After a fairly long shopping spree that left my credit card trembling, we finally decided to end it there and go to a cafe to eat the cheesecake I had been craving for weeks. Everyone knew about Jisung's love for cheesecakes, but I was just the same or even worse than him.
"Did you put the receipts on the bags?" Jisung asked me while we were at the cafe. "I need to pay you later."
"Nonsense!" I told him. "See those clothes as a gift."
"Alix, I know the clothes weren't cheap at all. I won't let you pay for them," he insisted. "Give me the receipts later."
"I threw them away, what a pity!" I lied and his face told me he had completely believed it. "I guess it will have to be a gift in the end!"
"Alix..."
"Shut up and eat your cheesecake," I said picking a piece of mine with my teaspoon and feeding it to him.
"Let me at least treat you to this," he said and I shrugged playfully. "And I'm inviting you to dinner another day. Don't even try to refuse."
"I didn't say anything!" I said with an eye-smile and chuckled.
We were in comfortable silence for about a minute after that as I looked out the window to the amazing night view of the street. It felt as if I were in one of the many dramas I had watched.
"Are you nervous for the MAMAs?" I asked Jisung as I looked outside.
"Aren't you?" he asked back and I shrugged lightly and took a sip of my bubble tea. "Every stage is nerve-wracking but this one is a lot more. Last year when Chan, Mika, Hyunjin and Soojin revealed their relationships people kept talking about it for weeks. Who knows what will happen this year?"
After he said that, I turned to where his manager was and he looked shocked yet he looked at me and sent me a small smile, so I did the same, happy that he didn't seem to be upset about it.
"So we are addressing that here!" I said to Jisung.
"I don't get why we shouldn't. Everyone will know in less than a week," he said shrugging. "I'm very happy about that. I'm starting to hate all of the secrecy."
"Don't lie, you hate that every time you go online everyone is shipping me with someone from a different group!"
"Okay, that too. Can't I? Yeonjun from TXT, Junseo from 1the9, basically all of NCT, now the most recent addition is BTS's Suga due to the award show. That is if we don't take into account that people ship you with half of JYP and that includes my groupmates. Seriously, one more Minho and Alix post and I'm going to explode."
"You are an idiot," I said chuckling lightly. "It's the internet, what did you expect? Both of us even get shipped within our own groups. According to Tumblr, I have already married Soojin and Leah about six times each. I thank sometimes that Lin is still a minor!"
We both then burst out laughing. I had never taken this 'ships' badly and just found them funny. I didn't mind them as long as they weren't hurtful and sometimes we even read some at the dorms when we were bored in the living room doing nothing, so we all had a lot of fun reading them.
"Anyways, I hope they all stop or at least relax after the MAMAs," he said seriously. "For both of us."
"Excuse me but Minsung is alive and thriving!" I said and he hit my arm.
"Oh, shut up already!"
ººº
After we had finished, the cameramen said it was already late and that filming would finish there, so we bid them goodbye before they left and we headed to the car with Jisung's manager.
"So... you two really are a couple!" he said.
"Yes, wasn't it obvious?" Jisung said raising his hand that was holding mine.
"If I am completely honest, I at first thought you two were together but then you started just being friendly with each other as much as with the rest and that confused me. You look good, don't get me wrong, but these past few months you looked just like friends, not like a couple."
"That was probably when we started dating," I told him. "We decided to keep it as a secret and from then on we tried to hide it a lot more than before. This past few weeks, though, we haven't been trying at all."
"The boys are starting to notice. I swear Seungmin keeps asking me every three seconds if we are together since Minho told everyone that I like you," Jisung said shaking his head.
"You two are a perfect match," his manager said. "I didn't really pay attention to it until today because I normally have to keep an eye on all of you, but you really look good together."
"Thank you," I said blushing lightly.
We then hopped inside the car and drove back to the dorms in comfortable silence but Jisung suddenly spoke up after a while.
"Do you mind dropping us here instead of at the dorms?" Jisung asked him. "I just want to go for a walk."
"But people may see you," his manager said.
"Please?" Jisung pleaded with puppy eyes.
"Okay, fine. But keep your phones close. If something happens, call me immediately."
"Thank you!" Jisung exclaimed.
The manager then pulled over and we both got out of the car and said about a thousand 'thank you's before he sped off again.
"Where do you want to go?" I asked him looking around.
"Our spot," he said grabbing my hand.
He led the way through the different streets until we arrived at the convenience store where we had bought the beers the time we spent the night together, so I looked at him with a smile.
"No beer today, though," Jisung said before we went inside.
We then walked to the drinks and snacks area and we picked banana milk before going to the cashier and paying for them. The cashier was fairly old and didn't seem to know who we were, so I was very thankful for that.
After paying, we both headed outside again and walked towards the bridge. We weren't hungry since we had just had out cheesecakes, so Jisung put the banana milk in the bag he had with him and we both walked together there hand-in-hand.
"It's really cold today," I said almost shivering since I was just wearing the dress and a coat.
"You should have worn something warmer," Jisung said taking off the scarf he was wearing and putting it around my neck. "We are in December already, you can't just go out wearing a short dress like that."
"Sorry... I wanted to look nice..."
"You always look beautiful to me, I don't know what you are talking about," he said and pecked my lips.
"Why do you keep being so cheesy?" I said hitting his arm. "Did you study romance through dramas or what?"
"You are my first girlfriend, Alix. So I think it's obvious that is actually the case," he said making me laugh.
We continued walking there just listening to the nightlife city sounds and the cars passing by. We didn't need to talk to each other to have a good night, just each other's presence was enough.
"Sungie," I said as we walked up the stairs to the bridge. "Why did you want to come here? Why exactly here?"
"It's our spot. It's where we had our first night out together and where we had our first kiss. I proclaimed it as our spot," he answered sweetly.
"You know I'm not saying it because of that. I'm saying it because... You know... I already know you saw the interview I did with Korean Englishman and..." I tried to say but failed miserably as I didn't want to think about it.
"Alix, I know this is the bridge. Precisely that is why I'm taking you here," he told me grabbing both of my hands. "I want to replace every single bad memory you have with good ones. I know this bridge brings you back to dark times, but hopefully all the new memories we make here together replace that and this becomes a happy place. You are overcoming every obstacle life puts you through and maybe this can also show you that things did turn out to be okay in the end. Alix I-"
Before he could finish, I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his chest as he was a step above me. Neither of us said anything at first and I just hugged him tightly but, after a while, I spoke up.
"I love you, Jisung," I said. "I know I don't say it much and that being overly romantic doesn't come naturally to me, but I hope you can see that I really love you. I love you more than I have ever loved anyone and I love you more than myself."
"I'm not exactly happy about that last part," he joked.
"Look at who ruined the moment now," I said pulling away and hitting him.
I then walked up the stairs pretending to be mad and he quickly ran after me but I started running too. In the end, though, he caught me at around the middle of the bridge since I was wearing heels and my feet hurt a little.
"Don't run away from me," he said grabbing my hand and spinning me around so I faced him. "I love you, Alix."
"Just kiss me already," I said and he grabbed both sides of my face and pulled me into a kiss.
ººº
(A/N) SPOILER 2:
The book won't be solely focused on one of the five girls and her couple. It will drift from one girl to the other although it is true that it may be focused on some of them more than others at certain times.
What I'm trying to say with this last part is that, for example, Alix may get most of the focus at first as we shift from one part of the book to the other but slowly you will see the points of view branching out and the other girls' perspectives appearing a lot more, no matter if it's for a chapter, part of it or many chapters.
I don't know if it's confusing but I've tried my best.
Have a nice day!
徐小雯(Xu Xiaowen)