Zelo couldn’t help but keep glancing at the gorgeous girl from out of the corner of his eye. She was pouting and punching the taller boy’s arm next to her. The ardent observer pouted. He wasn’t able to tell the relationship between the two and it bothered him.

            “Oppa! Aish, you’re the worst big brother I’ve ever met,” the girl huffed and stomped away. Oh. Good. So he was only the older brother.

            The abandoned boy saw him looking and rolled his eyes. “She won’t even go buy her own ice cream.” Zelo pretended to nod in agreement, but inside he was judging. What type of big brother would reject such an adorable little sister?

            He made his way down the hallway and followed the girl out the schoolyard. He stuck his hands in his pockets and whistled to himself. She didn’t turn around once. The boy sighed and tried to catch up. Maybe if he ran a little faster, he could pretend to fall in step with her.

            It was weird because they used to be good friends back in kindergarten. He clearly remembered playing dress-up with her, back in the day, before it was uncool for boys to wear costumes. He was always a soldier for some reason, and she had a special liking for a bride’s veil. Zelo blushed and recalled the fact that he had used one of the rocking horses as a mode of transportation.

            Most days, she would climb on behind him and pretend that they were getting married. He was too young to understand so he just figured he’d let the girl in the white head thingy join him. They played in the sandbox together all the time too, he reminisced. She had always been a little on the wild type. But once cooties came along, they somehow stopped talking. It didn’t matter because she wasn’t in his classes anyway.

            When they went to middle school, he shot up and his appearance must have changed because even though they were in all the same classes, she never once remembered who he was. It wasn’t because she was unfriendly. She definitely talked to him. But it was only as classmates, and even though he remembered her holding him back in the day, she obviously has forgotten.

            Middle school came and went. It was all good and all, and he sort of forgot about her. Just for a bit. Until his best friend asked her to eighth grade prom and that had made him angry. Until she decided to ditch her date and talk to her friends all night anyway.

            But this is high school and Zelo wanted a fresh start. He’s always had a crush on her, and now seemed like a good time to let out his feelings. It was now or never. Like his mother said, men who waited will never get what they wanted. And he was about to go after what he wanted.

            Zelo took larger strides to catch up, not hard, considering her lack of height. He fell into step with her quickly and it was only then that she turned. She flashed him a quick smile and dipped her head in greeting.

            He looked at the sky, took a deep breath. “You don’t remember me do you?”

            She squinted. “Pardon?”

            He sighed. “Guess not. We used to be playmates back in the day. Remember, we used to dress up and play in kindergarten?”

            Her eyebrows furrowed slightly before she grinned. “Zelo! Wow, you really grew up. I don’t even remember having to crane my neck so much to look at you! What’s up?”

            This caused him to brighten. At least she wasn’t suffering from amnesia and still knew who he was. “Aha, I shot up in middle school. Around the time you stopped talking to me too, coincidentally.”

            She stopped walking. “Oh, did I? I’m sorry. I guess it was just the whole no boys thing back then. We were so immature.” She laughed good-naturedly and he continued to walk next to her. Zelo thought hard, wanting to surprise her somehow.

            He jumped out suddenly and waved to her happily, smiling in her face. He tilted his head and blinked at her. “Hey, what do you say to some ice cream?”

            dropped open. “I was just going to get some.”

            Zelo grinned. “Perfect, then the lady can come with me.” He straightened and crooked his elbow for her to hold.

            She shyly slipped her hand through and held him lightly. “No need to be shy. I’m sure you can recall that when we were young, you dressed up as a bride and pretended we were married. I was a soldier I think. Good times.”

            Her face contorted and she gave him a weird look. “How do you even remember all of that? Gosh, one reason why I stopped talking to you was because I realized how big a fool I made of myself back then. Way to bring back those memories.”

            Zelo winked at her. “I don’t mind though. In fact, I would quite like it if you agreed to be my girlfriend. Be my girlfriend? I’ll treat you to all the ice cream you want.”

            She hesitated. “That sounds like a bribe.”

            “If you want to think of it that way. Come on, we were so meant to be. Married at age four, okay? Goodness, how much better can it get?” The bright smile never left his face as she tiptoed to kiss his cheek. 

Zelo for jjangqueen

♥ 

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