afterglow ‣ s.jy

019

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JAKE

"Your new car is pretty." Siyeon says the moment she got in the car. "Not the old vintage look anymore."

A sarcastic laugh escaped his lips, turning on the car before giving her an actual reply. It had only been two days since the car was given to him, and throughout those days, laziness decided to visit him, rendering him unable to take it out on a ride. It was only today did he develop the motivation to actually get it out of their garage and into the road where it truly belong. And coincidentally, Siyeon could be considered as his first passenger.

"Where do you want to eat?" Jake asked as he began to drive with no destination in mind. Initially, he was going to plan the whole night, bring her places he have always considered as romantic and any sort of effort which would transform the evening worthwhile. Midway through those thoughts was the sudden realization that he was turning a simple friendly dinner to a date. His planning came to a halt instantly and shorty after, he decided to settle on going with the flow.

Quite frankly, Jake thought spur of the moment ideas suits them better. Liking Siyeon was never the plan, the feelings he harbor towards her was an epiphany that came out of nowhere, and in a blink of an eye, the way he viewed her instantly change until she was no longer just the annoying seatmate. Yet unlike his previous experience with sentiments where he was confident that the other felt the same as he did, having no clue how the other thinks was a surprising shift of surroundings and perhaps even brought a slight worry to him. There was a worrying in him that the chances of Siyeon reciprocating his feelings felt almost impossible and just by imagining it, his mind already struggled to paint the picture.

Siyeon never showed motive, and right now, she's still barely showing any.

"You didn't even plan tonight?" She said before releasing a sound which stood somewhere in between a chuckle and a sarcastic snort. "Then again, there's no reason for you to do that."

"Jeez, just answer my question." He scoffs.

"Sushi?"

"On new year?"

"What? Do we have to match our meal with the current festivity?" She quickly counters him, a skill she was obviously gifted with. "Unless you want to go somewhere else. I'm okay with anything."

"Let's just go with sushi because apparently that's how you want to celebrate the upcoming new year." Jake rolled his eyes, only to be betrayed by his lips as it formed into a smile of admiration which surprisingly was reciprocated by her, only in a less adoring manner.

The sun was close to falling deep into its routinely sleep, leaving only remnants of light colored in the shade of orange at the very line where both the sky and land meet. The roads were calmer, the traffic that enveloped the road half an hour ago dissipated slowly until Jake could drive without the need to stop and wait ever so often. Street lights began to turn on one by one followed by the string lights that connected each of them, another reminder of Christmas that was celebrated and the other that was to be celebrated later at midnight, which was still five and a half hours away.

Jake took a glance to the person sitting at the passenger's seat, her head leaned on the tinted window as she looked up at the dozen of lights decorating every building they passed. Many people could be seen giggling with their significant others on the side of the streets, their faces being stretched intensively by the grins their lips had formed. The snow which he barely realized covered the trees white, creating an image of purity hiding behind the true harsh qualities the snow possesses. All of those sights were looked at by Siyeon wistfully, as though she was taking in everything, as though she was longing for something he couldn't quite grasp with his fingers. And due to his immense level of feelings for her, a part of him wanted to give her whatever it was that she wanted.