Words Left Unsaid

Daring to dream

The harsh afternoon sun had passed its peak in the sky and had softened into a late afternoon blur by the time they drove into the city. Gang Tae glanced over at a sleeping Moon Young for perhaps the hundredth time. Her head was turned away from him when she had first gone to sleep, but a few windy roads meant that her head lolled from side to side, and her beautiful sleeping face was now facing him.

This was a rare opportunity to watch the lioness without getting bitten, he mused. A sleeping Moon Young looked very young and innocent ... and very adorable. He shook his head. He needed to stop associating these words with her. They made her sound very approachable. In the mess that was his life, anything akin to "approaching" Go Moon Young could only end in disaster.

He finally reached Jae Su's pizza place and parked the car out front. She was still asleep. He reached over and touched her shoulder.

"Go Moon Young," he said softly.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him, her mind no doubt still clouded with sleep. He had no such excuse, so he had no explanation for why he stared back, his hand still on her shoulder. She broke the eye contact first, straightening in her seat and running her fingers through her hair. He moved his hand away and got out of the car and she followed suit.

"Let's go, I'm starving! I need a pizza for myself," she said, smiling and linking her arm with his, taking him by surprise. Just then, Jae Su came out with some garbage bags to dispose of. As if on reflex, when Gang Tae saw him appear he quickly unlinked his arm from Moon Young's and walked towards Jae Su.

"Hey," he said to his best friend, sensing his ears were red from Moon Young touching him and Jae Su potentially witnessing it. "How's it going?"

"Same old," Jae Su replied, his eyes focused on something behind Gang Tae. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing, nothing. We're just here for some pizza and to pick hyung up," Gang Tae said.

"Who do you mean by 'we'?" Jae Su asked. "There's no one next to you, Go Moon Young is walking back to the car."

"What?" he said, looking behind him. Sure enough, Moon Young had walked back to the car and was now standing next to the driver's side. He turned around and walked to her.

"Give me the car keys," she said, extending her hand.

"I thought you were hungry. What's going on?" he said.

Moon Young took a deep breath in, her back straight and shoulders squared, and it was almost like she was breathing life into herself. He watched in awe, as the dullness in her eyes that had been there on the surface for the past week disappeared with every blink and was replaced by the slow burning of a newly lit fire. No, not just fire. It was deeper, denser than merely fire — that quintessential Moon Young glare that may at first appear cold as ice but he was coming to realise was actually not cold, but hot, fiery, molten lava.

"Here's what's going on," she said, taking one step closer to him with every word. It took all of his willpower to stay in place and not walk backwards. "You asked me out on a date, but the first thing you did when you saw me all dressed up for you is make fun of what I was wearing. You cut the date short the moment your brother called to come eat pizza here. And just now, you pushed my arm away as if I have some sort of skin disease, even though you're the one who asked me out and wanted to spend time with me. So my question to you is, when are you going to stop being a coward?"

She was so close to him now that he could smell her perfume. He looked down at her lips, currently pursed into a frown. He shifted his gaze back to her eyes, lit with anger and something else, something that he had never seen in her face before. His heartbeat kicked up and he was at a loss for words. He was also keenly aware of Jae Su standing there, watching this conversation unfold with his mouth hanging open.