pro·pin·qui·ty

The state of being close to someone or something; proximity.

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October 27 (Saturday)

Against her personal protests, Han Kyung Mi was awake at a time earlier than necessary just to find clothes for the day. It wasn’t too bad, in a sense, since it would mean that the aforementioned female was taking care of her own looks — but the girl intended to disapprove overexcited emotions. The bespectacled student was indubitably stunned when she had been hurled with a request like that, especially from her best friend Gongchan Shik, but it was impossible to deny such a pleasure. Had she not been craving to spend time with him alone just like she always had? Before everything or anything foreign came into the picture of their seemingly unbreakable friendship, that is.

“Just an ordinary day, alright?” were the words that the smiling nineteen year old had mentioned. “You and me having a fun day with enough time to talk to each other about stuff. We don’t seem to get that chance anymore lately, you see.” She did see, really.

The eighteen year old recalled vividly that she had openly agreed, earning the older male’s joy and her classmate’s subtle discontent most inadvertently. When the older one left for the impending classes, Kyung Mi had noted the lingering warning in the stoic male’s tone.

“Be careful now, Kyung Mi,” was all Sehun spoke of, clearly having no desire to pursue on this finely complex topic of the two increasingly strained ties of supposed best friends. They too had followed Gongchan’s suit — returning to their classroom, of course — as the girl held her bag vaingloriously. Nevertheless, if one had observed the tinted spectacled girl closely during lessons after that particular recess time, they would have sense the wisps of distraction floating in and out of her mind. In the present time, the girl victoriously whipped out a set of clothing with a smile due to satisfaction.

Her outfit was pretty monochromatic in general, with it being a classical white long-sleeved blouse accompanied with a pair of black high waist shorts that has golden buttons at the front. The ends of the blouse’s sleeves were related to the flounced sleeve family, which meant that it would bloom — as some neophytes like she may describe in a layman’s term — like a gentle flower at its edges. It was a decent outfit, she supposed, and it should complement her being when paired with her crimson red flat ankle strap shoes. A smile adorned her features, imagining it in the best way possible on herself in spite of her unlucky condition which made her destitute enough without colour differentiation abilities. The eighteen year old couldn’t resist from puffing up her cheeks then, sternly reminding her mind to relax and focus on necessary functions like breathing only. There was no need to think strangely about her best friend, no matter how undyingly amazing he was and is.

Without any further delay, the bespectacled girl began to get ready, performing tasks such as showering, brushing her teeth and anything else related. It wasn’t long before she was freshly dressed, continuously trying to suppress the excited feeling that stubbornly bubbled up inside of her. The eighteen year old, with a skip in her gentle steps, descended the stairway to meet a compelling shock. If the girl had thought herself to be early, how was she to describe her best friend who stood by the living room couch with the brightest smile ever?

He addressed her entrance wondrously.

“… Good morning, Kyung Mi,” uttered Gongchan. “You look beautiful. Might I be granted the permission to assume you as a modern time princess?” That comment was directly in line with her attire, it consisting of the long-sleeved blouse and the pair of high waist shorts. The girl would have been capable to refrain from blushing at that exclusive flattery if it had not been for his attire. It was something poignant to her adroit memory. The male was wearing the shirt she had bought as his birthday present this year — the checkered one being a deep azure with a mix of neon yellow and bright pink, completed with a pair of questionably black slacks. The bespectacled girl’s ears threatened to burn furiously. Nevertheless, a small, “You remembered!” followed by a simper was made the girl before heading to the kitchen. The best friend obviously walked after her, aware of her non-existent words pertaining to his personal praise.

In that said area, it was evident that Kyung Mi’s mother had already been informed of Gongchan’s dominant presence because she was laying out their respective dishes. With gracious thanks they sat down to consume a supposedly hearty breakfast. The girl’s mother, having noticed her daughter’s carefully picked outfit, decided to test the waters for fun.

“Gongchan — you know, my daughter’s wearing especially daintily today,” teased Mrs Han with a straight face. “Surely you have realized that, young man. Can I assume that you have asked her out for a date?” To that, the aforementioned male finished chewing his food before responding.

“Well… Would you want it to be one?” suggested Gongchan playfully with a smile, casually spinning the fork in various anomalous circular motions. He paused, aware of the suspense he left lingering in the air like a sentence with a missing question mark. Daringly, he narrowed his eyes inquiringly at the older woman. She laughed afterwards in a lovely manner.

"Oh, I wouldn’t want to force anyone into anything specific," considered Mrs Han wisely. "But you might as well think about it, since you’re pretty much my son already." At that, the nineteen year old’s face softened immensely.

"And I will repeatedly confess that to be a blessing, Mrs Han," acknowledged Gongchan. "I really will." The two smiled at each other, perhaps forgetting the sole person they had been subtly speaking of. Meanwhile, Kyung Mi who was attentively devouring her meal was petrified at the style the conversation was led just moments ago. It was really asking for trouble, in her opinion. How could her best friend prance around — in figurative terms, of course — such a subject so casually? It nearly pained herself.

After finishing the meal, the male politely thanked his best friend’s mother and complimented a particular dish.

“Ah, that’s only because it’s your favourite food item, now isn’t it?” replied Mrs Han seriously, before breaking into a friendly chuckle. “You speak well of it every time you taste it in this house. Nonetheless, your praise is received with many thanks. Go on with your day now, you two.” The woman left whilst giving the male a quick, chaste wink, to which the nineteen year old grinned endlessly to. The tinted spectacled girl was unable to undo the frown from marring her facial expression, plus the childish act of scrunching up her own face.

“You know, sometimes I think you’re more of my mother’s best friend,” remarked Kyung Mi plainly before leaving the housing compound. The older one only protested mildly with an incoherent tone before executing an action that surprised the younger one by the house gates.

In a mien that would have passed brilliantly as accidental, his left hand grazed with her right one. Their eyes simultaneously flickered to the respective other before the male counterpart’s mouth tilted upwards.

“Would it be too extreme to fabricate an act for your dearest mother?” asked Gongchan innocently. Kyung Mi easily squinted her eyes at him after that apparent statement.

“Yes; yes it would be,” responded the female stiffly before continuing their exit. The nineteen year old laughed after catching up to her, walking by her side effortlessly and mentioned her reply to be amusing. It was inevitably true that she smiled to that, but that wasn’t really the subject at hand that mattered gravely. A part of the bespectacled girl was afraid that she wouldn’t want to let go of his hand if she had to later on. Even so, Han Kyung Mi tried to disallow even a gloomy thought from appearing in her mind. She was to believe that this day would be splendid like it would be during their previous outings.

As their journey lengthened, it pleased the girl that they were able to speak of many things without a visible strain. The topics ranged from food to school and even the future stuff. Eventually, they arrived at the entrance of a humongous amusement park. It was a colourful place indeed, and its paints were of remarkable hues because it only launched its business during the later half of the current year. That, in fact, proved its novelty and it was a detail the bespectacled girl was aware of. She allowed a sigh of amazement to escape her and Gongchan smiled widely.

“What better place than this to have fun, right?” mentioned the male in a jovial demeanour. It was an extremely agreeable conclusion. When the issue of the exclusive ticket price was raised, the nineteen year old merely shut her line of sight with the use of his broad right hand before paying for them, repeatedly telling the girl that it was nothing to worry about. With that, they entered the vast premise successfully with her lack of knowledge concerning the pricing.

Well, as the pair had already been captivated by the amusement park’s design from the outside, it was overwhelming to be in the inside. Finely elaborate tiles that are characteristically abstract met their feet and their eyes were greeted with the magnificent structures. It was the type of place where one would feel insignificantly small, but perhaps that sort of dilemma did not strike the aforementioned pair due to the male’s weirdly coloured shirt. It caused people to glance at him awkwardly, though the male didn’t mind it at all. Even so, it was clear that they were generally happy with this premise that was comparable to a hidden gold city. At first Gongchan had contemplated on a map’s guidance, but rejected the notion when he prioritized the day’s objection. It was meant to be a day filled with fun, laughter, stress-free and well, time of priceless bonding like the old times.

Glancing to his best friend most discreetly, a diminutive smile decorated his features upon the discovery that she was still marvelling at the structures. His eyes crinkled at her simplicity, a characteristic he undeniably adored in apparent secrecy.

“… Choose a place you’re interested in the moment you’re ready, Kyung Mi,” enlightened Gongchan kindly. The girl absentmindedly nodded, then proceeded to watch her surroundings for a good ninety seconds before carrying out her next move. Her physique was already leaning towards a specific place of interest before she opened to speak.

“The arcade!” assumed Kyung Mi blindly in her elated state. Taking a considerable amount of care to not chuckle at it all, they ventured towards the said place. Unexpectedly, the eighteen year old’s wild guess was right. It was a huge arcade area, home to variant forms of games. As the lighting was drastically dimmed comparatively to natural daylight, the older male took precaution and watched out for his best friend to avoid an unwanted scenario.

"Stay close to me," murmured Gongchan as he placed his left arm chastely on her shoulders. "Dark place — it wouldn’t be a great idea to be separated here." Blinking behind darkened lens, the female nodded understandingly as they headed for the counter. The place was lively due to the many individuals present. The nineteen year old male gave the man a suspicious amount of money in exchange for tokens to use on the coin-operated machines. He gave a wicked grin to Kyung Mi after receiving the said items.

“Are you ready?” chuckled Gongchan darkly. The girl only smiled in extreme humour. As she didn’t exactly have anything in mind just yet, the male beckoned that they experiment with a certain game. They made their way towards a raised platform, in which two motorcycles was to be used by participants. Kyung Mi stared at it uncertainly, but since it didn’t always hurt to give a try, she did.

The pair sat on their respective motorcycles, waiting for the screen to register the fact that they paid the game in tokens already. It was a racing game, to which the ultimate goal was to land in first place. They were four more computer generated opponents, totally in six vehicles vying for the prize. The following screens gave a simultaneous blink and they were landed in the racing track immediately, their icons being based on their current motorcycles.

“Eh, your bike is nicer,” pointed out Kyung Mi for fun. Gongchan looked at his, and then smiled. It was an asphalt coloured vehicle with blue flames, whereas the girl’s one was pure white with red flames. It must have been the way the shades played in her eyes that made her feel that his was better-looking.

“Too bad,” joked the male before his face turned serious. “Seriously though, the race is about to start—“ Words were abandoned when a shrill in-game whistle blew, commencing the game.

Generally, the game was smooth for Gongchan Shik, considering the way he sped past the few of the computer-generated opponents. Kyung Mi, however, was not as lucky since her vehicle seemed to be the main target of the game. Even so, it would be a mistake to think that she would give up easily. A smile was worn on the nineteen year old’s male face when he surpassed a particular competitor, since it meant that he was leading the entire race now. Albeit being victorious, the male’s eyes strayed to the other’s screen frequently for some unknown reason. Blinkingly, he happened to see an oncoming vehicle in the game that intended to shove the girl’s onscreen vehicle off course.

“Kyung Mi,” was all Gongchan warned before leaning out to help her by pushing her vehicle sideways temporarily. It shocked her anyway, but it saved her icon from being hijacked from the back. His one, nonetheless, was thrown out of proportion, unwittingly losing its first place.

“… Sorry for that,” mentioned the bespectacled girl with a strained chuckle. “But thanks too?” The male only allowed a smirk to replace the earlier smile.

“No worries,” he responded quite confidently. “Watch me end this game in first place. Trust me.” Two laps remained in the tricky track, but what the male had declared became a reality. A congratulations sign appeared on his screen whereas a sign wishing better luck next time showed up on hers. The girl, obviously, was dissatisfied.

“Hey, what’s with that?” questioned the spectacled student childishly. “I got third place, it’s not that bad.” The male grinned for the nth time that day.

“Then again, that’s not the point,” ended Gongchan playfully before getting off the motorcycle, an action that was mirrored by the girl. The girl proceeded to follow her best friend half-sulkily to their next venture.

“… It’s a guy’s game,” mused Kyung Mi aloud, stereotyping for no good reason.

To that, there was no reply, but one emerged from the crevice of Gongchan’s windpipe upon their arrival at their impending entertainment.

“Then do you surrender to this one too?” teased the male, gesturing towards the shooting game. “Will you not speak of this to be a guy’s game too?” The female student would not yield.

“… This one’s different,” invalidated Kyung Mi obstinately, picking up the game’s makeshift gun. It was a little heavy, but it was an irrelevant issue to defend or raise right now.

“Good,” replied Gongchan with crinkled eyes. “I like it when my challenger has a fighting spirit. Here we go now.” After entering the appropriate amount of tokens, he too held up the gun naturally in his hands. The game’s general concept was that the two players were to infiltrate a gargantuan mansion and assassinate the corrupt mayor. That kind of storyline lifted both their brows in curiousity.

Upon entry by scaling up the walls and into the verdant garden, the shooting party already began. Luckily, the two playing would not be able to shoot each other even if they aimed in that particular direction. It was akin to some sort of immunity. The bespectacled girl took her first few shots and noticed something utterly dismaying.

“The aiming’s a little off,” voiced out Kyung Mi dolefully. The male, hard at work, turned to look at her a few seconds later. He observed her gameplay and shook his head.

“Nah, nothing’s wrong with it,” concluded Gongchan before returning his attention to his game screen. In spite of her best friend’s reassurance, the girl was convinced that something really was off about it. Even the grenades she threw weren’t effective at all, and that needed the least accuracy, really. As a result, her character died out extremely quickly.

Blood was splattered onto her screen with the words, “Game over!” being made visible. Although Gongchan generously offered the revival of her game character through tokens, she refused it because she was quite sure the whole unfortunate scenario would happen again. And so, that led to the eighteen year old watching the older male expertly killing the computer-generated enemies that tried to stop his character from progressing. Nevertheless, even his icon wounded up dead because of the multiple projectiles injuring his character brutally. The similar phrase appeared on his screen, and so the male merely accepted the loss by returning the makeshift gun to the placeholder. Kyung Mi suggested their next game to be a round of snooker.

“So the girl who can’t aim well intends to win against me in snooker?” teased Gongchan helplessly. “Really?” The girl scrunched up her face at him in defiance.

“You’ll realize that I’m telling the truth about the shooting game incident when I win this,” declared the female as she pushed up her tinted spectacles. He was terribly amused.

They both got their own cues from a nearby rack and began setting up the billiard table. After the tokens were inserted by the side of the table, the triangle rack and the twenty two balls — fifteen being red, six coloured balls and one white cue ball — materialized on the table. That fascinated the pair immensely. After flipping a coin, it was decided that the girl was to go first. Determinedly, the girl positioned herself and the cue ball precisely, remembering the objective of this particular sport. One was to pot or touch a basic red ball and then a coloured one that has been nominated afterwards with a cue ball consistently. The coloured balls would return to the table until the red ones were all potted, and then the potting would be based on the ascending order of the ball’s own value. She took a deep breath, concentrating on the amount of power and dexterity needed for the cue ball to travel in a desirable manner. Kyung Mi counted silently to three and began.

At first, Gongchan Shik thought it was going to be a slow-paced game — as snooker usually was in general for ordinary players — but it was almost unsettling that it was proceeding much faster than expected. His best friend Han Kyung Mi was actually potting the said items quite well, earning considerable marks with her accuracy. Whenever she nominated a coloured ball with quaint remarks, the cue ball actually grazed past it every time. It was amazingly skilled on her part.

“Han Kyung Mi, maybe you should miss for once before you finish the whole game before I even start,” laughed Gongchan.  Whether it was intentional or not, her next shot did miss, and so it was finally the male’s turn. When the exchange was done, the nineteen year old definitely noticed the shining glint in the girl’s eyes.

“Don’t you dare be so sure just yet, young miss,” taunted the male with a smile, positioning himself to strike the cue ball perfectly. His performance was superb, his demeanour imbued with elegance, but it was eventually becoming clear that he didn’t have the upper hand in the current situation. With that kind of notion played in his head, he accidentally made a poor shot, causing the cue ball to roll past everything else and into the corner pocket. He blinked blankly at that, failing to register that sort of embarrassing play for a few moments before laughing with his friend. It was hilarious, if one actually pondered about it. At the end, it was inevitable that the girl had won this one. Finally, with a few more games and the tokens emptying out, Gongchan gave the honour of choosing the last game to her. The girl ended up choosing a one player game, encouraged by the male’s agreement to it without a single protest.

It was a whacking arcade game, in which the player would need to use a rubber mallet to hit the items that would pop up from the holes in the waist-level cabinet. This one actually consisted of three items per row and the plastic figurines that would emerge sporadically plus unpredictably happened to be moles this time. Holding the mallet firmly, Kyung Mi prepared herself as Gongchan entered the remaining tokens into the aforementioned machine. With cheery music, the game was quite simple for the bespectacled girl, each successful knock earning a comical cry for help to greet her ears. However, the gameplay picked up abruptly and the girl found herself extremely pressured between choices. The grinning moles were popping up and down the holes so quickly that it bordered the emotion of frustration. When three of them emerged, the girl was stunned temporarily by its sight that it would have cost her deducted points, if it had not been for an equally surprising event.

Whilst Kyung Mi was struggling with the swarm of moles, Gongchan had discreetly vanished to a nearby whacking arcade machine to grab a mallet. Unhooking the chain expertly, he returned to the battlefield just in the nick of time to whack two of the moles out of the three. It was quite the feat.

“Teamwork?” suggested Gongchan nonchalantly as the moles mercilessly appeared out of their hiding. Blinkingly, she smiled.

“Teamwork,” confirmed Kyung Mi. With that, they pit themselves against the lifeless creatures, hitting them at different intervals of time due to their reaction speed. Their swindling scheme worked well until a certain point, in which Gongchan and Kyung Mi whacked two different moles at the same time. That caused an alarm to sound, causing the pair to look at each other in extreme bewilderment, leaving them oblivious to a giant makeshift plastic mallet that whacked the top of their heads.

“Ouch,” exclaimed the both of them, and turned to look at the offender. A banner appeared, sternly reprimanding them for their cheating ways. They laughed at its absurdity and walked away afterwards.

The clock drew its thin hands to lunch hour, and so the two best friends made do at a classic cafe. The ambience was remarkable, plus the chairs were comfortable and lengthy. Sitting adjacent to each other, the pair steadily ordered their respective meals with the girl’s favourite dessert included. Gongchan made sure it was done because he knew how the eighteen year old’s eyes would light up at the sound of that idea. It was something to try for, honestly. Gongchan had ordered some rice dish soaked in special sauce with an abundance of vegetables and meat. Kyung Mi had opted for some glassy noodles instead, being served with scrumptious soup. The following food items were laid on the wide, clean table and placed in front of their hungry owners. Kyung Mi thanked her best friend for paying for her meal willingly and they began to consume the said substances.

After their delicious meals, the ordered dessert had arrived. The bespectacled girl’s eyes shimmered in delight at the sight of the prettily-made blueberry cheesecake. The blueberry spread decorated the top of the cake, accompanied with several blueberries.

“Thank you, Gongchan!” said Kyung Mi in great appreciation and glee. “It’s really nice of you to do so.” He merely grinned as a response, partially awed at her cheery mien. It was contagious. The male first considered ordering a pudding for himself, but denied it since there was no plausible reasoning for it. Contented, the girl slowly ate the cake with much pleasure. Time to time, the tinted spectacled girl paused to ensure that she wasn’t risking her white shirt’s cleanliness. As the sleeves were impossible to roll up, one could be certain that she consumed the dessert conservatively.

As she picked at the first blueberry with a fork, her ears caught the distinct sound of her best friend moving away from his seat. She lifted her gaze to notice it to be true, and unexpectedly, he sat beside her wordlessly. His expression was unreadable. Kyung Mi shrugged carelessly at that, resuming her progress with the blueberry, popping it into . As she chewed on it, she became overly aware of his nearing presence. Gongchan’s right arm actually found itself around her small waist and that startled her. Well, it also caused her to feel extremely self-conscious. As if that wasn’t the limit, he pulled her closer to him in spite of their existing proximity.

This situation was instigating conflict in the eighteen year old’s heart. It would be nice to think that he was doing so for romantic reasons, but she’d be a fool to think so without any solid evidence. Besides, even though she liked him from that angle, that was no reason to allow him to play her like this unwittingly. Remembering her classmate’s advice and her own instincts, the girl attempted to vocalize her thoughts.

“Shh,” whispered Gongchan, leaving her perplexed. What did he gain by silencing her? Kyung Mi’s eyes stared at his expression, and she was able to see a slight tension in it. After forming an aberrant glare, the tautness of his complexion diminished successfully and a sheepish smile appeared instead.

“Ah, sorry for that,” apologized Gongchan while explaining briefly as he took his right arm off her and subsequently placed a more comfortable distance. “There was this dude looking at you inappropriately so I did that, hoping it would—” He paused tersely as his intense tone transformed into a curious one.

“Kyung Mi, your face is red…?” was all he uttered in that voice of his. The girl felt washed over with stupidity.

After that wondrous lunching session — despite the questionable last part — the two set out eagerly for the outdoor rides in the amusement park. The skies were clear but it wasn’t too hot or anything like that, which was absolutely perfect. They achieved a plethora of thrills by riding roller-coasters, power surges, drop towers and pirate ships. It was difficult to determine as to which of the two were more hardihood. With adrenaline pumping through their veins, they agreed to simmer down by picking less energetic rides.

“There!” voiced out Kyung Mi plainly, pointing in the direction where the gigantic cups were. These items spun in their personal circles plus the platform underneath did so as well in a clockwise direction.

“Let’s go then,” laughed Gongchan, and they both practically ran to that ride because they nearly missed that turn. They hopped into the last vacant cup, earning the stares of the others around them.

The operator made his way to the machine to start up the ride, but the insistence of a young boy caught everyone’s attention, including Kyung Mi’s and Gongchan’s. The young boy wished to go for the following ride, but his family members didn’t exactly want to. They made excuses like indicating that the ride was fully occupied. Gongchan, however, understood.

“Hey kid!” shouted the nineteen year old in a friendly manner as he made gestures. “Join us then.” Glancing subtly at Kyung Mi, he knew that he had her approval. Happily, the aforementioned kid ran to their cup — thanking Gongchan profusely — and the family conflict was then resolved.

“… Alright people, here we go!” finally mentioned the operator, pulling a lever that made the platform turn.

The kid, giddy with excitement, began spinning the wheel swiftly which made the cup they were sitting in move in a clockwise direction at a ridiculous speed. Although Kyung Mi had not the heart to stop the young boy, she was getting painfully dizzy. Her best friend had noticed her condition and tried to help the delicate predicament.

“Hey kid,” suggested Gongchan with a hesitant smile. “You might want to try the other way.” Receiving that remark good-naturedly, the child began spinning the wheel in an anticlockwise direction with the same maddening speed. The male felt helplessly amused because he was sincerely not affected, but the girl was. Finally, the ride ended, which led to the kid gleefully returning to his family at a considerable distance away and a rather tipsy Kyung Mi.

The male narrowed his eyes worriedly at his best friend, who struggled to even walk in a straight line. It was like being drunk without any intake of alcoholic substances.

“Look up, Kyung Mi,” murmured Gongchan. In response, she did so and subsequently felt her body balance giving way. All of a sudden, the eighteen year old felt like she was being pushed down to the ground and so she subconsciously held onto the next nearest thing. It proved to be her best friend’s shoulders. Alarmed, the bespectacled girl stared at her surroundings, trying to comprehend what just happened. Actually, Gongchan had purposefully tripped Kyung Mi when she had been distracted so that she would fall on him, enabling him to piggyback her. Her quick reflex inadvertently helped his cause, making it a smooth flow of action as he stood up from squatting on the ground.

"Gongchan Shik, we’re not little anymore," protested the tinted spectacled girl. "You can’t just carry me because you decided to in public…" The male paused thoughtfully at that as he made sure that he was gripping her legs properly so that she wouldn’t slip. Then he denied her statement.

"No worries," mentioned Gongchan rather cheerfully. "You can’t walk straight for a bit so I might as well carry you. You aren’t heavy plus…" The male trailed off as he caught their reflection in a sidewalk mirror. It showed a strangely coloured checkered shirt boy piggybacking a girl with a long-sleeved blouse and high waist shorts. His feet began journeying in a certain direction as he concluded his choice.

"We’re a good-looking pair, so we won’t be offending anyone by parading like this," mused the nineteen year old exuberantly. That kind of unneeded confidence was dealt with, but it was definite that she would be carried by him for a little while.

"Besides," added Gongchan after a while with short snippets of laughter. "It’s not I’ve not done this before. You tripped over some rock in school when you were ten and then I carried to the nurse’s office." On his back, the female nearly pouted in an intent to rebel.

"… Fine, but technically I carried you too alright," responded Kyung Mi solemnly. "You know, something about you being fifteen and Christmas lights." To that, he assured her in a gentle voice that he remembered, and they proceeded to other topics afterwards because that apparent one was purposefully left undamaged. It was a secret shared by those two alone for probably the rest of their lives. Eventually, the sun was setting and they reached the base of the Ferris wheel. Her eyes widened in scepticism.

Still carrying her, the male went up to the operator.

“Six rounds, make it one,” spoke Gongchan with a smile. The man nodded, allowing them to enter a currently unoccupied steel cabin. Before entry, of course, Gongchan Shik had placed Kyung Mi back on the safe ground. Ironically, not for long though. They sat in the cabin as the miniature gate was shut, keeping silent for several moments. With a jerk, the Ferris wheel began operating in a slow motion.

“… You specified six rounds, huh?” asked Kyung Mi curiously. Her best friend grinned.

“Why yes I did,” chuckled the male softly. “Look, Kyung Mi.” He was indicating the scenery that depicted a world that was falling asleep. She turned outwards to witness it. It was mesmerising. The bespectacled girl figured that it was for this reason that the Ferris wheel was often said to be synonymous to an observational wheel.

As their cabin rose to the wheel’s peak, a quiet murmur reached the girl’s ears.

“Smile now, modern princess,” uttered the male before gently yet firmly turning her physique in a hundred and eighty degrees angle. The girl was astonished at his act, for she was made to turn in the exact direction they came in, which was preposterous because they were high up in the air. The bespectacled girl turned slightly and saw Gongchan wearing a huge smile on his countenance, finding it bizarre when a flashing light blinded her temporarily. Albeit being dazed, the eighteen year old hurled her confusion at him immediately.

“W-What was that?!” half-yelled Kyung Mi, flummoxed. The male student only crossed his arms with satisfaction as their cabin began descending.

“Mmh, let’s just say that that was our first polaroid picture together, so we better make our next five just as hilarious,” explained Gongchan innocently.

Her eyes dilated behind darkened lens after realizing what he meant. This ride was actually combined with a photo booth. Glancing in that particular direction, the female found a cleverly fixed camera that would capture images and allow immediate printing because of the film processor at the base of the Ferris wheel. It was a brilliant plan yet so unfair for Gongchan to not explain earlier. And so, the male earned several pummels on the shoulder before he had a chance to explain that pictures were snapped at the peak of the wheel each time.

“Make it right this time, Kyung Mi,” teased Gongchan daringly. The girl squinted at him before posing nicely for the camera. Besides, there was a ticking timer to countdown although she hadn’t noticed it earlier.

Sadly, the unexpectedly fun ride came to an end, and Kyung Mi knew that was so for their day out too. The two made their way out of the cabin and approached the operator who gave them their polaroid photographs that were already visible. They had a good laugh at the few, like the ones with the girl making silly faces with her best friend, him pretending to fall asleep on her shoulder and lastly with them kissing. Wait, what? Gongchan and Kyung Mi blushed deeply at that, with awkward thoughts running through their respective minds.

“When did we—” thought the two inwardly when the train of thoughts got interrupted.

"Whoops! My mistake," mentioned the operator quite easily, whisking that out-of-character photo out of their hands and delivered it to the right pair. "Good thing that you guys checked first." Indubitably embarrassed by their own honest thoughts, they hastily thanked the man and ran off for a bit before stopping. Still red-faced, the male initiated a conversation.

"Ahem, anyway," uttered Gongchan with a shaky laugh. "How many photographs do you want to keep, Kyung Mi?" The bespectacled girl smiled just as awkwardly.

"Um, well, I think it’s better if you decided how many you want to keep…" confessed the eighteen year old, afraid that she would want to keep them all. The male laughed kindly then.

"One, because I like this one the most," said Gongchan seriously as he picked the first exceedingly candid one.

Unfortunately, as he peered closely at the photograph, he continued his ringing laughter. He had the decency to keep it in his wallet, at least. The girl, having the remaining five photographs beamed, but then a subtle poke of worry began harassing her. Since the day was filled with honesty, the eighteen year old knew that she was given the perfect opportunity to question if she dared. In spite of her great fear, she finally asked something she wanted a solid answer to.

“Gongchan Shik,” began Kyung Mi quietly. “Do you like my sister?” He blinked once naturally before responding.

“Yes,” was his answer. It came so quickly that it ruptured the heart that she tried to harden.

She should have always known that best friends would never fall in love with each other.

Noticing her subdued expression, the male voiced out his undying concern.

“Kyung Mi?” echoed Gongchan aloud, bending down towards her level of height. “Are you okay?” With a surmount effort, her eyes flickered to his brightly.

“Yes,” was what she responded. She sounded and wanted to be happy. But the depths of her heart had finally accepted that their many years as extremely close best friends were coming to an inevitable end.