“Hello?” Soonyoung spoke over the phone one morning. “Hi,” I greeted him back.

 

“What are you doing tonight?” he asked. We had been hanging out back and forth for weeks now, but I didn’t know what we are. I didn’t understand if we were just friends then or he was actually interested in me. What I know was, my feelings toward him got deeper and deeper. I mean, I could see he cares for me, but I didn’t want to misinterpet. I also didn’t want to expect high, because what is high will always go down one time.

 

“Just doing some of my assignments, I guess,” I answered.

 

“Aigo, you’re always so busy. Have a break,” he said. “Do you want to go out for dinner tonight? It won’t take long. Please? It’s Saturday night, anyway. Who does their homework on a Saturday night?” he begged.

 

“Well, I do, apparently,” I chuckled.

 

“Oh, come on,” he said, “please?”

 

I sighed. There is no way to say no to Kwon Soonyoung.

 

“Fine. Where do you want to eat?”

 

“What do you feel like eating?” he asked back. "My treat," he quickly added.

 

"Really? Hm..."

 

"I feel like eating fried chicken, what about you?" he said.

 

"Fried chicken, it is."

 

*

 

"Ah, you finally came out of the cage," he said when he picked me up. I rolled my eyes. "Shut up."

 

The fried chicken restaurant wasn't too far from the coffee shop where we ate with Seokmin, so we just walked that night. It was better that way anyway.

 

"So, I thought you have a pet chicken at home, Coco?" I asked about his pet he once told me when we were eating.

 

"Yes, Coco," he admitted.

 

"But you could still eat chicken without feeling guilty?" I asked again.

 

"I could eat fried chicken because it is covered with batter," he explained.

 

"Still. What if it was his grandchild? Poor Coco."

 

"Aigo, don't make me feel guilty," he said and I laughed. I felt like I could ask and talk to him about the most stupid and unimportant things and he would still respond it.

 

“Oh, it’s drizzling,” I said, when we got out of the restaurant.

 

“Really? Here, put this on,” he said while putting his jacket on me.

“What about you?”

 

“Don’t worry about me,” he said. “So what assignment was it that you were doing?” he asked as we walked home.

 

“An essay,” I answered.

 

“About what?”

 

“Why you can succeed in life,” I replied.

 

“So?” he asked. “Why you can succeed in life?”

 

“We can succeed in life because…” I paused, “because of ourselves. It’s our choice whether we want to achieve it or not. If we don’t achieve it, well, it’s okay if you’re fine by it, but if you achieve it, it would just be something you can be proud of yourself, because that’s what you’ve originally created; what you’ve been wasting your time with: a masterpiece, as someone once told me,” I smirked at him. He smiled at me. I continued, “We also can’t forget to always try, and—“

 

Suddenly, I felt something on my hand. It turned out to be his hand, holding mine. All of a sudden, I had a stomachache and all my body went limp, but I managed to be cool and continue what I was saying.

 

“And… ah, you know,” suddenly I forgot what I wanted to say. Since when did I become this nervous around him?

 

“What? I don’t know,” he said. Ugh, this guy.

 

“Let’s just forget it, shall we?” I said. He chuckled. “Fine.”

 

We walked in silence, still holding hands.

 

“So, um… Can I ask you something, Rachel?” he asked. I gulped, trying to calm myself. “Sure.”

 

He stopped walking when we got under a streetlight and faced me. “You know… we’ve been really close these weeks, and…” he said haltingly, “and, um… we get along pretty well, don’t you think?”

 

“Okay…”

 

“Also, I think I’ve known you better…”

 

“Soonyoung, what is it?” I asked. He took a breath. “I like you,” he finally said, “I like you and if you give me a chance, I’d really like to date you.”

 

Oh my God.

 

“What do you think?”

 

I was so nervous, I nodded slowly. “Yes,” I told him while holding back a huge smile on my face. He let out a breath and I could see he felt relieved and his nervous face disappeared. I thought it was funny, so I laughed and he laughed along with me.

 

“I was so nervous,” he confessed. “Yeah, I could tell,” I said.

 

We both eventually laughed and by then rain started pouring down. He stepped closer and my heart couldn’t beat any harder. Slowly he leaned in and I could finally feel it again: his soft lips against mine. This time, I enjoyed it without any weight on my shoulders because damn, Kwon Soonyoung is officially my boyfriend and we’re kissing under the rain. What can go wrong?