(an: really long chapter ahead...
7486 words...)
the girl sighed hearing the knocking again.
who could be at the door? and why do they keep knocking and not leaving?
it's been 10 minutes already...
currently, loey was lying on her living room floor. her legs and arms sprawled out like a starfish as she looked up to the ceiling in silence, tears rolling down her face. finally getting annoyed by the knocking for the past ten minutes, she mustered up some strength to sit up, and walk to the door at a very slow place.
she wiped her remaining tears before unlocking the door and opening it, and what she saw surprised her.
a tall man who was fiddling with a box of cookies in his hand, his cheeks somewhat pink.
"i-uh...i brought you cookies," juyeon softly mumbled as his hand extended to reach her, a box labeled 'chocolate chip cookies' displayed over the top. her eyes widened seeing the boy for the first time in front of her.
he's very tall...and even better looking in person.
once he noticed there was no movement coming from her after a while, he retracted his hand back. "it's stupid. you don't have to take them."
loey wanted to laugh at his shyness.
except, she couldn't.
she was in no mood to laugh.
her eyes shifted to the floor to see his nike sneakers before it hit her: it was friday today. they were supposed to hang out.
"shit juyeon i'm sorry i forgot," loey rubbed her forehead in annoyance. "i just, this past week has been—"
"it's okay loey, i understand. you've been inactive for days so i mainly just wanted to check on you. i tried calling and texting but you didn't answer so i thought i would pay you a visit. i'll get going now if it makes you uncomfortable though."
the girl looked up. for the first time that evening she managed to make eye contact with him, and when she did, she almost wanted to burst into tears again. juyeon looked concerned. he looked genuinely concerned for her.
she could tell his eyes were searching her for any injuries or anything. blinking slowly, she sighed and moved the door more to the side.
"come in."
"wait i can come in?"
"i literally just said you can come in."
"oh yeah you did."
a small smile left her lips as he walked past her into her apartment. she closed the door before locking it again.
"sit down and make yourself comfortable. i'm gonna shower and quickly change so we can go out."
juyeon quickly turned around and shook his head. "don't force yourself to go out if you don't want to. i don't want you to be uncomfortable in any way loey."
flustered.
yeah that was definitely how she was feeling when she heard her name coming from his pretty lips.
"i need to get out the house anyways. jackie and jay have been trying to get me out for some fresh air so i think it will do me some good." she walked up to where he was sitting and leaned down to open the box. she grabbed a cookie while smiling at him before escaping to presumably her room.
the boy sat there with a grin adoring his face.
that was until he heard another voice.
"why are you smiling like an idiot?"
juyeon looked over to see a blonde boy sipping a juice box.
"what the—"
"i'm jay."
juyeon furrowed his eyebrows slighty. "hi...jay. i'm juy—"
jay snapped his fingers with a smile. "you're juyeon aren't you! the simp right?"
nervous laughter erupted from him. "uh...i mean yeah."
confused as to why there was a tall blonde boy sipping peach juice while staring at him, he turned to ask him a question but jay spoke first, again. this time, his eyes losing their amusement as he stared down at the floor.
"make sure she has fun tonight, okay? she's been through a lot this past week."
juyeon nodded slowly. "i will try my best."
"and take care of her too. because if anything happens to her i will personally come after you," he sipped his peach juice calmly.
"understood."
jay raised an eyebrow, almost curious with the boy in front of him. he was complying to everything he said and with a calm voice. it confused him if he was being honest. "i'm surprised you're not asking any questions. ones like: why am i here? what happened to loey? why am i so pushy?"
the boy on the couch thought for a moment, before shaking his head slightly. his black bangs moving along with his head in a cute manner. "it's not any of my business really. whatever she wants to keep to herself she can, i'm not going to force her to do anything."
because i know what it's like.
jay pursed his lips. he finished drinking his juice box before crushing it with his hand. "okay so," he started to walk closer to juyeon. eventually until he was right in front of the boy and sat down on the coffee table straight in front of him, the two holding eye contact. "just let her have fun, and protect her from anything bad. i'm trusting you to take her out in her most vulnerable state, so that's a lot of responsibility.
"of course there are things that happen that are out of our control, but for the most part, just be careful. she could breakdown at any moment and i don't know if you know how to deal with a breakdown."
"i do," he said almost too quickly. he cleared his throat. "i mean, i know someone who has those and panic attacks frequently so i know."
jay nodded once again. he stood up with the crushed box still in his hand before he gave juyeon a satisfied smile. "well then, i hope you two have fun. i'll get going now. tell loey i left while she was showering."
"okay."
jay quickly put on his leather boots before saluting him with a grin. he then closed the door and juyeon was left alone again.
there was something that felt off though.
his eyes began to scan the environment. juyeon wanted to know maybe a bit more about loey, but as he scanned over everything, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. no pictures, no albums, no bright colors or pillows; her apartment was completely plain.
he would lie if he said he wasn't curious as to why loey was basically gone for the last week. but as much as he wanted to know, again that was her business and he wasn't going to push her to tell him anything at all.
hell, he didn't even care if she barely spoke to him during the night.
he worked his ass off to have his friday shift off, so he just wants to enjoy whatever time he has with her and possibly make her smile.
she looks really upset. i noticed the tears she had when opening the door. i managed to make her smile just a little, and that's a win for me.
lost in his little world, his trance was broken once he heard a quiet "i'm done."
he looked over before giving her a smile. "you look great."
loey tilted her head, "a t-shirt, joggers, messy hair, and vans look great to you?"
he gave her a thumbs up. "yup!"
she was taken aback. whenever juyeon saw pictures of her either on instagram or on her lights out profile, they were always beautiful pictures she had taken in the sun or posed for. always wearing bright outfits and makeup too. so when she stood in front of him, her hair messier than usual, barefaced, a simple black t-shirt, grey
joggers, and a pair of black vans, she felt like he was going to be underwhelmed.
almost as if she wasn't the super confident girl who loved to look pretty and be the center of attention.
"i don't care what clothes you wear, or if you wear makeup or not, you always look great so don't think about it too much." he mentioned after she went silent.
"i have days where i just lay in sweats too with a shirt from who knows when." he laughed before stopping and his face went blank. "wait i don't think i should've told you that."
there it was again.
a small smile from her.
just be yourself, it seems like it's working on making her happier.
"oh jay left when you were showering by the way."
she hummed. "he stopped by to drop off peach juice for me. he was in the bathroom before you entered. don't tell me he gave you a super serious talk about protecting me or some shit."
"no you're good, he didn't."
i can't tell her he did right? it's not like it matters anyways, those were my intentions before he spoke to me.
"so where are we going," she asked as her eyes sparkled with amusement.
"that's a surprise. but we're not just going to one place. i have three in mind."
her eyes widened. "three places?! well it's already 5:30 so let's get going," she nodded her head towards the door. when he stood up to follow behind her, that's when he noticed the cute cat shaped mini book bag she had with her.
cute.
the two exited the house making their way to the elevator. after reaching the bottom floor, they walked out of the building to look for juyeon's car. it was an older mini truck, probably a hand-me-down, but she didn't mind it at all. it's not like he was there to impress her or anything.
"do you wanna plug your phone into the aux? the radio stopped functioning like three weeks ago and i've either been busy or lazy to go get it fixed," he awkwardly laughed.
loey looked over at him. "sure. can i play whatever music?"
"yeah i don't care. play what you want, although when we get to the certain destination later, i'm gonna have to take over the aux for educational purposes." he winked.
then it went silent.
loey turned away as she felt her cheeks feeling warm for some reason as juyeon turned away too, except he was hiding from embarrassment.
"i'm sorry i didn't mean to--"
"it's okay, i think it's cute that you're trying."
"oh..."
juyeon stop acting like an idiot! you might come off as a dumbass, but she seems to like it?
"i like the fact that you always do or speak what you mean. you're not like some people who hold everything to themselves..." she trailed off. he didn't know who she was referring to, but by the looks of it, it had to be someone important.
not knowing what to say, he turned the car on and passed her the aux cord.
"have faith in me when i say," he fist pumped the air. "you're going to have fun tonight."
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰
"i swear if you make me walk into a pole we're going to fight."
"i guess we're going to fight then."
"juyeon..."
she felt the grip of his hands over her eyes slighty tighten, and while it was small, the little giggle that escaped his lips rang through her ear. he was right behind her, his hands wrapped over her eyes to make sure she didn't see where she was going, and he was guiding her to wherever they walked.
after arriving at a certain destination, juyeon told her to close her eyes and get out the car, and that we would lead to her to somewhere.
it was eerily quiet.
she stopped walking and he bumped into her back. another small giggle escaped from him before he cleared his throat quickly.
"now i'm going to leave you for a moment, but you need to promise me you won't open your eyes okay? i need to do something very quick," he lowered his head to her ear. "so don't move."
she nodded and felt his hands drop from behind as his footsteps walked right. loey also felt weird. she was standing in the middle of who knows what, it was super quiet, and she could no longer heard the footsteps of the other boy.
please don't tell me he's going to kill me.
then she heard some things around her start to turn on, a flash of light hit her closed eyes, and then she heard...music in the background. loey also started to heard footsteps again until she felt like they were right in front of her.
"open your eyes now."
she slowly opened her eyes trying to adjust to the bright colorful lights when her jaw dropped.
"are we in...a roller skating place?"
"yup!"
"how did you—"
juyeon smiled as he lifted his hand. he dangled a pair of keys before his smile turned into a smirk. "this is what happens when your cousin is the manager and you bribe him with food." he clutched the keys before putting them back into his pocket.
"we have this entire place to ourselves!"
her eyes scanned across the scene. it was very colorful: neon and black lights flashing everywhere, at the very end of one side held an opening to the food area, on the other side the opening to where you would buy a ticket or get skates of your sizes, all around them chairs and tables to sit all, some hallways here and there, and a big center space for the skating.
where it was just the two of them facing each other.
loey bit her lip to stop the smile from growing before she looked back at him.
"you know i'm actually pretty terrible at this."
he took a couple of steps closer before he was directly in front of her. he grabbed her hand hesitantly before nodding his head into the directions of the shoes. "well good, because i'm not good at it either."
his hand was softer than she expected. he touched her hand earlier, but this time he actually wrapped it around her smaller hand. he wasn't harshly holding it either, it was a simple touch but she felt a lot of comfort in it.
loey let juyeon take her to the counter where you get your shoes before he suddenly let go and jumped behind it. he fixed his jacket before turning to face her with a confused face.
"yes ma'am? would you tell me your shoe size so i can get you a pair of skates?"
"we could do that now," she trailed off and looked away. "or i could go hide and you have to find me."
he scoffed. "oh you're on. you can have a five second head start. i don't think those short legs of yours will take you that far."
loey turned to run away, but as she was running she put up her middle finger. "fuck you and your long legs juyeon!"
he laughed to himself as he watched the girl run out of his view. he decided to count up to 20 before running after in the direction he saw her leave in. it led him to a staff room that had a yellow sign with the words 'DO NOT ENTER. STAFF ONLY' written across it.
ignoring the sign, he opened the door and flicked the light switch on. it was nothing but a back room where the staff would put their belongings. taking slow steps, juyeon searched for any signs of the girl at all. after not seeing any type of movement, he turned around to head out the door when he suddenly heard something moving and a girl jumping on his back.
startled of course by the sudden jump, he fell to the ground as the girl on his back burst out in laughter.
"you should've seen YOUR FACE OH MY GOD."
he rolled his eyes.
okay, let's see if you like this then.
he quickly turned his back to the floor causing the girl to be directly on top of him now facing him. her laughter instantly died down as she tried to move when he grabbed her wrists to keep her from moving.
loey's eyes widened as she felt her face flush, and then juyeon burst out laughing.
"you should've seen your face," he mocked sarcastically. he pursed his lips to avoid showing her the huge smile he had once he finally realized how close their faces were.
turns out loey wasn't the only one who turned super red...again.
people don't usually do this when you hang out with your friend...
juyeon let out a small sigh and released the grip from her wrists. what surprised him though was that she didn't immediately move. she was still staring at him before she finally realized that he wasn't holding her back anymore, and got off him.
loey put her hand out.
juyeon reached for it and she helped pull him up.
and in silence they walked back to the counter where the skates were located.
this time juyeon went through the door to get behind the counter and grabbed loey's size after she told him. he grabbed his own pair before they walked to the middle of the big center and sat down to put the stakes on.
again, they were doing this in silence as music played in the background.
After School - Weeekly
"you know this is actually one of my favorite songs," juyeon said trying to start a conversation. loey smiled. "really? it's such a good song so i don't blame you."
"i'm so good with you~" rang through the speakers.
once they had finished putting the shoes on they both looked at each other with a 'what now' look considering how they both didn't know how to roller skate that well.
let's just say it took a lot of screaming and pulling each other down for them to both stand up.
"no no no don't grab my arm this way—"
they both fell down again.
then another song started to play.
Candy - Baekhyun
loey watched how juyeon stood up quickly and skated away leaving her there on the ground.
"wow that was so nice of you!" she yelled at him.
he shook his head as he skated away. "if i would've known you were THIS ass at it, i would've never brought you here!" he yelled looking back. he started to laugh at her on the floor when he suddenly lost his balance and fell face first into the ground.
loey started clapping as she lost her breath due to laughing.
karma serves him right.
"yeah you totally showed me!"
"shut up!"
she continued laughing until she laid back on the ground like she was doing at her apartment. her legs and arms spread out as she stared at the big disco ball directly in front of her, it illuminating the entire room with its shiny light.
she turned her head to see juyeon crawling over to where she was.
"i thought you were better than me at this? why are you crawling over here!"
returning the action she did to him earlier, he stuck his middle finger up before continuing to crawl over. right when he was next to her, he laid back like she was doing too.
they both watched the disco ball with candy nearing it's ending in the song.
"thank you."
he turned his head to look at loey.
"thank you? for what?"
"for today. the guys told me how hard you worked for friday off just for us to hangout, so i agreed. and while i'm still not comfortable explaining what happened yet, this entire week was literally hell." loey paused for a moment, before she continued.
"it's been really tough for me, and my friends tried so hard to cheer me up but i felt like such a burden to them. they were taking care of me like a child and i felt so bad. then you showed up, and i thought i was going to have to force myself to be happy when hanging out with you, but you wanna know something?"
she turned her head to look him.
he nodded maintaining eye contact.
"i didn't have to fake a single thing this entire time."
it was true that loey was suffering greatly the past week due to unfortunate events. she had completely shut down and became more unstable than she already was. and it was true she felt like a burden also.
jackie and jay kept trying to cheer her up: they bought her snacks, they offered to take her places, they even offered to skip school and stay home with her but she all denied them kindly. she saw how hard they were trying, yet she wanted them to focus on themselves too. it felt like she was their child they had to keep a close eye on because at any moment she could do something wrong.
loey didn't have depression.
but what happened put her in a dark place in her life.
and it sucked because she kept blaming herself for what had happened, even though it technically wasn't her fault.
she felt broken.
humiliated.
pathetic.
unloved.
so when juyeon showed up and she was reminded of how hard he was working himself just to spend a day with her out of all people, she told herself she was going to put everything aside that evening and at least act like she wanted to go outside.
but it surprised her, because as the evening went on, she was smiling and laughing without her even realizing. so she wanted to thank him. thank him for taking time out of his day for actually caring about the girl and not just simping over her.
"i haven't been this happy in a while. so thank you juyeon. i'm sorry i can't pay you back with anything in return."
he shook his head.
"you don't have to pay me back with anything loey. seeing you be happy is enough to know i helped someone who was hurting."
because i know what it feels like to have no one understand you. believe me loey, i know.
juyeon noticed her smile fade away as she looked back at the disco ball. "how are you single? you mentioned not having any friends before. you're literally everything someone could want for in a partner too. you're somehow one of the nicest guys i've met, so why?"
what she didn't expect was for him to laugh.
except it wasn't a bright one, it was cold and harsh.
"you'd be surprised at how much people like to play with others."
she felt chill run down her body. for the first time since she has met him online up until now, juyeon was dead serious and not happy about something.
"this world can be nice, but there's just those few individuals that love to mess with people for their own entertainment. and i want nothing to be like those people, ever."
loey laughed. "sounds like we both have been through tough shit."
"i agree."
it felt nice to know what someone else has been through huge turmoil for the both of them. not knowing the other's situation, it was still enough to provide some sort of comfort between them. it also helped them get closer to each other without them knowing.
and for the first time, loey was the one to grab his hand softly.
"you know i'm not really supposed to be getting closer to you because it could ruin friendships in the chat," she squeezed his hand. "but what they don't know can't hurt them right?"
he closed his eyes, a smile breaking out from his lips.
"right."
after talking a bit more about life and the ups and downs of it, the two decided they were hungry as hell and wanted to eat. they put the skates back, made sure everything was cleaned up and put back in its place, turned everything off, and locked the door as they exited out the back.
once they got in the car loey sighed.
"now let's eat."
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰
"no because this shit right here is so good!" loey groaned as she took another bite of her burger.
juyeon who was next to her nodded. "i totally agree."
after both arguing back and forth on what to eat, they decided to just stop at a random burger place nearby. they both got meals and were eating making comments which did attract a couple of stares.
they didn't mind though. they barely paid attention to the people around them whispering or the pointing at all. to them it was just like no one else mattered.
he noticed loey ate rather quickly and kept looking at his fries every and now and then. another laugh came from his lips as he pushed his tray of fries over.
"are you that hungry?" he teased.
her eyes widened and she pushed it back to him.
"no."
"you don't have to be embarrassed about it," he pushed it back.
she pushed it back. "but it's yours and you should eat."
juyeon swallowed the food in his mouth before he leaned his head closer. his eyes never leaving hers in the process. "you wanna play this game? fine. i payed. and if you don't eat this, i'm gonna make a scene right now."
loey looked around at all the people in the place.
then she looked back at him who looked dead serious.
and then she grabbed his fries and took one.
juyeon nodded as he continued to eat his burger. "good."
silence had indulged the two as they ate. though something was bothering the girl and she didn't know why. as she ate his fries she suddenly blurted out, "i hope you don't think i'm like...greedy or anything. it's just i—"
"are you insane or something?" he suddenly asked too. he put the last piece of the burger in his mouth before chewing it and swallowing. he took a sip of his coke before looking back at her, all while loey waited patiently for him to finish. "i'm not going to think anything different of you just for eating some extra fries. relax. when you're with me, don't stress about unimportant things okay? i didn't bring you here just to watch how much you eat, that would be so stupid.
"so if you want more, just ask me and i'll go buy you more. if you want five more cheeseburgers," he took another sip of his drink, a smile spreading across his lips. "then i'll buy you five more cheeseburgers. whatever makes you happy, i'm at your service ma'am." he saluted her.
so different.
he's so different from my family.
how can he be so different?
juyeon couldn't believe it.
somehow, in the last couple of hours, he got to see more sides of loey than anyone else in the group chat. just earlier he saw her being vulnerable, then he saw her smile like there was no tomorrow, then he heard her solemn talk, and now, he wasn't sure if that was an insecurity or just part of her personality, but he was glad he reassured her.
he didn't want to brag about anything, but it was evident he already knew more than the guys did.
even when she met up with hyunjae—who described their encounter to them when loey was gone—he still had to work so didn't get to talk with her as much as he wanted to.
it surprised him loey actually opened up a bit.
he had this feeling that she wasn't going to speak to him the entire night or barely speak some words. and he was okay with that, as long as she was okay. but actually have her open up despite the two being strangers in real life? that's what made him feel all happy on the inside.
he was getting to know sides of her that the guys haven't.
and while it made him happy...who's not to say it didn't boost his ego either?
juyeon wasn't selfish, nor he will ever be selfish. he's been through many things up to this point in his life and he always told himself he would never act like the people who have hurt him. and although he's not as bright as the others...
he isn't dense.
he knows loey and him are closer than the guys.
he knows about the way her cheeks blush slightly if he offers her a compliment.
he knows that the other guys have in interest in her despite acting like they don't.
and he knows that one day there's going to be some sort of rivalry in the future to who gets the girl.
juyeon knows all of this is coming, although he tried not to focus on it too much. he cares about her despite only knowing her for a month, and so he wants to spend whatever free time he has cheering her up. he doesn't know what their future friendship will be like, he just knows that he doesn't want it to end in a bad way.
but when do things really go your way?
loey sipped from her passion fruit lemonade (it's really good) before finally realizing how juyeon became quiet. he looked deep in thought as he stared at nothing but the table.
why does he still look good while doing nothing?
if i stared at a table like that, someone would think i fell asleep with my eyes open or something.
well here goes nothing.
"hey ju are you okay?"
his gaze immediately shifted up to her.
"ju? that's a cute nickname. where did it come from," he asked as a smile spread across his face. he realized she probably noticed his thinking state and that's why she called him that to get his attention. nevertheless he found it extremely cute though.
she pursed her lips. "you didn't answer my question."
juyeon sighed as he nodded. he was fine, he was actually really happy, but just thinking about what was going to happen in the future—it had him worried. "yeah i'm okay, don't worry. you done? there's still one more stop on our amazing trip."
she responded with a 'yeah' as the two cleaned up their trash and left. they had paid beforehand so they didn't need to before leaving. once they reached his truck, they got in and he started the car.
loey found it weird though because he wouldn't stop smiling.
he also chucked to himself lowly while shaking his head. she was about to ask what was up when he grabbed the aux cord and plugged it into his phone. he grabbed a pair of sunglasses and wore them as the smile turned into a small smirk.
"make sure you wear your seatbelt, because this is gonna be a long ride."
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰
the girl kept silent as she looked around, her eyes scanning the plain road ahead of her, with grass fields on both side. it was all vacant and new to her.
the sun was beginning to set too. it's pink and orange undertones swirling with a mix of baby blue making it look like cotton candy. it was definitely one of the prettiest views she's ever seen. the golden light of the sun shining brightly in the distance, gleaming on them as if it was smiling with them.
despite the sun beaming so effortlessly, there were still clouds in the sky that were colored grey. she just assumed because it was going to rain soon, yet the grey didn't affect the beautiful view either.
then out of nowhere, juyeon pulled to the side of the road to park.
"why...are we in the middle of nowhere? don't tell me you're going to kill me," she joked as her eyes never left the shining sun.
"it isn't nowhere if it's somewhere. it's just unknown."
loey smiled before finally looking over at him. she noticed his skin was glowing because of the bright sun deflecting on his already glowing skin. he looked even more handsome than before. "okay Shakespeare, but seriously, why are we here?"
juyeon laughed at the nickname, the second one that day. "maybe i am shakespeare. but if you're wondering why we're here, we're here to scream."
"did you just say scream? what are you talking about?"
the boy suddenly unbuckled his seatbelt. he got out the car, a huge grin on his face. "i hope you don't mind getting wet because it looks like it's going to rain."
then he walked over to her side, opened the car door, and once again reached out his hand as he waited for her to take it. once he stood directly in front of her, she finally began to really take his appearance in. he was wearing a light blue washed jean jacket, black ripped jeans, a black v-neck shirt tucked in his jeans, a couple of rings and necklaces, and white and black nike shoes. his eyes were dark brown as they shined with a few different things behind them, and of course the sun being in his favor making him glow.
his nose sharp, lips pink from overly biting them, and a nervous smile all as he stared at her, as if she was the only thing that mattered at the moment.
like she mattered for once in her life.
loey looked down at his hand, the size of it being doubled than hers but looking so inviting, before looking back up at his sparkling eyes. it made her feel weird on the inside, yet she felt so comforted at the same time. juyeon had been through many hardships like her and therefore she knew she could rely on him for being like her.
but...it was the way he looked at her.
no one had ever looked at her life that.
sparkling eyes that never seemed to die down as if they held the entire galaxy in just one look. almost as if she was the galaxy he was looking at which reflected off on his eyes. and no matter what, those stars will continue shining despite whatever happens to try and shut them out.
she blinked slowly and made a decision.
she grabbed his hand.
he helped her get out the car when she stood directly in front of him.
he took his jean jacket off slowly, and through it inside the car, all while making sure not to break eye contact. she found it amusing—how he didn't break eye contact through his actions, but when he did, he grabbed his phone. going to his playlist on spotify, he clicked the song that was very special to him.
0X1=LOVESONG (I Know I Love You) ft. Seori
(play the song now to experience it with them ^)
"okay, you told me we're here to scream. care to explain why?" she asked raising an eyebrow.
that second they both felt a couple of droplets of water fall on them lightly.
"when i'm very stressed out, i come here to scream while dancing to music. it lets me get my frustrations out and i have a good time. we're nowhere near houses so no one can report anything. it's fun and," he stopped to face her again. "you're first person i bring here."
even i didn't bring her here.
it's weird.
loey looked at him shocked. "are you being serious?"
he nodded and took her hand in his once again.
"do you trust me?"
she stood there silently.
do i trust him? this is the first time i have met him...
but what the hell, i'm here to forget everything right?
she nodded slowly.
"great because the chorus is coming up, and once it does, i don't wanna see that frown on your face anymore."
"Nan munje tuseongi love sick
Giri eopseosseo
Jugeodo joasseo
I'm a loser in this game"
once he let go of her hand, the rain started to pour down more aggressively, and he ran into the field screaming. loey stood there a smile on her face as she watched him run around screaming. this was her first time meeting him, and yet she could already tell his happiness while running around was nothing compared to what he experienced throughout the day.
his smile was so bright as he laughed. his arms were spread out as he spinned in circles, the water drenching him by the second.
"FUCK YOU LIFE!" he screamed.
might as well join in.
with her hair already being somewhat drenched, she ran into the field screaming too. she ran around, screaming as hard as she could, a big smile on her face.
"SAY YOU LOVE ME, SAY YOU LOVE ME --"
"I KNOW I LOVE YOU!"
even though she was tired in the car from all the movement she was doing that day, the second she started running in the field, she got a burst of adrenaline she didn't know she had.
her heart rate increased rapidly as her legs took her wherever they wanted. she could feel her clothes starting to feel heavy from the amount of water they were carrying by then. she jumped up and down as she screamed loudly, her heart screaming with her.
she looked up at the sky laughing.
i haven't felt this happy in so long...so why now?
she moved her wet hair out of her face as she ran farther into the field, the energy within her raging heart never dying down.
loey looked over and juyeon was still screaming his heart out, his body drenched in water from head to toe, when he suddenly tripped and fell face first into the grass, just like he had done earlier.
"FUCK!"
she burst into laughter before repeating after him.
"FUCK!"
"ARE YOU MOCKING ME?!"
"SO WHAT IF I AM SIMP?"
from the ground her turned his head back and she winked at him. she ran over to him, almost tripping too because of the wet grass, before crouching down in front of him with a playful pout. "aw, did the baby get hurt?"
"baby?" he asked tilting his head.
shit.
"i didn't mean it like—"
"relax loey, i was joking with you." he winked at her like she had winked at him.
the girl felt her cheeks heat up before she looked away. he noticed, and since there was no one watching, he decided to do something.
the boy sat up to be at level with the girl. he suddenly reached out to move her head to face him. his hand softly holding her cheek as he beamed at her.
"why aren't you looking at me?"
"don't do that."
"do what loey?"
"that."
his hand never left her cheek. "i don't know what you mean..."
fuck why is my heart racing so much?
"this. you're acting as if we were..." she trailed off. he instantly caught on to what she was saying as he started to laugh again. he let his hand drop slowly. "does it bother you that much?"
loey shook her head still not looking at him. "it doesn't bother me, this is just...new. i've just— i've never—i don't know."
they both went silent.
juyeon started to worry that he made her uncomfortable. he looked at the grass surrounding them trying to come up with something to say to comfort her or at least break the silence. his gaze turned to her and noticed water droplets rolling down her cheeks.
then he realized they were tears.
"oh my god loey i'm so sorry. i didn't mean to make you cry. are you okay?"
she lifted her head. "these aren't tears of sadness juyeon, i'm crying because i haven't felt so happy in such a long time..."
the two sat there on the wet grass, one of them crying as the other watched. her eyes became slightly pink as tears streamed down her face. since it was still pouring, loey couldn't tell the difference between her tears or the rain, yet she knew she probably looked like a mess in front of him.
juyeon didn't say anything as he sat there.
he didn't know what to say.
he was just happy that she was happy.
then out of nowhere she tackled him.
her arms wrapped around his waist as she continued crying. he in return wrapped his arms around her shoulders as he rested his chin on her shoulder. I Know I Love You was still blasting loud against his car's speakers like there was no tomorrow.
and they stayed that way until the sun was fully down.
night unfold as they continued hugging each other. soon the stars started to replace the shining of the sun as it beamed brightly against the night sky.
loey was the first to pull away.
"i'm sorry i hugged you for like 10 minutes."
"it's okay, i'm not complaining or anything."
the both looked up at the sky. the rain was barely there now, just a small drizzle. the two of them completely drenched in water but not caring at all. they were both admiring the pretty stars when she poked his shoulder.
"should we head home? it's gonna take us another hour to get home, we might get sick cause of our wet clothes too."
he nodded. "okay grandma, let's get you home."
loey rolled her eyes. "shut up."
juyeon continued laughing as he stood up. he reached his hand down for her to grab, just like she had done for him earlier at the roller skating place. she took his hand and stood up before following behind him to the car. once they had made it across the field to the car, she paused at the door.
"wait we're both soaking wet. are you okay with that? we're not going to ruin the seats to your truck or something?"
he shrugged. "i mean i don't really care. besides it's not like i get in my car like this everyday." he joked as he made his way to enter the car.
the two put their seatbelts on as he changed the song to another one of his favorites.
No Blueberries - DPR Ian
loey gasped as she pointed at his phone. "I LOVE THIS SONG!"
"ME TOO!"
she smiled as he started to make a u-turn to head the same way back. he didn't need a gps or anything because he has been there multiple times already. once he began driving, without taking his eyes off the road, he grabbed the jean jacket he previously threw in the car before throwing it on her lap.
"you should wear it. it's not warm but it's something. i don't want you getting sick."
"what about you?"
"i don't want you getting sick," he repeated.
loey pursed her lips as she put her arms through the sleeves of the jacket. she was basically wearing it backwards and he found it cute as hell. her head leaned against the window as her eyes felt heavy.
she closed her eyes as juyeon lowered the volume of the music.
"sleep well loey."
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰
loey unlocked her apartment door before closing it quickly. tears threatened to spill from her eyes as she tried her best not to cry. her mind was still thinking about what had just happened.
once they arrived at her apartment building, juyeon shook her awake softly. he told her they were home and that she should head inside. she nodded and was going to take off his jacket when he told her she could keep it for now and give it back to him sometime.
he also told her he was using that as bait to see her again.
they laughed together and she was about to get out when he suddenly kissed her cheek and mumbled a 'see you later.'
she responded with a 'yeah' because her mind became clouded with what he did. and so on the elevator she kept replaying what he did, her cheeks burning as her heart felt like it was about to burst. once she was through the door she kicked off her shoes as she was headed towards the bathroom, but stopped to see jackie in the kitchen.
"oh you're finally home?" she asked looking up from her cup of cereal when her eyes widened noticing loey was crying.
"oh my god loey are you okay?"
jackie put down her cup quickly rushing over to loey. loey shook her head and hugged jackie, completely forgetting her clothes were still wet.
"jackie...i'm confused."
oh no.
"and i don't know what to feel."
except loey had no idea that this was just the beginning.