“Duck down, duck your head down, Chanyeol!” someone hissed half whisper and half shouting. From the tone of his voice, he sounds incredibly annoyed and the deep baritone he has was so recognizable as Kyungsoo in which Chanyeol merely ignored him and craned his neck even more to look at the couple.

“Minseok hyung, take off your sunglasses. It’s blinding me,” Yixing whined in a very childish way, his mouth forming a pout so similar to a boy wanting a cotton candy.

“Ouch Kyungsoo, where are you putting your elbow at? You poke my ribs there,” said Chanyeol.

“Shut up, you guys. You people are being too loud, they might hear us,” Suho muttered quietly.

“What, Suho hyung, I can’t hear you,” someone said from the side.

“Oi oi, they are so near, quiet down guys,” said Yixing, his hands busily clicking the camera to capture pictures of both Hanbyul and Sehun together. The couple looked serious and he wanted to see Hanbyul’s face but only her back is seen as she faced Sehun.

The bush shake vigorously as the 5 people that hide behind it keep nudging each other and move around at the small space and it earned curious stares and whispers from the passer-by. However, no one dares to approach the bush, afraid there are bigger threat hidings behind it. These fear was manifested in those people due to the unknown factor that lies behind the bush and pushed them away from finding out but actually the ‘threat’ they thought was just a bunch of dorks who has nothing to do but stalking their friend who is currently on a date.

A little boy who is holding her mother’s hand stop a few feet from the bush as he saw the bush moving again, this time it was caused by Kyungsoo smacking Chanyeol’s back as he munches a potato chip loudly. The way Chanyeol is acting now, it was if he is watching a movie in front of his eyes. Kyungsoo can only sigh at his friend’s childishness.

 “Mummy, why is that green bush moving?” he asked curiously, his eyes doesn’t stray from the bush.

“It’s nothing, Jaejae. Pretend you didn’t see anything,” his mother ushered him away from that place. Her face grimaced at the sound of crunching.

From behind the bush, people can see clearly the group of guys squatting and wearing some ridiculous accessories. The sight of grown boys hiding behind the bush did attract many pairs of eyes but mostly, they just brush them off or only stared at these guys without saying anything about it. In their mind, they are just a bunch of kids playing their games of fun. A couple of girls giggled at their ridiculous behaviour in which Suho is highly aware of that and started to act cool as he slowly moves backward from Chanyeol and Kyungsoo’s side. He opted to stand back and pretends like he doesn’t know these weirdos he called friends. He smiles abashedly at the girls.  The others don’t even take notice of the girls since they were too focused on the couple and observed each of their movement.

From Chanyeol’s point of view, the closeness between Hanbyul and Sehun was quite a scene because he can see that both of them stand so close to each other. It sort of made him feels ecstatic that the progress of their date is progressing very quickly. Though, Sehun’s choice of clothing made him wanted to rip off that outdated jacket from Sehun but he was restrained from doing that after seeing Park Hanbyul who doesn’t seems to mind his weird taste of fashion. The Queen rocked her clothes and he can see many people is in awe when they see her. They then stand up from their position carefully when they saw the two are now walking away. As auspiciously as possible, they tried to move stealthily but failed miserably because Hanbyul caught them stalking. However, she remains silent about it and only told Sehun who was caught off guard by the revelation.  

S

She smirked. Park Hanbyul smirked for the first time ever. Well, she probably had done it before on time I had never know but this is the first one I had seen she did that. tilted upwards as she said that I should just let Chanyeol and others to spy us. I can’t believe it that she easily lets go of the matter. It was so absurd to hear something like that from a person whom very much hated attention. I may not know her true feeling or thoughts but it takes no hard work to know that she hated people invading her privacy and I know that fact since the first time we met. I scrutinized her expression while she diverts her gaze towards where my friends are. Her expressionless face and unblinking eyes amazed me. she got such a good control in her emotion which I always find it amusing. She flits her gaze away from the bush and look at me directly. I was caught off guard by her stare. I look away first awkwardly.

“So, what do you want from them?” I asked her.

“If they took pictures of us, tell them to post it online. Spread them around in the social media, I wouldn’t mind at all. In fact, I will be grateful if they do that,” she states dully.

“Are you sure you don’t care about it? This date won’t just be between us anymore, the whole college will know so do you really don’t mind them know everything?” I asked again to confirm. I don’t want this to get out of hand if she suddenly change her mind and get angry at me. She seems to have mood swing sometimes, that’s what I had learned from before.

“I am dead serious,” she affirmed, her tone is clear from any hesitation. If that is what she wants, I don’t really have the upper hand to object.

“Fine, if that’s what you want,” I shrug my shoulder.

“Chanyeol and Kyungsoo will probably upload the pictures by now. They won’t even ask for my permission to do that. Besides I can’t really stop them from doing what they want,” I chuckle, finding it a bit funny to mention about my friends to her. She is the first girl I ever say things about my friends.

With a satisfied look, Hanbyul proceed walking forward with me tagging along.

“Where should we go now?” she said after a moment.

“We could check out the bird park at the South gate,” I told her what I saw on the signboard and she nods at my suggestion, accepting them without any question.

She made an action of saying lets go and walked first as I keep up a pace beside her.

I noticed from my hindsight that Suho hyung is following us closely from behind while the rest stick close to each other. Some of the guys tried to hide behind a wall but I can still see their figures clearly. Minseok hyung and Chanyeol was being too obvious. Chanyeol with his tall height towering almost everyone in the park doesn’t help to disguise himself among the crowds. Minseok hyung on the other hand was the weirdest one out of them because he puts on a sunglass that was far too big on his small rounded face. With them following us from behind, I pretended to be oblivious. Hanbyul also ignored the camera flashes obviously came from Yixing’s hand. She acted so normal and I was impressed by it.

Oddly, after spending for almost an hour now with her, the awkwardness from before slowly dissipate as I walk besides her. She wasn’t a talker, it’s her personality and everyone was familiar with it since she only speaks brief sentences and few words. We weren’t talking much when we met but the awkward silence had diminished to a comfortable manner rather than the uneasiness I felt before.

I peek at her discreetly. To see her up close like this seems surreal. She is stunning and I’m not going to lie about that. She was very simple in dressing up from heads to toe but she was able to flaunt her features and charisma effortless. From what I know about her, most of the information is provided by Chanyeol whom practically knows the inside and outside of Park Hanbyul, though I questioned the inside part because she is a very secretive person.  The well-known fact about her will be that she came from a wealthy family. Being related to the owner of Empire Group, the largest business corporation in South Korea was something not to be missed among the students of WM Academy so the fact had added more to her popularity amongst our colleagues. She is the smartest girl in our academy and I praise her intelligence because it proves that she isn’t just a beauty, she had the skill of achieving success too. I don’t mind having her as a competitor because she made everything more interesting.

Besides that, there were complete to nothing I know about her in which I discover she kept them very low and not even her admirers know. Okay, they probably know but I haven’t got any clue what since I don’t really take interest in minding people’s business. Thus, the lack of knowledge on her is making me curious. I’m starting to itch to ask her some questions so I will be able to learn more about her if we are going to be together for many weeks to come. Life is quite bleak before she asked me out and surprisingly, I anticipated the date more than I thought I would. I was curious about her and this will be the first time I wanted to know about someone.

“10 Q&A, let’s play that game,” I say with a hope she won’t reject them. It was random but the probability for her to answer it is 50-50 so why not tries it.

She slows down her pace and turns her head slightly to me, I smile at her while she remains the blank face. She seems to consider the question.

“Sure. Then who is the questioner?” she agrees easily. It’s a surprise to actually gotten permission from her.

“I will be. If you don’t mind,” She nods, looking a bit distracted. Her eyes only focus to the front.

“How many are there in your family?” I asked to fill the silence between us. Hanbyul look at me for a moment and sigh. I wonder why she found it so hard to say.

“My mom and 4 siblings. There are 6 people including me,” she says briefly. She didn’t mention about her dad and I don’t want to pry so I didn’t say anything about it.

“Quite a big family you have. I only had an elder sister and my parents,” I announced. The corner of upturned when I say that.

“All girls in one house so you could probably guess the situation. They are all very considerate and loving,” she openly said. I sensed that she doesn’t mind talking more about her private life so I ask more.

“Among your siblings, what number are you?”

“I am the middle child. Below me is 6 years younger and our youngest are 10 years apart from me,” she added with a little bit information about her sisters too. I grinned.

“Well, that explains your personality well. Do you know that the position of someone in their family will tell more about their personality? Research mentioned that the middle child or to be exact the third child is a secretive type and wasn’t sociable. They tend to be a troublemaker or the quiet one. Doesn’t that sound like you?” I provoked her slightly just to get a reaction out of her. She glared at me after I said that.

“Are you implying I am some kind of troubled introvert type?” she scowled. I chuckled to myself when I saw her fuming up. She gets mad easily and now I know that, I will keep in mind not to say the wrong thing again.

“It’s just an assumption and I only recite a factual research scientist had made. I didn’t mean to mock you, it is just what I had learned but you do fit most of the categories,” I said.  

We had walked inside the bird park by now and saw colourful birds perched on branches of tall trees above us. Hanbyul huffed and snorted, very unladylike.

“That is so mean. You don’t even know the real me,” she mumbled quietly. I caught her words and reply.

“Then, we could learn about each other more. I would like to be your friend even though our relationship now is just an act but it doesn’t harm you if we become friends right,” I grinned and she averts her eyes when I said that.

“How about you then? They said the youngest is always the most annoying, attention seeker and mama’s boy. It should probably applied to you, right,” she counterattack after recovering from being mad. My face went red since she did get most of the part right and I laughed it off to cover the embarrassment. I saw her tried to hide a smile behind the façade.

“Based on what, Hanbyul?” I inquire; I blow warm breath to my palms to heat it up.

“Based on that research you said just now, Oh Sehun,” she answered, a glint of tease in her eyes are now directed back at me. A smirk formed on my face as I was amused with her remark.

“Good comeback, Hanbyul,” I declared. She just walked off, towards OWL Café and entered the shop. We were greeted by the workers. Hanbyul goes straight to the area where 3 owls were sitting on a long stick and their heads move to see us. Their wide eyes stared back at us, unblinking. Hanbyul looked quite excited as I saw a wide smile on her face.

“What is your favourite animal?” I asked another question. She replied quickly.

“Rabbits,” she then looked at me as if waiting for me to tell her about mine.

“I like cats but I’m allergic to them so I can’t have one though I would love to have them as a pet”. She mused to herself, shifting her attention to the owls in front of her.

“Aren’t owl supposed to be sleeping during the day?” she muttered to herself but I caught her words.

“Well, not necessarily. Owl is a type of animals that -,”

“Geez, I didn’t ask you. There is no need for you to explain,” she cut me off even before I got the chance to properly explain the owl’s behaviour.

“You were curious so I’m just doing a favour to answer your question. Let me tell you what you want to know,” I replied.

“Why do you like it so much being Mr-know-it-all? You could just keep your book of knowledge to yourself, Oh Sehun, I don’t want to know about it,” she sounds annoyed from the way she talked. However, I don’t want to lose the opportunity to prick more needles on her pride. She was well-known to be prideful and hated people who boasted on things she doesn’t know. Also, I like the fact she was showing more reaction than she usually is, different from the cold and emotionless behaviour of her.

“Owl is an animal…..,” I explained and Hanbyul rolled her eyes after I finished.

“Geez, you really don’t listen to what people said, do you? You just like the fact that you can showcase your intelligence to someone who don’t know much like you do and proves to them you are the most clever one, aren’t you?” she said harshly without filtering her honest thoughts at all. She is vicious when saying her thoughts out loud.

“No, you are wrong. I don’t like to say out loud on what I know nor do I like to boast. I’m not conceited like what you think so it was pretty rash of you in accusing me,” I said without much care. She looks a bit guilty for a moment but then covers her face by looking away.  The mood turns a bit tense so to lift them up, I laughed it off.

“I said all of that is because,” I stop for a moment in time for her to stare back at me and when she does, I continue my sentence, “I just love teasing you,” I state and grinned at her. She frowned but I caught a blush forming on her face as she quickly turned her face from my view.

I’m merely teasing her for fun and I didn’t expect she will take them well considering she didn’t hit me. Hearing some rumours about her, she was portrayed as a cold and menacing Queen of Darkness, also there were rumours about her being quite violent though that was never confirmed by witness. I have spent only an hour with her but she was far away from those baseless rumours.

“Should we continue our Q&A then, what is your favourite colour?” I inquire to which she looks at me with confusion by my willingness to ask more.

“It’s funny that you are asking me that question, isn’t t obvious?” she said. I chuckled after realizing she meant black because she is wearing black from head to toe. It does sound silly to ask that when it was so obvious. “You?,” she asked.

“Blue but not the sky blue. Blue as it is blue ocean, the magical changes of colour blue depending on the depth of the ocean and how the changes between sunset and sunlight”.

“That is an interesting choice of colour,” she simply states.

We continued our way in silence till we arrived at the The Lodgers to grab a lunch. With that, the 10 Q&A only stops at the 4^th question.

She rejected my offer to walk her back to her house but I insisted saying that I am acting like a good boyfriend. Besides, it wasn’t safe for a girl to go back home alone in the middle of the night. It was getting kind of late and I don’t want anything bad happened to her because it doesn’t sits well with me to send a girl off without a companion. She defends herself by stating that she is not some weak girl. However, I put up an argument that Jung Daehyun may be lurking around to catch her off guard as it seems that dude is capable for doing that kind of action. She sighed after I mentioned Daehyun’s name and let me walk with her.  

Each step we take, our feet are synchronized at the same pace.

Slow, right feet then left feet.

Right, left, right, left.

Only the sound of our shoes scrunched on the dry leaves on the pavements can be heard with the breath puffed out from our nose filled the awkwardness between us. Our conversation was really short when we were in the restaurant but it felt as if I had discovered a part of her. That put a smile on me.

We had entered a rich neighbourhood, all of the houses were as big as a mansion and I should have known that Hanbyul lived in this kind of place. After all, she is the daughter of Empire Group’s General Director and probably the next in line of being a successor. Hanbyul stops in front of a big house with a beautiful and spacious garden behind the gate. I caught a glimpse of wooden hammock at the corner of the pond through the gate. Her house isn’t as extravagant and lavish like other houses I saw when I passed the neighbourhood rather it was more to a humble side. I liked the warmth of the home she resided in.

“We are here,” she said, waking me up from a daze. She stands in front of me, she leaned at the gate of her house. I pushed my glasses up to my nose and smiled.

“It’s a great date,” I expressed honestly. She blankly stares at me, unaffected at my words.

“Thank you for coming and for keeping your promise,” Hanbyul state her gratefulness. I accepted it with a smile.

“You should go now, Oh Sehun,” she made her way to unlock her door but I stop her as I open my mouth.

“Wait, does this mean our relationship is official now?” I asked for a confirmation.

She sighs before answering. “Hadn’t I made myself clear when we met last time at the café? Our relationship is already builds there and we both are a temporary couple”. Nodding at the firm confirmation, I cracked a smile.

“So when should we have another date?” I asked teasingly and her face frowns in confusion.

“I think one date should be enough. There is no need for another one,” she firmly asserted. Her despise on the topic cannot be hidden.

“I don’t think so. Do you expect Jung Daehyun will back off with just a couple of pictures of us taken together? In my opinion, it won’t be that easy. He is relentless in getting his target and I assured you he seems determined to make what he was saying become reality,” I recite, she sighed after mulled on my words.

“Fine. Let’s deal about that later. You can go home now, Oh Sehun,” she repeat herself. Her lack of concern to my departure was quite disappointing. She avoided my attempt to pursue more on the topic.

“Goodbye then, Park Hanbyul,” I waved at her. She didn’t return back the gesture and simply moves to unlock the door. I backed away slowly from her house but stop when I remembered something important so I turn back to see her figure almost disappear behind the door.

“Park Hanbyul,” I called out. She stops in her track and pushed her head out from behind the door, her eyebrows were up.

“I will fetch you on Monday morning so wait for me,” I told her.

“No, thank you. I will go the college by myself, Oh Sehun. I prefer that way,” she protested.

“It’s much better if I pick you up so that we can show to others we are dating. That is a basic rule for couples,” I convinced her though I’m not an expert but it’s what Kyungsoo did with her girlfriend last time.  

“I still don’t want it,” she evades.

“You want others to believe our relationship is real right? Do you want Jung Daehyun to back off from harassing you?” I said to her and her face changes. “Then, just follow my lead,” I concluded. She harrumphed but didn’t

“Fine, I will think more about it. Now, could you let me go inside my house if you are finished?” she looked annoyed by now.

“Bye, Hanbyul,” I said to her again and watched her close the door. I put both of my hands inside my pocket and went back home.

A good feeling washes me after I lay down on my bed as I recall today’s event. Unexpectedly the date went smoothly and I learned more of Park Hanbyul. She is an interesting character where there are more to her than just the label, Queen of Darkness.