“Ahh…I’m so full!” I placed my pair of chopsticks on the table and leaned back against my chair, letting out a sigh of contentment. I was famished from all the perfectly roasted Peking duck, fried rice, and General Tso’s chicken I ate. But my stomach seemed to empty itself again when something caught my attention. My eyes lit up as a waiter approached the table with the highlight of my dinner: the fortune cookies. I love the sound of the cookie cracking in half, revealing the mysterious fortune that brightens up my days.

                Before the waiter even had the chance to place the small tray of individually wrapped cookies in the middle of the table, I snatched one and quickly tore it open impatiently. The waiter, froze, baffled from my actions. Hyemin, who was sitting across from me, chuckled.

                “Sorry. My friend is a bit of a fortune cookie addict.” Hyemin winked at the waiter, who was most likely in his early twenties. I shot her a glare and rolled my eyes. Of course she would decide to make a move on any good looking guy that gets within 10 meters of her.

                “No worries. I’m glad you beautiful ladies are enjoying your meal. If you need anything else, I’ll be happy to assist.” He smiled and gave a small bow before turning away. But I didn’t miss the look he gave Hyemin as his eyes raked up her body, lingering a bit too long on her chest before meeting her eyes. Couldn’t blame the man and his hormones though. Hyemin was a natural magnet for the opposite , with her long, slim legs and hour-glass figure. If anything, I pity him since he doesn’t have a clue about what he was getting himself into.

                After he left the table, Hyemin leaned over and grinned. “Wasn’t he just so hot? Did you hear him when he spoke? Oh god. That husky voice of his is totally -worthy. Maybe I should hook up with him tonight instead of the other stud we met earlier.” She her lips as her gaze drifted back to the waiter.

                I sighed and shook my head at her. “Did he also leave his number?”

                Hyemin smirked and showed me a sheet of paper. The words Bang Yongguk were roughly scribbled on along with a phone number.

                “Guess that means I’m going home alone again.”

                “You bet.” She grinned and grabbed a fortune cookie for herself. I cracked open my own and read the slip of paper. It said, “Your true love will show himself to you under the moonlight.” I raised my eyebrows—the message was different from the absurd ones I usually received, ranging from corny pickup lines to humorous statements. I split open another cookie and laughed when I saw the message.

                Hyemin leaned over, trying to read my fortune and asked, “What does it say?”

                I turned the slip of paper around so she could read it easily. It said, “Wouldn’t it be ironic to die in a living room?”

                “No fair. Why do you always get the funny ones? I always get the boring ones.” She pouted and showed me her own, which said to cherish her relationships.

                On our way out of the restaurant, Hyemin grabbed my arm before I could reach the exit. I turned to face her, confused. “You can go without me. I think I’ll stay for a bit, see if Yongguk will be off work soon. Or maybe I can talk to the manager of the place and see if I could nail a job here myself.” She wiggled her eyebrows at me, grinning.

                “You’re helpless.” I shook my head, baffled.

                “Nope. Just .” She winked before turning serious again. “You should really start dating though. I don’t want you to become an old grandma before you ever get anywhere in your love life.” Though she was saying it with a straight face, I could tell she was about to crack and start laughing.

                I shoved her playfully. “Worry about yourself. And just stick to one guy already.” I stuck my tongue out at her.

                “Who knows? Maybe this one will be a keeper.” She smiled and waved me off. “Get home safe. I’ll call you tomorrow on all the steamy details.”

                I groaned and left the restaurant.

                Pausing on my way home, I stopped in front of the entrance to a small park. I hated myself at times like this; my spontaneous urges knew no boundaries. And this one in particular was screaming at me to ride the swings, completely disregarding the fact that it was nighttime and sane people were indoors, not in some playground past 10. I bit my lip in contemplation—was it worth the risk of running into drunkards camping out on the benches? I sighed, giving in to my desires. It’s only for a while. It’ll be fine.

                The whistling wind scattered the falling leaves, and I shivered as the breeze blew in my face. Even though it was only autumn, the wind felt like ice pressed against my cheek. I walked towards the swings and sat down, using my legs to push myself off the ground. I looked up at the sky as I swung higher. Remembering my fortune cookie from earlier, I chuckled and thought to myself, what moonlight? The moon was nothing more than a thin crescent in the midst of a pitch black sky. Even the street lamp several feet away shone more brightly than any full moon would have.

                “What are you laughing about?” A voice interrupted my thoughts. I turned to see a young man sitting on the swing beside me. He had light blonde hair that was neatly combed forward, stopping right above his eyebrows. But perhaps it was his eyes that captured my attention the most; even though it was dark, I found myself sinking into his brown almond-shaped eyes. When his eyes met mine, I snapped out of my trance, realizing I had been staring at the handsome stranger for quite a while.

                “The message in my fortune cookie,” I replied, looking towards the ground in an attempt to hide myself from the sudden wave of exposure I was feeling. I hope he didn’t catch me staring at him like some idiot who fell in love at first sight. Wait, what am I even thinking? It’s not like I’m obsessed with him or anything. For god’s sake, I don’t even know this guy!

                Luckily, he didn’t seem to notice. He tilted his head curiously and asked, “What did it say?”

                I lifted my head again and looked at him again. “That my true love would appear before me in the moonlight.” I laughed, before continuing, “Not that it would really happen.”

                “How can you be so sure? Maybe it was talking about me?” He grinned innocently and sent me a cheesy wink. I simply rolled my eyes in response. Guys and their stupid pickup techniques.

                There was a brief moment of silence before he spoke again. “Not all fortune cookies are lies. In high school, I had a fortune cookie that told me bad luck and misfortune would infest my pathetic soul for all eternity. I returned home that night and my mother told me she was getting remarried to a wrestler. You know Chu Sunghoon right? The professional wrestler?” I nodded, even though I had no clue who he was referencing to. I had a feeling this guy was definitely a rambler; might as well save myself the agony of being stuck here listening to him go off in tangents until daybreak. “My dad had a similar build. I remember when he used to train me for hours every weekend.” He shuddered before continuing, “He signed me up for kick boxing and martial arts classes even though I was horrible at sports. I was beat up so badly during the matches.”

                Now that caught me by surprise—him getting beaten up? Even from first glance, he struck me as someone who worked out quite a bit, if not often. “No way. Seriously?” I stared at him in disbelief.

                “Of course not. It was all a lie. My dad runs a hardware store and I have a black belt in Taekwondo,” he said and grinned, flexing his arm to affirm the existence of his biceps. The dumbfounded look on my face must’ve been hilarious to him since he hunched over in laughter. Baffled, I shot my leg out and kicked the side pf his swing. That only caused him to laugh even harder because I was basically pushing myself away from his swing whereas he barely budged. Damn men and their mysterious ability to stay grounded no matter how light they may seem. So as revenge, I reached over and punched him on the arm, laughing when he grabbed his arm in pain, an expression of shock on his face.

                “So much for that black belt of yours. Can’t even stand a bit of pain?” I teased, sticking my tongue out at him. He reached over and pinched my cheek playfully. “Aigoo, so cute.”

                “Yah!” I batted his hand away, and reached over to grab a hold of his cheek. The mini war broke out between us and we continued to ‘attack’ each other.

                “Okay, okay! I concede!” I breathlessly held up my hands in surrender, unable to take any more of his merciless tickling. By then, both of us were sprawled on the padded ground in front of the swings, exhausted and laughing like six year old kids. We lied there side by side, staring up at the sky, catching our breaths. I saw him shift from the corner of my eyes, propping himself up on his elbow to face me.

                “Come to think of it, I never got your name. As much as I would love to get abused by a beautiful stranger during our first meeting, it’d be nice if I knew who I owed this pleasure to.” I let out an exasperated sigh and gave him a look of disapproval, but failed to stop the grin that gave me away. Oh god, how cheesy can this guy get? If he weren’t this cute, I would have walked away ages ago.

                “It’s Soojung.”

                He nodded and continued to stare at me, before making a gesture for me to continue talking. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. “Aren’t you going to ask me for mine?”

                I chuckled. This kid…. “Even if I were to say I’m not interested, I have a feeling you’d end up telling me anyway.”

                He gave me a blank stare, taking a moment to take in what I said. Then he broke into a wide grin, creating the same eye smile I was starting to get addicted to. He nodded in agreement, chuckling to himself. “I’m Daehyun.”