I Think I Wanna Marry You

Four: 난 딸리는 걸음을 조심히 다가가 봐

Author's Note: I realise this took a long time to come! Really sorry guys. I've been writing in between assignments, and it was just assignment week, so it's been rather hectic. Onto the story!

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Chapter Four: 난 딸리는 걸음을 조심히 다가가 봐 (I Carefully Approach You With Trembling Steps)

It was quiet. A soothing sort of quiet. Sometimes when a place is so soundless that the silence becomes unbearable, you start to hear white noise. But it's not like that now.

The tranquility of the water is disturbed only by the gentle lapping of the waves as it breaks against the concrete steps. It was dim, not bright enough to read a book, but enough to feel safe in a blanket of gloom, the kind that allows you to get lost in your thoughts. In the distance, skyscrapers framed the skyline of South Korea, lit in a way that makes pretty bokeh in photos, like twinkling stars in the galaxy if you weren't paying close enough attention.

Without the laughter of flirty couples and playful shrieks of young children, the riverside would appear empty to the untrained eye. The clatter of clicking gears disturbed the peace in the air as a lone cyclist hurried his way home at this time of night. As he passed by, he noticed a small figure hunched up on one of the ledges near the water.

It was a young woman. She sat curled with her knees hugged to her chest and her chin tucked safely between her knees. She was looking down to the surface of the water, never blinking, eye glazed over as if seriously contemplating.

The cyclist peered at her, wondering if he should interrupt the intense look of concentration on her face when he noticed a man walking towards her holding two steaming cups of coffee. Appeased that she was safe, the cyclist breezed on quietly, softly tinkling his bell to warn anyone that might wander into his path.

Joy did not even notice his presence. She was absorbed in her own mind. She watched the ripples in the water, fascinated by the movement. All ripples start from a single place, but it slowly grows and magnifies until the entire clear glass surface of the water is distorted. This feels momentous, in a metaphorical way. Even though meeting Sungjae Oppa today was like a small drop, its ripples felt significant. Like something in her universe has shifted and now, she was set on a course that she wasn't sure she minded being on.

He had touched her a lot today. But it was all done so naturally, she wasn't sure if he was aware of it himself. Light brushes of skin-on-skin as he leaned across her to reach for the salt, a tender hand on her back as he guided her through the crowds, an arm on her shoulder as he contemplated on what food to eat, lightly ruffling her hair as teased her, reaching out to her as he laughed. None of it felt deliberate or flirty at all. Except the times where he was actually deliberately being flirty to get a rise out of Yeri and her friends.

She thought back on how Sungjae held her around her waist and whispered in her ear. His voice dipped with challenge as he asked her to act with him. She had heard the lilt in his voice that indicated his wide, cheeky grin and felt the heat of his breath on her neck. She could not help the tingles that spread through her body or the goose bumps that appeared on her skin.

"Geurae, Oppa!" She had replied as she turned to him with a matching smirk of her own. His eyes flashed with surprise like he didn't expect her to agree before it was replaced with a glint of mischief.

Turns out one of Yeri's friends was a saesang Melody and did not support Sungjae, the magnae of BTOB, dating. Every time Sungjae leaned in close to whisper into Joy's ear (muttering nonsense) to which Joy will giggle in exaggerated giddiness and playfully push Sungjae's shoulder, Haeun's eyes will narrow in disapproval, occasionally lightly clicking her tongue in an action reminiscent of a middle-aged ahjumma. At the time, it felt hilarious to get such strong reactions - it wasn't like Haeun even knew either of them to pass off such judgments. But now, in the pale moonlight, pondering the situation on hindsight, the cold douse that was the beginnings of fear settled in her gut. That felt like a very small titbit of the wave of hate that will eventually come when they announced their marriage. She could already see the mob of angry Melodies with pitchforks and furious shouts in her mind. The thought made her cringe.