Chen led us through the small winding streets and alleys, seemingly very familiar with the route.

"Chen?" A thought popped into my head, about another time in the past.

"Hmm?"

"You seem very familiar with all the places that you plan on going to." I said nonchalantly, face turned away from him as I continued to look at all the cool things on the street. It gradually became more of a food vending location, the food stands filling the narrow lane at either side, displaying varieties of different snacks with their wafts drifting over.

"Yeah, I usually search up the route, you know, to make sure everything goes perfectly."

"Hmm, yet you messed up the direction of the beach that time when we walked from the rest stop?" I raised an eyebrow, light smile playing at my lips. He glanced over at me with a frozen expression, mouth slightly open but unsure of what to say.

"Well..."

"You knew it was the wrong direction all along, didn't you?" I teased, unable to hide a giggle in amusement. "Ha, caught."

He shrugged. "Hey, you should've realized that sooner. Wait, actually, it was better that you didn't realize it, as that would've ruined the plan." Chen grinned, pulling me to the left as we to another street. This one had more of the food stands, but there were small coffee and tea shops around.

"So what exactly was your plan?" I smirked, swinging our arms freely in the humid summer air.

"Yah," he shot me a dull look, "what was your purpose of having me tutor you when you clearly already understood each chapter?" I blinked, not realizing what he was saying until the words clicked. It wasn't actually as if I purposely pretended to not understand, but more like I had caught up with the material pretty quickly and hadn't wanted to stop the lessons.

"Then what was the purpose of still tutoring me if you had already noticed that?" I shot back. He gave me a guilty look and we both burst out laughing.

We continued forward, the path we were on leading to a more open space up ahead that looked like a flea market. The lively area was flowing with people as there were many small stands set up, the vivid lights gleaming off of all the cool gadgets that were being sold. As we were walking there though, something else caught my eye. At the side of the street, I thought I saw something move in the grass behind the bushes. I stared at it for a while until I realized what it was. 

"Look, it's a cat!" I exclaimed, quickly pulling Chen in the direction of it. To my surprise, it came out of the shadows and walked over to me. It was a tabby, probably someone's pet since it had a collar, and it was quite chubby, which made it even cuter. It started twitching its whiskers while sniffing my hand, reminding me of my cat at home.

"Aw, you're adorable!" I squealed, petting it on its head. It purred softly, closing its eyes. "Charlie would love you!" 

I passed Chen my phone to take a picture of me with the cat, with his expressions a mix between judging me and laughing at me. He then pulled me away, though I was quite reluctant to leave just yet.

"So I found out another one of your obsessions. Cats." Chen stated, amused. I smiled embarrassedly, not even bothering to deny it. "But wait, who's Charlie?" He asked, eyeing me suspiciously. "You don't have a boyfriend back home that you're not telling me about, do you?" 

I burst out laughing crazily, leaning onto his shoulder. "No! He's actually my...cat."

"Your cat? Okay, now I feel weird competing with a cat." 

"Well, I guess it is kind of difficult to choose between you guys." I teased, pretending to think it over.

"Yah, now I'm losing to a cat?!" He gave me a surprised look, pulling his hand out of mine.

"Don't worry, you're number one," I said, hugging his arm.

He smiled, ruffling my hair.
 

"You have got to try this." Chen said, leading us to another small snack stand. Judging by the long line in front of it, this was a very popular place. I clung onto his arm tightly as we joined the end of the line, trying not to get squished away. 

"Oh look it's that new cafe!" I pointed across the street where the large café stood. "Here, I'll go get us a nice cool drink." I smiled, leaving his side.

I entered the café, the cool air from the air conditioning surrounding me immediately. I then went and waited in the short line, wondering what I should order.

After I paid, I found a seat near the counter and waited for the drink. I took out my phone, flipping through some random pictures of tonight. There were a lot of Chen and I, but there were also a lot of pictures that I secretly took of Chen when he wasn't looking. My not-so-secret paparazzi shots.

I looked up, checking if my drink was ready. The barista and I met eyes and I gave a little smile, awkwardly ducking down back to my phone.

"A medium iced Americano?" Very soon, he finished making it and passed me the drink. 

"Thank you," I said, taking the drink and getting a straw. It tasted great, perfectly made like they did back home. I went back to my seat, pulling out my phone again, and wondering if Chen was done getting the snacks he was waiting for. 

Suddenly, a hand s around my shoulder and another hand grabbed the Americano from out of my hand. 

"I don't like the way he's looking at you." A soft voice whispered into my ear. Chen grabbed the seat beside me and took a sip of the drink, immediately making a funny face in response to the bitterness. "Don't smile at anyone anymore okay?" 

I chuckled, elbowing him lightly. "Come on, let's go." I said, grabbing Chen's hand. 

Beyond the flea market, I could see a giant field in front of us lit up, the warm glow of soft yellow lights ebbing through the darkness, almost reminding me of the soft twinkle lights during Christmas. It was like an amusement park, with a merry-go-round, and various kiddie rides, and also many arcade games. 

"That's where we're heading." Chen said, pointing towards the amusement park.

We squished through the large crowd and finally got into the park. From here, I could see from up close, the many colourful beams flashing, adding to the excitement in the atmosphere. There was music in the background, the pulse of a heavy bass thrumming through my body. My head was spinning from looking at all those rides and games, unsure of where to go first. 

"Come, there's a really fun ride over here." Chen led me over to the far side of the park, winding through crowds of long lineups and bystanders. That was when we came to possibly the tallest ride in the park, the tracks of it visible above everything else.  

"Let's go on this, it's really fun." He said.

"Are you serious?" I looked at him with disbelief. "I'm not very good with rides." 

"Don't worry, it's not bad at all. It might look really tall, but actually it's not that scary." I looked at him warily before letting him drag me there. We were near the front of the line so we got to go on the first set of carts. Which also meant that I didn't see other people go on this ride before us.

"You better hold on to your hat," I warned, since this will probably be a pretty fast and windy ride. 

The ride started off going up and through a few twists, which were okay. The heavy winds were in my face, blowing my hair around so that I couldn't really see anything, only letting the feel of his hand and the bars in front of me be my guide. Just when I thought that I could actually survive through it, the tracks ahead of us suddenly disappeared, and I found myself being plummeted to my doom. My heart jumped up to my throat, the huge rush of air cutting off my screams as I gravity became the only thing I felt.

"Kim Jongdae!" I shouted, grasping his hand with all my strength and holding onto his arm tightly with my free hand. "Yah, you troll, you call this not scary?" The ride continued going super-fast through a few more drops and twists. 

Then, much to my relief, we finally stopped. My heart was pounding so quickly and I felt like I would die. 

"I am never doing anything like that ever again!" I said, whacking Chen on the arm. He chuckled quietly, taking my hand once again.

"Let's go look at how the photo turned out." He said, and we walked to this screen showing everyone's photos taken on the ride. 

"There was a photo?" I already knew that it wouldn't have turned out well, not with my looks of sheer horror expressed plainly on my face.

I found ours right away. My face did in fact turn out really ugly. My eyes were squinted closed and my mouth was open, screaming. Chen on the other hand, had tilted his hat down, covering his face just as the photo was snapped. It was a very smart move and he looked so cool like that. I covered my face in embarrassment, not wanting to look at it anymore. I dragged him away from there quickly. 

"Why what was wrong with that? You looked so cute!" He teased.

"Don't you dare speak of that ever again." I said, pouting.

"Oh, I know what we can do now," he led us to the arcades, where there were many giant game tents holding different games, with many stuffed animal toys as prizes. The man at the nearest tent beckoned us over with a smile, holding one of the hammers to play whack-a-mole. 

I pulled out my phone, planning to take a secret photo of him as he got ready to play, giving me one of those mischievous smiles. I pretended to take a picture of myself, making a peace sign with my free hand next to my face. Suddenly, my back camera's flash appeared, giving me away. Chen raised an eyebrow but then turned away to play the game. I hid my face, so very embarrassed.

When the game begun, his lightning fast reflexes put him into first place right away. I cheered him on silently and in the end, he managed to win against the many quick moles.

I went to buy some cotton candy as a lady pushing the cart around came by, and I finished just in time to see Chen coming over, holding a giant stuffed cat.

"I knew you'd love it." He smirked, giving it to me. The expression on my face must have told everything. "Oh and are you like some stalker fan in disguise?" He gave me a suspicious look, ripping off some of the cotton candy. 

"You really think I'm good enough at that stuff to be that kind of fan?" I raised an eyebrow. 

"Well...good point." He teased, poking my cheek and handing me the cat. 

"Thank you," I beamed, hugging it tightly. 

"I'm still number one right?" 

"Well..."

"Yah!" He gave me a dull look.

"Just kidding, of course you'll always be number one." I said softly, smiling to myself. 

The loud bustle of the crowd seemed to have suddenly dispersed as we walked into this empty little field behind a gift shop. There were empty picnic tables around, perhaps for fun family barbeques in the park. We stopped at one of the tables at the side, opting to sit at the top of the table and rest our feet on the bench after all the walking we'd done today.

"Are you tired?" He wrapped an arm around me.

Gazing at the distance, I could see the blinking lights on the Ferris wheel, spinning slowly with the seats swaying ever so slightly. The pulse of the music was dimmed down from where we were, the lyrics of the song blurring together in a soft whisper of wind in the air. 

"Hmm, a bit." I mumbled, leaning into his shoulder. 

The sky had darkened to a shade of navy blue so close it was nearly black. The stars weren't visible from all the city lights obstructing them, but if I stared for a long time, I could see the faint shimmery dots of the brighter ones. The sky was also painted with flashing lights of airplanes, some gold, some red, some fast, some slow.

I snuck a glance up at Chen. His hair had been ruffled by the wind on the roller coaster and looked so casual and relaxed under his snapback. At this close proximity, I couldn't help but notice how good looking he really was. His sharp jaw line, angular cheek bones, and prominent Adam's apple.

He his lips, suddenly drawing my attention to them. His thin lips that curved up at the corners naturally almost as if smiling.

"What?" He asked, catching me looking at him.

"Nothing," I quickly glanced away, smiling to myself. The heat of summer felt sticky against my skin, a dense humidity hanging without a breeze.

When I looked at him again, his mouth was quirked, a twinkle in his eye. 

"What?" I asked this time, innocently. I gazed into those deep brown orbs, the reflections of the lights of distant wonders playing at the surface.

His gaze slowly slid down my face and all of a sudden, I was brought back to the time when we put on quite a performance in the variety show lesson. Time seemed to slow down as he leaned in closer. I could feel the warmth of his breath tickling my face, his long eyelashes fluttering under half-lidded eyes.

I squeezed my eyes shut, anticipating what was coming next. My heart quivered restlessly, threatening to jump out at any moment. The air stilled, the background quieted, and there was nothing but the loud rushing of blood through my ears, the roar of crashing currents against immense rocks.

Time seemed to slow down, making breaths slower, hearts faster, and air hotter. Minds raced, skin brushed, and-

What was taking him so long?

It felt like eternity before I cracked an eye open to see what was happening. I saw Chen giving my kitty plushie a kiss instead.

"Y-yah, Kim Jongdae!" I buried my burning cheeks in my kitty plushie, hugging it tightly as if it would hide me from all my embarrassment. I looked away as it was much too awkward to meet his eyes.

"Why, were you expecting something else? Hmm, your kitty is kind of cute actually." He blinked at me innocently as I shot him a glare before burying my face in my hands. I stood up, needing to run away from this embarrassment or dig myself a hole to hide in.

"You troll--" I muttered irritably. I was turning away from him, but stopped as he suddenly crossed the distance between us in one stride. He put a hand under my chin and tilted my head up, forcing me to look at him.

His lips met mine with such tenderness, erasing any of my previous doubts and making me feel ever so delicate. I could taste the sweetness of the cotton candy we just had, softly lingering like the mild evening air of summer. My heart jumped erratically, the butterflies wild in my stomach, bringing a similar sensation of free-falling on that rollercoaster, turbulence on an airplane. I could feel his gentle hands around me, holding me safely, being my anchor through all the storms of the rough seas.

I couldn't be happier with the way my first kiss turned out. 

Fluff fluff fluff (≖ ‿ ≖)