Heartstrings || Joshua Hong

Chapter 13

Rina POV

I ran down the hallway to my homeroom panting and checked my watch when I got to the door. 7:45 AM. Perfect. 

I had a moment of déjà vu back to my first day of school, but a few things had changed. First, I wasn't late for once. And second...

Today was Valentine's Day. 

I grinned as I walked into the room, noticing that Joshua hadn't arrived yet. I took out a wrapped box of homemade chocolates from my backpack and quickly slid it into his desk. All I had to do now was wait. 

Less than three minutes had passed when I heard feet shuffling behind me. All of a sudden, two arms covered in fluffy sweater sleeves surrounded my chest, enveloping me in a back hug. 

"What the heck do you want, CREE-oh. H-hi, Josh." I cleared my throat, patting his arms lightly to hug him back. That was embarrassing. "Umm...everyone's watching us now."

"Happy Valentine's Day to you too, Rina", I heard him say sarcastically, "and who cares, just let 'em." He let go of me and got settled in his seat next to mine. His eyes finally caught sight of the gift peeking out from inside his desk. 

"Hm, what's this?" Joshua took the package out and carefully undid the wrapping. He took out the pink box decorated with a bow and gasped at all the various chocolates inside.

"Woah, Rina did you make all of these??", he asked, still surprised. I self-consciously tucked one strand of hair behind my ear.

"Yeah...Happy Valentine's Day, or whatever", I said nonchalantly, "Hope you don't get food poisoning and die. Love you, Josh." 

The beautiful sound of his laughter rang in my ear as he playfully pinched my cheek. 

"Aigoo, that's my cute lil' pabo. I love you, too. Wait for me by the practice rooms after school, okay?" I nodded, smiling and trying to hide my blushing face.

Yup, as if I could pay attention in class at all after that. 

--

When the last bell rang, I dashed out of the instrumental room as quickly as possible and headed toward the practice hall. Joshua had already beaten me to the meeting spot and was leaning against the wall, effortlessly looking like he'd just walked out of a fashion magazine. How I'd managed to date a model was still beyond me. 

"So, what are we gonna do?" I asked as we left campus. 

"Go on our date, obviously", Joshua replied, looking at me like I was dumb. 

"No, I meant like what are we gonna do on our date", I replied impatiently. Joshua chuckled at my pouting face. 

"I was thinking of stopping at this café downtown. You down?", he asked, slipping his hand in mine and interlocking our fingers together. I felt a small spark at his sudden touch and smiled for the millionth time that day.

"Yeah, of course!" Anything with him sounded good, to be honest.

--

The café was small and tucked away in a corner, but it was beautifully decorated with pastel-colored flowers and strings of lights. There were Valentine's-themed decorations as well, giving the place an overall sweet and trendy vibe. 

When we arrived, we barely found an open table on the patio since many other couples were there but we didn't mind the crowd. We ordered matching latté's with heart-shaped coffee art and enjoyed the comfortable atmosphere. 

"I'll be right back, I need to use the restroom", Joshua said suddenly, getting up out of his seat. 

"Oh, okay." I continued sipping on my drink while he was gone when I heard his chair scratch against the floor.

"Woah, that was fas-" My mouth dropped before I could finish my sentence. In my shock, I couldn't even register who was sitting across from me.

"Rina, it really must be fate's doing that we're meeting here, don't you think?", none other than Alex Rhee said, smirking. He had a bouquet of roses on his lap. I hoped he pricked himself with his own thorns.

"You know, I'm just gonna save my whole freak out session and cut straight to the point. What the actual fuck are you doing here and how the fuck did you find me?", I demanded coldly, sending death glares in his direction. 

"Jeez, filthy mouth you've got there, huh? Relax, girl, I was just walking home from the medical center and decided to visit my favorite café. It's Valentine's Day, too, so I had to be prepared just in case," he replied, holding up the bouquet. "I'm glad I ran into you, though. I got a little tired of waiting so let me just cut straight to the point as well." 

Before I could protest and call the police, Alex knelt down on one knee in front of the entire café and raised the bouquet up to me. 

"Rina Song, will you make me the happiest person on earth and be my Valentine?"

 I could feel everyone in the café's eyes on us at that moment, eager at my response, and went speechless. Joshua just so happened to return from the bathroom right on time to witness what was happening.

"Dang, what K-drama is this? I'd love to watch," I heard an extremely familiar voice say from the café entrance. My head immediately turned in its direction.

Sera???

--

A/N *plays every dramatic Kdrama OST ever during the cliffhanger scene* 

I hope this wasn't too cheesy but it's a Valentine's Day chapter, so what can I do :P I also used some inspo from Chocolate MV w/ Seventeen's Vocal Unit~

Also, I apologize for the slow-ish updates mm I'll try my best to update every 2 or 3 days^^