Four
Love Tomorrow“Sorry. I don’t like you that way.”
Madison abruptly woke up from her dream. “Why did I just dream of that?” Madison said groggily. “That happened years ago. Why am I remembering it now?”
It was recess and a fat, little boy made his way to Madison. With a flower in hand, he spoke, “I like you. A lot. Since the first day of second grade. When you walked into the classroom I thought you looked so pretty.”
“I just wanted to confess so that maybe we could be boyfriend and—“
“Sorry. I don’t like you that way.”
Madison shook her head, trying to rid the memory. She laid her head back on her pillow and went to sleep.
“Did you see the new kid?”
“He’s so hot, right?’
“I wish I had a boyfriend that looked like that.”
Almost everyone was talking about the new kid in school but Madison had yet to see him.
“It’s not Chen, right? I thought he was gonna come next week,” said Gabby.
“He is coming next week, so I wonder who it is,” responded Layla as she slammed her locker. “Hey, Nicole…”
“Yeah,” said Nicole as she shuffled her books in her arms.
“It’s your one week anniversary tomorrow. What are you and Baekhyun gonna do?” asked Layla. Madison sighed, her friends’ chatter was drowned out by her thoughts. All of her friends were getting boyfriends. First, Gabby, then, Layla, and finally, Nicole. The only other person who was single in their group was Aele (who was missing for some reason). She was probably going to get a boyfriend before Madison. Was she really going to be single forever?
The bell for homeroom sounded and they entered the same room. The only talk going around the room was about that mysterious transfer.
“The transfer’s a really nice person, too,” a voice said. Madison turned her left and saw the face that matched the voice.
“Suho,” Madison started “you know him?”
“Yeah, he went to school with u—“
“RIIIIING,” and that was the bell for first period. Before Madison could ask Suho to finish what he was saying, he bolted. Madison sighed once more.
It was the beginning of last period and Mrs. Thompson was checking attendance.
“Harris, Jennifer.”
“Here.”
“Quinn, Simon.”
“Here.”
“Kim, Jong—“
Then, the most stunning boy Madison had ever seen ran into the classroom. He was tall, fit, and sweaty. “Sorry, I’m late I just came from P.E. and I didn’t know where to go.” That explained the sweat. The boy in front of her had messy black hair, tanned skin and his bookbag hung from one of his shoulders carelessly. But most importantly, he had veiny arms.
“You’re new so you’re probably Kim, Jong—“
“I like to be called Kai,” he spoke. He was still breathing heavy from his run to the classroom. He ran his hand through his hair tiredly.
“Okay then,” said Mrs. Thompson. She rested her clipboard on the desk and erased what was on the attendance sheet and wrote down what Kai had told her. “Kim, Kai.”
“I’m here,” Kai said as he chuckled. Oh, how beautiful was Kai’s laugh to her ears. “Where do sit?” he asked.
“You can sit in the back next to John,” the teacher said as she pointed to him. Are you serious? I sit all the way in the front and she assigns him a seat in the back? I swear I have the worst luck.
“My eyesight isn’t that good. Can I sit in the front?” Kai asked.
“Sure, sit next to Madison.” God bless Kai terrible eyesight. Kai made his way to the seat besides Madison giving her a smile as she sat down. .
“I’m Kai,” he said as he extended his hand to Madison. She took his hand. , his hand is so soft.
“Madison.”
“You seem familiar,” responded Kai. He then widened his eyes in realization and then his face went blank.
“Is… something wrong?” questioned Madison.
“No,” Kai responded in a monotonous tone. What was that? Why had his voice suddenly turn from friendly to cold? Madison brushed it off. She must’ve heard wrong.
The rest of the period passed in a blur. Some awkward glances at Kai and inappropriate jokes from Baekhyun made the period pass quicker. Mrs. Thompson was the most boring she had ever had, to say the least.
Madison, Layla, Nicole, and Gabby were at Luna café again. Of course they were going to be. It was Friday and none of them wanted to miss the discount that was given on Fridays between 3 to 4. They played rock, paper, scissors to determine who would get the drinks from the barista.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” said Madison, furious at the fact that she had just lost. She was the queen at rock, paper, scissors. How could she have lost? “Can we go again?”
“Nope, you lost. So you need to get all of our drinks,” smiled Layla as she pushed Madison toward the barista. Madison crossed her arms. Why had they picked seats at the other side of the café? She was going to have to carry four drinks plus the one that Nicole ordered for Baekhyun (he was coming later).
When Madison finally reached the counter she propped both of her elbows on it and laid her head in her hands. She watched the barista work on her drink and then she noticed the people next to him. It was a man who was probably in his forties helping out a young man with one of the machines. The young man had a broad, strong back and dark hair. He was working on Layla’s order. Madison could tell by the name written on the side of the cup.
“And there, you’re done. So call out the name,” the man said.
The boy turned his body and called out the name, “Layla!” Madison was more than surprised when she saw that it was Kai. She gave a little wave.
“Hi, Kai. I’m picking up for Layla, Nicole, Baekhyun, and Gabby,” said Madison.
“The other barista called them out a while ago. He put them there,” said Kai pointing to the end of the counter, “I’m just doing, uh,” he looked for the name on the cup, “yours actually.”
“Oh, I hope you make it well,” Madison responded.
“So do I.”
After finishing the drink, Kai handed it to Madison. “You take those two and I’ll take these three, ‘kay?”
“No, wait, Kai. Go back to work, I don’t want you to get in trouble,” said Madison as she made her way to the table.
“It’s fine. It’s no big deal,” responded Kai as he placed the drink on the table. Baekhyun was already there, sitting next to Nicole.
“Hey, you’re in my algebra class, right?” Baekhyun said.
“Yeah,” Kai said as he handed Baekhyun his drink. He pulled up a chair and sat at the end of the table.
“Shouldn’t you be going back to work?” Madison asked.
“It’s almost as if you don’t want me here,” Kai said, he looked down at his hands in his lap.
“No! It’s not that. I just don’t want you to get in trouble and lose your job,” Madison responded.
“No, it’s fine. The boss is my uncle,” said Kai.
Madison noticed that all of her friends were smiling at her and Kai. What was wrong with them? What was wrong with her? Did she have something in her teeth. Then Madison noticed Nicole’s and Baekhyun’s hands intertwined on the table. Baekhyun’s thumb would rub on the back of Nicole’s hand and she’d reddened more each time. Madison was jealous of their relationship. She wanted someone who’d hold her hand and love her. Kai noticed what Madison was staring at and something stirred in him.
The group actually had a really fun time at the café. After the brief moment of silence the conversation had picked up again and was kept at a steady pace. Baekhyun and Kai seemed to become friends after this little encounter. Madison and the group got to know him better and he seemed like a really great guy.
In the weeks following, Madison frequented at the café so much that Kai practically memorized her order. She and Kai became very good friends. During his break he’d take Madison to do very bad things to her hang out with her. It was much more comfortable to sit on the hard, metal chairs which were at the café (the booths were almost always taken).
Madison had also developed a crush on Kai. He was such a funny and kind person. He was someone who made Madison get butterflies every time she saw him. His laugh would make Madison’s heart beat like crazy. Every time he’d touch her she’d get goose bumps and shivers down her spine. Kai would sometimes brush his hand against Madison’s when they’d walk next to each other. Her heart would beat so fast she felt it in .
Today was like any other day. Kai and Madison were hanging out in the backroom.
“My uncle got some snacks and hot chocolate for the employees. You can take some if you’d like,” Kai said, gesturing to the snacks on the coffee table. Madison leaned over from the couch and took a cup of hot chocolate.
“I’ll just take this,” said Madison, “I’m not really that hungry right now.” She took a sip of the hot chocolate and put it on back on the coffee table.
“Um, Madison, you have a,” Kai started and he pointed to the corner of his lip, “You know what, never mind.” Kai then leaned and brushed his thumb against the corner of Madison’s lip. “You have a little…,” Kai brought his thumb back to his mouth and it and brought it back to Madison’s lip. Madison’s heart couldn’t take it anymore.
“I like you. A lot,” Madison said and Kai’s hand froze. What was wrong with her? Those words that she bottled up and hid suddenly came out. How was Kai going to react.
“’Sorry. I don’t like you that way.’”
What? What were those words? And why were they being said to Madison?
“Do you remember those words?” Kai asked. “You said them to me once.” What was Kai even talking about? “Do you remember?”
“No, Kai. I just met you a few of weeks ago,” Madison responded.
“We met before that, Madison,” Kai said as he pulled his hand away from Madison’s face. “I confessed to you in second grade.”
Madison started, “What are you even talking a—“ Wait. Was Kai… No. He couldn’t be. “You can’t be him,” Madison said, “He was chubbier than you and his name was—“
“Jongin.”
“Yeah…”
“I lost weight and I changed my name,” Kai said. “You only like me for my body and looks. If I were that fat person from before you would have never confessed to me.”
“Kai, I don’t only like you for your looks,” Madison said.
“Lies.”
“Kai, just listen,” Madison said as she grabbed his hands, “I like the way you make me feel. The way my heart starts beating a mile a minute whenever I see you smile. I think about you all the time and—“
Kai takes her cheeks in his soft hands and presses his lips into her. Madison’s wide eyes started to droop as she wraps her arms around Kai’s neck, deepening the kiss. Kai’s the first to pull away.
“You talk too much.”
(A/N) I had no idea where I was going with this one to be honest. Just like I have no idea where I'm going with my chansoo fic
Comments