“Dad, how did you get Mom to marry you?”

There’s a smile on Jiwon’s face wider than the equator when his son asks him that, but even before he says anything, his wife shouts from the dining table that she’s currently setting up.

“If you’re not telling it like it is, I’m filing for a divorce, Jiwon.”

The 11-year-old boy laughs at his mother’s warning, already used to her sense of humor. Jiwon laughs along with him, shaking his head at his wife’s words. It’s been almost thirteen years since they get married and her sense of humor never changes. She never does too, and Jiwon is always thankful for that. He pats the space beside him on the couch, signaling his son to sit next to him.

“This will probably be a long story, but this is how I managed to get your mother to be with me. You better listen up closely, it’s a foolproof step-by-step guide to landing yourself a wife.”

His wife snorts at that but Jiwon chooses to ignore it.

***

Get her attention

“Dude, she’s a senior.”

“So what? She’s still cute.”

Jiwon responds without even looking at Hanbin, even though he can practically picture the exasperated look that must be painted across Hanbin face right now. It’s really hard to care about that when she’s sitting alone in that library wearing that thick-framed glasses, eyes focused in the Bram Stoker book she’s reading, being all pretty and seemingly unaware that Jiwon has been staring at her for the last five minutes. He’s been in this university for months now and he can’t believe that he never notices her before.

“Jiwon, we’re freshmen okay? We’re peasants, basically. Peasants don’t go after senior girls, that’s like… Aladdin chasing over Princess Jasmine, or Peter Pan chasing over Wendy. Do you want the senior guys to beat our asses into a pulp?”

“What the… Disney? Are you trying to warn me about going after a senior girl or tell me that you’re a five-year-old girl on the inside? She’s so cute, though. You know what, I’m gonna talk to her.”
Hanbin’s face pales as Jiwon stands up from his seat, ready to walk over towards the seat that girl is in.

“Oh my god you’re actually doing this. Kim Jiwon, we are no longer friends, I’m telling you. Don’t call out to me for help when the senior guys are trying to dislocate your jaw, and my wingman services are over as of this second!”

It’s hard for Jiwon to take Hanbin seriously when he sounds like an angry cat hissing at him and there’s a pretty girl at stake. The girl still hasn’t noticed the commotion happening just a few feet way from her, nor has she noticed Jiwon walking towards her. Jiwon whips out his best walk, confident that it’s got ‘swag’ written all over it, and the only thing she does is turn another page in her book. She’s only a few steps away now and Jiwon is already mentally planning on what he’s going to say to her. It’s unfortunate that he only plans on what to say and not on which direction his feet will take him.

Jiwon focuses his eyes solely on the girl that the backpack lying on the floor goes completely unnoticed to him. Predictably, he trips over it. While his arms are flailing about as he tries to find something to hold on to and stop himself from falling, he somehow manages to push a desk over to the side, and that’s not even the worst part. The desk he accidentally pushes over knocks over a book shelf, it falls over and lands with a loud ‘boom’ on the floor. A faint ‘ow’ is also heard after that as Jiwon’s face connects with the library’s cold marble floor.

It’s like Jiwon can actually feel people’s stares poking at his back and he’s almost afraid to look up to see the damage he’s done. If the sounds that reach his ears are any indication, he expects to see the kind of damage that only a tornado can bring. He looks up timidly, and the first thing he sees is the pretty girl looking down at him with a horrified look on her face. It only lasts a few seconds though, because she only smirks and rolls her eyes before focusing back on her book as if the whole library doesn’t just fall apart right before her.

Jiwon almost regrets making fun of Hanbin and his Aladdin reference as he realizes that the only thing he wants at that second is a magic carpet to take him as far away as possible from the library, or the university, perhaps even the earth if. Running away to Pluto sounds neat.