Chapter fifteen: Rotunda

I woke from the sunlight coming through the curtains. I squinted my eyes and slowly blinked. Getting up, I did a light gentle stretch. Ow… I was so sore from practice yesterday…  no the last two days. It was a Sunday, the day of the play and my birthday and I had worked extra hard so that I could get my birthday off. I smiled to myself, I had to admit, I was proud of myself on how hard I had worked.

Jumping out of bed, I stepped outside into the lounge. The whole dorm was quiet. Kiseop must be out already, I thought. Walking back into my room, I got a summer dress from my closet and a soft yellow towel and headed towards the bathroom to take a relaxing shower.

I got out of the bathroom fully clothed and gave a relaxed, fresh sigh. Nothing beats a nice refreshing shower, I smiled to myself. Just then I heard the door. I walked over and opened the door, and peeked over to the side. It was Kevin.

“Good morning _______! Happy Birthday!” He beamed and gave me a hug.

“Thank you.” I smiled.

“Have you eaten breakfast yet? If not, come I’ll treat you to breakfast, you have to say yes, because I really want to!” he asked excitedly.

Thinking about it, I was hungry, so I agreed, “Alright, let’s go!”

He led me to the shopping district, it was a little bit empty since it was still a bit early. He got a hold of my hand and directed me into a nice creamy orangey store, with a huge pancake sign on the top. The shop read ‘Sunshine Café’. The waiter greeted both of us with a smile.

“Good morning, what would you like to order?” He asked us contently.

“What is today’s breakfast special?” I asked.

 “I’m glad you asked, today we have our Creamy Chocolate Pancake with any fruit of your choice.” The waiter grinned.

 “That sounds nice, I’ll have one. And I want strawberries on mine.” I smiled.

“Make that two!” Kevin said, motioning a peace sign representing two.

The waiter smiled, then bowed and took his leave. Not long after, a tall slim woman walked out. She had chocolate-brown medium wavy length hair.

Kevin smiled and called her over, “Mi Young noona! Good morning.” He greeted her with his usual cheeriness.

“Ah, Good morning Kevin.” She eyed me and gave a secretive grin, “Having breakfast with your girlfriend?”

I blushed and looked down. Kevin saw how uncomfortable I was and cut in. “Noona, stop teasing. _____ is just a friend.”

“I see… Nice to meet you.” She smiled warmly at me.

I nodded back politely, “Nice to meet you.”

“Ah, let me introduce noona to you.” Kevin smiled, “This is Mi Young, she owns this café. She makes the best breakfast pancakes!” He beamed.

She chuckled, “You give me too much credit. Oh that reminds me we have a new pancake on the menu, this time it’s my new chef who invented it.” She smiled, “So this time I can’t take the credit.”

Kevin nodded and smiled, “I think we ordered it.”

“I need to get back to sorting out some ingredients. I’ll talk to you guys more some other time. Okay? Be sure to come back.” Mi Young eonni beamed at me. I nodded.

Our pancakes arrived shortly after. It looked delicious! The base was spread with a chocolate like paste, on top was a neatly place ice-cream and strawberries fanned out, lastly chocolate syrup was carelessly but decoratively swigged on top. This was barely a healthy breakfast, but I didn’t care, it looked delicious. The waiter returned with two glasses of mango juice.

“Thank you, but we didn’t order this.” I smiled a bit confused.

“They’re complimentary drinks from Mi Young noona.” The waiter replied with a smile then left.

I then took a bite of my pancake, “Mmmm!~ Delicious!” I squirmed; it melted in my mouth, tasting sweet. In no time, I was finished, every last bit of it. Kevin looked at me amazed, I blushed… he must have thought I was such a pig.

He smiled, “I’m glad you liked it. I hope I can come back here with you some other time.”

We spent the morning and most of the afternoon together, walking around the shopping district. I looked around the shops and one caught my eye. It was a jewellery shop. I pointed the shop to Kevin. “Hey Kevin, do you mind if I take a look in here?” I asked.

He nodded, “Sure why not.” He smiled and held his hand out to gesture ‘ladies first’ I smiled and stepped into the store.

“Welcome.” The shop assistant greeted us. I smiled back and gave a polite bow. I looked around; the shop was filled with lots of pretty type of accessories and jewellery. It wasn’t long until one caught my eye. It was a necklace, with a heart shape locket.

“Wahh, this is nice!”

“Ah that’s a nice piece!” Kevin beamed. I nodded and looked at my watch.

“Oh, it’s almost time to go, should we be heading back?” He checked his watch.

“Ah yes it is, let’s go!” He smiled.

It was 3 hours before the play started and I was starting to feel a nervous. When I arrived, everyone was getting ready. I looked around for Kiseop but he wasn’t anywhere in sight. I walked to the backstage area, looking around again. Before I got a chance to search any longer for him, a female student pulled me by the arm; it was a girl from the make-up and costume crew.

“There you are! I’ve been looking for you, I need to get you ready. Look at you! The play is in 3 hours, and you haven’t even tried on your costume yet.” I blinked and she pulled me into the female dressing room and forced me down on the makeup chair. She beamed, “Ooh, I’m gonna have so much fun putting on your make-up, your face is so nice!”

After 30 minutes or so, the girl was done.

“There, you look gorgeous.”

I looked into the mirror. Wow I really looked amazing. I stared at my reflection with rounded eyes. Was this really me? I thought to myself, it was fascinating to see what make-up could do.

“Now! Time for your hair!” The make-up artist beamed and clapped her hands together. I could see she had fun dressing me up…

In about half an hour I was fully dressed and my hair was done. I had to admit, the crew did really well with the costumes and make up. Kiseop arrived panting. He bowed and apologised, “Sorry, for being late.”

“About time you arrived!” One of the dressers said. I greeted him with a smile and a nod before the same make-up artist dragged him to a table and started to give him a make-over.

Everyone was busy getting ready. I was getting really nervous so I took in deep breaths.  Kevin came over and reassured me that everything would be fine.

“Fighting!” he said grinning, “We’ll both do our best!”

I nodded and smiled weakly. “You’re right, I’ve practiced many times…I’ll be fine.”

“Kevin! We need you to come over here for a minute.” One of the backstage crew members shouted and waved at him to call him over.

“I’ll talk to you later okay?” he smiled and turned around, “I’m coming!”

I turned around, trying to do some last minute rehearsals, when Kiseop walked over. He stopped and his eyes widened. I looked at him. “What’s wrong?” I asked. He coughed awkwardly and shook his head.

“Nothing. Let’s do some last minute practicing, since we have about 2 hours before the play starts. We shouldn’t waste any time.”

I nodded in agreement, I needed all the practice I could get, at least to stop the butterflies in my stomach.

We started to dance in an empty space, practicing the scene when sleeping beauty first met the Prince in the woods.

 Long after we started practicing, the stage manager came in and alerted everyone that there was 15 minutes before it was ‘Show time’. That didn’t help the butterflies in my stomach at all…

Kiseop’s P.O.V

I woke in the morning and looked at the girly pink bag on my desk. I looked at my clock which read 7am. It was still early. I got up and dressed myself, then headed out. I could hear faint snoring from ______’s room, I smiled to myself. She must be… really tired. I thought I should rehearse some of my lines, so I went into one of the empty practice rooms and started to dance by myself. It wasn’t until after when I stopped rehearsing that I remembered I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet. I walked towards the shopping district to grab a bite. After I ate I walked around and remembered a really nice rotunda in the shopping district where there wasn’t many pedestrians walking there. It was very peaceful and quiet. The view was also spectacular as it showed off nature’s natural beauty. I finally found it as I walked a bit deeper through the district. Flowered vines draped across the rounded beams holding the roof of the rotunda.

 This place is good… I nodded; this place would be good for tonight. I cleared my throat. “Happy Birthday _____!” I tried to sound cheerful, but that wouldn’t do, it’ll creep her out. “Happy birthday dork. No... this won’t do either.”

I spent most of the day practicing what I was going to say to her. I practiced until I realised that the play was also on tonight. I checked my phone to see the time, “Oh damn! I’m going to be late.” I rushed over to the theatre stopping by our dorm to get _____’s present.

I arrived outside the theatre. I couldn’t go in with this… I found a small corner and hid her present there, where hopefully no one would take it. I entered feeling breathless; I bowed politely at the stage crew for making them wait.

“Sorry for being late.” I said, but not sounding like I mean it. This is probably a reason why people don’t like me that much… _____ greeted me with her usual sweet smile.

“About time you arrived!” One of members shouted, then the girl who was standing next to ______ dragged me over to a chair and made me sit in front of the make-up table.

“I’m also going to have fun putting make-up on you.”

She was pretty good, but then again I look handsome with and without make-up, it didn’t really matter. I got dressed and walked over to ______. I didn’t get a chance to see her face properly. I stopped and my eyes widened. She looked absolutely stunning…. My heart rate sped.

She looked at me frustrated ,“What’s wrong?” She must have been stressing out over the play.

“Nothing… Let’s do some last minute practicing, since we have about 2 hours before the play starts, We shouldn’t waste any time.” I said, not wanting to waste time and to keep ourselves busy while we had the remaining time.

“15 minute before ‘Show time’ everyone, speed things up! The seats are filling up fast.”

Kiseop’s P.O.V end

The play ended with me and Kiseop’s duet. We stood there breathless as the crowd stood up from their seats and clapped. The curtains closed on us and everyone on stage slowly walked backstage. Everyone was congratulating how well we did.

“______! You we great out there! I’m so proud of you,” Kevin praised.

I was glad that the play was over and done with. I mucked up on a few steps but I think it wasn’t that noticeable… 

“Everyone worked hard for the play, from the customs to the stage props, the director the teachers and the actors and actresses. Everyone deserves a round of applause!”

I smiled and clapped, everyone joined in.

“Let’s have a party! For the success of the play, I’ll buy the drinks.” One of the members shouted. (A/N: Soft drinks lol)

I shook my head, “I’m tired now. I need some rest.” I smiled weakly.

“Aww!” The female student who did my make-up  whined. I walked into the changing room to get changed. Most did the same, I came out soon after.

“I’ll take my leave then, bye bye!” I waved at the people who were getting ready for the after party and walked to the exit.

“Bye bye!” Everyone shouted.

I walked about 5 metres outside when someone grabbed my arm. I turned around. It was Kiseop.

“Kiseop-shi, what are you doing? You scared the hell out of me.” I put my hands on my chest.

“Come with me for a bit…” He dragged me along. “Close your eyes.”

Was there going to be another surprise…? We took several steps when Kiseop came to a halt. I was about to open my eyes thinking we were there but Kiseop stopped me.

 “D-don’t open them yet.” He stuttered, he sounded nervous. I heard him pick something up, sounded like a bag or something. We resumed walking; I felt a cool summery breeze hit me. We were outside.

I had my eyes closed for a good 20 minutes. I was getting frustrated now, I didn’t like the fact that I was being led blindly around. We stopped.

“Now open your eyes.”

I opened them slowly and saw that we were somewhere unfamiliar. The street was dimly lit, but everything was still visible. Kiseop had taken me to a rotunda. I examined the scenery and it was beautiful.

“Wait here.” Kiseop said, and walked away carrying a pink girly bag... I wonder what that was.

I waited for a short while when Kiseop called out my name, I turned around. He was holding a square box with a neatly tied ribbon on it. He put it down on the table under the rotunda.

“Close your eyes again.”

I shut them closed. “Now open.”

I opened them again; in front of me was a cake with a lit candle in the centre. He handed the lovely pink paper bag to me.

 “Happy Birthday ______,” He said with a warm smile.

“Am I dreaming?....” I pinched my cheek, “Ow…”

“Yah! Don’t I get a thank you?” He asked getting embarrassed. “If you don’t want it, I’ll take it back.” He reached out his trying to grab the bag but I pulled it away.

“N-no, I want it, I want it.” I looked to see what was inside the bag, taking it out slowly. It was a white, creamy coloured dress. It had long sleeves and frills and was very pretty and elegant. I lifted my eyes up to Kiseop. He saw my appreciation.

“Kiseop-shi… this… this is beautiful. Thank you so much, I couldn’t have asked for a better present.” I thanked him, but then something struck me. “How did you know it was my birthday?”

He scratched his head, “You and Kevin talk so loud. You can’t blame me for overhearing your conversation.”

“Were you the one who asked the director to let me get a day off?”

He didn’t reply, but smiled secretly to himself, slightly embarrassed but trying to pull a proud appearance. Maybe he wasn’t all that bad, I ruffled his hair and giggled, “Yah, you’re so silly.”

“Yah _____. Do you want to die?” He fixed his hair.

“Thanks again for today.” I smiled.

Getting embarrassed again, he changed the subject, “Hurry up and eat the cake…”

I obeyed and we both enjoyed it together. Moments later, I caught Kiseop starting intensely at me.

“Is there something on my face?” I asked.

He chuckled “Maybe...”

“Yah! Where is it?” I asked searching my face by patting around but felt no cream what so ever.

He laughed again while smearing icing on my face, “Here! And Here!”

“Yah, Kiseop-shi! You’re so childish.” I tried to wipe it off.

Smiling, he apologised. “Haha, sorry. Oh you missed a spot.”

“Where?” I pouted.

“Here, let me get it for you.” He leaned over with a tissue in his hand and gently wiped off the remaining icing off my face. Realising how close we were, my heart was beating like a jungle drum. My cheeks started to burn. Our eyes met and Kiseop slowly leaned closer, out of instinct I closed my eyes. Our lips touched, his lips were very firm but gentle. I put my hand on my chest, I could feel it beating like there was no tomorrow. He pulled away, my eyes fluttered open and my cheeks flushed.

“I’m sorry…” he apologised.

“Oh... it’s alright.” I whispered.

Kevin’s P.O.V

______ took her leave from the theatre, I excused myself as well. I remembered that this morning ______ had her eyes on a piece of jewellery. “Treating her to breakfast isn’t enough… I should get her a proper present,” I smiled to myself and headed to the shop I was at earlier.

The shopping district was very convenient, most shops were open till late. I entered the shop and the same sales assistant from this morning greeted me. I walked over to the necklace that _____ pick out earlier.

“Excuse me, can I please have this?”

“Of course.” The sales assistant smiled.

I walked out of the shop.  I was about to walk back to ____ to give it to her, but the path was blocked by my fan girls, if I bumped into them, it’d take me forever to get away so I decided to take a detour.

I walked the other way where there wasn’t a lot of people. I slowly passed through a very peaceful place. In the middle was a rotunda, I was fairly far from it, but I saw two figures… it was ______ and Kiseop. Their face were close together, I slowly watched them kiss… I looked down at _____’s present. I smiled weakly at myself, “Kevin… you never learn do you?” I walked back to my dorm, it wasn’t the right time to give it to her, her present. I’ll give it to her tomorrow... All I could feel was a sharp pain in my chest.

Kevin’s P.O.V end

HyeRi’s P.O.V

“Noona! Let’s go eat something good okay?” Dong ho smiled at me.

“Alright.” I agreed with him, otherwise he’d beg me to no end.

We got out of the theatre; I hadn’t had the chance to congratulate Kiseop yet. But I was hungry at that moment.

Dong Ho slowly guided me to the shopping district, I wasn’t fully healed yet so I was using crutches.

“Hye Ri noona, I know a great place where they sell the best cold noodles! Perfect for summer!” He smiled cutely. He was just so adorable, he was very nice, a really good room-mate and friend.

“Okay, I’m starving.” I smiled. We kept walking until we reached a quiet place, the scenery was very pretty. I admired it as I walked through. I looked around when something caught my eyes. There was a rotunda, and in it were two people. I could’ve sworn it was Kiseop, the two had their face close together, when the male pulled away. I took a look at the face. I hoped it wasn’t him. I shut my eyes and opened them again, my heart sank. It was him… and that girl. He couldn’t have just kissed her right…? I shook my head, it was stupid to lie to myself…

“Noona, are you okay? Does your ankle hurt?” Dong Ho’s voice made me snap out of my thoughts.

“Huh? No, I’m fine let’s go.” I put on a fake smile. It wasn’t my ankle that hurt. It was my heart that did…

HyeRi’s P.O.V end

End Chapter 15: Rotunda

A/N: Hello, sorry for the late update, I said I was going to upload last Friday but I didn't have the chance! I hope you enjoyed this one, they finally kissed! FOR REAL this time, are you readers happy? This fan-fic is almost over, just 5 more chapters! :D.  I might write up chapter 16 soon, see if I have the time, examas are coming next week. //Dies. This might be my last update before I go on my hiatus. I'm sorry, I'll update as soon as my exams are over! Fighting! ♥