I smiled widely as I looked at my watch, knowing that the bell would ring soon. Just like I said, it rang and everyone stood up, packing their stuff.

“Be sure to study hard,” our professor said, and everyone nodded.

I walked happily out of the university, earning some weird looks. I was probably smiling like some creep, but who wouldn't? Heck, today was my first date with my absolutely perfect, charming, and handsome boyfriend, Kim Joon Myeon.

All right, technically, he wasn’t my boyfriend. He might as well have been, however, since we’d been doing couple-like things for months already; sitting together in class, having lunch together, studying together. Not to mention, he’d taken to carrying my books and walking me to the subway, not even deterred when that idiot Nam Woohyun said he had it covered. (Which, yeah, was technically true, because ever since middle school, when his family had moved into the apartment next to ours and we traveled to and from school together, he usually ended up carrying my stuff on the subway).

And…technically, it wasn’t a date. Or at least, that wasn’t the term Joon Myeon had used when he’d called me last night; he’d referred to it as “hanging out”, which according to dumb Woohyun isn’t the same as a date, but dumb Woohyun is dumb, and I chose (as usual) to ignore him. We were going on a date, Joon Myeon and I.

It was so exciting.

The date itself, of course, was exciting, but also, I couldn’t help but think that, seeing as how Joon Myeon and I were practically exclusive already (so, all right, Woohyun usually joined us for all our activities, but neither Joon Myeon or I were in an intimate relationship with anyone), surely, he was going to use this opportunity to make us official? The thought sent a shaft of warm joy sliding through me, like butterscotch dribbling over a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

The thought of food reminded me that I was starving. I’d been so excited about the date, I’d hardly been able to eat any breakfast, and I’d had to skip lunch to help my professor design a digital display for an upcoming university event.

Unbidden, Woohyun’s stupid face popped into my consciousness. It wasn’t any big mystery why it did; he usually met me after classes, and he usually had snacks on him. That morning, however, I’d told him to head home without me, since I was going on my date. He’d rolled his eyes and reminded me Joon Myeon had dubbed it “hanging out”, something he only knew because he’d stuck his ear right up to my cell phone during the call, even though I’d kicked at him and mouthed “Get lost!” several times.

With my stomach growling in protest as I made my way to the parking lot, I was almost sorry I hadn’t had him meet me. He might have had sweet potato chips with him, my favorite. More likely, he would’ve had something like a banana or a pear; Woohyun always carried around fresh fruit, and was always bugging me to eat it, saying it was good for my health, would do wonders for my digestion, blah, blah, blah. Today, hungry as I was, it probably would’ve been one of the few days I’d have given in.

For once, though, Woohyun had listened to me. He was nowhere to be seen as I walked past the library, where we usually met to go home together after classes ended for the day.

My empty stomach made some more funny noises. As I was wondering if I would have enough time to run to the cafeteria for a quick snack, however, I spotted Joon Myeon. He saw me at the same time, raising his hand in greeting, a radiant smile on his face. At the sight of him, at his handsome face, so like an angel descended to Earth to watch over us mere mortals, I forgot all about my hunger. In fact, I forgot about everything at that moment, my name and breathing included.

“Hae Yeon!” he called out. When I reached him and his silver sports car, he exclaimed, “I’ve got a great time planned for us!”

“You do?” I asked. The excitement was plain in his voice, and my own enthusiasm kicked up a notch, edging out the hunger for a second. Ever the gentleman, he opened the passenger side door for me, and waited until I was seated comfortably to close it. When he was in the driver’s seat, I asked, “Where are we going?”

He turned to me with a wide grin. “It’s a surprise.”

Even as I gave him a corresponding smile, pangs of hunger danced through me, and I couldn’t help hoping the surprise was a ramyun restaurant. Or some place that sold kimbap.

It turned out to be the amusement park. I breathed a silent sigh of relief. There would be plenty of snacks available, so I wasn’t likely to die of accidental starvation.

“Wow,” I gushed when Joon Myeon pulled open the door for me. “I haven’t been here in the longest time. Last time was for Woohyun’s twelfth birthday party. His omma planned a scavenger hunt for all of us. I got stuck on his team, and because he was the birthday boy, he was in charge of reading and interpreting the clues. He ended up getting the two of us separated from everyone else.”

“You got lost in the amusement park?” asked Joon Myeon. “You were just a little girl. That must’ve been scary.”

I shook my head. “No, not really. Woohyun held my hand the whole time and told me it would be okay. I don’t know why, but I believed him.”

“Well, he was right. It all turned out okay,” pointed out Joon Myeon as we started towards the park’s entrance.

Barely able to hold back a snort (like I was going to do that in front of my future boyfriend!), I told him, “They had to send park security to come find us!”

Joon Myeon let out a light chuckle. “Well, I don’t think today will be quite that eventful. I hope you don’t mind.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to say that he could take me to a landfill and I would still be happy if we were together, but I stopped myself because it sounded cheesy even in my head. I settled for a cheery, “Of course not.”

He beamed at me again, making me feel giddy (well, giddier, since my low blood sugar was already making me feel a bit light-headed), and asked me to wait while he went to buy the admission tickets. When I started to take out my wallet, he hurriedly assured me that it was his treat. Thrilled at this, I watched him jog off to the ticket booth with what I was sure a pathetically broad grin on my face. “Not a date, my foot,” I murmured to myself. “Why would he pay for my admission if this wasn’t a date? Dumb Woohyun.”

A loud groan sounded angrily from my empty stomach. Suddenly, from behind me, I heard, “What, people don’t eat on dates anymore?”

I whirled around in shock, shock that quickly morphed into anger at the sight of the person I saw behind me.

“Nam Woohyun, what are you doing here?” I hissed. My eyes darted around. I fervently hoped Joon Myeon didn’t suddenly come back. How was I supposed to explain the presence of my dumb neighbor?

“I came to have fun,” Woohyun replied matter-of-factly.

 How had he even known we were here? I started to ask him this, but realized I didn’t care. I only cared about getting him to leave before Joon Myeon came back. “Get lost, Woohyun!”

He shook his head emphatically. “No way. It’s been forever since we’ve been to the amusement park. Not since that time we got lost.”

“We are not at the amusement park!” I protested vehemently. “Joon Myeon and I are at the amusement park. I don’t know what in blazes you’re doing here, but you’re going to have to leave. Now!”

“What? Since when did this turn into private property?” Woohyun asked innocently.

There was a mischievous gleam in his eye that was all too familiar to me. Though I’d thought it numerous times over the course of our acquaintanceship, I had yet to deck Woohyun. Today could turn out to be the day I actually did it.

I glanced towards the ticket booth and saw that Joon Myeon was still in line behind a few other people. Quickly, I grabbed Woohyun by the elbow and propelled him away from the park’s entrance. “You need to go! I am not going to let you ruin this just like you ruin everything else, Nam Woohyun!”

The jerk suddenly dug in his heels, causing me to fetch up against him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

I ignored his question in favor of shoving hard at him to get him moving again. Since he was considerably more solidly built than I was (being an avid soccer player could do that to one’s physique), I didn’t make much progress. And I was really too weak with hunger to actually do more than push ineffectually at him.

 Woohyun held me by the wrists to stop me from shoving at him. “What do you mean I ruin—?”

“Hae Yeon-ah!” sounded Joon Myeon’s voice, from much too close behind us. I silently prayed that he wouldn’t see Woohyun, but that was ridiculous, of course. He was hardly going to miss 176 centimeters of moron who still had me by the wrists. Sure enough, the scrape of his sneakers was accompanied by, “Oh, Woohyun, didn’t expect to run into you here.”

His greeting was warm, as expected of such a sweet, polite guy, betraying not a hint of animosity at seeing his classmate suddenly pop up in the middle of his date (it was a date, I was sure of it!).

I shook myself free of Woohyun and shot him a final glare before going to stand beside Joon Myeon. “He was just—”

“Suggesting to Hae Yeon that we grab a bite to eat before hitting the rides,” the jerk interrupted smoothly. “She said she hasn’t had a chance to eat anything yet and she’s starving.”

I was sure my mouth fell open in indignation. Just as I was going to tell him to hit the road, however, my stomach gave a single, definitive, highly audible rumble. Humiliation burned through me as Joon Myeon turned to look at me in surprise.

“Oh, no. I only planned for us to go on the rides. I never even thought about food. I had no idea you were hungry, Hae Yeon,” he said apologetically.

Sheepishly, I admitted, “A little.” My cheeks were hot, both with embarrassment and fury at my idiotic neighbor for butting in.

“She’s always hungry after classes,” Woohyun revealed. “You’d think it was because she expended so much brainpower, but she spends most of her time texting or playing games, so that can’t be it.”

The only thing that kept my fist from connecting with Nam Woohyun’s nose was the presence of Joon Myeon. I wasn’t about to give my future boyfriend the impression I was some kind of violent gangster.

I settled for a denial delivered through gritted teeth. “That’s not true!”

Thankfully, Joon Myeon laughed. “I know it’s not, Hae Yeon-ah. Let’s get something to eat, okay?”

I brightened and nodded. Joon Myeon handed me my ticket and I took it from him carefully; it wouldn’t do to destroy the first souvenir from our first date.

To my horror, he turned to my dumb neighbor and asked, “Are you joining us, Woohyun?”

“He doesn’t have a ticket,” I pointed out quickly. I gave Woohyun a hard stare that very clearly conveyed my message of, “Get lost!” I knew Joon Myeon was only asking out of his innate politeness; he would hardly want that dummy tagging along on our date. I also knew Woohyun was just erse enough to take him up on what was merely a phatic offer.

Too nice for his own good, however, Joon Myeon suggested, “We can wait for you while you get one.”

Woohyun grinned, and I wanted to punch him so badly, my fists ached. He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a ticket. “No worries. I already have one. We should get going. You wouldn’t want to be near Hae Yeon when she throws a hunger fit.” He winked conspirationally at Joon Myeon before skipping off ahead of us.

I seethed silently the entire time we ordered our food. I couldn’t believe Nam Woohyun had had the nerve to invite himself along on my first date with Joon Myeon. He’d done some horrible things to me in the time we’d known each other (I had ruined clothes and a host of detestable memories that bore testament to them), but this certainly had to be one of the worst, most despicable stunts he had ever pulled.

Our food ready, we went to the counter to pay. Before I could take out my wallet, Woohyun handed over his credit card and gestured at our trays to indicate he was covering the cost of both of them. I glanced over at Joon Myeon, but he was engaged in polite conversation with the cashier and hadn’t even noticed what Woohyun had done.

Food paid for, we found a place to sit, and to my annoyance, Woohyun slid in next to Joon Myeon, leaving me all alone on the other side of the table. I glared daggers at him as I lifted up the bun of my hamburger, removed the two runny slices of tomato concealed beneath, and popped them onto his waiting burger. I waited until he set the lettuce he’d removed from his own burger onto mine before replacing the bun.

Joon Myeon lifted an eyebrow in surprise. “Do you guys always do that?”

“Do what?” I asked around a bite of fry.

Joon Myeon gestured first at my food, then at Woohyun’s. “That little exchange just now. I notice you do the same thing when we eat sandwiches.”

Once I thought about it, I realized he was right. We did always do the tomato-lettuce swap; we’d been doing it so long, it was automatic for us.

“It’s because she doesn’t like tomatoes, and I don’t like lettuce,” explained Woohyun.

Joon Myeon’s eyebrow remained raised. “Really? I never knew that. I’ll make sure to never buy you tomato juice, then.”

I couldn’t help grinning at this. “Thank you.”

He gave me another glowing smile and started pulling apart the fish he’d ordered with his wooden chopsticks. I munched on my burger, glad to finally have food in me, and watched him, hoping I wasn’t smiling like some creepy voyeur. Though if I were, I would argue that I was justified, for Joon Myeon did everything so…so perfectly. His beautiful hands maneuvered the flimsy chopsticks over his food like a dancer executing particularly complex choreography. Every lunch, he held me in thrall, just by the way he ate, and that particular moment was no different.

Nam Woohyun, on the other hand, was a different—decidedly messy—story. Only two bites in, and the burger he was clutching had already lost any appearance of something made for human c