Moon nights - a summer romance in Seoul

Chapter 36 : Jonghyun

We are both praising the moon but standing on opposite sides
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"What are you willing to pay for it?" I asked Ayla with a growing smile.

Ayla was looking up at me with annoyance written on her face. She crossed her arms and gave me a dirty look. 

"What would you like me to pay with,huh?"

"How about the world?" I threw the bidding offer into the room.

"How about I kick you instead?" she replied dryly.

"You cruel, cruel thing. I would have paid for it with the world to show you my devotion. But wait, that wouldn't have worked since you are my world"

I explained and handed her the ice cream cone back that had already begun to melt in my hand. Ayla let out a frustrated groan and took it back. "You are insufferable sometimes; you know that?"

"I love you too, in case you don't pronounce it correctly."

There it was; I had said it.
Technically alongside a joking undertone.

But the truth was out.

Ayla looked up at me in surprise but shook it off after a few seconds.

Just tell her that you genuinely meant it, Jong.
I tell myself mentally.

"I-" I cut myself off when she grabbed my arm suddenly.

"Hyun, look!", she pointed out.

On the screen display across the footwalk... was me.

It was from a campaign I filmed in April before we started the show.

My hair on the screen was shorter than it was now, a lighter brown, almost dark blonde.

It was a perfume advertisement for which we had bleached and dyed my hair to fit the needed aesthetic better. My scalp had been on fire to achieve that colour. As good as it looked, I rather stick to brown colors that require less bleaching in the future.

"You look so cool", she mumbled as she watched the advertisement.

How adorable.

"Your ice cream is melting, love", I pointed out, and she broke off her eyes from the screen but to the ice cream cone in her hand. "Remind me to get the ice cream in the cub next time."

The arcade was buzzing with younger people who were enjoying their summer break. Ayla and I tried out almost every game the arcade had to offer. From the basketballs to the racing games, we constantly competed against each other.

The result: is 7:6 for me.

"I just let you win because it's your birthday. I didn't want to hurt your feelings, you know", she waved off, which made me laugh. "Huh, and I was proud of myself here."

"Not all of us can be perfect, Watson."

"Where would be fun if we lived in such a world."

As time was getting closer for the party, we took the subway back to the girls' hotel in Hannam. Ayla turned a little sleepy from the arcade and the heat, so she rested her head against mine as we stood in the wagon, her eyes closed. She looked so focused whenever she slept or had her eyes just completed as if she was solving more math equations in her head.

It was shortly after 6 pm when we stepped foot into the suite and were greeted by Faras sitting in the lounge. "Mina was about to threaten to cut something off you off for being late", he told us. She appeared in the lounge with a wooden cooking spoon, ready to scold. "Didn't I tell you to be back on time?!"