s read your mind. He looks around and over his shoulder in a mock-secretive manner, leans closer to the table, places his right hand on the side of his mouth and whispers,

“You know… I nearly failed math…” You decide to play along and gasp dramatically before copying his earlier actions and asking him in a conspiratorial whisper,

“How does that matter…?”

“It matters because I’m to inherit my father’s business. Have you ever seen a businessman who failed math?” You start giggling and cover your mouth, in case he thinks it’s impolite but he’s laughing too and Eunae has looked up from her sundae and joins in with her high-pitched giggles. The ice is broken; things are much more comfortable now. You’re laughing and talking together. Eunae is no longer the upset child she was, she’s giggling with the two of you, offering you ice-cream from the same spoon (does that count as in indirect kiss, you wonder) and excitedly chattering about her friends from pre-school. Siwon is charming, he keeps both of you engaged in conversation, he wipes Eunae’s chocolate smeared face from time to time and you can’t help but fall, tumbling headlong, as is your usual nature, for this man. Bit by bit, you come to terms with the fact that you adore your niece but you adore the man with her a tad bit (okay, on a whole other level) more. It’s like some sort of dream. It’s like some sort of enchanted haze. It’s like no one exists in the world right now except the three of you… and you know this spell is bound to break, and it does when your phone vibrates, causing you to jump and drop it. You mumble a hurried apology as he hands it over to you with a smile. The smile on your face disappears as you read the message.

“Is everything alright?” He asks. You shake your head and smile, but it probably does not look very convincing.

“My sister will be here in five, I promised to go shopping with her.” He looks disappointed, or are you just imagining that?

“No go pwease,” says Eunae, taking a break from her spoon, looking at you with her big round eyes. You smile at her.

“Auntie has to go now, but I promise I’ll come back tomorrow in the morning, okay?”

“Oh-kie!” She says happily, and sticks her thumb out at you. You laugh.

“But Auntie won’t be able to meet me when she comes back tomorrow,” Siwon makes a pout, that looks so adorable that you can’t help but laugh but his next words sap all the happiness away from you, “I’ll be leaving early in the morning.” You can’t say anything but an ‘oh’ and you’re vaguely aware of Eunae looking back and forth between the two of you. He offers you his phone. “maybe we can keep in touch?” You smile and leave your number in but before you can ask for his, your sister calls you, telling you that she needs you out now. How you hate her at this moment. You kiss Eunae goodbye and hug her doll-like frame and are very surprised when Siwon hugs you too. In fact, you're so shocked that you barely have a chance to return the hug before your sister rings yet again and you’re forced to leave. You look back once over your shoulder and break into a wide smile as you notice them waving to you energetically.

The shopping feels like it’s taking hours and you’re exhausted by the time you’re back in the hotel. You sit at the edge of the bed and stare woefully at your phone, refusing to talk to your sister and not knowing whom to curse for not getting his number. It’s past ten o’ clock.  You know that it is more than idiotic to hope for him to actually keep in touch with you. It was just probably out of politeness, him being the gentleman he is. The phone vibrates and you drop it out of shock, sighing ruefully because it’s your sister who hands it back to you, and not Siwon like the last time, but she hands it back to you with a smirk and says,

“You’ve made quite the catch, Dongsaengie-ah.” You frown at her in confusion, which changes to irritation when you realize she’s read your text message and that irritation turns into a look of sheer joy when you look at the message and the picture (of your niece and him) attached to it.
 

@siwon407: Two people in this picture miss you very much, guess which two? And I heard from Eunae-yah's Eomonim that you live in Ilsan, would you be happy or the least bothered to learn I live there too?