Hugs and kisses, X and O's for you~
"Yo!", Mark said as he entered the natatorium and saw the girl sitting near the pool.
Kiara turned around and smiled a little at the male as he sat just beside her. 'Why is he here?' She looked away in nervousness and chewed her bottom lip.
"Today is so hot. I feel like melting", he said which startled the girl.
"Yeah right", she replied. Now being around him only reminded her of that night at the hotel and ofcourse that kiss.
Mark chuckled and extended his hand as he tucked her long hair behind her ear. She flinched and looked at her left as their eyes locked. Only by looking into his dark brown orbs made her heart beat erratically. This was so new to her- this feeling was new to her.
He lowered his hand and saw her bare feet dipped into cold water of the pool. "I also want to do that."
Kiara looked at him with a raised brow. "What?"
"What you are doing."
The female looked at her own legs and then, flashed a smile at him. "Really?"
"Yeah. I want to but I'm-"
"Scared right? Mhmm... then let's say that God had sent me here to help you."
"Will you help me? I want to get rid of my aquaphobia as soon as possible", he said with his head down.
Her eyes softened as she put her hand on top of his. "Ofcourse I'll help you. Let's overcome your fear together. Starting from today?"
His eyes widened. "Today?" And she happily nodded.
"N-no no not today." He quickly stood up and added, "At first, I need to be mentally prepared-"
Kiara grabbed his wrist and stopped him from running. "Sit down."
"But-"
"I said sit down!", she said in a stern voice this time.
The male gulped and slowly sat down on his spot again.
"If you run away like this, how will you overcome it?", she asked.
"Sorry...", he paused and then looked at her with a shocked expression. "Wait you are younger than me and you are scolding me?!"
"I have the right to scold you."
"How?"
"Just because." She shrugged her shoulders.
"Just because?", he scoffed. "I'm still the oldest, you should respect me."
"Oh then should I call you oppa?" She smiled cheekily.
"O-oppa? Uhhh...." He nervously gulped.
"Why do you look so flustered?", she asked, seeing a light shade of blush on his face. "Oh my God! You are blushing!" She pointed at his cheeks.
"NO! I mean no." The older looked away and mentally cursed at himself.
"Aww it's my first time to see Mark like this!!!", she squealed.
The male looked at her happy face. 'You actually made me do many things for the first time.' Mark narrowed his eyes at her to show he was annoyed but actually he wasn't.
"Alright. Alright." The mermaid let out a giggle. "So can we start?"
He snapped at her direction. "Start what?"
She nudged her head to the direction of the pool.
"Oh yeah. I mean no! I can't do this", he whined.
"Roll your pants." Her voice became stricter again.
Mark sighed and began to roll his pants up and looked at her with pursed lips.
"Now dip your feet into the water."
He shook his head. "Can we start this tomorrow? Please~"
"Mark!"
"Uhh ok." He looked at the blue water as he started breathing heavily. But then he felt his nerves calming down when a hand started stroking his back gently.
"It's ok Mark. No need to be scared. Close your eyes. And don't think about that incident. Think of something you like- a food, basketball, a person, anything."
"Then can I think about you?", he asked.
Suddenly she felt her heart skipping a beat. "Uhh... if that will make you less scared, then ok." Kiara flashed a soft smile at him and extended her hand to him.
He looked at her and then grinned as he grabbed her hand and closed his eyes. Then, he slowly put one leg into the pool and when, he felt the cold liquid, shivers went down his spine. He started taking heavy breaths and slowly put another leg into the water. His grip on her hand tightened.
"It's alright. Deal with your panic first." Her soft voice relaxed him as he started opening his eyes one by one. "See. It's not scary at all. Now do like this", she said, kicking the water with her own legs.
Mark did as she said but in a slower pace. His lips curled up. He twisted his head towards her and gazed into her brown orbs. "I did it!"
"Yes. You did. See it's not that hard. You need to trust in yourself."
⋆┈┈｡ﾟ❃ུ۪ ❀ུ۪ ❁ུ۪ ❃ུ۪ ❀ུ۪ ﾟ｡┈┈⋆
Yumi got off the bus and it was raining as droplets of water fell down from the sky. She quickly jogged and stood at the bus stop. The shade of the bus stop protected her from the rain. The girl sighed and looked around. Everyone had an umbrella with them. The university campus was not so close to the bus stop so that she could run there. "Why didn't I bring an umbrella today?", she asked to herself. Having no other choice, she decided to wait till the rain stopped and therefore sat on one of the seats at the bus stand.
Few minutes later, she was using her phone when she noticed a pair of feet through her peripheral vision. The girl looked up and saw the familiar eye smile greeting her. She herself beamed at him. "Jeno?"
"Hi Yumi! What are you doing here?", he asked politely.
"Uh.. I went to the bank", she said, showing the bag in her hand which consisted of important papers. "I don't have an umbrella and I was waiting here for the rain to stop", she added.
"Wanna come with me?", he asked.
That's when she noticed the younger male holding a red umbrella. Yumi happily nodded. "Sure."
They started walking to the university under the same umbrella while gossiping about various topics.
"Why are you out in this weather?", she asked.
"Oh I went to the convenience store to buy some snacks for Jaemin. He has been in the dorm since last evening. He doesn't even want to go and refused to eat proper meals, only snacks."
"What?!" Her eyes widened.
"Yeah. He is in his bed all day. Only scrolling through his phone, talking less and always looked sad as if he went through a heartbreak."
"I am gonna call him after reaching dorm. What should I do with him?", she snickered and shook her head. "Anyways Summer vacation is going to end next week. I'm so sad." She frowned.
He chuckled and said, "It's ok. It's the end of summer but autumn will be starting right? Autumn is also very beautiful. Not every ending is bad."
"Hmm right." She nodded. "Also the day after tomorrow is Mark's birthday. We will go out to eat dinner. All of us ok?"
'Maybe Mark has to always come into our conservations.' He put on a smile. "Yeah. We will celebrate."
Jeno noticed that her right shoulder was getting wet due to the rain. He changed his hand to hold the umbrella from right to left and wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. She was startled and looked at his direction. He released his hold on her and said, "You were getting wet."
"Thanks", she said. "Our Jeno is such a gentleman." She smiled and ruffled his short hair.
Jeno gazed at her with a flustered face and then cleared his throat to look infront of him.
Yumi noticed a small cut on the back of the palm of his right hand. She furrowed her brows. "What happened?", she asked, pointing at the cut.
"Oh it was because I was careless. It happened at the convenience store. It's ok though."
"Wait", she said and they walked to the side and stood under the shade of a shop as she put her hand in her bag to find a band-aid. When she finally found it, she said, "Give me your hand."
Jeno obeyed her and raised his hand as she put the band-aid on the cut. "I always keep band-aids in my bag. Who knows when someone will need it? The cut will heal soon", she beamed.
Her angelic smile was enough for him to be happy even if he was having a bad day. Maybe because of her magical smile, he fell for her.
"Thank you." He looked at the band-aid on his hand. "Do you care for me?", he asked as they entered the university campus.
"Why are you asking this suddenly?"
"Because I do. I care for you." Those words rolled out of his tongue.
"Why do you care?", she asked.
"Uhh.. because I'm your friend." Although he didn't see her as a friend, having nothing else to say, he told her that.
'Friend...Care.' Suddenly she remembered how Mark always saw her just as a friend. Now she started hating that term. She also cared for him but he never understood her feelings. She was always a bestfriend to him, more like a dude to him. She was so lost in her own sad thoughts that she didn't even realize that she was staring at Jeno for too long which confused the younger as they kept walking.
"Yumi!", he called her.
She snapped out to reality and asked, "So you care for me because you are my friend?"
He nodded. "Yes."
"Then don't." She looked straight into his eyes.
"Huh?"
"You shouldn't care for anyone just like that. You may end up getting hurt", she said, pain hidden in those words.
'What happened to her?', the male thought.
"You should care only for the ones who care for u too."
Jeno got so confused by her words. His eyes widened. 'Why is she telling these to me? Does she know about my feelings?'
Yumi didn't know why she said those things to the younger male. All she could think was of Mark. Being secretly in love with your bestfriend is not easy. You may end up getting hurt with small words and actions without even the other one knowing.
Jeno looked at her face to see any hints of what she actually meant. Yumi looked away and ran away to the dormitory for girls but got a little wet as they were standing a little far away from the building. A single tear rolled down her cheek when she entered the dormitory. On the other hand, Jeno stood there dumbfounded, holding his red umbrella as it kept on raining.
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Kiara was done with her swimming practice when she saw a familiar male's back. She smiled and jogged to him and patted his shoulder. He turned around and saw her face and that smile of hers. His heart broke into a thousand pieces once again. Jaemin put on a fake smile to greet her.
"Why didn't I see you for two days?", she worriedly asked.
"Oh I wasn't feeling good." Maybe his body was fine but his heart was ofcourse not. Only by seeing her face, it reminded him of what his other two friends were saying at the rooftop. 'Kiara likes Mark.'
"Oh no. Are you okay now?"
"Not yet. But I'll get well soon. Don't worry", he reassured her although he knew it would be hard for him to move on from her.
"Then you should take rest today."
"Yumi threatened me that she would kill if I didn't come out of my room."
"Why?"
"That's not important. By the way, wanna go to a place with me?", he asked her.
"Where?" She tilted her head.
"You will see. C'mon." He started walking as she followed him.
I hope you guys had a Happy Halloween 🎃👻
Which artist's costume was your favourite at the SMTOWN HALLOWEEN PARTY?
OK BUT ZHONG CHENLE!!! MY GOD I didn't even recognize him and he looked so scary. 1st place go go!
Thank you~