The Only

vi

It was summer break, Joohyun was walking around her hometown, she was heading towards her grandma’s shop. She wasn’t in any rush; she took her time to enjoy the summer breeze and enjoy every scenery she passed by. From time to time she stopped by at the places where she and her friends used to hang out, or even the ones where she alone spent her time in. She was being nostalgic as she had always been.

When she arrived at her grandma’s shop, she didn’t need to knock. She took out the keys she had for the shop and went inside. She stopped as soon as she got in and let everything sink in. She took her time to look around the shop. After a while she heard the door open, she turned to look and saw Junmyeon.

“Hi” Joohyun greeted him with a light smile

He walked towards the collection of Vintage LP records where Joohyun was. He stood behind Joohyun who was looking at the collection. A particular record caught Junmyeon’s attention, he reached towards it and took it out for a look. He let out a smile

“She used to force me to learning this dance with her, I could never escape from her whenever she starts to drag me to dance it with her, I don’t know why she wanted me to learn this dance so badly. She even made me watch the movie”

Joohyun laughed realizing what her grandma did “Funny, I made her teach me that dance every time we visited her in town” Junmyeon was surprised, he looked at Joohyun who was still looking at the record.

Junmyeon finally let out a laugh, “That makes everything clear to me now.” Junmyeon along with the record went to the other side of the shop where a record player was placed on a small table. Joohyun was watching him as he set it up to play. The music started playing, Junmyeon turned to face Joohyun and reached out a hand offering her to dance with him.

Joohyun smiled and gladly accepted the offer. Junmyeon spun her around as he pulled her closer to him. Joohyun held on to his hand and shoulder, Junmyeon slid his other hand lightly just below her waist. They danced to the rhythm of the song, from time to time Junmyeon would spin Joohyun around.

The room felt lighter now that it was filled with their laughter. Joohyun slowly wrapped her arms around his neck and Junmyeon slowly wrapped his around her waist. They went on dancing like that, even after the music ended, they stayed in each other’s arms. Joohyun pulled away just enough to look at him. They were staring at each other’s eyes, until finally Joohyun closed the space between them and kiss him. Junmyeon was new to this, but everything at that moment felt right and perfect.
  
Joohyun was the one who broke the kiss. They leaned on to each other’s forehead. “Thank you”, Joohyun opened her eyes to look at Junmyeon, “and I’m sorry”, Junmyeon opened his eyes and looked back at Joohyun, confused. “You’ve always been there for me, every time I needed you were always there, and I’m sorry I made you wait for too long” She buried her face on his chest. Junmyeon smiled at this and hugged her tighter

“No, you don’t need to be” He pulled away and cupped her face. He looked at her “You’re cute” he said and gave her a peck. “Who would have thought those dance lessons would actually pay off”, they laughed. They pulled away from each other and held hands, her hands fitted perfectly in his. This was the first time they’ve held hands like this, it felt unfamiliar but warm and comforting. She felt his thumb caressing her hands, everything felt right. They looked at their tangled hands, they both couldn’t hide their smiles.

They continued to roam around the shop hand in hand, they came across a photo of the three of them Junmyeon, Joohyun and her grandma, it was from the time Joohyun and Junmyeon decided to skip school together. After their little adventure together, they eventually encountered an officer. They were wearing their uniforms so they ran off quickly before they were caught. When they had nowhere else to go, they went to her grandma’s shop, she was mad at them and she wouldn’t let them stay in her shop, but Junmyeon made a careful effort to climb over the counter and get inside. When he was finally in, he went to the door and opened it to let Joohyun in. Her grandma tried to kick them out but she had no chance against the two. She had no choice but to let them stay, so she ended up closing the shop for the day, serving them lunch and let them stay at the roof where they mostly had their fun.

“She was the best”

“She was” Junmyeon looked at Joohyun, they were still holding hands “She’s in a better place now Joohyun and I’m sure she’s happy there” 

“She won’t be too happy to know that this only happened a week after she left” She raised their hands locked together. Joohyun smiled at Junmyeon when he let out a laugh “I’m sorry Junmyeon”

Junmyeon looked at her “It’s okay, I understand. You’ve been through so much for the last 14 months, I understand” he smiled at her waiting for her to smile back. “Smile for me please” he asked her softly, but she wouldn’t. “Please to compensate for those 14 months” he pouted “Please” he was trying to look cute in front of her now. She couldn’t hold herself back and finally gave in a smile.