“Wow, this is amazing,” Alex says, taking a forkful of tuna. “I’d come back to Korea just for this.”

“You said you live in Hong Kong, right?” Geonwu says. “I’ve been there once for a fan meeting. Great place.”

“Look me up next time you’re there,” Alex says, and I’m amazed at how guys can know each other for five seconds and already act like best pals—even when one of said guys is Korea’s biggest heartthrob. But maybe that isn’t a guy thing. Maybe it’s an Alex thing. He’s so comfortable with himself that he has this incredible ability to make everyone around him also feel at ease.

Just as I’m having this thought, he reaches out and grabs my hand, his fingers softly running over the back of mine. He looks at me with those deep brown eyes.

“Wow,” Eunji says softly from across the table, looking at us like we’re everything she wants in the world. “How long have you two been together?”

I pause, a forkful of grilled chicken halfway to my mouth. Together. Do I count the first time we met in Singapore? Paris, where we first kissed? Hong Kong, just a few weeks ago when he referred to me as his girlfriend for the first time?

But while my brain is turning over all these possibilities, Alex easily answers, “Three months.”

Eunji raises her eyebrows. “Three months. That’s like, forever by K-pop standards.”

“Really?” Alex asks. “Well, I don’t know about you, Rach, but I’m planning on this thing lasting a lot longer than three months. We’re just getting started,” he says, looking into my eyes. And it’s like I can really see forever staring back at me. It’s equal parts amazing and massively overwhelming. I break our eye contact and shove the bite of chicken into my mouth. My cheeks redden and my eyes water, but I don’t think it’s from the heat of the chili sauce. Alex speaks of our relationship with such easy confidence, but for me, it’s like there’s a nine-hundred-pound gorilla skulking in the corner of the room with the word “GIRLFRIEND” tattooed on its forehead. Half of me wants to just ignore it and focus on how much I enjoy being with Alex, but the other half knows I can’t.

I swallow down my grilled chicken and turn back to Eunji and Geonwu. “So how did you two meet?”

Eunji smiles slyly. “Apparently, he’s been trying to get my number for months. He kept asking his friend who knows me to set him up on a date.”

“It wasn’t months,” Geonwu says defensively. “It was several weeks. And then a few more weeks after that.”

“I’m pretty sure several weeks plus a few weeks equals months,” Eunji teases.

We all laugh as Geonwu blushes with a bashful shrug.