"I dare you to kiss me back," rang in the girl's head as her face was right in front of Jackson's. She could look at his eyes and count the individual lashes if she felt the need. The boy exhaled and she felt warm air brush her skin and smelt the lingering scent of the noodles he ate earlier. This made a smile break across her face and Yejin had to hold back a giggle. Jackson must have taken this as something else since he smiled back and leaned in. The girl couldn't hold it in any longer as a laugh escaped her lips. This continued as the boy paused and pulled away. She looked at him and covered with her hand, trying to stop the giggles. 

"What?" he asked with a sharp edge in his tone. The girl thought of the nicest way to tell him his breath stinks, but the idea made her laugh even more. Yejin couldn't help her chuckling as the boy took a step back in embarrassment.

"What's so funny, huh?" he asked, now glaring at her. The girl continued to giggle as she pointed at him, trying to signal what she wanted to say. Jackson just jerked his head out of confusion. Yejin pointed to , trying to tell him about his breath. He didn't quite understand.

"Do you think kissing me is funny? It was just a dare, not like it even means anything," Jackson said as he continued to look at her. The girl shook her head, but was still having a giggle fit. Her being tired was probably a big contributing factor to her problem, but she hadn't laughed this much in a long time and it felt nice. The boy let out a sigh and said 'fine' as he turned around to leave. Yejin still had a few more laughs left in her, but she jogged after him anyway. Once she caught up to the boy's fast pace down the sidewalk, her laughter was gone. He looked over at her and she thought of what to say

"Your breath smells like ramyum," she said, this causing a few more giggles to come from her. Jackson widened his eyes at her before looking away and shaking his head.

"And you said I was the mean one," 

After the incident, Yejin walked with Jackson all the way back the bus stop near her house. The boy was silent and it made her feel a

little bad that he didn't respond when she said goodbye. The girl did her best to shake this off as she walked down the road and entered

her house. Once inside, she saw her father taking with Areum and the conversation didn't seem pleasant. 

"I don't care if it's only for a few weeks," Areum said as she looked their father dead in the eyes. The man shook his head at the girl.

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