“Mia, you okay?” she asked. “Ommo! Are you crying?”

 

I didn’t even know why I cried that time. I was just so confused. Maybe I was tired after staying back in school for the whole day. Maybe I was just excited about the song like everyone else.

I pretend to fall asleep in the bus so the girls will stop asking me questions. We are on our way to Hana’s house with the boys for a sleepover.

I hit my head on the window when the bus makes a sudden stop. It hurts. But I don’t feel like talking to anyone at that moment, so I pretended I was deep asleep.

Then I felt something warm on my cheek. I knew it was Jin Young’s hand because he was seated next to me. He titled my head and the next thing I know, I was resting on his shoulder.

I counted the number of stops the bus made when I was ‘asleep’. There were three more stops left until we reach our destination and that takes about 7minutes. So all I have to do is to be ‘asleep’ for the next 7minutes on his shoulder.

Yeah, I can do that. It’s quite easy.

Or so I thought.

 

-

Jin Young heard a thud sound and looked up from his mp3. He saw Mia’s head leaning against the window. He knew the sound came from her when the bus driver suddenly pressed on the brake. He lean forward and held her head up and placed it on his shoulders gently so that he won’t wake her up.

He stared at Mia’s face. The moonlight shines on her face and her eye lashes were shadowed on her cheek. She was asleep with her pink lips open lightly.

Jin Young caressed her cheek softly as he continued to admire her beauty. He sighed and leaned his head on top of hers, thinking back that the girls had told him Mia was crying earlier but refuse to talk about it.

“Mia.” He whispered, not knowing that she was actually awake. “Were you crying because you’re scared? Was I being too obvious?”

 

-

“Kim Yuri! Get your off my bed!”

“I’m. So. Tired. Come here, Mia.”

Yuri pulled me down and the both of us are laying down on Hana’s bed. Hana came over and pull both of us up.

“Come on, take a shower first!”

“Bath me.”

“Ew, Yuri!”

I laughed and rolled myself to the side, watching them tickling each other.

Hana’s parents are away for the weekends for a business trip. So we practically have the whole house for ourselves.

There was a sudden knock on the door.

“Come in haha stop!”

The door open and Sandeul walked in holding some towels.

He looked at the two of them then back to me.

“Hi.” I said. He laughed.

“What are you girls doing? I brought towels.”

I got up from the bed and took it. Hana and Yuri sat up and fixed their cloths.

“One of you can use the guest bathroom downstairs.” Sandeul said.

“Oh.” He turned back before going out. “Be fast.”

“Eh? Are we going somewhere?” Hana asked.

Sandeul grinned while nodding. “Who wants supper?”

 

-

I never thought that we will be going out at night, so I only brought a pair of sweatpants and an oversize shirt to sleep. And now that Sandeul suggested we go out since it’s a Friday, I have no choice but to borrow some cloths from Hana.

“Here, put these boots on.”

“Erm, do you have something flat?” I asked Hana.

“What? But you’ll look with these!”

Yuri laughed as she put on one of Hana’s boots. “Just give her sneakers.”

Hana sighed and gave me a pair of red converse. “But boots are nicer with your outfit.”

I was wearing a pair of jeans skirt with black tights, and a blue blouse underneath my sweater. My hair was still wet so I let it down.

“So! Where are we going?” Shin Woo asked, yawning.

“Food! Food! Food!” Gong Chan jumped up and down as we walked out of the house.

“Let’s just walk around.” Sandeul said.

“And take some pictures!” Hana pointed at her DSLR.

“Don’t mind her.” Yuri said. “She always brings it.”

“What? This is the first time we’re hanging out together!”

I was busy laughing until Gong Chan came up and slung his arms around my shoulders.

“Since you’re new, we’ll show you around, okay?”

I nodded.

“Hey.” Shin Woo came up and replaced Gong Chan’s position with himself. “This is my territory, I’ll bring her.”

“Hyung, not fair!”

I laughed and extended my left hand to him. He happily took it and swings it.

“Is this fair enough?” I asked.

Gong Chan nodded as the three of us walked together.

I looked over at Jin Young, who was talking with Baro while nudging each other.

This brought me back to what he said in the bus just now.

Was he confessing on stage?

 

 

We spent the next hour walking around aimlessly, eating everything edible on the streets and taking silly pictures together. This was my first time walking around the streets in the middle of the night with my friends. It was excited yet adventurous.

We bought a few snack and some drinks from the 24hours mart and headed to Han River.

The boys started having some stone throwing competition while we girls just sat down and chat.

“Goofy.” Yuri said while Baro waved at us and got tackled by Shin Woo.

“How long have you guys been together?” I asked.

She smiled shyly. “It’ll be two years in 2weeks times.”

“Wow.”

She nodded and passed me a bag of chips. “How about you? Do you have a boyfriend?”

I shook my head.

“Never had one before?” Hana asked. I nodded.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

They both gave me a suspicious look. “Really.” I assured them.

“Wow.” Hana said. “Anyways, why were you crying just now?”

I choked on chips. Yuri passed me a water bottle as she patted my back.

“Thanks.”

I didn’t answer her until she asked the next question.

“Do you like Jin Young oppa?”

This time, I choked on my water.

“Yah Hana, enough.” Yuri said, but she was laughing.

“I knew it!” Hana started clapping her hands.

“Knew what?”

“You like him don’t you, Mia?”

“Erm, well I –”

“Is that why you were crying?”

“Ommo!” Yuri tapped Hana’s shoulder. “She was too touched by the song!”

“Oppa told me Jin Young wrote this song. So it’s for you!” Hana said.

“No. I wasn’t crying because of that.”

They stopped laughing and looked at me. “What? Then why?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. Well maybe I was happy, but, I was scared too.”

“Why?”

“I, don’t know myself.”

Hana patted my back. “All you need is time. Just try to get to know him better.”

“Don’t worry.” Yuri said. “He’s very nice, he won’t hurt you.”

I just smiled and nodded at them.

It wasn’t him that I don’t trust. It was something else.

 

Speaking of him, we haven’t spoken a word since we got down the bus. I can see that he’s been avoiding me.

And it feels like Hana read my mind when she asked us to join the boys. We packed up and went down.

“Hey.” I said.

Jin Young looked up from the ground but he didn’t say anything.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Oh, erm. Looking for stones.”

I squat down and held one up. He shook his head. “That’s too big.”

“Oh.”

He stood up and I followed.

“Do you want to try?” he asked, giving me a stone.

I nodded and threw it, and it sank straight into the river.

“Fail.”

I heard him chuckled. “Watch me.”

He threw the stone and it made three water ripples before disappearing.

“How do you do that?”

He held up another stone. ”Watch.”

He threw it but this time it only bounced twice.

“Erm, not helping.” I said.

He laughed and dusts off his palms.

“Mia, about the showcase, I..”

“It’s okay.” I said.

He looked up at me. “Are you sure?”

No, I’m not.“Yes.”

“But you were looking at me didn’t you?” he asked, smiling slyly.

“You told me to.”

“Good girl.” he said, looking back at the river. “In case you’re wondering, I mean it.”

“Huh?”

He looked at me. “I mean it.”

“Erm, yeah, mean what?”

 “You don’t know?”

I knew exactly what he was talking about but I pretended to look confused.

“You mean the stones?”

He shook his head while laughing.  “Are you cold?”

“I’m okay.”

He nodded and took off his jacket.

“No, I said I’m fine.”

He smiled and came closer to me, and wrapped his jacket around my waist instead of my shoulder.

“You look uncomfortable wearing skirt.” He said and tied a knot on his jacket. He looked up and our eyes met.

“Oppa…”

“Hmm?” he smiled.

Your standing too close. “Erm..”

“Yes?” he said, hands still around my waist.

“T-thank you.”

He hummed a reply and started my hair. “You know, you look prettier with your hair down.”

I looked down to hide my blushing face, and also in case he saw me smiling.

“Hey.” He said. “Yeah?”

“Since we’re here, want to take a walk?”

“Okay.”

He held his hand out and I just blinked at him.

“Aish.” He took my hand and interlaced with his. When he did that I instantly pulled back, but he didn’t let go.

“Oppa…”

“Hmm?”

“We, erm, hand…”

“Can’t we hold hands?”

“I…er..”

He let go of my hand and scratch the back of his neck. “Sorry, I was just...sorry.”

“No, I..”

Part of me wants to hold his hand, but part of me feels weird.

Jin Young bring run his hands through his hair and then back to his face. “Aish, what is wrong with me today.” He muttured.

“No, it’s okay, I just…”

He shook his head and looked up at me. “Sorry.”

Jin Young started walking with both of his hands in his pocket, leaving me standing by myself.

Without thinking twice, I ran up to him and grab his right arm. He was stunned by my action as he turned and looked at me with his eyes widened.

Neither of us spoke when I was catching my breath.

“T-too fast.” I exhaled.

He chuckled and nodded.

“Is this okay?” I slightly point at our linked arms. He smiled but pulled away.

He pushed my fringe out of my face and placed his palm on my left cheek.

“Is this okay?” he asked me back.

My face started heating up, and my heart was pounding like mad.

He closed the distance between us and put another hand on my right cheek.

“Stop me if you don’t want me to, okay?”

Wait, what did he just said? It felt like there were drums beating in my head as he started leaning in.

I grabbed the fabric of his cloths and shut my eyes tight when I felt his body touching mine. I could feel his hot breath on my face, right above my nose.

The next thing I felt was something wet on my forehead.

He was kissing my forehead.

I tighten the grip of his shirt as he slowly pulls away.

I didn’t know what his reaction was because my eyes were still closed. He cupped the back of my head and pulled me in until I was leaning on his shoulder.

I opened my eyes and realized I was looking at his neck. My hands are still grabbing the fabric around his waist.

“Mia…” he whispered, one hand my hair while the other wrapped around my shoulder.

I shivered as he said my name again, this time pressing his cheek onto mine.

It felt so warm and safe being so close to him, No one had ever held me this way since my mother passed away. I could just stay like this for the whole night.

“You didn’t stop me.” He whispered into my ear, still my hair.

Stop him? Oh, right. Yeah, why didn’t I stop him?

I let him continued what he was doing until he kissed my cheek.

I didn’t know what came over me, I pushed him away.