The Park

 

Sunlight filtered through the thin leaves of the evergreen trees, causing the sidewalk to be illuminated in irregular patches. Gayoon gazed at the clear blue sky as she walked up the hill. Music thumping in her ears, she exhaled loudly.

 

Today was the last day of midterms, and Gayoon was convinced that she aced all her tests.

 

As expected of the valedictorian of the junior class.

 

    The hill was beginning to flatten and Gayoon could spot the outline of a twisting purple slide standing next to a plastic set of swings. A smile crept up on her face; she had reached The Park. In all her 16 years, Gayoon had never referred to The Park by its proper name (Grove City Park, a rather drab name for such an interesting place), but merely called it by its supposedly generic name. The thing is, if you spoke to someone about The Park, they would know exactly which park you were talking about.

 

It was a special place where all the neighborhood kids would gather and team up for a game of street basketball. Although Gayoon had got into several fights with some of the older boys (mostly Kris Wu), it was one of her favorite places to be.

 

    Unfortunately, due to the heavy rigor of schoolwork, Gayoon stopped going to The Park in the 7th grade. She had only seen a few of her Park friends since then, due to the fact that they attended her school.

 

On the other hand, Kris, Chanyeol, Luhan, and the other guys attended a preparatory school somewhere in Westview. Therefore, Gayoon hadn’t seen them since the age of 12.

 

At the time she was grateful- she wouldn’t have to deal with Kris’s annoying brags about his superior basketball skills, or his irritating taunts about being better than Gayoon (even though he would swallow his words once she kicked his ).

 

But as time passed she grew to miss them.

 

    Now, as Gayoon got closer and closer to The Park, she could spot the basketball courts. A knot of hope tightened in her stomach, earnestly wishing that Kris and his friends would be here. They probably wouldn’t be here, of course: the guys probably stopped coming to The Park years ago.

 

Squinting, Gayoon could make out a few outlines of tall, muscled men engaged in a fierce 6-on-6 game at the courts. She sighed. There was no way that was Kris and his friends: they looked nothing like the people currently playing on the court.

 

Well, maybe Gayoon would walk by the basketball courts anyway. The game looked pretty interesting and she wanted to sneak a peek.

 

---

Gayoon casually strolled past the courts, looking out of the corner of her eye. The teams were playing shirts and skins. Classic. It looked like the skins team was winning, though: they had a blond-haired player on their team that was dominating 3-pointers... and the physical department.

 

Gayoon couldn’t get a full view of his features and body, but the discreet sideway glances she threw him gave her a pretty good idea about the defined features of his body. She glanced down at her phone, scrolling through her albums as she searched out a particular song.

 

It was at that moment that a basketball knocked into her foot.

 

Yanking out her earphones, Gayoon looked over at the basketball court. A brown-haired person was running over to her as the other guys were teasing a short, annoyed looking player on the Shirts team.

 

She bent down and picked up the basketball, spinning it on her finger. Gayoon grinned; it had been so long since she had held a basketball.

 

“Sorry,” the brown-haired guy panted, holding out his hands for a chest pass. “Luha- I mean, my friend tried to make a shot, but he missed. Nice ball handling, by the way. It’s been years and I still can’t spin a ball on my finger like that.”

 

Gayoon froze. “Wait... your friend Luhan?” She squinted at the person in front of her- and then gasped. “Oh my god! Suho! Is that you?”

 

“Gayoon?!” the man shrieked, and her suspicions were confirmed. “Holy , I didn’t even recognize you! It’s been so long!”

 

“Dude, how’ve you been?” Gayoon wrapped her arms around him, ignoring the fact that Suho was hot and sticky and smelly from playing. “Wow, I’m so happy I’m seeing you again!”

 

Suho grinned. “Same!  Hey, I heard that you’re the smartest person in your grade. I suppose that’s why you couldn’t come to The Park anymore, you were studying, right?”

 

Gayoon nodded. “Yeah. I missed this place a lot, though.”

 

Suho grabbed her hand. “Guys, look who’s here!” he called to the rest of the people on the basketball court, dragging her over to them. A slew of unfamiliar faces greeted Gayoon, but as she looked closer, they had a few recognizable characteristics...

 

“Kyungsoo! Xiumin!” She clapped her hands to . “Whoa, Chanyeol, is that you? You’re a freaking giant now!”

 

The boys gasped. “Gayoon! Whoa, it’s been so long!” Sehun exclaimed.

 

“Damn, Gayoon, you turned into a little bomb.” Kai flashed her a smirk and Gayoon threw the basketball at his face. He dodged just in time. “You’re exactly the same! Why do you have to throw basketballs at me?” Kai whined.

 

“What’s all the ruckus about?” a deep voice suddenly said. Gayoon looked up.

 

Kris Wu was striding towards her, holding a half-empty water bottle. And Gayoon realized with shock that he was the blond-haired player on the Skins, the one who kept making all those shots and stealing the ball and dominating the court... and the physical department. The Kris Wu she remembered was a short, dorky idiot who had a concave chest and an overbite. How could 4 years turn a boy into a living Adonis?

 

His sculpted abs were glistening in the sunlight as he ran a hand through his dirty blonde hair. Gayoon used to be taller than Kris, and now he was over 6 feet. And his facial features had sharpened, become more well-defined.

 

When Kris saw Gayoon he froze in his tracks.

 

“Gayoon.” A statement, not a question.

 

“Kris.”

 

The two exchanged a long, charged look. An unfamiliar tightening sensation was working upon Gayoon’s chest. Why the hell am I getting all flustered over Kris Wu of all people? Gayoon thought. Sure, he got hot. But he’s still Kris Wu. Ew.

 

Kris took a step towards Gayoon. “You changed.”

 

“As did you.” Gayoon runs a hand through her long black hair. “Puberty tends to do that.”

 

The rest of the guys were staring at the two, observing their interaction.

 

After a long silence between Gayoon and Kris, Lay cleared his throat. “Um, how bout you join our game, Gayoon? You can be on the Shirts.”

 

Gayoon tore her eyes away from Kris and smiled at Lay. “Sorry, but I don’t play anymore.”

 

“What?!” All of Gayoon’s old friends- except for Kris, who was still staring at her- exclaimed. She shrugged apologetically.

 

“I quit after I got into 7th grade, so I could focus on school more. It was for the better, I guess...,” Gayoon sighed.

 

“Man, now you can’t go against Kris!” Baekhyun groaned. “I was looking forward to watching you guys play on opposite teams. It used to be so funny to see you get pissed at him, Gayoon.”

 

    Gayoon cracked a smile. She remembered when she would constantly harp on Kris for screwing up a pass, or missing a shot.

 

Now Gayoon doubted whether she would even say a word to Kris, lest she be on the receiving end of his new piercing glare.

 

    “I’ll watch you guys, alright?” She took a seat on the hard metal bench on the side of the court.

 

    Gayoon cheered throughout the entire game, clapping wildly. The boys had improved so much- especially Kris. Speaking of Kris, Gayoon’s eyes kept wandering towards him during the entire game. She had still not gotten over the shock of her childhood friend turning into... this.

 

    Soon the sun began setting upon the grassy hill of The Park. Gayoon stood up.

 

    “Guys, I’d better go,” she said apologetically. “I have to get home before it gets too dark.”

 

    “I’ll walk you home,” Xiumin suggested, but Kris suddenly shoved him aside.

 

    “I’m out this quarter anyway,” he said. “I’ll take her home.” A chorus of ooohs and get its resonate from the rest of the guys. Gayoon and Kris shot them all death stares.

 

    “Bye!” Gayoon called, and began walking, Kris right next to her.

 

    They strode in silence, looking anywhere else but each other. Gayoon cleared , attempting to alleviate the tension.

 

    “So, um, how’s life?” she asked.

 

    Kris shrugged. “All right. I’m captain of the basketball team and stuff.”

 

    Gayoon’s jaw dropped. “No way! You’re captain?”

 

Kris chuckled at her reaction. “Yup. Pretty unbelievable, considering how much I used to .”

 

Gayoon laughs. “We’ve all grown up, haven’t we? I really miss the old days sometimes. Remember when I kicked you straight into the basketball pole? I felt so guilty afterwards.”

 

“It was retaliation for me tripping you while making a lay-up,” Kris reminded her. “We were even.”

 

The two smiled at each other. Gayoon felt a gradual warmth spreading in her chest.

 

“It’s kind of hard to believe I’m a senior already.” Kris said. “A lot of universities are scouting me, and I have to decide which one I’m attending soon.”

 

    “Oh, yeah,” Gayoon said, her smile fading away. “You’re going to college next year.”

 

    The corner of Kris’s lips lifts up into a smirk. “You sound sad.”

 

    “Well, duh,” Gayoon said crossly, rolling her eyes. “I don’t want you- I mean, I don’t want everyone to leave.”

 

    “We can all enjoy the time we have now, though. You’re coming back to The Park, right?”

 

    Gayoon was about to say yes, of course she was coming back-but then she remembered her schoolwork. The projects she still had to finish.

 

 

And the new semester would be beginning soon, which meant she had to start studying right away.

 

    “I can’t,” she replied miserably. "I don't have enough time. This is my final time coming to The Park for another year."

 

    Kris stopped in his tracks. “So this is the last time I’ll see you, huh.”

 

    “I... I suppose,” Gayoon looked down, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in her heart.

 

    “Then it wouldn’t matter if I did this,” Kris said, and deftly placed his lips onto hers.

 

    For a moment, Gayoon’s eyes widened and she stood frozen in place. Was this real?

 

Was Kris Wu really kissing her?

 

The sensation of his soft lips on hers seemed too good to be true-

 

    Screw it, Gayoon thought, and kissed Kris back with all her might.

 

    She could feel Kris’s mouth curve upwards into a smile against her’s. Sliding his tongue against Gayoon’s lower lip, he proceeded to deepen their kiss. Gayoon let out a faint hiss of pleasure as Kris’s hands traveled up her back, tangled through her hair. She slid her arms around his waist, pulling him closer towards her.

 

    “Kris,” Gayoon murmured, finally breaking their kiss. She laid her head in the crook of Kris’s neck. “I...,”

 

    “I’m sorry,” Kris said gently, resting his head on top of Gayoon’s. “I know I probably shouldn’t have done that, but-,”

 

    “No.” Gayoon lifted her head back to look into Kris’s eyes. “I’m happy. I quite enjoyed it, actually.”

 

    The corner of Kris’s mouth tugged up in a small smile. “That’s good. I didn’t want to be the only one.”

 

    “I can’t believe this,” Gayoon chuckled. “4 years ago, if you had told me that I would be kissing Kris Wu-,”

 

    “You would’ve flipped ,” Kris snickered. Gayoon playfully punched him in the arm.

 

    “Yeah, yeah,” she laughed. “But here we are.”

 

    “Here we are.”

 

    The two stood in silence for a moment, merely gazing at each other. The same thought was running through both Kris and Gayoon’s minds:

 

    “We should’ve got together sooner,” Kris whispered, and she nodded slowly.

 

    “We still have a few months before you go to college, right?” Gayoon told him gently, lacing her fingers through his.

 

    “You’re right.” A faint grin slowly made its way onto Kris’s face. “We still have time to be together.”

    And Kris kissed Gayoon again.

---

A/N: This is a oneshot I wrote a while back (the day my last midterm was over!). It's based on true events (except the kiss lmao). I walked to a park near my house after school that I used to frequent when I was in elementary/middle school, saw some guys that I hadn't seen in a while, and was very surprised by how much they had changed. It was kind of embarrassing hahah :D 

I might extend this oneshot, but something seems right about keeping it this length :)