Kim Myungsoo lie awake on his bed, eyes fixed on the his ceiling even though he knows that there’s nothing interesting up there—only scabs of tape that he used to stick glow in the dark stars when he was younger. His mind is completely awake thanks to the glass of iced coffee Sungyeol bought for him in the evening.

Suddenly, he thinks about Park Jiyeon.

 Park Jiyeon, one of his closest friends since junior high. Tomorrow she is going to move to Seoul because she managed to score a full scholarship at a prestigious medical university. Myungsoo is equally proud and envious of her. He was admitted to one of the top university in their city majoring in English but it’s nothing compared to a full scholarship Jiyeon got.

Myungsoo sits up and reaches for his phone. He winces when the bright light of the screen hits his eyes. It says 2:34 AM. He gets out of his bed, grabs his jacket, and quietly gets out of his house. He carefully leads his bike out and rides to Jiyeon’s house. He always liked summer; no classes, cold drinks, and more time to play with his friends.

The night is warm and he can feel the light wind on his face as he rides to Jiyeon’s house. He stops in front of the Parks’ and looks up to the window of Jiyeon’s room; there’s a dim light from that room. He takes out his phone and sends a text to her. After ten minutes of waiting for a reply, Myungsoo rolls his eyes and decides to call her.

“Stop ignoring me,” is the first thing Myungsoo said when she picked up.
“Go away, I am trying to sleep,”
“I am downstairs right now,”
“WHAT?!”

Jiyeon’s window brightens and the curtain is slightly parted in the middle. Myungsoo waves at her.

“What are you doing?!”
“Let’s go on an adventure!”
“It’s three in the morning, you idiot!”
“I’ll give you ten minutes to come down or I’ll throw pebbles at your window,”
“Fifteen!!!” she screeches then hangs up.

Myungsoo chuckles. He crosses his arms in front of his chest and waits for her while humming random songs. Fourteen minutes later, a disgruntled looking Jiyeon comes out leading her bike. She is wearing her thick framed glasses, her hair tied in a messy bun, and she is wearing ratty t-shirt underneath her jacket and a pair of black shorts.

“What do you want?” she grumbled.
“An adventure, follow me!”

Jiyeon whines under her breath but follows after Myungsoo nevertheless. Although Jiyeon didn’t say anything along the journey, the gentle wind against her face manages to wake her up. Myungsoo stopped in front of a tall brass fence, he parks his bike and climbs the fence.

“What do you think you’re doing, Myungsoo?!” Jiyeon whispers in sharp tone.
“Adventure, Jiyeon. It’s all about adventure,” Myungsoo grins mischievously before climbing to the other side.

Jiyeon grunts and shakes her head.

“I am not doing this, what if we got caught?” Jiyeon fussed.
“Come on, you only live—,”
“Ugh, don’t you dare finish your sentence,”

In the end, Jiyeon climbs to the other side. They walk to the side of the pool just to find that the water has been drained. Myungsoo lets out a disappointed groan.

“They didn’t drain the water three days ago!”
“You’ve done this before?!”
“Yeah, with some guys and some girls. We even skinny-dipped!” Myungsoo grins proudly.

Jiyeon rolls her eyes and turns her heels to go back to the fence.

“Come on,” Myungsoo grasps Jiyeon’s wrist, preventing her from leaving. “Adventure,”
“Illegal adventure,” Jiyeon glowers.
“Still an adventure,” the boy nonchalantly shrugs.

The girl lets out yet another distressed noise before following Myungsoo to the edge of the pool. Both of them stare at the bottom of the pool briefly.

“What are we gonna do now?” Jiyeon asks.

Myungsoo looks up and realizes that the sky is very, very clear and they can see the stars as if they’re in a planetarium. He nudges Jiyeon and signals her to look up. She looks up and gasps in awe; stars—some big and some small, some bright and some slightly dim—sprinkled across the night sky resembling spilled glitter on a black paper.

“It’s beautiful,” Jiyeon murmurs.

Myungsoo gently tugs Jiyeon’s wrist once again, turning her attention to him.

“Let’s sit,”

And Jiyeon sits on the edge of the pool but Myungsoo protests. “Not there,”

Myungsoo gets to the bottom of the dry pool by the stairs and signaling Jiyeon to do the same. By this point, Jiyeon doesn’t make any protest or any disgruntled noises anymore, she just sighs and follows after Myungsoo. They rest their backs against the pool’s wall.

“It looks even better like this, hm?” Myungsoo asks gently. Jiyeon agrees quietly.

The two teenagers stay quiet for a few minutes, just staring at the night sky, letting the summer night soak them, and listening to the buzzing of cicadas and crickets.

“I like looking at stars, it makes me feel like I’m a part of something bigger,” Myungsoo starts.

Jiyeon turns to him and gives him a weird look. “Don’t get all deep and philosophical, Myungsoo,”

Myungsoo chortles softly and both of them look at the stars again. The silence between them filled with their steady breaths and the hum of cicadas.

“Have you packed yet?” Myungsoo ask. Jiyeon nods quietly.
“I’ll miss you, you know?”

Jiyeon hugs her knees close to her chest and tilts her face to look at Myungsoo. She observes the side profile of her friend for a few moments. She admits that Myungsoo is good looking, since junior high, a lot of girls admire him. Not only good looking, Myungsoo is also very friendly to everyone. On their prom night in junior high, Myungsoo performed a song while playing the guitar.

That night is pretty much what seals the deal. Myungsoo is officially a perfect boyfriend material; handsome, kind, and can play a musical instrument.

She admits that sometime when they were still in the first year of high school, she, too, harbored a crush on him. It was only for a brief moment, though. It ended when a one year senior, Lee Howon, approached her. They ended up dating for few months and parted ways because Howon graduated. She is glad that her little crush never got in the way of their friendship. Myungsoo is a great friend and it would if she had to lost a friend like him.

“I know,” she grins smugly.

Myungsoo lets out a sigh and turns to her. “I am serious. I’ll miss you a lot,”

The corner of Jiyeon’s lips tugged upward slightly. “I’ll miss you too, Myungsoo,”

Myungsoo smiles.

“And.. I am so proud of you for getting that scholarship,” Myungsoo adds, sincerely. “You worked so hard for it, you deserve it,”

Myungsoo’s words add warmth to her heart.

“I am scared, Myungsoo,” Jiyeon confesses in hushed tone.

Myungsoo flashes a reassuring smile. “We’re all scared,”

He scoots closer to her, their skin barely touching. “We’re all scared,” he repeats.

Jiyeon didn’t say anything, she hid her face in her knees. Myungsoo didn’t say anything either, he just keeps looking at the stars. It’s a warm summer night but he feels chilly inside. He understands what the cold feeling is; it’s a fear of the future. Everyone have that cold feeling inside their gut. Some people manage to bear with it and some people choose to ignore it.

Myungsoo likes to think that he is a part of the people that manage to do both at the same time. But there are times, he breaks. Tonight, he decides, is not going to be the night he breaks. He scoots closer to Jiyeon and puts his arm around her shoulders. She relaxes instantly.

“Hey, don’t be scared because everyone is scared and that’s completely okay,” Myungsoo whispers.

Jiyeon lifts up her face and looks at Myungsoo. Her lips tugged into a small smile and she scooted closer to Myungsoo, leaning her weight against him.

“I am going to miss everyone,” Jiyeon sighs.
“Yeah, everyone is going to miss you too,” Myungsoo replies, resting his chin on top of Jiyeon’s head.
“I am going to be alone in Seoul,”  she adds.
“That’s something we all have to face,”
“You guys will still see each other,”
“But it will never be the same, don’t you think?”
“Yeah but I am alone in Seoul..” she trails off.

Myungsoo squeezes her in his arms. “It’s a part of growth,”

Jiyeon purses her lips.

“You can call me anytime,”
“I know I can,”

Myungsoo chuckles softly. Holding Jiyeon in his arms like this remind him of second year of high school. That time, he realized that Jiyeon is very pretty and have a nice laugh. There were times when heat would rose to his cheeks when Jiyeon smiled at him. It lingered briefly and he couldn’t remember when it ended.

He never told Jiyeon about it and he is glad for it. It would to lose a great friend like Jiyeon.

“Chanyeol is still not over you,” Myungsoo blurts out.

Jiyeon pulls away and looks at Myungsoo, her eyes wide with guilt. Until this very moment Myungsoo still thinks that Jiyeon is very, very pretty and have a nice laugh but not in that way. That way, the way that makes his heart do a summersault in his ribcage.

“I..” Jiyeon begins but never finishes her sentence.
“Don’t worry about him, I am sure he’ll get over you once the university starts,”
“Yeah, I hope so too,”

To Jiyeon, Park Chanyeol is basically the louder and taller version of Kim Myungsoo. A perfect boyfriend material sadly, Jiyeon never thinks of him that way. Chanyeol confessed to her at the beginning of their third year and Jiyeon turned him down because she wanted to focus on getting the scholarship.

Chanyeol didn’t hold any grudge but she knows that Chanyeol still harbors feelings towards her.

“Did you hear? Jackson, that student from Hongkong, is moving back to Hongkong,” Jiyeon points out.
“Yeah, I heard and his girlfriend, Youngji, is going to study in America,” Myungsoo replies.
“They ended it, I guess. Too bad, they look good together,” Jiyeon sighs.

It’s somewhere between three and four in the morning, the night sky is over their head and Myungsoo thinks that now is the best time to come clean. Myungsoo doesn’t know how telling Jiyeon about his little secret crush will benefit him but something tells Myungsoo that this is the right time.

“I used to have a crush on you,” Myungsoo says.

Jiyeon chortles softly.

“Shut up, Myungsoo,” she shrugs off.
“It’s true,” he insists.
“No way, because I used to have a crush on you,”

They look at each other in shock before bursting out in laughter. After their laughter quiets down, they talked about their past relationships. Jiyeon talked about Lee Howon and Son Dongwoon and Myungsoo talked about Jung Soojung and Son Naeun. Aside from relationships, they also talk about their past crushes and why it ended.

“Have you ever thought what would happen if you had confessed to Bae Suji?”
“Well, have you ever thought what would happen if you had told Kim Jongin?”
“Sometimes,” Jiyeon replies. “I always thought that Kim Jongin would treat me well,”

Myungsoo nods. “Yeah, same,”

Jiyeon looks at Myungsoo. “When?”

“What?” Myungsoo raises a brow at the question.
“When did you have a crush on me?”
“The second year of high school, you?”
“The first year of high school,”

They laugh again.

“Our timing ,” Jiyeon giggles.
“Yeah, we would make a power couple. Even better than—eh, I can’t think of a reference,” Myungsoo guffaws.

Their laughter slowly quiets down and once again, the silence is filled with the buzzing of cicadas.

“What do you say if we try it?” Jiyeon quips.
“Huh?”

Jiyeon flashes Myungsoo a playful grin before leaning close. Myungsoo is not really sure what to do, he wants to kiss her and pushes her away at the same time. Whilst he is deciding, her lips already fleetingly pressed against his. Her lips were warm but he didn’t feel anything. When she pulls away, it is clear in her eyes that she didn’t feel anything.

Myungsoo smirks. “Our timing really ,”

Jiyeon giggles and agrees with him.

Ten minutes later, they decided that their illegal adventure has to come to an end. First they ride to Jiyeon’s home, he waits for her to enter her house before riding back to home. It doesn’t work now maybe it will work in the future, Jiyeon says before they climb out of the fence. Myungsoo agrees but he doesn’t put any hope in that and he knows Jiyeon doesn’t too.

End. 

The summary should've been "two friends talk about what could've been"

Anyways. Thanks for reading, subscribing, and upvoting this story. I really enjoyed writing this and I hope you guys enjoyed reading this. English is not my first language so there is a possibility that I will edit this story in the future