"Wow, look at you."
Eun sang set down her spoon and washed down her dinner with a swig of water. "What are you looking at?" The bite went out of her voice as she sat back, allowing a semi food coma to blanket her.
Young Do sat across from her in that prim manner of his, as though admiring a morning dawn, chin resting on palm. "You sure eat well."
She gave a soft "hmph," at whatever implication he was making. "Of course I have to eat well. I need to refuel since my mom didn't let me have anything good to eat while I was sick."
"What are you talking about? I made you such good porridge that time."
Porridge could get boring after a while, even the ones made by the infamous Choi Young Do.
"Regardless, I thank you for the jajangmyun this time. I'll treat you in return." Maybe he'll like that Kimchi Fever place that just opened.
"Forget it."
"I'm serious."
"So am I." He leaned back in his chair, eyes narrowing as if to sharpen his vision of her. "Call me old-fashioned but I'm not letting the girl I like pay for my meals."
Eun Sang met his eyes but didn't know what to say, so she set down her glass and occupied herself with wiping her lips. She felt grateful for his courtesy, but when he kept saying things so bluntly like that, Eun Sang couldn't help being reminded that it used to seem an impossibility for someone of her social standing to be receiving his attentions. Even though she knew he didn't mean to distinguish between their classes.
She felt something tug at her napkin and looked up to see he had reached across the table. He always crossed distances to get closer to her.
"If you're done, we should go somewhere."
After Eun Sang pulled on a jacket, she looked over and asked, "You're not taking your motorcycle?"
"It's still cold out."
"No it isn't."
He eyed her without humor. "You're going to get sick again riding out in the open like that."
What was up with the fuzzy feelings creeping up on her whenever Choi Young Do was around? While she appreciated the thought, she preferred riding his motorcycle with him. It used to scare her, how close to injury or death being on a two-wheel vehicle felt, how exposed her mortal body was, and she hadn't been able to resist holding him extra tight at the beginning. But she thought she was starting to understand both the thrill rushing in one's blood and the control lining one's hand during each ride. No wonder Young Do took such good care of his motorcycle.
Besides, whenever the two of them were on the road, she allowed herself to simply lean on him and she suspected he initially intended it to be that way.
She ambled up to him, extending her arm forward. "Let's not bother your driver. I'd like to go out with just you and me."
He gazed unblinking upon her outstretched hand, before accepting it and replying, "Okay."
The weather had warmed, with a tolerable breeze brushing tree leaves together.
"Whoa, an actual shooting star!" Eun Sang pointed.
"It was probably a satellite."
"Satellites don't travel that fast," she insisted, determined not to let him squash the peaceful atmosphere she imagined tonight. "It was a shooting star and you can't prove me wrong. Now be quiet while I think of a wish." She clasped her hands together, her mind fishing around for something not so far-fetched that she would be disappointed if it didn't come true. "If we were back by the sea, we could probably see more stars."
"Why look for stars when I'm here?"
"Hm. I was going to include you in my wish but your ego seems to feed you enough." She closed her eyes and made her wish: for her mom, sister, and friends, and Young Do of course, to have unyielding health.
Young Do watched her with her eyes closed and palms meeting perfectly in front of her lips. She was wrong, of course. He was never full when it came to Cha Eun Sang.
"Cha Eun Sang."
"What are you doing?" she asked when he folded his hands over hers and pulled them toward him.
"Why do you keep hiding what I want? Or are you being stingy?"
Eun Sang frowned at his wild accusations.
He gave a dramatic sigh. "I'm just making a wish with you." He nudged his chin at their joined hands. "After all, let hands do what lips do."
"Huh?"
In response, he gently cut the air between them to press his lips against hers. Eun Sang's whole body seemed to sigh in content. She felt his grin before she opened his eyes.
"Mm," his satisfaction vibrated in his throat, "My wish came true."
She blinked inquiringly up at him.
"You're not the only one who went hungry while you were sick, Cha Eun Sang."
Such a suggestive comment earned him a slap on the arm.
The corners of his mouth curved with glee. "You seem much stronger now. Guess I don't have to worry that I might overwhelm you."
"Tch. You think you're that intimidating?"
His hands guided her close to him by her hips. Eun Sang felt her lungs expand, grasping for the air that she momentarily forgot to breathe in while busy searching his eyes. She could remember the days before his steel eyes first graced over the unwilling portrait of her body, clad in Jeguk blue. If anyone had told her she would miss spending time with the boy who had threatened to trip her over and over, she would have bought the sorry sucker a cup of mango smoothie and directed them toward an asylum.
He cocked a brow at her. "Why ever would I want to intimidate such a lovely young lady?"
Scoffing, she glanced away with a little smile that had sneaked onto her mouth, then turned back and kissed him full on the lips. Standing on her toes, she braced her hands on his chest to keep steady, while her mind spun upon the vertigo of Choi Young Do.
Thoughts melted away as she savored their kiss. Even his lips, easily the softest part of him, felt dangerously sweet, and still managed to catch her off-guard with how much more she seemed to want in the sensations he sparked in her.
"I like when you spoil me," he said against her cheek.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well considering how innocent my ES is, I never thought we'd make it to our twenty-first kiss by this time."
"You've been keeping track?!" Was this what he used his supposedly sharp brain for?
"It's not like I'm competing or anything." He shrugged, then grinned like the devil. "Then again, I don't settle for double digits." He dipped his head back down to set another wish firmly on her lips.
Where before, few things or people could trigger a response from him through his carefully crafted countenance, now, he increasingly reached for the intoxicating indulgence that was anything Cha Eun Sang – her voice, lips, the tenacious fire in her stride, the soft lock of hair that curtained her brown eyes. All of it made his heart speed up. Not in the sense of a cheap thrill, but in a way that left him breathless in anticipating their next encounter – and even fearing that 'next time' might not come.
But she was here now. Thus, YD fully intended to make his wish come true over and over.
*Note: keeping with the theme of Shakespeare (midsummer night's dream…), I've always loved the passage from Romeo and Juliet where R meets J at her home for the first time and they talk about palmer's kiss and lips acting as palms in prayer. Oi.
Thank you for reading and reviewing! A Happy New Year to all!