Chapter 2

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I took a shower and changed into my regular clothing after that incident. I half expected that Jongsuk would have already left but when I came out, he was standing there with one of those ice pouches in his hand. "Had a feeling you weren't going to treat it right away," he smiled a smile that could probably swoon all the girl's on this planet. "Thanks," I took the ice pouch and held it to my left cheek. "How were you so sure that I wasn't going to treat it right away?" I asked curiously, he talks to me as if we had been friends for a long time. "I'm a good judge of character," he said proudly in a dorky way that it made me laugh. "How is your cheek?" he asked in a more serious tone. "It stings a little but I will live," I shifted the ice pouch a little and felt the sting. 

We walked to the main entrance of the park area and found Woobin waiting by the gate. "Hey, I'm really sorry," he apologized sincerely, "if there is anything I can do please don't be afraid to tell me". 

"It's fine, it really is," I reassured him, they're some very caring strangers. "At least let me do something," he pressed. "I really have to go before I miss my bus, I'll see you guys around," I started to walk away and waved to them before I somewhat ran to the bus stop down the street just in time for the bus to pull up from the other end of the street. 

(Woobin's POV) 

"Did she just reject you?" Jongsuk asked on purpose. "Do you want to die?" I threatened as we got into my car. "You could have at least offered her a ride," Jongsuk's words made me mentally slap myself, I could have at least offered a ride as an apology. "I'm hungry, let's go grab something to eat," I stated more then I asked, Jongsuk and I pretty much always shared the same ideas anyway. 

(Back to you ----->) 

I relaxed when I got off the bus back into the city. My stomach was growling as I walked to the cafe I frequented after I got off work at the acquarium, I didn't get to eat today cause of the incident from earlier. "Annyeonghasayo," I greeted as soon as I walked in. "Inhee-ah! You're late today, the usual?" Jihyo unnie came up from the counter. "I'm really hungry today, I'll take a cheeseburger," I took a seat that was right near the counter. "Alright, one cheeseburger coming right up for my favorite mermaid dongsaeng," she teased. "Yah," I glared. "Just playing, just playing," she laughed as she disappeared off to bring the order slip to the kitchen. What can I say? I have loved the water ever since I was a little girl. 

I played on my phone as I waited for my order but somehow I just looked up and my eyes met with the same ones I saw 20 minutes ago back at the park's main entrance. "Oh! It's you!" Jongsuk exclaimed a little too happily as Woobin looked surprised. "Please tell me you aren't following me," I stated a little too bluntly. "We come here a lot during the night after practice," Woobin clarified and they took a seat at my table. "Practice?" I looked at the both of them. "It's Lee Jongsuk and Kim Woobin!" some girl yelled loudly. "WHat! How do they notice us like this!" Jongsuk said in a panicked voice, "no we're not!" he yelled back. "Omo! There's a girl with them!" "When I say go, we're going to make a run for the door," Woobin looked at me. 

"Go!" 

I was literally dragged out the door by Woobin with a group of girls on our trail. I don't even know where we were running too or how long we had been running, I just followed the hand that was holding onto mine tightly. We ran behind a few tall trees in the park and sat down on the grass in this hot weather. We were both trying to reclaim our breath more evenly, and when the girl's voices was on the other side of the trees, we both froze up. "I saw them go down the street over there, let's go!" one of them said and they ran off. I thought my heart was going to fall out of my chest, never in my 24 years of life had I ever had to run away from a group of girls. "Am I missing something?" I asked when my breath returned back to normal. "You really don't know who I am?" he looked amused when he asked me that question. "I just recently moved back here from the United States," I told him honestly. "Are you some kind of famous singer?" and at that moment, my stomach decided to growl in the quiet park. He laughed before he spoke, "are you hungry?"  

"It's not funny! I didn't get to eat anything for lunch twice because of you!" I hit him on the arm. "Ow! For a girl you hit pretty hard," he complained. "I'll take that as a compliment," I smiled innocently and got up to leave. "Yah," Woobin grabbed my hand and pulled me back, "do you want to get chased again?" he took off his hat and set it on my head. "We have to play it safe," was all he said as he still held on to my hand as we walked back in the direction where we came from. "Oh, we lost Jongsuk," he announced blankly as he looked at the screen of his phone, what a weird guy. "I know somewhere where we can eat peacefully," he looked at me and I frowned. "Cute," he muttered, "why are you frowning?" I didn't hear what he was mummbling about before the question. "I get slapped by this guy's girlfriend and then I get dragged down a few streets by the same guy and now the same guy is probably kidnapping me leading me to god knows where," I walked beside him as he still got the grip on my hand. "Yah, I'm not some creeper, for all I know you were probably trying to seduce me," we kept walking as we bickered. "What kind of a deduction is that?!" I couldn't help but smile but when he looked at me, I quickly hid that smile and frowned again. "I don't know, you're driving me nuts," he said as he pushed open a door to a little restaurant. 

"Halemonim," Woobin greeted an elderly lady at the counter. "Oh Woobin! It's been a while since you have came here, and you bought such a pretty girl with you too for the first time, is she your girlfriend?" she turned her attention to me. "We're just friends," I answered and  tried to fling Woobin's grip off, it felt like I had to peel his fingers off my hand. "Oh, has he not win your heart yet?" she asked in a teasing tone and I just laughed because I didn't know how to answer her. 

We were led to a table deep into the restaurant near the corner, it was small but it had such a "homey" feel to it that it was comfortable. "I'll come back to take your orders in a few minute," the elderly lady left us. "That really hurt," I accussed him. "What? You said we were friends but I didn't say anything," he said innocently. I flipped open the simply designed menu and stared at awe at all the dishes the restaurant had to offer, it was nothing but traditional Korean food that people would cook as a home meal. "Do you know what you want?" Woobin asked, completely different from the way he was acting a few minutes ago. "I don't know, there's so much to choose from," I looked down the menu again. "You should try this udon," he pointed at a name on the menu, it's this restaurant's special," he informed. I decided to go with his recommendation because I didn't want to spend forever trying to decide on what to eat, my stomach was beyond starved. 

The lady came back to take our orders a few minutes later, Woobin stepped out to answer a phone call and I sat there alone. When he finally came back in, he looked a little annoyed and I decided to not say anything. His phone rang again and he turned it off without even letting it ring a third time. "Two orders of our house special," the owner bought out our order. 

When I took the first bite of my udon, I couldn't believe the taste, it tasted almost exactly what my biological mother used to make when I was younger, I could never forget that taste. "Are you okay?" Woobin looked over at me. "My mother used to make a dish that taste almost exactly like this," I had no other words to describe it. "Really? THis is their house special though," he continued eating. "Maybe I just rememebered wrong," I shrugged off the feeling of nostalgia. 

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Jongsuk had joined us when we were nearly done with our order, so we stayed at the restaurant longer then any of us expected. "Please come again, it's not every day that troublemaker brings a girl with him here," halemonim gave me a hug before we left the restaurant. I really liked the restaurant and halemonim, it made me feel as if I was sitting at someone's house rather then a restaurant, she even made sure that I called her halemonim. "Anyway, I'm going to head off, I have to meet with Eric and them," Jongsuk said his bye's to us and headed in the opposite direction. "Let me take you home," Woobin offered. "It's fine, I live like right there," I pointed at the apartment building that was literally right there. "It's not safe for a girl to walk home this late," he walked off before I could even say anything, I had no choice but to walk with him. "I never knew that restaurant was right there," I attempted a decent conversation. "It's really easy to miss when you're so caught up in the city life," he walked slowly to match his steps with mine. We walked in a comfortable silence and I realized how exhausted I was from everything that happened today. "You know you run really slow," he suddenly said. "Well I'm sorry I wasn't blessed with long legs," I rolled my eyes, way to break the normal conversation "aura". "Well, we're here, thanks for today," I meant for the lunch turned into dinner and not the running. "It's nothing, you got hurt today because of me, how is your cheek feeling?" he pointed at my left cheek. "It still stings a little but I'll live," I smiled a little. "Alright, I'm still very sorry about that," he apologized again. "I'll live Woobin, now will you please go? It's getting late," I walked up to my building's main entrance. "Yeah, bye," he said a little awkwardly and headed in the direction of where we came from. I was so tired that I couldn't wait to take a nice hot shower and then just fall into bed. 

(Woobin's POV) 

The drive home was boring and quiet after all that had happened today. I almost forgot that I had just met Inhee today but it had felt like we had known each other for a while. I unlocked the front door of my house and was greeted by umma's frantic questions, "where have you been all day? You were suppose to report back after the inspection! I thought you got into trouble and disappeared off again!" 

"I'm fine umma, I had some things to take care of at SBS, and the acquarium is fine, I don't understand why you wanted me to go there in the first place, I'm really tired today so can I go up to shower and go to bed?" I asked her nicely to put down the fire. "I'm sorry, yes please go to bed early, we have a breakfast meeting with your father's friends tomorrow," she reminded me and I groaned. "Don't be a 5 year old," she yelled as I walked up the stairs. 

As soon as I got to my room, I took a quicker shower because I really just wanted to sleep, I hadn't been getting the right amount of sleep with all the photo shoots and filming. "Where did I put the shirt?" I asked no one in particular, I thought I bought a shirt to the bathroom but apparently I didn't. I threw my light jacket to my bed and a unfamiliar white Samsung note 3 came out from the pocket. I sat down on my bed still unable to find that shirt and picked the phone up. I flipped open the case and hit the home button, a picture of Inhee and another girl popped up on the screen.

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