How do people get closer? In the case of school, people spend seven hours in one building five days a week for the first eighteen years of their life or so with the same people and some classmates have never even talked to each other. And yet others, even if you only see them once in a blue moon, you love them with every fiber of your being.

I don't know how Jongin and I got close but after 2 months of knowing each other and 10 of being apart, we gradually became closer and basically inseparable - Or until the summer ended and he had to go back to Seoul.

I'd never had a best friend before but I wanted to call him the first one.

And by that second summer, I was scared that Jongin wouldn't come back despite his promise- or that he would forget all of our memories. But just like the year before, he walked out of that rundown town bus with a backpack slung over his shoulder dragging that nice leather suitcase of his on our dirt path.

I waited for him at the only bus stop we had in town. Miss Kwon was going to bring him to her house but I gladly volunteered. She gave me a knowing wink before I ran out the door to pick my best friend up. "Young love," I heard her mumble with a smile as I shut her screen door. I didn't care to correct her.

"Hey pretty," Jongin waved with a cigarette in his hand as soon as he saw me. I frowned a little at the sight of that devious white object but buried the disappointment down into the soles of my worn out Converse. I didn't want to start scolding him.

"Hi," I greeted with a bright smile. My cheeks got hotter as he pulled me in for a hug. Could he feel my heart practically protruding out of my chest? My mind turned blank and as white as paper.

He smelled clean and musky at the same time.

Just like he always smelled like.

"I got you something," he said, digging into his backpack when we reluctantly tore apart.

"Really?" my eyes shone and my heart raced. I was young and unexperienced, I know, but it was that art-like face of his- That angry temper and that fiery personality that made me want to only look at him for the rest of my life.

Jongin pulled out a rectangular box from his bag, "It's not much." He handed me the box and I stared at it.

"Well open it!" he urged with that smile of his. I nodded and undid the ribbon, opening up the black leather case to reveal a skinny white watch with studs around the edge of the clock.

"Woah," I gasped.

"Cause you don't even have a phone to check the time and that old clock in your room doesn't even work. You have to know when to leave the house for when we you know what," he explained, wiggling his eyebrows. When Jongin first came to the town last year, he was appalled that everything strictly closed at 10 PM. Apparently he was never used to sleeping that early so whenever the clock struck 12, he would give a whistle to notify me, and help me out the window. Then, I would show him around the dark town. We'd go to ranches and shacks near the beach, parks, play soccer on the empty field, bike around and do whatever we wanted until Jongin's phone alarm rung 1 hour before the neighborhood rooster woke everyone up.

"Thank you," I said, the ridiculously wide smile on my face hurt my cheeks.

"This is nothing, pretty. One day, I'm going to take you to Seoul and I'll show you what a real present is," he winked. I smiled even wider if that was even possible. I must've looked insane. I indeed felt insane. Insane and high off of his mere presence.

"Deal," I nodded.

Jongin ruffled my hair, "Good. Now can we go in? I'm pretty hungry." I laughed and we walked that narrow, lone path up to the neighborhood. My mom and Miss Kwon were experimenting in the kitchen again when Jongin and I entered.

"Hi eemo," Jongin greeted, dropping his bags at the front door. Miss Kwon practically ran up to Jongin, patting him on the cheek and giving him a smooch on the cheek. My mom and I beamed at the sight. It was nice to see that he had indeed matured, somewhat. His temper and impatience was the same, but he slowly grew aware of the fact that he would have to spend his summers in Busan whether he liked it or not. The fact that he changed reminded me that I spent a whole year without him. I occasionally wondered if he grew used to the fact that he had to spend two months in a small no-name town because of me.

After a mini-reunion, dinner was served and after helping Jongin unpack, we headed out for our regular night- adventures.

"It's still bright outside," Jongin noted.

I nodded, "It's always brighter for longer in the summer here." A small smile grew on my face. Maybe it was because of Jongin.

"Everything's so much better in the summer," Jongin sighed. I quickly agreed. We stopped at the top of the hill we had claimed ours and looked down at the town. The docks and blue mass of water was clearly visible from here along with the rooftops and dirt roads weaving throughout the clumps of markets and shacks. Sometimes we would climb up the tree and sit up there for hours until the black darkness blanketed the town. But today, we laid in the grass next to each other and stared up at the fluffy clouds that still remained high in the sky despite the fact that night was quickly approaching.

"Jongin?"

"Yeah?" he asked with his eyes closed. The sun shaded the silhouette of his face, highlighting his devastating handsome features. I swear that I would be able to stare at him as long as my eyes would allow me to.

"What's your family like?" I asked. Jongin's eyes opened slowly and he turned over on his side to look at me.

"My family?" he asked.

"Mhmm," I nodded.

"Well.. I have a mom and a dad and a brother," Jongin answered.

"You have a brother?"

"Yeah. But I don't see him much. He goes to a different boarding school in England or New Zealand or something."

I gave him a look, "England and New Zealand are two totally different countries."

"I don't really give a where he is as long as he doesn't get in my way," Jongin muttered. He dug into his pockets and I knew what he was going to pull out of his pocket. And as if on cue, his small lighter and cigarette came out. It seemed as if whenever he was uncomfortable or sad or upset in any way, he started to smoke.

"What?" he asked, noticing my eyes carefully studying his every move. Jongin still didn't know that I had asthma but I felt reluctant to tell him. I shook my head, "Nothing."

Jongin breathed out and smoke escaped his lips, "Do you know that I really like you? Or are you that oblivious?"

My heart started to race as I slowly faced him, "Huh?"

He let out a small chuckle, "You know what I said."

"I want to hear it again."

Jongin just smiled and shook his head, moving his arm under my neck to make an arm pillow. I remained painfully stationary the whole time. My breath caught in my throat and my heart started racing a thousand beats per second, drumming in my ears. Jongin then moved up a little so his face was directly above mine, "I'm going to kiss you now."

Oh my Lord. 

Jongin gave me a lopsided grin and lightly pushed my bangs out of my face. I wondered if he was experienced or if he was just naturally this perfect and suave. "Is that okay?" he asked. Jongin knew that he didn't have to ask me. He obviously knew the answer, he was just trying to tease me.

My cheeks grew red despite my attempts to act cool. A small, "Yea," was all that escaped my lips before he stared into my eyes softly and leaned in to match his porcelain lips onto mine. The kiss was sweet just as a first kiss was supposed to be. But there was the lingering taste of smoke from that cigarette of his that I tried to ignore. I felt Jongin's lips curve up into a smile before he pulled back and looked straight into my eyes in a loving manner.

 I felt at peace.

- - - -

"So, your lips are mine now," Jongin declared as we trod down the dirt path. Tonight was different than the last night we spent together 10 months ago. First of all, we were holding hands. Our fingers were interlocked despite the fact that the night weather was still a little humid and sticky, making our hands sweat. But Jongin didn't let go and neither did I. The whole world could crush on top of me and as long as I was still holding Jongin's hand, I wouldn't be able to feel a thing. There was something special and enchanted the night. There was a gentle, calming breeze in the air that carried the fresh smell of midnight. The stars were shining a little brighter in contrast to the pitch black blanket of night sky.

"I know," I grinned, looking up at him.

Jongin chuckled back and squeezed my hand, "So where are you taking me tonight?"

"Hm," I contemplated for a moment. There were still billions of places that I haven't showed Jongin. The corners of our town that  no one knew existed, the deserted caves and shacks near the beach, the beach itself. But tonight... "How about the ranch?" The ranch was about a five minute walk from my house and was owned by an elderly couple that had to have been married for at least 70 years now. Everyone knew the couple and the neighborhood kids played on their ranch all day long to take advantage of their tire swing and miniature playground that the couple had built for their own children back when they were young.

The darkness that wrapped around the ranch gave it a whole other feeling of eeriness. But I liked it. Jongin and I hopped the white-picket fence before having a race towards the tire swing to see who got there first. Jongin did and he forced me to push him before my arms gave out and I gave up.

"Here, sit on my lap," Jongin pat his lap with a grin on his face.

"Why?" I asked, hesitant.

"So we could swing together, stupid," he rolled his eyes. I nodded and sat on his lap as Jongin started to swing his legs up so we could rock higher. Soon enough, we were practically swinging upside down, laughing and shouting and screaming in the darkness like crazy kids.

"I feel like I'm going to fall," I shrieked.

"I got you, pretty," Jongin put his arm around me, "Just trust me, okay?"

After about thirty more minutes of swinging, Jongin's legs were tired and we were both incredibly dizzy. We sat on the top of the slide as Jongin held me in his arms and played with my hair. We talked about everything and anything. From Seoul's PC Rooms to stuffed animals to books. If someone asked Jongin and I what we talked about for the last 4 hours, we wouldn't be able to answer them due to all the topic jumping and senseless words that we babbled. But those were the conversations that strangely remained in my memories the longest.

"Why's the light turning on?" Jongin frowned.

I whipped my head to see the light that had in the couple's house, "Shoot, they woke up."

"Yeah, I was wondering why they weren't, we were screaming at the top of our lungs for an hour straight," Jongin laughed. The curtains were spread to reveal the elderly man peeking through to see who was there. Jongin and I immediately ducked, trying to blend into the shadows.

The front door was heard slamming open as the man searched the playground with his flashlight.

". . what do we do?" Jongin whispered, as frantic as I was.

"Slide down the slide," I mumbled, blurting out anything that I could think of. We quickly slid down the slide and tried to run as quiet as possible until we got all the way back home. Jongin and I looked back every now and then to see the grandpa's flashlight shining on the playground, causing both of us to erupt in laughter.

"That was close," Jongin panted as soon as we got home.

"We got away, thanks to me," I grinned. Jongin gave me a sarcastic look but ruffled my hair affectionately.

"I guess we have to go in now, then," Jongin said, taking note of the sun that was starting to rise.

"I guess so," I replied. Jongin pulled me in for a hug and gave me a soft kiss on my cheek, planting a wide smile on my face. Jongin watched as I walked in to the front door, under his spell. I slipped my shoes off silently and quietly made my way into my room.

"Hana."

I stopped in my tracks and turned around to see my enraged parents standing there in the hallway. My mom's arms were crossed and a flash of disappointment crossed my father's face.

"Uh-" I started, biting my lip.

"Where were you?" My mom demanded, grabbing me by the hair. I looked to my dad for help but he just looked down to the ground, shaking his head.

"I went out for some fresh air," I mumbled, trying to think of an excuse. I turned my head slightly to glance outside to make sure that Jongin had gone back inside.

"For this long? Do you know how worried we were?" Mom motioned towards my dad, loosening her grip on my hair. I didn't want to say that I was out with Jongin. I would definitely be in trouble and I didn't want my parents to jump to conclusions. Knowing them, I'd probably be banned from seeing him ever again.

My mom took a deep breath before releasing her hand and shook her head at me. "Don't think you're off the hook," she snapped before returning back into the bedroom with my father trailing behind her. I watched as the bedroom door slammed shut before residing into my own room.

"Hey Hana."

I turned around to see my brother, Youngwoon standing by his door with a smirk on his face, "I saw the boy."

I put on a blank face, "What are you talking about? And why aren't you sleeping?"

He just chuckled and walked over to where I was standing, putting his arm around my shoulder, "I'm talking about the boy that walked home with you and kissed you, little girl."

I rolled my tongue in my cheek and gave him a displeased look, "Why aren't you sleeping?"

"I can't sleep when mom and dad are screaming at each other," Youngwoon frowned, "And besides. I heard that guy throwing rocks at your window- don't switch the subject."

I ignored his last sentence but made a mental note to ask Jongin not to wake me up with his usual method anymore, "Were they fighting about me?"

"No- well yes. They were fighting about finances and divorce again and then they found out that you weren't home and then they started to fight about you," he replied.

I nodded.

"Hey," Youngwoon called before I could walk into my room to sleep, "Be careful, okay? I'm here only on the weekends so I can't keep an eye on you."

I smiled and nodded again before officially retreating into my room.

lol you all are so quiet. i hope you are enjoying so far ♡