One week passed, and nothing particularly exceptional happened, except for the fact that Yisun continued to crush on Yoongi, who remained oblivious.

That Friday, when she showed up to room 304, Yoongi was already there, playing with a basketball and practicing dribbling between his legs. “Oh hey!” he called out cheerfully when he saw her walk in.

Yisun just waved at him, walked to her usual spot and put her bag down.

“… What’s up? You ok?” he asked her, noticing she didn’t seem really up to task today.

“I’m fine. Let’s just watch a movie today. What do you wanna watch?” she asked, not even looking up at him and fussing in her bag to pull out some DVD boxes.

“Whoa, no, I know something’s wrong” he said, grabbing her wrists and to her stop fussing.

“It’s fine. It has nothing to do with you so just don’t mind it” she said, shrugging him off.

“Tell me”, he remained unmoving.

She sighed and looked up at him. “Well, I was supposed to go to this book-signing event thing in Seoul with Jang-mi this weekend.”

“And?”

“Well she can’t go. She has to babysit her kid brother suddenly.” Yisun went on with a big sigh.

“Ok, that . …but, can’t you just go by yourself?”

“No, she’s the one with a car.” She sat down, “and I can’t drive.”

“Well why don’t you take the train?” suggested the red-haired boy.

She looked up at him, then back down and pouted “It’s far. I don’t wanna go alone.”

“Is that event such a big deal?”

“YES!” she exclaimed, “We’ve had our tickets for months… It’s for the release of the 5^thTowers of Heaven book!! Like, you don’t understand, it’s my favorite series! I love it so much! And they’ll have the author there and it’s her first time in Korea!!”

Yoongi chuckled. It was the first time he had ever seen her really excited (about something that wasn’t school related) and he kinda found the idea of her fangirling about a book rather funny.

“Ok then, I’ll take you” he said, shrugging.

“What?” she looked up at him.

“Which day is it?”

“Sunday”

“Good, I don’t have practice. So it’s fine” he said, half-sitting on the desk in front of her.

She just stared at him dumbfounded.

“Yoongi…. You really don’t have to” she said, staring at her fingers. Though secretly, she really, really wanted him to be serious about his invitation.

“It’s cool. You’ve done a lot for me already; just consider this as me paying you back”

“Omg, really?!” she asked hopefully and he nodded. “kiiheeeeee!!!” she squealed and started jumping up and down. “Thank you so much!” she rushed to give him a hug, without thinking, and then quickly backed off, embarrassed.

***

“Oooh, this place is so big!!!” exclaimed Yisun, wide-eyed as they entered the massive, 2-floor bookstore located in the middle of Gangnam. The place had the luxurious feel of an upscale department store, and row and rows of books in all languages were arranged stylishly around displays of stationary and other knick-knacks. Even Yoongi had to admit he was a little bit impressed.

It had taken them over two hours to drive there, and they were just barely on time for the event, which started at 4pm, so they made their way to the second floor right away. When they reached the top, Yoongi was really surprised to see a huge line of people snaking around the room; all waiting for a chance to meet the author.

“Wow, so many people” his voice was deadpan but you could tell the surprise in his eyes.

“Of course! This book is really famous you know. Translated in 33 languages!”

Yoongi just looked at her, his eyes twinkling with silent mirth, trying hard not to laugh.

They showed their tickets to a guard and took their place in line. While they slowly moved up the line, Yisun spent her time explaining to Yoongi the plot and universe of her favorite book series. Mostly he just let her talk, occasionally nodding and smiling to show that he was listening. Eventually, she struck up a conversation with a group of girls in front of them, and he quickly lost interest, unable to understand what was going on. After that, he spent the next hour looking at his phone and playing games on it. Every now and then he would look up and see her still chirping away happily, and he’d smile and shake his head. He thought it was cute that she was so eager about this. Nerdy, but cute.

When Yisun’s time came she got so overwhelmed and forgot everything she’d been wanting to say. She squealed at the older European woman that she was her biggest fan and was so happy to meet her, while Yoongi waited patiently to the side. Then, once all the registered people had gotten their books signed, there was a short panel where the author talked about her book and answered some questions. When it finally ended, it was already past 7pm, and they were both ready to go home.

“Well, that was different” said Yoongi, in the car.

“Did you really hate it?” asked Yisun, guiltily, “Sorry for making you come!”

“Nah it was alright,” he replied, “I think I even understood a bit of that speech at the end.”

“Oh, really?” said Yisun, pleasantly surprised.

“Yeah, like ‘hello’ and ‘thank you’” he smirked.

“Aww, come on!” she playfully punched him on the shoulder and he laughed.

“Ok, maybe a bit more than that,” he admitted, “but you were really cool though, you spoke to her all in English for like, a whole minute.”

“Well, there is a reason I’m the one tutoring you, you know” she looked at him haughtily, completely missing the diss in his comment and he cracked up.

“Aaaah… I’m so happy!!!” squealed Yisun, hugging her the book to her chest, and it just made him smile more.

“Hey are you hungry?” he asked after a few minutes.

“Starving!!” she nearly shouted.

“There’s a rest area coming up ahead, we could stop for food there if you like”

“I think that’s the best idea you’ve had all day!” she exclaimed and he raised an eyebrow at her.

They ordered some noodles at the rest stop, and ate quietly and ravenously for about 5 minutes. Once they were done, they walked around for a bit, looking at the shops, getting some ice cream, and then finally made their way back to the car. But after having both gotten in and secured their seatbelts, Yoongi put the key in the ignition, turned and… nothing.

He tried a few more times but all he got were choking sounds from his car that refused to start.

“Are you kidding me?!?” he groaned, and Yisun gave him a rather hopeless look.

Since there was a gas station in the service area, they figured that there might be someone there who’d be able to help them, so they made their way over.

“Excuse me…” asked Yoongi, pushing the door open.

“Yes?” answered a uniformed guy in his 20’s behind the counter.

“Hum… we’re parked near the restaurants and our car won’t start… do you think… uhh…  is there anybody who could help us?” he asked, very politely, to Yisun’s great surprise.

“Ahh, sorry, we don’t do repairs here, but...” started the young man, before he was interrupted by a pair of ajusshis sitting at a table in the back.

“Oi! Don’t talk about what you dun’ know nothing about!” said one of the old men, getting up and walking over, then addressing Yoongi he said, “I know a thing or two about cars. What’s your problem, son?”

“Well, that’s the thing, we don’t know” answered Yoongi, “it just won’t start.”

“Ok then, let’s have a looksee…”

So they made their way back to the car. The old man popped the hood and poked at a few things before nodding and asking them to wait a bit while he went to fetch some tools. He returned a short while later in a small truck, out of which he removed some booster cables.

“It’s just too cold and your car’s not that young, kid.” He said as way of explanations while he adjusted the cables. “Go in and try it again when I tell you.”

So Yoongi did as instructed and 3…2…1… the car revved up to life. “Oooh…. Thank god…” he whispered before getting out of the car, leaving it running.

“Thanks so much mister! Do we need to pay you?” asked Yisun, as Yoongi climbed out of the car and joined her.

“Oh no, how could I not do a small favor like that for such a cute couple, eh?” he answered, chuckling.

“Oh no, we’re no-“ started Yisun, but Yoongi shut her up by putting an arm around her and giving her his nicest shut-the--up look.

“Yup, that’s my girl!” exclaimed Yoongi, squeezing her shoulder, “She’s shy…” he added with a super greasy smile, while laughing with the old man.

“You keep your eyes on that, young man. Pretty girl like that… smart-lookin’ too!” and he laughed more while Yoongi winked at her.

“Will do, mister!” said Yoongi, giving the elder a little salute, which made him laugh.

“Alright, you kids take care” said the old man before climbing back into his truck.

They both bowed to him, and as they turned back to get into the car, Yoongi gave Yisun a little slap on the , saying “come on, babe!” and she squealed, which in turn made him laugh even more.