Chapter 4

"Hey," he said, sitting at the desk next to her. He showed her his already flipped open phone. "This is the guy."

Da Hae glanced at him then took it from him.

Dong Gun felt her fingers brushed against his and mentally admonished himself for noticing it.

"You took a photo of him? Why does that seem gay?" She peered at the screen and moved the phone around in order to get the best angle to see the picture. "He's actually not bad looking. I thought you were going to find me the ugliest guy you could think of but this guy is actually cute." She put the phone on the table and looked at Dong Gun. "I really think this might be fun," she said, grinning. "He really is cute. But…," she said, bending her head and squinting at the photograph, "there's actually something familiar about his face." She scratched her head. "Maybe I've met him before? How tall is he? Where did you find him?"

Dong Gun stretched his hand out, gesturing for her to return his phone. "He's a new student."

She shut his phone and handed it back to him. "A noob? He's not a freshman, I hope."

Dong Gun chuckled. Why didn't he think of that? "He's a final year."

"Cool."

"I thought a new student would be best since I don't want you using any residual power," he explained.

She raised her left brow. "Residual power?"

"You know, just in case he doesn't realize that you no longer have your friends."

Da Hae rolled her eyes. "Whatever. What's his name?"

Dong Gun told her and answered all the other questions she had about him.

"Okay. And all I have to do is get him to ask me out?"

He nodded. "Yes. You can't ask him out. You can't give him hints. You can't show you're interested."

She eyed him. "What?" Wasn't that the whole point?

"Look, most red-blooded guys would go out with any girl if she threw herself at him, okay?" And he wasn't sure his cousin would have the willpower to withstand her if she come on strong. "So you can't do that. He's got to introduce himself to you. He has to take the initiative. He has to ask you out. And you have to go out with him."

She frowned. "I have to go out with him? So I actually have to date him?" She smirked. "Do I also have to sleep with him?" she asked sarcastically.

"That's up to you."

She turned away so that she was sitting properly in her seat then reached into her bag and pulled out the books she needed for the class and started leafing through a textbook.

When she didn't say anything for about two minutes, Dong Gun asked, "So are we clear on the rules?"

She slammed her book shut and looked at him. "You're obviously not serious. I'm not going to actually date a guy just because of a bet."

He laughed. "You're already contemplating losing?"

She hissed. "No. But it's still dumb. I can only agree to these rules if you agree to change schools if I win."

He almost wanted to agree to that but he knew that would raise all sorts of red flags. "Okay, you win. He asks you out and you just have to show up for the first date. It can be anything or anywhere but it can't be a group date. It has to be clear that he wants to go out with only you."



***

Da Hae straightened her skirt when she saw him. He was in the parking lot pacing around and talking on his cell phone – just as Dong Gun had told her. Well, he hadn't mentioned the cell phone part but nonetheless, he was standing there as expected. Dong Gun had been unable to come up with a reasonable explanation for why he normally hung around the parking lot after school so she hoped he wasn't a drug dealer.

From what she could see, he was at least 6'3 which made him slightly taller than Chang Min. She didn't know what it was but just like some girls had a thing for guys in glasses, she had a thing for tall men and the taller the better. She was 5'6 on the days she lied but there was something about long male arms wrapped around her body that made her feel safe.

As she got closer to him, she got a better view of his face and was slightly disappointed. Who'd have thought that some people were so photogenic that the quality even carried over to crappy camera phones? He was still cute but the Hyun Bin comparisons no longer applied as they had earlier in the day.

She took a deep breath in and dove into her plan. In her experience, all she had to do was walk past a guy to get his attention but this time, since he was on his phone, she decided to add a little oomph to her walk. She sent him a sultry look as she sashayed past him but to her surprise, he didn't say anything to her. Irritated, she turned around and saw that he was still on his phone. Okay, what the heck? She retraced her steps but still got no reaction. Back at her original spot, she tried to assess the situation. It really made no sense to go back and walk in the adjacent direction after all, she'd be walking towards barbed wire but what else could she do?

About two minutes later, she was standing at the barbed wire and he still hadn't looked up at her. Was he blind?

"Hey, Da Hae ssi, what are you doing there?"

She looked ahead and saw In Ho, the cook's son, waving at her. "What's up?"

He looked around the virtually empty parking lot then back at her. "Aren't you going home? Do you need a ride or something?" he yelled.

"No, I'm fine, In Ho ssi," she called back.

He looked at her curiously then at Jong Won who hadn't even lifted his head once.

She wondered if Jong Won would notice if his car suddenly caught fire. She was glad she hadn't brought matches otherwise, she just might have been tempted to find out.

"Alright, Da Hae ssi," In Ho said. "I'll see you later."

She waved at him then turned her attention back at the statue on the phone. She sighed and tried to come up with a new plan. Surely, she couldn't give up so easily. Besides, if he thought he could ignore her, he had another think coming!

She thought back to all the romantic movies she'd ever seen to try to come up with the best way to make him acknowledge her. The image of J.Lo tugging at her shoe in the middle of San Francisco came to mind. She sighed. She was very familiar with the weak women's mantra -when in need, act like a damsel in distress- but a day earlier, she wouldn't have imagined resorting to that level of shamelessness. But when in need…. Besides, she knew that nothing gave a man a hard-on like appearing macho in front of a weak woman. She frowned at him and mentally prepared herself for the task ahead. If it didn't work with him, she planned to take that as confirmation that he was really a female cross-dresser and Dong Gun would owe her 200,000 Won.

After a quick glance at him, she started to limp and when she was standing directly in front of him, she yelped like she was in pain. She watched his face and when he didn't even flinch, she fell to the ground and started screaming and calling for her mother. She'd screamed for at least thirty seconds before he looked over at her.

Finally, she thought. A second longer and she'd have lost her voice.

Jong Gun looked her over. He didn't even rush over like a normal person would when they found someone in crisis. No. He simply walked over and looked down at her. "Do you need help?"

Da Hae wiped away nonexistent tears and stretched her hand out to him. "I think I stepped on a nail or something."

He looked down at her thick shoes. "Really?"

She nodded. "Can you please help me up?"

He took her hand and lifted her up. "Are you okay now?"

"My foot still hurts," she said, limping for effect, "but thank you so much for helping me out." He looked like he was already turning away so she sent him her most dazzling smile and stretched her hand out. "My name is Nam Da Hae."

"Cool."

From the look on his face, Da Hae wondered if instead of introducing herself, she'd somehow told him where to get a barium enema.

"Take care, then," he said before walking back to his car and driving off.



***

Da Hae plopped herself in the seat next to Dong Gun's. After spending a sleepless night wondering why she'd received such a harsh brush off from Jong Won, she'd arrived at one conclusion. "He's gay, isn't he?"

"Nope," he said, looking up from his book and turning to her. The tortured look on her face brought him so much joy that he didn't bother to hide his satisfaction. When her frown deepened, he burst into laughter. Welcome to the real world, baby!