“But I can't take care of her, I'm going to the beach with my friends plus I have things to do afterwards”

I whined at the phone, my cousin was asking me to take care of her daughter since she had to go somewhere very important and it was going to take 2 days before she gets back which meant that if I agree to it, my Saturday and Sunday would be a working weekend.

And I hate not enjoying my weekends.

“Please Myungsoo? She won't cause much trouble and I promise to bring you stuff when I get back, please it's just this weekend”

“Aish, I'm telling you that I can't”

“Can't you sacrifice one Saturday and Sunday for your niece?”

I could picture that puppy dog pout on her face by now but as much as I would want to help her out, I just don't have the heart to sacrifice this weekend to take care of the little girl.

“Techincally, she's not my niece you know”

I stated

“But you act like an uncle towards her so yes, she is. Please Myungsoo?”

A heavy sigh escaped my lips. What do I do? I really don't want to sacrifice these two days, I just can't, it would break my heart!

“Fine”

Yet my mouth moved to its own accord. Sometimes, I feel like I should get it checked because I think the vein that connects it to my brain is loose.

“YES! Thanks Myungsoo, I'll bring her over first thing tomorrow!”

“AJUSI!”

And here she was; the bundle of joy ran up to me and wrapped her arms around my legs, her mom following closely behind. She closed the door to my apartment and handed me a pink duffel bag which I presumed belongs to the little girl. But wait, did she call me 'ajusi'? OHGAD, I feel old.

“Please call me oppa instead, Nana-ah”

I patted her head then turned to her mom who handed me the bag. I sighed and looked at her, squinting my eyes

“You owe me”

she smiled playfully at me

“Ofcourse!”

She turned to her daughter and bent down to her level

“You be good to Myugsoo-ssi, araso?”

The little girl gave her mom one last hug and nodded her head. Her mom got up to her feet and turned to me.

“Well, I'll be back Sunday afternoon to pick her up Myungsoo, you two take care now!”

“Deh”

we both said and then she left. I turned to Nana, she gave me a small smile then ran off to the living room and the television, she watched cartoons all day and never ate while I was beginning to feel the boredom sink in.

“Oppa”

I turned to her; we were both sitting on the sofa, for some time in the day I had decided to join her in watching television.

“What?”

She gave me a pout and placed both her hands over her stomach

“I'm hungry, let's go out and eat!”

I let out a sigh and got up, she smiled and jumped off the couch and grabbed my hand as we both walked to the front door. I slipped on my shoes as she did so too then we both headed out of the door. I didn't want to go out but it beats than having to cook and afterwards clean; I asked her where she wanted to eat and she pointed towards a fast food chain.

Ofcourse, they're kids. They're not interested in fancy restaurants.

I pushed the door open and kids were running around, the place seemed packed too.

“Nana, do you want us to get a take out?”

I asked her, she was looking around and her eyes had spotted the playground area in another room section of the restaurant.

“Aniyo, I wanna play there oppa”

I sighed and bent down to her level

“But there are no more seats, let's just take the food home for now and we'll come back here tomorrow”

I swear, her face went from bubbly to gloomy. She nodded her head and hung her head low, I got up to my feet and was about to drag her along to the line at the counter when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder; I turned around and saw a girl.

A pretty girl

“N-neh?”

I asked; she was very pretty indeed but then she smiled and it felt like the heavens had opened their gates to me.

“Is she your daughter?”

she asked; I felt my face flustered. No way, does she think I look like an appa? I'M TOO YOUNG! I looked down at Nana who still had head hanging low

“A-aniyo, sh-she's my cousin's...”

“Ah ~ she's very cute; you can take my seat if you want, I'm leaving anyway”

She said, gesturing to the seat near by. Omo, she doesn't only have a nice smile but she also has a very nice heart! Myungsoo, it must be your day today! Make a move you babo!

I shook my head and a nervous smile appeared on my face

“Aniyo, it's okay! We're just gonna take the food out”

“I insist, she looks like she badly wants to play at the playground anyway”

She smiled at me again; she bent down to Nana's level and the little girl shyly scooted back behind my legs making the girl let out a light laugh.

“Don't be shy, do you want to play over there?”

she gestured towards the playground, Nana looked back at the playground before turning back to the girl and nodding her head.

“Okay but you should go sit first and wait for oppa to order the food, let's go?”

she held a hand out at Nana & the kid didn't even think twice about grabbing her hand. I watched as she walked Nana over to her seat and pulled the kid up to be seated; ofcourse, she was still a stranger anyway, she could be a kidnapper. I ordered the food as soon as I was infront of the register and all the while looking over to Nana. The girl was entertaining the kid, she looked like an umma.

A very pretty umma

when the food arrived, I grabbed the tray and walked over to where Nana was, setting the tray down while the girl stood up and grabbed her bag.

“I'll be going now”

she said and smiled; I scratched the back of my head and bowed

“Uh, thanks again”

“No problem, annyeong!”

Then she left. It took a couple of moment and a couple bites of my burger before it got batted into the back of my mind.

I didn't get her name.

Damn it.

“Ugh...”

I groaned as I exited the classroom. An arm landed on my shoulder and it just so happened to be Sungyeol; who else would it be? Since we're the same age, we're stuck with each other on every class.

“You look like a zombie; you missed all the fun!”

He said; It wasn't my fault that I had to take care of my niece. Okay, maybe it was.

“You knew that I had to do something”

“Yeah, yeah take care of your niece; psh, anyway did you finish that library paper work that sonsaengnim asked us to do?”

Damn. I forgot about that; all of a sudden it was like lightning had zapped me, I shot up and grabbed Sungyeol by his collars

“WHEN IS IT DUE?!”

Sungyeol swallowed hard and raised his hands defensively

“Hey man, chill! It's due in 3 hours, calm down -”

I didn't even let him finish, I released him and then zoomed down the hall leaving Sungyeol and made my run for the library. Did I ever mention how I hate missing out on passing things? I'm a diligent student! I must keep my record clean!

There it is.

My eyes had seen the sign: The Library

I ran up to its doors and pushed them both open; some students stopped and turned, reality slapped me in the face. I scratched the back of my neck and bowed several times, saying a quiet apology then slowly the students went back to their work. I puffed out a sigh.

It was like an anime scene of humiliation.

But enough about that, I have to get this paper done in less than 3 hours! I walked to the music book sections of the library; I don't even know why the teacher is letting us write such a paper when we're about to undergo finals already. But on the other hand...

I wonder what I should eat for dinner later?

I made a turn to go to the next aisle of books; I stopped and found the book that I needed, I reached out my hand for it when I saw another hand aiming for it too. I turned and as if by some sort of plan, this person turned to look at me too.

It was a girl.

It was her.

“It's you!”

I shrieked; she clasped a hand over my mouth and pressed another finger to her lips gesturing me to keep silent. She smiled and pulled her hand back to her side.

“It's you”

I whispered; she made a small bow and smiled.

“I see you study here too”

she said; I felt myself fluster. I looked back at the book and picked it out of the shelf before turning back to her and asked

“I'm sorry, did you need this too?”

“No but I wanted to have a look at it to see if it could support my theory paper”

My brain got disconnected from my mouth again; my mouth was connected to something else.

“I see but I need this for a paper due in 3 hours, do you mind if we grab some coffee?”

she laughed in a moderate volume and looked at me with a quite funny expression

“What?”

I swallowed the slowly building up lump in my throat and cleared it

“Sorry, I tend to say stupid things”

She looked at her watch and looked at me with a small smile

“If you want you can borrow the book from the library and we'll grab coffee, I'll help you with your paper if you want”

Myungsoo, you're so smooth! The tomatoes are jealous. Wait, what?

I nodded my head. After going through the front desk and leaving my library card, we both walked out of the library.

“I never got your name”

I told her; she stopped and turned to me as I did so too

“Mia... Kim Mia”

“Are you okay?”

I was cut off my thoughts; Sungyeol was waving a hand infront of my face and I was pulled back to reality. We were sitting at the cafeteria, he dug back in on his plate of food.

“Tsk, long distance is not for you, L”

He said, popping a cherry tomato into his mouth. I puffed out a sigh and took a sip from my carton of milk; Mia's been gone for 2 weeks on that Philippines-Korea exchange program. She's one of the students that had the privilege to learn English there.

I don't get why she had agreed to it; I can teach her the language myself. Aigo, Mia.

“I don't get you, what's up with this Mia girl anyway? Ever since she became your girlfriend you've been dazing out twice as much”

He puts the noodles in his mouth and slurped it, chewed then swallowed.

“And you always ask me about what you should do for her, should you do this or that, what's up? You're not like this with some of your exes”

I look at him sternly

“Mia is special”

he points his chopsticks at me and chuckles

“You're kidding right?”

“I'm serious, the way she smiles, the way she does things, the way she talks, the way she laughs, her hair, her eyes, her face, her whole being! Mia... is special”

Sungyeol's head tilts to the side and he looks at me with an expression that says 'You're kidding me right?' but the thing was I was serious. Cross my heart. Hope to die.

“If you two break up, you're going to be so depressed that I think I'll be the one who dies first”

“Who dies first?”

A voice comes from behind speaking in English making me and Sungyeol turn; I wanted to slap myself from that moment on, I wanted to make sure that my mind was not playing tricks on me. But then this soft kiss on the side of my forehead confirmed that I wasn't dreaming.

Mia... she was here!

“I'll leave you two, don't wanna let my lunch go to waste”

Mia laughs and bids Sungyeol goodbye while I was stuck in a daze, staring at her as if I had seen a ghost but she only smiled at me; she waved a hand infront of my face but my mouth only hung low. My hand raised and pointed a finger at her.

“Yo-you... but you're...”

She tilts her head to the side quite adorably that my face burned!

“Oppa, is that how you greet your girlfriend after 6 months of not seeing her?”

THIS IS HER! THAT'S YOUR GIRLFRIEND, I MEAN MY GIRLFRIEND IN THE FLESH!

I shot up from my seat and wrapped my arms around her, as tight as possible without hurting her, she laughed and hugged me back. I missed her warm hugs, I missed her melodic laugh but wait... what was she doing back here? I pushed her to arms length but still held her in my hands

“Wait... wasn't it supposed to be a year?”

I asked; Mia raises a brow at me

“You were dazing off when I told you, weren't you?”

Was I dazing when she told me? I remembered being shock. Must have been the shock. I blame the shock. Yep.

“It was just 6 months oppa, I come back in time for graduation; you were definitely flying away from your thoughts when I told you”

I looked at her blankly

“I was shocked”

She laughs and brings her hand to my face, gently tracing the skin under my eyes with her thumbs then she pinches my cheeks softly

“Aigo ~ you need sleep, your getting double eyelids”

I puff out and take both of her hands. I didn't know what to say actually, I never thought about what it would be like to meet her again. I'm often awkward with first meetings but who isn't? I never prepared myself. This is all so unexpected.

“Oppa, you look bothered”

her smile leaves her face and worry is in her voice; I look away from her and let go of her hands.

“Oppa?”

Now fear and anxiousness had joined the worry in her tone. I swallowed hard.

“Mia... I...”

I began

“I don't know what to say; I was not prepared for our first meeting... So...”

“You're not breaking up with me, are you?”

My eyes widened and I turned to her

“BWO!? Ofcourse not! Why would you even think about that?!”

Good thing there were only a few students at the cafeteria. She clasps a hand onto my mouth again and I remember meeting her at the library. My gaze towards her softened. She pulls her hand back.

“You're special”

I told her; her face slowly turns red and there was this unforgettable expression on her face, the way she looked so off guard and surprised made me smile.

“I don't have classes anymore, let's go to that fast food restaurant”

I told her, grabbing her hand and lead her out of the cafeteria. Mia begins to smile again after that and comfort sets in between us both; on the way to that certain restaurant, she pops up a topic.

“Oppa”

“Hm?”

I turn to her as we continue to walk down the sidewalk. The university was near that restaurant since my apartment was too; I had never returned to that place though, not until today that is.

“Why were you in that restaurant in the first place? Other than your niece”

“To meet you and be your boyfriend”

She laughs and playfully hits my shoulder

“Don't joke! I'm really curious”

“I was too lazy to cook and she wanted to go out to eat so I took her, happy?”

She nods her head in understanding and we continue to walk; she began swinging our hands along the walk, I didn't mind though because I could see that she was enjoying it. She was smiling like a kid.

“I should thank your niece oppa and your professor too”

She says; we arrive at the restaurant and unlike the first time I got there, there was not much people in it. I guess it's because it's a weekday and most kids and their parents are at school and at work; we both ordered and sat down on the same spot where she sat before and offered it to me and my niece.

I kept staring at her while she ate and she would smile at me then go back to eating.

“I like girls when they smile”

She turns to me and raises a brow at my sudden statement

“Girls are the most beautiful people in my eyes when they smile but... it takes one special girl's special smile to make me feel such special feelings and I'm thankful for that day...”

I take a bite of my burger, chewed for a few second then swallowed and took a sip of my cola. I turn to Mia with a smile while she still looks at me with confusion.

“The day I met a special girl...”

“Who?”

“Mia, Kim Mia”

a smile curves on her lips and smiles at me.

That special smile.

♥