❝HOLDYOU❞ 

Minutes later, Vickie came running down the stairs, straightening her gray drawstring-hem hooded jacket.  She fixed the white beanie her brother gave her on her fifteenth birthday on her head, arranging her bangs so the ends were to the right.  She patted her pockets for her phone, wallet, and keys.  When Vickie was sure she had brought those with her, she calmly waited for Jinki to meet her by the currant bush.

On the other side of the school, Jinki was busy deciding whether to wear a black jacket or a gray hooded parka over his white shirt.  He decided to wear the gray parka, since he knew how much Vickie liked the color gray.  The white shirt slid down his well-built body, which he quite wondered how he got since he didn't work out that much.  After putting on the gray parka, he remembered the closeness between him and Vickie while they were in her room.

 His thought echoed in his head:  “You are so pretty.”

It's l'espirit de l'escalier, that feeling you get after leaving a conversation, when you start thinking of all the things you should have said.  Jinki didn't know of that phrase, but that was what he was having at the moment.  He ran a hand through his hair, as though doing that would do any good.  He felt Vickie's hand on his head, even if that happened minutes ago.  Nostalgia hit him in the face; he longed to feel Vickie close to him again.

“Why are you so stupid?”  Jinki mumbled to himself as he stood in front of the mirror, combing his hair in place.

Jinki stuffed his phone, wallet, and keys into his pockets, walking towards the door.  Once he had closed the door, he twisted the doorknob to check if it was locked.  When he had accomplished that, he walked down the hallway and finally headed downstairs.

The main aisle of the school connected the boy's dormitory to the heart of the campus.  There were other students walking past him.  Their discussions mainly were of what they could do in those four days of no school, while some gossiped and whispered to their friends, “Isn't that Vickie's boyfriend?”

Jinki rolled his eyes.  After walking for more, he was about ten meters away from the bush.  He could perfectly see Vickie's silhouette waiting there for him.  He admired her everything ever since, and it seemed as though everyday she became more divine and splendid to him.  She was beautiful, so beautiful.

Vickie waved her arms up in the air when she saw Jinki.  Jinki grinned then walked faster to where Vickie was.

“I'm sorry I let you wait,”  Jinki said, smiling.

Vickie let out a giggle.  “It's alright.  Let's go?”

Jinki nodded his head, following Vickie to the east entrance-and-exit of the school, which was on the left side of the Reflecting Pool.  Jinki pushed the door, extending his arm out, telling Vickie to walk out first.  Vickie laughed, which meant Jinki's cheeks were red again.  Jinki followed Vickie out the door.

They ended up at the campus's Bellissimo Giardino, which meant ‘beautiful garden’ in Italian.  The campus founder was so fond of European things, since his wife was of French-Italian descent.  Everything that surrounded the campus was named in either French or Italian.  And for some reason unexplained, the foreign names gave the foreign-named locales at the campus a foreign feel.

The garden was in luscious green, with spots of magenta, yellow, orange, and violet flowers here and there.  There were five metal garden tables with a set of three metal chairs each scattered around.  Bush that were a meter tall formed borders around the garden, which separated Bellissimo Giardino from the Patio and the Arène, which was not even close to an arena of any sort.

Vickie and Jinki went around the garden, out to the brick sidewalk.  Straight down away from the campus, about five blocks, was the park.  It was made especially for little children, but older students crammed around the park as well once in a while.

“I'm still wondering why they canceled school today and tomorrow,”  Vickie mentioned out of nowhere.  It wasn't awkward, but the atmosphere was becoming too quiet for Vickie to resist.

“Isn't it because they wanted us to rest after taking that district wide test?”  Jinki suggested, looking over to Vickie who plucked a white daisy from the daisy bush by the sidewalk.

Vickie played with the daisy, rubbing her thumb against her index finger, which made the flower propel in her grip.  “Still, just one day is enough, but two days?”

Jinki looked ahead.  “You are kind of right.”

Vickie pulled out her wallet and placed the daisy inside.  She placed her wallet back inside her pocket and continued walking.  A couple more steps ahead and they have reached children's park. There were about seven people scattered all around the park, a normal amount of visitors on a school day.

Vickie noticed the ice cream man at one corner near the entrance of the park.  “I want ice cream!”

That was it.  Jinki had melted away.  Although not physically, his heart was thawed now.  “Wait for me!”

Jinki ran after Vickie, who was already in front of the ice cream vendor.  “Can I have a cone with one scoop of vanilla, please?”

“Make that two, sir,”  Jinki added.

The vendor gave Vickie a cone with one scoop, and another one to Jinki.  Vickie was pulling her wallet out of her pocket when Jinki handed the money to the vendor.  The vendor wished them a good day, while Vickie was dumbfounded.

“I- I was going to pay...”  Vickie stammered.

Jinki laughed, his eyes forming horizontal slits on his face.  “No, it's okay.  Let's go find a bench to sit.”

Vickie still didn't move.  Jinki clucked his tongue and grabbed her hand, walking with her to an empty bench by the slide.  And then, just as usual, Jinki realized what he had just did.  He just grabbed her hand and held it and walked with her to the bench...  Impossible.

But, just as usual, he didn't mind.

The two of them sat down on the bench, nibbling on their ice cream during this cold and breezy day.  Vickie was still pondering on Jinki paying for her ice cream.  She couldn't quite taste her ice cream completely, and the thing was that she loved vanilla-flavored ice cream.  Jinki finished his ice cream, and then suddenly Vickie handed her ice cream over to him.

“Eat it,”  Vickie demanded.

“What?”  Jinki said, blinking at Vickie.

“I said eat it.  You paid for it, didn't you?”

“Yeah, but...”

“Take it.”  Vickie grabbed Jinki's hand and placed the ice cream cone inside.

Jinki knew why Vickie was being like this.  He smirked.  “Are you sure?”

Vickie didn't respond.

Jinki nibbled on the ice cream, and when the perfect time came, he rubbed the ice cream on Vickie's nose.  Vickie gasped, mouth agape while she wiped the ice cream off her nose.  By this time, Jinki was finished with the ice cream.

“You—!”  Vickie continuously hit Jinki on the shoulder.  Jinki struggled to throw away the cone, but he did while shielding himself from Vickie's punches.  Jinki laughed, while Vickie kept on punching his shoulder, not amused at all.

“Alright, alright, I'm sorry— Ow, it hurts!  Stop it!  I'm sorry!”  Jinki continued laughing while dodging Vickie's hits.  Eventually, Vickie got tired and gradually stopped on hitting Jinki.

“You , I hate you,”  Vickie mumbled.

Jinki just laughed.  He was about to say something, when Vickie leaned her head on his shoulder.

Jinki's heart began beating rapidly, thumping against his chest like a drum being beat continuously.  He could hear each beat in his ears, echoing the message “Do you know what is going on?” that successfully reaches his brain.  Jinki's response was always “No, and I don't care.”

“Jinki-ah...”  Vickie's wispy voice sent shivers down Jinki's spine.

Jinki swallowed his saliva.  “Yes, Vickie?”

There came no response, but an even breathing that seemed to be from Vickie.  Jinki looked down to Vickie, slowly and carefully.  She was sleeping soundly.  The wind blew, then Vickie shivered.  Jinki placed his arms around her, hoping to warm her up.  Vickie stopped shivering then, her shoulders weakening restlessly.

Jinki pulled out his phone from his pocket to check the time: 07:00 P.M.  It wasn't completely dark, but the sky was of darker blue with a hint of thin gray clouds on one area and another.  People were also coming and going, and by this time there were only four people at the park.

Thirty minutes have passed and Vickie was still asleep.  It was just the two of them now, and the silence made Jinki's eyelids drop.  He tried not to, however.  Then, Vickie's phone rang, causing Vickie to immediately wake and sit straight up.  It was a text message from Jooyoung that read:

Where are you?!  It's already dark outside, woman!  You're making me worry!  Is Jinki with you?  I hope he is ;;  Get back here now, you two!!!!

“Who is it?”  Jinki asked, straightening up as well.

Vickie stood up, rubbing her eyes.  “It's Jooyoung, she texted me.  I think we should get going.”

Jinki got out of the bench.  “We should; no one's here but us.”

Vickie's eyes became wider.  “Are you serious?!”  She started looking around, and when she discovered that what Jinki said was true, she scooted closer to him.

Jinki let out a laugh.  “You're scared?  Really?”

Vickie looked up to him.  She furrowed her eyebrows and gave him the dirty eye.  She started walking away from him, leaving him alone by the bench.

“Vickie, wait up!”  Jinki ran to catch up to Vickie.

Silence fell upon them as they were on their way back to the campus.  The air felt lighter, easier to sniff, but colder and harder to acquire.  Something moved in the bush by the sidewalk that made Vickie squeal.  It also made her wrap her arms around Jinki.

Jinki made a quiet gasp.  “W- What is it?”

“Something moved over there!”  Vickie let one of her arms off of Jinki's body to point at the bush.  She embraced him tighter after she'd done that though.

The bush rustled, and then a black cat appeared jumping out of the bush, walking away from Vickie and Jinki.  Vickie sighed and stopped hugging Jinki.  Then it was her turn to realize what she just did.

“Oh, I- I'm sorry.  I- I thought it was something else there.”  Vickie stuttered, not able to meet Jinki's eyes.

Jinki smiled widely.  He's had enough hugs to gain confidence in placing his arm around Vickie's neck.  “That's okay.”

Vickie blushed.

THIS CHAPTER I SWEAR

HEY YOU GUYS! SO IT'S THE 22ND OF SEPTEMBER HERE IN HOUSTON...

AND THE 23RD IN KOREA...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KIM KIBUM!

IF YOU GUYS ARE INTERESTED IN SEEING MY MESSAGE TO HIM (LOL), CLICK HERE.

AND CLICK HERE FOR MY TUMBLR, AND HERE FOR MY TWITTER (SHAMELESS ADVERTISING I'M SORRY ;_;)

THANK YOU GUYS FOR READING!