‘This was not supposed to happen.’ Kris glowered at inanimate objects in his way. He was supposed to be a part of the Korean group, not the Mandarin group. He was supposed to remain based in Korea, not China. He was supposed to stay as close to Jihae as he could.

He sighed as he looked at the calendar. He still had some time before he was supposed to get shipped off to China with the others; no use wasting time being angry. He went over to Jihae’s place. It was Saturday afternoon; she’d be done working out and showering by now.

“Let’s go to an amusement park!” Kris grinned when he saw Jihae sitting on the couch watching the news and towel drying her hair.

“Why so suddenly?” She stared up at him, confused.

“Because, I have news, and I want to!” He did his best to smile as happily as he could.

Her jaw dropped, “Your debut date is official isn’t it?!” She jumped up and hugged him when he nodded. “Then hell yeah we’re going out to celebrate!”

The two went everywhere in the amusement park. The waiting periods passed by quickly because they kept talking about everything and anything. Usually they hung out quietly, talking about shallow things, things that didn’t relate too much to their pasts. It was like Jihae purposefully kept her distance. But today, she talked about games she played as a child, and the rides she rode when she went for her eighth birthday. She spoke so happily that he almost didn’t notice how sad she really was. Almost.

When they were finally exhausted and required nourishment, they sat down in some restaurant, him easily leading her. At some point, he began holding her hand, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. It felt like it was.

“Everyone keeps staring at you.” Kris frowned at some guys in the back checking her out. She decided to wear shorts, ones that showed off how amazing and endless her legs were. He noticed that every guy in the park appreciated her clothing choice.

“Right back at you,” Jihae gestured to the girls a few tables over that were giggling and blushing because of Kris. For every head she turned, he turned three times as many. She was a bit jealous, but didn’t show it the way Kris did. She would stare at the more obvious girls and wait for them to look over at her (when they could finally tear their eyes off Kris), and then she’d smile brightly at them until they never looked their way again.

The waiter came and flirted with Jihae a bit before taking their orders. Kris was fuming. Jihae could tell. She made some snide remark about the waiter’s lack of professionalism. Kris felt slightly better.

“So, what do you know about your band?”

“I’m friends with the guys already, most of them anyway. We’ll be doing small stuff before our actual debut. It’ll be a while before we actually debut, but it’s already set.”

She nodded, understanding.

“How about you? What’s your next project?”

“Currently? I’ll interview Park Ji Sung and write an article on him. I think the station wants me to be a journalist instead of a broadcaster.” She tried not to pout. “They spouted some misogynistic nonsense about viewers not wanting to listen to a girl talk about sports, but I can’t say I don’t understand.”

“I’d listen to you talk about sports!” Kris protested.

“Correction, you’d listen to me talk,” Jihae smiled wryly, “Which is why they want me as a journalist that specializes in sports and athletes. I’m savvy enough to not be called stupid, and I’m pretty enough to get good viewership ratings on a short segment. But I’m too inexperienced in the sports industry to garner respect, and I’m too pretty to be taken seriously.” She sighed.

“I’m sorry.” Kris was really sad to hear that. He knew the amount of work Jihae put into every project she could get, and how much it annoyed her that some of her coworkers accused her of getting ahead because of her looks. Sure, she admits it’s a factor, but she works her off to prove herself.

“Don’t be. As long as my career involves sports, I’ll be happy. Even if it’s limited, I can work my way up to garner respect eventually. I’m still young.”

They continued talking and enjoying their Saturday together.

Jihae knew.

She knew he was leaving her, and this was a celebration and a goodbye. The way he was trying so hard to be positive and kept talking to her, kept staring at her… It spelled it all out for her to see. Their time together was coming to an end.

Kris walked Jihae home like any other night, but it was different.

He followed her in, that wasn’t new, it wasn’t strange that he would stay over to relax and watch TV with her for a while. Sometimes he might even stay until she fell asleep.

“So what time you have to be back? Don’t you stars get even stricter rules when you debut? I’m surprised they even let you out to play today.” Jihae teased, pouring two glasses of water for them.

“That’s true. Today is pretty much our last day off. It’ll be really hard to find time to visit any of our friends or go out to play after this.” Kris sighed, sitting on her bar stool.

“Then I am honored you chose to spend this day with me.” Jihae smiled genuinely. “You didn't answer my question.”

Kris was quiet for a while before he answered. “I don’t want to go home tonight.”

Jihae blinked at him for two seconds.

She understood the implications.

She smiled.

Finally, it was something she understood. Something that finally made sense to her! She could never understand why he was so interested in her or why he wanted to spend so much time with her. She didn’t find herself very likable at all. Feelings were horrible things she stopped trying to understand long ago, so when he came along, she was confused. He didn’t act like other men in her life. He looked at her differently, and that, she did not understand.

But , she understood. made sense.

She was honestly surprised he hadn’t tried before. That also did not make sense.

“Okay.” Jihae nodded, and walked around the counter. “I’m not going to let you go home tonight then.”

Kris gulped. He understood that his words could lead to this, but for it to actually lead to this made him nervous. He instinctively knew she was experienced. It was in the way she moved. Him? Not so much. Sure he’s been with some girls, but it was in high school and he was pretty sure his experiences weren’t the best. And it was also many, many years ago; he might as well be a .

“O-okay.” Kris nodded.

Jihae smirked at the stutter and swooped in to capture his lips. It took a while for Kris to figure out how to respond. He hadn’t kissed someone in a long time, and right now, he was kissing the girl he was pretty sure he was head over heels in love with for the first time. He’d be lucky if he can tell his from his face right now. Kris couldn't help but think of how right it felt, like her lips were meant to be on his, and how damn wonderful everything felt.

Somehow Jihae led him to her bedroom while still kissing him; it wasn’t that far of a walk. She sat him down on the edge of the bed before removing herself from him. Kris was in daze from the kiss, but he snapped out of it when he saw Jihae strip in front of him. He always knew she had a great body, but to see it almost in front of him was completely different.

She wasn’t self-conscious about herself at all, but here he was, freaking out inside.

‘Am I too skinny? I should have gone to the gym more. What if she thinks I’m too awkward? What if I totally ? What if I’m a complete mess and she hates me? What if she never wants to talk to me again afterwards? Oh God, this is terrifying.’ He smiles shakily. It had been a long time since he was this nervous and self-conscious around her. Sure, he was still overly sensitive to her, but not the way he was at the beginning.

Jihae slightly frowns at his reaction, but takes off his shirt anyway. He wanted so badly to cover himself back up. He was definitely going to hit the gym now.

“It’s okay to be nervous, but you don’t have to worry.” She smiled, “I’ll be gentle.” She teased and pushed him back to lie down on the bed.

Kris finally relaxes beneath her touches and followed her lead. It didn’t take very long for him to get into it and start reciprocating. Something about the way she kissed him made him feel bolder, it made him feel alive. It was their first time kissing, but he wanted to kiss her forever. Who needs air?

When he was on top of her, he stopped everything and pulled back to appreciate every little thing. The way her cheeks flushed and her chest heaved. Her hooded eyes and just kissed lips. She was looking at him. He did this to her.

When he stopped, she was confused, so she opened her eyes again to look up at him.

He was doing it again.

Looking at her in that way that didn’t make sense.

So she pulled him back down to continue what did make sense; the messy connection between two bodies striving for one thing in the end.

I'm back from my busy weekend! Here's an update before I go to sleep.

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