[ Had an amazing time with my fans! Thank you for always supporting me. Wish we meet again soon~ Love you all~]
I tweeted and finally got out of the library. Cherry quickly hollered a cab and we got in. The reading was tiring but it was worth it. I checked my SNS, liked some of the posts my readers posted and then closed my drowsy eyes.
"Ri...Ari, wake up, we are here." Cherry lightly shook my shoulders, pulling me out of a dream I don't recall anymore. I rubbed my eyes and looked out the window. We were in front of the hotel. Cherry paid the driver and we got out. Though, I was about to stumble at the curb since my mind was yet to be fully awake.
"Be careful." She uttered and walked towards the entrance. I followed her. I let out a big yawn and reached for my mouth to close it. I thought Cherry was going through the door but instead, she went through the round moving one that's fun and addictive. Now, I was confused whether to go through the door or the moving one. It was such a difficult choice since the moving door was a few inches away and I would have to walk all the way just to have fun, but this door is right in front of me and I won't have to get tired by walking to the moving door and losing my energy by going round and round.
Eventually, I didn't want to miss out on the pleasure, so I decided to head for the moving door because life's too short to regret taking decisions. (Remind me to add this quote in my next book)
I hated and waited for the right moment to come. Cherry looked back at me and waited impatiently with crossed arms. I could feel her anger and irritation passing through the door and touching me like hot wind. So, I quickly tried to push the door for the space to arrive so that I could end the long-distance torture. However…all of a sudden, someone grabbed my wrist and started to pull me away from the door. Cherry's surprised expression flashed before me but I couldn't stop because whoever was dragging me had held me too tight and was running too fast. I looked behind, simultaneously trying to free myself from the grips of the shady stranger who had worn a black cap and mask and saw three more guys stopping Cherry from following me.
"W-who are these guys...!"
Tears started to fill my eyes and fear embraced my heart.
"Help..." I wanted to shout but it was as if my voice had vanished like Ariel's. I swallowed a big lump of my saliva and gathered the energy I needed to scream in my throat. "HELP! HELP ME SOME--" Unexpectedly, the guy looked behind at me and yelled back, "Why are you yelling?!" And he stopped, promptly pulling me and pushing me to the graffiti-covered wall. My mind couldn't register what was happening and my body moved when the stranger moved it.
"Shh, it's me...it's me." He breathed, his eyes wandered around my face and then stopped at my shocked pupils. He pulled down the mask and revealed his face.
My heart skipped a beat, well more like it had stopped but because I had to stay alive to believe my own eyes, it pumped ever so irregularly. My eyes were at their max to be widened and my fingers trembled to touch his face so that I can distinguish dream and reality.
"Y-you...what are you...?" My lips quivered. He trapped me in his focus as if I was the lamb and him, the wolf.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like that." He was so close to me...I could feel the material of his jacket on my wrists. I couldn't even go back or move forward but I was stuck in his existence.
"But why...?" I frowned. My mouth was turning dry.
"Because--"
"And--who were those guys who stopped Cherry...?" I recalled those three guys stopping Cherry but for some reason, I knew she wasn't in danger because she can handle five guys all by herself and she won't even break a sweat. That's how strong my Cherry is, so instead of being scared for her, I'm afraid for them. They might as well be on the floor bleeding.
"Oh, those were my members too. Please, don't worry about it. They just kind of helped me so that I can take you." He smiled, backing away just a tiny step.
"Take me...Where?" Although there was still much closeness between us, I could at least breathe a little freely.
He abruptly placed his hand in front of me and gestured me with his eyes to hold it. I was almost sure he could see a big question mark on my head but I couldn't just refuse his hand...right? Even his tiniest smiles tempts my heart.
"We don't have much time." He said; impatience was evident in his voice. Like I said before, life's too short to regret taking decisions.
I placed my hand in his and he clasped it together. Warmth spread like wildfire on my palms and before I could feel the burn in my cheeks, we were running again through the streets of New York. Hand in hand. Breath by breath.
--
It was so beautiful. Truly magnificent.
On a wide street, the trees were covered in different shades of lights. Some glowing, some sparking, some flashing at their own will and some dancing to the tune with the wind. Petals shaped like hearts were fallen on the pavement and I could tell that they were not man-made. The petals really were heart shaped and had fallen from the blossoming trees towering us.
They were people; mostly couples clicking a thousand photos to save a thousand memories. And slowly, as the wind blew a part of the petals from under my feet, I looked at him in expressions I myself couldn't properly express from my heart. I was stunned, amazed, overwhelmed, emotional...and what not? So many feelings were trying to get out that my mind went completely blank and into a disoriented trance.
"Do you like it?" He asked hesitantly, letting out a chuckle to hide his nervous creases on his forehead.
What was I supposed to say? I like it? I love it? It's spectacular? Well, I just nodded because my lips were sewed shut.
"Honestly?" His eyes grew just a little wide.
"Yes..." I parted my lips and spoke softly. "Honestly..." I could feel the waves in my utterance. "But why?" That's the question that strikes me the most.
"Because I like you." He said in a serious tone that couldn't get any more serious than it should have sounded. It was an affirmed tone. A tone that broke the why. "What I said that night, and what you heard, it wasn't your imagination."
"I love you." So... I didn't mishear him, and it wasn't a Korean pronunciation either...
EH?! But...but...how is this--
"How is this possible?!" I accidentally yelled in agitation, worsening the current situation. But what surprised me was that he didn't flinch, or he didn't try to stop me from letting out my bottled-up pressure. "W-We just met and I'm happy that you...like me but this can't be happening, right?! I--you don't even know me--"
"False, I do know you," He smiled again. "And I also know that you like me."
"How...?"
"I don't think that matters at this moment." He took a step forward and abstractedly, I took a step back.
Damn! I shouldn't have done that...I don't know why I did that, but his expression turned slightly dispirited. I stood where I was now, hoping that I wouldn't do something like this again.
"Ari," The way he pronounced my name, I instantly fell in his spell. "Do you like me or not?"
"I do." I heedlessly answered quicker than a bullet but then as realization struck me, I averted my face to the ground to hide my cherry painted face.
I heard him chuckle and I saw his footsteps approaching me and then stopping at the tip of my toe. I looked up and he looked down at me. "Then, will you go out with me?"
My heart was about to blast into a million pieces and the more I looked at him, the more I was falling in his prison.
How did an Idol fall for a writer...? "But it isn't possible--"
He suddenly turned around to leave, but unthinkingly as I could get at such times, I swiftly grabbed his arm with both my hands and stopped him. He turned around, surprised by my sudden action but soon burst into a mild laughter. He turned around, hiding his smile with the back of his palm and then stared down at me. "So?" His eyes mirrored the lights behind me and his perfectly sculptured face was now like a piece of art.
"So...?" I repeated.
"What's your answer?"
Can an Idol fall for a writer? My answer is...
"Yes."