I couldn't sleep a wink last night.

Why? Well if you must know, yesterday I was invited by my high school friends to go to that new theme park on the other side of the town. I had fun because I really love amusement parks. But of course that wasn't the reason for the sleepless night. It's what happened at the end of the day inside the Ferris wheel with a certain someone.

---

It was a nice day; not so sunny that you would perspire, not so cloudy that you would think it might rain either. All in all, it was a perfect day to go out with friends to have fun and forget about school.

To say that I was excited was an understatement because I've been wishing to go to the theme park ever since it was officially open. I wasn't allowed to go out before this for several reasons; one of which was because it opened during assessment period.

We agreed to meet each other in school so we could take the bus to our destination together. Since it was a Sunday, there were a lot of people waiting on the bus stop. After skipping two full buses, we could finally get inside the public transportation. And we arrived at the theme park in an hour, which I think was excruciatingly slow.

It was only 9am but there's already a long queue in front of the ticket booths. Since I lost the Rock-Scissors-Paper Game (I'm really bad at it), I had to line up and buy the tickets for six people while my friends took pictures by the water fountain outside.

As I was walking towards the back line of the queue (which was actually pretty far from the entrance because they had to do it in such a way so people could still enter), I had a feeling that someone's following right behind me. If you want to follow me, don't do it so openly that I could see you. My leisure walk turned into a fast one the second I realised that the stalker was gaining on me.

All of the sudden, my hand was roughly pulled back and I raised the other hand up to brace myself. I turned around with my eyes closed and shouted, "I KNOW TAEKWONDO!"

"You do?"

This stalker turned out to be my friend, Ok Taecyeon. He transferred from the US last year and was admitted to my class. He's a very carefree guy and everybody likes him. A lot of my friends said that he has a crush on me but there's no proof, unless him teasing me all the time is. I might have a crush on him as well ever since he started teaching me English. But it's just a tiny crush.

"I thought I was being followed by some erted guy," I said as I hit his arm with my free hand. I bet he didn't feel a thing.

He grinned. "Sorry, I should've told you that I was going with you," he said as he let go of my hand. He looked down and saw that he left a bruise on my wrist, picking it up again to inspect it. "Ah! Does this hurt?" He started poking me with his finger.

My heart started beating properly again after it stopped for a few seconds. "No, it's all better now," I replied sarcastically as I looked up at him.

"Sorry," he repeated. "I should have known you're too weak to handle my strength."

I gave him a dry laugh and forced my hand out of his grip (more like tried to force it out). "Let's just line up." As I was about to continue walking, he stopped me again; this time by tugging on my sling bag, almost choking me on the neck. "Can't you be gentler?"

He apologised for the third time in the last five minutes and got closer to me. "Don't you need some ice for your wrist?"

I had to calm myself because he looked so sincere. "No, it's fine." He raised his eyebrow, causing me to continue, "It is! It doesn't hurt anymore."

He needed some evidence so I showed him my supposedly injured wrist. Since it's not red anymore, he nodded and spent the rest of the short journey to the long line looking around the area (he's huge so he did this with ease, but not forgetting to hold my bag so we wouldn't lose each other).

It's only less than 10 minutes later did I start a conversation with him because it got boring. We had to whisper on each other's ears since everybody on the line was talking out loud. We also had to stand so close, causing my heart to do jumping jacks.

It took us an hour to finally get the tickets in our hands. It was pretty tiring standing up all the way to the ticket booths, but I couldn't really complain as I had company. It's actually my friends who were complaining a lot. They even joked around saying that Taecyeon and I already got the tickets earlier and that we left them outside to play first. I just gave them the tickets as I made a forced laugh.

And we're finally inside the theme park!

Although it would be much better if we had gone on the weekdays instead. There were lines everywhere, on every working ride available. Even the rides for kids were also full. At that exact moment when we're placing our bags inside the locker, I was hoping that we could get on at least eight rides that day. Or I would regret coming in the first place.

"Let's just ride the thrilling ones first," one of my friends suggested. "So if we don't have time left, at least we could brag to the others."

Laughing, we walked towards the first roller coaster seen on the directory we've just seen. One of my friends had to hold onto my shirt so I wouldn't just run and leave them. I was eager for some adrenaline rush and the roller coaster was a perfect candidate to start off.

"Calm down," said Taecyeon. "You're going to rip your shirt off."

Still walking, I turned my head around to look at my friends who weren't as enthusiastic as I was. "Then hurry up! Don't waste precious time."

"There's enough time. Just walk properly or you're going to fall."

And of course fate thought it was funny, so we're still in our fifth ride at 3pm. It's that full.

"Who knew that people chose today to go here?" my friend said.

I started poking her cheek as she was the one who told me not to run because there's still time to ride everything. Yeah, right. "It's your fault," I replied. "If only we were faster."

"We still wouldn't know for sure where we'd be, anyway," she said as she took my finger off of her cheek. "Too many people today."

Knowing that she was right, I just pouted at her and stayed quiet as we waited in line for our third and last roller coaster of that day. We all looked fine – enthusiastic even – except for Taecyeon. He's been silent for a while, which was new for me. He's getting paler by the second too. I was scared that he might faint and we had to carry him to the sick bay, which would be very difficult for us to do.

"Hey, guys," Taecyeon suddenly called, "I'm going to pass this one."

"What? Why?" all of us chorused together.

He smiled. "I need to go to the toilet. I'll just wait for you guys outside." Before we could even say or respond anything, he already turned around to walk into the crowd behind us to get out.

Two hours passed and we finally experienced the ride. I managed to scream my head off even though I was worried about Taecyeon. What if he's been sick all this time and he didn't want to say anything because he wanted us to have fun?

We decided to take a break and have some late lunch (or was it early dinner?) by the small restaurant nearby. I was kind of annoyed that we had to stop but I realised that I was starving and we already went on the thrilling rides anyway. The theme park was closing down in less than three hours so we had to hurry if we wanted to take the Ferris wheel.

"Why is Ferris wheel a must?" Taecyeon asked as we started with our meals.

I had to swallow first before answering him, "People said that it's actually the best ride here. You can see everything; and I mean everything." I smiled. "Maybe even our houses too."

He narrowed his eyes at me in disbelief.

"Well, we'll just see how it is later." I paused. "You can't pass this one, by the way." I had to put up my left hand at him so he wouldn't start making up a string of excuses. "And before you say anything, I told you: it's the best ride. So you have to experience it with us." I almost said 'me' if it wasn't for the fact that our friends were laughing like crazy next to us, reminding me that I wasn't alone with Taecyeon.

Soon after, we found ourselves lining up for the Ferris wheel. It wasn't as full as we first expected so we're really grateful. I reckoned people were probably already sitting down near the exit door, waiting for the daily fireworks show to start. My friends and I thought that we could have a better view if we got into the ride. And since only two grown-ups are allowed inside the slightly small gondola, it wouldn't be crowded like waiting with the rest of the people out there.

For some reasons, two people had to hold on to Taecyeon so he wouldn't run away. Up to this minute, I still have no idea why I had to be one of the victims to do so. He's literally twice the size of both my friend and me. He could still walk even with both of us beside him.

"You know that there's no use doing this?" he said as he made his point by wiggling his arms out and about.

"Stop it," both of my friend and I said.

And he did. But maybe that's because I was glaring at him. Well, at least he's not pulling me towards him anymore. I was already nervous because we're standing much closer than the usual. So close that I could actually smell his cologne. He didn't have to shake his arms out or anything because my friend and I looked like we're hugging his arms. It was embarrassing.

"You're having fun, aren't you?" he said, causing me to look up. I realised he was talking to me. "I'm not," he continued as he pouted his lips. He then looked at me. "Why can't I just wait for you guys outside? Why can't I watch the fireworks with other people?"

I decided to joke around with him. "We don't want to lose you in the crowd." He suddenly gave me an annoyed look. "Okay, I was just kidding. But really, you can't miss this. You already passed the roller coaster when it's actually the best out of the three."

We spent the rest of the waiting time by being quiet, except for our friends. Holding his arms felt natural now. I didn't feel awkward being so close to him anymore. It felt kind of nice, to be honest.

Just before the last two of our friends entered their appointed gondola, one of them told me (more like threatened me) to never let Taecyeon go or I would have to pay the price. I was left dumbfounded and kept complaining about it until they had to get inside. They just stuck their tongues at me with smiles on their faces and went into the gondola, causing me to scowl at them and Taecyeon too since he started laughing all of the sudden.

"Shut up," I told him as I nudged him with my elbow, "or I'll force you to get on every roller coaster here."

He widened his eyes and shook his head vigorously. Amazingly he complied soon after that and suddenly held my hand very tightly, catching me off guard. The person manning the Ferris wheel even had to tell me that it's our turn to board.

Even as we took our seats inside the gondola, we still had our hands held. It was causing my heart to do some jumping jacks because we had to sit on one side (I was squeezed in between him and the wall). And it was awkward too because the only things heard were our breaths. And probably my pounding heart.

As the Ferris wheel moved slowly to let other passengers behind us to get in, I chanced a look at my companion. I was shocked, as exaggerated as that sounded, because the guy beside me had his eyes tightly shut. He looked so tense judging by the way he sat.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, full of worry. We're already inside our gondola so it'd be hard if we had to get down immediately.

He just shook his head, still with his eyes closed.

"Come on," I said. "I know there's something wrong."

He didn't answer me again. So I huffed out in annoyance and made the move to let go of my hand from his. But he mumbled, "Please don't," and instead tightened his grip on me.

I blinked as I realised something. I managed to turn to my right despite the very small space so I could face him better. "Taecyeon," I called him, "By any chance, are you acrophobic?"

This time he nodded, causing me to widen my eyes and mouth at the new information. Who knew that a huge guy like him could have a fear in heights? "I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have dragged you here." I felt awful.

He started to inhale and exhale some air, calming himself down. "Just ... don't let go."

"I won't." And to make him relax, I put both of my hands on top of his. "You could've told us, you know, that you're scared of heights."

To my surprise, he snorted. "And you guys would think that I was kidding," he replied. "Nobody would believe a guy like me is acrophobic. It's kind of ironic."

"I would."

He softly laughed. "You're the most enthusiastic one, so of course I wouldn't ruin the fun for you."

You're too nice. "Don't take this the wrong way, but why did you come with us then? You know what's in store for you."

"I thought that today was the day to overcome my fear. I guess not." He paused. "The roller coasters were fine because I was strapped in. This one –" He shook his head.

All of the sudden, I heard the pitter-patter of the rain against our gondola. It started to drizzle, causing the Ferris wheel to move even slower. I'm not scared of heights, but it was still pretty terrifying being up so close to the sky.

"Wait, what's that sound?" he asked, not even bothering to open his eyes for just a mere second. "Don't tell me: it's raining?" By this time, he was already frozen in his seat.

"Yeah, unfortunately it is." I sighed. "I guess there's no fireworks show today."

"Ya~ That's not the point. Of all days, it has to rain now when we're inside this stupid thing," he said. I could see a few drops of sweat pouring down the side of his face. He's holding my hand even tighter now, if that's possible.

"Well, at least we're covered from the rain or we'll get sick."

He shook his head. "We won't. Unless you think about getting sick."

"Even if it's a storm?" I teased.

He managed to crack a smile. "You must be crazy then," he said in English before continuing in Korean, "It's better to just stay under a shady place than being in a risky situation where you can get washed away by the storm."

We talked more about rain; about his adventures when he was just a small kid. This time, Taecyeon was already brave enough to open his eyes but I had to sit on the opposite side of him so he wouldn't have to pay attention to the view outside (it was better to sit separately anyway). We were no longer holding hands and yet I still felt nervous even more than before. The way he stared at me was mesmerising. I couldn't even look away, even when my heart was beating like crazy.

A few minutes had passed (the Ferris wheel ride was longer than I thought) and he looked more comfortable now. I decided to ask him the question I've been holding since I learned the fact that he's acrophobic.

"Hey, did something happen when you were small?"

He tilted his head slightly. "What do you mean?"

"You know, what caused you to have acrophobia?"

Instead of answering, he looked down to play with his hands. He opened his mouth a few seconds later, fully hoping that he would tell me, but he only said, "I'll tell you one day. Not now."

Getting the feeling that it wasn't a good memory, I nodded. "Take your time. I'll be there when you're ready." To show him that I was serious, I leaned in to pat his hand that's on his knee.

"Thank you," he said as he looked at me and gave me the most genuine smile I've ever seen on his face. "I'm really glad that I'm stuck here with you, instead of the others."

My heart skipped a beat. "You're just saying that," I managed to answer.

"No, I'm serious," he replied. "I bet you when I tell them I have this fear, they would make fun of me. But you didn't." He put his free hand on top of mine. "That's what I like about you."

It skipped again. Wait. Did he just say that he likes me?

"You're different from the others," he continued. "You know when to get serious and when to play. And you're really kind to me especially when you helped me on my first day in school."

---

And now here I am, on my way to school. After contemplating for hours, I decided to just go there. Avoiding him doesn't solve anything, does it? And my parents would freak out if I just stayed in bed for absolutely no reason.

Before you ask me any questions, well it's not like I don't want to meet him because I do; I want to give him my answer even though he didn't really ask for it. I just think that that's the right thing to do. I haven't confessed to anyone before, that's why I'm really shy right now. Not to mention, confused too.

How does it really work actually? I just go up to him and confess? Are we going out after the confession? Or is one of us supposed to ask if we want to date or not?

Ah, this is so confusing!

"Hey."

I stop messing up my hair as soon as I heard the new voice. I turn my face to my left just a bit to see him walking beside me. We usually see each other on the way so it shouldn't be a surprise. But for the first time ever, my heart starts pounding really fast at the sight of his smile this early morning.

"Hi," I manage to reply, complete with a shy smile.

THE END

A/N: I heard Taecyeon has a fear of heights. I don't know how bad it is, so hopefully I didn't exaggerate his characters too much. Anyway thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy this chapter :) Please don't forget to comment.