Mh so hot so hot so hot so hot so hot.

Even ten years later, the conclusions Tiffany drew at eight still hold true.

As Tiffany locks lips with the admittedly attractive Kai, she can’t help but think about how noisy it is to listen to two strings of thought instead of just one. Guys still have a fairly one-track mind; when kissing, all they think about is how hot it is and how good it feels and, if they ever progress to a deeper stage, how excited they are.

At first, it just put Tiffany off lip-to-lip contact totally, but she slowly began to accept it as a natural consequence of her existence. While reading minds may seem really cool, only being able to do so when kissing someone else is pretty discouraging. It’s like the universe throws her a giant pie.

Regardless, She has learnt to tune out the thoughts of teenage boys over the years as they make out, hot and sweaty and hormone-filled. Having few close friends—almost none at all, pretty much—has led her down this route of feeling less lonely by having the company of the opposite gender, even if it means having to swap saliva with them. She have abandonment issues, but she can’t quite seem to make actual friends.

Right now, Kai and Tiffany are huddled in some random person’s bedroom. Her tank top is on the floor somewhere and her jeans are tight and uncomfortable. On the other hand, Kai is still fully clothed, something that Tiffany is not very happy about, so she tugs on the bottom of his t-shirt. He gets the hint, pulling it off with one fell swoop.

As he looks down at her, eyes glinting, she gives herself a pat on the back for choosing a good-looking guy.

Most of her flings never last more than a month, but Kai and her have been a thing for six weeks now, a new record. They never made it official, though. Starting out as seating partners in Math class and a drunken kissing rendezvous here or there made them kinda-sorta- friends with benefits. A good romp in the bed or two never hurt anyone. Plus, he was good-looking, with deep brown eyes that made more than a few girls fall at his feet.

When his lips are away, Tiffany basks in the pleasant silence of her own thoughts, however brief. It’s not long before he descends back down.

A half hour or two later, he’s fallen asleep. They are both sweaty and it feels uncomfortably hot and humid, so she takes a quick shower in the unknown person’s bedroom before putting her clothes back on and heading downstairs.

It’s late now, half past two. The party is winding down. Most of the people who are still there are either lying on the floor with various genitilia scrawled onto their foreheads or asleep, beer bottle in hand. There is one guy walking around, prying the paper cups out of every drunk person’s grip.

He looks up at Tiffany from the bottom of the stairwell and she’s temporarily stunned by the brightness of his eyes. They’re brown and she wonders how she has noticed him at school before.

“What are you still doing here, if not drunk or asleep?” He asks. His voice is full of exasperation, as if he cannot believe that he is here.

Tiffany attempts to smile at him but cannot find it in herself to do so.

“Just had a quickie,” She answers. “And you?”

He cracks a smile, but it’s a small one, all lips and no teeth.

“This is my house.”

Tiffany walks down the staircase. When she stands beside him, she realises how tall he is. She’s not particularly tall, but she’s average height for a girl. He, however, easily towers over her by a good six or seven inches.

He turns away from Tiffany and continues picking up the rubbish on the ground, tossing them into a trash bag that she did not notice he was holding. She feels a little bad for him. It’s past two on a Saturday morning, the poor guy has got a gigantic mess to clean up and he’s probably tired.

“Need any help?” Tiffany asks.

He raises his eyebrows at her before handing her another trash bag.

“Knock yourself out.”

Over the next couple of hours, they talk. She learns more about him: his name is Sehun, he’s been homeschooled all his life but is transferring to Seoul High next week, and this party was thrown by his stepbrother, who was currently passed out on the kitchen floor.

Their moments of conversation are punctuated with silence, which Tiffany is glad for. Talking with him comes naturally, and Tiffany is strangely not tired even after a quick romp in the proverbial hay. It’s four before they finally finish up, and the only things left were the multiple alcohol-ridden bodies.

He slumps onto the sofa, pushing some poor guy onto the floor, and Tiffany follows his cue.

“So, where are your parents? Won’t they be pissed that you threw a party?”

“Technically it’s Luhan’s party, not mine. And they’re out of town. Honeymoon to Europe—Venice, Barcelona, Paris”

The names bring to mind images of beautiful European buildings and old, marble statues.

When Tiffany speaks, it is with much wistfulness. “I’ve always wanted to go to Europe”

“I’ve been there a couple of times. It really isn’t much” He says, almost ounding bored.

Tiffany threw Sehun an incredulous look. “But it’ beautiful, you have to admit. I mean, I find it hard to appreciate nature but the architecture is amazing. There’s so much history and culture embedded in them”

“They are just concrete”

“Concrete, marble, wood! They represent permanence”

They lapse into conversation, and Tiffany is surprised to find that Sehun is easy to talk to. They talk about travel, about politics and career and science and religion and music and sports and philosophy.

When the sun finally peeks over the horizon, Tiffany pesters Sehun into heading out to watch it rise. The Green residence is located atop a small hill and the view is stunning.

Tiffany plops herself onto the grass, not caring that last night’s rain has rendered the ground muddy. She knows Sehun has seated beside her when a shadow hovers over. Tiffany uses the chance to take a good look at him. His brown hair is messy, the kind of messy that won’t ever be neat. He carriees himself a bit awkwardly, like someone who has grown into his looks but does not yet know what to make of it. The entir combination is endearing yet off-putting, but Tiffany can’’t deny that he has a certain charm.

Sehun catches her staring at him.

“Why are you staring at me?”

Tifany flashes the smile that she usually use to get out of the trouble, the one she uses when she wants to get into a teacher’s good books.

“Just thinking about what you look like”

She had never been one for beating around the bush.

Sehun flushes slightly, but a faint pink along his cheeks, before clearing his throat and looking toward the sunrise. When he speaks, he still does not look at Tiffany.

“Don’t you have a boyfriend?”

“The quickie guy? Nah, we’re not really anything.” She explains, trying to figure out what exactly Kai and her were as she said it. “More like very physical friends”

“Your morals are impeccable.” He replies, sarcasm dripping from every word.

“Thank you”

It seems like the sun is taking forever to rise, but when it does, it rises all at once. The sky is suddenly flooded with hues of orange and yellow and it’s times like these that nature stuns Tiffany.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Sehun comments. “I wish I had my camera with me right now”

“You do photography?”

“Sometimes. It’s not very good, but I like carrying it around. Gives a sense of security that I can immortalise whichever great moment.”

“Like this one?”

“Like this onw”

Sehun turns over to look at Tiffany for the first time in fifteen minutes, and smiles at her for the first time with teeth. Tiffany flashes him a returning grin and thought pops into her head.

“I’ve got to go now, but please don’t think too much about what I’m about to do”

Tiffany gets up and straddles him, his waist between her thighs. His face is surprised, though he makes no move to push her away. Tiffany grabs his face between her hands and bring their lips together.

Sehun responds almost immediately, hands coming to rest on Tiffany’s waist, almost tentatively. He’s a good kisses, tasting of cinnamon and peppermint, Tiffany thinks. The kiss is almost chaste, no tongue involved, but it’s sweet and heated all the same, dragged out for maybe one minute.

When they finally pull apart, he’s flushed. His lips are red and slightly swollen and he wears an expression of pleasant surprise. Tiffany looks the same.

She gives him one last smile before she heads off, not turning back once. It isn’t until she gets home that she realises the entire time they were kissing, there was blissful silence.