After 30 minutes of transportation, I safely arrived at K Shopping Mall. As I walked towards the entrance, he’s already there standing and waiting for my arrival. Looking at him from afar, there’s only one word that best described him. Ah! Warm. Wearing a thick coat like that made me feel jealous. If only I didn’t forgot to bring my coat with me. He waved his hand and the first thing he did after we met is smile and tease what I’m wearing. ‘Pft~ Ji Yeon-ssi. Aren’t you cold?’ he teased me with a smirk. I pouted like a small girl and as my pride already hit the bottom moments ago, I fought back. ‘What do you mean cold? It’s really hot you know. I didn’t know that summer is so early’ I joked with a poker face. He didn’t reply but softly smiled in front me. He suddenly took off his coat and gave it to me. ‘Here, it’s summer so wear this. It works perfect with your summer outfit’ he said. Well, I admit. I blushed. I totally became a red tomato after he gave me his coat. He noticed my flushed face and teased me. He always picked on me whenever we see each other. Not so fair. ‘It’s evening but the sun is still here, wonder why?’ he openly said it to me while staring at me. I covered my flushed face with my hands and dashed inside the mall. He laughed softly and chased after me. It’s totally embarrassing. After entering the mall, my face is still flushed. As he approached my direction, I turned around in embarrassment. This time he laughed hard as he said, ‘How much for a tomato?’. I can’t take any more of this humiliation so I looked at him and bluntly said, ‘It’s already sold. Try again next time’. I was confident with my counter attack but I didn’t expect that he can still fight back. The opponent is too strong. Darn that handsome face of his as he look at me with those dashing eyes of his. I unknowingly blushed again and teased once more as soon as he noticed. ‘Oh! The tomato is for sale again’ he said while softly chuckling. I turned around and stutteringly said, ‘Is . . . it that fun to t-tease me?’. He suddenly felt guilty and worriedly said, ‘Are you offended? Sorry about that . . . I won’t do it again . . . It’s just that you’re cute when you blushed’. I screamed my lungs in silence. I can’t take this anymore. This guy is totally wrecking my heart in pieces. I didn’t bother his actions the past few weeks but these days he became bolder and bolder. ‘R-remember what you said a-at the restaurant b-before?’ I warned him with his promise. He didn’t replied and was completely silent after that. I took a glance and my heart skipped a beat. Darn it. He was whimpering like a cute puppy. I can’t take any more of this cuteness. As he whimpered, I dragged him with me in a nearest fast food chain and there we sit in complete silence. The silence was really suffocating that it literally choking me slowly. I sighed deeply and asked, ‘Are you okay? Are you feeling cold? Want me to give you back the coat?’. He looked at me with such puppy eyes and shook his head sideways. Why is he starting to act like a spoiled child now? This was what I felt back then when I raised my 6 years old nephew. It was pretty depressing. But this time, I’m raising a 28 years old man who acts like 6 years old and it’s killing me. Is what I said back then really that bad? I mean he promised me that he’ll limit his words at a minimum. His words back then really made me take the wrong impression of him. I mean how can you say ‘cute’ with a poker face. It’s so natural that even a child would fall for it. To uplift the mood, I said ‘sorry’ as I was starting to feel guilty all of a sudden. It’s just like I stole a lollipop from a kid. He flinched and said, ‘Ah! No. It’s my fault. Sorry for being like that. I just felt comfortable with you around. I thought that were that close but I guess it’s just my own idea. Sorry for the misunderstanding’. I was dumbfounded by what he said. When did everything go wrong? It’s really awkward now. What should I do? The atmosphere is getting heavier. I sighed heavily and stood up. We entered a dessert shop so I went to the counter and ordered some dessert. Eating dessert is the best when you’re depressed. I ordered different types of cakes and double the order on black forest blueberry cheesecake that caught my attention. Even though I’m already an old hag, my taste bud is like those in kids. After ordering, I went back to our seat together with the desserts I ordered. He still is still sulking like a child after I sat back on my seat. I offered him some cake and he slowly grabbed the fork and started eating. His expression turned lively after eating a slice of cake. ‘It’s good. What flavor is this?’ he asked. ‘It’s a black forest blueberry cheesecake. I just caught my attention so I ordered a lot of it. Is it really that good?’ I casually replied. ‘He nodded with a fork in his mouth and said, ‘Yeah. It suits my taste’. After that the mood slowly uplifted as the conversation naturally flows. We talked for so long and I suddenly brought out my weird dream. I think it’s natural to share this with a friend, right? I mean it’s just a dream. I mindlessly told him my dream. As I continue telling him my dream, the expression in his face slowly changes. ‘Then? Did you see the guy’s face? What does he looks like?’ he began asking me with weird questions. I got flustered as I don’t know how to respond to that. I mean it’s just a dream. But literally, as soon as I saw his stern face, I got chills all around my body. Just like what I felt back when we had lunch weeks ago. Those gaze of him that was fixed on me while I was walking away. I already forgot it but it instantly went back to me as soon as I saw his expression today. I really don’t know how to respond so I just said, ‘I don’t know. It always ends on that scene and it’s a weird dream after all. Are you really that curious with my dream?’. He suddenly snapped and instantly changed his expression and reasoned out, ‘Ah. Yeah. Dreams like that always lead to bad luck. That’s what my grandma always says’. He smiled at me and continued eating the dessert. ‘It’s really good, the blueberry cheesecake’ he said with a smile yet those smile started to became creepy. I hope I’m just wrong. I continued eating in such uneasiness. After staying at the restaurant for an hour, we went to an ice rink and ice skated. It’s my first time so he helped me out and it was fun that made me forgot what happened at the restaurant. After that we went to a live concert and cheered out with our lungs till midnight. After that refreshing yet tiring night, we left the venue. I yawned so suddenly that it grabbed his attention. ‘Are you tired? Should we go home now?’ he asked. I also can’t feel my legs anymore and my whole body is aching so I totally agreed with him and said, ‘Yeah. Let’s go home now. It’s already late though’. I started walking towards the bus stop. As I was almost there, he shouted from afar that made me looked back. He was near a luxurious car and was waving at me. ‘Would you like me to take you home?’ he shouted. Seeing his luxurious car made me wonder what his real identity is. If I asked him about it bluntly, I think he will pout and whimpers like a dog again. And it’s rude though. He’s my friend so he also has his own secrets that he can’t reveal so I’ll wait for him to open up to me. I’ll wait for that time to come. I just blankly stared at him while he dashed towards my direction. ‘Would you like me to take you home?’ he asked again while he catches his breath. ‘It’s okay. I’ll just grab a taxi’ I gently refused. He smiled and said, ‘Okay, then let me accompany you till you find a cab’. He knew that I forced to draw a line between us. I mean I like him but still there are limits that you can’t cross. From the moment I saw him from the café before; I already knew what I felt for him. Although he’s kind of mysterious, that feeling will not change. For now I’m his friend because he truly saw me as his friend. Even though sometimes my real feelings for him openly show, he just perceived it like me being shy and flustered. I can’t easily confess to a guy I just met weeks ago as it is really weird. That’s why right now; I’m building trusts and companionship. At least when it’s time for me to confess someday, even though he rejects me, I can still tries to be his friend. Finding friend at this age is really hard so losing a single friend is the worst thing that could possibly happen. We sat on the bus stop seats as waiting for an available cab to pass through. The last stop for the bus was already 2 hours ago, so taxi is the only option. Even though it’s expensive, I don’t have a choice. I can accept his offer for a ride but there are times when you know how to refuse. As we are waiting for a cab to pass by, we just stayed silent. I shifted my eyes and looked towards him and I noticed that he is shivering in cold. I really forgot that the coat that I was wearing was his coat that he lent me. He only wore a thin sweater and it made me feel guilty for using his coat. I undressed the coat and gave it back to him. ‘Here’s your coat. Thank you for lending it to me’ I said. He was kind of flustered as he refused to accept the coat back. ‘No, it’s okay. I can still manage the cold so just wear it. You really need it better than me’ he said while started shivering in cold. I put on the clothes on him and laughed. ‘Your action and words didn’t matched up for a moment there’ I teased him and stood up. A taxi showed up from a distance and slowly approaching our direction. I stroked his head and smiled down at him. ‘You go ahead now. The taxi is already here. Thank you for staying here with me’ I genuinely said. The taxi stopped by and I opened the door. ‘I’ll be going now, thank you for inviting me. It was fun’ I said with a smile. He smiled back and said, ‘Thank you also for accompanying me. Don’t forget to message me when you got back home’ he said as we bid farewell to each other. I really like him but sometimes he really feels like a brother to me and I find it really cute. I really like stroking his hair. His hair is really soft and silky. Seeing and treating him as a brother is not bad. I really want to have a brother now. So sad that I’m the only child of our family. And after that, I arrived home safely and immediately texted him just like what I promised. That day sure was fun. Thank goodness I didn’t celebrated the Christmas Eve together with Seo Jin.

As Ji Yeon’s taxi slowly moved away, Tae Hyeon was left in the bus stop and followed the taxi until it’s completely out of his sight. His expression suddenly changed as he placed his right hand towards his chest. He sighed heavily and whispered these words, ‘It’s bad. I think I’m really in a serious problem’. After a few seconds of standing, he went back to his car and turned on the heater. He raised his head and covered his eyes with his left arms while seating comfortably. He sighed heavily and mumbled, ‘I completely lost my composure back then. I should be careful’. After a few minutes, the car engine went on and left