Sometimes Love...

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Seokjin

 I had rushed to the study room after my anatomy class and paced the small room impatiently. I had not decided what to do about Sofia and the Houston Baptist dinner next week. There was a knock at the door before it opened.

It was her. "Hey, Seokjin, I was—" Sofia began.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, jumping up from the couch. I instinctively hid my phone from her. I had been texting with Yoona trying to find the right things to say to her, but I was failing miserably. I shoved the phone into my pocket and followed Sofia to the table.

"Yeah, I was wondering if we could go over the last two chapters one more time." She plopped down her books. "I'm a little worried about the exam next week."

"Uh, yeah."

She looked at me. "Is something wrong? Are you feeling ill?"

I sat down at the table. "No, I'm just tired I guess." I shuffled through my notebook. "I've got some notes that I wanted to share with you." I wondered if I should broach the subject of dinner again. I had such strong feelings for her, and I was almost sure she felt something for me, too. Yet, I'd not dared to act on this attraction because I did not want to ruin the good working relationship we had. Of course, the fact that my parents expected me to marry someone else had also served as a deterrent to declaring how I felt.

"And," she paused for a few seconds, "when we finish, maybe we can go get something to eat? I don't work until six tonight. If...if you're not busy." Her voice sounded hesitant.

I turned to face her, unsure of how to react.

"My treat. I just got paid today."

"Oh, no! No! I would never let you pay for anything," I said quickly. "Then, let's get started on our review." I noticed that the look she gave seemed a bit more meaningful, and I took a deep breath. I did not want to mess this up.

After an hour and a half, we had reviewed the chapters at least twice, and she felt confident that we had done all we could. "So, where should we go?" she asked me.

I started packing up my books and notebooks. "There's this great little place by the bay just outside of the Inlet, the Lemon Jetty. It has an incredible view of the beach. There's even a nice park next to it where we can sit for a while. It's a nice day out. What do you say?"

She nodded with a smile. "That sounds nice. I have a quick study session this afternoon before work, so we'll need to be back in about two hours."

"Let's go then." We walked out of the library and to the parking lot. I felt something so intense for her. It must be love. It must be something special because I had never felt this way before—as if I couldn't breathe or think in her presence. I didn't even know how I got to the snack bar. I only knew that she was sitting next to me, her lovely innocent perfume permeating my car.

We hurried up the wooden steps. The restaurant was on stilts due to its location so close to the water. We ordered some shrimp po'boys and lemonades and had a wonderful conversation about our Trivial Pursuit skills. After about forty minutes, I slurped the last of my lemonade. "Hey, let's go outside to the park for a few minutes."

She nodded and waited for me as I went to refill our lemonade cups. Once outside, I led her to the pretty little park about a twenty yards away, closer to the water. We sat at an old-fashioned picnic table overlooking the rocky beach. I hopped up and sat on the table with my feet on the bench and helped her up next to me.

"Wow," she sighed, looking out at the bay. "This is beautiful. The breeze feels amazing. Look at the clouds, how they stretch all the way to the horizon. If you look straight out, it's as if we are the only two people in the world."