A moment later, the movie began.

From the beginning, the film was filled with people’s screams and bloody scenes without pause.

As the story intensified, the scenes became increasingly brutal.

Voices of startled people could be heard here and there, but Ina kept her eyes glued to the screen, her eyes sparkling.

Her hands also moved back and forth between the popcorn and nacho containers without rest.

Seeing Ina focused on the movie while diligently drinking cola in between, Juwon felt a slight smile coming on.

After enthusiastically eating popcorn for a while, Ina noticed Juwon not touching the popcorn at all and offered him the container.

When Juwon shook his head saying he was fine, Ina took out a handful of popcorn and kindly placed it in Juwon’s hand. When Juwon looked at her, Ina grinned and gestured for him to eat.

Juwon smiled and nodded in agreement, then brought the popcorn to his mouth.

As the movie reached its latter half, a series of scenes too horrific to watch unfolded.

Shocked voices were heard from all around, and some people even stood up and left the theater.

Juwon glanced to the side and saw Ina eating popcorn with great relish, showing no emotional reaction whatsoever.

Finding it somehow amusing, Juwon chuckled again, and Ina turned her head, making eye contact with him.

Then Ina smiled and again took out a handful of popcorn, placing it in Juwon’s hand.

Touched by Ina’s Mother Teresa-like kindness, Juwon once again brought the popcorn to his mouth.

* * *

The movie ended at 4:10 PM.

“Ah. I really enjoyed that.”

Ina said, stretching.

“It was quite brutal, wasn’t it? You seemed to handle it well though?”

As Juwon said with a smile, Ina winked and replied.

“Come on, why are you like this? We’re both pros here.”

“Heh.”

Juwon burst out laughing at the word ‘pro’.

The two picked up the popcorn containers and cola cups left in their seats and exited the theater.

“What should we do now?”

At Ina’s words, Juwon checked the time and then asked her.

“If you’re not tired, want to go for a walk in Samcheong-dong? It’s close by.”

“Samcheong-dong? Sure! I love that place. There’s so much to see.”

Juwon smiled at Ina’s sparkling eyes.

“Okay. Let’s walk around and sightsee a bit, then have dinner before heading back.”

“Oh. Dinner too? Lee Juwon, aren’t you being too sweet today? Spending the whole Sunday with me?”

“So? You have a problem with that?”

“No? I’m so honored I don’t know what to do with myself.”

Juwon chuckled and pressed the elevator button.

* * *

After driving for about 20 minutes, the two arrived near Samcheong-dong, parked, and got out of the car.

As they stepped out, a cool breeze filled with the scent of autumn greeted them.

With a pleasant smile, Ina walked towards the entrance with Juwon.

Perhaps because it was the weekend, the entrance to Samcheong-dong was bustling with people.

Families, friends, and couples were walking by, each with lively faces, chatting away.

Ina joined their ranks with Juwon, her eyes sparkling.

As they slowly walked down the street lined with hanok houses, Ina couldn’t help but smile at the beautiful and cozy stone wall path stretching ahead.

“This place feels different every time I come. It’s nice to experience hanok vibes right in the heart of Seoul.”

“Yeah. I haven’t been here many times, but it does feel different each visit.”

As Juwon nodded in agreement, three boys who looked like high school students were walking towards them from the opposite direction.

As they were walking, rough-housing with each other, one of them stumbled and leaned towards Ina. Juwon quickly wrapped his arm around Ina’s shoulder and turned his body inward.

The boy ended up bumping into Juwon’s shoulder and immediately apologized, saying “I’m sorry.”

Juwon gave them a warning look before looking down at Ina.

“Are you okay?”

“Huh? Oh. I’m fine.”

Ina’s cheeks flushed slightly as she answered.

Just a moment ago, when Juwon had wrapped his arm around her shoulder and turned, Ina had practically been embraced by him, and in that instant, her heart had started racing.

Unaware of this, Juwon looked directly into Ina’s eyes and asked if she was okay, causing her heart to flutter again at his gaze.

‘What’s wrong with me lately? Do I need to get my heart checked, seriously?’

Ina told Juwon to keep going, covering her reddened cheeks.

As the two started walking again, quaint shops began to appear in the distance.

And there were far more people milling about than they had seen at the entrance.

Just as Ina’s eyes widened at the crowd that made it seem like everyone had come out to Samcheong-dong, Juwon reached out and grasped Ina’s left wrist.

When Ina looked at him, Juwon nodded towards the crowd.

“There are a lot of people.”

As Ina nodded, her heart tingled.

‘It’s just my wrist, not even my hand, so why does it tingle again…’

Ina gently bit her lip at her heart’s strange reactions.

Soon, the two moved towards the shops and walked around, sightseeing here and there.

As they passed by vintage shops, toy shops, hat shops, and other quaintly decorated stores, Ina stopped in front of an earring shop.

Inside the shop, which had a large sign saying even celebrities wear their products, was filled with earrings of various colorful designs.

Ina picked up a pair with sparkling eyes.

“Wow. These are really pretty.”

As Ina held the earrings up to her ears in the mirror, Juwon gazed at her intently.

“They suit you well.”

At Juwon’s words, Ina felt bashful and shifted her gaze to other earrings, but Juwon picked up a pair from the display.

“I think these would suit you too.”

“Huh?”

As Ina turned around, Juwon held the earrings he had chosen up to Ina’s ear.

Ina blinked and looked at him, and Juwon smiled softly and said,

“You look pretty in anything.”

“…”

At that moment, something began to bombard Ina’s heart mercilessly.

As her heart started pounding from the unknown massive bombardment, Ina quickly turned her head to the side.

“What’s wrong?”

When Juwon asked, Ina shook her head.

“Huh? Ah, it’s nothing.”

As Ina cupped her burning cheeks, Juwon handed the earrings Ina had chosen earlier and the ones he had just picked to the clerk.

“I’d like to buy these two, please.”

Ina looked at Juwon in surprise.

“Huh? No. I should pay for them.”

Ina hurriedly reached for her handbag, but Juwon had already handed over his card.

“I want to buy them for you.”

Juwon said with a gentle smile.

At that moment, Ina’s heart prepared for another drumming session, and she quickly turned her body and took a deep breath.

‘Heart! Stop showing off. Please!’

As she mentally shouted at her heart that couldn’t hear her anyway, the clerk handed Juwon a paper bag containing the earrings and said,

“Your boyfriend has good taste.”

“…”

With no time to rest between the continuous bombardments of rhythms, Ina’s heart finally began its encore performance.

‘Wow. Is today a test day for my heart? Why is it like this? Really?’

As Ina’s confused eyes wandered aimlessly, Juwon accepted the paper bag from the clerk without affirming or denying the statement.

Then he smiled and handed the paper bag to Ina.

“Here.”

“Huh? Oh… thank you.”

Ina gently bit her lip as she accepted the paper bag.

After leaving the shop, Juwon checked the time.

“It’s almost 6 now, shall we go for dinner?”

“Huh? Oh. Sure.”

Ina nodded, gripping the paper bag tightly.

“I searched earlier and there’s a well-rated steak restaurant nearby. Do you like steak?”

Although Ina would jump out of bed for steak anytime, exhausted from the two drumming sessions, she nodded timidly.

“Yeah. I like it.”

“Okay then. Let’s go there.”

The two slowly made their way to the steak restaurant.

Being the weekend, they were told they’d have to wait about 30 minutes, so they put their names down and waited outside.

As expected, during the wait, Ina could feel the glances of women from here and there eyeing Juwon.

They had experienced the same situation while waiting at the spaghetti restaurant not long ago, but the feeling now was completely different from then.

Back then, her impression ended with ‘Juwon is still popular,’ but today was different.

When she realized that she was feeling the same thrill that the women looking at Juwon might be experiencing, Ina felt so embarrassed and awkward that she couldn’t bear it.

Juwon was certainly a man, but Ina had never thought of him as anything more than Juhee’s brother, so this sudden unfamiliar emotion rising up was confusing her.

Embarrassed by this emotional line that only she seemed to be feeling, Ina’s cheeks flushed hot.

As she quickly covered her cheeks so Juwon wouldn’t see, a staff member came to guide them to their table.

After sitting down, when the staff handed them menus, Ina quickly opened the menu and pretended to look at it while hiding her face.

Juwon was also silently looking at the menu when Ina lowered her menu slightly and looked at him.

As she watched Juwon resting his chin on his left hand while looking at the menu, she involuntarily gulped.

Seeing his intense eyes, sculptured nose bridge, and those extremely attractive lips below, her heart started revving up again.

‘Wow. Seo Ina, you’ve really… gone crazy? Why are you suddenly making such a fuss all by yourself? Why are you like this? Really?’

As she was questioning herself, Juwon looked up from the menu and met Ina’s eyes.

Startled by the eye contact, Ina’s eyes widened.

“What’s wrong?”

As Juwon asked, looking puzzled, Ina quickly shook her head.

“Huh? Nothing. Did, did you choose?”

“Hmm, Set B looks good, what do you think?”

“Huh? Oh. I like Set B too. I love it!”

Not even knowing what Set B was, Ina nodded vigorously, causing Juwon to burst out laughing.

“You like it that much?”

“Huh?”

Juwon had clearly asked about Set B, but for some reason, Ina’s face turned red up to her ears.

At this, Juwon smiled and rang the bell.

“Ina, you must be really hungry. Let’s order quickly.”

When the waiter came shortly after, Juwon ordered two Set Bs and poured water into a glass, handing it to Ina.

Ina, who had been tense for a while, took the glass and gulped it down.

As the cold water flowed down her throat, she seemed to calm down a bit.

After Ina emptied the glass in one go and set it down with a thud, Juwon picked up the water bottle again.

“You must have been very thirsty. Want another glass?”

“Huh? Oh. Sure.”

Ina quickly held out her glass.