Chapter 9: 7-2

"I don't know, I think I may be busy later," I blatantly lie in a flirtatious way. He leans in even more, clearly drawn in now from my playful behaviour. "Hopefully you mean busy with me," he responds with a glint in his eyes. "Ah, there he is, what took you so long?" One of the boys says aloud as the girl drags the missing boy into the lobby. My eyes fixate on the cowering figure as I recognize who it is. "I knew it!" I say and leave my desk quickly. The guy I was flirting with looks at me in disappointment and follows me like a needy puppy. "Yah!" I pull the boy away from his girly friend, a friend who's clutching onto him a bit too much if you ask me. His cowering disguise is foiled, and now he just looks at me with an uncomfortable gaze. "What are you doing here, you didn't drink did you?" I begin to lecture Jaewook, unaware that his loud friends have shut their mouths and disregarding the fact that he's likely legal. "He did," someone says with a chuckle. "You little—" I pull his cheek hard so that it's painful. He yells in agony, trying to say that his friend is lying. "You know each other?" The older guy asks. "Yeah," I simply say. "Oh, I see..." he pauses. "So, are we going out?" He begins to ask me out again but my flirtatious behaviour has been shot. The young girl tries to grab Jaewook's arm again and says something quietly to him. I'm about to respond with a no when Jaewook shakes the girl off and speaks instead. "No." We both look at him in bewilderment. "She's taking me home." "I am?" I ask. "Yeah, you are." His eyes focus on the older male the whole time, his serious tone a bit alarming. The nameless guy responds. "Oh come on, I gave you booze and a new headset for your birthday, can't you at least let me have this?" Have this? Am I a present too? "Excuse me? Have this?" I switch gears and insult him in English, "Nuh-uh you fetish-driven, dwarfish knob." His expression of bewildered confusion eases the fire within me. I grab Jaewook's arm and pull him behind the desk with me. "Wait here, I just need to clock out." The boy smiles in triumph as the older guy turns red with embarrassment. The one I assume to be his younger brother pulls his arm, dragging him out of the building. The girl stays behind for a moment, an unattractive pout on her lips as she stares at Jaewook, but then she leaves too. "Alright, let's go," I say as Dooyoung gets into the building. We walk in silence for a while. It's actually quite deafeningly awkward and I can't stand it. "So it's your birthday?" I say to try and fill the void. "Yeah, " he says rather unenthusiastically. "How old?" "19." "Oh? You're not turning 18?" He looks at me as if I'm stupid. "You thought I was 17?" "How am I supposed to know," I mumble. His laugh is lighthearted, but it's quite clear that he isn't the happiest. "Did you spend the whole day with your friends?" "Yeah, unfortunately." "Why? Aren't they your friends?" "They're more just people I hang out with at school because I need to." I ponder on this, now realizing that Jaewook doesn't really have an actual friend. Shoot, I feel bad now. "How are you feeling today?" He asks and my heart jumps as I remember that he apparently helped me home last night. "Uh, good." The sweat begins to form on my upper lip with impressive speed. "You don't remember anything?" He asks. I shake my head and a small smile forms on his lips, but it's almost like he's disappointed. We reach the building and climb up the stairs. Before reaching our doors I hold him back. "Hey, since it's your birthday I feel like I should offer you cake or something. Except I don't have cake..." I pause as I become flustered. I want to make his day a bit better, cause it's clear he had a shitty birthday. "What do you want for your birthday? Nothing expensive, I'm broke after all. Something simple." He smiles again, but it doesn't reach his usually animated eyes. "Is there anything?" I ask after only receiving silence. "There's something," he says softly. "Okay. What?" Hurry up boy, I'm hungry. "Can I kiss you?" My mouth opens in utter shock. This was not what I was expecting, but then again, I should have seen this coming. He does have a crush on me after all, why wouldn't he ask for that? Okay Destiny, it's just a kiss. You've kissed enough guys in your life for this to not be a big deal, in fact, it's basically nothing. Hell, you were even ready to snog that bastard early. And besides, Jaewook's clearly had a terrible day. "Fine," I say and walk closer to him. His eyes widen as if he didn't actually think I'd agree. He becomes flustered at my fast movements, not prepared. But once I'm close enough he holds my face in his cold hands and leans down. His lips touch mine, but they don't move. They just stay there, for too long. Does he not know how to kiss properly? When he parts his eyes look into mine in astoundment, the new sparkle in them makes me feel good. There, I made his day better. A small laugh even falls from his mouth as he looks down nervously. His two front teeth poke out endearingly as he smiles. "Goodnight Noona," he says with his goofy smile. I can't help but genuinely smile back as I wave goodbye and open the door. That was the cutest thing I've ever witnessed. I snort with laughter as I remember the unmoving feeling of his lips on mine. He's adorable, there's no doubt, he's the cutest guy I've ever seen. "You alright?" My brother asks as he walks by. I ignore him and bring my silly smile with me to my room. ...