Unexpected

Part 41

Monday dawns bright and beautiful, and I feel well rested. I hope the others are, too. I dress, do my hair, put on makeup. While I'm thus occupied I wonder why, when I watch WGM, the other females have their hair down almost all the time. It's rare for them to have an updo. Doesn't it bother them? Get in the way? I know my hair does, and it's not as long as theirs. I make a mental note to ask Sangil how he prefers hair.

I go collect Honoka. She smiles when she sees me.

"You look cute," I tell her.

"As do you," she replies. Then the two of us make our way to the guys' room. They open when we knock, and we depart for breakfast.

As we're devouring potato omelets, almond croissants, and freshly squeezed orange juice, I announce that the first activity is a morning hot air balloon ride. "Is anyone afraid of heights?"

"Uh, aren't you?" asks Sebin.

"Kind of, but I'll be fine. I really want to do this."

"I'm fine, too," he replies. Which makes me think that maybe he's not. Honoka also announces that she's good. I look at Sangil.

He smiles. "If you're beside me, I'll be okay."

"How sweet," gushes Honoka.

I know this means that my hand will be numb from how hard he'll be squeezing. But I'll be squeezing back, so it's all good. We both know we have a fear of heights, but still end up doing activities that are far above ground.

As I climb into the basket my heart starts to beat faster. Within minutes the air is hot, and we start to lift off. Sangil and I are standing side by side, trying to focus on the scenery and not how high we are. His hand finds mine before long and we squeeze each other whenever the basket sways slightly. I almost use Morse code to signal "suki" for "I like you," but don't. Sangil probably won't know what I'm doing to his hand. I only learned after my brother Enzo entered the navy.

When we get closer to the maximum height, Sangil stands behind me and puts his arms around my waist.

Instead of talking about what's going on I distract him with an off topic question. "Sangil, is there a hairstyle you prefer? On women?"

"What? No, not really."

"Truly? Short or long, you don't care?"

"Your length is good."

"How about hairdos?"

"Isn't that the same thing?"

"I mean, do you like it up or down, for example?"

He takes a moment to think. "Both are nice, but I guess I prefer when it's down."

I wonder if he said both are nice because I often wear my hair up, or partly up.

"How about you? Do you have a haircut you like on guys?"

"I have several," I answer breezily. "I like natural curls. And when the forehead is showing."

"You wouldn't want to see hyung's forehead," butts in Sebin. "It's as wide as a soccer field."

"Take that back!" I exclaim. "Sangil has a lovely forehead."

"I take it you haven't seen it," he continues.

That's true, I actually haven't. But I'm not going to admit it. "And redheads," I add.

"Like Suhyun in Tulips?" asks Sangil.

I shake my head. "Natural redheads. Like Ed Sheeran."

Sebin's jaw gapes open. "You have strange taste. No wonder you get along well with Sangil."