And there it goes. He saw it, the genuine reason he could come up with.
“I was thinking about filling up that side!” he excitedly muttered while pointing on an empty white wall near the entrance. Mari looked at him and then at the wall then back at Onew, inquisitively. “What do you mean?”
He cleared his throat. “Uhm. You know, might as well put some ‘decorations’ since it looks plain.”
“You told me that the interior was fine the other day. And now you want to change it?” She said suspiciously. “Ah no, I’m not doubting you or something!” he shook his hands dramatically denying every thought that she could have. “I just wanted to suggest. That’s why I came.” He explained with a sigh. He knows he’s lying but there’s nothing else he could do about it.
Mari just nodded, trying to sync in everything Jinki said. “So what’s your plan.” She looked down at the sighing Jinki.
“Plan, what plan?” he said in a very surprised manner. Mari simply pointed out the vacant space that Jinki was talking about. Jinki looked at it for seconds and started scratching his head. “Do you like books?” he started asking.
“I love them!” Mari exclaimed. Jackpot! Jinki just hit the Jackpot! “Then how about a mini bookshelf?” he enlightened.
Mari clasped her hands together which made Jinki think that it was really a good idea. But that mini celebration didn’t last long when Mari sighed after remembering something. “Wae-yo?(Why)” Jinki queried her. “I don’t think I could invest large amount of money for books. I haven’t profited that much yet since my pastry shop opened. Maybe next time, Jinki-ssi.” She smiled at him.
She smiled at him.
Jinki’s heartbeat was loud and uncontrollable.
“Jinki-ssi!” apparently, he was staring at her for a while that she got to distract him. “Let’s eat. The food’s getting cold.” She announced.
“Let’s go.” He declared. “Where? Now? At this time of the day?” Mari showered him with question because of his sudden proclamation. He chuckled at how flustered she looked. “I mean tomorrow or maybe the next day, whenever. Let’s go find a shelf first then—“his sudden plans were cut off by Mari. “I told you, Jinki-ssi. I don’t have that kind of money, YET.” She emphasized yet indicating she have plans to fill it up in the future.
He looked at her, trying to convince. “We could buy the shelf first and few books. For starters, we could buy 5-10 books then fill it up, one by one each time.” She blinked, for like 10 times. Then they both blushed, more on Jinki’s part seriously. He finally realized that he used ‘WE’
‘I just mixed up my pronouns. Ugh this is so embarrassing!’ He thought.
“One by one.” She mumbled. ‘We’re going to be together; Filling it up.’ A curve formed on her face with these thought and Jinki didn’t miss the act. He nodded while a smile crept on his face as well “Yup. One by one.”
After dinner, Jinki asked her if he could take her home. It has been a lot easier for him to do so. Jinki is a really great learner; he could pick up things well after his first time. Well, not sure it that’s the right term. Maybe ‘getting used to’ is more suitable for it.
On their way home, Mari received a text message from Joohyun. “Unnie! I just noticed.. that’s SHINee’s ONEW right? The one you’re with. Am I right? The one who owns the Chicken restaurant beside us. Hallyu star SHINee Onew?! Daebak!!” it read, in an overstating manner.
She was right, Joohyun was right. Jinki- no, Onew is a hallyu star; an international idol that people look up to. If his fans discover that I’m hanging out with him like this, it’s the end. They might think I’m dating him. Worse, they might assault me. Mari started concluding. She never thought about this yet, and it disheartened her.
Mari sighed and obviously, her mood became tainted. Jinki came to noticed it but didn’t bother to ask. He might does not want to make her think he’s meddling with her private stuffs and they’re not that close enough either.
“Thank you for dropping me home.” She thanked him and bowed a little while unbuckling her seatbelt. “Uhm. Mari-ssi.” Jinki said hesitantly. “Ne?”
“If you’re worried about anything, I could always listen to you.” He assured her, while trying not to meet her eyes. Finally, Jinki had to find the right words to use.
It made her happy, that he told her that she could always lean on him. She liked it. “You too.” She simply replied with a gorgeous on her face.
“Good night.” He waved his goodbye.
“Good night.” She did the same while closing the door of his car.
He unconsciously rolled down the passenger seat’s window, taking a good look on Mari who’s on her way home. Before entering, Mari looked back and waved. Their endless farewell to each other gave them mini heart-attacks because of happiness.
You know you like that person so much when little things make you happy, when little things he/she does gives you hope. When you notice every move they make just to know if they have feelings for you too. You start becoming so much more observant with the one you like. There are times that to make yourself contented, you put up those little things and make it big in your mind. It assures you. Maybe he/she likes you too, maybe a little bit more than how you like him/her.
