Haerin takes a good long while to intimidate Yunjae with her look.  She crosses her arms and leans onto a lamppost by the street while they’re waiting for their taxi to arrive.  Yunjae is simply standing there beneath her gaze with his hands locked in front of him. 

“So how did you say tonight happened again?” Haerin starts.

‘Kyungsoo-hyung asked me about our part-time job,’ Yunjae obediently answers.

“And then?”

‘I told him about it and he asked me for a favor, to put him up as a singer, just for one night.  I asked why and he told me he wanted to tell you a lot of things he couldn’t because he’s not very good with words.  And he told me that he thinks he has feelings for you and that he’s really sorry for what he di-‘ Yunjae stops mid-sentence, and switches his gestures.  ‘What did he do to you?’

“None of your business,” Haerin waves her hand in a single gesture, closing the conversation. 

‘He asked you out in front of that much people, noona, and I don’t think it’s his first time asking you out; how can you say what you said?’

“Haerin!”

At that moment, Kyungsoo comes out of the building, calling for Haerin while their taxi arrives with a honk.  Yunjae swiftly slips into the yellow car and gestures through the window while it drives away.  ‘He has a car, tell him to drive you back! See you at home!’

“No! Wait!” Haerin calls after the taxi but even she knows for sure that she’s definitely going to need to hitch a ride other than the one that just made its way home with her brother.

“Haerin,” Kyungsoo gasps, setting his hands on his knees to catch his breath.  “Haerin, please, hear me out,”

“Kyungsoo, I-“

“Just, shush,” He stands up straight and puts a finger to her lips.  “Two years ago, there’s this girl I fell in love with.  Long story short, I got my heart broken and I couldn’t believe in anybody’s words anymore.  That’s why I like to – I mean, need to – hold your hand, because that would, somehow, I think, help me know that you’re telling the truth.  But that’s not the point.  I-I can’t say that word, ‘love’, because I don’t want to risk believing in a lie anymore.  Same goes with hearing someone say it.  It hurt a lot, Haerin.  I lost track of what trust is and I know, I know I was wrong about kissing you just because I didn’t want to hear what you said, I’m sorry, I’m really sorry, but that was because I was so scared that y-you would tell me a lie, like what Nara did, because if you do, you’d be breaking what’s left of my heart and I’ll be left with nothing,”

At the end of Kyungsoo’s monologue, Haerin’s heart had turned into butter.  She takes his finger away from her lips and reaches up to touch his hair, patting down the disheveled do.  “’You look better when you’re not even trying, Kyungsoo, same goes with your singing.  But, I’m not complaining’ Was what I was gonna say.  I wasn’t going to stop you, you didn’t have to go that fast,” She smiles at the dumbfounded expression Kyungsoo has on his face.  “But thanks, Kyungsoo.  For telling me the truth and for helping me understand you.  I know it needs a lot of nerve to say what you did and it’s okay,” Haerin searches his eyes, cupping his cheek and melting all over again when he closes his eyes and leans in to kiss her hand. 

Kyungsoo presses his forehead onto Haerin’s, breathing in her faint perfume and letting her nervous, shaky breath tickle his nose.  “I’m kissing you again, okay?” He asks, eyes on her slightly parted lips.  “I’m giving your first kiss back,”

Gently, he presses his lips onto hers for the second time, the softness no longer strange to him.  When he pulls away, Haerin lets out a content sigh.  “And this one, is your first kiss, under completely different circumstances,”

This time around, Haerin kisses back.

Her fingers slip into the tangle of his hair while his hand finds the nape of her neck, the two pressing each other closer to one another.  They break away after a while; two grinning faces slightly lacking air.  They both understand what people mean when they say they see fireworks when they kiss, even when they have their eyes closed. 

It’s like magic.

“So,” Kyungsoo says, looking into her eyes with their foreheads still stuck together.  “You ready to be my girlfriend already?”

Haerin chuckles and pecks him once more.  “You can say so,”

***

A white sedan stops by the sidewalk and the windows roll down to reveal Kyungsoo behind the wheel.  “Get on,” He grins towards Haerin, whom he had told to wait before he fetched his car from the parking lot.

“How rich are you, again?” Haerin whistles as she gets on, holding back her breath when Kyungsoo reaches over to put on her seatbelt for her.  “I-I could have done that myse-“

“Thank you, Kyungsoo,” Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow at her.

“Urgh, thanks,” Haerin huffs.

“How hard was that?” He sighs playfully, smoothly turning towards the roads.  “Where do you live?”

“I’ll, uhh,” Haerin plays with her fingers and turns towards the navigation system.  “I’ll just punch it in,”

Kyungsoo keeps on glancing at Haerin along the way and a smile plays at his lips when Haerin is caught off guard.  “What?” She stutters.

“As expected,”

“As expected, what?”

“You look pretty in white,”

“Ah!” Haerin snaps her fingers and looks down at the dress she’s wearing.  Ignoring his compliment, she starts rambling.  “Did you really buy this for me? Why did you buy this for me? It must have cost a fortune, Kyungsoo, you shouldn’t have wasted your money on-“

“Wasted my money?” Kyungsoo retorts.  “It’s an apology gift, Haerin,”

“Apology gift?” Haerin repeats his words.  “There’s no such thing as-“

“There is and it is, so shush.  It’s a thank you or nothing at all,” Kyungsoo cuts her sentence again.

“But I don’t even-“

“La la la la la la!!” Kyungsoo raises her voice over hers.  “I’m not listening!! Not listening!!”

“You’re so, so..” Haerin pulls at her hair.  “Frustrating!”

By then, Kyungsoo had started laughing.  He was chuckling at first but then he’s putting a fist to his mouth to put an end to his laughing fit, which, apparently, doesn’t stop.

Haerin snaps at him.  “I’m being angry at you right now, and you’re la-“

“It’s cute,” Kyungsoo turns to look at her as the traffic lights turn red.  “You being angry; it’s cute,”

“Cu-“ Haerin buries her face in her hands and lets out a muffled cry. 

“You’re welcome, Haerin,” Kyungsoo reaches out to ruffle her hair.  “Slowly, but surely, you should learn how to accept things and thank people,”

“Okay, but I have to-“

“No, you don’t,”

“You don’t even know what I was-“

“You don’t have to give back,” Kyungsoo grins.  “You’re completely that type of person, Haerin.  It’s all over your face,”

“Then-“

“When people are-“

“Stop,” Haerin starts repeatedly hitting his arm.  “Cutting my sentences!”

The male driving the car bursts into laughter again; failing in avoiding the attacks his girlfriend is showering him with.  “Okay! Okay!” He swats her hands away.  “Okay, I think this is you,”

When the car rolls to a stop, Haerin peers out the window to notice that they have arrived in front of her uncle’s house.  Kyungsoo is at her side of the car in no time and he pulls the door open for her, letting her out as if she were a princess.  Haerin simply grumbles at the gesture, muttering an incoherent gratitude.

“You’re welcome,” Chuckling, Kyungsoo stands in front of Haerin and pulls her into a hug.  “Good night,” He says, kissing the top of her head.

Haerin reddens at the gesture, delicately hugging him back.  “Good night,”

Kyungsoo doesn’t leave before Haerin gets to her front door.

But that was not the right thing to do.

Because at that exact moment, a muted crash comes from inside of the house, and Haerin could hear faint shouts that came from who else, if not her uncle.  She’s agitated; what if Yunjae were around her uncle? Kyungsoo has to go.  He shouldn’t be around.  He shouldn’t know.

“Leave, now,” She sternly says as she turns her head towards Kyungsoo, hands hovering over the doorknob.

Kyungsoo frowns, stepping towards Haerin instead of leaving.  She’s shifting her attitude again.  “Wha-“

“I said, leave,” Haerin flashes him a look of fear, panic, and desperation.  “Please, Kyungsoo, just, go home,”

Kyungsoo, who could not hear the voices from where he was standing, hesitates before turning around and entering his car to drive away. 

The last thing he sees is Haerin’s disappearing back as she enters her house to face whatever, or whoever caused her to have that look upon her face.