Love and Let Go ↔ Yang Jungwon

6

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The next day

Giselle stares at the cafe standing in front of her. People pass by her, either chatting to someone or keeping silent. A gleaming, white sign on the cafe read Carnival Cafe. It sure was busy.

"Is this the right place?" she mumbles to herself, tapping into the chat she had been active in just a while ago.

Jungwon

carnival cafe at 4:30 for project

Placing her phone back into her bag, Giselle sighs and opens the door. A bell chimes as she walks in. She looks around for Jungwon.

"Hey, Giselle. You're here right on time," Jungwon greets her suddenly, popping from nowhere, startling her slightly. He guides her farther into the more vacant part of the cafe. "Let's stay here, it's more quiet."

Giselle nods. They both take their seats, silence consuming them as they study the menu.

Few minutes later, a waitress comes by. "What would you like to order?" she asks brightly, holding up a writing pad and a pencil.

"Matcha milk tea, please," the two answers simultaneously. They look at each other in surprise and laugh.

The waitress smiles. "2 Match milk tea coming up!" she says as she walks back into the kitchen to prepare the order.

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Giselle pokes her straw in the cup and takes a sip. "It's really good!" she exclaims happily.

"Yeah, it's great," Jungwon agrees. "The cafe's bubble tea is the best in Seoul."

He leans forward. "What topic do you want to do for the Social Studies project," he asks.

Giselle contemplates the choices. "I've been thinking about doing the Joseon dynasty... I find its history and culture interesting..." she trails off, blushing.

"Sure!" Jungwon pulls out a laptop and starts typing. "We should do a slideshow presentation, it would be faster than writing all the information down."

The two friends continued to talk about the project for another hour...

Jungwon closes the laptop, his dimples popping as he smiles. "We're done with the planning page!" he cheers happily.

Giselle laughs at his cuteness. "What do you want to do now?" she asks, checking the time on her phone. "I still have half an hour left."

He ponders about this question for a minute. "We should get to know each other better as friends, right?"

Her hands felt clammy. "W-We're already friends?"

"That's so offensive, Giselle!" he whines, pretending to be shot through the heart.

She rolls her eyes, something she didn't do often. "Fine, let's play 20 questions but shorter. I'll go first," Giselle announces. "Do you have any pets?" she asks.

Jungwon beams. "I have the cutest Maltese ever! His name is Maeum."

"Show me a picture!"

Jungwon unlocks his phone and shows Giselle a picture of an adorable Maltese. "He's so cute!"

He nods in agreement. "Okay, my turn. Do you have any siblings, Giselle-ah?"

She tenses as she shifts uncomfortably in her seat. She used to. Not anymore. The atmosphere that used to be so cheerful and bubbly turns uneasy as she chokes back a sob. She looks down. "I used to have a younger brother named Jiseok before an accident..."

Unstoppable tears leak from her eyes and drip onto her gray sweatshirt but she keeps her sobs in. Her eyes shone as salty tears form in her eyes.

Jungwon panics. "I'm sorry, Giselle, I didn't mean to surface on a touchy subject." he slides into her side of the booth and wraps his arms around her shoulders unconsciously. "It's going to be okay, Giselle, it's going to be okay."

 It's never going to be okay. The universe hates me enough to leave me alone without my family and to top it off, it also gave me this stupid-

 She lifts her head and wipes her cheeks. Giselle smiles tiredly. "My turn to ask a question. Hey, Jungwon, what's it like to fall in love?" she asks, trying to distract her thoughts.

He doesn't miss a beat before answering. "It's like you've met the second half of your soul. It's a giddy, happy feeling that makes you warm knowing that someone loves you like no one else does."

Giselle chuckles sadly. "It sounds nice, I want to fall in love with someone too." she answers sleepily.

"You'll find someone one day, Giselle-ah. Someone will love you."

False. He was giving her dangerous hopes about love and she knew enough that love, while it could be medicine, could be a deadly poison. A poison that had no cure.

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Jungwon knew he messed up when tears started sliding her cheeks.

"It'll be okay," he coos softly into the girl's ears. His arms were still firmly wrapped around Giselle, causing him to blush furiously.

Her petite frame relaxes a bit and she turns to face him. "I'm sorry, Jungwon. I'm fine now, you can let go."

"O-Oh, yeah sure." he releases his hold on her. "Can I ask you something?"

"I guess so, why?"

"The day you left your bag... I saw some candy in there. Why do you have candy in your bag? Do you have a sweet tooth?"

She laughs softly. "Wow, you've been snooping into other people's stuff. I thought you knew better~" she teases, making him look away for a moment. "No, I give them to little kids. Isn't it weird that a piece of candy makes them feel happy?" She stares out the window. "I want them to be happy before all these crazy things about growing up happens. Some kids are too young to grow up too early. They should be happy and enjoy life. I don't want them to live a life like mine."

"You're really insightful, Candy Girl."

"Candy Girl? Seriously, Jungwon?"

He grins at her. "Says the person who carries candy."

"Aish."

They stay in that position until Jungwon hears some soft snores from Giselle. He glances down at her and grins at the girl whose hair was messy, but pretty. "Blackmail." he says mischievously as, taking out his phone and taking pictures of her.

He checks the time. 6:14 P.M. It was getting late, yet she was still asleep. 

Jungwon shrugs and stands up, careful to not disturb her. He squats down and whispers, "Hope you don't mind staying at my house for the night." Then he whips out his phone and dials someone. "Can you pick my friend and I at the Carnival Cafe? Thanks."

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A/N: I think this story might be going a little too fast. ;-; my procrastinating soul is lazy-