Chapter 20

The smell of bacon sizzling on a pan, eggs being scrambled with a pinch of salt, and bread being toasted lingered around in the air. The aroma reached my nose through my bedroom door that was closed shut. I wondered how things even seep through such a tiny crack at times like this, but I knew better than to question something so stupid. I got out of bed and quickly washed up before I rushed down the steps of the my stairs and into the kitchen.

Ji Min was cooking bacon, eggs, and toast at the same time while Jae Kyung was cleaning all of the dishes that they had used – my father was probably at work since he wasn’t here. I leaned over the counter and watched them; they didn’t seem to notice my presence since they were too busy doing their own thing. I shook my head at the two; they always ignored my presence wherever I was with them – third wheeling would probably be best fit for this.

“Maybe you should start setting up the table for us so we can leave to the fair a little faster, Choi Ga Eul.” Ji Min said not turning around to look at me.

I bit back my laughter as I headed into the kitchen area to grab plates, bowls, and cups for us. I set up the table back in the dining room with them and grabbed utensils and napkins to go along with the setting. I went into the fridge and pulled out some orange juice that no one had touched in months and shook it before bringing it back to the table and poured myself a glass to drink. The odd, sour taste in my mouth was quite refreshing after I sipped it in a few times.

“Tell us the real reason why you and Seung Ho aren’t talking anymore.” Jae Kyung said as she brought two plates filled with bacon and eggs to the table.

“Seriously.” Ji Min said as he brought the toast and sat down across from me. “Every freaking girl in the school was talking about it yesterday.”

“We decided to just stay friends.” I shrugged as I started to grab a piece of bacon and chew on it. “I told him about my heart.”

Ji Min was just about to sip onto his cup of orange juice, but stopped mid-way when I said that. He looked at me as if I was crazy. “Are you out of your mind?” I guess it was practically the same thing that I was thinking. “How could you tell him that?”

“And why not? You two told me it was wrong of me to talk to Chen behind his back anyway, so wouldn’t this have been a good way to put it as well?” I asked confused.

“Your heart was an excuse then?” Jae Kyung raised an eyebrow. “I’m confused. Why did you tell him about your heart?”

“He knows about my feelings for Chen.” I replied.

“Wait. What feelings?” Ji Min asked, pestering me curiously. “Are you saying that you like Chen now?”

I my teeth and sipped onto my orange juice.

“Shut up.” Jae Kyung didn’t believe me from the way she was shaking her head at me. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“I'm not going to say anything just yet.” I replied.

“And Seung Ho is okay with this?” Ji Min seriously looked shocked.

I nodded my head. “It was complicated, but we worked it out together.”

“That happened a little… Quickly.” Ji Min said as he started to sip onto his juice again.

“So… Did you tell Chen how you feel about him?” Jae Kyung asked as she started to grab some eggs and put it onto her plate. “Or are you not planning to say anything at all?”

“I’m debating.”

“Who debates on these kinds of things?” She squinted her eyes at me while shaking her head. “You’ve become weirder each day, Ga Eul. Do you know that?”

I smirked at her. “What can I do about it?”

“Do something at least.”Ji Min teased.

“Shut up, you chunky fat bastard.” I rolled my eyes.

“Yah!” He pointed his chopsticks at me. “You know I’m sensitive about my weight!”

“Oh my goodness, Ji Min. You’re fine.” Jae Kyung shook her head at him this time, but she couldn't contain her laughter. “You’re dancing every single day anyways so you’re bound to lose some weight.”

“YAH!” Ji Min glared at Jae Kyung, but she only laughed more. “Now I'm starting to feel insecure about myself…” Ji Min looked down at his stomach and tapped it lightly. “Maybe I shouldn’t eat breakfast.”

“Breakfast is the best way to start your day to lose weight.” I said as I stuffed some toast into my mouth. “That’s the only way to start your metabolism; it’ll burn the fat away!”

Ji Min eyed me sternly. “I forget how helpful you can be since you’re in such a low class.”

“Hey.” I said talking with my mouth full. “Just because I am in a lower class doesn’t mean I’m clueless. You know I can be smart.”

“Yeah, Ga Eul, you can.” He shook his head as he laughed. “Okay girls. Come on. We need to hurry up and eat so we can go to the fair.”

When we got to the fair, it was already packed with people from kids to senior adults. I was surprised to see that it was filled so early in the morning. If anything, I was still a little tired, but I knew Ji Min and Jae Kyung wanted to come early to play some games, see some talent shows, etc. I made them leave me alone, only because being third wheel at a fair was probably one of the worst things that could happen to someone who is single or alone – I rather be alone than stuck with them.

While I walked alone at the fair, I stopped by and looked at gifts first only because if I were to play games , it would really show that I was alone and I didn’t want people to see that – it’s not like people knew me but it still mattered. I looked at all different kinds of handmade accessories that were there. I was amazed by how nice some of the items were, but I couldn’t bring myself to buy any. I decided to keep walking until I could find anything to catch my eye.

Music was starting to fill my ears as I made my way around the fair. I stopped in my tracks when I heard a familiar voice. I turned my head and just as I did, I saw the person I’d last see here singing – Chen. I felt the corners of my lips curve up into a smile so wide, I felt like my face was getting sore, but it was the good kind of sore. I took a step closer, squeezing through the crowd, so I could get a better look. Chen was singing with Xiu Min, Lu Han, and Lay, who was playing the guitar. I didn’t know that the others had this kind of talent as well.

After their performance, many girls requested to take pictures with them and they agreed. Were they this popular already? I guess I couldn’t blame the girls fangirling over them – they were quite handsome and having this much talent was a bonus point for them all. I decided not to talk to them and just stay in the crowd since other people wanted to talk to them. I could probably get my chance later. I turned in my heels and started to walk off to go find something else to do. Maybe it was time to play some fair games while I was here, huh? I thought about it, but then I realized that it seriously would be so boring if I were to play alone. I strolled along past the games and walked to a different crowd that was actually watching people dance up on stage and were singing – this was their talent show. I was amazed by how many talented people were here.

“Do you like green tea ice cream?”

I turned around at the voice that kind of frightened me. I was even more taken aback by the person who had said it. Chen was holding onto two cones filled with green tea ice cream. He held one in front of me, tempting me. I had to take it since the aroma of ice cream was snuggling me with it. As I the top of the ice cream, I couldn’t help but like the feeling of the cold liquid rush down my tongue. It was rather refreshing.

“Thanks Chen.” I said as I enjoyed the ice cream.

“You weren’t going to stay and watch another performance by me and my friends?” Chen asked with disappointment in his voice.

“W-what?” I turned to face him.

“I saw you watching us sing.”

He noticed me.

“Are you here alone?”

I shook my head. “I came here with Ji Min and Jae Kyung, but being third wheel wasn’t something I wanted to do today.”

“Then what did you want to do?” He asked looking over at me while I watched the performance ahead of us.

I thought about it for a bit. “Everything.”

“Everything?” He raised an eyebrow at me as he ate his ice cream.

I nodded my head.

“Go do it then.” He turned away from me and looked at the performance that I was just watching – a group of boys were dancing to SHINee’s ‘Sherlock’ now.

I let out a sigh. “I don’t want to do it alone.”

Chen suddenly held a hand out in front of me.

“What are you doing?” I stared at his hand as if it were a foreign object.

“We’re not ten years old anymore, Ga Eul.” Chen grabbed a hold of my hand and pulled me off to the fair games. “I saw you looking over here earlier.”

“Huh?” I asked.

“I was stalking you.” He joked as he paid one of the fair workers to play basketball. “You like these kinds of games?”

“I haven’t tried.” I shrugged.

“Now you can try.” Chen handed me a basketball and watched me as I threw it towards the hoop, only for it to hit the rim and fall back towards us. “Well, at least you now have experience with it.”

“I don’t know if that was supposed to encourage me to shoot another one or not.” I laughed.

“Think of it as however you want.” He said before picking up another basketball and shooting it towards the hoop – it made it in. “What did you want?”

“What?” I asked confused.

“What stuffed animal would you like?” He asked pointing at all of the toys that were hanging around the basketball hoops. “A minion?”

Throughout the whole day, Chen took me to play all different kinds of fair games. I tried to get a ping pong ball into a fish bowl, which was a total fail and I believed it was a total cheating game because ping pong balls are so light, they’d bounce off wherever they would hit. I tried to lift up a glass bottle with a small ring and a loose string – I believe that game was to piss people off more than to make them excited to see if they’d get it to sit straight up or not. Then there was a shooting game that I really at – Chen beat me at everything if I didn’t mention it.

“Come on, Ga Eul. Focus on your target and shoot it.” Chen stood behind me and held my shoulders lightly. “You can get it if I can.”

“You’re just a show off.” I said as I rolled my eyes.

“Rolling your eyes at your target won’t make you focus.” He teased jokingly. “Come on.” He poked my cheek lightly before backing away from me. “If you get this straight shot, I’ll do whatever you want me to do the rest of the night.”

I put the gun down to look at him. “Are you serious?”

He nodded his head as he crossed his arms to watch me.

“Fine.” I wanted him to do everything I would insist so I focused on my target in front of me as I held the gun up at point. “You’re going to regret everything you say, Chen.”

“We’ll see.” Chen chuckled.

Just then, I shot the gun and I missed completely. I thought Chen would laugh, but I only heard screaming children behind me. When I put the gun down and turned around to look at him, he was gone. I asked someone nearby if they saw him, but it seemed like no one even took notice of him. I let out a grunt before I picked up my feet to look around for him. How could he just leave me like this? Did he know I was going to miss anyway? What a jerk, I thought. It was also getting a little darker out so it was going to be harder to find him in a crowd like this. I tiptoed a few times, hoping that I’d see him over taller people, but I think I was only kidding myself.

As I stopped walking, I heard a loud booming sound that caught mine and everyone’s attention. We turned our heads to see a guy run out from a crowd and start dancing as music started to play loudly around the area. Not only that, but people from the crowd started to dance as well and it really caught me by surprise. It was a flash mob. They danced from songs that were in kpop and even songs that came from all around the world – I was mesmerized. The whole crowd around me seemed to be dancing. I couldn’t help but laugh to see how cute they all had looked dancing here – this was the surprising that Ji Min and Jae Kyung had been talking about.

Just when I thought I was really alone in the crowd, I felt someone’s hands grab mine and pull me towards their body. I looked up and saw Chen. I was still a little upset that he would leave me alone while I was shooting my target. He was smiling as he watched the flash mob halt to a stop and bowed towards everyone before dispersing into the crowd like regular bystanders again.

“Thanks for leaving me.” I said as I finally let out a breath, as if I’ve been holding it in for awhile.

“I wanted you to experience this alone.” He chuckled. “It was nice, wasn’t it?”

“What was nice? Being alone or the experience?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Both.” He said before I felt him put something onto my wrist.

I quickly looked down and saw a light colored brown, leather bracelet on my wrist. When I looked over to his wrist, I saw him wear the same designed leather bracelet expect his was a darker colored brown.

“Couple bracelets?” I questioned.

“You can think whatever you like.” He said looking over at me with his handsome smile that always took my breath away.

“Why?”

“Because you worked so hard today at the games.” He chuckled.

“Yah!” I raised my voice at him. “Are you making fun of me?”

“I’m rewarding you.” He bit his lip with a smile still formed. “You should be happy and thankful.”

I chuckled. “I guess so. Thank you, Chen.”

“There you go, Ga Eul.” He pulled me a little farther away from the fair games.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Look up at the sky.”

Just as I did, fireworks started shooting up in the air – it caught many bystanders by surprise since it seemed like no one knew that it was going to happen. I turned to look back at Chen and just as I did, our felt our faces brush. Chen’s face was so close to mine and if he made me feel breathless just by smiling, being this close made me feel as if there was no such thing as air.

“Thank you.” Chen said before pulling me into one of the warmest embraces I've ever felt. “For everything.”

*A/N: This was a crappy chapter. OTL. On to the next! Please read and comment. I'd love to hear about your opinions, so please don't be a silent reader. Thank you and read with lots of love! Keke~! Muah