moonflowers and jasmines

• thirteen •

had someone told jihan that a subtle physical touch would blast oxytocin into merrick's body? if so, they were absolutely right. the friction between their skins was sure to ignite a spark, for he could not bear the tension anymore. then, how could he just let it be?

merrick, being merrick, let their hands brush once, twice, and the third time, within a fraction of a second, his left hand glided around jihan's right, and he intertwined them.

jihan immediately responded by covering his fingers on the back of merrick's palm - now their hands completely locked.

oh, what was that sound, like a 150 bpm bass drum?  was it from merrick, or was jihan's heart racing out so loud?

whatever it was, making eye contact would be the worst decision probably.

instantly, a cosmetics cum souvenir shop caught merrick's eye along the left array of shops.

cosmetics - lip balm - chapped lips - jihan. voila, that was the best chance for him to buy a lip balm for his chapped babe.

but he did have an inane idea to kiss him right then and there to moisten jihan's lips. but he dismissed it as it was in fact, inane. so, he immediately pulled him to that very shop to atleast gift him something cute.

merrick grabbed a tube, unscrewed the cap, squeezed out a little, smeared it across his wrist and inhaled the scent. content, he bought the product and whisked jihan back outside the shop. completely confused about what was happening, jihan observed merrick like a lost child.

merrick unsealed the plastic packaging, revealing the smooth, cylindrical lip balm tube nestled inside. the tube was adorned with light illustrations of blue jasmine blossoms, surrounding the title, "scentedkiss - jasmine flavoured." he twisted open the cap and pulled jihan closer with his left hand clasped around his jaw. merrick then gently glided the jasmine-infused lip balm over jihan's visibly dry lips. to evenly spread the balm around his lips, merrick used his right thumb, with a tightened grip around jihan's jaw.

in an fuzzy attempt to explain, merrick murmured, "your lips were chapped, so..."

luckily, he did not say something questionable like, 'oh, they look so not ready to be kissed'.

this was account to the fact that not once did he tear his eyes away from the latter's lips after applying. the glossy and scented lips were pleading with him to smash his onto jihan and mess them up.

to divert himself, he looked up and boom! he was making direct eye contact with jihan. those intense chocolate eyes looked back, stopping time. they were close...almost too close. his heart sped up as he pondered, was jihan feeling the same as him? every instinct told him to lean in closer, seal the gap.

he gulped down and immediately loosened his grip over jihan. he turned away from jihan; he couldn't stop his stupid heart from behaving like it was running a marathon. if he had gone with the flow like he always had, who knows what could have happened. could he have played it cool by simply avoiding jihan for the rest of his life? no, but merrick hated confrontations.

"th-th-thank you, merrick," jihan stuttered, almost inaudible.

thank him for what, making it tense between them or for panicking the life out of jihan, or both?

merrick was an idiot to have faltered the shy boy like that. but he knew, that saying sorry was going to worsen it.

merrick shifted away uncomfortably, racking his brains to detract from their awkward situation. impatiently, he cracked his fingers, "um...you wanna check out the flower shop down the street?"