Jiyeon’s POV:

As we walked above the bridge to Magic Island, I can’t help but to look over at Hongki, who was walking a few steps behind me and was being uncharacteristically silent for a while now.

I choked a laugh as I turned to him. He looks like a little kid sulking because his mother didn’t buy him the toy he loves so much. His lower lips protruded, his arms folded on his chest and he was glaring at the ground.

“You think it’s funny? It’s the Gyro Swing! I thought you love it too!” now he was glowering at me, as if I betrayed him for not agreeing to his idea.

God he’s so childish…but so cute.

I sighed shaking my head, “Fine, we’ll ride the Gyro so stop moping around.”

“Really?!” Suddenly his eyes glittered with excitement and then he latched on to me, wrapping his free arm around my neck. “You’re the best!”

I went rigid, blood rushing to my cheeks.

He must have felt my body stiffen at the contact for he immediately entangled his arm from my body and stepped backward as he mumbled a sorry.

I looked away hoping to hide the tinge of red with my hair.

“It’s okay.” It’s not. I wish you didn’t stop. I like it when you put your arms around me. You felt so warm and smells so nice, it sometimes remind me of a summer breeze.

My phone beeped slashing through my daydream. I took it out from my purse and swiped the screen. A new message from Yoona but it wasn’t a clue.

“Stop by the Castle shop for me, you know what I want?” I read her message aloud.

“Your best friend has some serious issues,” I heard Hongki say. I nodded, “Yes I know.”

We we’re laughing so hard from the time we jumped out the ride all the way to the exit, all the awkwardness after the hug on the bridge gone by now.

“It’s been so long since I’ve ride that thing,” I said, my hands still trembling from the rush of adrenaline. In my hand was a paper bag with the thing Yoona has always wanted, a tiara. She has a collection of it at her dowm. I told you, she has some serious issues.

“What? Why? When was the last time you were here? Oh,” he paused. “Your hair’s all messed up.” In my surprise, he smoothened it with a hand. I held onto my dear breath.

Oh. My. Gosh.

I’ve always thought this kind of gesture is sweet…and intimate…and oh my god, my feels. I’m falling even more and he’s not there to catch me. This is bad. This is really bad.

By the time he retracted his hand, he looked away as if just realizing what he done. Is he embarrassed too? But why?

I tried to remember what he asked before the hair thing to shake off another awkwardness brewing and thankfully, my brain’s still working even in times like this. “Uh well, the last time I was here was last spring. I was always with my sister or Yoona and since those two hate the kind of rides I like, I usually don’t get to ride them. The most of the thrill I get when I am with them was the children’s version of the tea cup.”

“So when was the last time you rode on the Gyro Swing?” he asked as we walked.

“A year back, I remembered I rode it with Yonghwa-oppa. You know, that family outing they arranged every other month,” I answered.

He smiled. A genuine smile. He must have remembered the memories he had with his brother, “If I have known you like this kind of stuff, I should’ve attended the family outing more.”

“Riiiight.”

“Hey, if they told me it’s in Lotte World, I would’ve come!” he playfully nudged my side.

“Okay, okay,” I laughed raising my hands in surrender.

As soon as we reached the Lake Pizza, we saw a bunch of people crowding at the entrance. We didn’t really have a choice but to swam our way to the center. As we did we heard a male urged the crowd, “We need three more couples to volunteer!”

They were having some kind of a contest, which involved couples eating pizzas as much as they can. Hongki pulled me along towards the entrance keeping ourselves with the crowd. On the door, a waitress welcomed us with a smiled. When her eyes flickered on the fluffy pink handcuffs on our hands, she smiled even more, as if the side of her lips were going to tear apart. “Oh so you’re Yoona’s friends. I’m Mina, a classmate of hers,” she bowed her head to us; we did the same except I smiled unsurely, some part of me feeling uncertain about the set up.

“Okay, so I hate to break this to you but I have to and just so you know, I’m really sorry I didn’t mean to make it harder for you,” she started apologetically biting the side of her lip. “The original plan was just for you two to have dinner and then I will reveal if I have the key or not, but when she heard about the whole eating contest thing from me, she changed her mind. She told me, I was to tell you if I have the key or not after you joined the contest.”

I knew it! That freaking Yoona!”What?! No,” I started to protest but Hongki cut me off.

“Wait, what I get in what you’re saying is that there’s a 50/50 chance that you have the key. You’re supposed to have it right? This is the last place we were supposed to find it,” he said, surprisingly rational and calm. Wait, that’s not surprising at all, this guy doesn’t have a single shy cell in his body.                   

“Oh,” Mina blinked a few times as if it was the first she was hearing about it. “This is the last place?”

“Yes,” we answered in sync. My voice was sharp in contrast with Hongki’s composure. The girl thought for a while and then raised a finger telling us to wait as she scampered inside fishing out her phone from her white apron.

Hongki and I exchanged bewildered looks. We were silent as we waited for her to come back, when she did, she approached us smiling as if relieved. “I’m sorry about that, I called Yoona. She texted me your last clue and I’ll let you read it after you join the contest.”

I shook my head, “God, that Yoona. Why is she making this so hard?”

“I’m sorry,” Mina lowered her eyes. I was so tempted to tell her that if she was sorry, she’ll tell us the clue without letting us join the eating contest but I held my tongue and instead I smiled at her assuring, “It’s okay. It’s not your fault.”

“Common,” Hongki tugged on my hand. When I looked at him, he was raising his hand hollering at the contest’s emcee, “Us! We’re volunteering!”

“Oh! What a lovely couple, common right up on the table!” the emcee said beaming at us.

I tugged on Hongki’s hand hard making him halt. “What?” he asked.

“We’re not joining a stupid contest,” I hissed at him.

“Why not?” he blinked innocently.

“Because…because…it’s stupid!”

“It’s not. It’s free dinner.”

“What?”

“I said it’s free dinner.”

“That was a rhetorical question.”

“Oh,” he said snickering. “So you prefer being stuck with me than have free dinner?”

I was about to say of course but I held my tongue, thank god. “We could always use my bobby pin?” I offered. He grinned, “Yes, but that’s no fun. Common, let’s get our free dinner. You don’t need to eat in a hurry, just eat in any way you want until you’re stuffed. Leave the rest of the show to me.” With that, he dragged me to the table without a clue of the real reason I don’t wanna join the contest.

I’m not very good with crowd. It makes me nervous.

All I did the whole time was to stare at my trembling hands not wanting to glance at the thick crowd, even after the last couple who volunteered sat beside us. There were six pairs of participants including us.

“You okay?” Hongki asked as the emcee explained the mechanics on the background.

“Yeah,” I answered, my voice shaking. God, I think I’m melting. Why am I sweating so much?

“Not very good with crowd I see,” I heard him say and I looked up from my hands. I was welcomed by a mob of people staring at me and the other contestant. Oh my god, I think going to faint.

I immediately averted my eyes and it settled on Hongki. He smiled at me, that boyish smile of him that I think is really cute. “Hey,” I felt his free hand squeezed mine. It sent shivers all the way to my spine. “Just look at me. Imagine we’re having dinner, just the two of us.”

Oh. My. Gosh. I think I just run out of breath.

Why is he doing this? Why is he being so sweet and adorable and sweet? I don’t know even recognize anymore if my heart’s racing because of my fear of crowd or because his hand is on mine.

I heard a whistle and then his hand disappeared. But his warmth still lingered.

It took me a while before I realized that the contest has started. When I turn to Hongki, I saw he was already stuffing two slices of pizza in his mouth at the same time. He grinned at me mumbling in between his chew, “Private dinner, remember?”

I sighed, “Yeah.” I turned my body sideways so that I was facing him to avoid the sea of people in front of me and then peeled a slice in the box. But before I could take a bite on it, Hongki pushed another to my mouth without a warning. He smirked, “We don’t need to win but I still want to.”

I shook my head. Hongki, always so competitive.

In the end, we didn’t win. But hey, we’re still in second place with a consolation prize of three boxes of pizza.

“Oh god, I think I just ate ten years-worth of pizza,” Hongki groaned rubbing his stomach in circles.

I laughed, “I think I’m not gonna eat pizza for a while. It kinda makes you sick after eating so much.”

“Which means, these babies are mine?” he held the boxes high up and swayed it back and forth, as he grinned and wriggled his brows.

“Fatty,” I playfully jabbed his chest with a finger smirking.

He gasped, “Oh no, you didn’t just call me that?!”

“Oh I did, look you’re losing your neck,” I teased loving how his face became sour in a blink of an eye. Suddenly, he latched at me and started tickling my sides, “You’ll regret saying that!”

“Hey, stop!” I laughed struggling to get away from his tickle attack but to no avail. Because if anyone has forgot, were kinda handcuffed together. I was busy whacking Hongki’s hand away when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to face the person.

“Hey,” Mina greeted with an awkward wave.

“Hey,” I greeted back blinking.

“Hey,” I shuddered hearing Hongki’s voice directly on my ear.

“So… the last clue?” Mina reminded. Oh yes, I almost forgot. As selfish as it is, I’m kind of enjoy this handcuff thing, oh wait, I am enjoying this. I just want to be stuck by Hongki’s side permanently. If only I could. But that’s not going to happen, I know, because when the clock strikes twelve, everything would return to normal. Nothing that happened today will change the fact that the glass shoe… doesn’t fit me.

“Yes, please,” said Hongki. Mina handed him her phone. We both read the last clue.

Think outside the box. Re-read everything on every message I sent you because… there lies the answer (lol)

--Yoona Jaejin Baby

P.S. Hyung, I thought we agreed baby is emasculating –Jaejin

“What kind of clue is ‘think outside of the box’?” Hongki frowned.

I gave him a side-glance, “Yoona’s not a cryptic person so I’m guessing she’s talking about a literal ‘outside’.”

“So what box is she talking about?”

“Box,” I said thinking. “Maybe it’s some kind of an infrastructure, like maybe outside of Lake Pizza, outside of the Ghost House or something.”

“Oh,” Hongki nodded. “She said the key is with someone. So does that mean, a person maybe standing outside a building or something.”

“Hmmm…maybe, anyway, what does Jaejin mean about baby is emasculating?”

“Oh that? He doesn’t like to be called baby by his girlfriend.”

“Sooo, that Baby after his name is not an endearment but,” I paused fishing out my phone from my purse and started to run through all the message Yoona has sent me.

You both love.

With a person.

Not a ride.

Outside the box.

Baby.

“What?” Hongki asked staring at me. I smiled broadly at him. “I know where the key is.”

“So, the key’s really with Minsoo huh? How did you figure it out?” Hongki glanced at me, the side of his lips twitched into a tiny smile. We were standing over the crib, where Minsoo was now wandering in dreamland. Sadly, we were now un-cuffed. But on the bright side, we were able to bit the hell out of Yoona and Jaejin, those punks, when we got home and found them lounging cozily in our sofa. They fled the house in no time, with me throwing Yoona her tiara.

I smirked, “I’m a genius, remember?”

He laughed, “Yes, you are. Common, we gotta sleep too. We still have classes tomorrow.”

“Wow, you’re actually reminding me of school. That’s a first,” I teased.

He laughed again, shaking his head, “Whatever, I’m going to sleep then.”

“Okay, I’ll follow later.”

“Alright,” he said pausing at the door, his body half way in and half way out. “I had a good time.”

I looked up at him surprised. I searched his face for something, something that might indicate he was teasing but all I saw was his shy yet honest eyes. I smiled and said, “Me too.” I almost wish, I hadn’t figure out the clues because maybe until now, we were still bound together.

“Alright,” he said again but before he finally disappeared from the door I hear him whisper, “Goodnight Jiyeon.”

In my room, I threw myself on the bed without changing into my PJs. I felt exhausted yet happy yet sad yet confused yet—I don’t know, I don’t know what to feel anymore. I am happy because, finally, Hongki’s home and he’s not angry at me anymore, happy that for a few hours I felt like we were in a date. Happy that even for a day, I lived in my fantasy.

I am sad, because, it had to end. For tomorrow, everything will only be a memory. For tomorrow, nothing like this will happen again. In the morning, it will feel like it was just dream, a good dream. I hope he left me with some kind of proof it wasn’t just a dream.

I am confused, confused of Hongki, confused of his actions. I don’t know what to think anymore. I need to sleep but don’t want to, but I need to. I sighed, “God, I’m going crazy.” I sat up from my bed and reached for my purse on the nightstand. I pull out my phone to set my alarm when I saw something inside it that doesn’t seem to belong in there.

A key with red bow.

A key?

Why is there a key in my purse?

Wait, is this a key for the handcuffs?

Did I put the key we found lying beside Minsoo in my purse?

No, I remember Hongki placed it on the changing table beside the handcuffs, which was still in Minsoo’s room.

So what is this key?

If this key is for the handcuffs, does it mean the key to it is in my purse the whole time? But how did it end up here?

Minhwan shoving me to Hongki flashed in my head.

Did Minhwan slip it in here? First, is this really the key to handcuffs?

If so, why is it here?

You both love. With a person. Not a ride. Think outside the box. Baby.

I repeated the clues in my head until, I only ended up with the first two clues. You both love. With a person.

I shook my head. It can’t be it. If this is the key to the handcuff and it’s with me…

You both love.

It’s can’t be. Because if it is, it means he loves me?

No, it can’t be it, right?

I haven’t even realized I was already standing and was walking to the door, to Minsoo’s bedroom. I’ve got to figure out if this really is the key to the handcuffs.

And then I was half running half walking to Minsoo’s room.

I gasped feeling as if my heart just jumped out from my chest when I saw Hongki beside the Minsoo’s crib.

He was unlocking the handcuffs with a key with a red bow, just like mine.

I looked over at the changing chair and I saw another key.

There were three keys.

And two others are with us, Hongki and I, the whole time.

Hongki looked up at me and then asked, “Do you have this too?”

I hope my two chaptered-update is worth the waiting. omg. i'm really sorry for being such a lazy . xoxo