"What? Me?" He was taken aback by her direct question. It made Yu Jin feel slightly awkward and uncomfortable as he did not like being asked such personal matters, just like many other Koreans. However, because Kaylee grew up in the US, perhaps she was not aware of that cultural norm. The Americans had always been deemed to be breezy and straightforward like that.

"Of course, who else? You think that I'm talking to your knees or what?" She burst out a naughty laugh.

"Oh...I...I don't have any ideal type of girlfriend. To be honest, I'm not interested in dating a girl right now," he shyly said.

"Wait what? Then you wanna date boys? Are you gay? Or are you ase..." She zealously asked without the thinnest shred of courtesy.

"Shhhhh...stop it, we're in a public space," Yu Jin grumbled and used his hands to cover her mouth, "First, I'm hundred percent straight, I like girls. Second, I don't date because I wanna entirely focus on my studying, understand?"

"Oh I see," she removed his hands off her face.

"By the way, don't talk about such things in public places in Korea. The people here they're...well, you know...not really open compared to in the US," he heavily sighed and scowled at her.

"Really? Then I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you," she suddenly stood up and profusely bowed down her head in an apologetic manner.

"Come on, you don't need to do that," he quietly chuckled, "I'm not scolding you, it's just friendly advice."

"I understand, I'll be more careful next time!"

******

A few days later, in an evening, Yu Jin visited Eun Chae at the hospital to bring her dinner as usual. However, today was going to be really different as there was going to be exciting news.

"Hey Yu Jin, guess what?" Eun Chae ran over to Yu Jin's place, standing in front of him and looking at him with her joyful eyes.

"I wonder what makes my friend so happy?" He said and caressed her cheeks, "What's that?"

"I'm being discharged tomorrow!"

"Really?" He asked with excitement.

"Mm-hmm," Eun Chae nodded her head, "I'm checking out at 11 a.m."

"Yesssss!" Yu Jin shouted out loud and then hugged her as tight as he could.

"I'm so happy, you know? There were times when I thought I was really gonna die, but then I still survive. Is this magic?"

Without saying a word, he lifted Eun Chae up in his arms and cheerfully spun around a few rounds. They both burst into laughter together. It had been a very long time that Yu Jin had not been this jubilant.

"Hey, put me down. You're making me dizzy," she laughed and hit his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Yu Jin chuckled and gently put her down, "By the way, you gotta eat when you come back home, OK? You're so skinny that I can feel your ribs now."

"Of course, I will!"

"Do you need me to help you with moving the stuff tomorrow? I can ask for permission to leave the ER a bit early."

"Is it inconvenient for you?"

"No, there will be three interns working tomorrow, including me so I'm sure my supervisor won't have any problem letting me leave a bit early."

"Then I can just do it alone, I only have a luggage and a backpack anyway. You don't need to come."

"Of course I need to! You've just recovered, how can I let you carry all those things alone. I'll help you."

The next day, as he had promised previously, Yu Jin left the ER slightly earlier than normal to help Eun Chae carry her luggage. They had lunch together at home, and then Eun Chae right away prepared documents to tutor a secondary school girl that evening. Yu Jin insisted that she stayed and had a proper rest, but she said that she was completely fine and she missed her part-time job so she wanted to return to it as soon as possible. He truly wondered why she was so hard-working, or if he phrased in a more extreme way, so workaholic. Yet it was her choice so he could not do anything else apart from respecting it.

******

That was an evening which was just about a week before Chuseok. Yu Jin came back home before Eun Chae, so he decided to cook dinner for both of them. Yu Jin had never cooked anything except for instant noodles, so he only chose a simple one, bibimbap. Although this was the first time he made it, he genuinely hoped that it would taste good enough for Eun Chae to give him some compliments.

"Hi Yu Jin, have you just cooked something? It smells good," Eun Chae stepped into the house.

"Yeah, I made some bibimbap for us. My timing's perfect, right? I'm done right when you're back home," he chuckled.

"That's nice! But let's see if your cooking is as good as your timing," she laughed, quickly washing her hands and sitting down at the table. Trying a spoon of rice, she tilted her head and then looked at Yu Jin with a very strange expression.

"How is it?" He nervously queried.

"Well...it's not bad, better than I expected," she took another spoon and then gave him a thumbs-up.

"I knew that you'd say that," Yu Jin seemed to be proud of himself.

"But of course, you're gonna need a few more years if you wanna reach my level."

"Oh...OK...I don't know how to infer it but I'll take it as a compliment. You're just too good compared to me," he cracked out.

"Geez," Eun Chae scowled at him, "Stop being so complacent."

They had dinner and talked together, Yu Jin finished his food first so he took the initiative to wash the dishes. Meanwhile, Eun Chae was still enjoying her food at the table. It had been quite a while that Yu Jin did not see her eating this much, and it was an enormous relief for him. While he was washing the dishes, his phone suddenly received a call.

"Eun Chae, can you see who's calling me?"

"It says 'The American girl' here."

"That's my colleague. Can you bring it here and click the speaker please?"

"Sure," Eun Chae said, bringing Yu Jin his phone and then coming back to the table to finish off her portion.

"Hi Kaylee, what's the matter?" Yu Jin said.

"Hi Yu Jin, what are you doing?" She greeted him with a high-pitched voice.

"I'm washing dishes, I've just finished my dinner."

"Oh I see, I wanna ask...Chuseok is a very big celebration in South Korea, right?" Kaylee inquired.

"Yeah, it's the second biggest one after Lunar New Year."

"Then...I guess you should have a day off, right? You wanna go out with me for dinner?" She excitedly asked him out.

"Me? Well...I..." Yu Jin turned his eyes to Eun Chae. She had been listening to the conversation and looked at Yu Jin all the time. But she tried to pretend as if she did not and when she met Yu Jin's gaze, she quickly averted her eyes. "Well...I'm afraid I can't. I'm still occupied on that day."

"Yu Jin-ah," Kaylee said in slight frustration, "Why are you always turning me down whenever I ask you to eat out?"

"Huh?"

"Yu Jin...I...I...like you!" She suddenly confessed.

"What?" Yu Jin said in confusion. Meanwhile, listening to what Kaylee said, Eun Chae was so horrified that she even choked on her food. Seeing her in such a situation, Yu Jin quickly wiped his hands and gave her a bottle of water. Eun Chae grabbed it in a blink and took a big gulp.

"I said I liked you. Yu Jin, can you be my boyfriend? I know that you don't wanna date right now but can you give me a chance, please?"

"Kaylee, what's wrong with you?" He chuckled, "Just stop liking me, please! Trust me, when you go to med school, you'll find other guys who are better than me."

"But Yu Jin..." Kaylee sighed in annoyance.

"Kaylee, I..." Yu Jin said and discreetly glimpsed at Eun Chae, "I like...another girl."

"What? I thought that you said you didn't wanna date?"

"It's true, but liking her doesn't necessarily mean that I need to date her, right? Just like you, even if you like me, then it doesn't mean that you have to date me either."

"Is she nice to you?" Kaylee queried.

"Yes, she is."

After nearly half an hour, Yu Jin could finally succeed in persuading Kaylee to give up on dating him.

"Alright then, good luck to you both. And happy Chuseok too!" Kaylee said with a mild disappointment.

"Thanks, you too," he softly said.

However, he now had to deal with another girl, his half-friend and half-girlfriend, from his point of view, Hong Eun Chae.

"Hey Yu Jin, is it true that you're having feelings for anyone?" Eun Chae inquired right after he hung up.

"Me? No, of course I don't. I just told Kaylee that to dissuade her."

"Oh...OK," Eun Chae said and stood up to bring her bowl to the water tap.

"You need me to wash it for you?"

"No, I can wash it myself."

Ever since that moment, the atmosphere started to become more awkward than ever. In addition, Eun Chae also behaved differently. For some reason, she seemed to talk less and smile less.

To tackle the issue, Yu Jin had to offer Eun Chae to come to his room and play some board games. Lucky for him, that worked. As he previously anticipated, Eun Chae again asked to sleep in his room, and he had no reason not to agree to her. Eun Chae and Yu Jin were friends, but perhaps they even shared a bed more often than some couples did.

"Hey Yu Jin," Eun Chae patted Yu Jin's back as she lied down next to him, "Can you hug me?"

"Mm-hmm," Yu Jin turned around and looped his arms around her body to give her a tender embrace.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead!"

"Will you ever hug any other girls like the way you're hugging me now?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I'm just curious."

"Well...for now, then no! You're the only girl who is this close to me. It's actually apparent, right?"

"Mm-hmm," she said and nuzzled her nose against his chest, "You know what? I really love being hugged like this."

"Yeah, I know," he said and rubbed her back.

"What? How do you know?" Her eyes widened with surprise.

"Remember the stargazing night at Yangpyeong? When you were drunk, you asked me to hug you. And then you told me that you liked hugging and being hugged because by that you could feel people's warmth."

"Damn it," she groaned and wiggled her body, "I've told you to forget it..."

"I wanted to, but I realised that I can't forget anything about you," Yu Jin gently put a kiss on her forehead, "Anyway, Eun Chae, can I..."

"Huh?"

"I...I wanna ask you out for dinner this Chuseok, are you free?"

"Yeah, then can we have Western food? I haven't eaten them for so long."

"Sure, then I'll book a table."

"OK, deal! Then just keep hugging me like this, I think it helps me fall asleep easier," she said and moved even closer to him. Yu Jin could feel her whole body being in direct contact with him. Her chest was pressing against his body, enabling him to feel her heartbeats.

******

A week later, as they had all agreed on, Yu Jin came to a Western restaurant where he made a reservation. He wanted to pick Eun Chae up but she told him that she would come there herself. Yu Jin was so eager that he arrived at the venue about nearly half an hour in advance. It was not only because he had not been hanging out with Eun Chae for a long time, but also because he was going to tell her that he liked her. He had been keeping his feeling to himself for too long, and he believed it was the right time for him to confess it to her. He even prepared a pair of heart-shaped keychains with his name and her name on them, one of which he would hand her as a gift.

The restaurant had such a lavish set up that Yu Jin was impressed right from the moment he walked in. There were delicate ceiling lamps which were shining out cosy yellow light rays, creating a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere. The dining tables were all equipped with red table clothes, candles and mini flower vases. It was one of the typical European-style restaurants that Yu Jin had been to tens of times in his life when he was in Busan, but not even once since he moved to Seoul. Despite spending a relatively large sum of money on reserving a table there, he did not regret it.

"Hi Eun Chae, what are you doing?" He texted her.

"I'm on the bus, halfway there already," she replied.

"I planned to wait until you arrive to tell you this but I guess I gotta say it now"

"What's that?"

"I like you, I really love you Eun Chae."

"What? You like me?"

"Yeah, I've been going crazy about you for so long. Can you be my girlfriend?"

"Even if our relationship won't go anywhere, you still wanna date me?"

"Yeah. You've given me a good time, so I wanna give you some good time too. I know that you don't have much time left, so let's have a great time together when we still have the chance, is that OK?"

"Yes, I'll be your girlfriend."

"Really? Is this even real, I am not dreaming right?"

"You're not," Eun Chae was also sitting and smiling at her phone on the bus, "Do you know how long I have been waiting for you to tell me this. I've also liked you for a very long time. Let's talk about this when I arrive there, sounds good?"

"Sure."

Yu Jin was so over the moon when Eun Chae agreed to become his girlfriend that he even leaped out of the chair and clenched his hands into proud fists. He had been waiting for this moment for too long. For most of the time with her, he was not brave enough to tell her how much he loved her as he was afraid that if things went wrong, he would lose the precious friendship they were having. However, it turned out that she also liked him. From now on, they would be in an official romantic relationship, not half-friendship and half-romance anymore. He began to think about what he would do when she came. Should he embrace her? Should he tell her something sweet? Should he give her the keychain he prepared and then gently kiss her hand? Or should he kiss her lips? Wait...perhaps he did not need to think, he could just do all of those.

He was sitting at the table and waiting for her. However, it was about more than ten minutes later than the appointed time but she was still not there yet. Most of the time, Eun Chae was not the type of person who usually came late, even just for a minute. He texted her to ask where she was, but he received no response. Surmising that she got lost, he went downstairs to the entrance, ready to wave his hands at her whenever he saw her.

However, he noticed a cramming crowd standing at the crossroad who were noisily babbling about something. From what he observed, he could make a guess that it was a traffic accident. He was supposed to stay at the restaurant to greet Eun Chae, but his unpleasant premonition led him to the jostling crowd nevertheless. Trying to make his way through the mass of people, he was shocked and terrified to see Eun Chae lying unconsciously on the ground with blood gushing out from her head and a car standing nearby.

Thank you very much for making it this far! If you enjoy reading my story and are excited to find out what is going to happen next, don't forget to click the star to vote for me as well as recommend my story to your friends. You votes really motivate me a lot^^