★ Kris || 1352 words || Happy birthday to the leader of exo-m, who is keeping his love for that one girl. || This story is based on my story.

Kris rocked the bench we were sitting on the second time, but still remained silent. I turned my head slightly to my right, wanting to see what he was doing, but yet not show that I wanted to look at him. His head made a sudden jerk and I quickly turned back to face the empty basketball court, dyed orange by the setting sun.

The fourth leaf fell from the tree to my other side which provided this bench shelter when the sun still hung above the court. Something moved from the bushes behind me, causing a loud rustling sound. A clique of five girls were leaving the school, and they waved to Kris, which he waved back to.

I had no idea how long he intended to keep quiet, and I had no idea what to expect. I liked him, but he has never said whether he liked me too or not. One of Kris’ friends just told me to stay by after practice that day, he told me that Kris had something to tell me.

A squirrel made its way past Kris and I to the tree beside me and disappeared out of my sight. Another plane, being the third, cut across the cloudless sky in front of us. I kept my eyes on the plane since there was nothing much for me to look at, then a fly intruded my view by landing on my face, near my eye. I jumped and chased it away. My sudden movement gave Kris a shock and when I turned to him he was already looking at me.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

To be really honest, my intuition told me that Kris liked me too. Every time I stayed back to look at their practices, Kris would look my way at least once. And after we made eye contact, he would turn away quickly and pretend like as if nothing happened.

We didn’t manage to say anything more before some other basketball players from the school team too came over to us.

“Look, it’s her again. The girl who never fails to come to all our practices.”

“Only when Kris is around.”

“Does she really think that she really matters to Kris?”

The friend which told me to stay back (I call him the nice one) shot them a glare and whispered (but I heard him), “Don’t be so mean to her.”

I sighed. As each second ticked by, I got more uneasy. Why was it that I was getting more and more unconfident of my intuition?

“Kris, leaving yet? We’re going to have dinner together.”

“Wait for me at the bus stop?” Kris asked.

“What about…”

They then kept silent, I knew that they were talking about me.

“It’s fine. I think I should go home now,” I said and stood up.

“Don’t go yet,” Kris said, “I haven’t told you what I wanted to say.”

“What?!” One of Kris’ friends said. “What have you been doing?!”

“Can you just, leave us alone? If you don’t want to wait for me you can go first.”

The nice one said, “It’s alright, we’ll wait for you.”

But the one that spoke previously said, “Sorry, but I’m not going to wait.” And he left.

The rest of the boys looked at us for a few seconds before following behind the one that left. I sighed and turned away from Kris in embarrassment. It was because of me Kris had to ‘fight’ with his friends, and I didn’t want that.

Kris called me. I didn’t turn around but I replied him.

“I know, you want me to stop coming to see you at all your basketball practices right? Sorry I’ve caused so much embarrassment to you.” I then paused a quart-beat to think, “I promise I wouldn’t come again.”

“Wait. No, this is not what I want to say.”

Even before I needed to turn over, I felt a pair of arms wrapping around my waist. My heart started to beat faster, I couldn’t find a place to set my eyes on and my hands held each other tighter. He leaned over and I could feel his whole back against mine. His faint abs, his chest, and his heartbeat, which was as crazy as mine.

“I… I like you,” Kris whispered into my ear, “what to do?”

That moment, it was like as if the world paused in time for us. The wind that was gently brushing my face, the leaves that were rolling on the ground, the clouds that were drifting by, the cars that were passing by, and even the trail of ants that was crawling by, seemed to have stopped. Even the air too, and it became hard to breathe.

I wonder if Kris, whose face was just a mere inch away from mine, was as messed up as I was.

“I like you,” Kris said, “I really do.”

I wasn’t wrong, he really liked me too.

“I think of you so much, that I find myself unable to concentrate while playing basketball, knowing that you’re looking right at me, observing my every move. I kept telling myself that I must do well, I must impress you, but I think about it so much that I just can’t perform as expected to.

I started to skip basketball sometimes, just to avoid you and the boys. I’ve been performing so badly that the boys noticed there was something wrong and I didn’t want them to know that it was because of a girl.”

I relaxed slightly, but still conscious of my movements. Then Kris released me and I slowly turned to him. I had my hands held together, but Kris tore them apart and held mine in his.

“Also, we’re not allowed to date. If we were to date and the school finds out, who knows what trouble we might get into?”

I clutched Kris’ hands and said, “Then why are you telling me all these?”

“I want you to know that I like you, but I haven’t said anything till now is because the world is too noisy. Too much actions, too much people, too much things in our way. As much as I wanted to hug you, to see you smile at me, to have you wiping my sweat off me and walking home together in the setting sun, I just can’t.”

I looked down to the ground and sighed.

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“Do they really matter? I mean all these disturbances. Yes, they’re so loud and disturbing, but do they really bother you so much? I don’t feel them affecting my liking for you. To me, as long as you’re happy and I get to see you… It feels, silent. This is love, isn’t it?”

Kris lifted my chin and looked me in the eyes. I gulped and closed them, then pouted, guessing that what he might do next was to give me a kiss. The message his eyes seem like were trying to convey was he agreed with what I said, and that, after this, we would…

Then I felt it, his lips, gently pressing against mine. His hands let go of mine, his lips slid off and we pulled each other into a hug. I rested my head on his chest, and he rested his on my head. Silent fell between us and the only sound that was interrupting our silence was the wind.

That was before the sound of a basketball bouncing did. We both turned over to see Kris’ friends.

“Hey Kris,” the one who left in anger said, “I’m sorry for…”

I quickly pushed Kris away, since Kris didn’t want them to know about his feelings for me. Kris looked at me in shock as I inched away from him.

The nice one then said, “What was that?”

“A hug?” Kris said and pulled me closer to him again, “Can’t I hug the girl I like?”

I turned to him in confusion.

Kris looked at me too, and said, “You’re right, as long as we have each other, the disturbances don’t really matter.”

Kris' Adventures in Wonderland // Alpha High School // Voices of a Distant Star