KAI

When I said those three words to Minah, it made her completely speechless. I couldn’t tell if she was feeling the same way about me or if she didn’t have any feelings at all.

I became disappointed when she said she liked me only as a friend. I had to emphasize to her that I liked her more than just a friend. I needed to let her know that my feelings for her has changed. I didn’t want to be just friends. I made up my mind and realized that I like Minah… and that I’ll let go of the past because the past will only be just the past. Minah made me feel things that were completely different… things that I did not even feel for Jiyeon.

I’m pretty sure I had left her feeling shocked. I didn’t want to hear her respond to me since I was afraid of what she would say.

What if she told me that she didn’t like me and that she wanted to remain friends? Or what if she did like me too? I was not ready for the answer. I just wanted to let her know my true feelings.

Feeling extremely nervous, I just pulled her along and jumped, hoping it would take my mind off of what was going on in my head.

I held onto her tightly when we jumped. I could hear her screaming from the top of her lungs. And worse, I was right there. My ears were going to become deaf any minute.

“Minah, don’t worry. I’m right here. You don’t need to be afraid. I will protect you,” I whispered in her ear, hoping that it would relieve her. Luckily, she shook a little less than before.

Minah slightly nodded as she buried her head in my chest. She held onto the back of my shirt tightly. Feeling her touch used to make me feel scared of my growing feelings, but now I was okay with it.

We were now dangling from the fall and wow, the view felt great. We were swaying back and forth but I did not feel a bit scared. With Minah besides me I felt happy and glad… I couldn’t imagine anyone else but her.

“Minah, look,” I told her. She shook her head, still burying her head in my chest. “My arms are wrapped tightly around you,” I said trying to comfort her, “Just look. The view is amazing.”

She slowly looked up at me with her lips that created a little pout. I couldn’t help but to think how cute she looked at the moment. I smiled and told her to look below us. At first she was scared, but it was like baby steps, I whispered calming words to calm her down and she was no longer as scared. In fact she started to admire our surroundings.

“Kai, look, the trees are so green! And the sky is so blue I feel like I could touch it!” she says excitedly like a little kid.

I found myself just smiling at her. Yes, this is the Minah that I have come to like. Even if I have known her for a short amount of time, D.O has taught me that if you like someone, time does not matter.

*****

After the man helped us take off the gear, the sound of Minah’s stomach grumbled. Minah froze and stood still for a while, then timidly covered her stomach.

“Are you hungry?” I asked.

“Yeah…” Minah says, her face turning red. “I didn’t get a chance to eat breakfast.”

“Let’s go eat some chicken,” I suggested. This made Minah’s eyes lit up. I guess she likes chicken as much as I do…, another thing I like about her.

Just like yesterday, we walked side by side with the sudden awkwardness. At times, I would glance at Minah, but she kept her head hung low. I couldn’t see a clear view of her face. Was she thinking about what I said earlier? Did I say it too early?

I thought about taking my hand out of my pocket and hold hands with her, but I slowly slipped it back in my pocket. I don’t think she was ready for it and neither am I. But I already missed our skinship when we were holding onto each other very closely during the bungee jump. It made me want to protect her.

I gulped thinking about the consequences. Did I ruin whatever I had between us?

“Kai, about the thing you told me…” she began to say. “Can you give me time to think about it? I mean… I do feel happy when I’m with you and-- and it’s fun but I’ve never been in a relationship before and I don’t know what to do about it…”

Well this wasn’t the response I was expecting from her. “It’s okay,” I tell her, “I was confused too.” We stopped walking and I lifted her face up so she was now looking at me, “I’m willing to wait because I refuse to believe that I’m the only one feeling this way.”

“Thanks for waiting,” she smiled. I glanced down at her hands that were dangling by her sides. It was tempting to grab them and hold her soft hands but I didn’t want to shock her.

At the same time, Minah happened to see me looking at her hands. She was able to do something that I didn’t have courage to do. She gently interlaced her pretty fingers with mine and smiled widely at me. “If you wanted to hold hands you could’ve just done so.”

I cleared my throat embarrassingly and smiled widely because I couldn’t hide the happiness that Minah wanted to hold hands with me. I felt some weight being lifted from my shoulders and I felt more relaxed than before. And I realized, ... this was just the beginning.

“Come on, let’s go grab some chicken!” Minah says excitedly.  

We arrived at a fast food chicken place. Minah picked up the menu and started to say out all the foods that she wanted to eat. I couldn’t help b