Cherishing you ♡ - Kang Daniel

×[¤ Chapter 62 ¤] ×

  ○ A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down ○

Three days later~

"Risa listen to me, I want to look drop-dead gorgeous," Fay stated looking at the dress her friend was holding up in her hands with disdain, "Not drop dead, because I tripped over my own dress and broke my neck."

"Oh come on, just wear heels and you'll be fine!" Risa tried persuading Fay with a pleading look but the other girl just firmly shook her head, and she hung the dress back with a sigh.

As the end of the year was nearing quickly as well as the graduation ball, the girls had decided to go shopping for a dress.

The both of them knew they would be too busy with studying in a couple of weeks to look for dresses, and by the time their tests were over it would be too late.

After heading to the mall they went in and out of different shops, but neither of them had spotted anything that took their breath away or made them think "This is it!"

"I think we need to leave the mall and just venture into the smaller streets of the center of the city." Fay sighed as they sat down on a bench in the mall, with each a bubble tea in their hands.

"You know what, you're right." Risa nodded her head in agreement as she took a sip. "All these shops here are quite mainstream, and for our ball theme we need something that's far from normal."

"Then what are we waiting for let's go!" Fay jumped up and grabbed Risa's hand, dragging her along to the exit of the mall. "We're capable enough to drink and walk at the same time."

"I hope so," Risa chuckled not always being sure of her own capability of walking and eating at the same time. 

Luckily for them, it was a very nice day with the sun peeking through the clouds and a nice spring breeze tickling their hair and clothes.

After all the busy days from the past weeks, this moment of quality time and relaxation with their best friend was definitely needed.

"Hey, Fay..." Risa called out to her best friend as they strutted down the street, but she paused mid-sentence as she seemed to be conflicted about the thing she wanted to say. 

"What?" Fay looked at her curiously as they halted in front of a traffic light.

"About the ball, are you still okay with going with me?" Risa gave Fay an insecure look.

"Huh, yeah, why? Wasn't that already set in stone from the beginning of the year." Fay looked quite confused but she needed to look away for a moment as they had to cross the street.

"I mean, didn't Daniel ask you or something?" Risa pressed on with an urgent tone in her voice. 

"Pssht, as if." Fay huffed amused at her words. "He knows better than anyone, I would never abandon you for any guy. Besides, he would get in major trouble with his own besties if he dumped them to go with me."

"Ah, I see." Risa nodded her head a bit dazed, clearly lost in her own thoughts.

"Why are you asking me this all of a sudden tho?" Fay questioned before a small idea popped up in her head. "Do you want to bring Leo along?"

"Actually no, I want to enjoy our last memory to the fullest with our friends, so it might weird to say this, but no. I don't want him there." Risa seemed relieved that Fay herself asked it. As if she was confirming her own answer for herself, by saying it out loud. 

"Mhm, I see." Fay nodded her head but she could immediately see that her friend was lying.

She remembered how a year ago Risa had been totally bummed out that Leo had not asked either of them as his date for the prom.

Besides that, she had been even more bummed out by the fact that she couldn't see him in a tux and that she couldn't be there to share his last happy high school memories with him.

By now, Fay also knew that Leo wouldn't want to miss out on seeing them in their prom dresses. She could also tell that neither of them would want to leave the other out, but on the other hand, also understood Risa's intentions.

As far as she and Daniel had been concerned, it had always been easy for them to mingle their romance and the time spend with their friends since they had basically always been around their friends and each other. Daniel knew Fay's friends and vice versa.

For Leo and Risa it was a whole different case. Most of their friends knew him by face or name, but apart from a few individuals none of them were close with him. Which would obviously bring Risa into a dilemma, about bringing him along or not.  

"What to do?" Fay felt conflicted too because she would love to have Leo at the prom too,  but at the same time, she completely understood Risa's way of thinking. 

As each of them was lost in thoughts, they continued their stroll in silence, until Fay remembered something and frantically slapped Risa's arm.

"Bench, we're so dumb!" She exclaimed excitedly.

"Huh, why? What did I miss?" Risa looked at her confused as she got pulled out of her thoughts. 

"How could we forget that shop from our first year!"

"Oh my god...you're right!" Risa slapped her forehead with a sigh as it dawned on her. 

"And we even made that promise of buying our dresses for prom there." Fay's eyes started twinkling and she grabbed Risa hand and pulled her along. "Let's hope that they haven't closed the shop yet."

"How far was it from here again?" Risa willing let herself get pulled along.

"Not so far, if I recalled correctly but it was a bit deeper into the smaller streets," Fay mumbled racking her brain for a recognizable point for the shop. "We stumbled across it accidentally, whilst strolling around, didn't we?"

"Yeah, we did..." Risa nodded her head confirmingly when suddenly an image popped into her head. "Wait, I remember something!"

"Tell me!" Fay glanced at Risa as they headed deeper into the shopping district.

"The confectionary next to it specialized in honey-based products!" Risa states confidently, "They had this bee shaped sign as their trademark logo!"

"Didn't we buy some honey pudding there?" Fay started remembering bits and pieces too of that time. 

"Yeah, we did," This time Risa took the lead and started dragging Fay along. "I might've just remembered where it was."

"I shall leave my fate in your hands." Fay stated dramatically as she obediently followed Risa...