"Good evening! What would you like to have?" chirped an overly-perky girl at the pop-up ice cream store.

"Get me anything. Your best-seller, I guess," murmured Jang Aera, not minding the curious look she got from the attendant.

She was feeling beat-up from the long unusual day, a throbbing behind her eyes stopping her from thinking clearly. Tired, Aera paid for her order and leaned on a lamp post a few steps from the stall as she waited for her ice cream. She wasn't aware that she closed her eyes -- half-asleep on her feet in the middle of the bustling nightlife of Hongdae.

The next thing Aera knew, a tall man with jet-black hair was tapping her shoulder. He had a small amused smirk, as if he was letting her in on a joke, but his eyes conveyed a question.

Aera stood straight and fixed her clothes while eyeing the stranger warily. He looked young, probably the same age as her, but behind the playful smirk were deep, intelligent eyes framed by dark lashes.  Still muddled from the unexpected sleep, Aera stared for a few seconds, transfixed at the high bridge of his nose.

"I think they're calling for your name over there."

"I'm sorry, what?" Aera was jerked from her sleep-induced absent-mindedness by the realization that she had made the young man slightly uncomfortable from her blank staring.

"At the ice-cream stand," he motioned with a flick of his head, his hair flopping over his eyebrows with the movement. "You are the Aera that they are calling, right?"

"Ah, oh. Okay, umm.. yes," Aera stuttered, still flustered over being waken up by a stranger who knew her name, "umm... well, thanks."

"I was behind you in line, if you were wondering how I knew your name. Guess mine's out soon, too. Mind if I go with you?" The guy was still looking at her intently, and it was Aera's turn to feel uncomfortable.

"Yeah? Oh, wait, I mean no, I don't mind if you come."

"Great," he stuck out a hand as they started walking towards the stall. "I'm Jeon Jungkook, by the way." The same perky girl from earlier was half-leaning outside the window of the stall, still calling out Aera's name and searching for her in the crowd. Some people were starting to turn and look around, too.

Now Jang Aera wasn't the type of person who talked randomly with strangers, even at the coffee shop she worked in. She always thought that it was a waste of her time - something that would push her out of her routine. She was never one to strike up or sustain a conversation either. But that night, under the light of the lamps and the neon signs, Jang Aera shook the hand of Jeon Jungkook - open to striking up a conversation with a man that's a stranger to her by all means.

"Nice to meet you, I'm-"

"Yeah, I know. Aera, right?" Jungkook smiled, nodding again towards the stall, "aren't you going to get your ice cream?"

"Yes," Aera stopped before continuing, her hands still in his, "I guess I should."

At the same time that she let his hand go and turned towards the stall, Aera felt a small pang in her chest. The absurdity of the situation was now sinking in and she dismissed the feeling of butterflies flying around in her chest as a reaction to the thought of eating sweets.

As her hands touched the cone, another stall attendant called out Jungkook's name and Aera stiffened. A hand snaked from behind her and reached over her shoulder, to which Aera turned with such speed that her ice cream almost toppled over.

Jungkook's hand shot out to steady Aera's hand. "Careful. Seems like you really need the sugar rush, better not spill that."

"Um, well yeah I guess," Aera said softly as she tried to avoid Jungkook's searching gaze, "thanks. Again."

"No problem."

"So, hey. You look like you're on your own, want to join me at the bench over there? I just realized that it's kinda lonely eating ice cream alone." Jungkook added after a short silence, one hand rubbing his neck shyly even if his face conveyed nothing but confidence.

Aera knew that she was so out of schedule - she should be on the bus passing her home by now but she followed Jungkook with a shy nod, holding her ice cream cone between two clasped hands. Today, of all days, Jang Aera was breaking all of her strict self-made routines and schedules, choosing to follow a stranger she just met under a lamp post.

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