Red Scarf: Zelo

“There’s a dance on Christmas Eve. I was just wondering…” I pause and look away frantically. I can feel myself get hot and I’m probably as red as a tomato right now.

“The holiday dance? Wait, are you asking me?” He sounded surprised. I’m surprised too. Why am I even asking this guy? I don’t even like Daehyun!

“I’m sorry!” Before I could say anything else, “This was dumb, and I shouldn’t have bothered you.” I start to turn away, but he grabs my arm before I leave.

“I don’t mind!” He gives me a small smile that would leave most of the female population dead, “Sure I’ll go to the dance with you.”

My eyes widen, “Are you serious? You’re kidding right?” Half hoping that he was.

He nods with a small chuckle.

“But why?”

Daehyun looks me in the eye as he says this, but I’m not totally sure if he’s saying is sincere or not. “Well, you seem really sweet and pretty, ________. Why wouldn’t I want to go with you to the dance?”

I want to shake my head and tell him how much I’m a terrible dancer and say everything that I could to push him a way, but he’s just looking at me with a big toothy grin.

“I guess…” I pause, “You’re being completely serious about this?”

He rolls his eyes in a mocking way, “Yes, I’m as serious as a heart attack. Where should we meet up?” Daehyun starts rambling on about dinner and other things but I’m now swallowed up by my thoughts. Did he actually say yes? And what will he think? He already said no… do I tell him that I found someone else? Oh god, no.

~2 Days Before…~

I gulp down so much water at once that when they’re all lumping at the center of my throat, it hurts.

“Tired already?” Zelo taunted—though I could hear some huffs between his breaths..

I rolled my eyes, “Hey, am I the only one sweating hard at the moment?” I asked as he wiped his forehead.

“Yeah, alright.” He said as he sat next to me. He grinned, “You’re doing pretty good. You’re not as stiff as when we first started.”

I have to smile and I feel a little warmth touch my cheeks so I turn my face a little, “Thanks, I’ve been trying my best on the some of the moves that you said because I had some trouble with them!”

He nods, “Yeah I can tell.”

I give an agreeing gesture. The room settles into a bit of awkward silence. He coughs and I have to look up at him. His eyes widen and I can see a tint of pink on his cheeks. “So, what’re you doing after class?”

I’m a bit taken aback by this, “Me?” He nods. My answer is a shrug, “Just going to grab some dinner than maybe I’ll go home?”

Zelo suddenly stands up, “Do you want me to go with you?” His words all mix together and for a second I’m so confused what he’s asking me.

Without thinking, I nod my head. “Sure?”

Zelo laughs rubbing the back of his neck, “Sorry I didn’t mean to surprise you like that it’s just….” He’s scanning the room nervously as if there were some cue cards hidden somewhere. “Dinner? I’ll pay…”

The ends of my lip perk up and I end up finding myself following him out in the cold night. I shiver. He looks over at me slightly concerned and without warning he wraps his red scarf around me. He bends down so our eyes are at an equal level. My cheeks burn with embarrassment, but relief takes over me knowing that it’s dark.

He pulls up the lumpy scarf just below my nose; thank god it’s also pretty big. Zelo straightens up and I can’t tell if he’s blushing either but he looks away self-consciously. “You should really layer up more, you know. You could get sick,” He turns to me with a sheepish grin, “Then you won’t be able to come to class!”

A laugh escapes me, and I try to come up with something to say back but my brain goes dead and I have to turn to stare at my feet so he doesn’t see my flustered expression.

Aigoo, quit being so self conscious!

Trying to ease myself in a casual move I turn to Zelo with a forced smile on my face, but when I turn over he’s already staring at me. I almost jump, but I try to force down my reaction. “Where are you planning to bring me?”

“I’m going to kidnap you.” He turns to me with such a serious face I almost believe it, but then we both laughing, which eases our tense atmosphere. “We’re here!”

He opens the door to a small café looking place. I look inside and marvel at the cutesy vibe it’s giving off. I sit down on one of the green pastel chairs and look around. “It’s so adorable in here.”

He cringes, “It’s not my style. But I thought you were cute…” His eyes widen, “That’s not what I meant! I meant your style is cute, er…” This time I can see his blush and I just have to let out a little giggle. He stands up suddenly, making the chair slide back a bit loudly in the nearly empty café. “I’m going to order you something, so just sit tight!”

Sitting idly, I watch others walk past the café. A small group of teenage girls are walking and looking inside. I see them take a few looks inside for a brief moment when they finally decide to walk in. They herd a long table near the wall. Although they’re whispering I can catch a few words they’re saying.

“So tall…”

“I wonder if he’s single.”

“Probably, there’s another girl over there.” (That’s when they proceed to take obvious looks over in my direction.)

“What should I get?”

“I don’t know…”

I try to feel calm and tune out of their conversations but I can feel their eyes drilling holes at my back. Zelo comes back with a tray and he quickly goes back to retrieve another. He sits back down and gives me a big smile; does he even notice those girls?

“I got you soup and a sandwich.” He explains my tray to me. “I didn’t know if you wanted orange or apple juice so I just went with apple because… who doesn’t like apple juice?”

“I like apple juice a lot. So what kind of soup is this?” Putting a spoonful of soup into my mouth I taste a tangy flavor dancing on my tongue and it catches me off guard for a moment.

“Squash.” He looks concerned, “Do you not like it?”

My face must’ve looked odd, so I shake my head, “It’s not that, it’s just I’ve never really tasted something like this. But I definitely like it!”

I see him exhale a small breath, “That’s good.”

We carry on with our dinner with casual jokes shared. After we’re finished we get up to leave, but a girl with heavily winged eyeliner and extremely dark lips stops us.

Once she’s stopped us she suddenly looks really small. She backs up a little bit to her friends and I can see her red cheeks (though I don’t really know if that’s natural anymore…)

“H-hi. My friends and I noticed you. A-and if you’d ever like to hang out sometime, give me a call?” She shakily s a crumpled napkin with scrawled numbers.

He gives them a big smile and nods, “Thanks, I’m Zelo nice to meet you.” He gives her and her other friends a small wave.

“Min Jae.” She says with a tinge of awe in her tone.

Zelo nods keeping his happy stance, “Alright well we have to go now, don’t we, _______?”

When he suddenly turns to me I can feel my cheeks go red (geez, why am I blushing so much!?) but I nod promptly trying not to look over the group of girls who are probably judging me right now. He puts an arm around my shoulders suddenly and leads me out.

Once we’re out, he still has his arm around my shoulders but I don’t dare point anything out. For a bit there’s quietness, but I decide to break it. “They seemed nice.”

This time he suddenly remembers his arm and takes it off my shoulders. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to do that for such a long time. Was my arm heavy?”

“No. It was sort of warm though.” I mumble the last part to more to myself.

He looks over at me for a second and I’m almost scared that he heard me, but he suddenly stops me and I can almost feel my heart pick up its pace.

“Wh-what?”

“This is your place right?”

I look over to the place to where he was pointing and the realization finally hits me that he was walking me home.

“Oh! Yeah it is. Thanks for walking me home.” I make a move towards my house when I suddenly remember the scarf. I’m starting to take it off, but he stops me, “You can give it back next class. I’m going to predict that you’re going to forget an extra coat.”

My eyebrows knit together, “What? But you’re going to get cold too, right?”

He shakes his head, “Don’t worry about me. Plus, I’ve got a bunch of other things to keep me warm.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.” I open my mouth o say something, but Zelo cuts me off, “I’ve got to go now. It’s getting late anyway, so have a good night.”

He’s already walking away when I’m calling him out, “But your scarf!”

Zelo raises a hand up and waves it to say goodbye. My shoulders droop but I walk inside my house.

The TV is blaring; dad was probably home. The rumbles coming form the action scenes made the floors vibrate as I walked up to my room. When I got to my bed I crashed down and pulled up his warm scarf up higher to my nose.

Soon my eyelids are drooping. His bright red scarf is still around my neck as I fall into another one of my fantasies…

When I wake up I suddenly have the urge to ask. Maybe it was the scarf. Maybe it was the dream. Nonetheless, asking now is better than later. I hurry to change into my school uniform and grab a hot meat bun from the freezer. I slip out ten minutes before I usually do.

The scarf is still wrapped on me and I’m hurriedly jogging to the practice room. I know he usually gets there by six daily since he trains really hard.

As I arrive there I hear the loud beats amplifying from the room. I open the door a crack to take a peek. His quick and agile movements make him look like he’s flying.

I stare in awe at his moves and when the song finally descends into the final notes I knock on the door sheepishly.

His head whips towards the door and his serious expression softens when he sees me. He jogs lightly to the door and I can’t help but feel a nervous wave ripple across my body as he makes his way towards me.

“______! What’re you doing here this early?” His eyes look down at the radiant red material he gave me the night before, “If you’re here to give that to me, than I think you should get going. I’m not accepting that.” He says in a mockingly stern tone.

I shake my head, “It’s not that…” I pause I hate myself for blushing once again.

“Is something wrong?”

“N-nothing’s wrong! It’s just…” I keep stopping! Geez, I wish I was more like that girl at the café. Even if she was a bit shaky at least she got to her point quicker than I did.

He offers me a smile, “You want to come in? You look like you’re freezing. I can warm up some water for hot chocolate.” He ushers me in quickly before I can reject and runs to the other side of the room to warm up some water.

I sit on the bench closest to the door, ready to flee at any given point.

He came to sit beside me, “So what’s up?”

I exhale a few breaths to calm my nerves, “Okay, I’m just going to spit it out okay?”

He nods seriously.

“Will you go to the dance with me?”

He’s taken aback by this suddenly, “The dance?”

I nod, “I know you don’t go to school anymore and stuff like that, but it’s on Christmas Eve. I don’t know… I sort of wanted to spend it with you?”

“The 24^th?”

I nod.

He gives me a look of disappointment and I feel the words come before he even speaks. I want to bolt out of the room, reverse time, and make him not remember this moment.

“_______...”

My name breaks my thoughts and I stand up quickly. “I-I’m sorry. You don’t want to go. I know. High school dances are dumb. I know, sorry, I should’ve remembered.”

“No it’s not that! It’s that I’ve got a dance competition on that day.”

I let my shoulders droop and I nod understandingly, “It’s okay. I knew there was a slim chance that you’d actually go.” I’m already heading towards the door, trying to keep my face as expressionless as possible. I don’t feel a surge of tears coming my way, but I feel something in my chest break a little.

“I want to go to the dance with you. I really do-”

“Please don’t try to have pity on me. Just pretend it never happened.” I hurriedly run towards the exit and escape into the freezing air. I reach up to adjust my scarf. It isn’t there though. I must’ve left it.

~ Christmas Eve (day of the dance) ~

I’m sitting in my living room with my parents as they watch a romantic comedy this time. Their cameras are sitting beside them and I’m staring off, waiting for Daehyun to pick me up.

My mom helped me pick out a strapless soft light green dress that had a high-low effect on the skirt; I was more leaning onto something less exposing, but eh, whatever, right?

“When’s he going to get here?” My mom asks excitedly.

“Seven.”

“What time is it?”

I glace at the clock, “Seven.”

“Then why isn’t that boy here by now?”

I shrug. We wait several more minutes until we hear the chimes of our doorbell. My mom bolts to the door and opens it before I do and greets him with one of her biggest smiles she can pull. “So you must me Daehyun.”

I hear them talk a bit, exchanging names and awkward facts about me. Finally my mom calls me over. We take the usual pictures and we’re out of the house within ten minutes.

When we’re walking I’m shivering.

I feel a soft fabric touch my bare shoulders. I turn to see Daehyun now without his jacket. “Hey, you don’t need to do that.”

I’m starting to take off my jacket when he stops me. He shakes his head at me, “You don’t have to wear it all night long, but please just use it until we get to the school? I don’t want you to catch a cold.”

I try to hold myself back from the frustration; this was the exact same thing that happened with Zelo…

Once we’ve arrived at the school I’m already taking off his jacket and handing it to him. We walk into the school where couples and groups of friends are clustered together in their own sort of cliques. Daehyun leads me to a crowd of his friends. They all look handsome and the girls look stunning.

They all turn to us with friendly smiles and curious expressions at me, “This is _________.” Daehyun gestures at me as he introduces them to me.

“Ah…” They say in a slight mumble. After the awkwardness subsides, they all talk about things I’ve got now clue about. They throw inside jokes and other topics that I’m not quite sure of so I just quietly stand there. Daehyun doesn’t quite notice me since he’s busy with his friends. All their dates some how know each other so I’m just the outsider.

Ten minutes past until they call us all into the large room (aka the gym). This time Daehyun looks over to me like the realization hits him that I’m also here. “Let’s go?”

I nod.

If he sees my gawkiness he acts as though he doesn’t seem to distinguish it. Once we get inside the music is fully blasted and everyone is herding to the dance floor. This time he waits for me to catch up with him before he gets with his friends again.

My shoulders droop and I tap Daehyun on his shoulder, “You go ahead. I’m going to the bathroom real quick.”

He gives me a grin and quickly leaves me for his group.

I walk out into the empty hallways and the music is slowly fading as I deeper into the halls. The only sounds I hear now are the sounds of my heels tapping on the floor. When I enter the bathroom I just stare at myself in the mirror. I actually look all right for once. I had done my make up so I could at least appear to have put some type of effort into the night. In reality, I’m so close to washing it off my face this second. Once I take a last glance at myself I walk out of the bathroom.

I don’t want to go back in there.

Unconsciously, I’m dragging my feet to the sound of the music. It’s getting louder; I slow down my pace. I keep my eyes at my feet.

As I feel the sound underneath my feet. I look up now, but I’m not met with the door to the dance. I face a striking Choi Junhong. His light grey-blue hair contrasts his black and white suit beautifully. Around his neck is his red scarf.

“What’re you doing here?

He shrugs.

“What do you mean by that?”

Another shrug.

Before I decide this is all unreal he starts walking to me. I stand there motionless. He’s only a few inches away from and I can’t decide what I should do, or say. Without a word he undoes his scarf from his neck and puts it around me.

“What’re you doing?”

Shrug.

“Why won’t you answer me?”

He does that simple gesture again.

I adjust his scarf and hug it with my hands. “Thanks for coming. But you honestly didn’t have to. I didn't want to force you to come because you felt bad for me, you know.”

He rolls his eyes and suddenly seizes my hands that are holding his scarf. He guilds them gently down to my sides. He pulls down my scarf and before I know what’s going on I feel his soft lips touch mine delicately. I don’t move but he pulls away before I could respond.

“Whoa…”

I turn to face him but he’s looking away shyly, and his usual pale face is completely red. “Sorry, did I catch you off guard?”

I nod but after a moment I feel a smile sneak its way onto my lips. Before I can stop myself, he looks up at my beaming face.

He laughs this time, “What’s with that expression?”

I pull the scarf up.

He shakes his head with a big grin. He comes closer to me and as the music trembles under the soles of our feet we kiss again, “You’re doing pretty good. You’re not as stiff as when we started.” I have to say with a small giggle, which he responds with laugh.

He holds me closer and in between the gentle fragments of our kiss he mumbles, “Merry Christmas, _________.”