Ting. Someone texted me. Who could it be?

Hyoshin.

My heart skips a beat and I feel excited.

"Calm down Rachel, it's just a text" I tell myself.

Hey did you like the red ginseng extract I gave you this morning?

I smile.

"I enjoyed every bit of it" I typed but immediately erased it. What would Hyoshin think of me if I text that to him?

"Yeah" I typed and clicked send.

Since finals are over... do you want to buy red ginseng with me?

LEE HYOSHIN... DID HE JUST ASK ME OUT ON A RED GINSENG... D-A-T-E???!!!

WHAT SHOULD I DO? WHAT SHOULD I WEAR? I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!

Calm down Rachel! It's not a date! Maybe Hyoshin sunbae just needed someone to accompany him while he buys red ginseng extracts?

That's right. It's not a date so I don't need to freak out.

I calmly typed, "I'll think about it" and sent it.

A few minutes later, Hyoshin replied.

Are you done thinking now?

"Okay, I'll go with you" I texted.

I try my best to feel calm but I can't stop the warm excited feeling in my heart right now!

I'll pick you up at your place in thirty minutes

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Why do I feel so nervous? I've talked to Rachel a lot of times before so this will be no big deal... right?

I can't believe I managed to ask Rachel out! Well I didn't really specify if this was a date but still! It's just gonna be me and Rachel.

She's the first girl I ever asked to go buy red ginseng with. Not even my mom or Hyunjoo has been to the place where I buy red ginseng.

Red ginseng is very special to me that is why I asked Rachel to buy it with me. It helps me feel more happy and alive.

I text Rachel that I'm already outside her house. A minute later she goes outside her house. She looks at my car hesitantly but she evetually gets in.

"Hi" I tell her, trying my best to sound normal. Deep inside, I'm so nervous and my heart is beating so fast that I think it's going to burst!

"So... we're going to buy red ginseng?" she says.

"Uh yeah, I buy it at this really great place" I say.

I smile at her and she just nods. Rachel doesn't smile often, of course.

"Where is it?" she asks.

"It's in this mini marketplace where every store looks like it's from the Joseon dynasty"

A few minutes later we arrive at the market. When you go there, it's like you went back in time. Almost everything looks like it's from the past and they sell really interesting things. A lot of tourists come here.

"Wow this place is great" Rachel says with a smile on her face. She looks so pretty with her smile as she looks around.

"Let's go" I tell her and she follows me.

We pass by stores, restaurants and stalls, all selling old korean things. I could see that Rachel was enjoying seeing all the intersting things the people were selling.

We stop infront of a store and I gesture her to follow me inside.

"Oh hello Hyoshin-ah, here for some red ginseng eh?" the ahjumma who owns the store says.

"Ah yes ahjumma"

"Oh who is this? Is she your girlfriend?" the ahjumma asks as she spots Rachel coming in.

"No he's not my boyfriend" Rachel says politely. I can see that she was flustered by what the ahjumma said, her cheeks have become pink. Adorable.

"She's a friend of mine" I tell the ahjumma.

"You're very pretty" she compliments Rachel.

"Thank you" Rachel politely bows.

I go to the aisle on the left to get the red ginseng I usually buy. The red ginseng they sell here is the best and also the cheapest. I grab more red ginseng than usual, I'll buy some for Rachel and her mother.

"Wow they have all kinds of ginseng extracts here" she says as she follows me in the aisle.

"This must look like heaven to you" she jokes.

I smile and say, "ah yes it is! I could just spend all my life in here eating red ginseng!"

She laughs.

"Oh you laughed, I've never seen you laugh before"

She stops and turns around. "Wha-what else do they sell here?" she says trying to change the subject. She's flustered again. Does she perhaps like me?

I walk to the counter and pay. The ahjumma smiles as she looks at me and Rachel.

"You're very lucky to have such a pretty girlfriend" the ahjumma says as she hands me the paper bag full of red ginseng.

I just smile at the ahjumma. I wish Rachel really was my girlfriend.

"Come back again!" the ahjumma says as we leave her store.

We bow at the ahjumma and say at the same time, "we will".

Rachel looks at me and I just smile. She looks away quickly, she's flustered again.

"Why do you always look flustered?" I ask her as we walk towards my car.

"I told you it's not fluster! It's absurdity!" she says and walks ahead, going into the wrong direction.

"Rachel where are you going? My car is this way" I point.

"Um I knew that...." she says and quickly walks to the way I'm pointing. I laugh at her cuteness.

I opened the car door for her and buckle the seatbelt for her. As I buckled the seatbelt, our faces are only a few inches away from each other and I could feel Rachel's hot breath on my cheek.

Despite it being winter right now, I feel warm all over, as if it was summer already. 

I finish doing her seatbelt for her and get into the driver's seat.

"Sunbae..." Rachel says as I settle into my seat.