[Mia’s POV]

He stared into my eyes as his face neared mine, and I held his anxious, burning gaze for what seemed like forever. My eyes eventually shut closed.

I felt his fingers softly tracing the side of my face, and his thumb lightly brushed my lower lip. My breathing hitched for a second. And in that glorious moment, I felt a brief, chaste kiss on my lips. I reeled at the unexpected touch. It was momentous.

I slowly opened my eyes and saw another pair of eyes looking down at me, taking me in. The corner of his lips twitched into a smile as he lightly bit his lower lip. He continued to give me that look while I stood there... frozen and lost in a momentary daze.

He is still way too close and his right arm continues to lean on the refrigerator door. I suddenly don’t know what to do or what to say. And I can only manage to blink in unusually long intervals while returning his gaze. It’s like every single cell in my body lost its coordination and my bodily senses got twisted and dysfunctional. Except that I could still feel the touch of his lips on mine even when it’s no longer there. It didn’t even last for a minute, but I’m betting it would continue to have this crazy effect on me for the next twenty four hours or even the next few days or weeks.

But Mark… how can he afford to just give me that smile and how can he be biting his lower lip at a time like this? Is that even acceptable? Was the kiss just for fun? Was he being half-hearted when he did that? But I remembered that Jinyoung mentioned in some interview a few months back that Mark bites his lower lip every time he is embarrassed or nervous. So, do I also have this weird effect on him? Did the contact also made him nervous and embarrassed and crazy in a good way? Is he still reeling over the touch of my lips on his?

After a few moments, I cleared my throat and broke away from his gaze. I realized that I was still holding the can of pineapple juice on my right hand. It’s a miracle it didn’t end up on the floor as soon as the kiss happened.

“Uhm… uh…it’s kinda hot.” I awkwardly uttered while fanning myself with my left hand.

“Ah… yeah… it’s uh… summer.” Mark stuttered and awkwardly removed his arm from the fridge. I sighed in relief.

“Pineapple juice?” I raised the can and offered it to him, our eyes awkwardly meeting. His jaw clenched.

“Uh… yeah. Thanks.” He grabbed the can from my grip. Our hands made a light contact and it sent another wave of weird sensations in my body.

“I… I have to uh…” I stuttered non-stop, my logic got stuck somewhere.

“Cook… yeah.” Mark finished the sentence for me and stammered around aimlessly. It’s like he doesn’t know what to do either.

“Yeah. For lunch.” I said and awkwardly walked to the kitchen sink while scratching my head.

“Right… For lunch…” I heard him talk. I turned around and saw him removing his denim polo, leaving him with only his white shirt on. I could now clearly see his neckline and biceps. And oh my… did I just feel the room temperature rising? Damn hormones.

---

[Nikki’s POV]

And then I saw him.

He was on the other side of the covered area with a large black umbrella on his grip. I looked at him, and he somewhat held my gaze steadily before slowly walking towards me. My heartbeat suddenly quickened.

“Wang Jackson. What are you doing here?” I asked, his eyes strangely unreadable beneath the intermittent light coming from the lamp post.

“What else? To pick you up, of course.” He said, his face impassive and bluffing.

“Eh?”

“What?” He quickly raised his eyebrows, causing a slight wrinkling on his forehead.

“Why?” I asked.

“Why what?”

“You’re picking me up? Does that mean you’re going to Wonju with me?” I asked, slowly emphasizing each word.

He rolled his eyes upwards as if asking for some divine intervention and just cutely nodded like a kid a second after.

“Why? I live 86.8 kilometers away from Seoul.” I stated.

“Wow. How did you even know that?” He had his adorably dumb face on again.

“What?”

“The 86.8 kilometers.”

“Uhm… we have this thing called the internet?”

“Ohhhh… so there’s that thing…” He nodded his head slowly while sporting another dumb look on his face.

I cracked into a laugh and he let out his signature wang puppy smile… that kind of smile where he just pursed his lips together in the most charming way.

“Ya. Let’s go. It’s getting dark.” He said. I stopped laughing and stepped into the black umbrella with him.

“Wait… wait… Let’s exchange snapbacks first.” He said.

“Eh?”

“Look. I’m wearing a Wang 852 cap. Fans could easily recognize me.” He said and immediately took the cap off his head. “Take this and give me yours.” He ordered and I did as I was told. I handed my red snapback to him embroidered with a large letter N in white at the center. I squealed deep within as soon as I realized that I am wearing an authentic Wang 852 snapback and it was even the awesome Wang Kong who handed it to me.

We braved the rain with the black umbrella and walked our way to the nearest intersection to grab a cab to the bus station. He lowered his cap and put on his sunglasses as we went inside the bus while I consciously looked around to spy for some potential fangirls. Luckily, the passengers only comprised of working middle-aged men and women, some halmeonis and harabojis, and a few Western tourists.

We decided to stay at the rearmost part and I fought my way against him to take the window seat. Turns out he likes window seats as well. After what seemed like an endless bickering over the seat by the window, he gave up and I grinned in victory.

“You know, during field trips, my friends and I always stay at the rearmost part of the bus.” Jackson talked and removed his glasses as soon as the bus started running. It was a good thing that nobody else sat next to him.

I laughed. “Same!” I said. “Do you know that the noisiest students always stay at the back seats, the normal ones in the middle, and the quiet ones in front, with the teacher?”

“No way! I was really quiet as a student.” He stated with a straight face that I almost believed him. But how can you believe Wang Jackson when he says he was a quiet student? I’d be the dumbest Wang Kong fangirl in the world if I’d buy that story. And so, I just responded with a series of laughs while happily clapping my hands that he ended up looking at me weirdly as if I own the record for the weirdest laugh in history.

“Ya. Can you lower the… like uh… intensity of your laugh? The others are already looking at us. They might recognize me.” Jackson forcefully whispered and I just nodded my head obediently.

“Just stop being so funny, okay?” I said.

“I didn’t do anything. What’s wrong with you?”

“No. What’s wrong with you? Haha. I think you’re really suited to be in variety shows. I mean, you’re just adorably honest and you have that effortlessly funny expression on your face every single time.” I said, trying with all my might to keep myself from increasing the intensity of my laugh.

“Ya. I’m a singer, okay? I’m not a comedian.”

“But you said you wanted to be like Seho or Gookju.”

“How did you know that? Ah, right! Fangirl!” He laughed a high-pitched laugh and teased me while pointing his index finger towards me as if accusing me of doing something crazy. And I have to admit myself guilty for it.

“Well, I was really crazy about you back then.”

“Back then?”

“Stars look more beautiful from afar.” I stated with a mischievous smile.

“Was that meant to be a compliment or an insult?” His eyebrows met. I laughed again.

“Hey, we’re close friends now. If I still am crazy about you, like fangirl level of craziness, I’d be tongue-tied and we won’t be having this casual conversation right now.”

But you do look more beautiful up-close, Wang Kong. And that’s crazy. Even your dumb flaws are impossibly beautiful.

“You’re making sense. But the ‘stars look more beautiful from afar’ really sounds like an insult to me.”