Messy bed, scattered books, music on full blast.

Finally, a true paradise experience on a school-free Saturday morning. No teachers, no parents, no lil’ bro to mess up my day.

That is, until my door opened with a loud bang.

I stood corrected.

“Minji, Minji!”

There he was with all his naturally blonde hair, blue eyes, and tall height that never failed to give him the highest social standing in school. In his right hand, he held some McDonald’s fries and on his left, a half eaten cone of ice cream from Baskin-Robbins. He always loved foreign fast food. I don’t blame him; he’s half-American so it’s in his blood.

“Waddup?” I sluggishly asked, rolling on my bed and flipping a page in my book. “Why the dramatic entr—“

Before I knew it, his pounded his hands against the sides of my shoulder. Wide-eyed and smiling, he excitedly said, “I found a guy for you!”

What the ?

“What the ?”

“Don’t ‘what the ’ me! I’m serious; you guys would really look good together. I saw him in Baskin-Robbins and it was just like snap! Guy version of you,” he grabbed my arm and pushed me towards my closet. “We must make haste; the prince may disappear!”

Make haste my . It’s my room, my rules. But he didn’t let me; he knew me too well. He picked out my favorite outfit: a baggy cream jacket, a statement shirt that had ‘Don’t mess with me’ written in an ironically semi-pleasant font, plaid shorts, and my favorite winged Jeremy Scotts. He knew my weakness.

Once I was done dressing up, he quickly rushed me over to the front of Baskin-Robbins where he allegedly saw that whatever guy. He scanned the place and finally saw him amidst the sea of people.

“There!” He exclaimed, pointing to a guy who was just about to leave with a cone of vanilla ice cream. I could barely hear him through the music, but I was able to make it out roughly. As K.Will’s “Love blossom” serenaded itself into my ears, my heart rose up and it felt as if I was in the music video itself.

This is bad, horribly bad.

He was kinda, really hot.

My brother was right; he pretty much acted like me. Casual face, slightly-sluggish posture, stylish headphones, High-tops, red and white varsity jacket, and ripped jeans. Am I dreaming, or is this reality?

My mind knows the answer: this is reality. Regardless, I still question its legitimacy. How could someone like that exist? I mean, c’mon!

“I told you so,” my brother said with a really smile, showing his self-satisfaction. “Your focus eyes say it all; you’re never like that.”

I regained my usual posture and shifted my view elsewhere. Upon doing so, he suddenly grabbed my arm.

“Let’s follow him; we can’t miss this opportunity.”

Normally I would say no, shove my arm free, and head home although this time, I somehow just made him lead me. Admittedly, I was really eager; I never felt this way for a very long time. That one guy could potentially be the first non-douchebag that I would meet.

That was not the case when he caught us red handed, thanks to my brother’s horrible stalking skills.

Just as he was going to turn in a corner, he stopped to give a heavy sigh and turn around to our direction. From afar, he gave this slightly irritated look. Despite that, my idiot brother gave me a big push and made a quick run for it. That douchebag.

“Another girl, eh?” He said, smirking.

An immediate change in mood shifted through me. I lowered my headphones and crossed my arms. “Another cocky douche, eh?”

“Trying to act tough when you were shamelessly stalking me,” he, too, lowered his headphones. “On top of that, you’re totally copying my style and I deeply don’t appreciate that at all. How long have you been doing research on me?”

Calm down, he’s just a douche. What a ing let down.

“For your information, my style is my style. My brother saw you today and dragged me from my awesome room to here. He forced me to do this only today.”

He raised a brow. “Then why didn’t you object to this? Miss Love Blossom Playing on Repeat?”

My cheeks flushed red; I hadn’t realized that my headphones were loud. Come to think of it, they weren’t loud in the first place.

Samuel.

I lowered my volume. “That means nothing!”

“Nothing?” He laughed. “All the evidence I need is here. Today you were dragged by your brother and even if you had the chance to resist, you didn’t and pursued to follow me around. I didn’t even need to think, you gave me the facts yourself, newbie stalker.”

“That’s it. Admittedly, I thought you weren’t just another douche, but you are probably one of the biggest douches I’ve seen. Being a righteous person, I won’t deny any of what you said, but I can undeniably do this!”

I grabbed his ice cream and shoved it down the top of his head. The look on his face was priceless. A mix of pissed off and embarrassed; just exactly what I wanted from him.

I then turned around and cooly waved without looking back. “Toodles.”

---

“So, how’d it go?” Samuel the fleeing brother asked the moment I got home.

“He was a douche,” I said as I brush past him.

He grabbed my shoulder. “For real? He didn’t look like one. He looked like you.”

It’s like he’s implying that I’m a douche.

“Cocky. An attribute I am not fond of. I stuffed his ice cream on his head; that was how disgusting he was to me,” I said. “So no more sudden interruptions on my Saturday mornings, clear?”

He shrugged. “Fine, clear.”

I reached inside my pocket for my phone but ended up meeting with a hollow space.

.

My phone was not there; I must’ve dropped it someplace on the way back home. This is bulll! I had to beg my parents so bad just to get that phone! It’s useless to retrace my footsteps now; some moron probably stole it already. And even if a kind soul were to pick it up, the most logical thing to do was call a contact from the phone given that I don’t have a password for it or anything. Luckily I don’t take pictures or do anything personal in my phone. The most personal things in there are my B.A.P pictures but that’s it.

Seeing the look on my face, Samuel knew I didn’t want to talk. I hated losing things. He left for his room in which I went upstairs to mine. A few minutes later, he came back with his old phone in hand.

“I know this isn’t much, but just take this one for now.” He handed it to me. “Sorry, I made your day horrible; if I hadn’t pulled you out like that, you wouldn’t have lost your phone.”

“It’s fine,” I said, charging the phone. “As long as it plays good music and has a somewhat okay video quality, I’m good to go. But Samuel, give me some time to continue my afternoon, alright?”

“Alright.”

With that, he closed the door softly. I, on the other hand, continued to bask in my messy, feather-soft paradise. I put my music on full blast as I read, played some games, and drew. But there was one thing that I noticed: All the songs I played were about fluff love. I found it peculiar, but I guess I just wasn’t in the mood to listen to anything too angsty.

---

It’s been days since that horrible Saturday and things had begun to feel weird for me. I couldn’t stop thinking of that time; I recalled every miniscule detail when I met that guy. This pissed me off a whole lot.

Every day after school, I would go to Baskin-Robbins and order a cone of vanilla ice cream—the same flavor he got—the same flavor that I smacked his puny little head with. As I walk back home holding that cone tightly, my hands would always warm up, and I daydream about him and I. That was bad, right? All I kept thinking about was him, and my cheeks have become red from all the thinking.

I want to forget him, but I can’t. I can’t like a douchebag; that’s against my code.

A week passed by like that; me and my inner conflict with my ed up brain.

On one chilly night, I received a call from my very own number. I rejoiced at the thought of it not being stolen, but died the moment I heard whose voice it was.

“Hello.”

That “kind soul” was none other than that douche that kept bombarding my brain.

“Give me my phone back.”

He chuckled, admittedly in a charming way. I hated that I found it charming.

“I’m serious; give it back. And how did you know this number anyway? It’s new.”

“That’s not important.” When he said that, his voice seemed uneasy and shaky. He’s hiding something embarrassing.

“Are you embarrassed by something?”

“No.”

“Yes, you are.”

“I don’t want to argue anymore,” he said so sternly that I took him seriously. “You’re messing with my head without being physically present. It’s annoying.”

“I should say the same to you. Stop intruding my head, you sick head intruder!” We both paused then I continued, “It’s my turn to say we can’t argue about this. Just give me my phone back.”

“You have some nice songs in here, and nice B.A.P pictures as well—“

“Shut the up and meet me where we met. Now!”

“Sure,” he casually said and hung up.

him.

Even if it was late at night, I wore my usual thick jacket over my pajamas, shoved my feet into some puffy bunny slippers, and left the place. When Samuel asked, I simply brush past him. He didn’t mind, which immediately gave away the fact that that guy and him had spoken to each other within the past few days. They planned something.

When I got there, I wasted no time. I grabbed my phone from his hand without ever so giving him a greeting and spoke, “You called my brother’s phone number with my phone and used this connection to get my new number, am I right?”

Ignoring my question, he mocked my slippers. “Nice bunnies over there.” He extended his orange hat to my feet and added, “Want some carrots.”

I kicked his hat away.

“You think this is just a game?” I asked in the most intense voice I could muster.

He got the message; his expression matched mine. “No.”

“Then why’d you go all the way so as to even get my number?”

“I had to return your phone—“

“After a week? And after listening to my songs and looking at my stuff? I think not.”

He sighed and locked eyes with me. “Then tell me why your cheeks are tomato red right now. Tell me why my heart is beating fast. Tell me why you’re intruding my head.”

“That’s—“

“I think we both know.”

His eyes shifted to random spot at the side as an impulse to hide his shyness. That was when I realized he wasn’t a douche. My brother was right. Amidst the cold midnight air, we both admitted to being head intruders, we both admitted to being victims of the butterflies.

“And I think we both denied it as well,” I said.

He released his hands from his pockets and walked toward me. When he stopped just a few inches away, he lightly placed his hand on my head and patted it twice. I found myself reaching out to hug him, but stopped half-way.

“It’s fine, Minji.” He held my wrists, wrapped them around his waist, and pulled me close to him. He was warm as I clutched the back of his jacket.

“You asked my brother for my name.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s unfair. I don’t know yours.”

“You might like and dislike it when I say it like this.” He lowered his head so that he mouth would be close to my ear. He then whispered, “It’s Minwoo.”

He’s right, I liked the romance of it, but hated that I melted inside.

“Well, Minwoo, I’m sorry about the ice cream incident.”

“And I’m sorry for being an .”

Slowly, we pulled away, but we both knew that we didn’t want to. It’s just that there were some people coming, and we wouldn’t want to be caught up in an embarrassing moment.

“Wanna get some ice cream? I believe Baskin-Robbins is still open.”

“Sure. Why not?”

We went to the store and ordered the same thing: two vanilla ice cream cones. Once we exited the shop, I thanked him with a big smile. He was shocked at seeing me look like that.

“Okay, my smile’s mediocre so deal with it,” I said defensively.

He shook his head. “It isn’t that; it’s the opposite. I want you to smile more; I want to boast about your smile to other people.”

“And I want to boast about how much of an you are.”

“Hey!”

“I’m just kidding,” I said, laughing.

“That’s a cute laugh, too.”

That made me blush.

“Shut up.”

He laughed. “I can come up with many compliments for you; it’s never gonna end. I’d honestly like you to return the favor to me. Without any jokes. I know you can do it for my sake; I also want to be complimented, y’know.”

“Do I really have to do this?”

“Yeah, definitely.”

“Well,” I hesitated, drawing circles on the ground with my feet. “You’re admittedly the handsomest person I’ve seen. Your style renders me speechless and you win the best hugger award in my list. I mean, I like it when you hug me but—“

“But you hate admitting it?”

I nodded. His eye smile was very distracting.

“Aw, come here.” He pulled me into a hug that lasted a few seconds. Nevertheless, it was better than the first one. I didn’t want to let go.

“It’s getting late,” I said.

“It is late.” He clarified. “Let’s walk you home.”

He tried to look confident although I sensed a slight nervousness as he held my hand. My heart didn’t skip a beat; it pounded so fast. Like that, we walked back to my house without letting go, talking about things that I couldn’t even tell my friends. I couldn’t believe the amount of our similarities, but I found out one thing we had different: he was not afraid of bugs. That is good; he could get them for me.

“We’re here,” he said, almost sounding sad.

“There’s tomorrow,” I said. “And the next day, and the day after that.”

He laughed his charming laugh. “You’re still holding my hand.”

“Well, you didn’t tell me to let go. Is there a rule as to when to let go your hand? I doubt it.”

“Alright, alright,” he smiled. “Go back to your house now. I already saved my number in your phone.”

“As expected.” I turned around and was about to let go until his grip tightened.

“Wait.”

He reeled me in and kissed my cheek.

“Minwoo,” I just stared at him wide-eyed with my hand covering the spot where he kissed me.

“You said my name,” he remarked, looking quite pleased.

I hit his shoulder.

“As usual, cute.”

“Be quiet. I’ll go home now.”

“Goodnight, Minji,” he softly said, patting my head once again before he let me walk back to my doorstep. Before I closed the door, I said the same.

Samuel couldn’t stop asking about how my night went. I didn’t give him the benefit to know, but I pretty much knew he was eavesdropping on us from inside the house. That was all he needed to see, nothing more.

That night, just as I was about to go to bed, I checked my phone to see a new playlist named ‘Minji, listen to my jams’. I got my earphones and listened to the music until I slept soundly all snuggled up in the cozy sheets to Brown Eyed Girl’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

Beating heart, light chest, music from the guy I like.

This is a new form of paradise I’ve never felt before.

This is love.

So here it is~! This is the product of giving me a lot of freedom in a one shot xD. The characters may speek a bit too eloquently, but I hope the fluff is still evident.

Thank you for requesting~! :D