I Love You But Is It Too Late?

1. Kiss

Kang Chin-hae POV:

He kissed me! Han-jae kissed me!

It was the only thought echoing in my mind throughout the five-hour bus ride back home.

I didn't know if he planned to make a move on me specifically that day, namely one day before the mid-term break, or if he just went with the flow, but I did know that I was flabbergasted.

I kept touching my lips where Han-jae kissed me and tried to sort out my own feelings. Indeed, me and Han-jae were very close for the last two and a half years as we were roommates in the campus dormitory. Coincidentally, we were also studying Chemistry, so from morning to night, we were always together.

Lee Han-jae was an easy-going and fun guy to hang out with. Although I was an introverted person by nature, he never judged me, on the contrary he used to save me when I found the interactions overwhelming. In this sense, he was my best friend and my biggest confidant... if we omitted my little secret which I kept meticulously.

As Han-jae was an open person who liked to share, I always thought I knew everything about him.

Until last night.

We were secretly drinking beer in our room to celebrate the end of the semester. It was our ritual, so I couldn't even imagine he would do such a thing. After we drank three cans of beer as usual, he suddenly leaned towards me and captured my lips with his.

Not expecting such a move, I froze on my seat. However, when he didn't pull away and put his hands on my cheeks, I was beguiled. My tipsiness amplified the effect of his soft touches and his warm lips, and I was galvanized to respond to his kiss.

The kiss didn't last long though. As soon as I realized what we were doing, I pulled myself back and hid in the bathroom for a while to calm myself. Luckily, when I returned to our room, Han-jae pretended as if nothing happened and we went to our beds to sleep. Still, after the incident, I couldn't sleep.

Did I hallucinate? Did he really kiss me? If so, why? Because of the alcohol? or because he liked me? Why did I respond?

The thoughts kept chasing me as I tossed and turned all night long. As I didn't know what to say to Han-jae, when the first lights of the sun illuminated the room, I got ready and left the room before he woke up.

As I was immersed in my thoughts, I didn't even realize when the bus reached my destination. Sighing, I wore my coat and zipped it tightly, then I grabbed my bag and started to walk in the freezing cold towards my house where I visited only two times a year.

I already told you that I was an introverted, but I forgot to tell you that I was also extremely unlucky.

The moment I stood in front of the door, I heard my parents arguing. As it was nothing unusual, with a sigh, I unlocked the door, entered the house and something hit the wall, literally an inch away from my head, forming a cut on my left cheek as it broke to million pieces.

My breath hitched and it was only the beginning of my fifteen-day nightmare...

Lee Han-jae POV:

I kissed him! I kissed Kang Chin-hae! Finally!

Although I made it look like it was impromptu, actually I planned to do it for a very long time. Don't get me wrong, I usually don't use such methods, but with Chin-hae, I had to come up with something as he was super clueless about my feelings for him.

We were roommates for two and a half years and the moment he entered the room for the first time with a luggage as big as him, I knew he was special.

He was socially a little bit awkward, physically weak and showing weird reactions to certain things, but I liked him for who he was.

Opposites attract, right?

Although it took time for him to open up to me, once he did, I saw he was actually quite fun. He was also the smartest guy in the faculty, only straight A's in his transcript. Thanks to his generous help, I also decorated my transcript with A's after the first semester.

I am not sure about the exact time when I fell in love with him, but once I realized that my feelings were beyond mere friendship, it was already too late. I tried to talk to him many times about my feelings, but he was quite dense in the matter of hearts. Therefore, I decided not to scare him off, but give him subtle clues and make him fall in love with me slowly.

Well, I might have exaggerated the slowness of the situation as it became two and a half years and he still didn't run into my arms!

As it was only a year and a half before we graduated, I wanted to accelerate the things between us. The chosen day was yesterday, before we left for home. In case he rejected me, I would have fifteen days to cry freely without pretending as if it was okay.

But a miracle happened!

He kissed me back!

Although his response was highly clumsy, he still responded to my kiss and I hit cloud nine! We kissed for a good minute before he got shy and ran away, but it wasn't important. We had time, so I didn't want to push him. When he came back, he threw me furtive glances, but I acted normal and he lowered his guard.

Still, I decided to talk with him about our relationship while we walked to the bus station.

However, my plan didn't work as when I woke up, he had already gone.

The sudden panic spread inside me. What if he didn't reciprocate my feelings, but rather went with the flow? What if he would act as if nothing happened?

Chin-hae was hard to read, so I wasn't sure.

As there were a myriad of foxes in my mind, I wasn't aware when I left the dormitory or how I managed to arrive home. But, here I was, lying on my bed with my phone on my chest.

I waited and waited, and when the clock showed four pm, with shaky fingers I grabbed my phone and sent Chin-hae a message.

[Are you home?]