My hands were on my knees as I tried to catch my breath.

Slow and steady breaths, Sarang. Slow and steady.

Thank goodness I recovered quickly from that run. I may not be that much of an athlete but I still do have some stamina.

"Jung... kook..."

He turned to greet me. "Whoa! You came!" He was wearing a simple white v-neck and distressed skinny jeans. A red checkered polo was tied around his waist.

"I was afraid you won't see the message I left in your bag this morning." He motioned for me to come closer.

I took a deep breath, took one step forward, and spoke up.

"So... what did you call me here for?" I asked.

He suddenly held his hand in front of his face.

"5 minutes!"

"Eh? What?" I tilted my head in confusion.

"5 minutes." He repeated. "I just want to talk to you for 5 minutes.

"Oh... okay... about what?"

"You." He stared into my eyes. "I'd be fine with just the basics now." He smiled.

I was actually dumbfounded by what he said. "Then you get to know each other!" Reika's words echoed through my brain.

"I can tell you all that you want to know but why 5 minutes?"

"4 minutes left." He ticked off one finger from his hand. "Because I need to leave in 5 minutes to go to training."

With that, my brain became all fuzzy and I started panicking because I don't know where to start. I'm not good at these things!

"A-age... s-sixteen..." my brain was going berkserk at the moment. This is all happening too fast. A few moments back I was running like there was no tomorrow to get here and now i'm being time-pressured by this angelic boy in front of me to tell him details about myself.

"3 minutes." He ticked another finger off.

No fair!

I don't know what got into me. The next thing I know I was pushing Jungkook towards the stairs.

"Ya! What are you doing?!" He yelled.

"I-I hate time pressure. Can't we talk while on the way downstairs?"

I heard him chuckle. "Fact # 1: 16 years old. Fact # 2: hates time pressure. And yes, that's a great idea. Sorry for pressuring you."

Thought the time we spent talking to each other was quite short because we had to separate at the bus stop since he was going to a different location, I was elated that he actually took time to get to know me.

I texted Reika later that night.

"Reika! Tomorrow's a Saturday, are you busy? Let's hang out!"

"Nope. Activity free tomorrow. Where?"

"10 am. Myeongdong. Dunkin Donuts."

---------------------------------------------------------

It's a lovely day. The weather is perfect. White clouds lazily drifted across the serene blue sky. The street was bustling with people as I thought it would be today. I observed all of this while sipping on my iced latte. I felt my phone vibrate from my bag. It was Reika who was calling.

"Reika? What's up?" I asked her.

"Sarang, our club president called us to school today. She said it's urgent. I don't think I could come and meet you today. I'm really sorry." She sounded worried.

"It's okay, Reika. Don't worry about me." I tried to hide the disappointment from my voice.

"I'll try to come by later at your place tonight."

"Okay, send me a message if you're coming okay?" I said as I ended our conversation.

Now what? It'll be a pity if I go home now. I want to enjoy the weather. Since i'm already here, might as well spend some quality time with myself.

I finished my drink and left the shop. I hopped from one shop to another, doing a bit of window shopping. I started to get bored until a music store caught my attention. As I entered the shop, I noticed that vinyl records hanged from the ceiling as decorations. Posters of past and present artists adorned the walls. There was a coffee table at the corner of the shop by the window and a couple of bean bags were scattered on the floor. The shelves contained CDs from different genres of music; pop, rock, trot, hiphop, you name it... all from local artists. There was a CD player propped at each end of a shelf. Right now, soft indie music played through the shop's speakers. I never thought that there was a store in Myeongdong that had this Hongdae-ish kind of vibe. There was only one other person in the shop besides me and the old man who was busy cleaning a guitar at the counter. This guy was listening to music through the one player and had his back facing me. His back looked so familiar... Could it be? He returned the headphones to the player and turned to take a leave. I knew it.

Jungkook jumped in surprise when he saw that I was standing behind him.

"Ya!! When did you get there?! Don't go scaring people like that!" He said as he clutched his chest.

"I just got here and it isn't my intention to scare anybody, okay?" I said in a matter-of-factly voice.

"Aish... anyway, what are you doing here all alone?" He asked.

I explained to him that I was supposed to meet up with Reika today and that I decided to spend some time alone for a bit since she isn't coming.

"Hmm... then... would you mind spending time with me?" He asked.

My ears perked up with what I just heard.

I don't mind. I was about to say that, then I remembered what I said yesterday.

"I think... I do like you, Jungkook.", though I didn't say it out loud. I just thought about it to myself. It's not like he knows. There's nothing wrong with hanging out with him, right? Aish! Stop overthinking, Sarang!

"Sarang?" Jungkook waved his hand in front of my face. "It's alright if you don't want to."

"I don't mind spending time with you." I quickly said.

He beamed, "That's great! Let's stay here then." He placed his backpack on the seat by the coffee table. "Other than being a music store, this place serves great croissants and matcha lattes."

The old man, who I think is the owner, served us with two orders of lattes and croissants. The art on our drinks were too cute! I had a cat while Jungkook's was a dog. Then it struck me... OMG. Isn't this a date? Holy smokes. Breathe in. Breathe out. It's not a date right? We just happened to run into each other. It. is. not. a. date. Sarang. But it looks like one. Man you're overthinking again. Seriously, stop it.

I shook the idea off my head and  had a normal conversation with him. I was half-way through my croissant when he said,

"You know, I discovered this place when I was in my last year of primary school. I got separated from my friends one time then I wandered around Myeongdong until I found this shop. I fell in love with it the moment I set foot inside."

He said all this without looking at me. 

"This place is definitely one of the things that inspired to chase for my dreams. I've been coming here more often since I started training."

There it was again. The sparkle in his eyes as he talked about this dream of his.

"Though I know that training will be rough times, i'm having a hard time coping up with the stress. I'm getting more and more tired every meeting that sometimes I just don't see the point in coming to school anymore if i'll just doze off during class."

He still had a smile on his face but the sparkle in his eyes momentarily vanished.

"You can always talk to me whenever you're having a rough time." I told him as I offered a gentle smile.

Jungkook's cheeks turned pink. He puffed his cheeks, trying to control the pink tinge that's now turning darker in shade.

We finished our orders and left the shop.

"Let's walk around for a bit more. I still have some time to spare before my break ends." He suggested. Apparently, he trains every single day of the week.

"Sarang! Phone!" I fidgeted in surprise when he yelled and held out his hand towards me.

I gave my phone to him despite not knowing why. He returned it to me after a few seconds.

"Whenever I message or call you, you must answer. Understand?" His cheeks were starting to turn pink again as he said this.

I nodded, ecstatic with the thought that we exchanged numbers.

My phone vibrated when I was already on the bus home. It was a message from Jungkook.

"Thanks for keeping me company today.

I forgot that there was actually one thing that's worth coming to school for.

Take care! (^^)"

I blushed as I read the message from Jungkook. I hesitated on replying when I remembered that I need to reply to whatever his message is.

"That's great! Skipping school is not good (><)o

Thanks for today too.

I think i'll come back to chill out at that store again."

I hope that starting from today onwards, each day will be one step closer to Jungkook.

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Hello there, again! /sobs/

I'm finally done with this chapter! *throws confetti*

I struggled with this one. Well, I do for every one I write but hnnng khafdjksghs oh well.

I sometimes hate the perfectionist side of me gahd.

Our country is currently one ginormous sauna. I hate the weather sfm.

*sings* hot summer oh hot hot summer~ *sings*

The only part I actually enjoyed writing was the music store part. I'm not sure if I imagined a Hongdae type of shop well in the Myeongdong in my head though. It's one of my dreams to walk around Hongdae and Myeongdong!

Somebody transport me to South Korea, please. One ticket will suffice. I will love you forever hoho (*･∀･)／♡＼(･∀･*) 

(人●´ω｀●) Comments and suggestions will be loved. I won't eat you up, promise.(人●´ω｀●)

-- Merrie ／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼