With a Smile That Lights the Room

Her face flushed immediately. “What was that for?!”

Joonmyeon looked her right in the eye, his words falling out. He had no control over them. “Hyesung, I like you. More than I should like someone who’s just a friend to me. But Jongdae was going to ask you out, and I just couldn’t let him take you away from me. I didn’t want to lose you, so I knew I had to do something. I probably freaked you out, and I’m really sorry for that, I am. But please, Hyesung, don’t leave me for Jongdae. I can’t take losing someone else. I like you too much to lose you.”

When he finished his fast paced, long-winded speech, he was panting heavily. He hadn’t even taken a breath when he was speaking. He bit his lip, trying to avoid looking at the shocked Hyesung, his eyes darting everywhere but her.

“Joonmyeon…”

He prepared himself for either extreme happiness or extreme sadness. One of them was sure to be coming.

“You like me?”

He blinked in surprise, seeing her innocently confused face. “Y-Yes, of course,” he replied. “I like you a lot.” Just admitting that made his face heat up, turning a dark red.

To say he felt like a schoolboy confessing to his first love would be a lie.

This was much more terrifying.

Hyesung’s own face garnered a light blush from her words. “I’ve never had… someone like me before,” she muttered. “I don’t really know how to respond.”

A gentle smile materialized on Joonmyeon’s lips. “It’s my first time confessing, too,” he admitted. She looked at him in surprise. “Jinri… she approached me first. She asked me out, pretty boldly for a girl like her. But… yeah, this is my first time confessing to a girl.” He blushed in embarrassment rather than nervousness.

“I guess… then this is a first for both of us.”

“I guess so…”

Between the two, there was an awkward silence.

Joonmyeon didn’t want to break the silence and make things more awkward than they were. He’d just confessed his feelings – which he’d discovered perhaps an hour before – and was awaiting an answer he might not get.

“Let’s get back now,” she said quickly, cutting him off before he could say a word. “They’ll be looking for us soon.”

His face must’ve fallen to the floor, because Hyesung took his hand and led him back towards their theater. He could feel his face heating up even more. It was the first time she initiated physical contact with him. Every other time, it was him.

And for Joonmyeon, just her taking his hand was enough.

When Hyesung took her seat in between Jimin, Chanyeol’s girlfriend, and Jongdae, the latter immediately wrapped an affectionate arm around her shoulders. She stiffened, immediately shrugging it off onto the back of the seat.

“You were in the bathroom for a pretty long time. Is something wrong?” he asked quietly, his eyes glittering with worry.

The corner of Hyesung’s lip twitched upwards.

“Hyesung, I like you.”

Her gaze at the film softened, although she was barely paying attention to the action onscreen. Her eyes instinctively darted towards the other seats, looking for Joonmyeon. He stared right back at her, their eyes locking for a few short moments. She quickly looked back to the screen, a barely visible tint of pink to her face.

“Everything is fine. It’s fine…”

A small smile formed on her face, her gaze soft and kind.

“And… it couldn’t be better.”

Jongdae simply stared at her, a gleam in his eye that went completely unnoticed as she turned back towards the screen.

“Ah, that was great!”

“It was kind of cheesy, but cute,” Kris admitted, agreeing with his more than pleased girlfriend. With a giggle, Andi wrapped her arms around Kris’ waist, while Kris slung his arm over her shoulders.

Tao wrinkled his nose. “Ew, get a room, you two!” he snapped. No one could tell if he was being playful or serious, since he always acted that way around couples.

Being the childish man that he was, Kris simply stuck his tongue out at Tao. The rest of them laughed at their friend’s immaturity.

“Whatever, Panda,” Kris shot back affectionately. “Me and my lovely, wonderful girlfriend here,” Andi giggled, “are going to dinner now. We have reservations downtown. Catch you losers later.” He pecked her on the cheek, quickly fleeing the theater with Andi in tow.

Tugging at her tall boyfriend’s sleeves, Jimin bit her lip nervously. Chanyeol seemed to understand what she was trying to get through. “Right.” He announced, “Jimin has a nine-o-clock curfew, so we’ve got to get going. Bye!” He waved, pushing open the door with one hand, his other linked with Jimin’s.

Jongin wrapped his hand around Hanbyul’s, the latter’s cheeks tinting slight