[2 weeks later]

10:30 a.m.

Minhee, who was wearing a white t-shirt under a knitwear cardigan along with blue jeans, was waiting for Donghae's arrival in front of F(x)'s dorm building while holding a duffel bag. She was still clueless as to why Donghae told her to pack her clothes for 2 days 1 night and wait for him at 10:30 o'clock at the current place she was now. She knew he was going to bring her somewhere but he never told her where their destination would be. Whenever she asked him, he would keep giving the same answer; "Secret". It was really annoying so she eventually gave in from asking him the question.

After a while, a familiar car stopped right in front of her and the next thing she knew, Donghae was getting out of the car wearing a plain white t-shirt and jeans.

“Good morning,” he greeted as he approached her with a sweet smile of his.

“Good morning,” she smiled back at him.

“Did you wait long?” he asked as he took the bag that she held from her and then opened the car door for her. 

“Aniyo. You come on time,” she answered, before getting inside the car. He closed the door and walked to the back seat door and put Minhee's bag inside it, next to his bag.

"Oppa, where are we going?" Minhee asked right after Donghae got inside the car, sitting on the driver seat. She hopefully hoped that he wouldn't give her the same answer, the annoying ‘secret’ word, like he used to whenever she asked him the question.

"Uhmm...Try guess" Donghae grinned meaningfully, as the car started moving. He was oblivious that Minhee now was sighing in relief after hearing his new answer; not the word ‘secret’ as the answer anymore. 

"Jeju Island" Minhee answered without hesitation, already feeling excited just to think (if her guess was true) that they were going to Jeju Island.

Donghae shook his head, signaling that her answer was wrong.

Minhee pouted. "Then…Nami Island?" she brightened back when she mentioned the place’s name.

Donghae did the same action as before, shaking his head. Then, Minhee continued guessing by mentioning various places in South Korea and she started to frown when Donghae kept shaking his head at her every guess.

"Then what? Han River?" she said, already annoyed.

Donghae laughed and nodded enthusiastically. "Neh," he answered jokingly.

"Ahh~ So we're going to stay at Han River for two days and one night," she said sarcastically.

Donghae chuckled once again before he spoke. "Actually we're going to my hometown," he eventually told her their destination.

"WHAT?!" Minhee looked at him with wide eyes. "Y-Your hometown? M-Mokpo?"

Donghae nodded. "My mom wants to meet you."

Minhee was dumbfounded, especially when his mom was mentioned. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? If you told me earlier, I'd probably have prepared to give your mom something"

"Well, I just want to surprise you," Donghae shifted his gaze from the road and looked at her with a smile.

INTERVIEW ROOM

Q: What did you feel when you found out you'd go to Donghae's hometown at Mokpo?

Minhee: Of course I was shocked. The day before we departed, he had only told me to pack my clothes for 2 days and 1 night trip, but he didn’t tell me where we'd be going. He said it was a secret. And he really did surprise me when he eventually told me where our destination was. I was so nervous to meet his mom there. At the time I couldn't stop thinking; 'What if his mom doesn't like me?' 'What should I do if she doesn't like me?' I was really worried.

Q: You said your mom wanted to meet Minhee. Did your mom say anything about Minhee to you?

Donghae: My mom said she never misses to watch us in this show. She also said Minhee looked like a good girl and did ask me to take good care of her. From how my mom said that, I could feel that she really likes Minhee. My mom also had mentioned that she'd like to meet Minhee. That's why I think this is the right time for both of them to meet.

"What did you eat for breakfast just now?" Minhee asked.

"I ate cereal. You?" Donghae asked back.

"I ate sandwiches" Minhee replied. "Since I always get hungry, I bring some sandwiches so that I won't be starving in the middle of our journey soon" she added then tried to reach her hand out for her bag that was placed on the back seat but then she found her hand couldn’t reach it.

Realizing the difficulty Minhee had to reach her bag, he stopped the car since the traffic light turned to red and he took the opportunity to help her get the bag. He was too focused to get her bag that he didn’t realize Minhee was quietly eyeing his muscular arm in utter admiration while blushing. The white t-shirt that he wore really made his built body stand out, which was a breathtaking sight for Minhee.

“Got it,” Donghae said once he finally got to take a hold of her bag then he handed it to her.

“Thanks,” she muttered as she took her bag that was handed to her, smiling sheepishly. Although her eyes now were gazing at the things inside her bag as she rummaged her bag searching for a container contained sandwiches among the clothes inside it, but her mind was still playing an image of Donghae’s muscular arm. And she didn’t realize that her cheeks were now turning redder, while the sheepish smile that still tugged on her lips went wider by seconds. Even so, she still managed to get the container contained sandwiches out of the bag.

"I-I think I got hungry back,” she said, stammering a little at the beginning, then took one of the sandwiches from the container and took a bite of it. She then shyly held the sandwich to Donghae's mouth and Donghae without hesitation took a bite of it.

"You ate the part where I bit" Minhee stated, looking down at the sandwich's part where Donghae had bitten, as if it was the weirdest thing ever.

"So what? That's what we called an indirect kiss," Donghae smiled cheekily, while Minhee sheepishly laughed.

“What are you talking about~? You and your kiss,” she shyly complained then with a sheepish smile plastered on her face, she sheepishly ate the part of the sandwich Donghae had bitten.

Donghae whipped his head around to look at her right on time when she bit on the sandwich. He couldn’t help but smile and .  "Look where you're biting on~"

"What?" she played innocent, suppressing her smile as she chewed on the food.

"Aye~ Do you think I didn’t see what you did there? You ate the part where I've bitten," he pointed out.

"So what? I can bite anywhere I want," she retorted.

"The problem is, you should've kissed me directly, not indirectly," he laughed shyly after saying that, so did Minhee. After they stopped laughing, Minhee fed Donghae the sandwich again and she blushed when Donghae searched for the part where she had bitten on, before he bit on it. The same silly and cheesy thing happened until there were no longer sandwiches in the container. Minhee put the empty container back inside the bag and kind of threw the bag to its original place back.

"Usually, how long will it take to arrive at Mokpo?" she asked.

"Three to four hours, I guess" Donghae replied.

"What? Wouldn't you be tired driving until four hours long?" Minhee looked at Donghae in concern. "Why didn't we go to Mokpo by train instead?"

"Car is better. It'd be easy for us to move around, anyway" he responded.

"Let's do it like this; you drive for two hours and I'll replace you for two hours. Or shall we exchange places every hour?" Minhee suggested.

"Like this; if I feel tired, you'll replace me to drive. Okay?" Donghae said.

Minhee paused for a moment, thinking, before she nodded. "Okay."

They stayed quiet after that as both of them had their eyes on the road. That was until Minhee found Donghae looking at her from the corner of her eyes that she finally tore her gaze away from looking at the road and shifted her gaze towards him.

"What?" she asked.

He smiled shyly as he looked at the road back. "Nothing. It's just....your side profile.....is so beautiful."

And that got Minhee blushing as she shyly muttered ‘Thanks” for the compliment she just got.

It took them for a while to recover from shyness before Donghae broke the silence. "Recently, I've watched some movie."

"Oh, really?”

"There's a scene from the movie that I'd like to try…..with you."

"How does the scene look like?"

"Well, the scene took place in the car, the guy was driving and the girl sat beside him; like us right now. Then, the guy took the girl's hand in his...." he reached out for Minhee's hand (with one of his hands while another hand was holding the steering wheel) and gently held it. Chuckling shyly, he continued, "And then, the guy did this." He brought her hand up to his lips, then to Minhee's shock, he lightly pressed his lips on the back of her hand. A second later he burst out laughing shyly, so did Minhee who was blushing madly at the time.

“What are you doing?” she sheepishly retorted, their hands still clasped together. She blushed harder when he intertwined their fingers together.

Donghae didn’t reply but still chuckled shyly. His cheeks now were as red as cherry. And he couldn’t be happier at the fact that their hands now entangled with each other. He had been dreaming of trying out the movie scene with Minhee for a long time and finally he got the opportunity. Thank God.

"Oppa, what if your mom….doesn't like me?" Minhee asked anxiously.

Donghae chuckled. "Don't worry, yeobo. She'll surely like you."

"How can you be so confident about that?" 

"Of course. She's my mom. You know what, she said that you look like a good girl. She even told me to take care of you," Donghae told.

"Jinjja?" Minhee somehow felt touched at what had been told by Donghae.

"And my mom also said that she never misses to watch us in this show, you know" Donghae added.

"Really? Ahh, it's embarrassing!" she face-palmed herself in embarrassment as she remembered those cheesy moments she had had with Donghae in the previous episodes that had been broadcasted.

Donghae laughed. "You just feel embarrassed now? Don't you know the whole nation are also watching us all this time?"

She whined in response and laughed when Donghae laughed at her.

After a while laughing, silence took over the atmosphere back as Donghae focused back on his driving while Minhee stared out of the window while humming to the song playing on the radio. That was when her eyes became heavy. Her eyes became heavier and heavier each second before sleepiness finally took over her. Her slumber practically made her head tilt to the side all of a sudden, awakening her. Donghae who saw her from the corner of his eye, turned his head to look at her.

"Are you sleepy?" he asked.

"Neh," she murmured while battling with her eyes which felt heavier than before.

"Then, sleep."

"Aniyo.