When I Grow Up (Seventeen Jeonghan x CLC Seunghee)

Eight: When I Sit Beside You

>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<

Jeonghan feels a little uncomfortable. She's not turning around to face him. Maybe she is expecting someone else and he just sits there without even greeting her.

"Seunghee-shi, did I bother you? I'm sorry I just sat here. Were you expecting someone else?" he apologizes.

Seunghee whose face is still on the armchair jerks up and fixes herself facing the windows. She can't let him see her in a mess again! She's so humiliated.

After some time she turns to him with a smile plastered on her face. But she's still a little stiff.

"Jeonghan-shi, it's you. Well earlier, Areum unnie is actually sitting there so I thought she came back instead. I'm sorry if I muttered some things at you."

He stares at her face and she finds it a bit awkward. It feels like that time during fifth grade when she was the one staring at his face.

"What? Is there something on my face?" she asks.

"Your face is red. On the right side. Probably because of pressing it on the armchair. Were you napping?" he states.

It makes her wanna run away from him. She's appeared so unladylike infront of him again. She touches her cheeks trying to massage away the red part. But what he does next totally captures her heart once again. He places two of his fingers on the high part of her right cheek and presses on it gently to make the red part go away.

"Here, it's really red right here," he says calmly as he continues to touch her face.

She stays dumbfounded at his gesture. He looks so dreamy in front of her. She gets lost in trance once again. She wishes for this moment never to end.

He continues to form circles on her smooth skin. He's enjoying what he's doing that he forgets that he's actually being rude. But after a while, he finally realizes his move. He's not supposed to lay his hands on her. Not before he gets the right to exclusively do so.

He moves his hand away from her and tells her, "I'm sorry. I... didn't mean to touch your face. It was just so red I couldn't help myself."

She turns away from him not meeting his line of sight. The look on her face must have given it all away if she isn't alert enough.

She shyly answers him, "It's okay. It's nothing. You don't have to apologize about it."

"Okay, thanks."

For a moment, silence takes over the place but immediately, Jeonghan resumes the conversation.

"Oh yeah. Is there someone you're supposed to talk to? I can help."

It's the moment of truth for Seunghee. She decides she has to tell him now. There can be no other chance in the coming days. And besides, her birthday's really two days away. She won't have any other chance. But before she can start, he says something.

"Oh, by the way, your birthday's two days away right? I can still remember during our middle school days. You would always bring candies to our class as a treat."

She's astonished. He can remember her birthday after all these years? Maybe it's because they share the same birth month but it's still overwhelming for her. The fact that he actually remembers.

"You remember a lot of things in middle school. That's just amazing," she utters with a smile but not being obvious that she's happy.

"Middle school is my favorite part of childhood. That's why I recall too much," he says with a smile. "And it's because I remember your birthday that I'm here. Aren't you gonna invite me for some dinner that night?" he jokes.