"You showed me how to love, how to become open, when I couldn't control how I felt, you showed me that was okay, Even when I became afraid and ran away from you, you said 'It doesn't matter, I'll be the one to come to you instead...' Thank you for loving me." —Kim Siyeon
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"Hey! I said where are you taking me?!"
"Somewhere magical." he responded still refusing to give me a specific answer; we then stood in front of a large tree. "Close your eyes."
I raised my eyebrow at his suspicious behavior. "You just dragged me to a place I've never been to before and now you expect me to close my eyes?"
"Trust me, just do it, please." he pleaded giving me an adorable begging face.
I sighed and decided to give up and closed my eyes like he asked. He took both my hands and began leading me somewhere, I could feel the cement become gravel as it crunched under my boots.
He then released my hands. "Alright, you can open them now."
I did as I was told opening my eyes only to be met by darkness. "Yah, what is this? You said we were going somewhere magical."
He smiled at me mischievously before snapping his fingers, suddenly all around us lit up to reveal where we actually were. "This is... this place is..." I stammered, unable to get the words out.
"Uhuh, an amusement park," he replied with a smile. "Tada!" He dramatically jumped in front of me doing Jazz hands.
I smiled as well, walking in circles in awe, seeing all the rides and beautiful lights. "It's so beautiful, I've never been to an amusement park at night before." I said in awe at how beautiful everything was.
"Yup and the best part is we get to have it all to ourselves." he said bringing it to my attention, causing me to look around, I didn't realise it but we were indeed alone.
"How did you do all this?"
He just smirked and replied, "It's possible, when you're Park Baekhyun."
I rolled my eyes and let out a breath at his arrogant remark.
"What do you say? Will you play with me?" He opened his hand for me to take with a grin. His gesture was childish but cute, I couldn't help but snicker, though I was tempted to take his hand, I didn't; I hated his type, the childish type.
But what was so different about him that made me feel this way?
"Oh, you laughed!" He came closer, checking my face.
"No, I didn't." I denied brushing past him. "And what do you mean play? Are you a kid?"
"Don't deny it, you laughed." he insisted hurriedly, trailing behind me.
"So what? I was laughing at how stupid you looked."
"I don't think that's it." he mumbled, "What do you want to ride first, the roller coaster? Merry-go-round? Or the ferris wheel?"
"I'll ride the Merry-go-round first." I responded going in that direction, with a smile on my face, I hopped on, he followed jumping on a horse far away from me. As the ride started taking us both up and down. I thought that maybe this wasn't so bad, maybe I could have fun and relax just for today.
...
I chose to sit far away just so I could see her clearly, she was smiling brightly, happily giggling and even taking selfies. "She's smiling now, I'm glad." I whispered, secretly taking a picture of her beautiful face, it was the reason I brought her here... to see her smile.
She then insisted we entered the haunted house, I was hesitant and got chills down my spine as I looked at the haunted house's entrance, but I played it off telling her, "You can come into my arms if you're scared."
She gave me a look of discuss before ignoring me, walking on, I cleared my throat, mentally preparing myself. Carefully, I trailed behind her as she led the way into the darkness. There was blood on the walls—red paint; zombies with ripped clothes and blood all over them, who tried to grab us from behind bars as we passed by. Siyeon seemed relaxed and unbothered by all of this, on the other hand I flinched a little, moving away from the cage in a hurry, not making a sound so she wouldn't notice that I was scared.
There were then bats on the walls and evil laughter coming from around us followed by dreadful screaming, this room was creepier and much more darker than the rest, it made the hair on my neck stand up as I became anxious. Though I did not know what, I knew something was about to happen, especially since we were close to the exit.
"Woah! The detail is so cool, isn't it?" Siyeon said pointing to a brain and skull that hung on the wall, I looked to where she was pointing and gagged, immediately looking away from it.
"Yeah, cool." I managed to respond calmly, I walked ahead of her wanting to quickly get out of this place.
Light was finally in sight, I let out a sigh of relief letting my guard down as it was almost over. Big mistake, because the moment I wasn't prepared a clown suddenly popped out of no where, with a loud roar opening its mouth widely, showing its pointy teeth and snake like tongue which scared the crap out of me, I ran through the exit screaming my head off at the top of my lungs, leaving Siyeon behind, not even daring to look back.
...
I heard a sudden shrieking high-pitched scream, which caused me to look around for Baekhyun who was no where to be seen. When I exited the haunted house however; I found him curled into a ball on the ground with his eyes closed and head covered, and I knew immediately that he was the owner of that scream.
I carefully crouched beside him. "Yah." I cooed, gently shaking him with my hand on his shoulder, he jumped and fell over at my unexpected action. "Calm down, it's me." I reassured, making him release a breath of relief. "Why did you come with me if you were so scared?"
"I wasn't scared!" he denied strongly.
"It's okay if you were, being scared isn't that big of a deal, we all fear different things, for example... I don't like bugs, their many legs creep me out." I explained cringing just thinking about it.
"I said I wasn't scared!" he insisted raising his voice a little, turning red from embarrassment.
I smirked and decided to tease him. "Fine, if you say so," I stood to my feet. "then, why don't we go back insid—"
"NO!!!" he exclaimed before I could even finish my sentence making me laugh.
"I was kidding, how about we ride something this time?" I suggested and he finally stood to his feet.
"Let's go." he replied, walking away from me with a bitter look on his face—he was indeed sulking.
"Roller coaster it is then." He didn't respond to me. I thought of a way to cheer him up and I got one, I hesitated at first but I gently held his hand, he gave me a look of disbelief making me look away from him awkwardly. "What? You always insisted on holding my hand, so I thought this would make you feel better."
"It's working." he softly whispered, giving me an unreadable expression.
"Yeah well, don't get used to it." I informed him, clearing my throat.
After riding the roller coaster, he seemed to have cheered up a bit, he smiled and threw his hands up in the air and happily screamed the whole time, it looked like he had fun.
'He's afraid of things that don't even exist but somehow enjoys riding a roller- coaster.' I laughed lightly to myself.
We decided to ride the ferris wheel next, the two of us got on a cart together, I sat down as I looked out the window as we were taken upward.
...
I saw her expression change slowly as we went up higher and higher, until she stood to her feet and looked out the window in excitement.
"Oh wow! Baekhyun come look at this." She happily pointed at the night view, her eyes sparkling in the moon light.
"From your reaction, I'm assuming you've never rode a ferris wheel before?" I stated, standing next to her as the ferris wheel came to a halt for a while at the top.
"I have, but that was a long time ago and it wasn't at night, it's so beautiful up here, I can even see the Han river and the Hangang bridge, there's even cars passing by; who knew water could look so beautiful under the moonlight. Look, doesn't everything look so peaceful down there?"
"Mhm, it does, it's beautiful, really beautiful." I responded intending the last part for her, as I watched her lovingly, I suddenly had a thought.
The tingling sparkling sensation I got whenever she was near me or how heartbroken I was seeing her cry, brought me to only one conclusion: I wanted to be with her, I know we haven't known each other long, but that didn't change the fact that my feelings for her were real. I wanted to date her, she was different from all the other girls I've met; she seemed to know what she wanted in life and was passionate about it, I really wanted to be the one to make her smile as she was now, I wanted to be the one to protect her from all the dark things in her past.
Could it be possible that I... love her?
I looked at her face, then at her dark brown eyes which suddenly started to tear up, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Why are you crying all of a sudden?! Are you hurt?! Did something happen?!" I asked holding her shoulders worried, scanning her to see if I could find the problem.
"Is this it... is this what they wanted me to see... is this what I have been missing? After that person hurt me... I... all I could do was lock myself away, not spending time with my friends or anyone, all I did was focus on school. Maybe I thought that was the best thing I could do to help myself, to stop myself from being hurt again, but you... you make me want to see more and explore everything I haven't before... thank you for that." she said meeting my gaze with her tear-stained face.
I held both of her cheeks in my hands, wiping her tears away. "You're welcome." was the only thing I managed to say.
...
Now back on the ground, after my little breakdown, Baekhyun had sat me down on a bench, he took his blue denim jacket off and gently placed it around me. "I'll be right back." he said before leaving me alone to wait for him.
"You idiot," I mumbled insulting myself, cringing as I thought about my earlier actions. "Why did you have to have a crying fit and embarrass yourself like that you moron?!" I placed my head down in my lap as I ruffled my hair. It was indeed embarrassing, I never intended to become so emotional like that and over a night view. "I must've looked so crazy to him." I sighed.
A sudden hand on my shoulder caused me to lift my head up. "Oh, you're back." Baekhyun now sat down beside me.
"Here you go." he said, handing me some hot chocolate and churros and I then took a sip of the beverage feeling the sweetness, creaminess and lastly its warmth throughout my body as I swallowed it. "Is it good?"
"Yeah, it's good." I responded taking another sip.
"I couldn't decide if I should get you ice-cream or hot chocolate, I figured you'd be too cold for ice-cream so..." he explained.
"It's not that cold yet, ice-cream would've been fine, don't you know ice-cream taste even better in the cold?"
"Then... why don't we eat ice-cream together next time." he suggested, getting shy the moment he did.
"Sure." I agreed taking a bite out of the pastry. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask you something."
"What is is?" he asked curiously leaning closer.
"How do you know Seol?"
"We're in the same music class, I guess you could say that we are friends." he replied, not meeting my line of sight.
"Oh, I guess that's why I never saw you before."
"You could have seen me, you just never paid much attention to it." he said to me.
"Yes, I guess you're right." I agreed, looking at him in thought.
"Is something wrong? Is there something on my face?" he asked noticing my staring.
"That's not it, I just never pictured you as a musician."
"I am, I sing and play the piano, I even compose my own music sometimes, why? What did you picture me doing?" he curiously asked.
"I don't know, I just thought you were an athlete or something."
"You thought I was an athlete? Well, I am good at some sports but it's not something I want to do as a career, I actually major in marketing and business management too, though I like being a musician more."
"I see." I nodded, it wasn't unusual for students to major in different subjects, it was a must to have a back up plan in case you did not get a job in your preferred field.
"While we're on the subject, do you want to become an artist?" he asked and I shook my head.
"I want to be a writer."
"Is that so? You were actually hella talented when you drew me so I thought that was what you wanted to become."
"Like you said, I like doing it but it's not my preferred career choice."
"So what kind of stuff do you write? Fantasy, fiction, action or... eroti—"
"I most certainly do not write that!" I exclaimed cutting him off, giving him a threatening glare.
"Relax, I was just kidding." he said laughing, "So want do you write?"
"I guess it depends, I write romance fiction which sometimes contains action, so for example, a book about a fashion designer who gets transported to a parallel universe because of a mysterious ancient curse and finds herself in even more trouble than before."
"Oh then, when you publish your first book let me be the first to read it, okay?" he said, looking at me with hopeful eyes.
"Um okay..." I reluctantly agreed.
"Promise?" he asked holding his pinkie out to me.
I looked at him then at his finger. "I promise." I said pinkie swearing on it, deciding not to bother reasoning with him.
"In return, I'll sing a song for you some time." he added with an excited grin. He then stood to his feet. "It's getting late, let's go, I'll take you home."
"Okay." I replied, standing to my feet as well.
"Tell me where you live." he said, when we were in the car and I carefully gave him the directions, he then punched them into the car's GPS.
When we arrived, he walked me to my front door, I then turned around to face him before taking his jacket off and giving it back to him.
"Thank you for today, I actually had a good time."
"You're welcome there anytime you want." he responded with a smile.
I smiled back. "That's so nice of you, goodnight Baekhyun." I said, turning to open the door.
"Just a minute..." he said, suddenly grabbing my hand pulling me into a hug. "I... I... I like you Siyeon." he whispered into my ear, wrapping his arms around me, pulling me closer. My heart started to beat quicker and quicker, I wasn't even sure if it was because he was touching me or if it was the fact that he just told me that he liked me; the feeling of security I got in his arms and the fact that my heartbeat did skip suggested that it was... both.
He slowly released me but continued to hold my shoulders while looking into my eyes. "It's okay if you don't like me yet, but I'd still like to go out with you." He looked at me sweetly and hopefully.
I became silent for a while before giving him the only answer I could manage. "I... um... I'll think about it." He immediately smiled and excitedly kissed me on the lips, though it was brief, it still made my eyes widen. I stared at him at a lost for words, as I touched my lips completely flabbergasted, I could also feel my body heat up as my cheeks began to redden.
I must be crazy!
He read my face expression, realizing the mistake he had made. "I'm so sorry about that, I was so happy that you didn't say no that it just... sort of happened..." he rambled, awkwardly scratching his head.
I cleared my throat. "It's okay." I told him letting it slide since I could tell he was sincere.
"Good night." He waved at me and I did the same finally going inside.
"I'm home!" I alerted, Winter came to me the moment she heard my voice, wagging her tail with her tongue out of her mouth, greeting me; I patted her on the head gently, my mother then appeared giving me a look, folding her arms.
"What?" I asked in confusion, noticing her serious posture.
"Who was that?" she asked all serious, almost like she was interrogating me.
"Who was what mom?" I asked playing dumb walking past her.
"Ohh, don't be coy with me young lady, I saw that handsome young man kiss you on the lips after bringing you home." She followed me upstairs to my room. "How dare you! How dare you get such a handsome boyfriend and not introduce him to me!" she finished taking a pillow off my bed hitting me with it.
"Ouch! Mom please stop!" I said rubbing my arm where she had hit me. "He isn't my boyfriend, and it wasn't a kiss, it was more like a peck." I corrected.
"Are you sure? You aren't dating him?" she asked raising her eyebrow.
"Mhm, I'm sure, we only hung out for a bit." I said giving her a smile and she patted my head before heading to my door.
She stopped walking turned to me and said, "In my opinion, I think you should give dating him a try, he doesn't appear to be a bad guy and he seems to really like you, kitten."
"Mom?! Did you eavesdrop on our conversation?!" I asked as I processed her words.
"Now, now, I wouldn't call it eavesdropping since you guys were talking so loudly and I could hear everything through the door." she defended before leaving, making me sigh.
After I showered and had dinner, I laid on my bed peacefully closing my eyes, only to be met by Baekhyun's face and how embarrassed he was after he kissed me; the memory made me smile. I couldn't help but smile when I thought about him now, at first he did get under my skin but now I think I might really like him, maybe it was time for me to set my fear aside, I was willing to give it a try because... it was Baekhyun, with him I believed I could finally move forward.
My answer to his question was clear.
...
(A/N) If you like this book you can check out my contracted work: 'The Claytonia's Curse.' as well!