“Yah, Seo Jun. Your two weeks of experience seems like a fraud. FRAUD I TELL YOU!” I screamed, stomped and threw his ‘new and better’ map to the ground. We were lost for two straight hours and he seemed to be leading the both of us into circles around the town. I got furious, this was an awful idea.

He groaned and walked closer, locked his arms around my arm and dragged me away. “Honestly Sara, your temper is unbelievable.”  He was whining but at the same time, that warm cheeky smile of his was still bright on his face despite my revolt.

“Are you sick of me now?” I asked, slightly scared of his answer. “Nahh, see! Here we are. We made it, thanks to your rapid, wrathful speed walking.”

He laughed and held on to my shoulders again, shifting me to allow the scenery go past my anger. “I’m sorry; I’ve been stuck at filming ever since a few days ago. It’s a fraud, I admit.” He apologized silently, scratching his head as he looked into my eyes all puppy-eyed. But I was entranced, I couldn’t see him. In fact, I could not see anything other than the view of the sea.

There we were, running around in circles when the sea was just a few blocks away. And when we found it, it took my breath away. It was blue, sparkly under the sunlight and the sounds of the waves were like melodies to my ears.

“It’s beautiful.” I whispered in one breath.

Seo Jun turned around and took a look at the sea. But seconds after that i noticed that his stare went straight back to my face. I was too busy to bother, but I had wished that instead of this charming man, Changjo was by my side.

But that was wrong. I was the one who wanted this, to travel all alone.

Still, oblivious to my thoughts, all he did was smile brightly to our accomplishment. He pulled me closer to the water and told me to take off my shoes. I said no. The sea was inviting of course, but damn, I knew how cold it was. So he took off his shoes and pulled up his pants, and ran into the water.

“Omo! Seo Jun ssi, aren’t you cold?” I screamed, somewhat amused.

“It is, but I don’t mind. It’s an escape, and when on the run….” He looked behind, took a deep breath before he continued. “We should really just go all the way.” I felt a thud right inside my ribcage. He was right. This was an escape, and I should have left everything behind.

“Okay, I’m coming in!!” There was no one but us in the water. Some old lady looked at us ridiculously and probably thought we were crazy but it didn’t matter. We were kings and queens of the world at that moment. I took out my camera, pulled Seo Jun closer and we screamed.

“KIMCHEE!!!!!!!”

Seo Jun laughed immediately after a few shots. Then he took charge of the camera and snapped my pictures instead. He would chase me around, splashing water at my face and right at that moment, he’d take pictures too. We were laughing, cursing all at the same time. We made it. We escaped.

 He didn’t care when I pushed him to the ground because I didn’t mind when he shoved me into the water. We were ruthless to each other and it didn’t matter. We got out of the water completely drenched. Seo Jun flipped his hair and it splashed all over the place. “Yargh! You lunatic.”  I cursed but it was funny too. “Come here.” He demanded, pulling me closer as he took his small towel and rubbed it all over my face. “Om…Ya!...Seo…I’m no….t a kid!” I screamed, clawing his hands away. He laughed like crazy, bowing as he did and looked at me with his ‘barely-there’ eyes.

“Haha, where did your eyes go?” I teased.

He stopped smiling, looking completely thrown with my sarcasm. Then, still staring at my face, he walked ahead into a small boutique. He picked out a few t-shirts in a flash and went to the cashier, smiling cheekily like he always does. The cashier blushed while she folded the shirts and smiled back, really coy. I rolled my eyes as I see him chattering away with the girl, who was FYI a decade younger than him. Well, maybe not decades, but younger indeed.

He walked in strange way after that, kind of speeding up to my face as he lifted out the shirts. “Here, clothes.” He explained as a smile grew on his face and warmth struck me right in the heart. I laughed as I took one from his hands and traced it on my shoulders. “Pretty.”

I complimented, but really it was the fact that the size had matched me perfectly that made me so happy.

We hopped out of the store in a couple shirts and it got me surprised for a few seconds. “Hmm. I see what you did there Seo Jun-ssi. Evil…..” I nudged him on the shoulder as we head to the ice cream shop. He pulled me closer as he put his arm on my shoulder and just like that, we walked into the restaurant. We ordered a lot of food, some we have never seen before. But it tasted amazing; I guess after a few hours of walking and swimming around in the freezing water, we got famished.

Then we strolled around the shops and streets for real. Seo Jun would take random things and put them  on me, laughing hysterically crazy afterwards. I on the other hand, would just snap some pictures…. His pictures included.

Seo Jun was like a work of art. He is very handsome and that made the act all too natural. Taking his pictures felt so good. I found my inspiration. He was like a piece of home that I have found in this foreign world and though, I never knew him, he felt like it too. His smile, his tone of voice and up to the way he ate, everything reminded me of home. But at the same time, he was different too. “Hello? ~” he waved in front of my face, looking pretty worried.

“I’m fine.” I answered, walking a bit further from him as I turn off the camera’s preview. He caught up with me and locked his arms around mine. I smiled, it was cute.

“Hmm… you know, let’s go somewhere.” He said, tracking the map with his fingers, and reciting something silently. “Found it!” he jumped, looking at me with this incredible sense of curiosity and excitement. He tugged on my sleeves as he waved for a cab and pulling me in once one stopped in front of us.

He was talking to the driver pretty fluently and I could only catch one a few bits of pieces that I could actually understand. The rest, were just conversations I was not a part of. They were laughing and pointing around, while all I could make out was that we were somewhere along the highway. Annoyed, I pulled on Seo Jun’s collar, heaving him behind. “Wae?” he asked. I smiled at the staring cabdriver; who was probably scared of me at that moment. “Where are you two man taking me?” I asked calmly, but I was sure my eyes were shooting sharp lasers into his eyes. He smiled sweetly at me and leaned back, mumbling some Japanese towards the driver.

I looked at him again, now really furious. “Don’t give me that look. Here, what I can tell you is that you just trust me and thank me later.” His hands reached up to my forehead, and swiftly, so gently, he swept a few strands of loose hair away from my face.

“Can you trust me?” He asked again. “Yeah.” 

This man was pushing boundaries with me, but somehow I was unable to draw the lines. Whatever he did, it felt natural and comforting that I just couldn’t disagree. He was charming, dangerously charming to be honest.This needs to end.

This flutter I felt that moment, it was true and it was not for Changjo too. Seo Jun had charmed his way into my heart and it was real. “Seo Jun” I looked into his eyes, this time, this one moment where I had let myself go, I looked at him the way my heart wanted to. He seemed a bit surprised, but just like always, he smiled back and whispered “Uhm?” so sweetly back to me. “You’re a very dangerous man. And honestly, I’m not really a good girl. So…”

I looked down to my shoes, garnering the strength I need, the ones I have. “So we’re here. Look.” Seo Jun pulled my hands and we went out of the car, leaving me no time to form my words.

We stopped in front of a huge haunted house. It was a Japanese moon festival, filled with subtle lights from the lanterns hanged besides the homemade stalls. The air smelled like food and firecrackers, while the street was filled with people of all age. Children, teens and up to the elderly; and none of them had looked blue. Everyone was smiling. This place had looked like the happiest place on earth. Fascination had swept me of my feet as my mouth opened wide with a smile looking at this incredible view.  Seo Jun giggled once he realized how foolish I had look but he didn’t a say word, he just dragged me to the haunted house like a good man he is.

 

 

“This is their highlight. The Haunted houseeeeeee….” He mocked, annoyingly whispering at my ears.

“Let’s go inside!” he took my hand again, this time putting it in his pocket. I wouldn’t argue, it was a cold night and his warm jacket had helped me a whole bunch. I inched closer to his arms as we went deeper into what look like a huge, pitch black pathway. Seo Jun took note and walked ahead, letting me hide behind his shoulders. “It is going to be alright. You trust me right?” I nodded on his shoulders, too scared to even breathe.

Then just as we opened this huge, incredibly eerie door that was painted with fake blood, the horror started. I screamed relentlessly his into jacket and slowly, as we trembled and stumbled our way almost to the end of the path, I realized that I was not behind him anymore.

Both of my hands were clasping tightly around his waist and my cheeks pressed against his chest, which was pretty solid as they rose up and down. His arms on the other hand, were pulling me closer and were shielding my face from all the scary views. I pulled my face away, “Uhm… Seo Jun…s..ssi.” He gulped, finally noticing how intimate we were acting. But he didn’t let go and as a huge, terrifying monster came our way and screamed at our face, he pulled me way closer and closed my eyes with his left hands. I trembled in his arms, but just as he pressed his face on my neck, shuddering, a wave of emotion had clouded my fears and at that moment, everything was a blur.

I could feel his trembling lips on my skin and his hot breath grazing upon it. Electricity shot down my spine as blood rushed to my face. Biting my lips, I held my breath waiting for this torture to end. And after that one eternal moment, he pulled back.

“Sorry.” He sighed, watching the monsters hiding away into the curtains and leaving us both alone. “I really wanted to come here and I thought I could handle it, but I guess not.” His cheeks grew red, embarrassed at his own fears. I smiled and held onto his fingers. “It’s okay. It was fun.” I smiled. He grinned warmly and clasped onto my hand. Then gradually he inched closer, deleting the space between our face. I held my breath again, eyes wide open as I stared at his pink, full lips getting dangerously closer. The air thinned out the moment he stopped just a few inches away. I felt his hot, hot breath on my chin and everything was melting away.

Any closer and I would have been a cheater. I doubted that he would stop, this gap we have between us was so fragile, all we need was a bit of push and I would have been in his arms, locking our lips.

But he stopped.

“I’m so happy today to a point where I just want to kiss you. But I won’t.” he whispered that near my lips, still maintaining this microscopic gap we have. He was daunting me. I would have growled, annoyed and offended but when he raised his free hands and swept his fingers down my hair, my anger melted into the cold air. Carefully, trying not to disrupt this almost non-existing space we had between us, I asked him why.

“So that you can keep being the good girl I know and go back to your waiting boyfriend. But, I’ll make you remember me forever. I swear.” He spoke as he looked up into my eyes and smiled warmly.

Breathing in, he stepped back and gave me a huge relief. I took a deep breath and looked at him finally able to think straight. What he said had stabbed into my mind and I was quickly regretting what just happened. But I couldn’t blame him too; I liked him enough to allow it to happen. He was different.

He was not my boyfriend and yet, he felt right. Everything just fell into place then.

“You don’t have to. I’ll never forget this Seo Jun. I’ll never….. forget you.”  I replied, patting him on his shoulders, a sign that what we had was ending. The day was ending and so were we. He didn’t touch me at all afterwards, just sometimes stealing peeks at my face. I did the same, scrolling through my camera’s gallery and looking at the many pictures of him.

 

 

 

The taxi stopped right beside our hotels. We got off, silence filling the air as he paid for the cab and watched it drove away. Farewell was eating into our emotions and though, honestly I didn’t want this to end, it had to. We had to for both of our sakes.

“So…” he uttered cautiously. I nodded, refusing to say anything fearing that it could lead to our goodbyes. We stood frozen beside my small hotel, taking time trying to figure out our farewells. He took lead and said that it had been a blast. He told small stories on the things we did, laughing as he spoke. But I could see the hesitation in his eyes and from his tone. He was acting. Still I ignored it and laughed along, acting just like him. Then the goodbyes finally came. He was smiling, cheekily and sweetly like always but there was a difference. The gentle grasp on my shoulder, a small, conservative gesture felt like a huge weight, I could feel it from his thin, pretty fingers.

Then when he started to walk away, tears welled up in my eyes. This friendship, no, short escape we had was fading away and it hurt. I called his name, holding in the sadness inside me. “I’LL WATCH YOUR DRAMAS ON TV, I PROMISE. I’LL BE YOUR FAN.” I screamed, not just because he was too far but also to relieve the suffocating melancholy in my chest. He nodded, still grinning gently as he waved goodbye and hopped into a black, Hyundai van.

And just like that our story, our short escaped had ended.

 

I packed very quickly, somehow all my scattered belongings felt like they were in place. I remembered the shampoo I bought, hiding under the sink and my pink, Nars lipstick standing tall beside the mirror. Packing felt brief and I didn’t realize that I was done until all that was left was my DSLR camera lying around my bed.

I picked it up, opened the preview and stared at the countless beautiful pictures. A sigh escaped my lips as my heart thumped sorely. It was really the end.