fate | SEVENTEEN

Chapter Twelve

Mingyu's POV

"I'll see you all next week. Have a good weekend." Sarah ssaem left the room.

"Thank God it's Friday!" Peniel exclaims. "Should we go do something tonight?"

Krystal and Shannon snort at him.

"As if," Shannon says packing up her stuff. "You're too embarrassing Peniel."

"And you're mean!" Peniel pouts.

I hear Jess beside me laugh.

"Do you wanna do something tonight?" I ask putting my head on my books.

Her eyes light up. "Like what?"

"Should we go get some ice cream and walk to the playground? We can go sit on the swings?"

The excitement from her face disappears. "We did that last time."

'But it was fun!' I wanted to say but I didn't want her to have a disappointing time. Especially if it was with me. I like her. A lot. I've only known her for 3 months but ever since I laid my eyes on her I couldn't help but stare. She hardly ever notices when I do but when she does, she gets all shy and frustrated.

I have a feeling she might feel the same way towards me. I mean, why else would she have bothered texting me the night I joined Vernon's tutor club. The thought of that night makes me laugh. I was hardly paying attention to Sarah and kept looking at Jess instead, she didn't notice though. The only way I got her to look at me was to actually talk to her directly. And when I gave her the piece of paper with my number in it, her reaction was priceless. She started stuttering, it was the cutest thing ever.

"Bro, take her to the Manhattan bridge. There's going to be a fireworks display tonight." Vernon whispers over to me. "Starts at 9 though."

"Thanks man." I say bumping his fist under the table. I turn back to Jess, "I'll pick you up at 7."

-

I took Jess to a restaurant near the Manhattan bridge. It took a while for us to get our food and it took just as long to eat. Which was perfect because by the time we finished it was already 8:30. We walked onto the bridge, stopping right in the middle.

"It's so pretty." Jess smiles looking into the distance, across the water.

"Like you." I hold her hand in mine.

She shakes her head smiling.

"Do you want to hear a secret?"

She looks at me and tilts her head. "You trust me?"

I nodded. "I do."

"Okay then, go ahead."

"I... like you." I blurt out.

She didn't say anything but her eyes didn't leave mine either.

I was about to speak again when she takes a step closer to me, closing the gap between us.

Still not breaking eye contact she says, "I like you too."

Just then a loud bang went off and the dark night glowed different colours. The fireworks had began, yet Jess and I don't break our moment.

I couldn't control the wide smile I had plastered on my face. "Jessica Hong," I put my hand on the small of her back and pull her even closer. "Will you be my girlfriend?"