When We're Together [양정완]

35.

As the snow fell quietly around the pair, Yang Jungwon suddenly spoke. "Put your hands up."

Chae Aera confusedly tried to turn to the male but he simply poked her shoulder, turning her away from him again and repeated what he had said.

The girl hesitated but eventually put her hands in the air despite her extreme confusion. A few seconds later she was wearing an orange and navy hoodie that the boy had pulled onto her.

It was a bit oversized on her, but still extremely comfortable. The male pulled the fuzzy, blue hood over her head and patted it.

Instinctively, Aera turned to hit the boy's arm away from her head, but the sweatshirt was so large on her that she ended up hitting his shoulder with the sleeve instead.

"Hey!" Jungwon laughed as he fought off the female's attacks. Aera, using the sleeves to her advantage, was about to windmill them at the boy, but their brawl was cut short by a male voice.

"AuuAHK-"

Aera and Jungwon exchanged a confused glance as Sim Jake rolled off of his bed onto the floor out of their view. The pair on the balcony listened as they heard the boy shuffling around in his room.

Suddenly, they heard the click of the balcony door. Within a second, Aera had pulled the boy whose sweatshirt she was wearing by the wrist into her room and out of view of Jake, who had just stepped onto the balcony.

"Huh-?" Jungwon was shushed by the female's finger in front of his lips.

"I don't want to start any rumors," the girl whispered as she sighed, relieved that the boy's third year friend hadn't spotted them.

Yang Jungwon tilted his head and furrowed his brows like a confused kitten, staring at Aera. "About us?"

She nodded in response, but suddenly realized that she was still gripping the boy's wrist. She looked away and quickly released him, but only a few moments later she tensed up again.

The two were sitting in between her bed and the wall beside the balcony window on the floor. Aera looked at the male beside her, meaning to simply glance, but instead she found herself staring at him.

The moonlight from the window was just enough to highlight the boy's cat eyes and sharp jawline. She felt her heart beating a little faster when he met her gaze. It caught her off guard, making her instinctively turn away, flustered.

"L-let's just wait until he goes back into your room." Aera mumbled as she averted her gaze to the wall.

Jungwon nodded, and unintentionally pouted as the girl's face was now out of view. The male still wasn't sure about what he felt for her, but every time they were together, he grew more and more sure of what it might be.

~~~

"Aera? AERA!" Jang Eseo's voice finally penetrated the girl's peaceful slumber and she startled awake.

The events of the night before flashed through her head like a hazy dream, and for a moment she was convinced none of it had happened at all, but then she realized she was wearing Yang Jungwon's orange hoodie.

But before any of her friends could ask about it, she shuffled to the bathroom to wash up.

~~~

Sim Jake rubbed his upper arm which had developed a faint bruise from his fall the previous night. He and his four hotel roommates were waiting in the frosty wind to get a chance to ride the farris wheel.

Most of them weren't fond of heights, but either way, their other classmates claimed the view from the top was worth the scare.

As they neared the front of the line, Sunghoon pointed to a small sign just in front of the loading dock. 4 people per gondola.

The boys looked at each other. "You guys can go then. I'll go with another group or something." Yang Jungwon smiled at the other boys, waving them ahead.

"I'll stay with you then," Kim Sunoo nodded and stepped towards the cat eyed boy. The other three hesitated but eventually, with some persuasion, they agreed.

After minutes of waiting, Sunoo and Jungwon finally got onto another gondola with two girls who looked like first years.

One of the girls, a short, round girl with light brown hair styled in braids, seemed nervous, but her friend, a slightly taller girl with dyed blonde hair, seemed excited.

Only a few seconds into the ride, the latter turned to the boys sitting in front of her. "Excuse me..."