The next week flew in a flash. It was already the mid months of the year meaning all we did was take exams and look forward to another set by the end of the year. High school was indeed coming to an end and college was just right around the corner. Nothing eventful happened until Thursday when Luhan told me a bar in the next town was looking for someone to perform in their anniversary.

“It’s this Saturday,” he told me, carefully munching on his sandwich. It was lunch break and I was left to eat with him because Chanyeol was dragged by his teammates to a separate table. Kai was with the team and as usual he was complaining about school stuff and how he was itching for basketball practice that afternoon. He was complaining loudly that I could hear him even when they were a dozen tables away from us.

Chanyeol was laughing about something his teammate said and all I could think of was how he could look like an idiot, with a big toothed smile on his face and right eye twitching, and yet still make me feel sheer bliss.

“You know what? That’s the fifty fifth time I saw you looking at him today,” Luhan said, pulling me back to reality. I was stunned. I looked at him and his eyes were teasing. I started to speak but my tongue knotted in my mouth and all I could do was feel the heat slowly creeping in my cheeks as I watch Luhan laugh at my helplessness.

Luhan knew what I felt about Chanyeol even before I found it out myself. “It’s obvious in your eyes, my friend,” he said the first time. I wasn’t able to prove him wrong since Luhan had the instinct of a woman and I had no strength to lie to a friend. I feared he’d leave me after confirming his suspicion. Instead, he shrugged it off, treated me the same, and promised not to tell anyone not even to his best bud Kai. I grumbled and decided to change the topic.

“So are you coming with me during the gig?” I shot at him as I forked my noodles. He shrugged.

“I have a date.” He announced poker-faced. I stopped chewing.

“With who?”

He pointed at the table behind me. My eyes were quick to look back and saw a lone guy eating his lunch. When he saw us looking at him, he waved and smiled. Oh my god. I turned to Luhan and saw him raise his eyebrows. “Well?”

I could feel my eyeballs falling out of their sockets. “That’s the baseball player Oh Sehun, right?” I replied.

He looked at his double-decker in his hands, smiling. “Y-yup.”

“Are you out of your mind? He’s a first year!” I said almost yelling. I wanted to strangle his neck for keeping this thing from me. He looked alarmed and whispered.

“Calm down, lover boy. He’s just an experiment.”

My jaw fell to the floor. He just kept smiling at me, chewing his sandwich. I looked back to the younger guy behind us who answered me with a stare and then back to my friend in front of me. Luhan and Sehun sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g. I raised my hands in defeat.

“Good luck with your little lab rat.”

“So… I have a thing this Saturday in a bar next town. Would you like to come?” I asked Chanyeol that afternoon as we were walking home. We walked side by side along the busiest street of the town. It has been our bargain every day ever since we became close. I would wait for him after his basketball practice and then he’ll walk me home.

We were just coming out from the grocery store along the main road after buying our favorite melon ice cream when the urge to ask him rose. I looked at him. He was busy the melting sweet treat but his eyes were fixed ahead as if thinking of something. He shifted his gaze at me for a moment and then went back to consuming his ice cream.

“Of course! What time does it start?”

 “Luhan said I’ll perform around eight in the evening.”

“That’s going right through my to-do lists then.”

“You better not be late.”

“Do you want me to pick you up at your house?”

I almost melted like my ice cream. “I know how to ride a bus you know,” I said hiding evidence of my swooning.

He chuckled. “Then let’s ride the bus together.” I looked at him and found out that he was already watching me. I shrugged. Both of us fell silent. It was comfortable not saying anything, without the urge of keeping the conversation.

The wind was cold on my cheeks. We continued walking alongside each other. I looked down on our feet. I could see he was making an effort to slow down his gait for my short legs to catch up. We turned in one corner of the highway and emerged in my neighborhood. I was eagerly the last drop of my ice cream from the popsicle stick when Chanyeol suddenly asked.

“Baek have you ever fallen in love?” I was taken by surprise. I’ve never heard Chanyeol talk about love before. It was making me uneasy so I just forced myself to laugh and answered him.

“What’s with the sudden love talk?” I said looking at him. His eyes were fixed on his feet, right hand holding on to the strap of his bag while the other clasping his popsicle stick.

“Just… Answer the question.” He said almost inaudibly. I sighed. What would I tell him? I couldn’t just confess to him right here and say “Oh yes Park Chanyeol, I’ve fallen in love and it’s with you!” Just the thought of acting like a puppy lapping at his master’s face made my stomach churn.

“I think so,” I told him at last after a long battle in my mind. He studied me for a moment and then smiled. “Tell me about it.”

I told him about Maria.

“Back when I was in seventh grade. I fell in love with this beautiful girl. Her name was Maria. It was something about her eyes, I think. Or maybe the sound of her laugh I don’t actually remember anymore.” I stopped, looking for words to say. I looked at him and he was still looking at his feet. Just when I was about to ask what the matter was with his ing feet, he glanced at me. “Go on, I’m still listening,” he said. I cleared my throat and looked ahead.

“I was head over heels. If only I had the chance, maybe I would have offered her the moon in exchange of her hand.” I smiled to myself, the memory of my first love coming back from the dead. “I swore to myself I was gonna marry her.” And then I laughed softly.

“But high school came and we had to part ways. When she disappeared, so was my feelings for her,” Just like a burst bubble.

“Just like a burst bubble.”

“Oh.” was all he said after. We continued walking and all I could hear was the sound of our shoes on the pavement. I can’t help but notice that he kept his head bowed low and the concentration on his face was alarming.

“You’re acting weird today,” I finally said, making an excuse of stopping from the walk to make a distance between us. He also was quick to end the stroll. He lifted his head and looked at me wide eyed. “What?” he replied with a nervous grin. There it is. His eyes gave him away.

I didn’t notice we were already at the gate of my house until I saw Mom’s car parked on the road. Chanyeol was also too busy in his own world to realize it. He stood there awkwardly just a few steps away from me. He put his hands in his pockets simply looking at me.  I walked towards the gate and pushed it open.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked thinking the question seemed like a mockery rather than an inquiry because there was the obvious sense of oddness splashed all over his face. He was still.

That’s when I snapped.

“If you’re done driving me nuts with your silent treatment Yeol, you can now go home.”

It felt unfair because I didn’t know anything. Maybe he was merely tired or he was having a problem with his mom and dad. But that was the point of my annoyance; he wasn’t saying a word about a goddamn thing! I was going to slam the gate on his face with all the tension I was holding inside when he held me by my arm and said.

“Baek I’m sorry,” the look in his eyes was a confusion of sadness, worry and delight, it was almost too dizzying to look at.

“Earlier during basketball practice, I…”

“I think I found my Maria.”

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm back guys. Wow, my eagerness to update scares me. I have five subscribers now! Thank you very much all of you ;A; I offer you this chapter as thanks. I don't know when I'm going to post the next part just watch out for it ehehe Enjoy reading!