Zelo and I headed towards the river. We walked through the crowds of people, scanning the booths and making small talk. A couple of kids were running around and bumped into me. Zelo reached out a hand to steady me.

“Thanks.”

“They’re kids but I wish they were more careful.”

“It’s fine. I could have just gotten you to carry me around.”, I joked.

“Wow I really missed an opportunity.”, he replied.

“But I’ll make do with this.”, I said grabbing his hand, entwining our fingers. He bent down and kissed my head.

“What was that for?”, I asked.

“You’re cute sometimes.” I opened my mouth to reply but a voice cut me off.

“Hey! Why don’t you win your pretty girlfriend a prize?”, called out a man from a shooting game booth.

“Do you want anything from here?”, Zelo asked. I scanned the shelves and my eyes landed on a giant panda.

“That one. But are you sure about this? It’s probably really hard to win.”, I said.

“Don’t doubt B.A.P’s best sniper.”

“Aren’t you the only sniper?”

“That’s not the point. I can do this. Trust me.”, he said walking up to the booth.

“How do I win that panda?”, he asked the man.

“Ambitious aren’t you, young man? To get the giant panda you have to shoot down all five bottle towers here.”

“Sounds good to me.”, replied Zelo confidently.

Ten minutes later I was walking away from the booth with Zelo on one arm and a giant panda under the other arm. I was still trying to think of a good name for him. Maybe George or Tao?

We managed to snag a good spot near the bank of the river with a clear view of the sky and not too many people nearby. There was enough space for the others to sit, whenever they joined us.

“Wow, it’s a good thing we made it when we did. There are so many people here.”, I said looking around. There were some families, groups of teens with their friends and couples scattered around the bank.

“You seem pretty excited for these fireworks.”, Zelo commented.

“Yeah. I love fireworks. They’re so beautiful and they remind me of going to festivals with my family when I was younger.” I said remembering all the festivals the four of us used to go to. My brother and I were always competing to see who could win more games. We would have spent all of our allowance on those games if our mom didn’t stop us.

“You’re pretty cute when you’re excited.”, Zelo said offhandedly, bringing me back to reality.

“Does that mean I’m not cute usually?”, I joked.

“You can be when you want to be.”, he said putting his arms around me and pulling me closer. I was caught a little off guard but decided to roll with it and leaned into his chest. It was more comfortable than any pillow. I felt warm and safe there. We didn’t talk for a moment.

“So, why Zelo?”, I asked, breaking the silence.

“Zelos is the Greek god of competition. It inspires me to keep bettering myself because no matter how good I think I am at whatever it is there is always someone better.”

“That’s really inspiring.”, I said, looking up at him. He looked down at me to check my expression.

“What? Did you think I was making fun of you again? I can be sincere you know”

“I know you can.”, he replied, still looking intently at my face. I looked at him questioningly. Then he gently tilted my chin up towards him and leaned down to kiss me. He had caught me off guard again. I made a mental note to get revenge later. But I soon found myself melting into the kiss. He kissed me slowly as if we had all the time in the world. The chatter of the other festival goers seemed to melt away. As far as I was concerned, we were the only things that existed in that moment. When he pulled away, I slowly opened my eyes.

“What’s your real name?”, I asked softly.

“Choi Junhong.”, he replied, his voice was slightly husky.

“Junhong.”, I repeated, almost as if I was saying it to myself.

“Say it again.”, he said.

“Junhong.” He leaned in closer. I could see myself reflected in his brown irises. As our lips met again, my eyes fluttered shut. Neither of us paid attention to the fireworks blooming in the sky. We were too focused on the fireworks blooming between us.