Date Me! - Chapter 38

The next day, a little past 11 o’clock, Juwon came to pick up Ina.

The two went to a nearby department store, had a light meal, then took the escalator.

Getting off on the fifth floor, they were about to enter the children’s clothing store when Ina’s eyes widened.

“Ahhh!”

Ina let out a small scream as she picked up a baby walker shoe on display.

“Wow. This is so cute.”

Ina made a cooing sound as she placed the pink walker shoe on her palm.

Ina stared in awe at the tiny shoe that looked adorably small even on her small palm.

“My goodness… Isn’t it just so, so cute? How can it be this small?”

Unlike Ina, whose eyes were bursting with hearts, Juwon’s expression showed little excitement.

But his response was still kind.

“Yes. It’s cute.”

This time Ina walked over to the dresses and picked up a pink dress with a white collar, starting to coo again.

“Ahhh! This dress is so cute too. Really!”

Ina’s eyes dripped with honey as she looked at the adorable dress with a cute bunny face, part of a set with a matching cardigan.

Juwon walked behind Ina, hugged her waist, and looked over her shoulder at the dress.

“It’s cute.”

Startled by the sudden back hug, Ina flinched as a female store employee, who had been glancing at Juwon with a flushed face, looked at Ina enviously.

At this, Ina cleared her throat and gently loosened Juwon’s hands.

“Excuse me, does this come in other colors?”

As she lifted the dress and asked, the employee approached with a smile.

“Yes, ma’am. We have this pink one you’re looking at and a white one, two colors.”

“Ah. Then could you show me the white one as well?”

“Yes. Please wait a moment.”

As the employee brought the white dress, Ina fell into happy contemplation between the white and pink options.

“They’re both pretty… But I think the pink one is a bit prettier.”

Ina picked up the pink dress and the walker shoes she had seen earlier.

“My due date is next April. Could you package these in a size suitable for fall?”

“Yes, ma’am. Is there anything else you need?”

“Just a moment.”

Ina looked around the store with sparkling eyes and chose a few more items including onesies and indoor clothes.

“Why are you buying so much?”

Juwon asked, looking at the pile of clothes on Ina’s arms.

“This isn’t much at all. I’d like to choose more, but that would be too much luggage.”

“We can just have it delivered.”

“I’ll have the bigger gifts delivered later.”

“You have more to buy here?”

“Of course, I have so many things to give as gifts.”

Juwon shook his head with a look that said he couldn’t stop her, and looked at Ina.

The employee carefully packaged each item Ina had chosen and put them in a shopping bag.

Ina held out her card with a pleased expression.

“Thank you, ma’am.”

The employee said this to Ina, but her eyes were on Juwon.

* * *

After leaving the department store, the two debated where to go next and headed to Haneul Park in Sangam-dong.

Being the weekend, the parking lot was full of cars of visitors, and Juwon parked at the far end.

“Wow. There are so many people.”

“So hold my hand tight so you don’t get lost.”

Juwon said as he interlaced his fingers with Ina’s.

“Okay.”

The two walked hand in hand slowly towards the park entrance.

The path to the park was bustling with families with young children, couples, and groups of friends.

As they approached the entrance, they saw the ticket booth for the Maengkkongi train that takes visitors right up to the park.

Ina’s eyes sparkled at the sight of the cute mini-bus with large eye stickers on the front.

But it seemed a bit cramped for the tall Juwon to ride, so they chose to walk instead.

Still holding hands tightly, the two headed towards the zigzag stairs.

“There are quite a few stairs. Will you be okay?”

Juwon asked, looking down at Ina, who grinned and lifted her foot to show him.

“No problem. I wore flat shoes today.”

Juwon chuckled at her proud expression.

“Alright. Then let’s go up slowly.”

The two climbed the stairs slowly, careful not to bump into people coming down.

The view they saw while climbing up in the fresh breeze was magnificent.

The lush green trees densely packed next to the World Cup Stadium looked like a forest bath just by looking at them.

Quite a few trees were also seen preparing their colorful autumn dresses, signaling that fall had fully arrived.

After climbing 291 stairs, they saw a stone marker inscribed with ‘Haneul Park’.

And as soon as they entered the park, Ina’s mouth fell open at the spectacle of silver grass before her eyes.

The sight of the silver grass swaying in the gentle breeze under the sky that looked as if blue paint had been splashed across it was so beautiful.

“Wow. It’s really, really pretty.”

Ina looked up at Juwon with a big smile, and Juwon smiled brightly back.

In high spirits, Ina tugged on Juwon’s hand, urging him to hurry.

People were going in between the vast fields of silver grass, looking at them or taking pictures.

Ina, excited, darted here and there in the silver grass fields like a nimble squirrel, and Juwon followed her, taking plenty of photos of cute Ina.

Not to be outdone, Ina took out her phone and snapped lots of photos of the handsome Juwon.

“Let’s take one of us together.”

Juwon bent down to match Ina’s height and used his long arms to capture photos of the two of them.

As they moved around taking photos and sightseeing, it was already approaching 4 PM.

“Are you thirsty? Let’s get something to drink over there.”

Juwon took Ina’s hand and headed towards a small coffee shop in the park.

They bought two glasses of lemonade and sat on a nearby bench.

As they chatted about various things and watched people passing by, the afternoon sunset light was already seeping into the silver grass.

“Shall we go to the observatory to watch the sunset?”

Ina nodded at Juwon’s words.

The two finished their drinks and headed to the observatory hand in hand.

As they climbed up to the observatory, they could see the entire view of Haneul Park at a glance, and behind the vast silver grass fields, the sunset was turning a fiery red.

As Ina’s heart swelled at the beautiful scene, Juwon, standing behind her, hugged her waist. Ina’s heart fluttered at Juwon’s action of giving her a back hug with his strong arms and hands, pressing his upper body close.

“Shall we take a picture?”

Juwon took out his phone and captured the image of the two of them with the sunset as a backdrop.

As Ina, in Juwon’s arms, smiled shyly but happily, Juwon kissed her cheek and pressed the camera button.

“I want to do it too. A kiss.”

As Ina whispered, Juwon smiled and pressed the camera screen again.

And just as Ina was about to kiss Juwon’s cheek, Juwon suddenly turned his head and kissed Ina on the lips.

Click.

A beautiful kiss was born as a single photograph, and as Ina blinked her eyes at the unexpected sweet attack, Juwon burst into laughter.

“Hey, what was that?”

As Ina lightly hit Juwon’s chest, seemingly embarrassed, Juwon raised one corner of his mouth and said,

“What do you mean, what was that? It was a kiss.”

Juwon smiled and took Ina’s hand.

“Let’s go down now. Are you hungry?”

Ina glared at Juwon, not unkindly, but nodded.

Even in this moment, steeped in sweet romance, her stomach clock was accurate.

“Our Ina walked a lot today, so I should buy her some delicious meat.”

At the word ‘meat’, Ina’s eyes sparkled, making Juwon laugh again.

* * *

The two went to a nearby beef rib restaurant and enjoyed their meal, chatting leisurely.

After the meal, they headed straight to Ina’s house to let her rest as she must be tired.

Soon after, Juwon’s car arrived in front of the villa where Ina lived.

“I’ll take what we bought at the department store to our house. Juhee will be staying at our place anyway.”

“Okay. Sure.”

Ina replied as she unfastened her seatbelt.

“Today was really fun. Then, go in safely and…”

“Isn’t it too early to say goodbye?”

“Huh?”

Juwon said, looking at his watch.

“It’s only 8:30 now? Give me a cup of tea.”

“Oh? Ah. Should we?”

“Yeah. I want to drink some tea.”

“Oh? Really? Then let’s do that.”

Juwon got out of the car and came to the passenger side to open the door.

“Oh? Thank you.”

Holding Ina’s hand, Juwon strode towards the villa’s main entrance.

‘Did I clean the house thoroughly this morning?’

Ina quickly recalled the state of her house in her mind and concluded it wasn’t too bad.

And she thought that from now on, she should always keep it clean since she never knew when Juwon might come over.

Ina opened the front door and went in first, followed by Juwon.

“Just sit for a moment. I’ll make tea right away.”

Ina said as she took off her jacket.

“Okay. Got it.”

Juwon also took off his jacket, draped it over one side of the sofa, and sat down.

Ina washed her hands and headed to the kitchen.

She filled the kettle with water and pressed the power button, then reached for the chamomile tea bags in the cupboard.

Suddenly, Juwon, who had come up behind her, wrapped his left arm around Ina’s waist and easily took out a tea bag with his right hand.

“Oh, when did you come?”

As Ina turned her head to the side and asked, Juwon leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

“Just now.”

As Ina’s heart started to flutter, the sound of the kettle water bubbling up could be heard.

Ina quickly turned off the kettle and put tea bags in two cups.

As she poured the hot water, Juwon removed his hand from Ina’s waist and took the two cups to the sofa. Following Juwon to the sofa, Ina swallowed hard once.

When she first let Juwon into her home because of Park Jeonghun, they were clearly just friends, but now that they were lovers alone in the house, it felt strange.

“Shall we watch some TV?”

Ina asked, holding the remote control, and Juwon nodded.

When she turned on the TV, a currently popular drama was airing.

It was a scene where the male lead, famous for being handsome, was confessing his love to the female lead.

The woman accepted the man’s sincere confession with tears, and the two embraced.

Eventually, the man broke the embrace and leaned in to kiss the woman.

At first, the man gave a warm kiss, but soon he cupped the woman’s cheeks and gave her a deep kiss.

The woman also embraced the man’s waist and willingly responded to the passionate kiss.

And as Ina watched this scene, she tried to swallow discreetly, but the ‘gulp’ sound was louder than she expected.

Startled, Ina quickly glanced sideways at Juwon, who was looking at her with a smile on his face.

As Ina flinched in surprise, Juwon touched her cheek and said,

“Shall we do it too?”