Sometimes, Lin feels, that walls are built only to be torn down. That a person can spend years after years labouring to add brick by brick to the structure, only to be stripped of protection when they need it the most. And it happens by the silliest of all causes. The first vine that crawls up, seeping through the cracks with roots penetrating through grey stone so firmly that they can't be removed without leaving scars. 

Lin feels hope bubble up in her chest when she watches Minseok smile. Hope is treacherous in that way. It sneaks in when you least expect it and refuses to leave just like the vines on the staccato walls between them. She stifles it because it is the best she can do and walks up to him.

Golden light from the street lamps above outline his dark silhouette. Lin braves a look. It's a look she's seen on him many times, of passion and determination. Minseok is a go getter. He strives to achieve the goals he sets. In ways he is braver than she is.

"Lin" Minseok breaks the silence first. "Yeah?" she asks, uncharacteristically hesitant. There is something about him that makes her respond differently. If it was Baekhyun teasing her, she wouldn't have thought twice before hitting him on the head. But when Minseok does it, all she can do is blush. When Jongin asks her for a favour he only gets a sour "do it yourself". With Minseok she looks for ways to help him, to take of some of the burden he seems to carry. She changes around him. Or maybe she becomes more like her true self. The latter is scarier. The world only ever takes advantage of your emotions. You should never let them show.

Does Minseok see through it? She catches him looking sometimes. Sending soft gazes which make her conscious of the cracks in the walls around. Like he can see through everything.  See into the little world she has built for herself that no one else should ever know about. She fears judgement should she ever let him in. So she feigns ignorance and indifference, keeping her head high and her heart away. Her stupid heart is foolish anyways. It keeps leaping around at random intervals, speeding up at moments she wishes everything would slow down.

"Minseok?" she calls. He's doing it again. Gazing at her. She shifts consciously but all he does is lean in and look at her. Look at only her. The dimly lit street has long faded into the background nothingness. She registers faint sounds but can't make out anything above the beating of her heart.

He captures her lips in a soft sweet kiss and for a moment the world stops.

The world stops. Her heart speeds up (that idiot). Her fists clench in shock and her body goes rigid. He pulls back and smiles shyly and all she wants to do is punch him. So punch him she does. Not once, not twice but a grand total of six times before he embraces her.

She'll freak out tomorrow when she realises. She'll wake up in the morning and have a mental breakdown when she remembers the feel of his lips against hers and realises she dreamt of it the previous night. She'll freak out two days from now when Minseok will smile at her again, slipping through cracks and settling in like he belongs. She'll freak out when she realises she really wants him to stay. Maybe it'll take a day or a month or a year for her to realise it.

For today she will rest in his arms and watch as hope performs the samba mockingly. Love is around the corner but she is content letting it take its time to come.

-x-

For shawolistic because she is my favorite :p Also this is my failed revenge attempt. Let us all join hands and mourn. *flails*