Everything Seventeen

Seokmin (DK)

Right after school ended, I stormed out of class. Soon, Seokmin, a friend of mine, came jogging up next to me. He tried to match my fast walking pace.

"Carat, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Today. The whole of today was wrong," I grumbled.

I crossed my arms, cursing under my breath. He suggested that we go to a fast food restaurant nearby and I rant about my day to him. I agreed as I felt the need to let out my worries and frustration. We sat at a table for two. I rested my head on my hand, still frowning.

"I'm going to go get food. You want anything?" he asked.

I shook my head. I was too angry to be hungry.

He came back with a tray of food. It was a little more than what he would usually eat. He set the tray down and placed a box of chicken nuggets and a drink in front of me. I looked up at him.

"It's on me. Since you've had a bad day, let this be something good in your bad day," he told me with a smile on his face.

"Oh uh thanks then," I uttered.

As he dug into his meal, I started ranting on about my day. My late awakening, my first late slip this year, being backstabbed by my project mates, getting a small proportion of meat at lunch, being called up by teachers twice and getting the answer wrong both times, tripping over myself in the hallway, and much more- I let them all out to Seokmin who listened intently. I complained about my day all while aggressively taking bites out of chicken nuggets and sipping from my cup of coke.

"And that's all that have already gone wrong. I wonder how many more ways a day could go wrong," I huffed and laid back in my chair.

I laid back with too much force that I fell over along with the chair. It caught the attention of the whole restaurant and I was ultimately flustered. In contrast to the reaction of the people there, Seokmin laughed it off and helped me up. He placed my chair back upright too. I covered my face and sat back on the chair.

"Great..." I said as I started to tear up in frustration.

Seokmin moved my hands from my face and I saw him crouching in front of me.

"Carat... Look, everyone has their bad days. I do, they do, everyone does. It's how you react to it that counts. Like me. I stay positive as much as I can although I may seem like a naive dumbass for thinking that way sometimes. Hold on. I got just the thing to cheer you up," he advised me.

He sat back in his chair. He took a few of his food items, turned around and did who knows what. Less than a minute later, he turned around sharply to reveal his masterpiece.

"Hahaha! What is that? What are you?" I burst into laughter.

He had spread ketchup on his cheeks and left a bunch of fries hanging out of his mouth. He also held up a burger that had 2 fries sticking out the top like antennas. It was such a funny yet embarrassing sight. He moved the burger to make it talk and I laughed even harder. It actually lightened my mood and made me feel better. He eventually chewed on and gobbled up the fries in his mouth.

"You are so embarrassing," I said to him as I reached for a napkin.

I wiped his ketchup-stained cheeks. He continued smiling. It was... captivating. It proved contagious too as I smiled as well.

"Well, if it cheers you up and makes you happy, I don't mind. I've always been embarrassing anyways," he chuckled.

At that moment, I paused for a while and stared at him. My hand that was wiping the ketchup, retracted. My heart... It felt warm and it was beating quickly.

I think that at that moment, I fell in love. I fell in love with Seokmin, the one who never failed to make me smile.