6) This one's simple and self-explanatory: is he a good kisser?

            "Noona!" a familiarly cheerful voice called from behind the door.
            "In a sec, Henry!" You quickly put in your dangly earrings and smoothed your skirt. You checked the mirror once before grabbing your bag and dashing to the door. 
            "Hi," you said, shy all of a sudden, seeing him look especially good in his polo and black jeans, a mysteriously large backpack hanging off his body.
            "Hi," he said, sounding equally as shy. He slipped his arms around you tentatively, as if he were afraid he would ruin your outfit and gave you a soft hug. "Noona, you look so pretty."
            He was just too cute, all the time. You squeezed him back and said, "Thanks, Henry-yah. You look great, too." He smiled at you before grabbing your hand and pulling you out of your dorm. You checked to make sure your door was locked, because Song Qian still had not come back. You shrugged off all thoughts of her. You needed time thinking about just Henry. And you especially couldn't think about him anymore. You had to stop thinking about him.
            You cleared your throat and asked, trying your best to sound perfectly happy, "So, where are we going tonight?"
            He smiled mischievously. "You'll see, you'll see! It's already evening, noona. Just enjoy the sunset and the walk."
            You felt your heart lighten. "You put a lot of effort into this, didn't you?"
            "Yeah," he admitted happily. "It's our first date, so it has to be special!" 
            You continued to walk down the street into the heart of Seoul, with him swinging your hands between you playfully. You felt the sadness weighing down your shoulders lift as you walked with him. Ever since you had first laid eyes on him, he had that effect of distracting you from all your pain. "You know," you told him as he led you forward, "I've never been on dates like this."
            His eyes widened. "What? Don't tell me you've never had a boyfriend?"
            "My ex-boyfriend wasn't really the type to plan romantic things. I mean, he did do some stuff occasionally, but most of the time we just spent time together without any big plans."
            "Well, noona, don't you worry! I have very big plans ahead for you!"
            You genuinely felt excited. What could this adorable young man possibly have in store? He led you to the bus stop and handed you a bus ticket, letting you go ahead in front of him. You stood there, hanging onto the handles of the bus, killing time by teasing him a bit about his spiffy choice in outfit when he suddenly looked out the window, and said, "Oh! We're already here!"
            When you got off the bus, Henry said softly in your ear, "Look up, _____ noona."
            You followed his orders, and to your delight, you saw the N Seoul Tower lighting up your view. "This is such a classic Korean date," you said with a wide smile. "But what made you choose this?"
            "Well…I kind of asked some guys in my class what I should do, since I've only been here for less than a year," he confessed sheepishly.
            You laughed and assured him, "This is perfect."
            "I'm glad you like it!" He grabbed your hand energetically and dragged you to a bench in the park where the lock trees stood. "I packed us some food I made!" He pulled out a lunchbox and opened it, showing a sad mess of what you supposed was meant to be kimbap. You stifled your giggle when you realized how much effort he must have put into the food and looked at him with tender eyes as you picked one up with your chopsticks, "Thank you, Henry. Really."

            He looked at you anxiously while watching you chew. For his sake, you swallowed it with a smile, although you were completely unsure of what the hell kind of ingredients he had used. You gave him a thumbs up and said encouragingly, "Not bad for you first try!"
            He looked positively radiant from your praise, and grabbed one for himself. His face fell when he ate it and accused, "Noona, you're lying to me. This is disgusting." He threw it out in the nearest trashcan before coming to pout at you apologetically.
            You pinched his cheeks gently and offered, "How about I cook some for you next time?"
"Only if you let me buy you some proper food later," he compromised, his facial muscles flexing under your hands as he spoke and smiled. 
            "Fair enough," you said, linking your arm through his. "So, where to now, Ry-ah?"
            "Ree-ah?" he pronounced carefully, confused.
            You informed him, "That's your nickname now. 'Cause your name's Henry."
            He pursed his lips for a second before accepting. Any nickname you gave him would be cute, he decided. "We're going to walk up," he told you.
            "Are you crazy?!" 
            "Don't worry, noona, I'll take care of you!" He wrapped his arm around you, pulling you close. "If you get cold, I’ll give you one of the sweaters I packed. If your legs hurt, I'll carry you on my own back. And if you're feeling tired, I'll sing to you to keep you awake."
            You were touched. Henry Lau was just full of surprises, wasn't he? You agreed to his plan, trustingly leaning against him as you start the hike up to the tower. 
            Night was coming nearer and the red of the sun was slowly being overpowered by the black of night; stars began to wake up and stretch their arms to play with the world below them. You felt your heart beating as you snuggled closer to Henry, and he wrapped his arm more tightly around you. After a moment, you asked, "Tell me more about you, Henry. We've only known each other for a little while, but I want to know so much more about you already."
            "What should I start with?"
            "How about you tell me how you became so romantic. Did you have a lot of girlfriends in the past?"
            He blushed in the dark. "You think I'm romantic?"

            "Yes, I do," you told him, looking up at him from underneath your eyelashes.
            He quickly glanced away and cleared his throat. "Well, uh, I don't know if you noticed, but my heart rate just spiked right now. You can probably guess that I haven't had much experience. I mean, I knew a girl in Taiwan, and there were some girls in Toronto…" He rubbed your arm softly. "But not like you."
            You didn't answer because you were smiling so much, but he misinterpreted your silence and said hurriedly, "I mean, I, uh, sorry…I think the night air is making me crazy," he finished lamely. 
            "It's okay," you squeezed the forearm that was holding you close. "Honestly, you make me nervous too, sometimes."
            You didn't have to look at him to know how wide he was smiling. 
            "Look, noona," he said, gesturing to the sky sadly. "There are hardly any stars."
            "What?" you asked, following his gaze. "There so many stars out! Are you blind, Henry-yah?"
            He squinted at the sky and said, "I can kinda see them. There's too much light from the city. If you want to see real stars, noona, one day I'll take you to Canada, and you can see as many stars as you want."
            "You're going to kidnap me and ship me off to Canada?"
            "One day," he said with a teasing grin. 
            "How do you speak such good Korean, then, Canada-ssi?"
            "Korean friends," he said with a shrug. "I've always been interested in Asian music cultures, and Korea's stood out. I applied to schools all over Asia, but SNU gave me the best deal. So once I decided, I started studying Korean really hard before I even got here."
            You praised him again, before a gust of wind shook through you, making your teeth chatter. Henry quickly took out the sweater he was talking about earlier and helped you put it on. It was too big, because Henry was a bit taller than you, but it was warm and cozy and smelled like him. He looked pleased at the sight of you in his clothes, but he didn't mention it as he offered, "Should I carry you now?"
            You shook your head violently. "No, no, no! I'm fine." He moved to pick you up and you backed away before he warned, "If you don't get on my back, I'm going to pick you up like a little child and throw you over my shoulder.”

            You hesitated, since you were in a skirt, but then resigned. It was dark anyway. He bent down, and you gingerly put your arms and legs around him. He supported you by your thighs and shifted to get comfortable, before asking, "Are you good?"
            "I'm good," you responded in his ear, before burying your face in his back embarrassedly. He hoped you didn't feel the shivers that when down his spine as you whispered like that in his ear, nor the way his heart was pounding—not from exertion, but from your body pressing itself against him.
            "We're almost there anyway, and you're not heavy enough to tire me, noona!"
            "Henry-yah, I'm getting sleepy," you said after a while, nodding off from the steady rhythm of his steps. 
            "I'll sing to you, then."
            "Sing a soft song, please," you said, snuggling into his back.
            "Once I see you, I go crazy…I only want you to be my baby. I want to see through your heart, but I have no way to do so…can I hold you hand? Maybe you are also thinking about me. You got me going crazy. If we were together, I would do anything…"
            "That was Chinese, wasn't it?" you mumbled into his neck, where your face was leaning.
            "Yup."
            "What does it mean?"
            He shook his head playfully, his silky orange hair tickling your face. "That's for me to know, and you never to find out."
            "I hate you."
            "No, you don't," he told you cockily. "And you wanna know why? 'Cause we're finally here!" He gently let you slide down from his back and grabbed your hand, saying excitedly, "Come on! Let's go to the top!"
            You let yourself be dragged again, allowing his energy to wake you up. You rode the elevator to the top, and once you arrived, he took you to the railing where, past all the locks dangling from the fence, you could see the lights of the city shining through. Henry was behind you as you took in the view, fumbling through his bag for another surprise. He groaned frustratedly and said sadly,             "Noona, I think I forgot the lock I bought for us back in my dorm room."
            He was so disappointed in himself. He wanted to write your name on the lock, and write his promise to try and make you happy forever, and lock it up here to keep his wish safe forever…but he had forgotten. You, on the other hand, weren't even disappointed. What could a lock mean when he had just carried you halfway up to the Namsan Tower on his own back, singing to you all the while? You were happy enough and you wanted him to feel like that as well, and you told him so, "Henry, don't be upset about the lock. They sell them here, too, but I don't even want one. You know why? You just gave me an absolutely amazing date, one that I could never forget even if you don't have it perfect, 'cause it was perfect to me, just like this."
            He took both your hands and stepped closer. He didn't have to ask if you had meant it; he could see the sincerity in your eyes and in the way your hands anxiously gripped his. He was so close…but he took a step back and breathed in deeply before either of you could move any closer. 
            "My last surprise event for you," he explained as he pulled a bag out of his bag. You raised your eyebrow, until he ped the bag and pulled out his violin. Your eyes widened in anticipation, both your eyebrows shooting up this time. You loved his playing more than anything.
            "I've been working on this since I first met you," he told you, a shy smile highlighting his handsome features in the shadows. You just gripped your hands together tightly and pressed them together as you watched in sheer disbelief and delight.
            "Everybody," Henry yelled unabashedly. "This is a song I wrote for my girlfriend. She's just that special."
            And when he began to play, everything was perfect. The stars seemed to shine as bright as the moon, no matter what Henry had said about light pollution. The night wind seemed to lighten to just a toying breeze that just cooled your skin and brushed his hair away from your eyes. The people and noise around you seemed to fade away bit by bit, until the only things that seemed left in this beautiful world were you, Henry and his music. Like the very first time you had heard him play, you were enchanted, you were cured, you were happy. Nothing crossed your mind except the thought of how wonderful Henry was…not even any thought of him.
            And the fact that this song was for you, that he had thought of only you while writing it, that he had been so full of emotions for you that he was inspired to write it…you wanted to cry right then and there.
            When he played that last note on his violin, the magic didn't fade. It was still there in his eyes, coming closer and closer as leaned in further and further, his lips just a half of a centimeter away—
            "Hey, you! Kid! You can't be playing like that up here! You're disturbing everyone!"
            Henry opened his eyes to meet yours and whispered, "Oops, looks like we gotta go." He grabbed all of his stuff quickly and made a dash for the elevator. He jammed his thumb against the button several times, barely holding back his laughter as he watched security toddle towards them. You laughed right out loud—this whole situation was ridiculous and you were giddy from happiness that you didn't even care that people were staring as your laugh bounced off the walls.

            "Go, go, go!" Henry cried as he pulled you into the elevator. You watched, almost in slow motion, almost like a movie, as the doors of the elevator slid shut on security's faces. Henry burst out laughing as soon as you two were alone. You tugged on his shirt until he was leaning against you. You could feel his body shaking as he laughed, the vibrations from his chest and throat running against your own body. You smiled against his chest as your wrapped your arms around him. Still chuckling, he rested his head on top of yours and asked, 
            "So, how about we get some real food?"

                                                                                                                                     ~*~

            It was well past midnight when you finally made it to your dorm. You had spent so much time with Henry, just walking and eating and talking the night away. You made him try almost every Korean cuisine possible, accidentally feeding him something spicy, which caused him to cry tears of pain. He told you about growing up in Canada and his favorite things about Taiwan while you told him about growing up in Gangwon and all the secrets to life in Seoul. Sometimes you would pass something, or you would say something, that would remind you of him, and you would contemplatively fall into silence. Henry, the poor boy, was still a little shy and could only gently nudge you out of your reverie with a new question or by pointing something out in the nightlife, as he tactfully avoided pressing you for details.
            But you enjoyed most of the date, more than you ever though you could, and you told Henry truthfully as he said goodnight to you in front of your dorm, "I had so much fun, RyRy. Thank you for the amazing date. I meant it when I said I would never forget it."
            His dimples appeared for the millionth time that night. "I'm glad…"
            He stepped closer to you, placing one hand on your cheek and the other on your waist. Something was burningly familiar about that position. "_____," he said your name quietly, forgetting about honorifics. His name sounded so raw in that voice, so powerful…
            You looked at him wordlessly. He leaned down and pressed his lips against yours, giving them a gentle kiss.
            You didn't respond at first, too many thoughts and emotion and memories flooding back to you. He smiled painfully as he pulled away, hurt filling his eyes when he noticed the rejection in your response—or rather, lack thereof. Not thinking, you grabbed him desperately before he could walk away and pulled him closer to you, taking his face in your hands as you kissed him, hard.
            He responded by wrapping his arms around your waist. Your hands moved from his cheeks to his neck, your body bending back slightly as he kissed you even harder. He kissed you until you couldn't breathe, his lips and tongue moving against yours in the most mind-blowing way, and you only pulled away after what felt like hours, breathing heavily. He pressed his forehead against yours and breathed, "Good night."
            6) This one's simple and self-explanatory: is he a good kisser? Henry, rule 6: check.
            You only nodded before pressing your lips to his one last time, moving them sweetly, letting them linger. You felt him smile against your kiss, but this time it was he who pulled away first. "You should sleep. It's late already…sweet dreams, noona."
            You stepped away from him shakily, dizzy from all the emotions that were overcoming you. His hands slipped gently away from your waist, and he remained rooted to the spot until you had vanished from view into your building, lingering there even a little longer.

                                                                                                                                   ~*~

            You fell into your bed as soon as you changed, exhausted from the day and the roller coaster your heart and mind just experiencecd. Henry was wonderful. Flawlessly wonderful. So what went wrong? Something was off. How could you possibly be thinking about him while Henry was kissing you? It's not like that; Henry seriously was a good kisser. Was it because he had taken your very first kiss in a very similar way?
            He moved closer, placing his hand on your cheek and the other at your waist. It was your first kiss; what were you supposed to do? Was this really happening, right now, at the front door of your parents’ house in Gangwon? His perfect face was so close, and inside you were freaking out…you didn't know what to do! Which side did you lean your head? Did your mouth smell like your dinner? Should you close your eyes now? Now? How about now? Oh my god he was so close what should you do did you breathe or stop breathing you didn't know but—
            And he kissed you. His hand holding your face steady, his other resting at your waist, he held you just like that, and you let yourself melt against him, trusting him completely.
            In the same he had, Henry had kissed you. But you didn't trust Henry; you didn't let him. Only the hurt in his face had caused you to try again, and when he kissed you then, you could feel and think of nothing but Henry.
            But it was too late: your real first kiss with him had been ruined.
            He had made you forget everything—made you think only of Henry—on the second try, but your first reaction was the wrong one. Even now, you were thinking of him rather than Henry.
            What would it take to make everything be alright?

A/N: My poor baby, Henry TT.TT He genuinely likes You, but Reader is so confused right now TT.TT The thing is, it's so obvious Reader likes Henry too...it's even obvious to her! I think she's mainly scared, and doesn't know what to do, because of her trauma in the past. I don't think I have much to say about this chapter, as it was just You and Henry, in once continuous narration. Simple~mostly we can see that Henry's still a bit shy and awkward, but he's got a genuine romantic side as well. I think that's similar to real-life, or at least my perception of him--well, him in his early stages. I think he's gotten loads more confident now ^^ I've personally always want to go to the Namsan Tower. Y'all should Google it and look up pictures of it lit up at night and all the locks hanging from it. It's lovely. I think that's it! Until next time! Hopefully that will have more of our characters and their points of view in it. I like writing from different sides of the story, rather than one long narration like this, because there's more personalities thrown in and it's more fun :DD 

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