Happy Endings ⁘ Chenle

14 ⁘ Grass

⁘ 14 ⁘

Monday morning was up to a bad start when Da-eun used all her skill to accidentally drop one of her earbuds which proceeded to fall directly into the grass next to the sidewalk in front of Chenle's house. 

Sighing, Da-eun crouched down. 

"Great," she mumbled to herself as she began searching the speck of brown-green. The grass had grown tall, making it harder to find the earbud in it.

Not long into her search, she heard footsteps near her. She didn't bother looking up or checking who it was. After all, it didn't really matter. So she ignored it, even when the steps stopped right next to her. 

"Everything okay?" a gentle and weirdly familiar voice asked.

She nodded. "Yeah I just lost my..." she began as she slowly looked up, words getting lost along the way, swept away by the passing breeze like nothing more than warm air. 

A little worried, Kun urged her to continue.
"Your what?" 

Words? 

Train of thoughts? 

Mental capacity to form a coherent sentence? 

Pick any of those, really. 

"Uh- just- I lost my earbud."

"Oh," Kun said, eyes quickly jumping to the line of grass next to which she was still crouching. "Let me help you." 

Da-eun could have melted. Because of his voice. His caring nature. His eyes and that smile.

Simply because of him.

"Oh... thank you," she said, voice a little smaller and quieter than usual due to her surprise. She looked back ahead as if nothing had happened.

Da-eun, she told herself, you gotta be cool about this.

"Earbuds are convenient but they also cause a whole new world of problems," Kun uttered swiftly, effortlessly pulling her into a very polite attempt at small talk. 

To both of their demise, however, the girl sucked at small talk. 

She hummed. "Yeah it's a struggle." 

He agreed to that, essentially confirming his own point once more before he glimpsed at the girl briefly.

"I have never seen you around here before. Do you live here?"

Da-eun shook her head. "No, I am just visiting."

"I see. It's a nice area though," Kun told her. "Quite safe. The houses are spacious too."

"And expensive," she mumbled, not sure if bringing up money was the best decision.

The boy laughed shily. "Right." He smiled to himself. "That's one reason why I live with some of my friends. And because it's quite nice - not being alone at home all the time."

She agreed to that, the smile on her lips coming naturally. "It is." 

"Do you also live with someone?" he asked, curious due to her reply. He sounded excited yet he kept his attention on the ground. 

"Yes, with my best friend." 

"That sounds like fun," he exhaled contently as he reached a bit further into the tall green. "Found it!" 

Surprised, Da-eun put her full attention on the older one that attempted his best to wipe the dirt off her earbud. She watched, captivated by how effortlessly perfect Kun looked even at this time of the day, in this kind of situation.