It was not a date. 

As far as I knew. After that one little remark, Do-hyun acted as he always did around me. Not that I didn’t obsess over it, analyzing his every move like a crazy person for the next hour or so. Because I did. It was all in vain; I knew he was only joking around. It was just my stupid head again making things up. 

Which was bad. Really, really bad. At the rate I was obsessing over Do-hyun all over again, I was sure I would catch feelings. I wasn’t going to let that happen. We found ourselves at the park right next to the closest mall to our dorm. Except we ended up walking all the way instead of taking a taxi—it was a surprisingly nice day for mid-fall. Seoul was oddly quiet, but then again it was a random Thursday and people would’ve been at school and work. Seemed like only tourists were wandering this part of the city at this hour.

And yes, we did find a tteokbokki stand at the park. Either the deliciously stir-fried rice cakes were the best I had ever eaten, or I was still seriously hungover. I soon figured it was the latter since Do-hyun wasn’t a huge fan of them and he seemed…well, less hungover. 

Suddenly, he froze. “Do you hear that?”

Still happily munching my cakes, I muttered, “What?”

“The music! Isn’t that one of our songs?”

I furrowed my brow, trying to listen more closely. And yeah, there was a strangely familiar tune coming from somewhere on our right. Though it was played with an acoustic guitar and the singer wasn’t any of us. “Yeah…‘Echo–’”

“‘–in the Wind,’” Do-hyun finished for me, while grabbing my wrist and starting to walk me towards the faint music.

It was a street musician, playing our song at the mall’s plaza. And it was my turn to grab Do-hyun’s wrist when he tried to get even closer. 

“Stop! What if he recognizes us?” I hissed, holding him back. 

He stopped. “Oh yeah. Didn’t think about that.”

“Do you ever think about anything,” I muttered, letting go of him and continuing to munch down the remaining tteokbokki from the stick. 

“It’s weird people still remember our music.”

“Or they didn’t, but got reminded when we announced the comeback. Maybe they’ll forget all about us when all the fuss around us dies down.”

Clearly I hadn’t thought that last part out, as it turned out to be the worst thing to say. At once Do-hyun’s smile disappeared and he casted his eyes down. I had forgotten Do-hyun overconfidence didn’t reach his music. Shit.

“Yeah, maybe I can’t write songs like that anymore.”

I nudged him with my shoulder. “Hey, that’s not what I meant.”

He flashed me a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes and said, “I know,” but that wasn’t what I was focusing on anymore. 

There was a sound that startled me.

At first I thought I imagined it—the all too familiar sound of a camera shutter clicking. But when it happened the second time I couldn’t help but glance around. Thankfully there was only this tourist-looking guy on our left sporting a bright blue fanny pack, the ugliest I had ever seen. He was fully immersed in capturing the nearby fountain. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what bothered me about the dark-haired guy, though; maybe he seemed a bit familiar somehow. In any case, his demeanor didn’t scream paparazzi. I relaxed. 

“How about we actually go inside? Didn’t we come here to shop?” I suggested, not exactly thrilled to hang around any cameras whatsoever. The last thing I wanted was the first tabloid scoop about me being headlined: “Hungover Minjae spotted shopping with Do-hyun.” 

“Yeah, you’re right,” Do-hyun said and we headed inside. 

The fanny pack dude seemed to stay behind—of course I had to glance when I discarded my now empty tteokbokki stick in the trash can by the entrance. 

I decided to forget all about him. 

We hit the shops. Though we didn’t really buy that much since we weren’t about to carry a shit-ton of stuff around.Do did end up buying new bracelets for both of us, and I bought some new sunglasses. One could never have enough sunglasses. Especially if they sported huge under eye circles regularly, like I did. Sleep wasn’t exactly my friend. 

Otherwise we just trolled around, trying on the weirdest possible outfits we could find at any given shop we found. Do-hyun was great at finding the worst pieces of clothing ever, so he aced the game. Only he didn’t often realize how hideous whatever he found was until I pointed it out. Like this one time, he paired some murky green camo pants with a bright purple button-up—and seriously thought they went well together. It was hilarious. I decided it was better that he would stay with all-black clothing after all like he normally would, as he clearly didn’t know how colors worked.

I had a great time. 

Until I spotted the damn fanny-pack guy again, hanging by the entrance of one of the shops we had explored. I didn’t want to worry Do-hyun, so I discreetly led him elsewhere. I didn’t see the guy for another half an hour or so, but I couldn’t quite relax anymore either.