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“Good! Maybe Ishouldn’tgo easy on you.”
“Please do. I don’t have a death wish.”
“Duly noted.”
In slow motion, Minjee kicks in my direction, giving me plenty of time to move away.
“Okay, notthateasy,” I say. I jump forward with a roundhouse kick.
In a blur of movement, Minjee dodges and hits the floor rolling before jumping back up to pin me down.
For one second, we look into each other’s eyes, breathless.
“Was that enough of a challenge for you?” she says, a grin playing on her lips.
And just like that, we’re kissing again, fully taking advantage of the fact that we’re alone in the dojang.
In the days after, I have to repeatedly remind myself that this isn’t all a dream.
You choose our next date location since I chose the last one, Minjee messages me one day, adding a winking emoji at the end.
Oh, so we’re counting the Hanok Village day as a date?
I grin widely just at the thought.
Yup. And Namdaemun. But I’m counting today as our official day 1.
Things like “this is our day 1” seemed so corny when I saw couples talk about it in K-dramas, but getting that message from someone I care about makes my entire day. I can’t stop smiling, and I even catch myself humming when I’m doing my schoolwork later that night.
Since there is so much to do in Seoul, it’s hard to choose our next date location, but I ultimately go with the Kakao Friends Flagship Store in Hongdae. I’ve been obsessively following their official Instagram account for years and always wanted to go but never got a chance. From what I’ve seen, it seems more like a couples’ spot anyway, so I’m excited to go with Minjee.
“I can’t believe you’ve never been there,” Minjee says on our way to the store. “Don’t you love the Kakao Friends characters? We both use them all the time in our chat!”
“I didn’t want to go alone,” I admit sheepishly. “People from school always go there on dates.”
“True. Well, I’m glad I can go with you now.”
In one big dramatic movement, she wraps her scarlet-red scarf around her neck, making me smile. We both agreed to wear more understated clothes during our dates to avoid as much attention as possible, but I’m glad that didn’t stop Minjee from adding a touch of her usual flair to her otherwise all-black outfit.
I squeeze her hand, and she gives me a warm smile. I wish I could kiss her right then and there. But I can’t. Not in the middle of the street in a popular location like Hongdae.
Hongdae is a bustling nightlife district where students of nearby universities like to hang out. It’s also a popular tourist attraction, so there’s a bunch of people from all over the world walking in the streets. On my way to meet up with Minjee, I hear people speaking not only Korean but also Mandarin, English, French, and Japanese. People are dressed in everything from the latest Korean street fashion to various school uniforms. Music blasts in the streets, either from the stores’ speakers or from the buskers performing live music or dancing K-pop cover dances in front of crowds.
Since Hongdae isreallypacked, both Minjee and I have face masks on to make it harder for people to recognize us. Thecrowd at Hongdae skews younger, so there’s a bigger chance that they watch our show.
We cross the street, and Minjee spreads out her arms in a ta-da pose. “There it is!”
I gasp out loud when I see the store in front of me.
Even from the outside, the Kakao Friends store is super cute, with big-eyed, round characters peering at us from the windows. Currently, the storefront still has decorations up from New Year’s. Huge light-up snowflakes fill up the windows, along with the cute animal figures celebrating in different ways.
Minjee laughs at my reaction and gives my shoulder a squeeze.
“Let’s go in,” she says.
We enter the store. There are endless rows of plushies in all shapes and sizes, from huge ones the size of little kids to tiny keychains. The store has other merchandise, too, like travel pillows and phone cases. And weaving through the products and the different life-size statue photo-op locations are dozens of people either grabbing for merchandise or lining up to take pictures.
“This place is unreal,” I say as we get in line to take pictures with a bunny statue.
