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Jeonghan feels a little uncomfortable. She's not turning around to face him. Maybe she is expecting someone else and he just sits there without even greeting her.

"Seunghee-shi, did I bother you? I'm sorry I just sat here. Were you expecting someone else?" he apologizes.

Seunghee whose face is still on the armchair jerks up and fixes herself facing the windows. She can't let him see her in a mess again! She's so humiliated.

After some time she turns to him with a smile plastered on her face. But she's still a little stiff.

"Jeonghan-shi, it's you. Well earlier, Areum unnie is actually sitting there so I thought she came back instead. I'm sorry if I muttered some things at you."

He stares at her face and she finds it a bit awkward. It feels like that time during fifth grade when she was the one staring at his face.

"What? Is there something on my face?" she asks.

"Your face is red. On the right side. Probably because of pressing it on the armchair. Were you napping?" he states.

It makes her wanna run away from him. She's appeared so unladylike infront of him again. She touches her cheeks trying to massage away the red part. But what he does next totally captures her heart once again. He places two of his fingers on the high part of her right cheek and presses on it gently to make the red part go away.

"Here, it's really red right here," he says calmly as he continues to touch her face.

She stays dumbfounded at his gesture. He looks so dreamy in front of her. She gets lost in trance once again. She wishes for this moment never to end.

He continues to form circles on her smooth skin. He's enjoying what he's doing that he forgets that he's actually being rude. But after a while, he finally realizes his move. He's not supposed to lay his hands on her. Not before he gets the right to exclusively do so.

He moves his hand away from her and tells her, "I'm sorry. I... didn't mean to touch your face. It was just so red I couldn't help myself."

She turns away from him not meeting his line of sight. The look on her face must have given it all away if she isn't alert enough.

She shyly answers him, "It's okay. It's nothing. You don't have to apologize about it."

"Okay, thanks."

For a moment, silence takes over the place but immediately, Jeonghan resumes the conversation.

"Oh yeah. Is there someone you're supposed to talk to? I can help."

It's the moment of truth for Seunghee. She decides she has to tell him now. There can be no other chance in the coming days. And besides, her birthday's really two days away. She won't have any other chance. But before she can start, he says something.

"Oh, by the way, your birthday's two days away right? I can still remember during our middle school days. You would always bring candies to our class as a treat."

She's astonished. He can remember her birthday after all these years? Maybe it's because they share the same birth month but it's still overwhelming for her. The fact that he actually remembers.

"You remember a lot of things in middle school. That's just amazing," she utters with a smile but not being obvious that she's happy.

"Middle school is my favorite part of childhood. That's why I recall too much," he says with a smile. "And it's because I remember your birthday that I'm here. Aren't you gonna invite me for some dinner that night?" he jokes.

He makes everything lighter for her. Now she doesn't have to worry about being obvious. Now he's the one asking her.

"Well, I'm not having a party. My friends and I are spending a night out at this hot spring inn that day. And, you can come if you want to. Actually, you're the person I'm talking about earlier when you arrived. I just didn't know how to ask you. I thought you might not like going to hot springs and stuff."

"I do! Whoever not goes to hot springs? It's nice to relax there once in a while."

"So you'll come? You can tell your friends to come too."

"Sure, I'll tell them. Jisoo really needs a break from what happened."

"Yeah. Then I'll tell my friends you're coming alright?"

"Sure. Saturday?"

"Yeah, I'll just email you about the time and place."

"No, just tell me the time. Are you forgetting we're living a wall way? We can leave the apartment building together."

"Oh yeah. Sorry. Sure."

They are both glad. With unmitigated smiles on their faces, they can finally be together on a trip. It's their first time and they are surely looking forward to it. With this, they are one step closer again to each other.

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"What? It's closed for this season?" Seunghee feels devastated. Just after asking Jeonghan to come was a success, now their hot spring memory will be nothing but a dream.

'- I'm sorry Seunghee. I never thought hot springs dry up occasionally. -' Areum says at the other line.

Seunghee is actually on her phone inside her apartment. It's 10PM and she's about to sleep. She's sitting on her bed with a pillow on her crotch.

"Just when he said he's coming," she regrets.

'- Don't worry, we can still change plans. We still have tomorrow to prepare. Cheer up alright? I don't think he's choosy about road trips. -' Areum says.

"Alright unnie. I'll tell him we're changing plans. Good night."

'- Good night Seunghee. -'

Seunghee holds the phone down. She sighs once again. Well, she can't do anything about it. It's a natural phenomenon. She just has to let him know.

She sends him a message on line and she's delighted that he read it instantly.

Seunghee's line message to Jeonghan: Jeonghan-shi, sorry to disturb you at this time of the night. Areum unnie just called me and told me that the hot spring inn is unfortunately not in service at this time of the year. I'm really embarrassed that I asked you to come only to have it cancelled. But we'll be changing plans tomorrow. Is it okay to you if it becomes an overnight camping or swimming at the beach instead? TTYL. Thanks.

Jeonghan's line reply to Seunghee: It's actually okay. Just tell me the time, we can go anywhere. I've scheduled Saturday exclusive for you so you won't have to worry about it. It's my way of making up to you for making you wait for me on my birthday cuz I still haven't gotten over that. So just send me a message okay? I'll wait for it.

She can't help but smile at his message. He's so understanding and it makes her feel special. This birthday is the best birthday she has yet to come. She's really excited, whether it's camping or swimming or whatever, the only thing that matters is that she will be able to celebrate it with him for the very first time.

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Jeonghan smiles in his room too. He puts the phone down and goes back to what he is doing. He's pasting pictures on the wall of his room. There's a box of photographs on his bed that he still hasn't stuck on his wall yet. He's making a collage out of it. He smiles while looking at the images one by one. Each photo means a lot to him. And each photo holds a precious memory of her for him. It will take time before he finishes this collage, and he wishes that by that time, he will be able to let her see this first hand. With that in mind, he continues to paste the pictures on the wall of his room, one after another.

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"It's final. We're gonna go camping," Seunghee declares.

The group is staying at the cafeteria for lunch. They finally decide to go camping because of the disastrous outcome of the hot spring inn stay.

"Okay, I'll bring the tents. How many? Two? Three? Four?" Jun volunteers.

"Maybe three. We don't know if Jeonghan-shi will go alone or not," Seunghee says.

Jun turns deaf at the sound of his name, "Alright two tents!"

"Jun!" Seunghee reprimands.

Jun obliges though, it's her birthday anyways. "Yeah, right. I'll bring even four tents for JEONGHAN-shi's friends," saying those words with a bitter face.

Seunghee just sneers at him. His ever childish attitude turns her into a much older noona.

"Who's gonna buy drinks and stuff?" Sorn asks.

"Maybe you can ask Jeonghan-shi to help you buy them later Seunghee," Areum says with winking at her.

"That would be great! You tell him to buy you a cake too," Jun sourly adds.

Sehun interferes and suggests something, "Maybe you can go with them, so you can buy her a cake instead."

"That's a better idea," Jun agrees.

"Nope! I'll ask Jeonghan-shi later if he's available today. But if he's not, maybe Sehun-oppa can come with me, right oppa?" Seunghee proposes.

"Ah! I'm not free later!" Sehun whines.

"You will be. For me right?" Seunghee says in a demanding tone.

With a face firmly directed at him, Sehun cannot say no. This cousin of his can let him do what she wants when she wants it. "Alright! I just hope Jeonghan-shi's available later."

"So we're done! Let's all pack up for the trip!" Seunghee enthusiastically states.

Aside from Jun, they are all excited. Seunghee can't wait to be with Jeonghan on this first overnight trip. Her 20th birthday will be something she will never forget.

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Jeonghan receives a line message at around 4PM. He's idling at the school field with his friends that time, sitting on the grassy lea.

After reading it, he shares the message with the two. "Guys, it's gonna be a camping. Seunghee just sent me a message."

"Seunghee? Without the -shi? You're leveling up man!" Seungcheol remarks.

"Yeah, the fact that you got her number now is a big achievement after nine years," Jisoo adds trying to get on Jeonghan's nerves.

But Jeonghan is calm today. "And she's asking me to buy drinks with her tonight."

"Whoa!!" the two boys exclaims.

"Way to go! Grab the chance man!" Seungcheol says.

"Of course I will! I won't let any, not a single chance pass!" Jeonghan exclaims.

Jeonghan and Seungcheol give each other a high-five. Jeonghan is overly excited. Jisoo smiles at his friend. Maybe it's really meant for him to wait this long for her cuz everything is going well.

"Be ready by 1 PM tomorrow guys. We're riding the subway," Jeonghan says.

"Sure!" the two boys say in unison.

"We'll make everything work out for you," Seungcheol says.

"You can count on that," Jisoo adds.

Jeonghan smiles at them. He can finally spend a trip with her. He will not waste a moment during this outing with her. He will make up for the lost time he wasted on his birthday. And he will make sure to make her happy on this day. Her smile is the only thing he wants to see on her face. And he wants to be the reason for that smile.

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To be continued...

(15.12.16)