“I can’t believe she left me!” Woori shouted hysterically and stumped her feet on the ground. Her heels made a huge sound on the glassy floor of the night club. She looked around desperately. There were no familiar faces. Except those guys that she and Jaekyung chatted up with hours ago, but she was not about to trust any random guys to take her home.

She poured some drink to the shot glass that she hadn’t touched until now. She was not a good drinker and she knew she should stay away from them, but her frustration has built up to the summit and she needed to release it somehow. Drinking seems like a good way to do so.

Reluctantly, she raised the shot glass to her nose. It smelt unbearably strong and disgusting. How do people drink this? She pinched her nose to block the smell and took the shot quickly. It was not…as horrible as she thought. It tasted slightly sweet and fruity. Once the taste had faded in her tongue, she grabbed the bottle again.

“What the…?” She muttered as someone snatched the bottle away from her.  She looked up and saw one of the guys that she talked to earlier.

Shim Changmin’s gaze was sharp and cold. It made her feel like she was a little kid who just got caught stealing candy and was about to be in trouble.

“I remembered that you said you can’t handle alcohol at all.” He said calmly, recalling it from their previous conversation that happened before.

Suddenly, she felt hotness on her cheeks. Was it because of his intense gaze on her? Or because of the fact that he knew she wasn’t a good drinker? And how could he remember this one tiny detail out of everything they talked about? Normally, she could come up with hundreds of witty comebacks, but she was loss for words at this moment. “I-I…” she stuttered.

He took the shot glass from her hand. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to have another shot,” he smirked, “you look like you could fall over any second soon already.”

Now Woori blushed even more. Changmin chuckled at her funny expression while putting the bottle and the shot glass back on the table. He looked around briefly before speaking again. “Where is your friend anyway?”

Because of him, Woori had totally forgotten that she was supposed to be upset. Now her frustration came back again. “She left.” She muttered the words. Still couldn’t believe that her best friend left without her.

Changmin frowned. “She left by herself? Without telling you?” He clearly was bewildered by this piece of information too. “What kind of friend you have?”

“I know, right? That girl, she is so dead when I get home.” She crossed her arms while picturing different ways to punish Jaekyung in her head.

“How are you gonna get home?” He asked.

She shrugged. “I’ll just get a taxi.” He nodded. “I’m going home too, I will walk to outside with you.”

Really, she was totally surprised that he would say that, but she didn’t object.

 This club was one of most popular ones and since it was Friday night, it was packed with young people who were looking for fun. It was difficult to walk around; they literally had to push people out of the way.

When they were finally outside, Woori took a good deep breath as if she had not breathed in clean crispy air for ages.  The night breeze felt nice and comfortable. She knew it was silly, but she had an urge to walk home.

“Actually…” she turned around to face Changmin, “I think I want to walk home. It’s not that far to where I live.”

Changmin looked at her like she was out of her mind. “Are you sure? I don’t think it’s safe for a girl to walk home alone this late.”

Woori narrowed her eyes at him. She didn’t like that he thinks she is not capable of doing anything merely because she is a girl. Before she could protest, however, Changmin said, “I’ll walk with you then. Since you said it’s not far, right?”

She knew she should refuse to protect her feminine pride, but when a good looking guy like him offered to walk you home, how could you say no? Besides, it was a little scary to walk alone in the dark.

They started to walk on the street of Seoul at three in the morning. Woori in the front while Changmin followed her quietly behind. She tried to act casually, but truthfully she was nervous as hell and she didn’t even know why. Was it because of Changmin?She admitted that he was one good-looking guy. An imposingly good-looking guy with a well-built body. Although he was wearing a long sleeve oxford shirt, his muscled arms couldn’t be hide.

And his eyes…the way he stared at her intensely earlier. It was mesmerizing…

“Yah!” Changmin cursed under his breath when he bumped into her abruptly, “Why did you suddenly stop?”

Woori blushed when she saw how close Changmin was to her, “Mian…I was thinking…” she apologized quickly.

“Thinking of what? Man?” Changmin teased.

“What? No! Why did you think that?” Woori blurted out loudly and shook her head like there was no tomorrow.

“Woah calm down, woman. I was just kidding.” Changmin put his hands up in the air in surrender. He was a little startled by Woori’s uneasy reaction. Especially when she widened her already huge doe eyes. “Unless…you were really thinking about man.” He smirked.

“I said I’m not!” She hissed and turned around to continue walking. Changmin laughed and started to follow her again. He was always like this. Teasing and mocking people. But for some reason, doing this to Woori was way more fun than usual.

He admitted it, when their friends were mingling with each other, he had immediately taken an interest in Woori. She was a gorgeous girl after all. Though he wouldn’t call it a “love in first sight”. He never believed in that crap. He just found her very amusing, that was all.

Suddenly, the air was filled with a delicious aroma. Changmin felt like his whole body had just woken up.

It was Ddeokbokki, he couldn’t be wrong. He was the Food God for crying out loud. He knew what food smell like. Eagerly, he looked around to find the source of it and realized Woori was doing the exact same thing.

“You smell it?” He asked. She nodded her head and glances around the street. They were the only two people nearby.

Then she saw it. A small ddeokbokki vendor by the corner. Without thinking too much, she headed toward it.

“Yah, you!” Changmin ran after her swiftly.

“I didn’t realize how hungry I am until now.” Woori said. As she approached the vendor, she saw they were cleaning up, ready to close down.  “Excuse me, ahjumma. Are you closing now?” She asked politely.

“Yes, we are about to close…”

Her heart sunk a little. She was really hungry and it just smelled so good!

Just when she was ready to walk off with disappointment, Changmin grabbed her wrist to stop her from leaving. She eyed the man curiously. What was he going to do?

“I see you still have some left. It will be a waste to just throw them away, won’t it? Why don’t you let us finish them?” He suggested to the ahjumma.

Both Woori and the ahjumma stared at him in disbelief. “Well, that’s true…” ahjumma stopped what she was doing and smiled a little, “I guess you can finish them.”

“Kamsamida!” Changmin chimed happily and sat down at a table.

Woori blinked her eyes, trying to comprehend everything. She watched the ahjumma put all the leftover ddeokbokki on a plate and sent it over to where Changmin sat. Soon, he was indulging the food.

“Why are you standing there? I thought you said you are hungry.” He said.

As if that was an emperor’s holy order, she walked over and sat down across from him immediately. Changmin whose mood was totally uplifted by the delicious food gave her one ddeokbokki kindly. She took a bite reluctantly.

“Taste good, right?” He grinned widely.

“Umm, yeah. Really good.” She replied honestly and ate her second one.

 “I’m glad you like it!”

Woori laughed. “You sound like you are the one that made it.”

“What can I say?” Changmin laughed along, “I love food with passion. I feel happy when people know good food.”

“I’m a food lover too!” She exclaimed, “Like, I love it way too much. My friends always joke that I’m madly in love with food and don’t have time for boys.” She chuckled. It was kind of true though. If she must pick, food definitely rule over boys in her world.

“Really? I’m the same! I told my friends that my refrigerator is my girlfriend and no one besides me can touch her.” He felt a little bit embarrassed after spilling this to her.

Upon hearing Changmin’s self-revelation, Woori could not help but laugh. Never would she think that a guy with a cold city man appearance like him had this dorky side underneath. And it was kind of…cute.

“Well, I guess that makes the two of us.” She said after finally done laughing at him.

He scratched his head, clearly was embarrassed with himself.

Although they only met hours ago, but right now they felt like they’ve been friends forever. They chatted about so many things and found out they shared a lot of similarities. When they finished the ddeobokki in laughter, they saw that the ahjumma had fallen asleep while waiting for them. They felt sorry and paid extra money to her, but she insisted that it was free since they were doing her a favor by finishing those leftovers.

By the time they reached Woori’s apartment, it was almost four. They both were exhausted, but for some reason, they felt their hearts were filled with content. Probably because of the yummy ddeobokki.

“Well…I had fun.” Changmin smiled. He had a mismatched smile which was totally adorable.

“Me too.” Woori nodded.

“And it was nice to meet you, Go Woori-ssi.” He extended his hand out.

“Nice to meet you too, Shim Changmin-ssi.” She smiled and shook it.

For some reason, neither of them let go of their hands. They just kept it like that in silence. Changmin couldn’t stop staring into her beautiful eyes. He felt like he could get lost in them. Woori thought how cute his smile was… suddenly she felt her cheeks started to turn red again, so she moved her gaze away from his face quickly. “Uh, I should go in now.”

“Ah yes,” Changmin looked away awkwardly. “Good night. I mean, good morning. Technically, it’s morning now.”

“Yes, good morning,” Woori chuckled. “thank you for walking me home. I really appreciate it.”

“No problem.”

“Well…bye!” She waved at him awkwardly, then walked toward the entrance.

Changmin watched her blankly, until something hit him. “Wait!” He shouted loud enough for her to hear. She stopped and turned around, waiting for him to say something.

He shuffled his feet and looked down.

Damn it, Shim Changmin, what are you doing? All his life, he had never felt like this. He was the almighty Shim Changmin for crying out loud. Nothing could bring him down. Yes, just say it.

Woori raised her eyebrow, uncertain what was this about, but she waited patiently for Changmin to say something.

Finally, when he collected enough bravery, he cleared his throat and said to her, “If you weren’t too busy tomorrow, want to eat those ddeobokki with me again?