Pandora's Box | kim mingyu & jeon wonwoo

04

"There you are!" Wonwoo exclaimed.

I had been standing outside the entrance of our school for a while. Wonwoo and I were both a part of the "going-home" club. Usually, he was relatively quick to find me, considering most students were a part of clubs. Today, however, his head seemed to be in the clouds, so when he showed up fifteen minutes late, he startled me.

"Couldn't find me?" I asked teasingly as I turned my neck to watch him. He was making his way towards me in all his glory: his black, unruly hair laid disheveledly on his head, and his circular framed glasses made him look cute, which was a stark contrast to his sharp nose and eyes. At the very sight of him, the palm of my hands began to sweat, and my cheeks began to heat up. I cleared my throat and pushed all of my thoughts away.

Before I knew it, Wonwoo was right before me, and I no longer had to strain my neck to get a good look at him. "Took you long enough," I said, just for the sake of saying something.

He chuckled and pushed his glasses up. "Come on. You have to get to work soon," Wonwoo said, and he turned around and began to walk away. Of course, I rushed to catch up to him, and in seconds, we were walking side by side.

For the first couple of minutes, neither of us said anything. This wasn't necessarily unusual, although usually, that deep into a walk, we would have started goofing around already. It was because the silence was starting to become uncomfortable for me that I said, "Are you okay? You seem kind of out of it today."

What I left unsaid was the way he was acting during breaks; the way he struggled to find me in broad daylight; the way he was acting at this very moment. I figured he knew all of that already. Because I knew that he must have been aware of his weird behavior, I was not surprised when he reacted to my words with rosy cheeks.

"Come on then," I said, nudging him lightly on the side, "tell me. I'm all ears," I smiled and turned my head to face his side profile; I leaned in real close to his ear, "just for you," I added teasingly. Wonwoo, of course, was quick to push my face away as he desperately tried to hide his blush.

"You're so annoying," he grumbled, and I let out a laugh because I knew he didn't mean it.

I nudged him again. "Go on then, hurry up. Tell me."

Wonwoo huffed, but I knew it meant he was finally going to give in. I waited patiently for a bit more, and then finally, he began, "You're going to think I'm being ridiculous."

"Never," I said, so quickly, it was clear I hadn't even needed to think of it.

He pushed me then, and it had been so unexpected that he actually managed to push me off the sidewalk. Because I worked at the shopping district, the quickest way there was through the small trail of the riverbank.

We always took this route, because, from the very start of our friendship, Wonwoo and I had made it our meet-up spot. This was because it was the same distance from the shopping district (where I lived) to the suburbs, which were a little outside of town. Because we were so fond of wasting our time here, I was not surprised when Wonwoo suggested, "Do you want to get some ice cream?"

I shrugged and checked my phone. I lied and said, "I have time."

And with that, I took a seat at a nearby bench while Wonwoo went into the ice cream shop by himself. Upon his return, he handed me a mint chocolate ice cream, and of course, he had picked a rainbow sherbert for himself.

"Alright, now that you've buttered me up, are you finally going to tell me?" I inquired again as I took another bite of my ice cream. At first, I thought he was going to ignore me, but eventually, from the corner of my eye, I saw him nod. Once again, I simply waited for him to speak.