When I told my sister that Sakura and I had broken up, she didn’t seem surprised. I informed her a few weeks after the fact. She’d asked and I’d reluctantly offered up the information.

“What, did you tell her you loved her?” She asked wryly, grinning as my jaw dropped.

I immediately adopted a defensive attitude and crossed my arms over my chest. She laughed and shifted her weight as I glared down at her. It was hard to glare at a woman feeding a baby, but I managed the best I could.

“So what? Am I not allowed to love her? Can I only love ty, disloyal Maya for the rest of my life? She’s pregnant, you know.” I added as an afterthought.

“Sakura is?” My sister screeched. The baby looked up at her in alarm. “You got a girl you barely know knocked up? Jimin, can you be more of an ?”

I held my hands up in innocence. “No, no. Maya is pregnant.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh. Sakura’s on birth control.” I pompously tossed my head, choosing to ignore the several times we had unprotected .

Melissa scoffed. “Jimin, you are like the king of forgetting protection, so don’t even act like you got this all under control. Pretty sure Maya left you because of all those pregnancy scares you two had.”

“You’re a jerk, you know that?” I ran my fingers through my hair and scowled at her. She patted the couch cushion next to her, so I took a seat.

“And you still act like a frat boy when it comes to girls. You hide your side underneath your bookish, baker of cakes charm, but you still can’t man up and fall in love with a woman for real.”

“I’m in love with Sakura, for real! Why does no one believe me?” I sat up indignantly. Were all the women in the world conspiring against me?

Melissa giggled. “Sakura doesn’t believe you either, huh?”

“Yeah, she doesn’t.” I watched as she laid the baby over her shoulder and patted his back. “Why not? Am I not sincere enough? Am I too sweet for her? I mean, I’m a nice guy, right? I bake cakes for a living and I have a dog. Don’t girls eat that up?”

“Jimin, shut up and stop acting so victimized. You fall in love with every pretty girl who’s your type that you see on the street. And then you go home and read poetry and lament about how lonely you are. You’re the perfect candidate to fall in love with a girl like Sakura. Gorgeous, a little badass, mostly spoiled, and loves books. Just your type.” The baby finally burped and she grimaced. He’d missed quite a bit of the burp cloth and spat up all over her shirt.

“Well, you seem to be the expert on my love life, so awesome. Thanks for the heads up.”

“I thought she was a nice girl. She seemed to really like you.”

“She does like me. She just loves someone else.” Melissa handed the baby to me and I cradled him in my arms, softly tapping his nose with the tip of my finger.

“But you knew that.”

“Yeah, and? Doesn’t make it hurt any less.” I turned away as she blotted the spit up away with a tissue. It took a strong stomach to be a mother.

“I don’t understand what the problem is. The girl you love likes you. Just because she loves somebody else doesn’t change the fact that she wants to be with you. Or did she break up with you?”

“I broke up with her.” I replied quietly.

“Was she upset about it?”

“I don’t know.” I cooed at the baby, beginning to feel uncomfortable with this conversation. “She seemed fine. She didn’t believe that I loved her.”

“Well, you were so devoted to Maya up until a month ago.” My sister pointed out, snickering at me. “Face it, Jimin. You’re a serious, wishy-washy guy. You make no sense. No wonder the girl didn’t understand.”

“Why does she want to be with Jin?! Why does she love him? What about me is unlovable? Huh? What does he have that I don’t?” I glowered at the baby without realizing and he started to cry. My sister swooped in and saved him from me.

“This.” She gestured to me. “This whole attitude is super unattractive. Ooh, poor me, nobody loves me. Let Me go drink Hennessy and write poetry that I won’t ever try and get published because I have an inferiority complex and compare myself to Hemmingway, who was a ty writer, anyway.”

“I love Hemmingway.” I bit my lip, wounded.

“He’s a ty writer. You’re not.” Melissa leaned down and ruffled my hair. “You just need to grow up a little bit. So your first love stopped loving you. You move on, right?”

“I did.” I pointed out bitterly. “And no one believes me.”

She laughed and dangled the baby in front of her face. He giggled as she blew raspberries against his belly. “Jimin, no one believes you because you’re not doing a damn thing about it except moping and getting mad. You don’t break up with a girl you’re in love with if she still is into you. You just try and make her forget about the guy she loves. And if that doesn’t work, then you move on to someone else. You don’t like being alone, right? There are lots of girls out there who would wanna date you. Find another.”

“Girls aren’t dispensable.” I laid down on the couch and pulled out my phone.

“It’s called dating, Jimin. You should try it sometime.”

“I’m not a casual dater. I’m not good at it.”

“Yeah, because you’re so good at serious dating.” Melissa shot back, a laugh in her voice.

“Stop mocking me.”

“Stop being a baby. I’m only trying to give you some good advice.”

“You’re not my mom.” I grumbled.

Melissa fell quiet. I looked over at her to see a sad little half-smile on her face. “Baby, I might as well be. Listen, I just wanna see you happy, okay? Go call Sakura and tell her you’re sorry. Invite her over for dinner. Tell her I insist.”

“Mel, I’m sorry.” I sat up and reached out for her, but she just placed a gentle kiss on my forehead.

“Go call, hmm? Stop being wishy-washy.”

“Nah, I’m not gonna do that.” I refused. She handed me the baby and stole my phone while I struggled to situate James in my arms.

By the time I realized, she had unlocked my phone and pressed it up against my ear, already ringing.

Sakura’s voice mocked me as soon as she answered. “Oh, hey, Jimin. Calling to tell me you want to be friends with me again only so you can storm out of my apartment when you suddenly decide that’s not good enough for you?”

Melissa giggled in the background. I snatched the phone from her and held it in between my shoulder and face as I held baby James.

“Listen, Sakura…I…” I paused, searching for words.

“You…” She prompted. “You what?”

“I don’t wanna be friends with you.” I blurted out. Melissa began to full out cackle next to me. She’d taken a seat and made herself quite comfortable with her ear close to my phone.

“Yes, I believe we’ve already established that.” Sakura replied dryly. “Anything new you wanted to tell me, or can I get back to watching television by myself?”

“You’re not with Jin?” I asked in surprise. Melissa facepalmed beside me.

“Jimin, you idiot.” She hissed. “Why are you so dumb? I did not raise you to be this way.”

“Why would I be with Jin?” Sakura asked, acid in her voice.

“I, uh…I thought you guys were b-back together.” I stammered.

“We’re not.” She said shortly.

“Do you wanna come over for dinner?” I tried again. I could feel myself starting to blush as Melissa groaned into her hands.

“No.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. Melissa offered no help, as she was too being lamenting her failed ability to raise me into a normal human being able to properly interact with the opposite .

“Okay.” I mumbled. “Forget it.”

I went to hang up, but her voice in my ear stopped me.

“Is there gonna be cake?” She asked hesitantly.

I immediately perked up. “Yeah. Lots of cake. All your favorite kinds.”

“Will there be ice cream?”

“Yeah, sure. What kind?”

“Chocolate chip cookie dough.”

“I can do that.”

“What’s for dinner?”

I looked in panic at Melissa. She shrugged.

“Uh…mac and cheese and chicken nuggets?” I offered.

“What the hell?” Sakura giggled.

“I’m at my sister’s place.” I explained sheepishly. “She doesn’t have a lot of adult food.”

Melissa smacked me on the arm. I hissed at the impact. “Don’t bring her here.” She whispered fiercely. “It’s a date, you ing moron.”

“I thought it would be just the two of us.” Sakura sounded a trifle disappointed.

“It can be just the two of us!” I shouted into the phone. Sakura let out a soft gasp of surprise. “Sorry, sorry. Yeah, just the two of us. I’ll…uh…meet me at my place in two hours.”

“I’m hungry now.” She whined.

“I don’t have any cake now.”

“Make it while we’re eating dinner.”

“But it’s got to cool before I can ice it.” I explained patiently. “There’s no way it’ll be ready by the time we finish dinner.”

“Jimin, you’re seriously the stupidest person I’ve ever met.” Melissa groaned beside me.

“I can wait.” Sakura said simply.

“Okay. I’ll be home in like, fifteen minutes. Is that good for you?”

“Yeah. See you then.”

She hung up and Melissa proceeded to berate me about how stupid I was and would I ever learn to take a hint? I didn’t think I would.

I realized I had forgotten to pick up a pint of ice cream when Sakura showed up on my doorstep with a grocery bag. A bottle of wine peeked out over the top.

“Hey.” I leaned against the doorframe and ran a hand through my hair, trying my best to act debonair. So everyone thought I was a moody, poetic boy? Not a chance of that tonight. I was going to be a master seducer. To show this, I winked at Sakura.

She laughed and pushed me aside to greet Jack, who had bounded out of my room to meet her.

“Hi, baby! I missed you! Did you miss me?” She peppered his fur in kisses as he all over her neck. Kinda gross, kinda cute.

I kinda wished she would say those words to me.

I stood awkwardly in the doorway watching them until she straightened up and looked over at me, a small smile on her face.

“Hi, Jimin.”

I felt my mouth relax into a smile. “Hi, Sa.”

I shut the door with my foot and walked slowly over to her. My hands naturally wrapped around her waist and I pulled her close to me. She looked up at me, curls bouncing around her face.

“I missed you. Did you miss me?” I asked in a low whisper.

She tilted her face up, as if for a kiss. I moved in, but at the last second she turned and kissed my cheek.

“Yeah, I did.” She replied in a subdued voice, stepping back from me. “I brought some wine. And some ice cream.”

“Great!” I exclaimed, wincing internally at my fake-chipper voice. “I, um…dinner’s cooking. I made alfredo and chicken parmigiana instead of mac and cheese and chicken nuggets. Kind of the same thing, right? The adult version. I picked out a movie, too, but if you don’t like it I’ve got, uh, Hulu and…Netflix…” I trailed off, feeling stupid. Did she not want to kiss me?

“Sounds fun.” Sakura flashed me a smile.

“I thought we could just hang out.” I offered up lamely. “I really did miss you, you know.”

“Yeah, me too.” She pecked my cheek again.

We chatted pleasantly through dinner. Afterwards, I checked on the cake while Sakura lounged on the couch, gently Jack’s head. It all felt very familiar and very domestic. I hoped the day would end with some kissing on that same couch, but Melissa had warned me before I left to take it slow and let Sakura make the first move.

I sat down next to Sakura on the couch. She sat up and rested her head on my shoulder.

“How’s life?” Sakura asked quietly.

“Good. Business has been really good. I’ve been thinking of hiring some part-time help in the mornings.”

“Oh, actually, I’ve got a guy working for me who’s looking for something else, too. His name’s Emmanuel. He’s super helpful and friendly to customers. A bit flirty, and all the shy high school girls love him.”

“Does he have any experience in food services?” I asked, twirling a finger around a curl.

“Yeah. Used to work at a café.”

“Cool. Give him my number and I’ll maybe set up an interview.”

“Wanna watch a movie?” Sakura kissed my shoulder. “What’d you pick out?”

“Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. I love this movie. It’s my favorite.”

“Why do you love it so much?” She threw her legs in my lap and settled back against the couch.

“It’s romantic. And there’s a bunch of awesome dance numbers. I don’t know, I just love Hindi movies. Have you ever seen one?”

“Uh, yeah. I saw, um…I Hate Luv Storys. I liked it. I didn’t get a lot of it, since it made fun of all those other movies, but it was really cute.”

“This one’s one of the movies it made fun of.” I kissed her hair.

I put the movie on and settled in for the whole three hours.

“Wow, look at their gorgeous outfits.” Sakura murmured, rapturous. “God, I wish I had clothes half so pretty.”

“I don’t know, I like the hanbok.” I glanced over at her and imagined her wearing a hanbok. I wondered if she wore that or a kimono for special occasions. Or maybe a yukata? I didn’t know much about it.

“Shh, they’re singing.” Sakura tapped my thigh with her foot.

“They’re always singing. You’re going to be shushing me a lot if I can’t talk during the singing.”

“Jimin, shut up.” She snapped. “I’m really into this movie, and if you don’t shut up, I swear I’m gonna hit you.”

I laughed and went to go check on the cake again.

As I set it out to cool, I observed her watching the movie. She absentmindedly chewed on the end of her hair.

“Jimin, this boy is hot. What’s his name?”

“Shah Rukh Kahn. He’s old now.”

“Probably still hot.” She tapped some buttons on her phone. “Oh, damn, definitely still hot.”

“Hotter than me?”

“Mmm. It’s debatable.” Sakura looked over at me with a teasing grin. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

“You want some ice cream, or you wanna save it for the cake?”

“Ice cream, please!”

Halfway through the movie, Sakura decided to curl up in my lap. She laid her curly head against my chest, sighing softly with her teeth bared, like a cat.

“I wanna kiss you.” I whispered into her ear.

“I’m watching the movie.”

“But I wanna make out.”

“But I’ve never seen it before.” She wheedled. “Jimin, just wait until it’s over.”

“Sa, it’s got another hour and a half. Just let me kiss you once?”

“No, no. Just wait.” She kissed my chest through the thin layer of my shirt.

“Alright, fine. But you need to get out of my lap. I’m going to change my clothes. You want some pajamas?”

She arched her eyebrow at me. “Am I sleeping over?”

I shrugged. “You don’t have to. But you might wanna be more comfortable than you are in those little jean shorts. Those can’t be comfortable.”

I went into my bedroom and threw some clothes into the living room. I changed into a loose fitting tank top that was cut low on the sides and a pair of tight shorts. I typically wore those shorts to work out, but I figured a little seduction was in order for tonight. If Sakura wanted to play hard to get, so could I.

I came back into the living room to see her still changing.

“Oh, , sorry!” I stepped back and covered my eyes in embarrassment. “I’ll…uh, I’ll…” I bumped into the wall as I tried to walk backwards into my bedroom.

“It’s fine. I’m done.” Sakura giggled at my plight. “God, Jimin, it’s like you’ve never seen me before.”

“Yeah, but we’re broken up now. It feels weird.”

I sat down on the couch and Sakura settled back down into my lap once more.

“Your clothes are comfortable.” Her spoke softly and I could feel her breath against the skin of my arm. “I haven’t worn them in a while.”

“I’m pretty sure you still have a couple of my shirts.” I wrapped my arms around her curvy body, liking how soft her skin felt against mine.

“Yeah. I think I do.”

“Can I have them back?” I asked, kinda sassily.

“No. I always keep a shirt or two of an ex-boyfriend. Store them in my closet in chronological order according to breakup.”

“That’s ing weird.”

“Says the man who has his ex’s photo albums and presents still lying all over the place.”

“Shut up.”

“You shut up.” Sakura bumped my chest with her fist.

We both shut up and watched the movie for a while. I had a hard time concentrating since Sakura kept shifting in my lap. Didn’t the girl know what she was doing?

I also couldn’t concentrate because I kept wondering what we were to each other. I had told her I didn’t want to be friends with her, but she accepted my invitation to dinner anyway. Did she want to more than friends with me? What was up with her and Jin? I desperately wanted to ask, but she’d gotten so offended when I had on the phone.

“So…have you been seeing anyone else?” I tried.

“Emmanuel and I made out once or twice in the store room.” Sakura looked up at me with a coquettish grin.

“I’m definitely not hiring him.”

She laughed, tilting her head back, open. I ached to kiss every little mole on her face.

“I’m just kidding. I never made out with Emmanuel. I did, however, go n two blind dates that my mother set up. They were awful and I told her no more blind dates.”

“Blind dates?”

“Yeah, she wants me to find someone and settle down. Take over the family business, you know.”

“I thought they knew that you weren’t going to do that?”

Sakura turned her face back towards the television. I took the opportunity to press my mouth against her hair, so lightly that she would never know.

“They did. I think they just didn’t take me seriously because they thought I would always end up with Jin.”

“So…how are things with Jin?”

She cleared . “I don’t know.” She replied, a bit too wistfully for my liking. “We haven’t talked in a long time.”

“Are you guys over?”

She fixed me with a glare. “What do you think, Jimin?”

“Just a question, damn.” I shuffled my fingers through my hair.

“Just a stupid question.”

“Alright, fine. You guys aren’t together anymore. Great.”

“Yeah, great.” She answered stonily.

“You still love him?” I prodded against my better judgment.

“I don’t know.” Her answer was short, but it left me with a lot of questions. Did she love him or not? Did she want to be with him? Was I just a distraction to her again?

“Let me go ice the cake.” I moved to stand, but Sakura didn’t budge.

“Just stay here.” She tugged me into a hug, arms wrapping around my waist.

“Okay.” I said softly. I tucked her back into my embrace.

The movie played on as we both sat and watched. Sakura would occasionally let out a yawn, but I was too into the movie to realize she had started to fall asleep.

“Babe, wake up, it’s the best part.” I nudged her with my bicep.

“Let’s finish it in the morning.”

“Are you sleeping over?” I asked, a tad too hopefully.

“Yeah. Is that okay?”

“You have an open invitation to stay in my bed anytime you want, sweetheart.”

“Alright, sleazebag.”

I laughed when she hit me. She snuggled against me as I turned off the movie.

“Jimin? Is the cake gonna be okay?”

“Nah, it’ll be stale. I’ll make you a new one tomorrow. Cake for breakfast.” I cradled her in my arms and carried her into my bedroom.

Once I’d safely tucked her into my blankets, I crawled in next to her. Sakura instantly wrapped her body around me, legs wrapping around my waist and arms looped around my neck.

“You’re very snuggable.” She said drowsily into my neck.

“Very.” I agreed. “It’s one of my best traits.”

“That and being absolutely adorable.”

“You think I’m adorable?”

“Yeah.”

“I think you’re so smart.” I whispered into her ear. “And beautiful.”

“Yeah, I’m great.” She kissed my neck. “Jimin, you said you didn’t want to be friends with me, right?”

“Yeah.” I swallowed. “I did say that, didn’t I?”

“Yeah.”

There was a very pregnant pause, and then Sakura spoke again.

“I don’t want to be friends, either, Jimin.”

Sakura took her face out of my neck and looked up at me for a long moment. I waited with baited breath while she stared at me.

I thought she would kiss me, but she just rubbed her nose against mine and tucked herself back against me.