“Oh great! Great! Great!” I exclaimed in panic and jumped around in my room.

It was a little over eight in the morning and I was half an hour late. I couldn’t believe that my roommates didn’t wake me up. Gaaah!!!

I grabbed the nearest piece of clothing to change into (which happened to be my yesterday’s shorts) and rushed to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. Once I got out of the bathroom, I quickly grabbed my pullover and slipped on my sneakers.

I dashed out of my room and was greeted by an old lady who happened to be my ‘family’ for this trip.

“Oh, Grandma. I’m so sorry I woke up late.” I approached her and bowed continuously.

“It’s okay.” She smiled reassuringly.

I couldn’t help but to feel guiltier.

“But I think you have to catch up with the rest. Your friend is already at the field.” She reminded me.

Oh right. My friends. Jongin and Tao.

“You can use my bicycle to get there faster.”

I gave her a grateful hug and smiled before pedaling as hard as I could to reach the field. The weather wasn’t that hot (thanks to the spring breeze), but cycling made me sweat like nobody’s business.

I was too busy noticing my sweat that I didn’t realise I had reached the field. I almost hit a tree if I didn’t hit the brake in time.

“Looks like you know how to make an entrance.” A voice I was too familiar with said to me as I caught my breath and climbed down the bicycle.

I shot Jongin a glare.

“Why are you alone? Where’s Tao?” I asked.

“He sprained his ankle this morning.” He shrugged as his eyes remained on the plant in front of him.

“What?”

“He kinda slipped in the bathroom or something so he sprained his ankle. He’s probably in his room, resting.”

Great. Now I’m stuck alone with Jongin.

At the thought, my heart did a little flip. I couldn’t decide if I was delighted or outrageous after hearing the news.

“Considering that you’re late for half an hour, a little help would be greatly appreciated.” Jongin sarcastically stated.

He was trying to pull the sweet potato out but apparently it was stuck. I blew my non-existent bangs and went to wherever he was standing.

“Watch and learn.” I feigned a glare.

I pulled my sleeves up and tossed my ponytail back. My confidence level was about 99 and I grabbed the plant, pulling it out. To my utter embarrassment, it didn’t even budge. I tried for a good three times to no avail.

“Right.” Jongin snorted next to me.

Now it was his turn to roll his sleeves up and feigned a glare at me.

“On three. One, two, three.” He commanded.

I didn’t plan to actually follow his orders but my body did it anyway. We pulled as hard as we could and by the third try, we poured in every ounce of energy we had. I guess, we kinda used too much energy that when the plant finally was out of the ground, we fell back.

“Argh!” We both groaned. We fell on our and the fact that we managed to pull the sweet potato out didn’t make things much better. Our butts still hurt.

I was busy rubbing my when Jongin extended his right hand to help me up. I looked up and there he was again with his sincere-looking eyes. Hesitantly, I took his arm and he pulled me up. I was too loost in the moment that I stumbled on my own leg and bumped into his chest. Stupid cheeks need to stupid blushing. Argh!!!

Jongin didn’t say anything but he was trying so hard not to laugh, that I noticed.

“What?” I asked, a little annoyed.

“Hello Kitty, eh?” He asked, looking down at the huge kitty printed on my pullover.

Oh right. I wore Hello Kitty pullover to sleep yesterday.

I chose to ignore his remarks and shot him a you-better-be-quiet look. I walked away from him and went to the other side of the field, trying to make myself look busy.

“Hey! Wait for me! Don’t tell me you’re mad.” He chuckled and attempted to jog a little.

I rolled my eyes as I kept walking away. Stupid cheeks need to stop blushing. And stupid heart needs to stop doing so many flips just by hearing his voice. Argh!

Suddenly, I felt a jerk on my left arm and was abruptly turned around. My nose almost bumped into his chest (keyword: almost) that I could sniff his cologne. Hmmm, he smells great. But before my inner fangirl could take over me, I put on my displeased face and looked up.

“What?”

“I didn’t mean to offend you, okay? Besides, it makes you look cute.” Jongin shrugged and gave me a reassuring smile.

Wait, Kim Jongin didn’t just smile at me, right?

It wasn’t anything like his devilish smirk. The smile he just gave me was something closer from the heart. The kind which made you feel like you want to burst out smiling too. It was very heartwarming.

“Yeah, right.” I rolled my eyes which earned me another chuckle from him.

“You need to stop rolling your eyes before they pop out of their sockets.”

At his statement, I brought my two hands to both of my eyes, checking if they were still intact. I felt kinda stupid but I didn’t want to lose my eyes.

“Whatever. We need to work faster. We have lots to do.” I reminded him. My voice was heavy with annoyance.

“Yes, Ma’am.” He nodded and followed my lead.

Without us knowing, time flew by so quickly. Today’s work felt so much more tiring, knowing that we were short of one person.

“I think, we should just carry all these sweet potatoes by bike. It’ll be so much faster.” I suggested.

Jongin and I were busy throwing the sweet potatoes we managed to gather into the sacks. And somehow the amount we had today increased by so much more. Two persons wouldn’t be able to carry everything in one trip.

“No. Let’s just walk. It’s healthier.”

“What? That’ll just waste our time, Jongin. We have a bicycle. We should make full use of it.” I tried to explain.

“No, Haneul. It’s not that far anyway.”

“But we have four sacks of sweet potatoes!” I exclaimed.

“Exactly, we could just carry one on each hand.” He stated like it was something obvious.

“But one of these weighs like ten kilogram or something. You can’t possibly think that I could carry two in one go, right?” I stared dumbfounded-ly at him.

“I’ll carry it for you but, no, we’re not riding a bike.” He said after ten seconds of silence as if his logic just connected the dots.

“What? I won’t let you carry most of these things. They are heavy. You can hurt your back.” I quickly told him. I was so close to being angry at him. Gosh, why is this guy so stubborn?

He looked at me as if I just spat out a lizard or something but he quickly regained his composure and was about to fling one of the sacks over his back.

I grabbed the sack away from him and now it was his turn to be so close to being angry at me.

“Jung Haneul.” He stated my name firmly, giving me chills down my spine.

But I didn’t want to back down. He can injure his back for crying out loud!

“Kim Jongin.” I replied with same amount of firmness in my voice.

And there we were, standing nose to nose with so much intensity in our eyes.

The look Jongin gave me wasn’t one with anger and displeasure. In fact, he looked a little surprise, confused and lost. His expression was something like when somebody gave you a gift you didn’t expect. Like you were utterly surprised but you were happy at the same time but you knew you didn’t deserve that gift. Yeah, Jongin gave me that kind of look.

And the sweet feelings inside my chest just blossomed.

Hey! I'm back with a new chapter. Haven't had the time to double check so pardon my mistake (grammar, spelling, etc). I'll be back later in the evening with another update. Till then, xoxo.