With Love

Simple Joys

Was it possible to be this happy? 

He thought as he waited for her in the hotel lobby. His eyes on his phone as he watched the clips of her bowling last night. He had never laughed so much while playing before. His eyes vanished as he laughed at the clip of her doing a grandma toss with both hands before squatting and moving her arms as if to save her ball from going into the gutter. The groan, the way she threw her hands up in the air. He remembered laughing when she glared at him over her shoulder, her lips pursed into a pout. 

"Why are you recording this?!" She whined and he couldn't stop laughing. He had set down his phone then and walked to her, still sitting on the ground like a child. "Oppa..." 

"Mmn?" He hummed with a smile as he looked down at her before squatting right by her side. 

"You're having way too much fun at my expense." She huffed, blowing away her hair that got in her face. "Am I that funny?" 

He chuckled before taking her hands and helping her onto her feet. "Ji Won-ah. I read a study about how laughing can extend your life...I think you added at least five years in the last ten minutes." 

"Wow...."She scoffed, putting both hands on her waist before smiling at him. "Do you say that to all the girls you took bowling?" 

"You're the first. And the first to even ask me on a bowling date." He said with a smile before pinching and pulling her cheeks and smiling at her confused expression. "It's not exactly a sexy hobby. And usually the girls I used to date didn't really want to spend our limited time together bowling when we could go out shopping or eating dinner at some nice place."  

He dropped his hands to hold her hands and she instantly began swaying their arms. "It's a first for me...to have someone that is willing to try it out with me...that brought it up first and...You're my first, Ji Won-ah." 

"Then instead of laughing at me and my sad attempts, teach me. I mean you are basically a professional bowler, right? Show me your skills, oppa." She pulled at his hand. 

"Ahhh well these aren't my balls so I don't know if I'll do that well..." 

"Tsk. Are you really going to blame the tools for a bad game?" She put her hands on his shoulder and leaned in to kiss his cheek. "I thought you were better than that." 

Was she trying to spark his competitive nature? The playful way she stuck out her tongue before picking up the cup of beer and taking a sip. He really was in the palm of her hands, he thought as he laughed and rolled up his sleeves. "Aishh...I should have practiced if I knew I needed to show off!" 

"Wooo!" She laughed and clapped her hands and gestured for him to take the stage with a dramatic flourish of her arms. "My oppa is so cool!"

Oh, that was a big ego boost. He may have to ask her to come to his next bowling competition.

As they walked back to the hotel, he quickly took off his jacket and put it over her shoulders. "따뜻하다 (It's Warm.)" She said with a soft smile as she gazed at him. 

"The jacket or me?" He teased and she just rolled her eyes with a soft giggle. He put his arm over her shoulder and brought her closer. "고마워(Thanks)" 

"For what?" 

"For...bowling with me." 

"You mean watching me fail at bowling while you made strike after strike?" She teased before shaking her head. "It was fun...so we should do it again." 

"Really? I mean you don't have to if you don't want to...It's okay we can do other things." 

"But you like bowling and I like spending time with you. So, let's keep doing this and when the weather is nice we can go hiking or golfing. It'll be good for me too...not just laying in bed all day."