Ara woke up from her alarm clock and stretched. She looked out the window for a brief moment and then headed to the washroom to get ready. She wasn’t fully awake yet but she was going to be by the time she left her house. Her mind kept going back to her thought she had at the night of Danbi’s wedding. She closed her eyes and tried to forget about it, but she couldn’t. She would always have that question come up in her mind: Should she confess to Ji Yong?

     She shook her head, hoping that it could get out of her mind. She got dressed and headed to her car. She kept thinking about that question even while she was driving. She immediately stepped on the brakes at a red light. She shook her head, closing her eyes for a moment.

     I’m on the road right now. I can’t be thinking about something else at the same time.

     The lights turned green and Ara focused on the road and her driving. She turned into the parking lot and headed to her usual parking spot. She parked the car and turned the engine off. The low rumbling disappeared. Ara took her keys out of the ignition and leaned her head back on the headrest. She let out a sigh and got out of her car. She turned her head and her eyes widened and she went back into her car quickly. Her heart was beating fast. She saw Ji Yong heading into the company’s entrance and then she closed her eyes, resting her head on the stirring wheel.

     He was going to be in the company. She wasn’t going to be able to stop thinking about it. She took a deep, calming breath. Okay, she said. You’ve had this on your mind for a whole year. You’ve handled it well without bursting it out.

     She bit her lip. That was true but she did act a bit weird around him now. She couldn’t look him in the eye and her heart skipped a beat every time he came into her office. Well, she did that all the time before but she wouldn’t talk to him that much as she did before.

     She took a deep breath and got out of the car. She closed the door, locking her doors, and headed to the entrance.

     “Hey,” Ji Yong said behind her.

     Ara’s eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat. Ji Yong went in front of her and he was smiling. He looked so cute.

     “H-Hey,” she said, smiling back at him. She didn’t keep eye contact with him though; she was looking at the ground.

     “How are you?” he asked.

     He was so nice. Ara stifled a sigh.

     “I’m good,” she said. “How about you?”

     “I’m pretty good,” he said.

     They walked through the entrance and headed towards the elevator. Ara reached her hand out to hit the top floor and her hand brushed against Ji Yong’s. She felt her face burn up and she dropped her hand, looking away from him. He pushed the top floor for her while pushing the button for his floor.

     “Sorry,” Ara mumbled.

     Ji Yong chuckled. “That’s alright,” he said.

     The ride up to his floor was awkward. Ara could hear her heart pounding in her ears and she hoped that Ji Yong couldn’t hear it. She thought it was super loud and closed her eyes, trying to calm it down. It didn’t work.

     The elevator doors opened.

     “I’ll see you later,” Ji Yong said, smiling at her.

     “See you,” Ara said, smiling back at him.

     When the elevator doors closed, Ara let out a sigh of relief. She was worried that she would blurt out her confession and she was glad that she didn’t. She wasn’t ready for it anyways. She wasn’t ready to hear his reply either.

     The doors opened and Ara walked to her desk. She heard the clicking of her heels on the floor. She was pretty sure that she would get annoyed by them by the end of the day. She saw that Young Min was already at his desk. He looked up from organizing the papers on his desk and smiled.

     “Good morning,” he said.

     Ara smiled back. “Good morning,” she said.

     Young Min got up and placed the papers on Ara’s desk. “These are some documents that you need to check,” he said.

     She nodded her head and went straight to work. Well…almost straight to work. She looked out the window for a long time.

     “Um,” Young Min’s voice pierced through her mind. “Is something on your mind?”

     Ara blinked and looked at him. She shook her head. “Just didn’t have a lot of sleep,” she said, half truthfully. She didn’t feel comfortable telling him what she was thinking about anyways.

     She went to work after that.

~~~

     It was the end of the day. As she thought, she got annoyed by the clicking of her heels. She walked to her car.

     “Hey Ara!”

     She turned around and saw that it was Ji Yong. Her heart started beating faster and she looked at him.

     “Hey Ji Yong,” she said.

     “I was wondering if you wanted to go to the park tomorrow after work,” he said.

     Ara blinked. She didn’t know how to respond to this. Okay, well she did but she couldn’t speak. Ji Yong looked at her and tilted his head in a cute way.

     “Are you busy tomorrow?” he asked.

     She mentally shook her head. “I’m not,” she replied.

     “Did you want to go?”

     “Sure,” she replied with a smile.

     He smiled back at her. He waved and headed to his car. Ara got into her car and smiled, holding onto the stirring wheel.

~~~

     It was finally the end of the day. Ara was waiting for this the whole day. She headed for the elevator and went downstairs. She saw Ji Yong at the bottom floor and smiled at him. Her heart started beating faster like usual. He smiled back at her.

     The two walked to the nearby park. They walked around the park, taking pictures.

     Maybe I should confess to him, she thought. What’s life without some risks, right?

     They walked and found a water fountain in the middle of park. They sat down at the edge of the water fountain. Ara could hear the bird chirping and the water hitting the bottom of the basin. The water splashed onto Ara’s skin. She looked up to the sky and smiled. It was a perfect day to confess to someone you loved. Ara turned around and looked at Ji Yong. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes briefly.

     “Um,” she said.

     Ji Yong looked at her.

     Ara’s heart started beating faster. She was going to confess today. She was going to do it.

     “Ji Yong,” she said, looking at the ground.

     “What is it?” he asked, leaning forward a little.

     She looked into his eyes. “I…” She gulped. “I love you,” she said.

     He was surprised. Ara knew that he would be because it was a confession out of the blue. There was silence for a long time and Ara was starting to get worried. She bit her lip.

     “D-Do you like me too?” she asked, hesitantly.

     He looked at her. “I’m sorry,” he replied, looking at the ground.

     Ara’s heart skipped a beat. She looked away from him. She blinked rapidly to keep herself from crying. She looked back at him and forced a smile. She stood up quickly.

     “I’ll see you on Tuesday,” she said. That was the next time he was going to go work. “See ya,” she said.

     She left to her car back at the parking lot. She could hear Ji Yong calling her name but she ignored it. She started speeding up and ran to her car. She fumbled with the keys and dropped them. She bent down and picked them up. The first tear fell onto the back of her hand and she tightened her eyes. She started crying even more and she stood up. She got into her car quickly before anyone else could see her tears. She leaned her head back on her headrest and let the tears fall.

     She should have known that he wouldn’t have liked her. He didn’t really say that he hated her though.

     I guess he only thinks of me as a friend, she thought. She just hoped that she didn’t ruin their friendship too much. She wanted to still be friends.

~~~

     She arrived home. She kicked off her heels and felt the pain that was in them. She walked up to the washroom and got ready for bed. She wasn’t very hungry right now so she just headed to bed after. She pulled the covers over her and stared out the window. Her vision was going blurry and she could feel the warm tears trailing down her face. Her hand lifted up to her forehead and she started sobbing.

     I shouldn’t have said that, she said, shaking her head. I shouldn’t have. I probably ruined our friendship.

     She hoped that she didn’t. She really hoped that she didn’t. She wanted to pretend that it never happened. She wanted the whole thing at the water fountain to be different. She wanted him to have confessed his love to her too and then everything would have been good. She wouldn’t have to feel this pain that she was feeling right now. She didn’t want to feel this heartbreak anymore.

     She grabbed her iPod from the nightstand. She tried to find a song that was happy and upbeat to bring up her spirit. All that she could think of was ‘Fantastic Baby’ and she knew that wasn’t going to help her feel better because Ji Yong was in it. She closed her eyes and put away the iPod. She pulled the covers over her face, tightening her eyes and clutching her chest. She wanted the pain to disappear forever. She didn’t want to feel this. She never wanted to experience this.