Woohyun was approaching Maeri, who was sitting on top of a picnic table outside of their school. He plopped down right next to her, but she didn’t notice that he’d suddenly showed up at her side. Her eyes were fixated on something in front of her, bringing a large smile to her face. Curious, Woohyun followed the path of her eyes. When he saw where it lead, he immediately frowned. It was him. Kim Myungsoo, Woohyun’s friend, and the new bane of his existence. Myungsoo was nice, and they got along just fine. But recently, Woohyun started liking him less and less each day. All because Maeri liked him, and that didn’t make Woohyun feel good. It might be him being protective of his best friend or it might be jealousy. Whatever that feeling was, he hated it.

“Yah! You’re drooling,” he chided as he closed his best friend’s slightly opened mouth.

“Really?” she asked, finally turning to Woohyun. She wiped with the sleeve of her jacket. “Thanks. That would’ve been embarrassing,” she said with a smile.

“You still like that kid,” he stated with a pout.

“Mmmhm,” she quickly and energetically responded. Her eyes started to glaze over again, looking back at Myungsoo, who was fooling around with some of their other friends. She couldn’t help but to gush about her new crush, “He’s perfect. He’s smart, nice, athletic, absurdly good-looking…”

“Okay. I get it,” he broke her off with a gruff voice. Maeri smile apologetically to him. “So what are you going to do about Friday?” he asked, referring to their group date (they were going to go to an amusement park with their friends: Myungsoo, Hyunsuk, Shinah, and Yerim). He was sure that Maeri and the rest of the girls came up with some goofy plan to ignite some spark between Myungsoo and Maeri. Woohyun wasn’t stupid. He knew the entire reason why they were going to the park in the first place was in high hopes that the two would get together. Woohyun cursed himself for getting roped in. He only wanted to try out the new ride there.

Maeri nodded and answered, “Yerim, Shinah, and I have a plan. You guys will be riding on the Power Tower. And because I’m afraid of heights, Myungsoo and I will wait or ride some other ride.”

“What if he doesn’t?” Woohyun asked, hoping to find a flaw in her plan so that she would abandon it.

Maeri shook her head, disagreeing. “He’s a nice guy. He’ll stay behind, if I ask,” she explained. Then she bit her lip and lowered her head, blushing. “Besides, I think he likes me.”

Woohyun looked back and forth between the two skeptically. “How do you know?”

“Well,” she started nudging Woohyun. “Shinah told me that Inyoung told her that Hyunsuk  told Seungho that Myungsoo wants to ask me out.”

His eyebrows creased in confusion. He couldn’t  follow that line even if he tried. “…That doesn’t even make since,” he muttered under his breath.

“ANYWAY,” she said. “when we’re alone, I’m going to tell him that I like him.” Woohyun turned to her with his eyes wide open. His shy Maeri would never be able to be the first to confess. Why this plan? Did she really know that he liked her back? “And…” she said before she broke off. Then she fell into a fit of nervous giggles, staring at her lap.

“And what?” he prodded her.

“Yerim was told by,” she began then wrinkled her nose before continuing, “…I can’t remember that Myungsoo was planning on confessing on Friday, so we might…” she didn’t finish, but buried her face in her hands instead.

Woohyun knew what she meant. “Might what? Kiss?” Maeri nodded a little bit, her hands still glued to her face. “ Is…is he going to be your first?” he sputtered.

Maeri lifted her head and fanned herself a little before turning to Woohyun. “It’s going to be magical,” she responded, indirectly answering his question.  That was it. She wanted that boy to be her first. Woohyun looked at Myungsoo, who was completely oblivious to this entire conversation because he was too busy wrestling Hyunsuk to the ground. His eyes narrowed.

He looked back at Maeri who was nervously biting her thumb. He pushed her playfully. “Aigoo! It might not even happen. What if Yerim or Hyunsuk were wrong?” he said, still trying to dissuade her.

It was Friday, and their group date was in full force. All of them were having a good time, well except for the fact that they had to couple off on the rides, leaving Woohyun stuck with Yerim, who screamed like a banshee. He didn’t know how much more of her ear-splitting howls his eardrums could take. Then, there was the whole entire Myungsoo-Maeri thing. So even though he was having fun, there was a nagging feeling in the back of his head, that something was wrong.

Maeri, on the other hand, was having the time of her life. She had ridden every single ride with her crush so far, and things were looking promising. He was nice, sweet, laughed at all of her stupid jokes (well, he was just laughing at everything). She had started liking Myungsoo just before Woohyun had broken up with Jiyoung (thinking that she and Woohyun would never happen), and Myungsoo just might like her back. He could be her first boyfriend, her first love, her first kiss. She was so happy and excited, until they approached the Power Tower, and then her stomach grew heavy.

“I…I don’t think I can do this,” she stuttered as they drew closer to the line for it.

“Really?” Myungsoo asked staring at the ride and then Maeri’s worried face. “If you don’t want to ride, I can wait with you,” he offered.

“Maeri-ah!” Woohyun called at her, being a few steps ahead at the ride’s entrance.  “Don’t be a baby. Ride with us,” he goaded her.

“I’m not a baby,” Maeri retorted. “I just have an irrational fear of heights.” She began to walk away from the ride, and Myungsoo was reluctantly following her.

Woohyun ran in front of her, cutting her off from her escape. Then a mischievous glint dashed across his eyes. She could tell what he was thinking, and it sent shivers down her spine. “Maeri-ah, I…” he began with a smirk.

Maeri shot him murderous glares. “Don’t do it,” she warned with a low growl.

“I dare you,” he finished with a triumphant smile.

“Damn you, Nam Woohyun,” Maeri cursed as she stomped off to the ride’s entrance. Woohyun happily followed her, skipping.

Myungsoo and the others were dumbfounded. He looked at them and rubbed the back of his neck. “What just happened?” he asked. Hyunsuk, Yerim, and Shinah just shrugged assuming that it was just another weird Woohyun-Maeri inside joke, or something.  (A/N: And you, readers, are probably confused too, but it’ll be explained in a future chapter. Hint: it is a weird Woohyun-Maeri thing)

When they were getting strapped into the ride (Maeri was sitting in between Woohyun and Myungsoo), Woohyun looked over anxiously at Maeri, whose eyes were glued to her lap as her chest was heaving up and down. He patted her on the head, feeling bad for having put her in this position. She wasn’t playing damsel in distress. She had a genuine and massive fear of heights. “You have to get over your fear at some point in time,” he offered some consolation.

“But did it have to be today?” she whispered, breathily. She threw back her head and shut her eyes tightly, kicking her legs in frustration.

Myungsoo looked over at her with concern and grabbed her hand. “Don’t worry, Maeri-ah. I’m right here,” he said comfortingly, giving her hand a squeeze. Woohyun looked at them biting his lower lip. His brilliant plan might’ve backfired. This might bring the two even closer.  

Then the ride suddenly shot up into the sky, and Maeri’s heartbeat skyrocketed with it. She screamed bloody murder, giving Yerim a run for her money. She tightened her grip on Myungsoo’s hand, practically cutting on his circulation, and she suddenly grabbed and dug her nails into Woohyun’s upper arm, drawing blood.  But then, the screaming suddenly stopped and her grip slackened. Woohyun looked over at Maeri and laughed. She had completely passed out, her head leaning against his shoulder. Then his eyes met with Myungsoo, whose mouth was agape in shock. Woohyun just smiled and shrugged in response.

When Maeri finally came to, she was laying on a bench, with Myungsoo and a park attendant looming over her. She tried to jolt herself up quickly, trying to end this embarrassing situation as quickly as she could, but Myungsoo held her down, looking at her as if she was about to break. “Maeri, are you okay?” he asked.

“Yea. I’m fine,” she responded, slowing getting up. She waved to the park attendant, showing that she was fine, just completely humiliated. She looked down at her pants in case the worse had happened. Nope, didn’t pee my pants. That’s one silver lining.

“Do you want to go on anymore rides or…” Myungsoo asked, helping her to her feet.

Maeri hung her head and shook it. “I think I’m done for the day. I don’t think my heart can take another.”

“Hey!” Hyunsuk called after them. “Do you guys want to go on the big rollercoaster?” Yerim and Shinah were beckoning them to come join them. Woohyun stood there with his hands in his pockets.

Myungsoo bit his lip, thinking for a moment, before answering. “No, I’ll stay behind with Maeri,” he responded.

Maeri saw his hesitation. He wanted to go, and she was standing in the way of him having fun. She didn’t want to be a party pooper. “Do you want to ride on it?” she asked, fiddling with her thumbs.

“But…” Myungsoo started, glancing at the others who were starting to leave. He didn’t deny it.

“Just go,” Maeri urged him and pushed him towards the others. “I’m a big girl. Have fun.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, as he back-pedaled in the direction of the others.

“Go!” Maeri nicely commanded more forcibly. “I’m going to play some games and eat some food.”

“Win me a prize. Fighting!” he cheered before running off with the others.

After they finished with the roller coaster and a few other rides, the gang met up with Maeri and finished the day at the park playing carnival games and eating mountains of junk food. While waiting for them, Maeri had won Myungsoo a large, white teddy bear, which was so large that he had to carry it around on his back. And as they walked back from the park, people departed from the group one by one, until it was just Maeri, Myungsoo, and Woohyun left. And Woohyun didn’t pick up Maeri’s oh-so-subtle hints to buzz off and leave them alone (but she understood why; it was late, and he didn’t have the time to make a long detour).

“Well, this is my street,” Myungsoo said stopping in his tracks. “See you later, Woohyun.” Woohyun nodded coolly and waved. “And bye Maeri! Thank you for this! I wish I could’ve seen you win it.”

“It was pretty epic. I’ll see you in school. Bye!” Maeri responded as she waved the boy goodbye. She watched him walk up the street until he became a small speck. Maeri then turned to Woohyun, who smiled brightly at her, chewing on a fluff of cotton candy; she grimaced and shuffled down the street.

Woohyun followed after her. “Why didn’t you win the teddy bear for me?” he whined.

Maeri stopped and faced him. “I think you know why,” she growled. “Gimme this,” she commanded stealing the cotton candy from his hand. She proceeded stomping up the street and stuffing the candy in .

Woohyun frowned and run up to her side. “You should be thanking me,” he argued. “I gave you a better opportunity for your romance to flourish. It was like a movie. You fainted. He revived you. And he was willing to spend the rest of the day with you, but you turned him down.” He successfully placed the blame onto her.

“I realized that it wasn’t right for me to deny him from having fun just to hang out with me,” Maeri stated sadly, picking at the pink fluff on a stick. “He really wanted to go on the rides.”

“Aigoo!” Woohyun cooed as he ruffled her hair. “Our little Maeri is so mature.”

Maeri suddenly stopped in her tracks and threw her head back. “Waaaaaah!” she whined, shaking her shoulders up and down. The crying might’ve been fake, but the sadness was real. Maeri was disappointed. She knew that the day would not turn out the way she planned, but she didn’t think  it would end up like this.

Woohyun stepped in front of her and fought to keep her shoulders still. “Did you really want to be kissed that badly?” he chided her.

“Shut up,” Maeri said, shrugging him off.

He bit his lip, considering if he should make his next move. “I could probably help you with that,” he stated barely looking at her.

Maeri looked at him with a confused expression. “Really? How?”

Woohyun quickly pressed his lips against hers. It was for less than a second, but long enough for it to count. Then while she was in a daze, Woohyun giggled, stole back his cotton candy, and walked away.

“This…this wasn’t what I wanted,” Maeri muttered, bringing a finger to her lips. She finally snapped out of her daze and searched for the perpetrator who was just a few feet in front of her. “Yah! Nam Woohyun! I’m going to kill you! “ she yelled as she stomped after him.

“I’m so scared,” Woohyun joked, eating his sugared snack. But he started to walk a bit faster, feeling Maeri catching up to him.

Then after getting close enough, she grabbed him by his collar and hissed in his ear, “You’re so dead. No one’s going to be able to identify your body once I’m done with you.”

Woohyun wiggled out of her grip. “Okay, now I’m scared,” he admitted and broke off into a sprint. Maeri ran after him like a lioness after her prey. “It was just a joke!” he pleaded.

But it wasn't a joke to her. It was her treasure first kiss, and Woohyun had stolen it from her. Although Maeri's anger had eventually subsided, she did never forgive him for it. But then again, maybe it was better that way then the way she had originally planned. Myungsoo meant nothing to her now, but Woohyun and her had a lasting relationship, which only grew stronger over the years. Plus, isn't the unexpected always better than the expected? Life isn't interesting if everything went according to plan.