Peppermint

Chapter 4: First Impression

~Chynna~

I hadn't seen my sister so excited in a long time. Sitting in my bedroom floor, she looked like a ball of sunshine on the carpet as she recounted her tale of all the glorious flirting that had went down with her and the boy next door. While she continued to rave about Hyungwon, I busied myself with some light unpacking. I still had three huge boxes of books that needed to be sorted on my shelves.

Beaming from ear to ear, Tokyo got especially giggly when she mentioned how he'd practically asked her out at the end of their conversation.

"I was shocked out of my mind," she described. "I mean, he just met me! We know nothing about each other and he already wants to hang out? It doesn't seem right."

"It seems awesome, if you ask me!" I exclaimed with genuine awe. "You have such good luck with guys, sis. All you have to do is breathe and all the boys come running. I wish I could do that."

She laughed. "That is so not true. I've had, what, three boyfriends total in my lifetime? That's not a lot."

I raised my eyebrows and reminded her, "That's only because you turned down the other fifty-seven that tried to woo you."

"Well, those other guys were nothing compared to Hyungwon. He is so good-looking, it's insane. I mean, what kind of guy like him lives in a town like this? He could be famous with that face alone..."

Suddenly, the doorbell rang, a blaringly loud interruption in Tokyo's gushing. She gave me a confused look. "Did you order pizza while I was talking to Hyungwon?"

I shook my head. "No...maybe one of the other neighbors is coming to say hi."

A terrified look crossed her face in an instant. "Oh man...you don't think it could be Hyungwon, do you? If it is, I have to brush my hair, or change my shirt, or-"

"Will you relax?" I giggled. "I'll go get the door. It's probably not even him."

"Okay..."

Walking up the stairs, I thought about how astonishing it was that Tokyo already had a guy in love with her when we'd barely been here two days. It was exactly the kind of fantasy I'd always dreamed of, yet had never been able to attain. The closest I'd ever gotten to having a relationship with a guy was six years ago in seventh grade when Kevin Matthews, a tiny kid with a blond buzz cut, claimed he had a crush on me and asked me out, only to reveal later he'd done it for a bet.

When I made it to the top floor, my mom rushed past me carrying a box of dishware, and asked, "Hey Chynna? Could you get the door?"

"Yep, I was on my way to get it anyway."

Turning the knob, I opened the door slowly. I smelled the potent scent of mint before I heard the soft voice floating towards me.

"Hi, are you Tokyo?" the voice asked. It was low and soothing, like velvet or melted honey. It sounded musical almost.

I froze, finally laying eyes on him. My eyes traveled up his form, taking in first the pair of black converse highs; then the dark skinny jeans with rips over his knees and thighs, exposing pale skin; the gray Iron Maiden t-shirt under a black jacket, hanging loosely from his thin frame; and then finally, his face-full pink lips tilted slightly in a curious grin, a perfect nose, the most flawless skin I had ever seen and then-

In that moment, I looked directly into his dark eyes, sharply angled in a beautiful, exotic way. For a fraction of a second, my heart seemed to stop. I think my mouth actually dropped open a few inches. I was totally astounded.

This had to be Kihyun, the brother my sister's crush had mentioned. They both had insanely gorgeous faces. Maybe it ran in their family... If so, I wished I had their genes. Seriously.