Surprise, Surprise! { Qian Kun Series }

Chapter 3

"Take five!" called out the choreographer. The boys took long drinks of water and checked their phones. Kun tossed his phone into his gym bag in disgust.

"What's wrong with you?" Xiaojun asked.

"Maryluz kissed me three days ago and now she's not answering my texts. I texted her twice about maybe meeting up tonight, and nothing. Is she ghosting me already, dude?" asked Kun.

"Listen, I don't know much about women, but what I can say is that their minds are like a labyrinth. If you take too many twists and turns in there, you're going to get horribly lost," Xiaojun replied, sliding his back against the wall until he was sitting on the floor. "Just stay cool, man. Don't keep texting. It will make you look clingy."

"But I'm feeling clingy, and I don't like that. I think she did some kind of voodoo magic on me, man," said Kun with his head in his palms.

"Maybe you're in love," suggested Xiaojun, raising one eyebrow.

"Oh, damn. That sounds terrifying," he admitted.

For the rest of the day, Kun went through the motions, quite literally, and managed to get through rehearsal. But he wasn't certain he would actually remember the moves tomorrow since he was only half present.

When they got back to the dorm, they ordered Chinese take-out and took turns getting their showers. Xiaojun came into the bedroom, freshly showered, and snapped Kun on the arm with his towel. "You're up, buddy," he said, hanging his wet towel on the makeshift clothes line.

"Tell Yangyang he can go ahead of me," Kun said. He had draped himself listlessly over his guitar and was picking chords aimlessly. When he was alone in the room again, he played a chord progression and jotted it down on a notepad. He hummed a few bars of a melody he had playing in his head. If nothing else, his anxiety over Maryluz would make for some excellent songwriting. Kun believed that the best songs come out of struggle. And hanging by a thread waiting for Maryluz to text was indeed a struggle. Kun sang some lyrics to his anxious ballad.

Are you there, girl?

Is your phone off?

Are you sleeping?

Just, please, say something.

Are you listening?

Is there service?

Do you miss me?

'Cause I'm dying to be your man.

Later, when everyone else was asleep, Kun lay awake unable to turn off his anxious thoughts. Had he done something to offend her? But they hadn't even spoken. How could he offend her? He rolled onto his side and fluffed his pillow. Then he rolled to the other side. He turned over on his belly and punched the pillow in frustration.

Just then, he heard a faint beep from his phone. He grabbed it and found that Maryluz had texted. He looked at the time. It was midnight.

"I'm outside your building. Come out. Bring ice cream," read the text.

"What the hell?!" whispered Kun. "She doesn't text me for days and then she shows up in the middle of the night."

Kun dressed hurriedly in the darkness, trying not to wake the others. The last thing he needed was ribbing from them about how whipped he was for this girl. Even if it was the truth, he didn't need to have it confirmed.

When Kun walked outside, Maryluz ran to him and jumped on him, wrapping her legs around his waist. He wanted to be frustrated with her for disrupting his life over the past few days, but all his recriminations melted like snow on a spring day. She jumped down and he got a good look at her. She was wearing a high ponytail that made her look like her head had struck oil. She was wearing a pair of baggy denim overalls and a red sports bra that was meant to serve as a shirt. She was still in full make-up at this late hour.

Maryluz bounced up and down excitedly. "Hey, guess what? I found a playground near here. We can swing and ride the teeter-totter," she exclaimed, pulling Kun by the arm. "Hey, by the way, where's the ice cream?" she asked.

"We don't have any," said Kun, laughing at her boundless energy.

"Well, go buy some, silly," she said, swinging his arm back and forth.

When they reached the nearby park, Kun left to find a convenience store that was still open so he could buy some ice cream. In no time, he returned with a plastic bag full of individually wrapped ice creams.

"Why did you buy so many?" Maryluz asked, laughing.

"I didn't know what kind you liked," responded Kun.

They sat on the swings, eating their ice cream silently. Kun tried not to stare at her pink tongue as she licked around the sides of the cone. He cleared his throat and looked away. Maryluz seemed unaware of his struggle.

"So, does your name mean anything?" asked Kun to try to regain his focus.

"Yeah, it means 'sea' and 'light'," she responded, tugging on one of the chains of Kun's swing.

"Wow, that's really beautiful," Kun replied, letting Maryluz swing him any which way she wanted to. He didn't know whether to address the lack of response to his texts over the past few days. He was afraid of breaking the moment. So, he remained silent.

Maryluz tugged at his swing again, pulling him close. She took one hand and turned his face toward her. She kissed him, gently sucking on his lower lip. "Mm, you still taste like ice cream," she whispered.

"You too," he answered, searching her hazel eyes for some sign of where he stood with this free-spirited girl. Instead of asking about her feelings, he decided to put his own out there. "I thought about you every day this week," he admitted.

"Did you, now?" she asked, still not giving Kun any glimpse into her inner world. "So, how many kisses do you need to fill up your love tank?" she asked, winking at him.

"That's just the thing," Kun replied. "I never seem to get enough of you. I feel like a starving man just eating any crumbs you will toss out for me," he ventured.

"Aw, who's feeling neglected?" cooed Maryluz. "You are. You are," she said as she poked him in the stomach.

Kun pushed her hand away. "Come on. Don't tease me, OK?" he said in annoyance.

"You're actually upset, aren't you?" Maryluz asked, taking his face in her hands.

Kun, suddenly, felt shy and looked down at his shoes. "I mean, I don't know if I'm upset, exactly. I just started to worry that something was wrong. That's all," he explained, wishing her cat eyes weren't so close to him and couldn't see right through him.

"Trust me, if something were wrong, I would tell you," Maryluz assured him. "If you fucked up, you would be the first to know," she said as she kissed his forehead.

Kun looked her full in the face. "Every time you show up, you bring so much light and energy with you," he said right before he kissed her golden neck, feeling her energy entering him as he pressed his lips against her pulse.