Gummy Bears
[DongJoon {ZE:A} x Ariana {OC}]

I stared at the glass jar filled to the brim. The bright rainbow colors were so eye-catching and looked so yummy. I just wanted to send the glass jar tumbling to the floor. I wanted to see the glass shatter and fly and be surrounded by the gummy goodness of the gummy bears. But the jar isn’t mine… so I couldn’t possibly send the yummy gummy bears flying. It wouldn’t be nice, wouldn’t be fair.

But it wasn’t fair to leave them all cooped up in that giant glass jar, just asking to be eaten. I looked at it in hunger and just knew that I had to look away. So I looked towards the owner of the giant glass jar of gummy bears. I turned away from the jar and noticed that he was looking right at me, watching me. Has he been watching me look at the jar of gummy bears? I blushed bright red and turned away so he couldn’t see my face. Now I’ve made a complete fool out of myself!

I looked around the small candy store slash café and knew I had chosen the right place to spend my days of summer vacation. I wasn’t looking forward to when I would be in school. I wouldn’t be able to spend hours on end being surrounded by the calming smell of sugar. Yes, I’m crazy for finding the smell of sugar calming. All I knew was that I also found his presence to be extremely calming yet so distracting. Whenever he would be visiting his mother’s café I would be distracted to know end, unable to do whatever I had originally planned. He sent my mind and body on a roller coaster… without even really knowing I existed. He had never spoken to me, never touched me, nothing. But from afar he could cause me to go through so much that I didn’t even want to know what would happen if he did talk to me, did touch me.

I looked down at my book, one I had decided to start while I was sitting in the café. I sat unopened on the table in front of me. Instead of reading like I had planned, I had walked in this morning to see that he was already here. I had hurried to my regular table and sat, burying my face into the book, but not moving. It didn’t even look like I was reading; it looked like I was hiding. I had heard a snicker and had turned to see him chuckling at what I was doing. I had turned away and really focused on my book then. But now I was obviously distracted yet again. He hadn’t left all day and I knew that my sanity was wearing thin. There were more girls here than there normally were and they were all crowding around the small table he sat at. Wherever he moved in the café, his little posse of girls followed. One day, he had walked past my table and I felt it lurch as the girls ran past to follow him. My drink had crashed to the ground and the shattering glass made a tinkling sound as it dispersed underneath my table.

I hadn’t flinched when I felt shards cut into my ankles, this same thing occurred quite frequently at the café. I never made a huge fuss over it either. I would just calmly get out of my seat and make my way to the bathroom so I could take care of the little cuts. And each time I came back to the table there would be a plate on top of my book with gummy bears lined up, spelling out 미안해*. I would smile and take a picture of it on my cellphone. I had quite the collection of pictures by now. I was wondering if I would get cuts on my ankles today like every other day I was here. I saw the large group of girls and had a feeling that I probably would get those same cuts on my ankles. I was still reading my book when I heard the girls start to chatter excitedly when he got up to move. He walked past my table and, like I figured, the girls ran past so quickly and hectically that my table lurched and my drink went flying. I felt the glass cut into my ankles and looked down at the mess that had been made.

I stood up and made my way to the bathroom, wincing each time my foot connected with the ground because of the glass embedded in my skin. I didn’t notice that he was making all of the girls leave since my back was to all of them. When I reached the bathroom and got inside I bent down with a wet paper towel and started dabbing at the cuts. I didn’t expect the bathroom door to open and I looked up to see who was coming in. My eyes widened and I started blushing when I saw who it was.

“You shouldn’t be in here!” I said, “This is the women’s restroom, not the men’s!!!” I turned away blushing and tried to stand up so I could push him out. Instead when I reached him, he bent down and picked me up bridal style then placed me on the counter. He gently grabbed one of my ankles and took the wet paper towel from me so he could dab at the cuts. I was blushing from the contact, even if it was just because of the cuts I had on my ankles.

“I’m sorry that those girls always cause you pain.” He looked at me for a second then focused on my ankle again. “They don’t understand just how much of a pain they are to everyone.” I watched him as he finished with my ankle and grabbed a pair of tweezers out of the first aid kit that was on the wall. He started pulling out the small shards of glass and placing them on the counter. I winced when I felt him pull out a particularly large shard and whimpered in pain. His head jolted up to look at me and a look of concern crossed his face.

“Are you alright?” He stopped and looked at me, focusing on my face until I nodded that I was alright. I looked at him and nodded so that he would continue and he focused again on my ankle, only stopping so he could work on my other ankle. He finished fairly quickly and then let go of my ankle. He looked up at me and I stared right back at him then turned quickly when I felt a blush creep up to my cheeks. He walked closer to me until he was standing right in front of me and tried to get my attention.

“All better for now, right?” He said slowly. I nodded at him and he stepped away so I could get myself off the counter. I landed lightly on my feet and felt my legs wobble from sitting on the counter for too long. When my legs started wobbling even more, I felt my body start to lean forward on its own, making it a good possibility that I was going to fall. Then I felt him wrap his arms around my waist and pull me to him so I could steady myself. I placed my hands on his chest and pushed him lightly so that he would get the idea. He hesitated on stepping away from me but did as I wanted.

I looked at him and then watched him smile slightly before aiming a thumbs-up at me. I gave him a thumbs-up in return and watched as he slipped out the door. I walked towards the door and then leaned my back against it to calm my rapidly beating heart. His hands that had been resting on my hips had done me in. And him picking me up and helping with my ankles caused me to go crazy. My brain was fried from all of the contact and I knew that I now had a full-blown crush on him. I stepped away from the door and walked out so I could go to my table. I figured if I got there fast enough I could get my stuff and leave before he noticed, if he noticed. I walked my way over and saw something I never expected.

I stepped away from the door to the restroom and saw a trail of Post-It notes on the ground that led the way to my seat. I bent down to look at the first one and saw a gummy bear resting on it. I picked it up and walked to the next one and picked up the gummy bear. I continued doing that until I reached my table. Then I noticed that he was sitting there in the chair across from mine. There was another plate sitting on top of my book too. I sat in my seat and looked at him curiously but noticed there was a look of nervousness on his face. I wanted to ask him about it but instead he looked at the plate of gummy bears in front of me. It didn’t spell out 미안해 like it normally did.

It said 나는 너를 좋아해요**. I looked up at him in surprise and saw him look away quickly with a blush spread across his face. I smiled and realized that I wasn’t the only one who had hidden feelings. I pulled out my cell phone and took a picture of the plate while smiling and I noticed him watching me curiously. Then I went to look at the jar of gummy bears, but noticed it was missing. I gasped in shock and turned to look at him when I realized where the jar was.

It was sitting on its side on the table, placed right in the middle. The lid wasn’t on it and I noticed the rainbow of gummy bears that was pouring out of the jar. They all lay together and ended right in front of my plate. It was so pretty and I smiled in delight at the sight. I looked up again and saw him smiling at me and watched as he blushed when he noticed I was looking at him too.

“DongJoon-oppa…” I said shyly. His head jerked up to look at me and a blush spread like fire across my face when our eyes connected. “I like you too oppa.” I looked down and felt the blush get even darker. Then I heard the scratching of chair legs against the floor and I looked up to see that he had moved. Did I actually think that he would think that way about me? I’m a fool.I stood up and gathered my things so that I could leave. I wouldn’t be made into a fool. I started towards the door when I felt arms around my waist. DongJoon stood behind me and pulled me into a hug from behind and I felt him rest his head on my shoulder. I tried to struggle out of his grasp but gasped and turned to look him in the eyes when I heard him whisper a single question into my ear.

“You’ll be my personal gummy bear, right?” he whispered. “I would love that Ariana. You know that, right?”

*mianhae - I’m sorry
**nanun norul joaheyo - I like you