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"Thank you," Jangmi smiled at the boy, accepting the chocolate box. "But you didn't have to." She said.
"I always did it during middle school," The boy explained, smiling as he reminisced their past years. "It felt wrong to break tradition, you know?"
"Yeah," Jangmi said with a light chuckle, hitting the boy's shoulder lightly as she remembered how they were back then.
"I even remember when you read your letter for me out loud under the bleachers." She teased the boy, eventually turning him a bit red from shyness.
"At least I got the guts to do that kind of stuff," He said proudly. "No one even came close to how open I was about my feeling for you back then."
"Yeah, because it was only you back then." She joked, pretending to count with her fingers even if it only held up one finger.
"Not really, a lot of guys swooned over you back then," The boy recalled. "But they didn't just have the guts to tell you."
"Can't say 'what a shame' at that can't I? Taehyun?" She said.
"It would surprise me if you did," Taehyun said, giving out a small chuckle while putting a hand up to the nape of his neck. "But we both know someone's going to be really upset if you did."
"Which reminds me," The girl snapped back to reality. "I've got to go, he's already outside waiting for me." She said with a smile, seeing Jongseong outside through the glass door.
The two bid each other goodbye and parted by the door, with Taehyun holding it for her, and Jay seeing them from across the street.
And for the first time, Jay felt uneasy.
Jay felt protective, Jay felt annoyed. Jealousy, he thought to himself.
Jay was never the one to feel jealous. He had never felt the need to be jealous.
He always got what he needed, sometimes some of his wants even— and he appreciated that every time. He always appreciated what he had, and always shared what he had excess of.
But when it comes to her, he wanted her all to himself only. No sharing, no borrowing, no taking— nothing, if he can.
"Hi love," Jangmi said as Jay crossed the street to meet her, enveloping her into a hug almost immediately. "What's up?" She said inside the hug, but no answer.
The two eventually pulled away, and proceeded to walk towards Jay's car, still, without a single word.
"Taehyun gave me chocolates today," Jangmi tried to tell Jay as he drived, making the boy grip the steering wheel a bit more tightly.
"He told me that he just couldn't break our tradition." She explained to him, regardless if he answered or not, she still wanted to tell him about how her day went.
And even though Jay felt a bit indifferent about today, he still listened to her, silently. He rested his other hand on her leg after a while, softly rubbing it up and down to let her know that he's listening.
Because no matter what happens, he'd still listen to the girl. Because hearing her talk, even if it was about the most ridiculous things, he'd always love it.
Because it meant that she trusts him, she confides in him, she never filters herself for him— because she's herself, when she's with him.
"I don't know why you're being so quiet today," She said as she put a hand over his, feeling a bit sad from the lack of response she kept getting today.
"But, if you don't want to do this today, we can still do it another time. I don't want you to do this when you're not in the mood."
"Let's do it today." He said, eyes still on the road.
And even though Jangmi still felt a bit upset, she accepted his response. Writing a few words on the back of his hand instead, to let him know that she's waiting— waiting for him to open up.
Jangmi never really got thinking about how much height she and Jay had in between them, until today.
She realized it after an hour of walking with him, or trying to walk with him.
Jay was simply a much faster walker, or maybe he just had longer legs. But whichever from those two, one thing's for sure, Jangmi couldn't keep up with him today.
Jay wanted to go to the mall with the her today. He wanted to pick out a gift for his mom's birthday, and he asked Jangmi for help.
Whenever they walk inside a store together (or tried to walk in together), by the time Jangmi gets in, Jay is already coming out— or whenever Jangmi starts to wander around outside, Jay gets caught up by an item on the shelves.
It was a constant push and pull for them today, and it may have pushed a few of Jangmi's buttons as well.
"He's the one who asked me to come today," She thought to herself.
"And now he's the one who's acting up all of a sudden." She let out a huff, loud enough for Jay to hear, and maybe even the whole store as well.
But Jay on the other hand, took those as small cues.
The sound of her small footsteps, her small huffs and puffs, her constant asking of "How about this?" or "Does that look interesting enough?", and even her sighs. Jay memorized all of her cues.
All of her cues that let him know that she was still there, that she was still with him.
And it's not like he was intentionally ignoring her— well, maybe he was, slightly.
But he was just trying to clear his head.
Of course he wanted to spend today with her, he wanted to enjoy their day together— but how could he? When all he could think about was: the guy who liked his girlfriend all throughout middle school, Taehyun.
And maybe he got too lost in his thoughts— because right now, it was quiet, too quiet.
There were no footsteps, no questions, not even a sigh from behind him.
And that's when he realized it, Jay had lost the girl.
