The following Friday after school, Kai and I headed to my house to watch our “extra credit” movie.

            “I’m so excited!” I was saying as I surfed through Netflix to find it.

            Kai rolled his eyes. “Only because of Lancelot.”

            “Oooooo I think someone’s jealous!” I sang teasingly.

            “Am not,” Kai claimed, but I could clearly see the burning glare in his eyes.

            The movie started, and Kai and I got settled on the couch.

            “Are you sure your parents aren’t going to come home?” Kai asked warily. “I wouldn’t want to get you in trouble.”

            “Don’t worry,” I said reassuringly. “They hardly ever make it back before dinnertime.”

            “You sure?”

            “Mhm. And if they do come home, I’ll protect you. No worries.”

            The movie played on. Kai and I munched on the snacks that I had put on the coffee table (ice cream bars, gummy worms, sodas, and a whole heck of a lot of buttered popcorn), and watched the movie in enjoyment.

            “Damn,” Kai suddenly said. “That love triangle is no joke.”

            “No kidding,” I agreed. “Lancelot and Guinevere. The ultimate betrayal.”

            “But what if Arthur and Lancelot hadn’t been that close in the first place? Then that’d be a whole other story,” Kai said.

            The infamous love triangle between King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, and Sir Lancelot continued to plague me after Kai mentioned it so explicitly. In some ways, I empathized with Queen Guinevere. What if King Arthur hadn’t been as great as she thought he was when she first met him? What if  she just lost feelings because she realized that there was so much more to a person than he could offer? What if Lancelot had been the one who always comforted her during the roughest of times, while Arthur was nowhere to be seen?

            Then suddenly, a kissing scene came up and the both of us watched it uncomfortably. My mind flashed back to the night Kai had kissed me in front of Hongbin. How could I have forgotten about it?

            Kai’s thigh briefly touched mine. It was a small touch, but having him so near made my heart do cartwheels. “Kai,” I said softly. “I have a question.”

            “Yeah?”

            “Why did you kiss me that one time?”

            He looked at me, as if I held the answer. “Why are you asking me this?”

            “Because I remember you saying that you only did it to mess with me,” I said. “But I know you, and I know you’re not that type of guy.”

            “What if I am?”

            “You’re not.”

            “How can you be so sure?” he asked.

            “Because I see it in your eyes,” I said. “And it doesn’t lie.”

            He was still looking at me, but now it was in a frustrated kind of way. I wondered what was up. Why was his answer so complicated?

            “I’ve wanted to kiss you,” he finally said. “Ever since I saw you in that debutante dress.”

            I felt myself take in a breath, leaning in closer to him. He kept his eyes on me the entire time.

            And in that moment, he kissed me.

            Kissing Kim Jongin is something that I will never be able to fully explain in words. His lips were soft against mine, and he seemed shocked at first but eased in to my delight.

But there was this undeniable zing of electricity that made things escalate quicker than either of us had intentionally expected. Kai slid a hand onto my thigh and pulled me onto his lap, where I graciously wrapped myself around him. My fingers traced his sharp jaw line, and I felt him smile through our kiss.

            Suddenly, the two of us heard a car pull into the driveway.

            “!” I cursed as I broke away from him. “My parents are home!”

            “,” Kai hissed as I scurried off of his lap. I hurriedly fixed my shirt and made sure that my bra was properly intact. Kai rushed to grab his backpack from under the table and said, “How do I get outta here if I can’t use the front door?”

            “Uhhh,” I said. I struggled to think, because I was still so blown away from kissing him. I didn’t want him to go, not yet.

            But what could I do? My parents hated Kai and if they saw him here with me, what the would they think?

            “Here,” I said, grabbing his hand. “We’ll go out through the back.”

            Kai gave me a questionable look but went along as the two of us ran through the kitchen and out the backyard to the side gate. I opened it and let the both of us through.

            “So, um. I guess I’ll see you on Monday,” I said sheepishly.

            He smirked, but he was also smiling. “Yeah, I guess we’ll see each other then.”

            I looked at him once more, taking a mental picture of him. I didn’t want to turn away.

            “Wait,” I said. “I forgot something.” Then I pulled him in towards me and kissed him again, short but passionate. “Okay. See ya.”

            “No,” he said as he pulled me back for another kiss. I didn’t mind at all as I kissed him back, his soft lips on mine.

            I could’ve told him that I liked him right then and there, because with this kiss, I had never been so sure of my feelings for anyone in my entire life.

            But I saved it for another day, thinking that I would have another chance, thinking that it would count.