“In the middle of the night?!” I exclaimed as I gaped at Kyuhyun, who had a nonchalant look on his face as he stood by the door. It was about 10pm at night, and I was in my room packing up my luggage as we were scheduled to leave in a few more days. School vacation was ending soon.

“Why not? Is there a law forbidding that?” He asked as he walked over and plopped onto my bed. He had just came into my room moments ago, demanding that I accompany him back to the tree where he had fallen off a few weeks ago immediately, saying that he wished to challenge it again.

“No,” I answered as I stood up and walked over to him, “But can’t you wait till morning? Who climbs trees in the middle of the night? It’s crazy!”

“I don’t care. I want to climb it now and you’re coming with me. No questions.” Kyuhyun threw back at me as he stood up and started pulling me after him. I struggled to escape his grasp, “Why me? Why do I have to go with you? Besides, they aren’t gonna let us out of the house! It’s too late!”

“One, I don’t know the way. Two, you will come with me, unless you want me to destroy your tree house,” He answered, moving towards the windows in my room. I was baffled. Shouldn’t he be going out through the door?

Unless…

“Wait! Cho Kyuhyun! You aren’t going to ask me to jump out of the window right?”

“You impress me with your intelligence, Pig-ni. Didn’t you just say if the rest knew they aren’t gonna let us out of the house?”

“I know, but the windows? I’ll probably break my leg!”

“This is only the second storey. I’ll go first and I’ll catch you when you come down okay?” He instructed as he swung his long legs over the window ledge. Then, turning back to me, he added, “Just… Try not to crush me,” before giving me a mischievous wink. The next second, he was gone. I dashed over to the window and glanced down fearfully, almost certain that he had broken his neck or something.

But there he was, on his feet, visibly unharmed and shining a flashlight up at me. He then motioned for me to jump down in the similar fashion. I swallowed the lump in my throat and grabbed my cell-phone that was lying on the table nearby. Then, I hurried to swing my legs over the ledge and pushed myself forward before second thoughts could sink in.

The downward descent was short, but was probably one of the scariest events in my whole life. Even when I was young, I had never attempted this feat. I managed to land on my feet, though rather shakily, and immediately felt Kyuhyun rushed forward to support me.

“At least he kept to his words,” I thought as my feet regained their stability. Without another word, Kyuhyun handed me a flashlight, and started walking off. I looked around fearfully. I had never been out so late at night in our town. I didn't have the need to because only the local bar is opened at night, thus, there was no need for me to be outside after 8pm.

“What are you waiting for?" Kyuhyun's voice floated over. He had already walked rather far away, and I scrambled over to his side immediately, not wishing to be left alone in the dark. The night air was actually very comfortable to the skin as it brought relief to the scorching heat from the day. Our path got darker and darker as we approached the mountain that the tree was on.

“Kyuhyun, we really can’t wait till tomorrow to do this?” I pleaded one last time, throwing a scared glance at the dark and ominous trail that lay before us. I saw him shining his flashlight up and down the trail a few times, seemingly feeling the same scared feelings as I did. However, he simply answered, “Come on. The longer we drag, the darker it’ll get,”

I clung on tightly to Kyuhyun’s arm as we trudged along the darkened trail. With the combined light

from both of our flashlights, our course was lit up rather nicely. I still missed my steps a couple of times due the loose pebbles that were strewn all along the path. Luckily, Kyuhyun was there to keep me from falling.

The bushes surrounding us were alive with the calls of the crickets. I tightened my grip on his arm and moved closer to him, my breathing getting harder due to my accelerated heartbeat. I felt him pat my hands a few times comfortingly before saying, “It’s okay. We’re reaching soon,”

“Can we go back please?” I pleaded again, almost whimpering this time. I was really afraid.

“We’ve already come so far. I promise once we reached you won’t be scared anymore okay?” There was a certain gentleness in his voice that made me look up at him. His well-profiled face was almost angelic in the soft glows of the moonlight.

Why am I getting a weird vibe from him tonight?

“Kyuhyun?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you okay?”

He suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned to look at me, “Do I look as if I’m not?”

“You’re… Acting a little weird tonight…”

“A little weird? Why so?”

“I don’t know how to explain it… You just… Feel weird… We’re really going climbing?”

“W-What?!” a brief look of shock crossed his face, “Of course we’re going climbing! Why else would I pull you out here in the middle of the night?”

“Why can’t we just climb it tomorrow? Won’t it be easier to climb with light? Michyeosseo?”

Kyuhyun didn’t answer me. He just turned away and started walking again, pulling me after him as my hands were still grabbing his arms. I frowned as I followed behind him unwillingly.

Something fishy was going on. Usually, he would have lots of snappy comments when I lose my balance. But tonight, he’s just keeping quiet. He was even helping me along so I wouldn’t fall! He also kept quiet when I scolded him. Something was definitely wrong.

“Why?” I asked again, adamant on getting him to explain why he wanted me to come along on a ridiculous outing at night. I did not believe that he truly wanted to climb the tree.

“Why what?”

“Why climb it in the middle of the night?”

“So if the guardian spirits really existed like you said, no one else would witness another one of my embarrassing moments,”

I stopped asking. His reply made sense, and I couldn’t think of an excuse to rebut his explanation. By this time, I could already see the tree in the distance. All of a sudden, Kyuhyun stopped and brushed my hand off his arms.

“You go up first. I’ll be there in a minute,” he commanded simply, pushing me in the direction of the tree. In the faint moonlight, I thought I saw a smirk on his face.

“Was that a smirk on your face?”

“W-What? Aniyo! Why would I be smirking for no reason?”

“That’s obviously a smirk,” I pursed my lips, “What are you planning?”

“Nothing! Just… Just go up first,” A smile escaped Kyuhyun’s face and he tried to cover it up by turning away.

“Okay, now you’re smiling. What on earth are you planning to do?”

“Nothing! I’m not planning anything! Just go there first, I’ll join you in a minute!”

“No,” I crossed my arms in irritancy, “I’m not going up without you,”

“Just go up! I promise I’m not planning anything!”

“Then why can’t we go up together?”

“I… I need to do something first,”

“I’ll wait,”

“Ju-Just go first!”

“What do you need to do?”

“You won’t want to know,”

“I think it’s more of you don’t want me to know. You’re planning something, aren’t you?”

“I’m not planning anything! Aish! Pig-ni! Can you just not be so stubborn for once? Just go up first! I won’t be a minute!”

“No,”

“Why?”

“Because you’re planning something!”

“I’m not- Okay, fine. I’m planning something, but you’re not part of the plan,”

“I’ll be damned if I believe you,”

“Okay! Fine! You want to know what I’m planning? I’ll tell you!”

“Okay. Shoot!”

“I’m planning to pee. Do you want to come along?”

“M-Mwo?! Pe… Here?! Now?!”

“Yes, I’ve been holding it in! I sure won’t want to lose control of my bladder if I’m going to fall down that tree again,”

“Are you serious?”

“You don’t believe me? Okay…” Kyuhyun pulled up his shirt and started unbuckling his belt, “I’ll do it right now.”

“ARASSO! ARASSO!” I yelled, turning away in a fluster, “You don’t have to show me! I’ll wait for you up there! You better not take too long!” I started running in the direction of the tree, cursing Kyuhyun softly under my breath as I tried to get as far away from that ert as possible.

“Whoa…” I thought as I stopped to catch my breath after running for some distance, “I really need to start working out… My stamina !” After regaining my normal respiration rate, I started walking up slowly, preparing myself for any y traps that that gamer-alcoholic might have prepared. When I got to the top of the mountain, where we had last been for our picnic, I got a big surprise.

Instead of y-traps or any of the horrible things I could imagine Kyuhyun would have prepared, I found a nice set up in its place.

To hell with it, ‘nice’ couldn’t even start describing it. It was beautiful.

Under the soft moonlight, a white satin cloth had been laid out on the rocky mountain terrain. As I approached the setup slowly, I could see that rose petals had been scattered all over the shiny material, forming a stark contrast. On it stood two tall glittering wine-glasses, as well as an unopened bottle of red wine.

However, the thing that caught my attention was the candles that were placed on the makeshift ‘table’. There were more than ten tea-light candles, each covered with a candle glass to prevent the soft flame from being extinguished. The soothing orange glow of the candles illuminated the ‘table’ gently, giving off an extremely romantic vibe under the basking of the moon. The sparkling candles were arranged such that it formed a heart shape around the cloth, with the wine bottle and glasses standing right in the middle of the heart.

I was so captivated by the beautiful sight in front of me that I took about 5 minutes to snap out of my daze. And when I did, the reality of the situation hit me like a tidal wave.

Oh my goodness.

That gamer addict brought me here…

The rare gentleness that he exhibited earlier…

That smirk on his face…

The diversion he came up with so I would come here and see this ‘surprise’…

He…

Cho Kyuhyun…

CHO KYUHYUN LIKES ME?!