"Depends. Name them." Ji Hoo mentally braced himself for something completely random.
"Okay." Here goes nothing, Ja Rin groaned inwardly, while maintaining her smile. "One. You're not surprising me by taking me to my mother, at any time, without letting me know first."
"Fine." That was not as bad as he had been expecting. Maybe she had matured. Just a little bit.
"Two. Absolutely do not let Ga Eul know of our relationship, or there goes number one into the Anglers' Lake in one shot," she grimaced. If Ga Eul knew she was dating Ji Hoo, then there was no way that Queen Yumia would not somehow be notified of that particular development.
"Again, okay." Now he was dreading number three. Maybe all the craziness would be culminated into that one. Then again, so far, she hadn't suggested anything unreasonable. He could hope.
"Three. I'm not moving out of Gideon, not stopping whatever it is that I happen to be doing there now, and yes, I'm still getting in trouble, but not anything that I can't handle." This was it. She had known that there would be nothing for him to take offense to in the first two conditions, but it wasn't only Ga Eul who knew how to be a worrywart. He was her best rival in that.
"I can't help it if I worry about you," he said at once. "I won't get in your way, but I will be keeping an eye over you. So, is that alright?"
"I guess." Ja Rin decided that it was a fair point. So long as he didn't lecture her about every crazy thing she did, and just watched from the sidelines. She looked up with a slight blush.
"So, does this mean we are a couple now?" He laughed at the mock thoughtful expression she put on, and held out a hand to her tentatively.
"Yeah." Nervousness wasn't something she had ever entertained, and she laughed as she took his hand. "So, Alex is officially mine too, right now."
"Are you sure you don't want to go down to the rodeo? They may have a horse you'd like better," he grinned. He wasn't really into rodeos, but he knew for a fact that his girlfriend loved them.
"I don't need two new horses at once. Ga Eul would really kill me for that," she laughed, but mentioning her friend seemed to sober her up.
"What's wrong?" Ji Hoo asked, slightly worried.
"Can we go somewhere else to talk? I wouldn't normally tell anyone, but since you've been both of our friend for a long time... it's just, she won't listen to me, but she might listen to you," Ja Rin looked more troubled than she would like.
"Sure. Let's go for a ride. And you can test out Alex as well," he suggested, glad to see that his words brought back that glowing carefree smile.
As they both mounted the fine stallions, riding at a leisurely pace with no particular destination in mind, they both felt odd. Instead of a romantic or fun, light atmosphere, it felt eerily quiet. Even though they made small talk, catching up with eleven years of distance, there was a feeling. A feeling that it was the calm before the storm.