Sunset on the Pond

It was late evening, the sky filled with the oranges and purples of the setting sun. The lights around Bundang Pond, which had already been in anticipation of the night, glimmered across the water in shimmery streaks. Daehyun walked past the traditional Korean pavilion to the arched bridge that spanned that side of the pond, where he finally found Hana. She was standing in the center of the bridge, facing west toward the setting sun as she stared out across the water.

“I’ve been looking all over for you,” Daehyun said, even though that wasn’t true. When he learned that Hana wasn’t home, he knew exactly where to find her. She didn’t have many friends – none, in fact, other than Daehyun – and if she wasn’t with him, then she was here in this park, which was the only place in their bustling suburb where she felt at peace. “You okay?” he asked.

Hana shrugged. She didn’t turn to greet him. She seemed to still be lost in her thoughts, her gaze still focused on the water.

“I know what will make you feel better,” Daehyun said, now standing beside her. He tilted his head to try and look her in the eyes, but her hair covered her profile. He gently reached forward and tucked her hair behind her ear.

She looked up at him then. “Don’t say cheesecake. That may make you feel better, but it just makes me feel fat.”

“But you’re not fat,” he said, smiling. “You’re beautiful.”

“Fat people can’t be beautiful?” she asked.

Daehyun stared at her blankly. She always managed to twist his words around and force him into an awkward silence. When they were younger, he used to be shy around her, but with all the time they had spent together since, he had grown quite open and talkative, so talkative in fact that she had begun calling him Noisy Ninja. Actually, Daehyun nicknamed himself “ninja”; Hana only added the “noisy” part. But despite how talkative Daehyun had become, Hana was still able to render him speechless.

He stuttered now. “Fat people? Yah, sure, beautiful? Erm…”

“Most people don’t have your metabolism, Daehyun-yah,” she said.

He knew now that she was really upset. Usually, Hana smiled even when she was depressed. She even faked her happiness in front of Daehyun most of the time. But now, standing on this bridge, there was not even a hint of a smile on her face. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “I know something’s bothering you.”

Hana rubbed her eyes and looked at Daehyun. The golden colors of the sky shined upon his face, and she thought for a moment that he looked handsome. She had never looked at him before like that. He was her best friend, after all, and nothing more. “It’s stupid. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Yes you do,” Daehyun said. “Come on, just tell me.”

“I just feel ugly.”

“What? Why would you ever feel that way?” He put his hand on her chin and lifted her face toward his. “You’re the most beautiful girl in school,” he quietly said.

Hana scoffed.

“You may even be the most beautiful girl in all of Bundang! There’s like, almost half a million people who live here, so that means you are like…” He tried to gesture out the math on his hand, hoping to find out what percentage of beauty she had over the average Bundang resident, but he was not the math genius he thought he was and felt lost immediately in the numbers.

Hana dismissed his claims as ridiculous. “If I’m so pretty, how come no one likes me?” The expression on her face – her big tearful eyes and aegyo pout – made Daehyun’s heart melt.

Daehyun, thinking that she was referring to the girls in school, smiled and shrugged. “They’re just jealous,” he said. “You have natural beauty.”

“I’m talking about boys,” she said, turning away from him again and refocusing her gaze on the water. “None of the boys like me.”

“I like you,” Daehyun said. He knew that she would probably interpret his words as I like you as a friend, but he really meant much more than that.

“You don’t count,” she said.

“What do you mean I don’t count?”

“You’re just… you’re just you,” she said. “You’re my best friend. Of course you like me.”

Daehyun didn’t know what to say and so he just stared at the water with her.

After a moment, she quietly asked, “Why doesn’t he like me?”

“Who?” Daehyun asked, his voice cracking.

“Zelo. I told him I liked him and he just said ‘Thanks’ and walked away.”

“Zelo?” He knew the boy she was talking about. Daehyun often saw him in the halls at school, walking like a young Greek god with all the girls following him around. He had the best skin, just annoyingly flawless skin, unlike Daehyun who had to work to maintain even average skin.

“And who just says ‘thanks’ like that when a girl tells him that she likes him?” Hana asked.

Daehyun cleared his throat. “Someone who… who doesn’t deserve you,” he said. “You can do so much better than him. You’re just… you’re…” He thought then of the song that always reminded him of her and began to softly sing the chorus. You’re too much, oh baby, he sang. You’re too pretty, oh…

“What you doing?” Hana asked, slightly open and her eyes wide as she looked up at him.

Daehyun smiled and continued to sing, now staring directly into her eyes as his voice ascended into the song’s higher notes. There’s not a thing that can stop me from looking at you…

Hana’s eyes, glassy with tears of exasperation earlier, now seemed glassy with tears of wonder.

He continued, his voice falling back down within his range. I always look at only you, oh baby…

“Stop,” Hana said, her b tears now releasing down her cheeks. “This is making me feel weird.”

“Weird?” Daehyun asked.

“Yeah, like you like me. Like, like-like me.”

They stared at each other for a moment. Daehyun thought that, at last, this was the moment he had been waiting for, the moment where she’d realize that he could be more than just her friend. And then she asked him exactly that.

She asked, “Do you want to be more than friends with me?”

Daehyun gulped. He wanted to tell her but he froze. “I, erm…” He was afraid – of her rejecting him, of ruining their friendship, of things changing. Unable to muster the bravery, he instead breathed in deeply and said, “No comment.”

“No comment? What does that mean? That’s almost as bad as Zelo-oppa just saying ‘Thanks.’ Aish, what’s with you boys?” She threw her shoulder away from Daehyun, turning her body from him as she contemplated going back home.

The sun was now low on the horizon, the oranges having given way to the purples of the early night sky.

“It’s late,” she said.

“I…” Daehyun didn’t know what to say. “Erm… cheesecake?”

Hana looked back at him, her face suddenly breaking out in a smile. “Aish, Daehyunnie,” she said, laughing.

“Is that a yes?” he asked.

“Sure,” she said.

He hooked out his arm, inviting her to hold onto him. She accepted and the two traversed the bridge and headed through the park to return home.

Daehyun knew he had somewhat broken the friendship barrier through the song he sang – that first outward suggestion of his feelings for her. For a moment, he worried that once they returned to his home, away from the magic of the sunset and lost in that delicious cheesecake, that she would forget about the words he sang and things would return to normal. But he knew that no cheesecake was delicious enough to erase their conversation on this bridge. And if it was that delicious, then perhaps he would just have to find a way to remind her again how beautiful she was to him. And if she asked again if he wanted to be more than friends, then he wouldn’t hesitate to say yes this time… even if his mouth was full of cheesecake. Even if he was scared. Even if it meant putting everything they shared on the line for that one chance at something more. He wouldn’t say “No Comment” again. Ever again. He would say “Yes.” Just “Yes.”  

As they exited the park and walked through their neighborhood streets, guided only by the light of the streetlamps and the moon above, having not said anything that entire time, she suddenly spoke up. “You know, I can picture being more than friends with you.”

Daehyun gulped. “Yes,” he said.

Hana looked up at him curiously. “Yes what?” she asked.

“Just yes,” he said.