Three

"Love is like the wind; don’t let yourself come to it but let it be the one to come to you” –Rachel Ardens

Ever since that night, Inara and I grew closer and closer within two weeks.

If Bobby and Yunhyeong had some soccer trainings to attend, she would always accompany me for lunch. If the girls were busy with cheerleading, I would always keep her company. Even sometimes after the bell rang, we would be going home late for spending time together at the library; reading and talking about practically everything.

Like how she liked the color soft pink, like how she was always clumsy, like how she really loved fajitas; but never anything personal, which was why I still didn’t know why she moved to this school.

The more time we spent together, the more have I liked her.

But maybe it was yet to be called love; or maybe I just wasn’t experienced enough to call it love.

“I have always preferred Chemistry over Biology,” Inara said as she flipped the page of the Chemistry textbook. As usual, we were spending our time at the library.

I pouted and nodded. There was nobody else but us at school; others have gone home at one.

As I was looking at her, I noticed that her eyes were glued on a spot. I followed her eyes and my eyes landed on the notice board facing our table. There was a poster for the 2016 Seniors’ Prom Night and I was sure that she was looking at the poster, but I still asked her.

“What’s so interesting on the notice board?” I poked her cheek, making her turn her head to me and smiled.

“Prom’s within a week, and I haven’t gotten any dress for it yet,” She sighed and pursed her lips as she moved her focus back to the textbook.

My mind tried to come up with some ideas that would probably cheer her up.

“You wanna go dress-shopping with me tomorrow?” I raised my eyebrows in hopes that she would want to go. Moreover, tomorrow would be Saturday so why not?

She lifted her head to look at me. Her ocean blue eyes were widened.

“Really, Jinhwan?” Her face was full of unexplainable expressions.

“Of course, Inara. Anything for you,” I nodded and carved a sincere smile, making her grin widely and stood up from her chair.

She suddenly wrapped her arms around my shoulders.

“Thank you so much,” She said as she was burying her face on my right shoulder. I let out a chuckle, making her lift her head to look at me. I turned to look at her and pinched her nose.

“Anything for you.”

As we planned yesterday, I went to fetch her at her house at 12, so we could have lunch together.

I pulled my Toyota over in front of a one-storey house, painted in cream white. There was a Honda parked in front of the garage, and the lawn was tidy; decorated with some flower pots.

Inara walked out of the house, wearing a plain white t-shirt with a fuchsia sweater covering it and a pair of dark blue jeans. She put on a pair of black Chuck Taylors to finish her look. Her hair was neatly tied into a ponytail.

She was so beautiful, even when she wasn’t trying to be.

She opened the passenger’s door and hopped in.

“Hey, Jinhwan! Nice ride!” Inara grinned as she closed the passenger’s door. I smiled in response.

“Nah… It’s my dad’s old car. Are we good to go?” I asked as my hand was already holding the steering wheel. She raised her eyebrows and smiled excitedly. “Let’s go!”

“So… Is Carlos’ good for lunch?” I asked as we were already a few blocks away from Inara’s house. “Sure! The fajitas there are nice,” She grinned at me and I smiled back. “I know you want to eat the fajitas,” I teased and she playfully giggled.

I parked my car in front of Carlos’ and hopped out to open the door for Inara.

We sat at the corner of the restaurant so we could have some privacy.

After placing our orders, we looked at each other and smiled. Inara cleared her thoat, making me alert that she wanted to say something.

“Jinhwan, so you’re a Korean, right?” She fluttered her eyelashes, making me melt in a second. I nodded in response.

“Why did you move here?” She asked. I could see the curiosity through her eyes.

“Nothing big… My dad was offered a job as a geologist here, like four years ago. That’s why,” I smiled and she nodded in understandment.

I was dying to ask her why she moved to my school too, so maybe now was the right time.

“Why did you move here, to Seattle?” I asked and her facial expression changed, making me regret what I just asked.

A second later, she smiled; and it wasn’t a genuine one.

“My parents were divorced and my mom is remarried to a Brit. So my dad brought me here to live with him.”

I focused on her, letting her know that she could tell more.

“My dad works here for oil and gas, and I used to live with my mom in San Francisco. Now that she’s remarried, my dad brought me here,” She sighed at the end of the sentence.

“Are you happy now, with your dad?” I asked and she nodded.

“My dad’s great. I have never got the chance to know him when I used to live with my mom, but now I do and he’s not that bad,” She smiled. I sighed in relief for knowing that she was happy now.

After a few moments of silence, our food finally arrived.

“The food was superb! Thanks for the treat, Jinhwan!” Inara beamed as we were walking towards my car.

“My pleasure,” I grinned as I unlocked my car.

I was driving past the a few shop blocks when suddenly Inara gasped, making me turn to look at her. “What is it?” I asked in curiosness.

“Stop in front of that shop, Jinhwan!” Inara pointed towards a dress shop, grinning cheerfully.

I reversed my car a few metres back and pulled over in front of the dress boutique, called ‘Lacy Laura.’

We both got out of the car to look at the mannequins dressed in satin, strapless dresses through the glass window.

“Do you want to go in?” I turned my head to look down at Inara and she looked up to me and nodded enthusiastically.

We walked into the boutique to see more dresses with different styles and colors. A girl with blonde pigtails welcomed us.

“Welcome to Lacy Laura, my name is Honey! What would you like to find?” Honey smiled genuinely as she looked at us. I turned to look at Inara, who was smiling.

“Do you have any prom suitable dresses?” Inara asked and Honey quickly nodded. “Right here, miss! After you!” Honey gestured for Inara to walk in front of her and a minute after; I was left alone in the boutique.

I saw a little sofa placed beside a tall black-framed mirror, so I decided to sit there while waiting for Inara to get the right dress.

After 15 minutes, Inara walked out of the dressing room nearby; wearing a soft pink single strapped dress, leaving me speechless by the beauty of hers. She untied her locks and placed them on one side.

“Honey, how do I look?” Inara asked as she was looking at the mirror beside the sofa I sat on. Honey let out a giggle.

“You better ask your boyfriend since he looks pretty…, dazed!” Honey pointed towards me and Inara hit her on the shoulder lightly.

“He isn’t my boyfriend,” Inara smiled sheepishly. My eyes were still locked on her, not caring about a word Honey said because I wished it was true.

Inara turned to me.

“Jinhwan… do I look okay?” Inara asked as she pulled the strands of her locks to the back of her ear, showing her silver earring.

I smiled genuinely and stood up.

“Every eye will be on you that night,” I took her hand and kissed it, making her chuckle nervously.

“Okay, Honey. I’ll take this!”

We were on the way back to Inara’s house when she finally spoke something.

“Have you got your tuxedo, Jinhwan? Or we can go tux-shopping soon?” She asked, smiling. I nodded.

“My mom was pretty excited that she already asked a tailor like a month ago, so the tuxedo’s with me now,” I looked at her who was pouting.

“Too bad,” She said, upset.

“Not bad.”

“Why?”

I chuckled softly.

“Because we went dress-shopping today!” I exclaimed cheerfully and she halfheartedly smiled and nodded.

I parked in front of Inara’s house and she was looking at her phone.

“We’re here,” I called out and she put her phone down.

“It’s so bad how MacKenzi and Ayla already got their prom dates and I’m still here, finding one,” Inara said as she showed the text of Ayla telling that she would go with Ryan Tesser; our school’s football captain to prom.

I smiled and put her phone down onto her lap.

“Inara?” I asked and she was already looking at me with furrowed eyebrows.

“What is it?” She asked.

“Will you be my prom date?”

Inara widened her eyes in disbelief. Her lips slowly carved a smile and she quickly pulled me into an embrace.

“Of course I will, Jinhwan!” She said in the hug. I smiled in relief that she actually accepted my proposal.

Never have I ever had in my mind that I would take a popular girl with me to the senior prom.

We let go and she leaned closer.

Suddenly, her soft lips landed on my cheek, leaving my heart feel as if it would explode. It was as if the world stopped spinning and we stayed that way for a millenium.

After a few seconds of forever, she finally let go.

“Thank you for today, Jinhwan,” She said as she pinched my cheek and got out of the car.

I probably could announce to the universe that I was in love for the first time, and I wanted it to be my last time too.

AsianFanfics

Three

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