This is a very very long updatee, so hang in there, thanks!

-Elliot

Naeun’s POV:

Darn my members.

All their unnecessary comments whilst on the phone with Seb when I had assured them nothing was going on between us. All I wanted was to celebrate the criminals behind the ransack of Seb’s house with him, and besides, I didn’t really spend a lot of time with him due to my busy schedules, so I wanted to be a better friend.

But really, Sebastian made me comfortable to be me, the real me. Around others, even classmates, I would have to be on my guard from any invasive questions or attacks. When I was hanging out with him, however, some sort of aura of genuine friendliness seemed to radiate from him, and it convinced me that he was the sort of guy who would go through thick and thin to help anyone, not just me.

Now I just wish he would develop feelings for me like a normal teenage fanboy.

 ! Did I just think that?

No, our “relationship” isn’t like that.

Must push out of my mind.

Must push out of-

I felt movement behind me and slight pressure on my right shoulder. I whirled around to find Sebastian, dressed in a fitting T shirt and jeans, with a bag slung over his shoulder.

Ok, fine. I admit it. He looked, and I seldom use this word-

Hot. There. Especially with the way that his shirt showed off his athletic, lithe body and hulking physique. Now only if there was a heatwave and he had to take off his shirtand show his abs..

Omo! What’s wrong with me today? Thinking of all this weird, sick things all of a sudden!

Arghhh! Am I becoming a byeontae           ? ( A/N: ert lol). It was even stranger that I was fantasizing about such things with a new, close friend.

At this rate..

Yeap. I was becoming more obsessed with him as time passed. That may not necessarily be a good thing.

Aiishh! I banged my head repeatedly with the palm of my hand in frustration. “Get you straight, Son Naeun.”

“ Excuse me?”

I looked up in surprise.

Oh no. I didn’t just say that out loud. Did I?

Judging by Seb’s confused look, it looks like I did. Well done Naeun.

“ Ah, Is everything ok, Naeun? You look distraught,” Seb said, showing concern like the many other times he has when I complain ‘bout my busy schedule to him.

Distraught? Understatement of the year. I was embarrassing myself in front of a guy, who I was still getting to know, let alone someone who I was developing feelings for.

Aigoo, no point hiding it anymore.

Taking my silence for an answer, Seb puts a hand on my shoulder, making me the on in turn to look surprised.

“ Aiyah Naeun-ah, you’re so silly by stressing yourself out so much all the time. But it’s cute anyway, I can see the appeal to teen guys.” A broad smile emerged.

Wait a minute…

Why would he say that to my face?

A)   He’s a teenage guy.

B)   He said I was cute..

No way. He likes me?!

Omo!

I almost squealed in delight as I thought of that possibility, instead making a small snort, which I admit was wholly unattractive.  When was he ever going to confess his feelings for me? I feigned mock frustration to myself.

Aishhh, getting too far ahead of yourself Naeun, you don’t even know what he feels. He could just be being polite. You don’t know anything for sure at this point.

Sigh.

Moving on.

“So! Where are we going now?” Seb interrupted my thoughts, sounding like a little kid on his first school trip.

Umm. So this was a problem. I didn’t actually know where we were going to go, I just wanted to hang out with him.

“ Um, how about Myeongdong? It’s a really good shopping district and you can sample some really nice Korean street food. What’s more, the ambience and atmosphere is really vibrant and typical of Korea, so it would be a good taster of Korea of you. “

“ Ooooh, that sounds nice! I hope you know some good restaurants in the area! Oohh, my mouth is watering at the prospect already!” Seb began, already sounding some years his junior.” Pfft. Boys.

“ Sure let’s go now,” I said, breathing a sigh of relief. That was close. It would have been a very awkward situation if he had suspected something.

No matter, that was in the past now. I was gonna enjoy myself now.

“ So Seb, how does it feel to be free from any stress, or more specifically anyone?” I said, smiling at Seb.

 He managed a small smile. “ It feels good, they got what they deserved. And at least now I don’t need to worry about a a broken door again!” I laughed at that, part of my extreme tendency to find anything and everything funny.

We continued to talk for 10 minutes as we walked down multiple streets in the shopping district, taking in the sounds and occasionally stopping to window shop. I came to a stop at one of those touristy shops, where everything is overpriced and not in mint condition anymore, and I went in without first telling Seb. Only had a minute passed, until he had realized that I had ducked into the shop. I heard him enter the shop out of breath after having run frantically around trying to find me. However, by then I was already at the cashier. I rang the bell, indicating there was a customer waiting to the store owner.

A teenage guy, probably no more than 17, emerged from the back room gazing intently at his phone. “Hmm?” he said, clearly more interested in his device than making money for his family.

“Sillyehamnidah, how much is this?”

Only then did he look at the product. “ Oh, this is 20000 won before 15% discount, so altogether the price would be-“ I was fishing out my wallet to dig out some notes when I noticed he had stopped speaking.

“ So the price is-“ I looked up to find him staring at me, mouth agape, and attention wholly focused on me.

“ Um, mister, is everything alright?” I asked cautiously.

It took him a few seconds to speak. “ Uh uh yes yes, noona. You can have the merchandise for free, it’s on the house.”

Well this was unexpected. They stood to lose a portion of their projected profit.

“ Oh, Kamsahamnida mister, I’m very grateful.” I smiled at him broadly as he put the item into a bag and handed it to me.

“ Uh, noona?  Is it too much to ask for a photo with you, you know, since I just gave it to you for free?” indicating the bag now in my hand.

I smiled knowingly. That portion wasn’t unexpected. “ Of course.”

He beamed at me, and pulled out his phone in the blink of an eye.

Click

“Kamsahamnida noona, it’s a dream come true to meet you, I’m a huge fan of Apink, and I wish you all the best in your future comebacks. Apink Fighting!” the guy said, before bowing very low to signify respect for an older person.

“ Thank you mister, have a nice day,” I waved before leaving the shop and rejoining Sebastian outside.

“ You scared me for a moment by suddenly disappearing Naeun-ah, what did you buy?” Sebastian asked, eyeing the bag in my hand.

I extended my arms and the bag forward, a smile plastered on my face. “ For you!”

He took the bag suspiciously from me, and peered inside. He extracted a white T-shirt with the words “ I Love Seoul” printed across the front. He looked slightly confused, which I find highly amusing because he looks really funny when he pulls that face.

“ Um, what’s the meaning-“

“ It’s a sort-of welcome gift for you to Korea! I mean, I see you always wearing the same shirts to school, so why not have some variety eh?”

Cheesy? I know, but I thought it would be a nice gesture of friendship.

He looked down. “ Damn, I thought no one would bother identifying the fact I have like 4 shirts.” Shaking his head in embarrassment, he looked at me this time. “ I didn’t know you were in charge of my wardrobe, Ma’am.”

I feigned disbelief. “ Are you mocking me, Sebastian Lee?” I playfully punched him on the shoulder. “ I can’t help it, I’m a girl that way.”

The ironic thing is, I almost exclusively wear black during practice or when travelling.

He rubs his shoulder repeatedly. ‘ OW! That hurts you know. “

 

Brief change to Sebastian’s POV:

She punched me on the shoulder.

I read somewhere that when a girl does that to you, it’s a sign of attraction.

No way. Is it not unrequited love after all?

 

Back to Naeun’s POV:

 I was hungry. Well, I always was.

“ Let’s go eat Seb, I know you can’t wait for food either!”

“ Great! What delight is in store for me now?” Seb rubbed his hands together in excitement.

I smiled slowly. “Do you like ramen?”

At the restaurant:

 “Wah! Daebak!” Sebastian exclaimed after sampling the hot, delicious ramen he had just ordered.

I just started tucking into my own bowl. After what seemed like only a few minutes, I looked up to ask him a question when I saw his bowl, completely empty of food.

“ Seb! How did you eat so fast?!” I asked, clearly shocked.

He looked sheepish. “ Sorry, just hungry I suppose. It was too good to savour. I know, contradictory statement.”

“ Do you want another bowl?” Before he could answer, I called the waiter over and ordered another portion for him.”

“Kamsahamnida Naeun.” This guy was too polite.

 

I had barely started eating my ramen again, when I was aware I was getting stares from fellow lunchgoers in the restaurant, most of whom were not much older than the pair of us.

Wow, I say pair of us like we’re a couple.

 I guess sunglasses were necessary now, or I’d be all over the internet.

No! I forgot to bring a pair. What was I thinking? I need to be very very careful now.

“No!” I turned around in shock to see Sebastian staring in horror at his wallet. “I don’t have enough money to pay for my food!”

That was a problem easily solved. “ Don’t worry Seb, this one’s on me. Keep your money for more important stuff.”

“ No, I can’t possibly accept more money from you, it’s ok, I’ll go draw some money from the ATM-

“ I insist, I’ll pay for you.” They say, when a girl gives you ‘that’ look, you don’t say anything more. So I tried ‘that’ look on him, and it evidently worked, as he slunk back down into his seat. “ Thank you so much, Noona.”

Did he just call me Noona? Maybe I was wrong about him liking me if he considers me like a sister?

As if reading my thoughts, he immediately said, “Would you rather me call you Noona?”

“ Ani! (A/N: Means no I think) You can call me by name, since we’re close.”

“ Oh ok, thank you then Naeun. But I still feel bad to  make someone pay for me.”

“ Really Seb, it’s really ok for me, and anyways, you can always repay me in some other way in the future, ok?” He nodded his head at this. “ Come, let’s go, since we’ve finished.”

We stood up, and left after paying the bill. Continuing now into the start of the gigantic street market, we stopped at almost every stall to browse the different things on offer, many of which were exclusive to Korea. Every once in a while, I would glance at Sebastian, and he would not notice me as he looked over everything on offer as a child in a toy store during Christmas would.

Only now did I notice that he had a very deep voice that seemed to boom and resonate till very far away. Well, perhaps that’s why so  many girls were staring at him.

Wait. There are girls staring at him? Hoooo damn. They’re trying to catch his attention.

Do I feel jealous? Huh, funny you ask. He is supposed to be spending time with me. Exclusively me.

Ugh, is this the sort of crisis that teenage girls go through often? I don’t know how I could ever take it.

“There she is!”

That shout was so loud, almost everyone in the nearby area turned around, including Seb and I. It took a while to survey the numerous men with cameras and notepads rushing towards me, before I grabbed Seb and took off in the opposite direction.

“ What’s going on Naeun? Why are we running so fast? Where are we going?” Understandably, he was confused and a bit shocked.

“ No.. time.. explain.. later,” I huffed and puffed as I continued running as fast as my legs could carry me, as we dodged lampposts and slalomed through the market’s obstacles.

 “ She’s getting away, faster, faster!” I heard one journalist behind me shout to his colleagues and rival journalists alike.

“ In here Naeun!” Seb pulled me into a dark, narrow alley that certainly couldn’t fit more than half of the pursuers at one time. We continued running, until suddenly..

“Oh .”

Up ahead of us was a brick wall that was more than double my height. There was no way I could get over that. As the seconds slowly passed, I resigned myself to my fate, that I would be all over the news for a scandal.

“ Naeun! Quick!” I looked over to Seb, who had sprinted ahead slightly and placed himself just below the wall.

“ What now?” I asked him, not expecting a favourable answer.

In response, he simply crouched, and interlocked his fingers at the base of the wall.

No way, he didn’t want me to…

Ah what the hell, it was better than getting caught by the reporters.

I took a step back and braced myself. I couldn’t afford to screw up at all. One failed attempt would mean disaster.

In what seemed like slow motion, I ran towards Seb, who gave me a you-can-do-it expression. I just hope his hands could take my weight.

Only 3 steps away from take-off.

2…

1…

As soon as I felt my shoe land on flesh, I jumped with all my might, propelling my body up towards the top of the wall. I outstretched my arms, hoping and praying that a miracle would happen.

Cos well, I didn’t expect I would make it in any case.

I closed my eyes in preparation for my foot to land back on Seb’s hand.

Instead, my fingertips grazed something hard.

Could it be?

I pushed up with all my might, and slowly my hands gripped the surface of the wall. But my strength was sapping fast, and it felt like I couldn’t hold anymore.

“ Come on Naeun! Almost there, you can do it!” I heard Seb half screaming from below. That was all the motivation I needed. With one final cry, I heaved myself over the wall until I was dangling over the other side of the wall. I let myself drop down onto the other side of the wall, and jumped in excitement.

I had done it! It seemed like such a big achievement to me, climbing over a wall. And what’s more, I had help to complete it, so I didn’t even do it by myself, which dampened my sense of achievement.

! Help! How was Seb going to get over without anyone to give him a boost? That meant the reporters were going to catch up with him, and he would be infamous by tomorrow. That was not good.

“ Seb! How are you going to get-”

It seems I didn’t know everything about Seb Lee yet, because in a move that would make Bruce Lee proud, Seb came hurtling over the wall, somersaulting in the air and landing in a crouching position next to me.

Amazed? I think that was too mild to describe what I felt.

“ H-h-how did you get over like that?”

I think he enjoyed seeing me look surprised all the time. “ I used to parkour back home in Singapore. Glad to see my skills are still intact,” he shrugged and brushed off dust from his clothes.

“ That was so cool! I must get you to do that sort of thing again!” Maybe you know, he could wall run or something like that. Now that would be cool.

He smiled. “ We should get out of here, before the people get here.”

I nodded and started jogging towards the other end of the alley. However, our temporary respite was cut off by more shouts of “ There!”. It seemed that they had found another route around.

We continued running for a minute, but the crowd was slowly getting closer and closer, it wouldn’t be long till they could take close up shots of the both of us.

Which is exactly the reason why the first opening to the right that we saw, we literally jumped into, whilst the reporters were not in sight because of the massive crowd still enjoying the market.

We continued running at breakneck speed, even until we could no longer the other side of the alley we had come from.

Yeah, we had lost them. But we continued running.

“ Aaargh!”

A high pitched scream came from my mouth as I tripped over something and lost my balance. I stumbled hard into Seb, who was in front, and we crashed to the ground. I braced for pain, but instead I landed on top of Seb’s chest.

Well, this was very awkward. We were just lying there, one on top of another, still breathing heavily from all the running previously. To a random passer by, a whole different event could have been perceived instead of the one just experienced.

In short, it looked like we were, um.

Never mind.

What’s more embarrassing was that I blushed hard straight away. “ Mianhae Sebastian,” I said, as I slowly pulled myself off him. He looked a bit shocked too.

“ So, um, yeah..” Seb said, looking down and putting his hands in his pockets, clearly embarrassed too.

It was an interesting experience. I mean, what are the chances of that happening again? And plus, he was hot…

Wait till I told my members.

“ You want to go to the mall near here? It’s got quite a lot of cool shops,” I said, trying to change the topic desperately, before it got way too awkward.

 He smiled. “ Will we get chased by crazy reporters there?”

I laughed, glad the tension had somewhat defused. “ Nah, I don’t think so, too many people, they would have an even more slim chance of finding us.”

“ Cool, ok then,” he said, as we made our way there. “ Any chance of you explaining what’s going on?”

I would have thought he would have figured it out by now. “ Ok, um, idols don’t really go out a lot in public without a disguise or cover of some sort, and I didn’t bring my sunglasses with me today, so they found us and even better for them, they could falsely accuse me of having a scandal, which would ruin my image and my group’s image, so it would be really costly. I’m really sorry you got dragged into this.” I bowed in apology.

“ It’s fine Naeun, don’t worry about it, I just appreciate you taking time to hang out with me, and now that I’ve heard how costly it could have been, I’m even more grateful. I’m the one who should be sorry for burdening you.”

He was really too polite for his own good. How gentlemanly. I liked that.

We browsed the shops around the mall for a good 30 minutes, with Seb constantly remarking how cheap stuff in Korea was, and how the merchandise was so interesting and varied as compared to Singapore. And again, he constantly refused my offer to buy something for him that he liked. Oh well, what could I do?

We went to the top floor, where there was an amusement park. I could see Seb’s eyes light up, again like a little kid. Sigh, I might as well let him go there for a while.

We walked over there, when something caught my eye. It was a huge teddy bear that would engulf me and make me look like a dwarf. It looked so fluffy from here, I could imagine hugging it for days on end!

Buttt there was one problem: You needed to play a game to get it, not just simply buy it. I needed 5000 points in two minutes, just by making baskets with a basketball. And I at basketball. I enjoyed extreme sports, but the I had never mastered the basic ones.

I became sad all of a sudden. The bear would have made it an even better day, apart from spending it with Seb.

“ Is everything ok Naeun? You suddenly looked sad for a moment.” Seb’s voice came from next to me.

“ Yeah, it’s just that..” I shifted my gaze to the bear and the challenge, and his eyes followed me. He put two and two together instantly.

“ Really? I can get it for you if you want.”

“ No no it’s ok, I don’t want to bother you, just go have fun.” Pretending to look disappointed always worked.

“ Bothering me? I haven’t shot a basketball in ages, it looks fun. I’ll give it a try!” With that, he marched off in the direction of the game, with me in tow.  Approaching the man in charge of the game, he asked for the full instructions.

“ Ok, so the aim of the game is to hit 20 baskets in 2 minutes, where each basket is 250 points. Depending on your final score, you will be awarded prizes of different levels, with the grand prize being this big teddy bear,” indicating the one thing I so greatly coveted.

Seb nodded. “ Sounds simple enough.” He paid the guy in game tokens and got ready.

“ Seb Fighting!” I was to cheer Seb on from the ‘sidelines’, but frankly I was doubtful. 20 in 2 minutes? The distance between Seb and the basket was very far, more than the range of a free-throw in conventional basketball. I would be happy with a mid-level prize as well.

“ Ready mister?” The guy said.  Seb nodded. “Start!”

In one fluid motion, Seb took a ball off the rack, jumped and lifted it back behind his head andreleased it.

 

Swish.

Seb scored! I have a good feeling about this.                    

He didn’t seem to miss! Every shot he took swished through the net, and Seb made it look effortless. He smoothly transitioned from one ball to another, and in slightly over a minute, while completely focused, he had completed the challenge.

Wow! He did it so fast that even the guy in charge’s jaw dropped. He turned back towards me and gave me a thumbs up. Was that a smirk on his face? That confident, huh?

No matter though, I had my bear!

The attendant still looked amazed as he handed over the bear to Seb, and shook his hand as if in the presence of a legend. Which, according to his performance, seemed to be accurate.

He jogged over to me and handed the bear to me with both hands.

“Omo! You did it! Thank you so much Seb!” I took the bear gratefully.

Then I hugged him.

Granted, it wasn’t the first time I had done so, but it still felt pretty good. I mean, who doesn’t like hugging cute guys? Right? Right?

I felt his body stiffen at the unexpected nature of it, but then eventually he relaxed and returned the hug.

And I mean, it was a bit awkward, because the bear was so large that I had to hold it whilst hugging Seb, meaning that it looked like he was in the middle of the hug, between the teddy bear and I. Oh well.

 

At Seb’s apartment:

So here we were, outside Seb’s door, after I had insisted I walk home with him as part of repaying him for getting my huge teddy bear. I don’t even want to know how many people were judging us as we walked down the street with a humungous stuffed toy.

Anyways, we were about to say our goodbyes, when Seb suddenly cleared his throat, indicating he wanted to say something important. I hoped so at least.

“ Uh Naeun, thank you so much for spending time with me today, as I don’t have a lot of friends still, and I had a really great time, so I’m grateful for that. Also, thank you for taking care of me in school and outside, and for being a good friend that cared about me and my problems.  It’s been a while since I had one of those. So yeah, I’m really glad I met you, although it wasn’t in the most conventional of circumstances.”

That sounded awfully scripted, planned rather, but it was still kinda cute.

What’s more, he said it in a way that made my heart do a double back flip, in the good way. My hypothesis about him liking me still had a chance to be proved correct.

I went with the safe approach. “ I had a great time today as well. I’m always here for you. If you want to talk, call me.”

“ I will, thank you. Uh, I think you should be getting back before your members get worried about you.”

Oh yeah! We had some session with the producers tonight, and I, in the light of my highly enjoyable day, had completely forgotten about it.

“ Oh ok, I will. Have a nice weekend! I’ll see you on Monday then?”

“Yup, Monday. Bye!” I waved back at him as he closed the door to his place.

As I headed down the stairs out to the main street, I sighed.

That brought my ‘date’ with Sebastian Lee to a close, and bash me all you want for sounding clichéd, but I really didn’t want it to end. He just made me feel so comfortable, being with him, and he was really funny and interesting to talk to and interact with.

What had started as a dare from my members had turned into an immensely enjoyable outing.

Today had been a good day.

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Long update!

Haha sup guys, here's a new chap in da story. Took me quite a while to write, so I tried to add in some 'interesting' events to keep the story from being too dry, cos well, I have a tendency to do that.

How do you like the progression of the story so far?

If you like wat you're seeing, don't forget to vote/follow me if you havent already, it would be much appreciated! Thanks!

On a side note, did you guys watch the Mama awards a couple of days ago? All the performances were electric and really good, I recommend watching the show just for that if anything at all.

And on another side note, Apink won for the 2nd time on Music Bank! Yay! Very proud of them and I hope they will continue to win in the future, Apink Fighting! Also, Acube promised a dance practise video for LUV if the view count reached 5 mil by the 15th Dec, so please watch the video on the offical Apink channel to not only support the girls, but to push for a new video as well. 

That's all from me for now, stay tuned for the next update soon ( within a week I hope).

Thanks, and peace out :) 

-Elliot