Mir’s P.O.V

      I’m in third period right now and some kid is being dragged out of the classroom by the security guard. I don’t know what happened because I sort of fell asleep after the teacher started talking about the civil war. The kid is desperately flailing his arms in an attempt to get away but is failing so far. He’s cussing. He wishes someone would shove our History textbook so far up her well you know, . And now he’s begging them not to call his parents but it’s too late the teacher is already dialing their number. I sighed for, if I remember right, the gajillionth time in ten minutes.

“MYA!!” I snapped my head towards the annoying voice in the front of the room. The teacher looked annoyed and irritated.

“Yes sir?”

“I asked, what was the predominant religion in the South during the US Civil War?”

“Uhm…”

“Mya?”

“Uh…” the kid next to me nudged my ankle and angled his notebook towards me a bit. Thank you lord!!

“Religion and Culture in Illinois and the North Dur-” I looked towards the door and saw Joon panting, almost passing out.

“Sorry to interrupt your class, I need Mya right now!”

“What in the world, Mr. Lee I don’t care if she’s failing your class or whatever I need her in here.”

“Mya we need to go! NOW! Seung Ho’s in the hospital!” WHAT! THE PANDA’S IN THE HOSPITAL! I got up from my seat and stuffed everything in my bag then ran to Joon.

“Let’s go babo!” I ran to the parking lot and paced around impatiently as I waited for that idiot to unlock the car.

“Come on Joon chop, chop! I need to know if Seung Ho’s alright.”

“Seung Ho’s fine.”

“What do you mean he’s fine! He’s in the freaking hospital for crying out loud!”

“He’s not in the hospital.”

“What!” we were already driving out of the school parking lot. He had one hand on the steering wheel and another was ruffling my hair.

“I needed an excuse to get us out of there. We’re ditching school today!” I punched his forearm in frustration and smirked in satisfaction when he yelped and began rubbing the spot I hit. I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples.

“Joon what the hell? Where are we going? Are you stupid? How could you even PRETEND that lazy panda is in the hospital? That’s not funny! Do you know how worried I was?”

“I’m sorry Mireu, I just wanted to spend more time with you. We’re never together anymore, I want us to be inseparable like we were during the summer.” I blushed as memories came rushing back to me.

“I want us to be like that to…”

“But?”

“Just warn me next time, so I can wear comfortable shoes. Do you know how hard it is to speed walk in heels? Stilettos at that!”

“I think you did pretty good.” I sighed in surrender to his stupidity. I should enjoy this, after all it’s not like I get to ditch school every day. I smiled and pecked his cheek.

“You’re lucky I love you!” I smiled and leaned over to kiss his cheek. “So where are we going numnums??”

“I don’t know, let’s just walk around, okay?” I nodded and watched him drive.  We drove for almost two hours until we arrived at San Diego. It was beautiful and huge! Trees lined the walkways, giant skyscrapers stood proud and tall. People in business suits crossed the street hurriedly, probably on their way to work again. Other people were clad in sweats as they ran down the street for their daily workout. Cafés, restaurants, boutiques, all sorts of stores could be seen from the car.

       I smiled as I thought about all we could do. I wanted to go shopping, and eat. I wanted to go see the museum. I wanted to visit the gardens. I wanted to go on the boats. I wanted to do everything! I got out off the car as soon as Joon finished parking and stretched. Then ran to his side and pulled him out. he smiled at my hyper activeness and locked the car after grabbing his wallet and fixing his shirt.

“Ready?” I nodded eagerly and held his hand tightly.

      We started by buying ice coffees due to the heat then proceeded to buy sun glasses. We walked down to Balboa Park and entered the first museum we saw. We walked around for about an hour sipping our coffee and oohing and ahhing at the pieces of art. Some were easy to tell what they were, others could hardly be recognized, even if we did read the caption over and over. Some sculptures were really interesting! They were tall and wiry, made out of metal, glass, paper, even paper clips! After seeing the inside of the museum we walked further down the park to see the gardens. The first one we saw was the Rose garden, it was full of beautiful roses. The orchards were prettily decorated and drew your attention to every inch of the place. We then walked to the Japanese Friendship Garden. They were teaching how to make sushi when we arrived and I begged Joon to let us try it until he gave in.

       After my disastrous sushi making experience, we saw the Zen garden, and koi pond. I crouched down to see the fish but they all swam hiding in their homes. I pouted and got up. Joon was staring off into space but had a grin on his face. I tapped his shoulder and asked what he was thinking about but he just shook his head and chuckled as he wrapped his arms around me and laid his chin on the crook of my shoulder.

“Very good. Please stay like that!” Click! I looked up to see an average looking man holding a camera and snapping pictures of me and Joon. He had a huge smile on his face and laughed with glee. I pouted as I turned to Joon. He had a frown on his handsome face and was about to yell at the guy but he held himself off when the man came to us.

“Josh Stewart, rising photographer, nice to meet you.”

“What were you doing just now?”

“Sorry you two looked absolutely perfect like that! The lighting was perfect, your faces were filled with such emotion. It’s just what I was looking for! Would you two mind modeling for my newest exhibition? I call it ‘The Beauty Of Love’ you two look like you’re in love, I need a nice young couple. And you two give off that image. So what do you say?” I didn’t know what to say so I let him decide.

“I’m sorry but we’re not interested, we’re just out on a date. I’d like to have all the pictures, plus negatives you have of us.” Joon had a blank look on his face. The man looked angry and grumbled as he handed Joon the photographs.

“The negatives to.” The man held his bag and ran. Joon chased after him and I chased after Joon. Why didn’t I take off the heels!!!!! I tried to keep up but stopped many times because my feet hurt. When I finally reached them Joonie and the man were playing tug-o-war with the bag. A very important looking woman came running down the stairs and separated them. She led us inside where we stood awkwardly waiting. I clung to Joon’s arm and glared at the woman in the room who drooled over him.

“Joonie can we just go? Let him use the pictures, I don’t care I just want to spend time with you.” His cold looking face softened and he kissed my forehead.

“Fine, I’ll just let the person who runs this place know that there was no harm done.” I smiled and sat on a chair. A few people peaked from behind the front desk and others from behind doors and windows. I heard whispers but couldn’t make out what they were talking about.  Finally after about thirty minutes of waiting a different person came out, this time it was a man. A man I didn’t know too, but Joon definitely did.

“Changsun?” Joon’s happy faced fell a little but he still smiled.

“Hey…dad…” they uncomfortably shook hands, not used to being close.

“Who is she? Where’s Mir? You’re not cheating on him right? Don’t take after your old man.” I laughed and shook his hand.

“I’m Mir. I’m just disguising myself for a while.” I smiled at his baffled face.

“You two sure are weird. Anyways what are you doing here Changsun? I thought you were  in Korea.”

“About that, there’s a lot we need to talk about.”

“Let’s talk it over lunch, have you guys eaten? Aren’t you supposed to be in school?” we chuckled and explained what happened. I liked this side of Joon’s dad, the one where he paid attention to Joon and acted like a father.

          We ate at a posh restaurant and talked about everything that was going on, about why we were here in California, and about his crazy half brother.  He explained it all to us. Nothing shocking was revealed, just plain simple blackmail by his mother. He got a call from one of his business partners and left us to ponder everything we had just talked about.

“So basically, your grandma told him if he didn’t have a child with Song Gon’s nmom she would kill you and your mom?”

“Yeah…” I shook my head and ate my cake.

“She is one messed up old woman.” Joon chuckled and ruffled my hair.

“You okay numnums?” he chuckled again and nodded.

“How’re things with your dad going?”

“We still have a long way to go, but things are better. Come on let’s keep our date going, it’s not like we go out everyday right?” I nodded and got up.

“Should we go shopping?”

“I thought you’d never ask!” we left, since his dad had already paid the bill, and found ourselves gazing out into the giant shopping plaza.

Joon’s P.O.V

     As Mir tried on outfit after outfit I sat in the waiting room deep in thought. Everything we had talked about wasn’t even the beginning. I decided to not think about it as long as I was with Mir. Mir came out wearing a one piece dress with flats. He looked perfect! He really did look like a girl when he got dressed up like that. It was unreal but true. He spun around and the dress floated around him.

“How does it look? It looks weird huh?” I shook my head and rested my hands on his hips.

“It looks perfect!” I kissed him and heard the sales ladies awing. I blushed and pushed him back into the dressing room.

“Come out babe~”the door opened and Mir was wearing skin tight jeans with a shirt that showed off way too much! I thought he’d fall with those heels but he looked amazing. Although he looked more amazing in sweats and a tee laying on the sofa. He shyly walked to me and twirled.

“How does it look?”

“It looks great but….uhm…everyone will be able to see everything. I want to be the only one.” I kissed his bare shoulder.

“So which one did you like better?”

“I liked all of them.”

“Joonie! That doesn’t help.”

“But it’s true, you looked good in everything.” I played with a strand of his hair and laughed. He grumbled and went to change back to his clothes. When he came back out he was pouting.

“Why are you pouting?” I pecked his lips and waited for an answer.

“I don’t know what to get and you’re no help.” I chuckled and he hit my forearm.

“Then looks like you’ll take them all.”

“What? No way!” I picked up all the clothes and took it to the register.

“We’ll be taking all of this, plus that whole side of shoes, and that whole rack of accessories, let’s see what else?“ I looked around in search for anything else he might need. I wanted him to be the best looking/dressed person wherever he went. It dawned on me that girls carry bags around in order to hold their things. I pointed out a few bags and swiped my card. As we walked to the woman whispered and pointed. I put my arm around Mir’s waist protectively.

Why can’t you be like that?

                                                            Why can’t you look like his girlfriend?

Why can’t you spend money freely on me like he did?

                                                   Why should I spend money?

He’s so good looking where can I find me one of those?

                                  Damn look at her !

She’s so pretty and he’s so handsome!

                                                                         Is she a model?

Is he an actor?

She’s tall and pretty!

He looks so good!

I smiled proudly, and led Mir out of the boutique with me.

“Where to next Mirry-pie?”

“I don’t know where do you want to go?” I thought about it and decided on watching a movie. I carried the shopping bags on one hand and held Mir with the other. It was about four in the afternoon, still too early for dinner. We got to the cinema and I paid for the tickets. We made our way to our seats in the back and placed all the things in one corner. I placed my arm around Mir’s shoulders and waited for the movie to begin. We’ve already seen it but not just us alone. It’s always with the hyung or the dongsaengs, or with their friends. It was a nice change, just us. I’ve been giving a certain idea a lot of thought but still hadn’t come to a conclusion. I was sure of how much I needed, cared for, loved, couldn’t live without Mir, but I wasn’t sure of how he felt. I know that he loves me but his heart could change with all my problems. What if he gets tired of me? What if he gets tired of my appearance? What if he meets someone else, someone better? I knew all those thoughts were stupid and insecure but I couldn’t help myself. I still can’t believe someone as amazing and perfect as Mir is mine. The movie ended and we filed out of the dark room. The sun was setting and people crowded the streets.

“Let’s have dinner before we leave.” He nodded and followed me hand in hand. How can he trust someone like me? Before we got to the restaurant I took him to a fountain located in the middle of the plaza.

“What’re we doing here?” he asked but I didn’t answer instead I kissed him. I kissed him as if it was our first time. As if I didn’t I’d lose him. I kissed him and gave him my soul. I gave him my hear, my everything in that one kiss. I wanted him to have it. I knew he wouldn’t hurt me and he’s proved it time and time again. I erased all my silly thoughts from before and just kissed him under the setting sun. when I finally pulled away from him, I smiled and sighed content.

“Mireu, this is the fountain of lovers, it’s called that because the man who built the fountain made it to meet his beloved every night. They weren’t allowed to see each other, so at night they’d meet here in the only beautiful place they could go to at night. It’s said if you kiss the person you love here under the setting sun you’ll be together forever.”

“But Joonie we don’t need that.”

“I know, I’m just taking precautions. I want you to be with me forever and ever Mir.” I held him until our stomachs grumbled. We looked at each other and laughed then went to eat dinner.

            After we finished our dinner we walked back to the car. I still had one more surprise for him. I drove to the beach and parked. I went to the trunk of the car and grabbed a bag then led Mir to the sand. I laid out a blanket and took out his favorite dessert. I sat down and pulled him down with me. he sat between my legs and I back hugged him. I breathed in his scent and felt his warmth. I played with his fingers and traced random thing on his back. He turned around to look at me. His eyes were full of uncertainty and happiness. I smiled and picked up a chocolate covered strawberry and fed it to him. He smiled and gave me one in return. We continued this little cycle until they were all gone. We cuddled as we looked out at the stars.

“My love for you is bigger than the universe.”

“Joon you’re so cheesy~”

“Only when I’m with you.” I nuzzled his neck and sighed.

“I love you to.” I smiled and stared out at the vast sky.

“I’ll be your sky if you’re my star.”

“I thought you already were.”

“Promise me one thing.”

“What?”

“Shine only for me?”

“Only if I’m the only star for your sky.”

“And I’m the cheesy one?”

“Only for you Joonie~” we laughed and sat there not minding the cold breeze.  Mir fell asleep after a while. I stayed staring out into the ocean thinking of many things. Good things, bad things, really bad things, happy memories, memories that don’t hurt when I think of them. The crazy times with Mir, which were a lot. I never thought of having such memories or my life being the way it is.

“Mir meeting you was the best thing to ever happen to me. You outshine any star.” I picked him up and tried to find a comfortable way to place him in the car. After I buckled his seat belt, I went over to my side and drove back to our home.