C h a p t e r  9

S e h u n

“The beach!!!” I watch Ae Soo as she runs at the seashore. She takes her slippers off and started running at the water. She’s happy but... 

She’s too happy. 

Ae Soo isn’t the kind of person who’s too happy or too sad. She’s just in between. But now she’s too happy and it’s making me uncomfortable. 

“What’s wrong?” Chanyeol hyung pats my shoulders. 

“Don’t you think she’s somehow different today?”

“Hm? What do you mean? She’s enjoying her first trip.” 

“First trip huh?” Is it like that? She’s excited because it’s her first trip? Am I assuming things? I sigh and sat on the sand as I watch her. I clutch my hand on my chest. But why do I feel so uneasy?

“Sehun!” She calls me from afar and I smile at her as she plays with the others. “Aren’t you coming in?”

I shake my head. “Maybe later.”

Chanyeol hyung sits next to me as we watch the others. “You’re the one being weird. What’s up?”

“I feel uneasy when I look at her.”

“Uneasy? Why?”

I shrug. “I don’t know.” I wait for Hyung to reply but instead, he stays silent. I turn to him and he’s staring at me while resting his chin on his left hand. “What?”

“I think 'like' is not appropriate. You already love her don’t you?”

“Love?”

“Yeah, you’re becoming greedy now. You want her close to you don’t you?”

I feel like he just shot an arrow right through the words that’s needed to come out from my own mouth. Do I love Ae Soo? I feel my heart reacting more and more as I watch her. I want her hand on mine like how it is the night of the engagement party. Her fingers entwined with mine all the time. I want her to jump into my arms again and I’ll stare at her eyes when I catch her. The way I touch her fragile body the first time I caught her. I want to feel that again. I..want Ae Soo.

I am becoming greedy. 

I do love her.

I sigh covering my face with my palm. This is crazy. “What do I do know?”

Chanyeol hyung laughs. “You really need to ask? Tell her.”

“Will that be okay? She has a lot on her plate right now.”

Hyung pats my head. “You’re the only one who’ll know the answer to that. You’re the one who knows her more than me right?” He stands going back. Only me huh?

“Sehun.” I turn seeing Ae Soo in front with me. “Are you just going to sit there?” I stare at her. What do I want to do? Will this continue? Will I be even more greedier than now? “Is something wrong?”

“No, it’s nothing.” She sits beside me. I can hear the waves crashing while we stay silent. This is crazy. This never happened to me before. I don’t know what to do. 

“Say Sehun? I want to ask you a favor.”

“What is it?”

“Well I need to ask you a question first.” I nod. “Have you ever dated before?”

“No. Not really.”

“Oh. Why’s that?”

“I guess I’m not that interested in that kind of thing.” 

“I...see.” She looks on the sand and started to play with it with her fingers. Why does she looks gloomy all of a sudden? I hate how I can get easily affected by her. I’m not like this before. She just changed everything in me in an instant the moment I realize that I care about her. “I haven’t been in a relationship before but... there’s a guy that I like.”

“Huh?” The moment her words sinked in me, it’s like someone pushed the stop button in my life. I don’t feel like anything’s moving right now. So she likes someone huh? Maybe back on her place? Maybe someone I know? Nah. I prefer the former. I think it’s less disappointing that way. “I see.”

“So I want to ask you something. I can’t tell that person how I feel right now so can you help me?”

“Me? Why me?”

“U..Um that’s...” she flushes. “Because, I think um.. since we’re already pretending to be a couple so..”

I see. So for her this was all just pretend. Well maybe liking someone isn’t that easy huh? But even if it’s just pretend, I’m fine. I’m greedy anyway. “Alright.”

“Y..You will?!” I nod. She brightens up again. Her smile always makes me smile but this one does not. “Thank you!”

“So? How will I help?” 

“Tomorrow there’s going to be a festival here. Can you um.. go with me? I want a practice date.”

“Alright.”

“Then it’s a deal okay?”

“Yeah.”

A  e    S  o  o

I’m near the fountain. No need to rush. I’ll wait for you.

I smile as I look at Sehun’s text. I told him that I’m wearing a yellow dress just so he’s informed. It’s like we’re a couple now but.. I chuckle at my delusion. This is just a pretend date after all. I hurry to where the fountain is and stop on my tracks mesmerized as I look at him from afar. He’s wearing a black top.

 “Wow.” I mumble in awe. He’s looking at every girl that’s wearing a dress. Is he looking for someone? It’s the first time I saw him this paranoid. He’s usually cool. I smile. A new side of him. My heart flutters at the thought. His eyes dropped on me then he smiles standing up and waves. Oh that’s right. We’re going to the festival. “He’s...searching for me.” I blush. The reason why he’s being paranoid, it’s because of me.

“Ae Soo.” He stand in front of me and holds something. “Here, someone gave it to me earlier. She’s handing out flowers for the festival so I got one for you.” A hibiscus flower!

“Oh, thank you-“ I was about to grab the flower when he looks at me seriously. “What’s wrong?”

“I thought that it would be nice if you put it in you.”

“Oh, hang it in my ear?” He nods. I chuckle and nod. “Alright-“

“Can I put it for you?”

“I’m sorry, what did you say? You will put it in me?” Did I hear that wrong? He said he wants to put it for me? Sehun did? He gives me a nod. “O..Okay then.”

“Then, excuse me for a second.” I think I forgot how to breathe the moment Sehun steps close to me. My face is almost at his neck and I can smell his scent. He's wearing a cologne today and it smells nice. I can’t calm down. My whole body is reacting to him. I feel his fingertips on my earlobe as he puts my hair to the side and places the flower on me. “There.” 

“T..Thanks.” He steps back and stares at me. “D..Don’t stare.”

“Oh, um.. sorry. I didn’t mean to. It’s just..”

“Just what?”

He looks at his right and covers his mouth with his hand. “You look pretty.”

Well that was unexpected. He can’t just say that while I’m unguarded! “O..Oh. Thank you.” I reply but my voice was shaky. I place both of my hands on my cheeks. They’re hot. This is embarrassing. I see a hand hold out in front of me. I look up seeing Sehun. 

“Shall we? Um.. to start the practice date.”

“M..Mm.”

“There’s lot of people so.. just hold on to my hand.” Oh my gosh. What’s with Sehun today?! W..Why the hell is he acting like this is a real date?! Well.. it is a practice date right? That’s why I asked him. But I never expected that he’ll act like this! “Ae Soo?”

“S..Sorry!” I take his hand and we started to walk. I think blood has left my body when I felt him squeeze my hand a little. I’m going crazy. “Oh.”

Sehun stops at my reaction. “What’s wrong?” I point at the flowers in the field. “Oh, it looks like a photo spot.”

“Mm.” I smile. It looks beautiful. 

“Want to take one?”

“Really?” He nods. We walk over to the spot. I walk over and stand but Sehun’s not coming over. “What are you doing?”

“You said you want to take a photo.”

“I did but I never said I want one alone.”

“Oh, you mean together?” I nod. “I see.” He walks to my side. “I uh.. don’t do things like this so I don’t know how to take a photo.”

I chuckle and grab his phone. “I’ll do it.” I hold the phone up and put on a peace sign. “1, 2, 3!” I press the shutter and take our picture. I chuckle looking at it. Sehun looks so awkward in here. “You should smile okay? You look so awkward in this photo!”

“D..Don’t laugh.” He plays with his bangs and blushes. Oh, so he do this when he’s embarrassed? I smile. 

“Let’s take another one.” I look around and approached the two girls walking together. “Excuse me, can you take a photo of us?”

“Oh?” The girl looks at to me and then to Sehun. She gasps and nodded. “Sure!”

I walk back to Sehun. The two girls are giggling. Do we look funny? “What’s wrong?”

“Oh? Nothing. Smile now okay?” I grab his arm and smiled. 

“Unnie, I’m taking it! 1, 2, 3!” After taking the photo, the two girls approach us and hands me back my phone. 

“Oh, it looks good! See? You smiled here!” I show Sehun the photo. 

“That’s good.” He replies.

“Thank you!” I say to the two girls.

“It’s nothing Unnie! I envy you for having such a handsome boyfriend! Then, we’ll be going now!”

“Boyf-“ I gasp. “Wait! We’re no-“ I felt a hand hold mine. “Sehun.”

“Let’s go. There are a lot of stalls there and I’m getting hungry.”

I flush and follow him. Did he not care about that misunderstanding?!

S e h u n

“It’s really good isn’t it?” Ae Soo grins as she continue to eat her grilled dried squid. 

We walk at the seashore as we wait for the fireworks to start. I know for Ae Soo this isn’t a date but a pretend one but for me, I am taking it as one. After all, I’m with the girl that I like. Though, I really did so much work to do the things that would make a girl happy on a date. I even asked Chanyeol hyung about it. I wonder if she’s having fun? I turn to her as she talks. She’s really pretty today. I smile.

“Hm? Oh, I ate it all.” She frowns realizing that she ate all her grilled squid. 

“I still have half. Here.”

“Oh no! That’s yours! I can’t possibly take it!”

I chuckle. “It’s fine. Take it. I can always buy another one.”

She smiles and takes it. “Thank you.” I nod.

“Wait, here. I’ll go and buy us drinks. The sun is almost setting so we can just watch the fireworks here.”

“Alright!” Oh, she’s going to sit. 

“Wait, Ae Soo.”

“Hm?” I take my top off and placed it on the ground. “Oh my god! What are you doing?! It’ll get dirty!!”

I smile. “It’s fine. Sit there. I’m still wearing a shirt so don’t panic like I’m going to walk around .” She flushed. “Besides, I don’t want your dress to get sand on it. I’ll be back okay?”

“A..Alright.” I run back to the stalls and grab some drinks. I also saw the stall where they sell grilled squid so I bought some too. Ae Soo loves them after all. When I get back, she’s staring at the ocean with a smile on her face.

“You get prettier as I stare at you.” I mumble to myself. Ashamed that this moment will go to waste, I grab my phone and I took a picture of her from afar. I blush at my actions. My hand reaches my mouth feeling embarrassed. “Damn, what the hell am I doing?”

“Ah, Sehun? You’re back?”she waves at me from afar. I nod and walk closer to her and took a sit beside her. 

“I saw some grilled squid again. Here.”

“Thank you!” But instead of eating it, she stands and reaches her hand in front of me. “Come for a second. We still have time for the fireworks.”

“We’re going?”

She chuckles. “I just want to go in the water for a bit.”

“Okay.” I smile taking her as she stands up. We walk closer to the water until it reaches our feet. 

“Whoa! Cold!” 

“Careful, you’ll fall.” I rush to her and grab her hand. I pull her back and she laughs. “You’re excited.”

She smiles at me but this time, I think her smile is a little bit sad. “I’m just happy.” She stares at me for a while. Damn, this is not good. “Sehun, can I ask another favor?”

“What?”

“Stay there for a sec.” she opens her bag and gets her phone then points it at me. 

“What are you doing?” I flush.

“Come on, I want to take a picture of you okay? Smile for me!” 

A  e    S  o  o

I chuckle as I watch Sehun on the screen of my phone. “Stop that Ae Soo!”

I laugh. “Come now? Just one smile okay? Look here! Consider it as a gift for me. I want to remember this day and I want a picture of you.” He stops struggling and stares. Whoa, that was easy. “Alright now, smile okay? 1, 2, 3- oh hold on! It’s on video! Haha! Silly me-“

“I love you.” I freeze. I met eyes with Sehun as he looks at me seriously. “I love you Ae Soo. I know that maybe.. you’re thinking that I’m weird today. I also know that you have somebody else that you like. But when you asked me to go out with you, I was really happy and I even considered this as a date. When I hear those two girls earlier say that we look like a couple, I was really happy. When I held your hand most of the time today, I think I’m going crazy. Ae Soo,” he takes a step closer and I think he’s starting to eat my space that it’s almost suffocating. “I want you as my true bride now and not as an act.”