“What the heck are you doing here?!”, Nayoung immediately questions, more likely exclaims, as she sees Sejeong, who was standing in front of her with a -eating grin plastered on her face, making her eyes into perfect crescents.

Sejeong drops the smile, puts her hands on her jacket and quirks her head to the side with a shrug, “Well, this is the date of the century! I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Then why the heck did you bring that woman with you?”, she glares at Somi who just innocently looks at her, but there’s an annoying little smirk on her face.

“She wanted to tag along”, Sejeong answers with another shrug.

Nayoung just takes a deep breath and sighs. She knows that it would be really bad if she told Sejeong about her being on a date with Jieqiong but she did needed some tips on where to take her. When she did tell Sejeong, the shorter woman started flailing around, all excited and giddy, making it seem like she was the one who scored a date. Seeing Sejeong all happy and proud of her, Nayoung can’t stop the little smile that makes its way to her lips.

“Not a bad choice for your first date, Nayoung. I didn’t expect something like this to be your first pick but I’m proud of you.”, Sejeong says with a grin, giving Nayoung a pat on the back, interrupting her thoughts.

Nayoung smiles back and takes a quick scan of their surroundings. She can feel the adrenaline rushing through her veins as she drinks in the sight before her. Children running around, sharing merry laughter and their parents chasing after them as they run from one booth to another. The screams of people, whooshing of air brakes and loud music fills her ears. Her eyes lands on the various attractions present on the area: roller coasters, thrill rides, fun house mirrors, haunted house and the quintessential Ferris wheel topping it all off. A chain of restaurants and shops are also present in the area, everything being lit up with the brightest and most colorful of lights. The sweet scent of cotton candy and popcorn wafts in the air, a small nod of approval coming from Nayoung.

For her first date with Jieqiong, she decided to take the younger girl to an amusement park. After tons of recommendations coming from Sejeong (in which she did not consider for they all sound dark), Nayoung decides to consider Yewon’s idea of bringing her to an amusement park. (“Oh my, I can’t believe this. You refuse all of my ideas and then you consider her idea? The betrayal, Nayoung.”, Sejeong huffs as she dramatically clutches her chest and Yewon just flashes her an apologetic smile.) After planning out everything (Nayoung even prepared an itinerary for today), she then contacted Jieqiong and she can hear the excitement coming from the younger girl, screams and squeals being hardly contained. So here she is now, waiting for the said girl to come.

Glancing at her wristwatch, Nayoung couldn’t help but overthink yet again. After all, she wouldn’t be Nayoung if she didn’t. Thoughts like what if she doesn’t come? Maybe she came too early? She must have backed out or something, realizing that Nayoung’s not meant for her. Oh my gosh, I can’t ---.

Before she can continue, she feels Sejeong giving her a light squeeze on the shoulder and giving her an encouraging smile.

“Hey. I can feel you overthinking again. Relax. She’s going to come. I just know it.”

Nayoung feels a wave of relief. Now, all she has to do is just calm down and shut her brain activity of all the negativity it has been thinking of.

“She also has like, a huge crush on you so I don’t think she’s going to leave you hanging.”, Somi remarks, not looking up from her phone.

Nayoung blushes hard at that, not really having the energy to form a smart rebuttal so she just keeps mum. She just busies herself with playing with the zipper on her hoodie, trying to calm her mind and her heart.

“Eyoooooooo~! God Sejeong! Over here!”

Nayoung’s eyes immediately grow big as she hears more familiar voices approaching them. The imaginary sirens blaring inside her mind and she can feel panic rising inside of her. Sejeong cranes her head and her face lights up as she spots familiar people. She beckons them over and the bench that they were sitting on earned more people, making it seem like it there’s an attraction to see here.

Sejeong must have noticed her discomfort so she clears , “Uhm, guys? Hate to break it to you but I can sense her fear already.”

“Also, if you may, I would like to excuse myself as well for I can already sense another type of aura which is her hostility so I’ll be running for my life now.”, Sejeong immediately adds, making a motion to make a run for it.

Nayoung just calmly holds onto Sejeong’s shoulder, effectively putting her back on her seat. Sejeong audibly gulps, then after a few moments, she then starts to make weird hand gestures, as if trying to explain herself.

“It’s fine, Sejeong.”, Nayoung says, stopping Sejeong from all her weirdness. A sigh of relief escapes Sejeong’s lips. Nayoung then faces her, a smile on her face. “It’s really fine.”

As she says this, Sejeong can feel the grip on her shoulder getting tighter by each second passing. A shriek of pain comes from Sejeong then she immediately sputters a string of apologies before Nayoung lets her go. The girls around them just silently watch the two. They don’t want to get tangled up with this mess.

“Who else did you tell, Sejeong? The entire student university population? You could have just asked the local newspaper to write a story about it so they can publish it and the entire population of Korea could know about it!”, Nayoung growls.

“That’s not a bad idea.”, Kyungwon mumbles to Yaebin but Nayoung hears her and sends a glare on their direction. Kyungwon immediately shuts up and behaves herself.

“Don’t worry, Nayoung. It’s just us who knows about it.”, Minkyung butts in before anything else gets out of hand. “We’ll be out of your hair and definitely won’t bother the two of you. These idiots promise to behave themselves.”, she gestures to the two Kangs and Eunwoo.

“Hey!”, the trio simultaneously reacts to what Minkyung just said.

“You make it sound like we’re uncivilized barbarians or something.”, Eunwoo says.

“That’s because you are.”, Siyeon mumbles to Yewon but Eunwoo still hears her and is about to lash out on her but Minkyung was quick to stop them, glaring at them. “Shush, you two.”

Siyeon triumphantly smirks while Eunwoo just grumbles to herself, her eyebrows drawn together. Nayoung looks at Siyeon with wide eyes, who looks back at her, and Siyeon seems to catch what “that” look means.

“Oh right.”, Siyeon awkwardly laughs, scratching the back of her head. “Sorry about what happened before. I didn’t get the chance to apologize since you got crazy speed.”

Nayoung just silently nods, continues to do her breathing exercises so she doesn’t overreact.

“Where is Jieqiong anyways?”, Sejeong asks, glancing at her phone. “She should be here by now.”

“Oh the girl’s been panicking since yesterday. She didn’t know what to wear even though she has a closet full of clothes that could probably lead to Narnia.”, Yaebin shrugs. “She’s probably busy dolling herself up.”

“Or probably she ran away.”, Kyungwon blurts out, earning several glares her way and a punch on her shoulder by Minkyung.

Hearing this, Nayoung starts to chew on her fingernails like there’s no tomorrow. Using the word “panicking” would be a huge understatement now in this current situation.

“Oh . Sorry dude.”

“Don’t worry, unnie. I’m sure she’ll be here soon.”, Yewon reassures her, being the sweetie that she is.

“I’m here.”

They all turn towards the direction of the voice and there Jieqiong shyly stands, a tinge of pink visible on her cheeks, as she chews on her red lips.

“I’m sorry I’m late.”

Nayoung looks at her and does an once-over on what Jieqiong looks like. She was simply clad in a lime green colored t-shirt, tucked in on her denim jeans and she was also wearing casual white and green checkered sneakers. She also had a white cross body bag around her body and her long raven hair looked a little unkempt but it still made her look like an ethereal being walking  on this very Earth that Nayoung lives in.

She can’t believe that she will be spending a day with this girl and she’s just one of the lucky ones.

“How do I look?”, Jieqiong shyly asks Nayoung, fiddling with the strap of her bag. All the girls present are either holding their breaths in anticipation or is about to die from all the romantic excitement. Nayoung just looks at her, mouth slightly agape, making Jieqiong blush.

“I’m going to just assume that she means that you look hot and you’re oozing with appeal with that expression on her face.”, Sejeong smirks and clicks her fingers in front of Nayoung to catch her attention. “She’s practically drooling over you.”

Nayoung slightly shakes her head and blushes beet red. Sejeong then clears and grabs Somi’s hand as they make their way towards the opposite direction, making their way towards the amusement park’s exit.

“Well, as much as I want to see how this would go, Minkyung did say that we’ll stay out of your hair so we’re going to go now.”, she grins and drags Somi with her, waving them goodbye.

Minkyung checks her phone and grimaces, “Yewon and I will be going too. We have student council duties today even though it’s a bloody Saturday. Damn those seniors.”

Minkyung turns to leave after waving goodbye and Yewon merrily skips behind her, “We’ll catch up with you later!”

“Well, we’re going to eat our hearts out!”, Kyungwon declares and Yaebin nods in agreement. “You two want to come?”, she looks at Eunwoo and Siyeon.

“Yeah, sure. Whatever.” Siyeon shrugs.

“For the love of food, I shall come.”, Eunwoo clutches her chest and the three roll their eyes at her.

Kyungwon and Yaebin make their way towards the booths that sell different food with Eunwoo and Siyeon trailing behind them. They wave goodbye to Jieqiong and Nayoung, leaving the two enveloped in an awkward silence.

“So. . .”, Nayoung awkwardly coughs. “Shall we start?”

“Okay then.”, Jieqiong smiles softly at her.

They walk side by side, their shoulders slightly brushing against each other as they slowly roam around the amusement park, their eyes taking in the sight before them. They sink into silence that is neither awkward nor comfortable, just the right touch to it. Nayoung can feel her heart beating a thousand times faster than normal, her mind racing and her palms getting sweaty. She doesn’t really know how to do small talks and she’s starting to regret on why she didn’t develop a talent for that.  She hates to admit it but she wishes that Sejeong is here right now to help her.

Nayoung then takes in a deep breath before releasing it. She glances at Jieqiong who was looking down on their feet, clutching the strap of her bag close to her chest. She’s probably nervous like I am right now, Nayoung thinks to herself.

“S-so. .  . Where do you want to go first?”, Nayoung mentally slaps herself for stuttering. She knows what effect Jieqiong does to her, she’s very aware of it.

Jieqiong looks at her with a small smile drawn on her red lips, “Well, it’s your call. I don’t mind where we go first.”

There it is again, that familiar fluttering feeling.

Nayoung can feel that feeling yet again. She’s grown accustomed to it by now, welcoming it as if it’s always been there. She knows that Jieqiong is the only one capable of doing such things to her. How the younger girl can automatically make warmth spread inside of her with just her mere presence. Or how she feels as though she’s floating on cloud nine with just a soft glance from the girl, and also how her heart and mood immediately skyrockets with a single smile. It’s an addicting feeling actually and Nayoung can’t help but get intoxicated with how it feels like.

“I believe the term is euphoria.”, Sejeong says matter-of-factly, obviously stating a line from a movie. She tells her this right after she told her about what Jieqiong can make her feel.

Nayoung rolled her eyes at this. She hates how Sejeong is right about it.

Nayoung just silently nods, even though her mind is at a frenzy. They continue to walk silently with no particular destination in mind just yet. After a few moments, Nayoung decides to just spill what has been bothering her since the moment Jieqiong appeared right in front of her eyes.

“Uh, Jieqiong, about earlier. . .”, she trails off, looking at Jieqiong. Jieqiong looks at her with those eyes, making Nayoung internally scream with so much joy.

“What Sejeong said about what you look like. That’s not what I really wanted to say.”

“Oh. . .”, Jieqiong almost says to herself but Nayoung still hears her. She’s not an expert or anything but she thought that she heard a bit of disappointment? But she’s not one to jump to conclusions. “What did you want to say?”

Nayoung composes herself for a minute, thinking of the right words to answer her question. With a smile, a rare surge of courage coursing inside of her and that all so familiar fluttering feeling that she feels inside, she looks at Jieqiong’s soul and she swears that it’ll be impossible to look away from those endearing and lovable eyes.

“Gorgeously breathtaking.”

Jieqiong’s eyes immediately crinkle at what Nayoung said, set on a million dollar grin, her cheeks beginning to feel warm. Her body getting all tingly and she can’t help but feel as if she’s about to explode from too much excitement.

“Oh, shoot. I can do better than that.”, Nayoung scratches her cheek and tries to avoid eye contact at all costs. She struggles with her words yet again and Jieqiong can’t help but let out a cute giggle. She wraps her hand around Nayoung’s arm, pulling her closer to her. She can feel Nayoung slightly tense up but her eyes immediately softens as soon as she sees how Jieqiong was looking at her.

“No, no. It’s perfect.”, Jieqiong then smiles at her again, giving Nayoung’s arm a light squeeze. Nayoung smiles at her, adoringly gazing down at her with a blush on her cheeks.

“Absolutely perfect.”

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you lost sight of them!”, Siyeon huffs as she continues to scan through the huge sea of people in the amusement park.

“Oh so you’re blaming me for this? It’s not my fault that Yaebin’s so small and we can’t see her through this huge crowd!”, Eunwoo barks back, getting slightly irritated.

“It is your fault! If you didn’t run after that stupid cat in the first place,