Warning: Has not been beta'd.

In many major cities it is difficult to find a good stargazing location. For people like Victoria, who work and live in cities that are bustling and busy, there are too many night time events going on, making it hard to see the stars in the skies even if you’re not in the midst of the all the commotion.

Taiwan, though, has a mountain famous for its night view and natural hot springs; this mountain is called Yang Ming Mountain, and everyone agrees that it is a must see tourist attraction in the small island.

Right now Victoria has a blanket spread across the hood of her rental car as she lays on it with her face to the skies. Her arms are thrown back beneath the back of her head and her legs lie straight along the front of the hood.

It’s a little cold and the mountain is rather filled with couples but, for whatever reason, the atmosphere is just perfect.

Each and every star dangling in the sky projects a lovely band of light around it and the moon is bright and glowing violently amidst the sea of stars surrounding it.

She takes in a deep breath and inhales the fresh scent of nature—everything is so pleasant that she almost forgets that she is here alone.

“You really are here.”

This is a voice that she hasn’t heard in years; however, she recognizes it almost instantly. “Lee Donghae…”

A soft tap sounds from the hood as a young man jumps onto the front of the car, landing right next to her, and dusts his hands together while he glances over at her shocked expression.

“Surprise?” He grins, dimples appearing at the corners of his mouth as his charming eyes crinkle into a breath taking smile.

Victoria pushes herself into sitting position, her long black hair falling over her arms and hanging down her back. “How did you find me?”

“Not hard,” Donghae shrugs, extending a hand to peel away a few strands of hair that have stuck to her glossy lips. “After you accepted me on Facebook I’ve been seeing a few of your conversations with your co-workers on my homepage. One of them mentioned something about you wanting to go stargazing.”

She roots herself down, willing herself not to shy away when Donghae interacts with her. They’re not children anymore—Victoria is no longer the teenage girl who was so easily be affected by small gestures made by this person beside her.

“You’re a tourist after all,” he continues, “and this is a major tourism location.”

“How did you recognize me?” Victoria asks.

Donghae laughs, sighing and lying down on the hood with his arms beneath the back of his head and knees pulled up. “Honestly, you haven’t changed much,” he tells her, “but, to be more elaborate, I’ve kind of been keeping up with some of our old high school buddies so I’ve seen you in photos when you hang out with them, too.”

It doesn’t surprise her, really. “It was Lee Sungmin, wasn’t it?”

“How about you?” Donghae retorts with an easy smile. “How did you recognize me so easily?”

She shouldn’t have recognized him, Victoria thinks. It’s been years since Donghae had moved here to Taiwan and they haven’t kept in touch whatsoever. She hasn’t seen his photos or heard from him directly; every now and then a few friends that they share in common mention about his more current events but she tries her best to steer herself way from falling too deep into his news.

“Don’t know,” she shrugs her shoulders, turning her face away from him. “I guess I just have really good distinction skills.”

Laughing lightly, Donghae reaches up with a hand and tugs on her hair that is hanging down her back. A little irritated by his childish action, Victoria smacks his hand away and smoothens out her hair again.

“You’re just as snappy as you used to be,” Donghae chuckles.

Victoria intertwines her fingers together in her lap and stares down at her hands. “I suppose I should congratulate you.”

After a moment of silence, Donghae sits up again and asks, “Don’t you miss the days when we were the best of buds?”

“I don’t really dwell much on the past,” Victoria lies, albeit a little bitterly. “Neither do I have the intention of returning to old times, even for old time’s sake. Being your friend has not been one of my greater interests.”

He stares at her blankly for a while before breaking into a small smile. “You could be my lover then.”

In disbelief, Victoria raises her eyes from her hands to his face. Donghae is still looking directly at her, unwavering, as though what he had just asked was a question as normal as any other.

“What do you think?” Donghae asks again when he receives no reply.

Victoria eventually gathers herself and breaks her gaze away. “I think… I don’t think I have the courage to confidently say that I still like you as much as I used to.”

Six Years Ago

About a month before her family actually moved to South Korea, Victoria had already begun to take private lessons on their language.

Due to her father’s career promotion, the family had decided to migrate to the foreign country all together. South Korea as a scary place to her, therefore, even though she could hold basic conversations by the time they arrived on South Korea land, she pretended as though she didn’t speak a bit of the language.

The classroom she is assigned to remains rather quiet when the teacher is introducing her.

Her long, ink black hair falls down to her waist; her eyes are almost half the size of her face; and her petite but proper standing posture gives off a prestigious and elegant aura.

When the teacher announces her new seat, towards the middle of the class beside the window, she makes her way over as quickly and painlessly as she can.

“Nice to meet you,” the boy sitting right beside her greets.

It is a set of clear and friendly eyes that meet with hers. Victoria smiles back at him politely and then slips into her seat, organizing her textbook, notebook and pencils on the desktop.

“You’re from China?” He asks again.

This time, Victoria just stares into his face blankly.

“No Korean?” He gestures wildly, eyes round and curious. His expression almost makes her want to laugh aloud. Seeing that he probably won’t be receiving a response from her, he just grins a little wider and says, “Hi, my name is Donghae. Lee Donghae.”

She remains silent.

“Song Qian, right? That’s kind of hard to pronounce,” Donghae mutters to himself. “Do you know what chapter we’re on? Here, let me show you!”

As he reaches across the distance to her table and takes her textbook, Victoria leans back in her seat so that the two of them wouldn’t have any physical interaction.

Donghae is very friendly; he loves to smile, loves to help out, and loves it even more when he can break a smile out of her, too. In a sense, he’s like a puppy—eager to please, always wanting attention.

He had many friends, and they were a good mixture of both boys and girls. However, amongst the girls Victoria wasn’t very much welcome.

“Stay away from Donghae, you Chinese nobody.”

Even when she’s confronted by bullies, Victoria pretends as though everything they say amounts to as much as a sheet of white paper to her. Sometimes, she gets away with acting the fool; sometimes, it irritates her bullies even more.

“Do you think you’re better than us just because you’re from China? Hah.”

Funny, because they’re the only ones who find themselves better than anyone else, Victoria thinks.

Yet, seeing Donghae’s grin and hearing him speak with that deep, gentle voice made everything worth it.

Half way into the school year, Donghae accidentally sees her scores to their Korean literature and composition exam.

“Full marks,” he muses, fingers on his chin.

Victoria clears and slides the papers into a folder, tucking them away into her backpack.

“If you can speak Korean, that means you understand everything they’ve been saying to you,” Donghae interrogates. “Why haven’t you said anything about it?”

No longer being able to play dumb, Victoria bites down on her lips, her fingers curled into the material of her skirt.

“You’re being bullied, aren’t you?”

Finally, she turns her face towards him, her cheeks red and a mixture of emotions reflected in her eyes. With almost no hesitancy she asks, “How did you know?”

Donghae all but scoffs while pointing down towards her legs; her socks are soaked and the hem of her school uniform skirt is a little torn. “Last I checked, it wasn’t raining outside.”

Victoria furrows her eyebrows and looks away.

“Why haven’t you told anyone?” Donghae wants to know.

Slowly, she replies, “Who could and would be willing to protect me?”

Sighing inwardly, Donghae clears his throat and sits properly in his seat. He flips his notebook open and scribbles on a random page, tearing the sheet out and sliding it over to her. “If they look like they’ll come for you again, call me.”

Victoria finds this ironic, because Donghae is more or less one of the more common reasons that she’s being bullied in school. “I don’t need you to protect me.”

“I didn’t say I’d protect you,” Donghae teases, taking a drink out of his water bottle, “but, at the very least, I want to be a friend you can turn to when you’re in need of help.”

When she doesn’t say anything in reply, he holds out his palm.

“What?” She asks.

He tilts his head to the side cutely, eyes warm, and says, “give me your phone.”

“I don’t have one.” Victoria replies with a flat tone.

Donghae smirks. “Oh, you mean like how you don’t speak Korean? Okay.”

And when he keeps his hand outstretched, amusement emitting from him in every blink and breath he takes, Victoria can’t help but reach into her bag and hand over her phone.

With a victorious smile, Donghae clicks the phone on and dials his own number. After adding her into his contact list and addressing himself on hers, he returns the device back to her.

“There.” He sighs in feigned exhaustion.

Donghae might not have caught the small smile that gradually found its way to Victoria’s lips when he finally turned around and looked away.

Basketball practices were always Donghae’s favorite part of the entire school day.

After returning to homeroom from lunch break in the cafeteria, Donghae catches several girls rushing away from his desk area when they notice him outside of the window just as he approaches. With a quick click of his tongue, he whistles at Victoria, who’s just starting to replace her headphones into her ears.

“Psst!”

No response.

Shaking his head helplessly, Donghae leans forward into the window and taps on the top of Victoria’s head. Instantly, she lifts her chin and glares his way.

Donghae chuckles in the face of danger.

“Grab my bag. Let’s go.”

Opting to ignore him, Victoria breathes patiently and returns her attention to her notebook.

“Do I need to carry you out?” Donghae asks playfully.

Slamming her notebook shut, Victoria takes a deep breath, reaches over his desk for his backpack, and stomps out of the room. Donghae meets her at the door, taking his bag from her.

“Thanks,” he grins proudly.

Victoria swallows her anger. “You’re only making things worse.”

“Better than staying in there with all that hostility,” Donghae shrugs, “at least when you’re with me, you won’t have to worry about them.”

“You won’t always be here to protect me,” Victoria deadpans.

He thins his lips, tossing his bag over his shoulder. “Maybe, but hey, it’s the thought that counts, right?”

His words break her frown into a helpless laugh. Throwing an arm over her shoulders, Donghae pulls her into his side as they walk together towards the basketball field.

She asks, “Why are you so stubborn about wanting to be my friend?”

“I don’t know,” Donghae shrugs, “probably just because you seem like you’d make a good friend and I make friends with whoever I want.”

“Idiot,” she scoffs. “I don’t get why so many people like you.”

Donghae smiles like the idiot she thinks him to be. “Hey, it takes one to know one.”

“I’m smarter than you,” Victoria retorts.

He rolls his eyes. “Right. Yeah. Okay.”

Even though they’re becoming closer by the day, Donghae doesn’t realize that his friendly affection becomes more than just a friendly approach to Victoria. As they stitch together the gaps in their friendship, Victoria is growing a bond with him much stronger than she ever wanted.

His smile, his gentleness, his thoughtful gestures—everything he does makes her heart beat stronger than she wills for it to.

And just like that, uncontrollably, Victoria falls in love.

She’s never seen anyone as affectionate as Donghae before.

When he’s with her, he’s always hanging on her shoulders, leaning into her when he’s speaking as though she wouldn’t be able to hear him otherwise, and, if she’s not paying attention to him, he likes to reach for her fingers and tug on them until she turns his way.

He also has a thing for petting her head, like she’s a little puppy.

At first, she thought it was something she would accustom to. However, as time passes, the quickening heartbeats and urge to blush don’t really go away.

No one really thinks anything of it because Donghae is pretty much like that with everyone. He seeks attention, all the time, and he’ll do whatever it takes to get him the attention.

To Donghae, whether it is a male or female friend, he has no qualms about being touchy feely with them.

One day, she finally snaps.

“Can you stop touching me?”

He furrows his eyebrows as though it is the most unheard of request in his life. “Why?”

“Because I asked,” Victoria replies matter-of-factly.

Donghae laughs. “What? Are you made of gold or something?”

“No,” she shakes her head, staring firmly into his eyes as she proceeds to threaten him, “but if you touch me one more time, your hand will partially be made of steel.”

Unable to comprehend why she’s suddenly so upset with him, Donghae leans forward—closing the distance between them—and asks, “Are you okay? Is something wrong?”

When his face enlarges before her eyes, Victoria leans backwards against the back of her chair and sighs. “No, nothing’s wrong.”

“You’re not acting very normal lately,” Donghae frowns. “Seriously, what happened?”

You, she wants to say, you and all these stupid feelings happened. She feels tired—so tired.

“Are you being bullied again?”

Victoria scoffs. “How oblivious can you be, Lee Donghae?”

Everyone else in the classroom looks towards them because of the coldness and apathy in her tone. Donghae freezes in his seat, lips parted because he wants to say something but he doesn’t exactly know what to say—that question was rhetorical, wasn’t it?

“You don’t like me, right?” She asks again.

Donghae frowns. “Of course I do. If I didn’t like you, I wouldn’t want to be your friend.”

“If you only like me platonically, as a friend, then don’t touch me like you’re more than just a friend,” she tells him straightforwardly.

He’s even more confused. “But I interact with everybody like that.”

“Exactly,” she refutes. “I don’t want to be a part of ‘everybody’. To you, I either want to be special or nobody at all. Do you get it now?”

And he does; Donghae understands precisely what she’s saying, yet, he doesn’t have an answer.

Just like that, in front of the entire class, Victoria is met with long, dawning silence. Suddenly, she turns her eyes onto a group of girls snickering on the other end of the classroom and smiles coldly. “Are you satisfied now?” She asks.

They stare back at her, challengingly, and grin wider.

Slowly, her eyes return to the boy still leaning halfway across her table.

“Are you satisfied now?”

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A/N: So, turns out this fic will be a three part story too but it is slightly shorter than the previous 3 part fic I wrote. Haetoria gives me fluffy feels. :3