Chp.24| Lee Ji Won’s First Kiss


Wait, for how long?Soo Jin questioned, pulling me back by the arm before we entered the Ramen restaurant.

“Almost a month,” I muttered shamelessly.

She burst into a fit of laughter, holding onto her stomach.

You see, I don’t blame Soo Jin for laughing. It was exactly what I had expected from her. I’ve been with Park Jung Sang for nearly a month and we still haven’t kissed. Jung Sang hadn’t been the way he used to be. He was less angry, more calm and so much more of a gentleman. And because of his recovering arm, he had been playing less ping-pong. However, I thought it was sweet that he was actually making time to see me. I seldom went to watch him play ping-pong. At one point, he taught me how to play the game. When he thought I couldn’t hold the racket right, he grew frustrated. You could say I did it on purpose just to piss him off so that maybe I could finally make my move. It sounds stupid, doesn’t it? The girl pissing off her own boyfriend just so she could kiss him. Anyway, moving back to the point here. The big question is, did I get to kiss him?

Seeing that he was frustrated at the time, I couldn’t help but ask, “Are you angry, Jung Sang?”

And his answer was, “No. Just frustrated.”

In the end, there was no kiss for Lee Ji Won because Jung Sang had been frustrated, not angry. Pretty sad, huh?

We walked into the restaurant and chose a seat by the window. Soo Jin plopped down on her seat first and then asked, “Nearly a month and you still haven’t kissed him yet?!”

I lowered my eyes to hide my embarrassment when I answered, “Well, he hasn’t been angry.”

Soo Jin raised her brow. “You mean, he has to be angry when you kiss him?”

I looked back up at her. She was looking at me with her curious eyes. “No---I mean. It’s hard to explain. Jung Sang wants me to kiss him every time he gets angry.”

“And how will that work?”

“Well…it’s simple, really. Whenever I feel like he’s getting angry or if he’s showing his anger, I just kiss him to calm him down.”

“Wow…and he won’t end up beating you on the side of your head for that? How sweet,” Soo Jin remarked.

I didn’t like Soo Jin’s sarcasm at all. Park Jung Sang was violent but that didn’t mean he beats girls.

Before I could defend Jung Sang, the waiter brought over the menus. He was a tall good-looking guy whom we never seen before. His light brown hair was a bit messy, hanging in his face and his white button down shirt was half-tucked at the waist. He had a rag dangling from his back pocket. I realized he had the prettiest jaw line. I think I’ve seen him from somewhere, I just couldn’t quite remember.

I caught Soo Jin staring when I pried my eyes away from him.

He smiled down at us. “How are you two doing this evening?”

“Good,” we answered in unison.

Soo Jin was still staring and I had to lightly tap her cheek. “You’re drooling.”

She quickly snapped from her dreaming state and wiped while mumbling, “I’m hungry that’s why.”

“Lee Ji Won, right?” the handsome waiter questioned suddenly.

I looked up, trying hard not to blush. “Yes. Do you know me?”

“I help at your school’s library. You probably don’t remember me, but I do see you around school. And at one point, I wanted to go up to talk to you, but I guess your boyfriend beat me to it.”

“Really?” I said, trying to remember where I had seen him.

“Your boyfriend was holding onto a basketball that day.”

My memory of that day came flooding back. The tall good-looking guy by the tree. This was the tall good-looking guy by the tree! “I remember. Yes, I think I remember,” I answered, sounding too excited.

Soo Jin’s eyes widened in reaction.

“I’m Lee Ji Hoon,” he introduced himself. “Do you girls need a few minutes to decide?”

“Yes. But while we’re deciding, could you wait here and help us decide?” Soo Jin said, fluttering her lashes from behind the menu.

“Sure,” he replied, leaning in to help Soo Jin when suddenly we were rudely interrupted by a group of girls seated a couple tables away.

“Ji Hoon, oppa,” one of the girls called flirtatiously. “Could you help us? We need some recommendations.”

Soo Jin, upon hearing this, cleared loudly to spite them. “Ji Hoon oppa. I’m feeling very cold today, I’d like something extra spicy.” She tugged at the collar of her uniform. “Something burnin’ hot.” She rolled her eyes to the side to get the girls’ reaction. They were all glaring murderously at her with their mouths silently cursing her.

While looking at Ji Hoon, I thought about what might have happened if I had met him before Jung Sang. Crap. What was I thinking? My mind switched back to Jung Sang, wondering why he was taking so long. He was late.

Ji Hoon pointed to something on the menu. “Well, you could---"

Soo Jin purposely dropped her phone. “Oops. Oppa, could you pick that up for me?”

Ji Hoon nodded and squatted down to reach for the phone. That’s when Soo Jin tilted her head to check out his rear-end and then leaned in quickly to say, “My gosh, he’s got a nice behind.”

I never thought Kim Soo Jin was even capable of flirting.

“AHH!” I yelped when I felt something touch my shoe.

“Sorry. Sorry. I didn’t see your feet there…uh…could you help me. The phone is kind of on your side, Ji Won,” I heard him say.

The next thing I knew, I was under the table on all fours, face to face with Lee Ji Hoon who was staring right back at me. My gosh, his eyes twinkled. And he smelled very good.

Soo Jin banged on the table, “YAH, it doesn’t take a dummy to pick up a phone. Hurry up. Or I’m going down there too.”

Being impatient as she was, she had to in, pushing me forward. All I saw were his lips, getting closer and closer. I had not time to react or think. I felt those very lips touched mine.

My heart melted, and the blood rushed right up to my face. This was it people. This was Ji Won’s first official kiss. And it wasn’t even with Park Jung Sang. Wahhhhhhhh!!!

Ji Hoon just stared at me, dumbfounded when he pulled away. Soo Jin was stuck her head between us, bumping her head against the table in the process. “What happened?"

Ji Hood stood up, brushing at his pants before holding out his hand toward me. When I reached for his hand, another hand slapped his aside and pulled me up.

Park Jung Sang stood there, looking questioningly at all of us and I suddenly felt like I wanted to die. Pray to God, Ji Won. Pray to God that he didn’t see that, I told myself inside my head. “Is there supposed to be some kind of party under there?” he questioned, tilting his head to the side to look under the table. He turned back to me. “How come your cheeks look so red?”

Not knowing how to answer him, I said, “I feel…I feel very weak.” With that, I placed a hand on my forehead and fell against him, shutting my eyes completely, hoping that they’d fall for my act.

“Oh no. She fainted!” I heard Soo Jin shout.

Yes, Soo Jin. Play along with me. Don’t ruin this for me.

“I can’t carry her. My arm is still sore. You. Carry her, but don’t look at her.” I heard Jung Sang demand.

“Alright,” the voice belonging to Ji Hoon agreed.

Sh*t, Ji Won. You can’t let him carry you. You made a mistake by fainting, you dummy!

Before Ji Hoon could reach me, I opened my eyes and pretended to look around absentmindedly. “Huh? What happened to me?”

Jung Sang felt my forehead. “You feel normal. What’s wrong with you?”

I put on my weak expression again. “I’m not hungry.”

Just when I said that, my stomach growled loudly.

They all looked at me, expecting some kind of explanation.

“I’m not hungry for noodles. Let’s get something else to eat,” I said, hooking my arm around Jung Sang and dragging him out, calling to Soo Jin over my shoulder. “You can eat here, Soo Jin. We’re gonna go get something else to eat.”

Once we were outside, I let out a deep breath.

Jung Sang turned to look at me. “Yah! Are you on your period or something?”

“WHAT?!” I gaped at him in shock. “Why would you ask me that?”

He looked away when he said, “Well, you fainted and you were all red and you left the restaurant in a hurry so I assume that you’re on your period.”

I slapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t ever ask a girl whether she’s on her period. You have no respect for a woman, do you?”

“It was a question.”

I crossed my arms. “A very blunt one.”

He shrugged lightly. “So.”

“Yah! Do you want me to slap you, Jung Sang?”

“Don’t ask. Do it.”

I stomp my foot against the ground. “I’m getting angry!”

He held out his arm. “Go ahead, bite me.”

I noticed it was the arm in the cast. “You idiot. I’d break my teeth biting that.”

“Well, it’s an arm.”

“A broken one.”

“Shut up.”

“You shut up.”

His brows creased together. “What did you say?”

“I told you to shut up!”

We both glared at each other, until he chuckled aloud. “Are you trying to get me angry so that you could kiss me?”

Damn. He caught me, but hey, I tried. “No.”

He laughed some more. “If you want to kiss me that bad, Ji Won. You don’t have to wait until I’m angry.”

“But if you put it that way, I don’t.” I turned from him and added, “I don’t like the fact that you make me sound desperate.”

“Look at me, Ji Won.”

I turned to meet him. He was staring right into my eyes. Stepping in closer, he kept his gaze focused on my mouth. “A kiss can’t be forced. You have to be drawn into it together. That makes it a kiss. A valuable one. Do you understand, Ji Won?”

I was lost in his gaze. “Yes.”

“Good,” he said, tilting his head down.

Just before our lips could touch, I backed my head away, taking hold of his arm. “Jung Sang. I can’t kiss you. I have a confession.”

“What?”

The guilt was eating me inside out. “It’s about what just happened inside that restaurant.”

“It has something to do with that guy, doesn’t it?”

My gaze dropped to the ground. “Yes.”

He was getting angry. “Did he try to look up your skirt?!”

“No, it’s not that.”

“What is it then?!”

I’m not very good at explanations. “Well…I kind of bump into him from under the table when were looking for Soo Jin’s phone. But because Soo Jin bumped into me, I bumped into him and I bumped into him with my lips on his…”

“What? You kissed him?!”

“I didn’t kiss him! We bumped lips!!” I argued.

“What the is that? You kissed that assh0le’s lips and you wanted me to kiss you?!”

I touched his arm. “Jung Sang calm down. I didn't want you to kiss me.”

He jerked from my grasp, rubbing at his face and said, “Did you like it?”

I couldn't believe he had asked me that. “No, of course not.”

He paced back and forth. “Good. You shouldn’t be liking it. It wasn’t even a kiss.”

It wasn’t a kiss but it was more than you’ll ever give me, Jung Sang, I wanted to say.

“Let’s just go. I don’t care anymore. I don’t care about the stupid kisses. I don’t care if you kiss me or not. I don’t want to give a damn. I don’t care!” I shouted at him, feeling the tears sprouting from my eyes.

He offered his arm. “I’m sorry I got you angry. You can bite me.”

I did.

You can say that the biting made up for the lack of kissing.