Raein eyed her reflection in the full length mirror behind her bedroom for an overall check. She tucked a couple of stray strands of hair into her French twist. She then plopped herself onto the couch in the living room before closing her sore eyes.

The sudden ringing of doorbell made her eyes fly open and she turned with a start towards the sound, her pulse accelerating from either excitement or nervousness. She couldn’t pinpoint which it was. She had appeared calm and collected in front of Bobby but in actual fact, her heart rate accelerated every time Bobby shot her his killer smile and she felt breathless whenever Bobby laughed. Falling in love with Bobby again, perhaps? She smiled.

She unlocked the door and swung it opened; Bobby raised his head to meet her. Midnight blue suit, which sat well on his broad shoulders and emphasized his muscular physique and a black tie rested against the white shirt that hugged his broad chest. Hair pushed back at the side, looking very clean yet attractive. He looked impressive, suave, incredibly handsome. Her heart banging against her rib cage as she gripped the edge of the door for support.

While Raein completed her perusal, Bobby did his own in one swift, comprehensive glance that missed nothing—the cream coloured sweater that adorned her skin; the pulse beating in the delicate hollow at the base of ; her beautiful chocolate eyes, wider than usual tonight as they gazed up at him. His gaze lingered for a moment on her hair. The style suited her as it highlighted her beautiful bone structure of her face…

“Hey.” Raein tried to calm her beating heart, indirectly interrupting his train of thought.

“Hey.” He returned huskily and let his gaze travel over her once more, not even attempting to hide the appreciation in his eyes.

“Has anyone told you lately that you look lovely?”

She flushed and turned away on the pretext of retrieving her purse.

“ Well, you have been saying that quite often recently.” She replied, striving for a light tone yet secretly pleased by his compliment.

“You look very nice tonight too.”

He smiled and stepped back a little to make room for her. “I don’t wear suits often. Only on special occasions.”

She smiled at the thought that she was very special in his eyes. Once she had her heels on, she stepped out and locked the door.

He took her hand in his without hesitation as they headed into the elevator to the ground floor, with a taxi waiting by the road side for them. She arched an eyebrow questioningly at him, but he pretended to not notice as he opened the door for her.

“Hop in.”

She decided to keep quiet to see what was installed for them. It was a peaceful, leisurely ride with Bobby’s effortless flirting and sweet-talking from time to time. Traffic was moderate and steady despite it being a weekend.

As they pulled up in front of the restaurant, her voice died in mid-sentence even as her eyes widened in surprise. He had chosen one of the finest restaurants for tonight’s dinner date. Eventhough it was not the priciest restaurant but the food costs were certainly not cheap.

“Jiwon. I never expected anything like this,” she exclaimed.

He smiled at her reaction. “I hope you would like it.”

She smiled before frowning and turned to him. “This will cost more than normal. There’s no need to spend that kind of money on me.”

She had always known about the money issue the Kims had been experiencing and hence, she didn’t want to put more strain in his pocket. He had initially gone to Korea in a hope to pursue his dream and at the same time, helping his family out of the finance condition. He was half-way through but still not quite yet. Money didn’t come easily as of now (at least) and she recognized that.

“No worries. Just think of this as a birthday gift or a humongous fancy date that I owe you since years ago. When you add all those together, I think we deserve to dine here.” He added with a smile, leaning closer to drape an arm casually over her shoulder.

She was too stunned by his reply. He rested his hand lightly against the small of her back as they walked towards the restaurant. The beautiful little restaurant was tucked far enough away from the main road to be discrete. Inside, the atmosphere was elegant, yet informal and it offered an appropriate mood for the evening.

They were seated at a cozy little table near the window.

“This is nice,” Raein’s eyes were trained on every piece of wood furniture which complemented the lightings and decorations well. “How did you ever find it?”

“It wasn’t that hard. This restaurant is just popular,” Bobby smiled.

He did his research. He was recommended the perfect place to take her to early dinner. He actually spent the whole night bothering his friends about it. He was considered to be ‘new’ in town and in addition to the number of construction and re-construction that had been done since he was away, friends were the only option he had left to give her a memorable dinner.

The dinner was everything that she had expected or perhaps more than that.  With all the years of being apart from each other, she almost forgot how ideal a dinner companion Bobby could make. He was witty, well-read, an excellent conversationalist, moving with ease from one topic to another, adding jokes in between (though some are really bad jokes that she cringed upon hearing). She found herself being extremely relaxed and comfortable.

The evening had been so enjoyable that she hated for it to end. There were only a few more days left before Bobby head back to Korea and she was making use of every possible second she could have with him.

She summoned up a smile. “Thank you for the food.”

The ride back was pleasant. The conversation flowed naturally, punctuated by periods of comfortable silence. When they pulled up in front of her apartment, he headed out along with her after paying the taxi driver.

“Are you not-” the taxi drove away before she could finish her sentence.

Bobby shook his head. “Nevermind me. If you’re not in a hurry, we could walk around.”

He nodded towards the park near her area. She initially wanted to invite him up, but decided to go against that idea. Her parents were home and she would not want Bobby to feel unease in their presence after what happened last time.

“Alright.” Bobby gave her shoulder a squeeze before tugging her closer to him. He took her arm as they walked across the uneven ground, the warmth of his fingers penetrating the soft wool of her sweater. When they reached the old-fashioned park bench, both leaned back, sitting close to each other, with his arm draped across the back and he stretched his legs in front.

“It’s such a nice night. I wish I could do this everyday with you.” Bobby turned to look at her.

“I do too.” Raein rested her head on his shoulder and she felt Bobby placing his head gently on top of hers. His fingers were brushing her shoulder lightly now, back and forth, back and forth and she was so comfortable that she thought she could fall asleep right there and now.

“We usually finished our practice at round midnight or beyond. And we would have a ten minutes’ walk from the company to our apartment.” He closed his eyes and rubbed his cheek against the side of hers. “I get to reflect a lot in those comfortable night walk.”

“What are you reflecting on?” She dropped her gaze, playing with the clasp of her purse.

“Everything.” He sighed.

She slightly lifted her head and Bobby took that as a sign to lift his head off hers. She turned to face him, urging him to continue.

Bobby laughed. “Nothing too serious.”

“Really?” She moved her face closer to his, eyes squinting to scrutinize his facial expression.

“Really.” He held her shoulder and pulled her into his embrace, enjoying the comfort only she could give.

Raein rested her head on his shoulder, hands slowly rising to his back to give slow pats.

She silently prayed that time could go slower so that she could spend more time with this big fellow. And she prayed that the Jiwon she knew would remain the same despite having more fame coming his way.