I Was First | Joshua Hong

Chapter 4

"안녕하세요 Mr. Lee. Happy birthday."(Hello), I first greeted. Me and my sister bowed at Mr. Lee. After our parents greeted him, now it's our turn.

"아—안녕ㅎ—하..."

"세요, 세요", I whispered to Lily, gritting my teeth, when she was clearly having trouble greeting Mr. Lee. I would've just let her embarass herself but I'm still thinking about the consequences, like for example, my parents.

"안녕하세요.", She again said, her voice trembling.

"Oh thank you.", Mr. Lee smiled to us and I forged a grin. We bowed at him for the last time before going back to our parents.

"You two should look for Joshua and his parents, we are sitting with them, as me and your father will have a short conversation with Mr. Lee.", Mom ordered and Lily immediately looked at me. I raised my brows at her and gave her a 'what now?' face.

But I'm not lying when I'm telling that I really celebrated inside. I don't know how to thank all the people who settled all this just so we could sit with them for the whole night.

"I was about to say it earlier, you didn't have to teach me.", Lily complained, still can't get over the fact that I corrected her earlier. She doesn't want to be corrected by me, that's why.

"I doubt. You were shaking earlier.", She annoyingly looked at me and then again, I just raised my brows at her.

If we weren't in a situation like earlier, I could've already laughed at her for trembling so much, coming up with the word that we just learned.

"Y—Yes but it's normal for young people like me to tremble when their facing an elder."

"But why wasn't I trembling?"

"It's because you're a creep and creeps don't tremble because they're the ones who make people tremble in fear.", I glared at her and she just stuck her tongue at me. Are kids this audacious these days to do that to the person who's older than them?

"So you wanna trem—"

"Oh it's Joshua!", I stopped my own words when she squealed and ran. I followed her with my eyes and she's right, Joshua was really there, sitting on one of the tables.

I paved my way through the big crowd to where Joshua and Lily was. Today's not the first time that I'll be with Joshua at the same table nor the first time that I'll be seeing him in a tuxedo, but still, it's not always like this.

"Hey Josh.", I said as I was already behind him. He looked back and right there, I really felt my heart skipped one big beat.

I mean, with his black hair brushed up like that when it's normally down, who wouldn't?

For a moment, his face gave an evident surprised look but he just eventually smiled.

"It's a surprise seeing you here. I thought you're not in for parties like this.", He chuckled, I twitched my lips at him, yes, annoyed.

It's because of you that I'm here, fool.

"Am I not allowed to? You're also here, why can't I be?", He laughed while I perched down beside Lily. We were sitting across him in a round table, with four vacant seats left for our parents.

"Yes, you can but you should've told me?"

"Why?", I became confused. Why should I tell him when I'm just going to a party, and he's also here. I mean, yes, he's my friend but isn't that what boyfriends and girlfriends do?

We're not even—oh nevermind. I'm sure it's really nothing. I'm just the one overthinking things.

"Uhm...Just for a heads up?", He flashed a brief smile before sipping on his glass of wi— water. It's just water. Sparkling water. He's still a minor, he can't drink and he told me he won't drink even when he's already in a legal age.