ch. 17

"if only we can be together."

-just one day

"finally, class is over!"

eunbi skips her way out of her classroom with a bright smile on her lips as she cheerfully travels through the winding hallways.

with no plans and no work today, she can take some time to relax at the apartment since siyeon will be hanging out with her classmates. the thought of binge-watching kdramas and napping without any disruptions sounds pleasant to her ears.

she deserves a break from people and her problems.

she exits the building and begins approaching the school gates, awaiting to return to her comfy bed and turn on her laptop.

but her leisure day ends when someone suddenly whispers into her ear.

"hey, are you free today?"

eunbi looks over her shoulder to lock eyes with a familiar pair of brown eyes, causing her to back away from him immediately.

"yunho, wh-what are you doing here-"

before she could finish her question, he frantically grabs her wrist and begins running with her trailing behind. he constantly glances behind her for some reason as they sprint through the campus, panic present in his eyes.

as an observant person, she would notice his little action and look behind her during their run.

however, the only thing she is focusing on is the grip on her hand.

the shocking feeling from the contact travels up her arm and disperses throughout her body like a supernova, a sensation like no other. his skin against hers is as addictive as she recalls from before, making her want to keep him for herself.

or that's how it would feel if she was experiencing this in the past.

now, it feels like a normal thing; there is nothing special about this skinship.

when they arrived to an area of the school with barely any people, he finally halts and catches his breath. letting go of his friend, he runs his hand through his gorgeous light brown hair, revealing his forehead for a few seconds.

normally, her heart would be beating rapidly at the sight of him doing the little things she loved.

but she knows that her heart is racing because her nonathletic-self was running just a while ago.

the female plops onto the floor with her chest rising up and down, trying to calm her breathing through exhaling and inhaling slowly, as she avoids eye contact with the boy before her. with one hand propping her upper body up, her free hand roams through her hair and slowly lets each strand of her long brown locks fall onto her shoulder.

what she doesn't realize is that yunho is shyly taking a glimpse at her once in a while when he awaits for her to finish resting.

"so are you free today or not?"

she averts her gaze from her surroundings and meets eyes with her friend, who puts a hand in front of her. she takes it, feeling the softness of his palm, and together she is lifted from the ground.

"well not anymore because of you, " she playfully rolls her eyes.

"okay because i want to prepare the dance proposal for," he hesitates a little, "-siyeon."

she doesn't notice the break in his statement because she can feel her heart drop at the sound of that name: his girlfriend's name.

surprisingly though, the pain that came with her name doesn't hurt as much as before.

nonetheless, she lets a small smile pull on her lips. "if i recall correctly, she has a thing for cheesy pick-up lines."

thinking of a splendid idea, he does small little hops and claps at his little achievement, his mouth forming an 'o'. "let's go to a store and buy some poster paper and balloons! i have markers at home!"

"oh, we're not going to the dorm?" she tilts her head in confusion.

he shakes his head. "my family wants me to eat dinner with them tonight, so we'll be planning the dance proposal there."

he remembers something and flashes her a smile. "and my mom has been dying to see you, so it's a win-win situation."

she nods her head in agreement of the plan for today and the both of them walk to the student parking, where yunho's vehicle was residing. eunbi's eyes spot a peculiar automobile from a distance, but ignores it since she knows that the male owns a car.

however, they continue to get closer to the vehicle and the light brunette pulls out a small key from his pocket. he approaches it and puts the key into its keyhole and twists it, earning a low growl from the machine, before hopping onto the seat with his helmet on.

"i am not riding that," eunbi squeaks in fear as she backs away from the automobile.

he sighs, already expecting this reaction, and lifts up the lens of the helmet. "eunbi-ah, you're going to be fine. it's not even that bad."

"yunho, you know that i have a fear of motorcycles."

reaching out to her, he awaits for her hand. "do you trust me?"

she takes a minute to contemplate before hesitatingly taking his hand, putting all her trust onto him. he guides her to the seat of the motorcycle and instructs her to grab the spare helmet in the bag on the side. knowing what to do next, she hops onto the seat behind him and puts the helmet on her head, trembling in horror.

"you're going to be okay," his masculine voice consoles. "just wrap your arms around my waist."

her shaky arms do as told, holding the male from behind, as her body leans against his back. with the engine roaring in her ears, she tightly squeezes her eyes shut and embraces herself for the bumpy ride.

but nothing happens.

feeling no motion whatsoever, she allows her eyes to open and lifts her head up while loosening her grip on yunho.

the motorcycle glides on the road as the breeze flows through her hair, passing by the tall buildings of seoul. the sounds of engines sneering and people chattering echo in her ear and she grins at the thrilling feeling growing within her.

"you enjoying the view, eunbi?" she hears from the front.

"yep!" she leans her head on his back once more and nuzzles her head.

underneath her, yunho feels his muscles tense a little at the sudden contact, causing him to swerve a little on the road. stabilizing the vehicle as quickly as possible, the grip on his waist tightens and his face flushes in red.

wh-what is she doing?!? he asks himself as he keeps his focus on the road, gripping the handles a little harder than intended.

for some reason, his heart is beating faster than it should be.

after a few minutes of adjusting to the road, the pair arrives at their designated location. yunho jumps off his seat first and helps eunbi reach the ground, taking off both of their helmets and returning them in the bags attached to the vehicle.

the girl enters into the store and immediately zooms to the school supplies' section, grabbing a fairly large white poster board, while the boy travels to the balloon section. he observes each design of the balloons and decides on the pink and red heart shaped ones.

"yunho-ah, look at me!"

hearing his name, he looks over his shoulders and almost lets out a shriek, placing a hand over his poor heart.

it was eunbi in a creepy clown mask.

she removes the mask while laughing to her heart's content, slapping her thighs and smiling like an idiot. she wipes her tears with her delicate fingers and runs her hand through her hair.

"you should have seen your face," she exclaims, laughing again with her hands over her stomach. "it was hilarious!"

what she doesn't notice the fact that he isn't paying attention to her words, but taking note of all the little things she does like the way she scrunches her nose cutely or the way her hand roams her hair.

"yah!"

he snaps out of his little world and locks eyes with her dark brown ones.

"i'm hungry, let's hurry up so i can eat some of your mom's food."

he rolls her eyes when he hears her statement. "wow, you don't want to spend some time with your best friend?"

"of course not," she scoffs. "i would rather be at home admiring nam joohyuk's good looks on my laptop."

"yah!" he places his hand on her head and messily ruffles her hair, which earns a small giggle from her.

arriving at the cashier area, the male notices two small packets in his friend's hand as he starts to pay for the supplies needed for his dance proposal, but he assumes that he's seeing things and proceeds with the payment. the cashier places his items into plastic bags, hands him the balloons with their customer-friendly smile, and bids him goodbye.

emerging from the store, a blue popsicle appears in front of his face, causing him to turn to his side. beside him is the vocalist enjoying a green popsicle, taking a huge bite of the sweet delight.

for some reason, he winces in pain when he witnesses his friend bite the popsicle, but takes the treat nonetheless.

"what's with this eunbi?" he questions as he takes a small lick of the icy treat.

"can i not treat my friend?" she counters, playfully placing an elbow on his shoulder.

he looks at her with a confused face. "but shouldn't the guy be treating the girl?"

eunbi sighs, noticing his lack of comprehension, and takes up all the courage she has to speak up about the misunderstanding between them.

"this is not a date yunho."

he takes a minute to realize that this is nothing more than best friends hanging out, and that he has a girlfriend he loves dearly.

"oh," he merely says. "i guess i was so used to going out with siyeon that i assumed that this was a date."

although hearing those words would cause her to fall on her knees and bawl her eyes, she continues to stand tall, slightly unaffected by his statement.

she has already been progressively giving up on her feelings for him, but there's still a hint of hope left in her heart.

please don't bring my hopes up again.

avoiding an awkward atmosphere, the both of them quickly finish their popsicle and hop back on the motorcycle, placing the helmets on their heads. with a pull of the handle, the pair travels out of the parking lot and into the streets again.

once again, the female admires the busy streets of seoul, her eyes gleaming with interest when she spots some clothing stores and restaurants close by. the lights along the roads and in the buildings shine through the darkness of the sunset.

with the calming breeze playing around with her hair, she takes this moment to rest her head on the driver's back and close her eyes. the humming of the engine sings a melody in her ears as the beating of her friend's heart accompanies it as the drums, the song ringing pleasantly.

eunbi smiles.

their friendship is like a rose, something beautiful not worth being pluck from its stem. the pain from each thorn is a reminder that a simple romance is unattainable.

and because she knows that her feelings are slowly dying away and that yunho will always love siyeon...

they will stay friends forever.

right?