Amusement Park

The ride to the amusement park is rather awkward. None of us dares to say anything and Minyu is still fuming. I guess she can't be patient forever when it comes to Taekyung and if he doesn't want to lose her then he needs to learn to communicate.

Not because I love her and I still have a little hope that she might love me back I will rejoice in this situation. It's hurting her and no matter what it is or how it might benefit me, I don't like anything that makes her sad. If she needs to be with Taekyung to be happy, then I'll support them. That's why I helped him before she left to Africa. That's why I told him that, because I knew it would make Minyu happy. I did it for her, not for him.

We arrive to the park and Jeremy and Minam seem to snap out of the awkward zone because they zoom out the car and inside the park. I chuckle with Minyu still by my side.

"I want to have fun today, I don't want to think of negative things. Will you help me, Oppa?" she pleads and I grab her hand for a few seconds.

"Of course," is all I say before I let go and we leave the car, too, to follow our friends.

Once she is inside the park her expression changes, she smiles brightly and I can see her excitement showing. I have no idea where the other two left, but I'm sure we'll run into them.

"Where do you wanna go first?" I ask and she thinks about it.

"Roller coaster!" she exclaims and I nod. "Then the Viking for you, okay?"

"It's a deal."

And off we go, rushing to the roller coaster queue. It's just a few minutes until we are seated in the last seats. I don't know if this is a good or bad idea. Minyu is giggling with excitement and I shrug. I guess it doesn't matter, as long as we get to ride it together. Then it starts working and her hands shoots to grab mine, squeezing tight. She's also nervous.

We climb, climb, climb and her hands grabs tighter, tighter and tighter.

We reach the top and then we're falling and we scream at the top of our lungs. We scream louder than ever and we both hold onto each other for dear life. A turn, a loop and then another and we still scream. It seems never-ending and we cry for it to stop. When it does we burst out laughing in relief. It was only a few minutes but it felt like a lifetime.

"That was crazy! My hand is numb," she says as we leave the ride.

"Mianhae," I say and she shakes her hand.

"It was for squeezing too hard. I had never rode one. Let's go to the Viking now!"

And we are running again for a new queue and a new ride. This is my favourite and the first time I invited her to the amusement park, I imagined us together riding this. I wonder if it'll live up to the expectations.

We are seated and ready to go and she's closely pressed by my side. I really don't mind and I try to soothe her before the ride finally kicks off.

"It'll be better than the roller coaster," I promise and she nods.

And I'm not lying, it's not as intense and she laughs more than screaming. She still holds on to me and by when we are done, I don't let go of her hands. Why would I? She's going to hold it for the next ride. At least that's the excuse I give myself.

We decide to go to the haunted house and on the queue we find Jeremy and Minam. Only then I let go of her hand because I don't want to cause more trouble. Minam notices that I was holding his sister hand, but he only smirks.

So we go together, they in the first car and we closely behind. As soon as we start moving, Minyu holds onto my arm and hides her face in my shoulder. I tell her that things will be fine, but then screams are heard, things jump at us and she's screaming bloody murder. Even I get scared a few times, not because the things are scary, but because they are sudden and startle me. By the time we exit the house, we are hugging and Jeremy and Minam are no different, which makes us all burst out laughing.

After that we go get something to eat and it's more and more rides. We go together, we get separated sometimes, but no matter what, we are always laughing. Minyu doesn't lose the smile at any moment and that's the icing of the cake. I knew I would have fun with her, but I didn't think it would be this great.

I'm so happy we came.

It's getting dark and we have time for one last ride it only seems fitting that we ride the Ferris wheel. Jeremy and Minam get in one capsule and we laugh that it seems they are in a date. Minam goes along and pretends to be a girl while Jeremy seems very uncomfortable. I guess he would be because he fell for Minyu when he thought she was a boy. I bet he's still a bit conflicted about it. If he realises he is gay I wouldn't mind.

It's our turn to get inside the capsule and off we go. I sit while Minyu places her hands on the glass, mesmerised with the view. I think she's far more beautiful. Now it's the only time she's not smiling, but she doesn't look sad.

"Penny for your thoughts," I say and she doesn't look back, she's still looking at the horizon.

"When I was in Ghana the kids asked me if I had a boyfriend. By then, I wasn't even sure if Hyung-nim and I were actually a couple, you know? So I didn't say yes or no and they took my blushing as a reply. Do you wanna know what they did?"

"What?" I ask, honestly curious.

"They started guessing. 'I bet he's the nicest, just like Minyu!' 'He must be warm and caring,' 'I bet he always comforts and protects her,' 'I bet he always tells her how important she is,' 'and when Minyu is feeling down, he's always cheering her up,' 'he knows her better than anyone because they are super close.'" She laughs and I only blink. "I remember so clearly all what they said because I couldn't see Taekyung's face when they described the kind of person that should be my boyfriend. He's a good person, but he's not warm and we're definitely not close," she laughs humourlessly. "You wanna know whose face I saw? Of whom I thought?" I don’t dare to ask, hope is burning in my throat and that scares me to death. She turns around and looks at me with a sad smile. "You."

I can't breathe. I can only blink as I feel my heart racing.

"They were describing you and now that I'm back their words seem to haunt me because Taekyung doesn't even treat me like a girlfriend... but you do."

She looks so sad while saying that and I don't know what to do, how to deal with this situation.

"If I were your boyfriend," I say reaching out for her hand. She takes it. "I would always hold your hand and I would feel the luckiest man alive. I would take you to all the places you haven't seen. I would do everything in my power to make you smile every day. I would sit by your side and wrap my arm around you," I carry on, pulling her next to me and doing exactly what I describe. "And I would kiss the top of your head," and I do. "And tell you how much you mean to me because I wouldn't accept that you question my feelings for you, not even for a second. I would make you feel loved every day, because that's what a boyfriend ought to do."

I look at her and her eyes are all teary, but I don't know why. I hug her tighter

"You thought of all those things, right? You really loved me," she murmurs and I kiss he top of her head.

I still love you, I say in my head. But I can't tell her that.

"I'm sorry for not loving you back."

"It's okay. It's in the past now," I say and for some reason she looks even sadder now. I cup her face and offer her my best smile, doing my best to comfort her. "Things will be better, Minyu-yah. Trust me."

Maybe it's the mood, maybe it's because all the things I've said and done that I dare make another bold move. I lean in and kiss her forehead and she freezes And then he hand shoots to her face and she's pressing her nose like doing an impression of a pig.

"What are you doing?" I ask, confused by her sudden behaviour.

"I-I um...this is--"

But right in that moment the capsule stops and it's time for us to get down. Minyu almost runs out, which confused me, but I let it go. She's cute and does weird things sometimes. I'll ask her next time.

I personally love this chapter! <3 Shinwoon, keep fighting! Don't give up! Let's cheer for our lovely oppa!

Bel, xx