“Hey,” a voice called out. Soojung spun around on the balls of her feet to meet the sleepy brown eyes of a boy. She found him quite attractive, actually—with the dishevelled hair and pouty lips. But, Soojung knew that this was no time to daydream, and so she immediately apologized for waking the boy up from his peaceful slumber.

“No, it’s okay. You didn’t wake me. I was bound to wake up anyway, right?” he chuckled.

Soojung blushed. She never really knew what to say or how to react when she was with boys.

Although Soojung complied with what it seemed to be a sweet, shy smile, she replied, “Oh, okay. That’s good to hear. By the way, what are you doing here? Not wanting to sound rude or anything,” she asked, flustered.

Jongin let out another chuckle, “I won’t bite you, you know. Sit down- I promise I won’t hurt you,” and with those promising words, Soojung shuffled her way down beside the boy. Once she sat down, the boy happily answered her question.

“I just moved in about… three days ago? Maybe that’s why,” he nodded. He turned so that his body was facing Soojung, who was fiddling with the coil of her notebook.

“I’m Jongin by the way. Kim Jongin,” He held out a hand for her to shake. Soojung’s head shot up, as if she was startled.

“Oh, I’m Jung Soojung. Forwards it’s Jung Soojung, backwards it’s Jung Soojung! Pleasure to meet you,” she took his hand and gave him another sweet smile.

“That’s cute,” Jongin chuckled—again. The two were still holding hands, looking deeply into each other’s eyes.

Soojung was the first to break it, after she cleared . She looked away and blushed. Jongin smiled.

Awkward silence enveloped them as they avoided each other’s gaze. Jongin scratched his neck, although it wasn’t itchy. As Jongin put his arm back down, he looked at his watch. He had seen that it was getting late, as he promised his mother he would be home before lunch.  With that, Jongin bid Soojung goodbye.

Jongin then stood up and began walking out of the small forest.

Soojung let out a long breath.

It’s been a week since Soojung’s encounter with Jongin. She’s told no one about this, but the two have been seeing each other quite more often than they should. After lunch, Soojung would excuse herself to go for a walk. Of course, no one questioned this because they knew Soojung—and they knew her love to take long walks.

Soojung would only usually wait a little while—about five minutes or so—until Jongin arrives. But she had noticed that he was a few minutes late. To kill some time, Soojung took a short nap, since she and Sooyeon have been cleaning the house since this morning. As she dozed off, Soojung felt a warm breeze hit her face. Fluttering her eyes open, she noticed that Jongin was a little closer than he should be. Startled to see his face that close to hers, Soojung shot up, but only to make it halfway.

She had kissed Jongin on the lips.

As awkward as the position they may be in, the two continued to kiss. They pulled apart at the same time, catching their breath.

“I- uh, sorry,” Jongin quickly apologized. 

Soojung and Jongin had never thought that awkward silence would ever envelope them again. Jongin stayed knelt beside the bench and Soojung sat up slowly. They avoided each other’s’ gaze.

The girl heard Jongin sigh quite a few times before he uttered her name, “Soojung?”

She kept her head bowed down and a little off to the side, “Hm?”

“Jung Soojung,” he called out to her again. She still kept her head hung low. Jongin sat down beside her. Soojung slightly shifted herself away.

“Look at me,” Jongin lifted her chin gently so that her eyes could meet his. It took Jongin a while to gather up some more courage to speak again. He wanted to tell her how he felt, but the words were stuck in his throat. Soojung stared at him in anticipation.

Jongin closed his eyes for a few seconds and exhaled, “Jung Soojung, even though I’ve only known you for about a week, I- uh I’ve—I’ve been… liking you, a lot. Almost every night, I would stay up, confused about how I feel towards you,” By now, his hands made it down to hers, holding on to them lovingly.

“You fill my thoughts with… well, you.” Jongin waited patiently for an answer.

Seconds turned into what Jongin felt like was an eternity. Thinking he has scared the girl, Jongin spoke quickly, “I’m sorry, was I too sudden? Did I scare y-“

It took Soojung a while to process what had just happened, but it eventually clocked to her. She gave him a gentle peck on the lips.

“Does that answer your question?” Soojung blushed as she smiled shyly.

Jongin let out a sigh of relief, and gave out a bright smile, “Thank you! Thank you, Soojung.” He told her with a fluttering heart and a tight hug.

It was the 5^th day of Soojung’s 3^rd week. The sun was setting as she and Jongin went out for a stroll on the path beyond the benches. Both sides of relatives knew about their relationship a few days after they confessed to each other. Soojungs relatives, of course, were more excited than she was. Taemin constantly teased the two to be safe and wear condoms whenever Jongin came to visit. Unfortunately for Taemin, he would always earn a punch on the shoulder by Jongin, and a slap on the head by Soojung.

As Soojung and Jongin enjoyed their late afternoon stroll, their happiness soon disappeared as they shared a conversation they never wanted to have. Although they both knew that they had to talk about it at some point.

“Do you really have to leave in 2 days?” Jongin sulked. They walked slower; making themselves believe that time would do the same.

Soojung replied in mere whisper, “I have to go back to school…”

Soojung kicked at the rocks to distract herself from crying. Jongin stopped walking and Soojung followed suit. She turned to Jongin, silently asking him why he stopped.

Jongin looked at her longingly, “I’ll miss you.”

That’s when Soojung’s tears started to flow, no matter how hard she tried to hold it in.

“I’ll miss you too,” she choked. 

Jongin then pulled her into a kiss; one that was almost as sweet as their first one. Soojung was the first to pull away, only to suggest that they should head back. Still choking on her tears, she walked ahead.

Before Soojung went inside, Jongin gave her two pins. One pin was of a heart with an angel in the middle. On the paper it was pinned on, the title read, “Angel of Comfort.” The other pin was of an angel itself. It was titled, “I’m here for You Angel.”

More tears continued to flow from Soojung’s eyes, but as she looked up to thank Jongin, he was no longer there. It seems that he had already headed back home.

No one dared to approach Soojung as she choked on more of her tears.

Soojung cried herself to sleep that night, clutching on to the pins tightly.

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Whoop I lied ehehe. Hope this didn't make you too sad :P