Lots and lots of kisses (っ⌒‿⌒)っ❤

---

My mother stood in front of the mirror, the blue hat I had gotten for her was placed on her head and she was smiling brightly. She was admiring herself as I simply stood by and waited for a response.

 

"This is so lovely," she said with that wide grin on her face. "Honey, you didn't have to get me anything.  But thank you so much. I love it!"

 

I shrugged my shoulders while leaning against the door frame. I watched as my mother continued to admire herself and I realized right there that it haven't seen her smile like this in a long time. It was a bit sad, actually. "I was kind of forced to buy something over there so I figured I'd get something for you. I didn't know if I should have given it to you for Christmas or now. It's a bit embarrassing since I didn't get it with my own money."

 

"Oh, dear," she said, "you shouldn't worry about that stuff. And actually, I'm glad you gave it to me early. It'll go great with the blue dress I'm planning to wear at your aunt's tomorrow."

 

She then went off into a rant about how her sister always tries to out dress her at every family event. But this year, my mother wasn't going to go down without a fight.

 

During that time, I felt the handphone in my pocket vibrate, but I didn't bother to look at it. I had a strong gut feeling that it was Baro and I wasn't in any real mood to deal with him. I never did respond to his text from the night before, the one claiming that we needed to talk, and I haven't responded to any of the other 10 messages he sent me since this morning.

 

Maybe I'm just avoiding him, but since I already spent almost a week with him, I needed some time away. And it isn't like there's really anything for us to “talk” about anyways. What I said in the car wasn't entirely false. So I may have exaggerated some bits of it, but that didn't mean me and Baro had to actually talk about it. So I'll just give him some time to himself until he forgets about the whole thing.

 

"Sandeul," my mother said. She took off the hat and placed it gently on the dresser. "Have you spoken to your father about tomorrow?"

 

"Yeah. We talked this morning. He'll pick up around noon."

 

My mother nodded her head before patting the top of mine. "This is going to be my first Christmas without you. It's a little scary."

 

"Scary? I'll be back the next morning. Technically I'm still spending Christmas with you. Just not Christmas Eve."

 

"I don't know," she responded softly, "Maybe I'm just too attached. You're my only kid, you know."

 

"And let me tell you now, thank you for not having any more."

 

My mother laughed and pulled me into a hug. "That reminds me," she said, "While you were away I did some Christmas shopping! I got everybody I had in mind something nice, but I didn't know what to get Shinwoo. Since you're his favorite cousin, I thought you could help me pick a present for him."

 

I scrunched up my nose as I leaned back to look at my mother properly. Since when was I his favorite cousin? "Can't we just get him some socks or underwear or something?"

 

My mother laughed. "Of course not, silly. We need to get him something nice. Go get ready and we'll go to the mall. Hopefully we can find something before all the good things get taken away. You know how hectic last minute shoppers can be."

 

--

 

My mother was right about the hectic part. It was who was being hectic that she mistaken.

 

"If you don't get out of my way, I will personally shove your foot in your !"

 

I tried to cover my face with the hat I was wearing as my mother pushed through the crowds of shopper. She dragged me with one hand and shoved everybody in her way with the other, all while shouting as much threats and insults to anybody who tried to slow her down.

 

That is the one thing I hate about shopping with my mother.

 

She becomes insane.

 

Especially during the Christmas time, when everything is on sale and are sold twice as fast.

 

She continued to push her way through as I quietly was dragged behind her until we reached a part of the mall where there wasn't that much customers around to trigger my mother's insaneness.

 

"So I was thinking," my mother said, her voice back to its regular self, for now, "maybe we can get Shinwoo one of those fancy headphones all the young kids love walking around with these days. You know, the one made by that Dr. Drew fellow. If a doctor made it, I'm sure it's safe for the ears."

 

I wanted to facepalm myself, but I didn't have the energy so instead I stood there with an exasperated expression. "Mom, I think you're a bit confused..."

 

"Look over there, sweetie!" She pointed towards a nearby electronic store that was awfully packed, "I'm sure we can find some of those prescription headphones over there."

 

I took a couple of minutes, a lot of shoving, and a lot more cursing until we finally made it inside the store. My mother had to push aside a middle aged couple so that she could get her hands on an employee. He looked terrified and I had some sympathy towards him.

 

"Where can I get some of those medical headphones?"

 

The employee looked at her strangely, then at me as I was going to translate what she meant, and back at her. "Medical headphones?"

 

"Yes, yes. The ones made by that doctor?" She sounded so confident and that just made the whole situation a lot worse.

 

"I don't.. understand?"

 

This quickly lead into the two of them getting into a little debate, mainly just consisting of my mother claiming that there was a headphone made by doctors and the employee not understanding what was going on at all.

 

I figured that was a good time to sneak away for a while. I knew this little argument wasn't going to end anytime soon and I wasn't planning on staying to watch the whole thing go down. I could’ve jumped in and clear out the whole misunderstanding, but I didn’t feel like doing that. Besides, I needed to get out of this store. There was too many people and I was beginning to feel suffocated.

 

I stepped out of the electronic shop and frowned. All around me, people scurried around to collect their last minute gifts or Christmas decorations and it made me wonder what exactly caused them to get these things so late into the holidays. Christmas is literally tomorrow.

 

But maybe it was because I never actually brought anybody, aside for my parents, any Christmas presents, so I didn't understand the actual trouble people would go through for their families and friends. But then again, they put that trouble on themselves for making Christmas a bigger deal than it actually is.

 

Well, I never really did like Christmas anyways.

 

I also understand the wonders of retrieving a gift either. Every year my parents would get together to buy and give me a present, which was usually always a sweater, and that was the only gift I’d get for the year. I don't really include the $20 my aunt would give me or the lame Christmas cards my uncle would send me.

 

Christmas was a bit pointless, all in all.

 

I felt my phone vibrate again. As much as I wanted to ignore it, the constant vibrations was beginning to annoy me and I knew Baro wasn't going to let me down after avoiding him all day.

 

I went to sit down on a, surprisingly, empty nearby bench and took out my phone. As I suspected, at least 20 unread messages were in my inbox, all from the same person.

 

And one that was from an unknown number. But I decided to leave the unknown one for later, probably just a spam text or something, and opened the last message that was sent from Baro.

 

From Baro: call me.

 

I looked around to see if the was a lot of people or not around me before calling. I didn't want the noise around me to block out Baro's voice.

 

He answered within the first ring. "Why are you ignoring me?"

 

I pulled the phone away so that he wouldn't have to hear my sigh and placed it back by my ear. "I wasn't. I just didn't have my phone near me."

 

"All day?"

 

"Does that sound believable?"

 

"No."

 

I let out another sigh, this time not pulling the phone away. "What do you want?" I really didn't mean to sound as harsh as I did. It sort of just came out that way. I hope Baro didn't noticed.

 

"Care to explain what happened yesterday?"

 

"I don't know what you're talking about."

 

I could feel the eyeroll from the other side of the phone without having to even see it myself. I didn't blame him at all.

 

"Seriously? You're going to play that card? To me out of all people?"

 

I frowned while my eyes scanned the people who walked by. I wonder if Baro gets a lot of gifts for Christmas. He's rich, what does he really need that he can't just buy himself?

 

"I didn't mean what I said, okay? I mean, I did, but I didn't. You know? But I'd rather not talk about it over phone anyways. It doesn't seem right."

 

Baro chuckled and it sounded nice. "Since when did you care about what seems right and what doesn't?"

 

"Can we not talk about this over the phone? Besides, I'm not in a situation where I can sit down and talk freely." I had a strong feeling my mother was wrapping up her shopping business and would call for me any second now.

 

There was a pause before Baro replied. "Fine. But that doesn’t mean this conversation is over." Another pause. "Can I ask you one more thing?"

 

"Oh. Uh. Sure." Since when did Baro need permission to ask me something?

 

I could hear Baro nervously swallow and it made myself a little nervous. "I know this is really late minute," he began saying in a fast pace, "but, uh, I was wondering if, um, you could probably come over tomorrow or something? It's really last minute, I know, and you probably already have plans. You don't even have to stay for long though. Just a couple I minutes will do fine. My parents aren't going to be home until Christmas morning and my maid is going to spend the day with her kid and I didn't know who else to-"

 

"Baro," I said softly. I wasn't sure if he could hear me from all the noisy people talking in the background, but he stopped talking. "I'm spending tomorrow with my father. I thought I told you already."

 

Baro let out an obviously fake chuckle. "Oh yeah. Sorry. I forgot."

 

"I could probably come by on Christmas? Probably. It depends, really, if my mother would let me. She, for some reason, thinks of christmas as a big deal. But I could probably convince her if I try hard enough?"

 

"That won't do," he mumbled through the phone, "My parents will be home. But thanks. It’s nice to know you’d beg your mom just to hang out with me for a little while."

 

Well, it was Baro. Why wouldn’t I beg? (Oh god, how cheesy does that sound?)

 

Nut I wondered why it mattered whether his parents were home or no for me to come over. Did he not want me to meet them? Well, it's not like I want to meet them either. I'm not good at first impressions. I already messed up when meeting his maid for the first time, now imagine how it would go with the two people who created him. Then again, just that idea that they created him is scary enough.

 

At that moment, I saw my mother walking out of the electronic store, a bag in her hands and a satisfied look on her face.

 

"I'm sorry, Baro. I have to go."

 

"Oh. Okay. I'll talk to you later. And you still have to explain yourself!"

 

"Of course."

 

There was a pause.

 

"Oh. And I like you."

 

I blinked. "I'll talk you later." I quickly hung up the phone and before I could process anything, my mother was already standing in front of me and showing off the new pair of headphones she brought for my cousin.

 

"He's going to love it!" she said excitingly. "Did you know these weren't actually made by a doctor? Apparently it's made by some rapper whose stage name has the word doctor in it. The more you know, am I right?"

 

She laugh at her own mistake before looking at me and stopping. "Honey, is everything alright? Your face is beet red. Did something happen?"

 

I fumbled with the phone in my hand.

 

"No. Not really,” I lied.

 

--

 

I calmly checked my backpack one more time to see if I had everything I needed to stay overnight at my father's.

 

My mother, on the other hand, was running around to make sure she had all the presents she was going to take to her sister's, as well as the best outfit she could put together so she could finally be best dressed at the family gathering for once.

 

"Did you speak with your father yet?" She asked as she stood in front of the mirror while trying to pick out the which earrings went best with her blue dress.

 

"Yeah. We talked again last night before I went to bed. He said he'll be a little past noon."

 

"Oh dear," she muttered, "I'm going to leave before you then. I have to go pick up some baked goods from the bakery and run a couple of other errands before I head to your aunt's house. Are you sure you just don't want me to drop you off at his place?"

 

"It's okay,” I assured her. “Besides, he lives, like, almost an hour away. There's no point in putting you through all that trouble when he already promised he was going to come here."

 

"Well, if you insist." She still look a bit concerned, but she quickly went to finish getting ready.

 

It didn't take long until my mother was finally dressed to her liking, along with the hat I had giving her yesterday, and was already heading out the door with her hands and arms filled with presents.

 

"Make sure you check the stove and lock the door before you leave. I'll call you later to check up on you. Don't cause your father any problems. The last thing I need is him to be up my about how disrespectful his son is. But I’m not really worried about that." She reached over and gave me a peck on the forehead. "I'll see you on Christmas morning?"

 

"Yeah. Don't worry. Everything will be fine."

 

"Christmas eve without my son. How lovely," she muttered sarcastically. "Well, Merry Christmas honey. I'll give you your present tomorrow."

 

"Merry Christmas, to you too, mom."

 

With that, my mother left the apartment and I was finally home alone. My father wasn't supposed to be here for another hour and so I decided to pass the time by sitting on the couch and staring at the wall.

 

I wondered what the other guys were doing today. Most likely throwing some huge Christmas party in their huge houses or something. Except for Jinyoung. He’s probably just spending time with his family like any regular high school student. I especially wondered what Baro was doing. From the phone call we had yesterday, it’s safe to say he’s probably going to spend the day home alone. Maybe I could find some time away later to call him. He’s probably lonely.

 

I admit, I was a little nervous to spend time with my father again. I haven't had any alone time with him since before he walked out, which was months ago. And I didn't count the 3 minute phone calls we would have every few weeks. And even those phone calls barely had any communication. What the hell are we even going to do at his place for the next 24 hours? There’s not much we really had in common and it isn’t like my father is good at keeping me entertain.

 

Once it was an hour past noon, I figured my father was running a little late due to it being the holidays. Maybe he was getting the place ready for my arrival or something. I heard from my mother that he recently moved out from his brother’s and rented an apartment for himself that was a little closer to us. But that fact clearly shows that this little “break” my parents are having is no longer just a break.

 

When two hours passed, I figured he was stuck in traffic. It's Christmas Eve, the roads must be busy with everybody trying to get home to their families and junk. Maybe that’s what is holding him back.

 

After three hours passed, I knew he wasn't coming.

 

And so I didn't hesitate to grab the phone and dial my father's number. He didn't answer the first time, so I had to call again. When he finally did call me, he answered with a peppy voice that annoyed the hell out of me. "Hey there, sport! What's up?"

 

Sport? When the hell did he call me by those crappy nicknames?

 

"What's up?" I mocked him, "What exactly do you mean by that?"

 

"Huh? Oh! Merry Christmas, son! Is that what you wanted me to say?" He laughed out loud as if that was the funnest thing he heard and I simply frowned. “You’re funny, huh. Must’ve got that from me.”

 

I didn't know how to respond at all. I didn't even want to respond, to be frank. From the tone of his voice, I knew he completely forgot our plans for the day. And why wasn't I surprised? Also, explain to me why he was talking as if we haven’t spoken in years.

 

"Yeah. You too," I mumbled. "Merry Christmas to you, too."

 

"How's it going, son? Are you spending the day well?"

 

"I was supposed to be spending the day with you actually. But thanks for asking."

 

There was the longest pause afterwards. I could hear the sound of my own breathing and that scared me a little. I never did like being in complete silence.

 

And then just as quickly as the silence came, the realization struck in.

 

". , , , shut. Junghwan-"

 

"Don't call me that. You know I hate that name. Also, I don’t think mother would approve of that language."

 

"Sandeul," my father corrected himself, "Sandeul, I'm so sorry. I completely forgot. I went out with the guys last night, had couple of drinks, and I guess just forgot. I didn't mean to, son, I-"

 

"That’s not really something you should be telling your unaged son. Again, mother wouldn’t approve of it." I sighed, "Well, whatever. I didn't want to go through the hassle of spending a night at your place anyways."

 

"I can go pick you up right now. It make take a while because I kind of have my hands full right now. But once I’m done I can go straight over there. Just sit tight for a while."

 

I shook my head even though he wouldn't see it. What a complete waste of time."Forget it." I didn't say goodbye before hanging up.

 

I continued to sit on the couch and stare at the white wall for a while. I wasn't sure if I was a bad son for expecting this. Wasn't I technically assuming that my father has a horrible father figure? Shouldn't I have believed that he was going to come since the beginning? But then again, he was never really good at keeping his words, even when I was younger. There were many occasions when I heard more apologizes come from him than any promises kept.

 

But maybe I did have a little hope since I did bother to pack my stuff up and all. Only a little hope. I even waited three hours for him. I should’ve given up after the first, to be honest.

 

But who the hell am I kidding? It’s my father we’re talking about. That guy hasn’t been committed to our family since the moment he walked out on us. Well, he technically didn’t walk out, but you know what I mean.

 

I checked the clock and realized that it wasn't too late to meet up with my mother at her sister's house. But seriously, how lame would it be to show up three hours after the time my father was supposed to pick me up? Besides, I didn't want the heat between to intense more between my parents because my father was stupid enough to forget about our plans. My mother would never let him live that down.

 

I also really didn't want to go to my aunt's. As much as I love her and all, I always hated whenever she threw family parties and such. They were loud and annoying and too much of a hassle to deal with. Plus, Shinwoo was going to be there and that just made everything sound 10x worse. I have a feeling he’s going to purposely annoy the crap out of me for the rest of the night if I showed my face over there and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with that.

 

I'd rather just spend the day somewhere quiet. But I didn’t want to be home either. And there was really only one other place I had in mind that didn’t sound too bad of a place to go.

 

So at that thought, I grabbed the backpack I had prepared and stormed out the apartment. The only annoying thing about the place was that it was almost a 30 minute walk to get there.

 

Luckily it hasn't snowed yet, but the cold weather was enough for me to dig out the hat and scarf from my backpack and throw it on. Despite the long distance and cold weather, I wasn't in any real hurry, so I lazily dragged my feet as I made my way downtown. There wasn’t a whole lot of people out, which wasn’t that much of a surprise. It was cold out so it was no wonder that everybody wanted to stay in to keep warmth.

 

I cringed at the sight of all the stores that were decorated for Christmas. I haven't been to this part of town since almost two weeks ago, so all the Christmas spirit around here was still new to me. All the christmas lights that hung on the streets was annoying to the eyes and a pain to look at, so I kept my eyes focused on my steps in hopes that I could just ignore the whole thing.

 

Despite all the lights being on, almost all of the stores were closed, which made sense due to the holidays.

 

But one store caught my attention, as it was one of the only ones that was still opened. I peered through the window and scanned the inside. The lights were still on and I could see an employee lazily flipping through a magazine by the front counter.

 

I hesitated to go inside. I had some money in my backpack that my mother had lended to me (just in case I got hungry and my father didn’t know how to feed me), but I knew I wasn’t going to waste it on food anytime soon. There was something else that I had in mind wasting it on, but I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea. I glanced at the picture of the cartoon cat and dog that was painted on the front window of the store and frowned. I looked back inside and realized that the employee had noticed me standing there and was now staring at me, as if wondering what I was doing. I knew at this point, I really didn’t have a choice anymore.

 

I took a deep breath and stepped inside.

 

--

 

Adjusting my backpack, I thanked the employee, who nodded their head at me, and I quickly left the store. I glanced down at the receipt that was in my hand and cringed at the amount of money I just had wasted. Maybe this wasn’t that good of an idea afterall. I should seriously get a job or something.

 

I stuffed the stupid piece of paper into my pocket and continued to make my way to my original destination. I felt uncomfortable as I tried to walk while making sure at the same time that my bag wouldn't move too much. If it does, then I seriously just wasted my money for nothing.

 

There was even less people on the streets now as it started getting darker out. Eventually, I got out of downtown and was heading into a part of town I will never get used to. As the houses started to get larger, the more I felt uncomfortable.

 

I soon saw the familiar house at the end of the street and so I began to pick up my pace. The only lights that were on came from the living room and, unlike all the other houses, who obviously looked like they were having some kind of party inside, this place looked completely empty. It was a little sad if you compared it to the other houses around it.

 

Once I walked up to the front door, I stopped. I subconsciously found myself adjusting my hat and clothing before I rang the doorbell. I didn’t know why, but I felt a little nervous. It wasn’t like this was the first time I came here, so why did my palms feel moist? Especially in this cold weather.

 

I knew I should've at least called or sent a text before coming here. But it was too late now anyways so I just needed to stand out here and wait for a response.

 

It didn't take long for the door to open, though. Standing in front of me was a sleepy looking Baro, still in his pajama pants and loose t shirt. His hair was a complete mess and his eyes were barely open. He still looked cute though. (Did I seriously just think that? Oh god. What’s wrong with me?

 

"Do not tell me you just woke up,” I mumbled as I took a good look at him. “It's already past 5."

 

"I fell asleep watching a movie," Baro mumbled back. His voice was still hoarse and was really nice to the ears. (Seriously, there’s something wrong with me.) "Wait. What are you doing here? I thought you were going to your dad’s."

 

"Yes, well. Change of plans," I muttered. I pushed passed him and entered the house. Sitting in the living room couch, I noticed that the movie Baro fell asleep to was still running. I gently put my backpack on the floor, making sure that I wouldn’t tip over.

 

"What happened?" Baro asked as he made his way over to me. "Did you realize spending time with me was a lot better? That you couldn’t spend another minute away from me? I don’t blame you. I’m pretty great."

 

"Something like that. But you really need to stop thinking so highly of yourself. It’s not good for your ego." I yawned and glanced over at him. "My father had a last minute change of plans. So I decided to come here instead. It was a lot better than going to Shinwoo's."

 

"So I was your last choice? That's nice." But Baro still laughed, so I knew he was only joking.

 

"At least you were the first person I thought of. So there's that."

 

Baro laughed as he stretched his tired limbs. "Nice to know I was on your mind. I thought, after what I said yesterday, I scared you away."

 

"Yesterday?"

 

"Just forget it." He turned to face me and smiled brightly. "I'm really glad you're here."

 

Maybe it was the sleepy expression still on his face, or the way he was smiling at me that made my chest tighten, or maybe because it was just the fact that it was just Baro and that was good enough for me, that I grabbed him by the collar and pulled him into a deep kiss.

 

It took him off guard, but it wasn't long before he was responding, tilting his head to deepen it more, which I didn’t know was possible.

 

I pulled back first and was amused at the way Baro opened his eyes at the sudden lost of contact.

 

"Yeah," I mumbled.

 

Baro blinked before he laughed and pulled me back in.

 

--

 

The day was spent much better than I honestly imagined.

 

It mainly consisted the two of us watching a couple of movies, eating all the junk food had hidden away from the maid ("She doesn't let me having more than one bag of chips a day. So lame, am I right?") and cracking as much jokes as we could to each other, no matter how lame or cheesy they could be. Occasionally, there'd be a some make out sessions, but I wasn’t complaining.

 

Baro seemed genuinely happy that I had came over and was acting like a little kid, laughing at everything and smiling as if he doesn’t know how to do anything other than that. But it was nice.

 

I admit, I was curious as to why he was spending Christmas Eve alone. Did he at least have some family members he could visit? But at the same, it wasn’t any of my business. If he wanted me to know, he would’ve told me himself. Asking would just be rude and could ruin the mood.

 

But then again, I was glad he was alone.

 

My mother had called earlier to check up on me, as she promised. I lied and told her that I was already at my father’s house and that we were having a pretty decent time together. She seemed a bit relieved, but I didn't feel a little bad for lying. But if she knew I wasn't with my father, she's be even more upset that I came to Baro instead of going to spend the day with her.

 

Currently Baro and I were in his room, playing some old video games that he never really paid attention before. He claimed they were only fun when it was two players so Baro never really did play any of them. There was a whole wall that was covered with a bookshelf of video games, so I couldn’t believe that he didn’t play any of them.

 

To no surprise, I was getting my kicked as my driver spun off the road for the fourth time and Baro laughed as he drove right past me. I was never good with video games. The only person I would ever play with was with Shinwoo, and he never did give me a chance to win. I grew this annoyance towards video games because of that.

 

"You really at this."

 

"I normally don't play video games," was my only defense. But it was true, and should be a good enough excuse for my poor performance.

 

We were sitting on the floor, with our backs pressed up against his bed. There was no space between us as our shoulders and knees were touching each other. It felt pretty nice.

 

I wanted to throw the control at the t.v when my racer was pushed off the road at the last second and I was placed 8th for the 5th time since we started. "This game is rigged."

 

"No it's not. You just ."

 

I rolled my eyes and turned to check out his other games. I was completely done with getting my kicked. I needed to pick out a game that I know I was going to win, which at the end didn’t give me any real options. I at them all.

 

"How about this," Baro said as he grabbed my arm to turn me back around. "One more race. Winner gets to make the loser do whatever they want! Sounds good, right?"

 

"No way," I said shaking my head, "you already know I'm going to lose. That’s unfair."

 

Baro pouted and gave me a peck. "Please?" Another one. "Pretty please?" One more. "With a cherry on top?" Last one. “For me?”

 

"Fine," I said with a heated face as I snatched the controller back into my hand. "Last game. And I'm not going easy on you."

 

Baro chuckled as he gave me one more peck. "Don't worry. I don't think that’ll do much damage."

 

-

 

I almost did throw the controller this time. If it wasn't for Baro who stopped me at the last minute, his flat screen would've been in pieces. “I told you this game was rigged. How is it possible for me to fall off that stupid bridge three times within the first lap?”

 

“Because you kept going moving your racer in the wrong direction?” Baro said in amusement.

 

"Just get it over with," I muttered, "Just don't make me put anything weird in my mouth. I beg of you."

 

Baro laughed. "I'm not going to do anything weird."

 

He then pulled me closer to him and moved me so that I was sitting between his legs, my back pressed again this chest. He wrapped his arms around my stomach and rested his chin on my shoulder.

 

"What the hell are you doing?" I nervously asked. I wiggling around to get out of this position but that just made Baro pull me closer.

 

"You lost so I get to make you do one thing for me. And I want you to sit here."

 

"This feels weird. Really weird, actually." But not that bad kind of weird, if that makes sense.

 

"We made out like 5 times today. I deserve some cuddling too, you know."

 

I shifted uncomfortably. "We're not even dating yet. Isn’t this a little too much to do if we’re technically not together? There has to be something morally wrong about this picture."

 

"Then let's go out."

 

I tensed up. "What?"

 

Baro leaned in closer so that his nose was tickling my neck. "Deullie, I know you told me that you needed time. And I know I told you I would wait, and I will wait. But I don't think you realize that I'm here to help you too. Alright so, you might not be the best at dating or expressing yourself and all that junk, but so what? I can help you with that. I can teach you how to open up. I don’t have any high expectations for you, though. I know you need time and I don’t mind helping you as slowly as possible. Besides, I weirdly like your cold demeanor."

 

I could feel my face was on fire. "What are you even saying?" I mumbled.

 

"Let me repeat my question, then. Let's go out," Baro said with a chuckle. I wanted to point out that technically that wasn’t a question, but my mouth was dry and my mind wouldn’t corporate. Also, Baro being this close was a huge distraction. "Besides, at the rate we're going through, we're practically already dating."

 

“What? No we’re not.”

 

“Come on,” Baro said while laughing, “I mean, we kiss. A lot. We slept in the same bed. We’re cuddling right now. We touch each other way more than people who are ‘just friends’ should touch each other. And I call you cute all the time. All we need is to make it official.”

 

I didn't respond and instead grabbed the controller again. "Let's just play another round."

 

I felt Baro sigh against my neck, but he also grabbed his controller and pressed the start button to begin the next round.

 

We stayed in that position for quite a while as we jumped from game to game. Occasionally I would try to get away, but Baro would always pull me back in. Eventually, I gave up even trying.

 

After almost 30 minutes, I was completely done with losing every game and I was actually getting a little sleepy. It wasn't late but staring at the t.v for a couple of hours made my eyes tired. Baro must have noticed because he turned off the game counsel and pulled us up to our feet.

 

"Let's see if there's anything we can eat," he said while dragging me downstairs, out hand clasped together. I wondered how often people who were ‘just friends’ hold hands. This wasn’t the first time we did it either.

 

"I don't know," I mumbled, "I got a little full from all that junk food we ate earlier."

 

Baro only shrugged as we stepped into his gigantic kitchen. He went straight to the fridge while I sat down at his kitchen island. "Suit yourself. I think Minjung left something for me to eat, though. Hopefully it's chicken or something! She’s really good at making that."

 

"As I remembered clearly," I mumbled, "Aren't your parents complete health freaks? At least, that's what you told me the day we first met." I noticed Baro eat too much junk food for someone who’s family cares a lot about their health. It caught me off guard.

 

"Ah. That." Baro grinned as he took out a small container of ice cream from the top freezer instead and waved it at me as if he just discovered gold. "I lied. I needed an excuse to stay out and talk to you. I thought that maybe you'd think I was weird if I refused eating cake so I made that lie so you wouldn’t be suspicious of me.”

 

He handed me a spoon with a grin and we both dug in.

 

"Honestly, I thought being a health freak was more weird."

 

Baro chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind."

 

“Now that I think about it, why were you and your family even at that party?” I asked. “The hosts were pretty middle class for someone of your status to be seen around.”

 

Baro didn’t seem amused at my comment, but he answered anyways. “The husband worked for my dad in the past. It was one of the only times both of my parents were home and so we decided just to drop by. But my mom liked it that we ended up staying the whole night.”

 

Oh. Well, I guess that makes sense. I don’t know Baro’s parents personally, so it isn’t like I could judge them aways.

 

"Well, it seems like you've lied to me quite a few times since we met." I stuffed a spoonful of ice cream into my mouth. "That doesn't make me think any good of you."

 

He shrugged his shoulder and leaned against the island. "It was only too impress you."

 

"Impress me?" What kind of bull was that? But I just responded with a roll of my eyes, which made Baro crack a smile.

 

"You still have to explain yourself about what happened in the car."

 

"Not now. My mind is too filled with ice cream."

 

That made Baro laugh and he stuffed his own spoon into my mouth. "You'll have to do it sooner or later."

 

"Later," I managed to mumbled even with the delicious treat in my mouth.

 

We sat there for a while just eating away. There wasn't really anything that was going through my mind and yet I felt like something was wrong.

 

"About your suggestion from earlier," I slowly began.

 

"About us finally going out?" Baro asked.

 

"Let me ask you a question first."

 

"Okay?” Baro looked confused for a moment, but then shot me a reassuring smile. “Go ahead. Ask me anything."

 

"Ok. Uh. Why do you like me?"

 

I didn't know if I should be worried about the way Baro suddenly froze. He swallowed nervously and fidgeted a bit with his hands. "What kind of question is that?" He tried to tease, but I could see right through him.

 

"I mean, you were straight not too long ago. What about me changed that?"

 

Baro stared at me for a bit before he sighed and took a seat beside me on the island. "I don't know?" He said, but he sounded confused about his own answer. "I just do, I guess."

 

"I don't believe you."

 

He sighed again. "Ok. It's because... you're cold."

 

I blinked.

 

"What?"

 

"I think that's what drew me into you.” He rubbed the side of his neck, “That whole 'I don't care about anything' demeanor you have isn't something I'm really used to. So I got interested in you. I mean, that's what made me want to be friends with you at first anyways."

 

"So you liked me because I was cold?" What kind of stupid reason is that? Shouldn’t people feel the complete opposite towards cold people?

 

"You were honest, in a way. I mean, you didn't try being nice because you didn't want to hurt my feelings or anything. Like most people would do. You just said whatever was on your mind without caring about what other people had to say. I thought that was kind of cool."

 

I wanted to laugh at the irony. The only reason I was being cold towards him was because I wanted to get rid of him, and yet that was what kept bringing him back.

 

"I didn't really have any friends at my old school," Baro continued, his voice now lower than before, "I don't know why but people thought I was a little weird. Maybe because I get excited easily? I know I get loud sometimes, but I can't help it. But they never said anything about. They would just ignore me. But you would always tell me straight out whenever I was being annoying and yet you'd still talked to me. Maybe I really am weird, but I like that you did that. It’s like, you somehow told me that I was annoying, but that is wasn’t a bad thing."

 

I wasn't sure why Baro was getting so detailed about this whole thing. But I honestly didn't believe that he didn't have friends at his old school. Aren't the loud, annoying kids always the most popular in school? At least, that's what they tell you in the movies. But maybe I shouldn’t get my references off of cliche comedy high school movies.

 

"So you liked when I was being mean?" I still didn't get it.

 

"It's not like you insulted me by calling me fat or ugly or anything. And I realized you're actually a lot more caring than you try to show. If you weren't, then you wouldn't have ran all the way here that one time I was babysitting my baby cousins. Or you wouldn't be here with me on Christmas Eve."

 

I felt my face heat up again so I stuffed another spoonful into my mouth. "I'm not that nice."

 

"And when I transferred to your school, it was because of you that I made other friends. In my classes, I don't really talk to people and it makes me feel a little left out.  But when the gang is together, I don't feel like an outcast. I can be loud and excited and you guys don't ignore me."

 

"Well, there's gongchan in the group who is just as loud and annoying, if not more. So I can understand why everybody is able to tolerate you."

 

"Maybe I really am weird for liking you," Baro said with a sigh and a shake of his head. "Well, why do you like me then? You weren't that gay either when we first met."

 

"I faintly remember telling you that I never actually have been attracted to a person before. At least, not enough to determine my uality. And I wasn't going to just assume myself as straight either."

 

Baro nodded his head in agreement and leaned in so that his face was closer to mine. "But come on. You don't normally like people. Why am I an exception?"

 

I never actually thought about it before. What exactly is it about Baro that makes me have these strange feelings towards him?

 

"Because you put up with me? Honestly, I thought you were an idiot for continuing to talk to me even though I was rude to you. But I guess I'm glad you did."

 

Baro rested his forehead against mine. "Is that the only reason? That can't be the only reason. I'm sure there’s more."

 

"Well, you are not a bad guy. You're jokes are lame though, but I can put up with them so I supposed it isn't too bad. You smell nice most of the time. I don't know." The whole time I didn't break eye contact with him.

 

"Well, I like you because you have soft lips." He kissed me. "For a guy, which is pretty weird, actually. And soft skin, which is always weird. And you're smart, which is funny because I never actually seen you open a book before. And you talk like an old man, but I find it pretty charming."

 

"Well, you laugh at every joke you hear. Even the ones that are not funny. You’re easy to win over. That’s not cute."

 

"You look adorable in hats. You should wear them move often." Baro flicked at the beanie that I was wearing.

 

"You look decent as a blonde.” I gently tugged his hair, “You should go back to blonde.”

 

"I like it when you curse. It’s strangely addicting.”

 

"Did I mention you have lame jokes?"

 

"And you put up with my jokes. So, I think I win."

 

I rolled my eyes as I softly shoved his shoulders and Baro laughed. I watched as Baro then leaned back to  continued to eat the ice cream and I had The strange desire to pull him in for another kiss. (I really need to find out what the hell was wrong with me.)

 

I sighed. "Okay,” I said softly.

 

Baro looked at me. "Huh? Did you say something?"

 

"I said okay."

 

"Okay to what?"

 

"Let's go out."

 

The slow smile that blossomed on Baro's face was a honestly a little breath taken.