When We're Together [양정완]

22.

Once the bus finally arrived after what felt like forever, Yang Jungwon and Chae Aera made their way onto the almost full bus. There were only two seats vacant, and luckily they were together.

The bus ride to the shopping center was only a few minutes away, but no matter how long the ride was, Aera always seemed to get sleepy when in a vehicle. She began dozing off only a few minutes after they had gotten on.

Jungwon was scrolling on his phone when he suddenly felt her head resting on his shoulder. He tilted his head to see her face. Seeing her so close up made his heart do a weird flip it had never done before. Not even back when he thought he liked Hwang Minhye in middle school.

The bus ran over a bump in the road, causing the girl's hair to fall over her face. The male stared at her for a second before he used his other hand to gently tuck it behind her ear. She slowly opened her eyes and the boy quickly averted his gaze back to his phone screen.

Aera sat up and blinked away her blurry vision.

"Hey, you know you sleep with your mouth open, right?" The boy chuckled. She froze and turned to him with a pout on her face and her arms crossed. "I do not."

"Do to," The boy pulled up a photo of the girl sleeping on his phone. "See? I have proof."

"HEY- DELETE THAT!" Aera reached for the boy's phone but missed as he pulled it away with lightning fast reflexes. "Why? I like it," he teased her just as the bus stopped at their stop.

He quickly hopped up and speed-walked out of the vehicle onto the side walk. "HEY- YANG JUNGWON. DELETE THAT RIGHT NOW," Aera struggled to pull the phone from his grasp as they both laughed out.

Somehow, the girl eventually managed to steal the phone and she ran away from him while quickly deleting the embarrassing photo. She triumphantly held up the phone and grinned at the male. "There, I did it for you."

~~~

Two hours or so later, the two exited a clothing store with Aera's gift for Kang Yoona's birthday. "Should we get a snack?" The boy suggested. The girl smiled and nodded excitedly. Walking around and carrying things had made her exhausted.

The pair were about to enter a ramen restaurant when the boy heard the girl gasp. She grabbed his sleeve and pulled him towards a photo booth that was placed just outside the stores. "Let's take a photo!"

"What? Why?"

"Why not?" She grabbed his wrist and pulled him inside. The girl tapped a few buttons on the booth's screen before she backed up to get in frame, grabbing the boy at the same to pull him into frame. 3... 2... 1...!

Thee two took their first photo with thumbs up, the second with Vs, and the third with pouts. Finally the count down started for the fourth, and last photo, and Aera turned to the boy, about to pose, but he wasn't there. Just as the flash sounded, she felt two arms wrap around her shoulders and a chin on the top of her head.

"Hey, what-" Aera's words were cut off by the sound of the photos dispensing from the booth, 2 copies, one for each of them. Aera smiled widely and took them, handing one to the boy and looking at the other in her hand. The photos turned out cute, she thought, but her eyes lingered on the last photo.

The boy's chin was resting on her head and his arms were wrapped around her shoulders in a hug. He was smiling with his dimples on full display and she was half smiling, half gasping out of confusion and surprise. "Isn't it cute?" She excitedly waved the photo strip in air.

Jungwon chuckled with a dimpled smile as he stared at his own photo strip. How was it possible for anybody to be born so perfect? Suddenly, he felt daring and decided to ask her a question he had been pondering since earlier that day.

"Aera, do you want to go out with the person who wrote that letter?"