“That is so sweet,” Hyuna mumbles as she munches on the popcorn.  The whole bowl of the snacks is placed on her laps, waiting to be devoured. I do not hear what she says, actually, or more like what she says after that murmur. My head is filled with the thought of Kai placing his lips on mine in the dark; that scene keeps replaying like a broken record, unwilling to move forward from the said moment. After that super chaste kiss, he left without goodbye, merely lowering his gaze and jumping out of my window.

I only remember running toward the window a split second after his disappearance. Then he was already gone, getting into his car.

After that I went to my bathroom and saw that my face was red as a cooked snow crab, red and flushed. I still can remember the way his lush lips pushed against mine; it was so sweet and simple. There wasn’t any deep passion or anything like what I read in those romantic novels. Instead it’s so simple, so chaste. Have I believed that a kiss between two people in love should be passionate and deep, then I will be bothered by the fact that our kiss wasn’t like that. But I find myself feeling so nervous and confused, and I believe I’ve read that description somewhere from the romantic novels as well.

I bite my lower lip as I keep remembering his kiss, and Hyuna has to slap my thigh to get my attention.

“Okay, something is definitely wrong with you,” She states the obvious flatly. “Honestly, I’ve tried not to ask because obviously, if there is something wrong with you, you would’ve told me. But my guess is, there is something so secretive or embarrassing that you cannot tell me about. It’s either you kill someone or you embarrass yourself in front of Kai; which I doubt considering the embarrassing one was me.” She says, mentioning the night she got drunk and fainted.

“Well, as you say, I do nothing embarrassing in front of him. In fact, I think I had enticed him that he confessed in having feelings for me.” I say bashfully, shyly looking up to see her reaction.

is opened so un-ladylike-ly. Then she closes and opens it as if to say anything, but nothing comes out. I squint my eyes at her.

“Can you say something?”

closes again like a fish, before she her lips and opens them. This time she speaks, “He confessed?”

I nod.

“Why am I just hearing this now?!”

“Because I just decided to tell you?”

“Oh wow,” She glares at me. “We are best friends!”

“Yes, I know. But I wasn’t sure it was true you know, so I didn’t tell you. It will be very embarrassing if it’s somehow not true,”

“But you could have given me a hint before dropping such a big bomb,”

“I thought you had the hints,” I point out.

“It’s different when I had no valid evidence.” She says.

“Well—”

My words are caught when we both hear the bell rang. I stand up to get the door, leaving unsatisfied Hyuna behind. Opening the door, I find Kai standing wearing a white t-shirt and ripped blue jeans hanging on his hips fittingly. This time, it is my mouth which opens and closes like a fish.

“Hi,” He muses, grinning amusingly.

I stare at him, disbelieving that he is, in fact standing in front of me.

“W-What are you doing h-here?” I ask, my heart thumping in my ribcage.

“Courting you, I believe.” He says. “I believe this is how they do it in historical romances,”

“W-what?” I gape, confused.

“I saw those novels of yours. I didn’t search through your bags, I assure you. I just saw them a few times and noticed that you like that kind of things. So I did some research. I think this is what they say courting, no?”

“I—H-how—W-what—” My sentence is jumbled. I can’t say a word without failing. It’s like my lips are dry and my tongue is stuck.

He smiles in amusement. “May I come in?”

I cannot even hear what he says as I am too bedazzled. Thankfully, reinforcement comes in the right time. “Of course you can,” Hyuna says in the same tone of amusement. “Why don’t you take a seat as I call the mother? So you can make a proper introduction and ask if she may let you court her daughter,” Hyuna is enjoying this as she mocks my romantic proposition.

Kai thins his lips as if he’s offended, but the more I look at him, I see that he’s actually holding his laughter! “You do that,” He mutters as he walks in. “I’ll talk to the daughter first, to see if she has interest in me or not,”

“As if,” Hyuna snorts. “After much thought, I decide I’m going to stay here after all.”

“Why?” There is a pause.

“I heard from someone that back in that era, ladies should have companions when they are with their admirers so that their name can stay proper. If a gentleman stayed with the lady without a chaperone, the lady would have shamed her prospects. Now, we cannot do that to the lady, can we?” Hyuna says as she sits down on the sofa, grinning like a cat.

Kai grins back, grabbing my hand as he leads me to the couch. “Well then,”

When I finally realize that they have been making a jest out of my precious historical romance, I glare at them. “It’s rude to mock my historical romance.”

“It’s not the romance we’re mocking, we’re merely stating the fact your historical romance brought.” Hyuna replies. She smiles unapologetically. I glare at her. She shrugs. Seeing her state, I decide to turn to Kai.

“Hey,” He says again. “Sorry to drop by like this.”

“It’s surprising, but it’s alright.” I gulp. “What are you doing here?”

He stares at me as if I grow two heads. “Like I say; courting you.”

“Why?”

There’s a pause. I don’t know if it’s me or him; but I think I feel the silence too deeply.

“B-But…”

“Look, Inna,” Kai cuts me, “I want to ask you to be my girlfriend,” He give Hyuna a side look and the girl looks almost bashful as she turns her head as if to give us a moment of privacy. Ugh, as if! She’s dying to know what is going on; as I am as well. “But not now. I want to do a courting. I want to know what you like and all, before really asking you to be my girlfriend. I want us to be friends before going any further. I want to know if you feel the same or not,”

I almost scream I like you, but he knows that already.

“You like me before you even know me,” He says as if he can read my mind. “I feel flattered of course, but if we’re going into a relationship, I want you to be sure that it’s me you want and not just my looks.”

“Are you kidding?” I ask, feeling hurt. “You know I like you not because of your looks.”

He looks lost for a second. “I know, but I just want us to know more of each other,”

“You could have just said that,”

There is a silent. He sighs and looks apologetic.

“I’m sorry that it didn’t come out right.” He sincerely apologizes.

Hyuna coughs, demanding her presence to be known.

We ignore her, of course.

“It’s okay. I was overreacting I guess.”

“So uh… close friend?”

“Close friend,” I smile, curling my pinky around his.

“That was stupid and disgustingly cheesy.”

“Your comment is unwarranted.”

“My comment is overrated.” Hyuna mutters, rolling on my bed.

“Totally unneeded.” I persist, putting clean clothes into the drawers.

Hyuna rolls her eyes. Then she asks boringly, “What are we watching today?”

I take my Pride and Prejudice DVD and Hyuna gasps in horror.

“No.”

“Yes,” I grin mischievously. “Come on, it will be amazing!”

“Yeah, that’s what you say ten times before too.” She mutters. “We are not watching that!”

“Oh, Hyuna.” I turn to her with pleading eyes. When she is set with her mind, I pout, turning back. “Then perhaps we should watch Romeo and Juliet 1968, I assume?”

I hear a body falls dramatically on bed. Shrugging emphatically, I put the DVD on and press play.

The night is late, but Kai stays awake. A soft smile appears on his face as he recalls about the girl he just visited. She is no beauty, no intelligent; at least not what the society hopes for. But she is smart enough to know what she wants, what she likes, and what she does. She by no means is the type of girls his parents will disapprove of; not because of her of course, but because of her background. She can be the most beautiful girl in the world, but with no money and great influence, she will never be accepted by his parents.

His lips turn upwards even more. Oh, how he hopes for that day to come quickly!