"What are you doing here?" she glares at him. They're outside of Yongguk's house, and she's taking out the trash. She opens the trashcan lid and dumps the plastic bag inside. 

"You promised to go out with me, didn't you?"

"I did not promise anything," her voice is hard. The man in front of him can be stubborn when he wants to. 

"I think you won't have anything to do besides staying still in the house, so why don't you spend time with me?" he opens the car door for her, but she doesn't move. She crosses her arms and rolls her eyes. 

"You're really confident with yourself aren't you? You think you can make any girl fall in love with you just because you're rich and good-looking?"

"So you're admitting that I'm good-looking?" he grins at her. 

"That's not the point!" her cheeks flush red. "I'm going inside now, so you better leave. It won't be easy to explain if Mrs. Bang sees me with you," she spins around and steps into the house. 

"Just take it as I'm grateful for that day! This... date is to show that I'm thankful to you for taking care of me."

"Stop talking nonsense; you don’t have to repay me in any way. Just- just leave,” she’s starting to stammer. She presses the button on the remote she’s holding, closing the gate. Daehyun watches as the gate unfolds, the rollers screeching as it separates Jiyoon and Daehyun. Through the empty spaces between the metallic flowers, he bats his eyelids as she walks away from him.

“Jiyoon!” he shouts. She doesn’t stop nor turn around, and she keeps walking as if his voice is just the wind passing. He tries again, but she still keeps on moving further from him, up the road leading to Yongguk’s bungalow. “Why does everyone like to leave me alone in the end? I’m not worth it, aren’t I? No one wants to be by my side because I’m just a nuisance! It’d be better if I’m gone, wouldn’t it?”

The words stab right into her heart, causing her to stop moving. She stays still in the middle of the road, her back still facing him. She sighs as she turns around, and looks at him. His face is masked with dejection, and she feels guilt-ridden. “Please- please don’t say that. I didn’t mean it that way… I’m sorry.” She’s afraid she might not sound sincere, so she runs towards the gate. “I’m sorry I’m being rude just now. You know what, you’ll just wait here and I come out a few minutes later. Just… wait.”

She darts into the house, passing the confused Mrs. Bang who’s watching the cooking channel and basically scampers up the stairs. She opens her closet and skims through her clothes. She doesn’t have that much choice, but what do you wear on a ‘date’? She snatches a chiffon blouse that doesn’t look as worn-out as her other clothes, and pairs it with a long, flowy skirt. She powders her face lightly and picks up her worn-out bag.

She scurries pass Mrs. Bang again, and mentions something about going somewhere. Mrs. Bang doesn’t ask her where she’s going; she’s a grown-up woman and she can take care of herself after all. She slips into her ballet flats and basically runs towards the gate. The long journey from the front door to the gate tires her, but she doesn’t stop. She fears that Daehyun already left.

She fumbles to press the button to open the gate, and finds that his car is not that anymore. Daehyun is nowhere to be seen, and she heaves a sigh when she can’t find a single trace of his car. The road in front of her is empty, and her shoulders sag when she comes to the realization that Daehyun had left. Looks like he really took her words to heart.

She’s about to turn around when she hears the roar of a car engine. She looks to her right and Daehyun’s car screeches to a stop in front of her. Daehyun gets out of the car and scampers to open the door for her. “I went to the convenient store because I needed to get something. I’m sorry I made you wait,” he invites her to step into the car.

“What… are we going to do?” she’s still unsure whether he’s still crestfallen.

“Eat,” he says simply.

“Eat?”

“We’re going to Myeongdong,” he finalizes. He shifts the gear from ‘park’ to ‘drive’ and soon they’re on their way to Myeongdong. The condition in the car is quiet; Jiyoon doesn’t ask to switch on the radio. Secretly, she steals a few glances at Daehyun, who’s focusing on the road. From the corner of his eye, Daehyun catches her looking at him. He pretends he has no idea, and keeps on driving.

“What kept you up last night?” she suddenly asks.

The question catches him off-guard and he steps on the brakes. Luckily, the streets aren’t that busy. He continues driving and mumbles, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Your face clearly shows you’re tired and your eye bags are obvious,” she says matter-of-factly.

He clears his throat. “It doesn’t matter. We’re already here.”

The streets of Myeongdong are filled with people; most of them are young people holding shopping bags. She’s never been here; she never had enough money to buy the clothes and cosmetics here anyway. She remembered the time when her schoolmates would tell stories to each other about what they bought at Myeongdong, while she just sat there listening to them, nodding occasionally. Now she got the chance to set foot on the streets, she’s amazed by what she’s seeing.

“Wow,” she breathes.

“Beautiful, isn’t it? Come on, let’s try the street food here, and then you can shop for whatever you want,” Daehyun pulls her hand. They roam the streets, with Daehyun stopping at every single food stall there is. “You should try the rice cake, it’s delicious!” he says through a mouthful of rice cake. He’s trying to stuff in more, but Jiyoon grips his wrist.

“That’s what you’ve been saying every time you stop at a food stall!”

“But they’re really good! Here,” he extends his hand, offering the rice cake. When Jiyoon refuses to take it, he shrugs and stuffs it into his mouth. He has trouble chewing them, and Jiyoon laughs at him. With trouble, he swallows the food and washes it down with water.

“You shouldn’t eat too much at one time, you might choke!”

“Can we stop at that stall next?” Daehyun ignores her warning and points at a stall selling fish cakes.

“Daehyun-“ the words get stuck in her throats as he pulls her again, basically dragging her to the stall. He buys a few sticks and eats them all at once. Jiyoon shakes her head, though she can’t help but smile seeing him. It’s her first time seeing Daehyun so happy; food is definitely what can cheer him up. She waits patiently as he finishes off all the food.

“I’m done, we can go shopping now,” he rubs his stomach. The sun is setting down but people are still crowding the streets.

They enter a cosmetic store, and Jiyoon is awkward at first as she looks around the store. Daehyun tails her, with his hands behind his back. She’s uncertain on whether she’s allowed to touch anything, but doesn’t have to worry when the salesgirl attends to her and starts promoting their products. She gets a lot of free samples, and her head is starting to get dizzy from the fast explanation from the salesgirl. She nods clumsily, barely listening to her words. It’s not that she understands what kind of toner is good for her skin or what kind of face powder is suitable for her skin. After a few minutes, Daehyun speaks up.

“I’ll take the set that you explained about last,” he speaks, as if he’s already used to it.

“Very well, sir,” she nods politely and takes a few products off the shelf, and brings them over to the counter. Jiyoon is still confused as Daehyun takes out his wallet to pay them. “In fact, I’ll take every set that’s suitable for her,” he declares as he slides the credit card over to the salesgirl. She nods again, moves from behind the counter and grabs a few more products. Jiyoon is unable to utter anything and she only manages to ogle at the range of products being scanned at the counter. Her eyes pop out as the total is displayed on the screen.

She frantically rushes to Daehyun’s side and says, “You really don’t have to pay for that. Let’s just get out of here.”

Daehyun chuckles, “What are you talking about? I don’t mind.” He signs off the receipt and takes the paper bags from the salesgirl.

After stepping out of the shop, Jiyoon tries to take the paper bags from him. “I’ll carry that.”

“Don’t trouble yourself, you’re the woman and I’m the man. I’ll carry the bags for you. What you have to do is look for whatever you want, and I’ll pay them for you.”

They drop at a clothing store next, and she does what she usually does; gape at the inside of the store. She moves over to the bags section, and a small, dark blue cross body bag catches her attention.

“You like it?”

She nods shyly, and Daehyun calls the salesgirl over. Soon, Daehyun is clutching a lot of paper bags, and she already received a heap of free samples from all of the visits to the cosmetic stores at Myeongdong. Both of them are already tired from hours of walking.

“Let’s go home, it’s almost night,” Jiyoon speaks up.

“Not yet, there’s still one more place I want to go.”

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I'm sorry if this chapter (or maybe all of the chapters) is not that interesting, but please bear with me! I hope (I really, really hope) this story will get better, so please don't leave :( Thank you for reading, anyway!