I guess Mingyu was one of those who felt extremely accomplished when he conquered a new movie genre for the first time, because his mood visibly lightened through the evening. We headed for our next destination of the day - the nearby amusement park. The place was really just a temporary set up for the season, so it was really more booths than actual roller coasters. But hey, who's going to complain about complementary vouchers won from a ridiculous supermarket expenditure? As he put very aptly, these tickets were the "pride and emblem of my very existence as errand girl". 

The point of any funfair trip was really to hack the games and win the prizes, so that you make the best out of your money and time. After grabbing a cotton candy to share, Mingyu and I strategised our action plan for winnings in a meeting that was unnecessarily serious. Throughout our discussion, I was so glad that I had worn my pants to our mini outing - I really can't imagine playing freely while trying to be dainty and demure in a good-for-nothing summer dress. We eventually decided to concur everything that had to do with aiming first, and after we are tired out we can focus on those for strength because all we needed to do was just to whack. 

I had always known that Mingyu was resourceful, but perhaps not to this extent. He was almost like a scholar when it came to funfair game hacks. Before I threw hoops at towers or balls into floating baskets, he would always tell me the angle to throw it at, and the strength to apply. He demonstrated, with almost a full success rate. Sometimes you would think that a guy like him who's decently dressed, face and height that belonged to that of a High Cut magazine model would actually know more about wine tasting or classy things of that sort. Yet here he was being a kid, blabbering excitedly about the tricks to conquer funfair games as if they were the most important priorities of our life. The stallholders couldn't help but stare, with much amusement, at his unnecessary seriousness and persistence in getting prizes. A good hour into the funfair, and the two of us were carrying three soft toys each, offering them to children who passed by and stared enviously. 

"You are ridiculously good at this, Kim Mingyu." I said over the shoulders of the giant teddy bear I was carrying. I've decided to reserve that for my roommate, as a form of gratitude for everything she's done. I watched Mingyu pocket the pair of mini shark soft toys that he won at the shooting booth, where he also set the high score. "Want to get more food?" He asked eagerly. 

"Shall we hunt for the stalls?" 

He did not answer. Instead, he slung his backpack to the front and motioned for me to hop on to his back. When I hesitated, staring at him bewildered, he just gave me the reassuring look and beckoned for me to hop on. As I jumped on his back, the tall boy said, "Look above the crowd and see where the food stalls are at." Well I guess having someone who was always ready to be your height elevation had its own benefits. I pointed to the direction of the eateries, turning his head with my other hand to the direction.  It was only a brief moment, but before I got off I made it a point to ruffle his hair. He's so tall it's usually hard to ruffle his hair. Chances don't come by this easily. 

I knew we were friends for a reason when we sat on a rock by the sea, slightly further away from the lights and bustle of the fair, surrounded by a wide variety of street food and a giant bear between us while staring at the abyss of the dark sea ahead. I guess this was as unromantic and yet as comfortable as it could be on a date - chewing on sundae and dumplings by the sea, challenging each other to eating popping sweets without flinching, discussing the movie again while sending shivers down each others' spines. Yet all the while I was highly conscious of the two cans of beer left untouched beside us. A part of me really wanted to open them, partly for my own courage and partly to push Mingyu towards the territory that we seemed to have avoided the whole night. Not that he was particularly avoiding it, but I surely was. 

The conversations seemed endless, yet at the same time so many could go unsaid because we simply met so