Mixed Signals
Knock Things Over
“Ahh I feel like I’m going to die.” Suzy panted, out of breath from running. Myungsoo sat beside her, his breath coming out in visible white puffs against the winter air.
The two of them were sitting on a bench in the middle of a park. Tall evergreen trees sprouted up everywhere along the little pathway they had walked down. A little ways further, children ran around on a playground and the sounds of kids playing, shouting, and laughing drifted towards them.
They had run out of the restaurant and had continued running for a couple blocks, even though Suzy was pretty sure no one was actually following them. But Myungsoo had a hold of her hand and he kept tugging her along. They didn’t know the streets of Yongin, but happened to find this lovely little park. So, here they were.
They sat like that for a while – side-by-side, cheeks red, and exhausted, slowly regaining their breath.
“So who were we running from anyways?” Suzy asked.
He made a face. “One of my managers. He’s on break today. I had no idea he’d be here, of all places…”
“Do you think he saw you?”
“I’m not sure…I hope not! I mean, he’s not a bad person. He’s a good manager, really. But I don’t think he’d be too happy if he caught me skipping school. Ah but anyways, sorry for making you run.” He absentmindedly rubbed the back of his neck. “That was probably unnecessary.”
“Oh whatever, I need the exercise,” she laughed. “And it was fun! I like the adrenaline rush.”
He smiled, and then remembered something.
“Hey! Wait, you paid for the meal didn’t you? That’s not fair, I should pay - I’m the guy!” He pulled out his money.
She shook her head and pushed his money away. “No, no. It’s all good. I had fun today and you got me out of school, so I owe you.”
“Of course not! No, you’re taking the money,” he replied stubbornly, “I’m not gonna make you pay for all the kimchi I ate.”
He pushed the money back towards her hand. But Suzy could be stubborn too. She scooted down the bench away from him and when he followed, she jumped up out of the bench and started running down the path, towards the playground.
“Yah!” Myungsoo yelled, jumping up and running after her. He chased her down the little dirt trail and reached the playground. She was on the other side of the playground, way ahead of him maybe because she had a head start. Or maybe because he tripped over a kid and fell. Embarrassed, he stood up quickly and knocked the kid over. Myungsoo gaped, horrified, but the little boy he knocked to the ground was laughing and obviously unhurt. The boy’s friends, who had been playing on the park swings, now ran up to them.
“Can we play too?” asked the boy, getting off the ground. He was no more than 7 years old and his eyes shined with excitement.
“Play…?“ Myungsoo glanced him up and down nervously, making sure he was unharmed.
“Freeze tag!” the kids exclaimed.
“Oh. Sure!” He stuffed the money back in his pocket. Suzy, seeing what was going on, walked over to stand next to Myungsoo.
“That was impressive” she whispered to him, gently elbowing him in the side.
“Thanks” he whispered back, holding his chin up in the air determinately, as if nothing has happened. Nothing embarrassing at all. But he was clearly unable to stop his face from flushing.
“Ooooohhh…” the children giggled.
One of the boys asked innocently, “She’s pretty. Is she your girlfriend?”
Suzy closed her eyes, knowing what he would say, but secretly hoping for more…
“Ah, no!” he answered rather quickly, “We’re just friends. But yeah, she’s pretty huh?” he smiled at the kids and playfully flicked a strand of Suzy’s long hair.
*”We’re just friends.” We’re. Just. Friends…Hold up. Did he really just call me pretty…?* She couldn’t help the shallow and vain thoughts that flooded her mind, making her heart flutter uncontrollably.
Before she could wonder much more, he suddenly grabbed and shook her shoulders, shouting out, “She’s it!” And so the game began. The little kids (plus Myungsoo) ran away squealing and laughing.
***
Damn kids and their inexhaustible energy. Suzy and Myungsoo were huffing and puffing, completely out of breath once again, while the children still ran around full of energy.
“Jesus Christ, I’m too old for this!”
“How are those kids not tired yet? Or thirsty??” Suzy croaked, lying down in the middle of the snow-covered lawn.
“Thirsty? Ooh, there’s a hot chocolate stand over there,” he pointed to the other end of the park, where two little girls were selling homemade hot chocolate. The girls had even taken the effort to decorate - painting a huge colorful banner and decorating their table with a tablecloth, Christmas lights, and a huge vase of flowers. How cute.
“Let’s go!” He started walking over. Suzy tried to follow, crawling and dragging her stomach across the snow, but gave up and flopped onto her back. Too much. She’ll let him go get the hot chocolate, she decided, as she closed her eyes and rested.
A while later, Myungsoo returned with their drinks and nudged her shoe. She opened her eyes to see a red cup of steaming hot chocolate. Why, this seemed quite familiar – she thought back to (…was it only yesterday?) when he had shown up at detention with her mocha. She sat up and took it from him gratefully, chugged the entire cup down, and scorched her tongue in the process.
“Ahhh,” she breathed out happily, despite her burnt tingling tongue, “that was good. Thanks, Myungsoo!” she beamed up at him, and then saw what else he was holding. A bright yellow sunflower. He must have gotten it from the vase at the hot chocolate stand.
“For you,” he grinned, handing her the flower.
She took it, silently admiring its shining beauty.
“Don’t tell me you stole this from those girls…” she teased, trying to keep in the happiness bubbling inside of her.
“No!” he acted shocked. “Of course not! I paid them extra for it.”
What a gentleman. Sure, a rose may have been more romantic, but… *how did he know sunflowers are my favorite flower?* She turned facing him to ask why a flower, but his mind was clearly elsewhere - he had lain down next to her and was peacefully watching the fluffy clouds in the sky. So she joined him.
***
At three o’ clock, they had to end their awesome day of adventure and head back to school - Suzy had dance team practice, and Myungsoo had his idol trainee schedule. Myungsoo whined a little about having to go back, but Suzy insisted. She didn’t want to ditch dance practice and she didn’t want him to be an irresponsible trainee.
As Myungsoo slept on the bus, Suzy stayed awake, playing with the sunflower in her hand while her mind buzzed with thoughts.
Oh man, her heart was confused, and she couldn’t quite sort out her feelings about him. His mixed signaling didn’t help either. Okay, so they were just friends – Myungsoo had made that clear. She the soft flower petals with her fingertips and smiled. *Well, if he keeps going around calling me pretty and buying me flowers, I don’t mind being “just friends”…*
***
Hi lovely readers. OH MY GOSH INFINITE'S SECOND INVASION CONCERT looked so amazing!!! I wish I could have gone D: And Myunggie and Hoya started crying (more like bawling) at the end and I almost died. And they gave Myungsoo a solo! :') So proud.
Let's not forget the black tank top hotness:
Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
Image sources: http://lkimfan.tumblr.com/ and conxlove.tumblr.com
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