Chapter 23 - Stalkers Gonna Stalk

"There, there. Ready. It should be enough. Blink a little," he dropped the eye drops expertly in front of the drugstore counter, then wiped the dripping excess with a tissue, and handed another clean tissue to her hand.

She did as told, feeling that her sore eye wasn't itching as before. When she opened her relieved eyes again, Dr. Kim was gone, but soon she spotted him in the end of the aisle, carrying the products to the cashier.

While he paid, Ye Rim knew she should say something important to Dr. Kim. She reached his shoulder, patting to get his attention:

"Th-thanks."

He turned over his shoulder and smiled, putting away his wallet, then teased as they left the drugstore and went to the car in the parking lot. "Okay. Your eye should stop bothering you soon and your mood will improve. In fact, now I'm thinking of it, I did it for myself…"

"Oh, you're so selfish, Dr. Kim!" Now she knew he was just harmlessly teasing her, and laughed with him. But the singer was still unsure about her shoes. As she followed him to the car, she came up with a suggestion: "What if we drop by a shoes store so I can change my heels, huh?"

"It would probably take all night. No. You are clearly the type that has a high level of exigence with what you use."

"Don't blame me," she laughed, conceding it to him. "I share the apartment with a fashion designer."

"Ahhh! That explains a lot."

As they got into the car, she turned back to Kim Jun Hyeon again, asking, "Are you sure you want to be seen in the show with a woman wearing mismatched pumps?"

His expression changed to his usual sarcasm.

"Don't be so self-centered, Ms. Nam. People are going there to see the show, meaning: who is on stage. We only have two sector A seat tickets. And we won't have time left to wait in the lobby anyway."

Ye Rim got a little embarrassed by his little reprimand, but he was right. The doctor added, as he maneuvered out of the parking lot, with an expression she considered somewhat devilish: "Think of it as building up a quirky funny memory of the day you went out on a no-date with a boring guy; and you were wearing mismatching heels. You've got something interesting to tell your friends about this evening, at least."

Jun Hyeon had just validated the parking ticket at the gate outside the drugstore parking lot, and the machine started speaking "Good night, come back soon" with an awkward pitch, slurring creepily. The gate arm that was now up for him to go through, began to descend again in the middle of his way out. Kim reacted quickly and sped the car past before the gate arm slammed onto the top of his car.

"Wow!! Did you see that?"

"Aw! That was a close shave! You had a quick reaction!"

Kim Jun Hyeon winked at her in response.

' Don't do it, you silly guy. That wasn't that super!' She thought, suppressing a smile. But Dr. Kim glanced at the clock, and seemed to realize they had to hurry if they wanted to have dinner before the show.

"Hungry?"

"Not much, actually."

...

Jung Eun Ha finally got track of where Ye Rim was through her cell phone's GPS; and was now closing to them, chasing them on a scooter lent by Yoo Kang Dae.

She arrived in time to see them enter the drugstore. 'What are they going to do there ?! Oh, this is so fast! Ye Rim is not that kind of girl! No, no!' the woman shook her head, dismissing the absurd assumptions crossing her mind, and sneaking into the drugstore close behind a random couple. Still using the couple of strangers as a shield, she came as close as she could to Ye Rim and Dr. Kim, and hunched behind a shelf.

From the position she was, Eun Ha could see Ye Rim's back as the doctor spoke to the pharmacist behind the counter. Eun Ha crouched further down and peeked again, and spotted her friend's mismatched shoes. Her fashionista heart bled at the sight. 'Oh my poor friend, I'm so sorry to have done this to you! I'll make it up to you by making you a lot of beautiful clothes and treating you preciously!'

She clutched her magic wand in her coat pocket. 'What to do now? He is talking about eye drops... I must be careful to not hurt anyone.'

Eun Ha ran a few steps further and hid behind a celebrity-shaped stand up display endorsing an antacid, and when the doctor came closer to Ye Rim to apply the eye drops, Eun Ha twirled her magic wand and cast a spell upon his feet. She was supposing that, if he looked pathetic, that would minimize his kindness acting on Ye Rim's eyes. 'Look at Dr. Flamingo being all helpful and duplicitous! Outwardly so kind, inwardly the heart of a predator!'

As soon as Dr. Kim took a few steps towards the cashier, he tripped on nothing and fell flat in the middle of the narrow empty aisle. Eun Ha flinched behind the display. She knew the place was filmed, but also believed that she would not be caught by Ye Rim and the doctor.

The attendant behind the drugs counter c.o.c.ked his head to see what was going on, but the tall doctor managed to recover swiftly from the fall; and looked around quickly to check whether his date had seen it.

But she had not; Ms. Nam was still blinking to absorb the eye drops as he recommended her to do. He straightened himself stiffly, with his male pride semi-preserved, and elegantly strode to the cashier carrying the products he was buying.

'Damn, he's fast as hell.'

Before Ye Rim turned around, Eun Ha crept into the next corridor so that her friend wouldn't stumble on her.

Peering over the low shelves of the drugstore, the fashion designer watched as the doctor took out his wallet to pay for the eye drops and the tissues, and Ye Rim coming after him.

Eun Ha figured that if Dr. Flamingo got embarrassed trying to pay for the products but having no credit, it would be a total flop. Neither of them would like the situation. She wasn't sure how to make it happen. Anyway she twirled her wand again with that intention, pointing to the doctor's wallet and casting the magic. But Ye Rim suddenly turned in her direction, and Eun Ha ducked behind the shelf by instinct, not knowing whether her spell got into the right target.

Glancing down by the side of the shelf, behind the band-aid boxes, she saw that he had paid cash, however; while the cashier apologized for the system being down that night. She grunted in frustration, yet another opportunity to humiliate him was missed.

As the couple left the drugstore, Eun Ha ran to the glass door to keep stalking at them. She realized that it would be harder than ever to get close to them without being seen, once they're inside the fancy restaurant Dr. Kim booked for dinner. She also wouldn't have much of a chance on sneaking into the theater where they were going to watch the musical.

She needed to do something to stop them getting along, and fast.

That was when she felt censuring eyes upon her, and looked over to catch what was going on. The security guard, the pharmacist, and the cashier with were glaring at her with suspicious and hostile eyes.

As they met eyes, each of them made sure to express their disapproval on her stalking manners inside the drugstore. Eun Ha cheeks blushed, but what could she do? She straightened her body, putting her pen-like wand down, and called them out loudly, putting on an scene:

"Ehhhh! What?! What are you looking at? That man... is my husband! My husband! That cheating pig!"

She showed her "pen" again and pointed at them alternately, faking it was a cheap spy camera-pen, just in case.

"Do you want to be on the pictures as well, huh? Huh? Should I ask you to be my witnesses in court?"

The drugstore's staff suddenly seemed more interested in other things, and embarrassed looked away from her.

Eun Ha wrapped herself in her coat and hurried out to the parking lot to keep stalking the couple. The car was leaving the courtyard, so she aimed at the gate machine… but that sneaky Dr. Flamingo was good on getting off.

'Why did you have to show up now? There is so little time left until our twenty-seventh birthday!'