A Thousand Times by E Janetulip

Chapter 16

"A sky full of stars and she was staring at him."

⭐

You, who color my heart.

-Aurora (오로라)

2016. 11. 17.

My eyes didn't leave Seonghwa. I couldn't take my eyes off of him. It felt like the surroundings became blurred and what he was doing seemed to slow down. It made me look closely at his features and admired them one by one. His eyes, those deep brown eyes that I love, it seems like it's full of stars. Those long lashes, thick eyebrows, his pointed nose, his prominent jawline, his full pinkish lips, his honey voice, his laugh that can soften the mood, and his soft hair that I like running my hand. Just everything about him.

He noticed me staring at him and showed me his smile that can light up the room. I felt his hand gave my hand a tight squeeze before looking back to continue watching the stars. Him giving my hand a tight squeeze, brought me back in time when he confessed his love to me.

It was October 15th, Saturday night. We went bowling then ate dinner outside. It was fun even though I don't know how to do bowling. Seonghwa on the other hand is good at bowling. I even teased him the only reason why he asked me to go bowling was to show me his bowling skills. I must admit, I was pretty impressed. He's not just good but he's great at it.

On our way to a restaurant, after we went bowling, he took my hands in his, smiling at me. His smile at me made me smile back at him. He gave my hand a tight squeeze before opening his mouth. My attention was focused on him, on his eyes that were staring at mine.

"왜 (Wae)? Why are you giving me that smile?" I asked, curious about why he was smiling at me as I felt the heat creeped out my cheeks.

"중요한 걸 말해줘야겠어 [I need to tell you something important]," he started and I nodded my head to say for him to go on.

"내가 이걸 너한테 한동안 간직하고 있었어. 네가 날 행복하게 하는 거 알지? 난 항상 너, 너의 미소, 너의 눈, 보조개, 너만을 생각해. 나는 너를 많이 아끼고 너와 함께 시간을 보낼 때 정말 신기해 [I've been keeping this to you for some time now. You know that you make me happy right? I always think about you, your smile, your eyes, your dimple, just you. I care about you, a lot and I feel amazing when I spend time with you]," he continued telling me nice things he likes about me and what I make him feel.

"너는 정말 나를 행복하게 해. 이젠 널 좋아하지 않는 것 같아 [You really make me happy. I don't think I like you anymore]," he stopped. "나는... 나는 사랑해 오로라야 (Naneun... naneun saranghae Aurora-ya)," he said declaring his love, not breaking his eye contact with me.

I was speechless. He caught me up with his words, and him confessing his love to me made me give a warm hug. Hearing him said it made me smile and now thinking about that moment, it makes me smile again. It sounds so cliché but it felt like I was floating in space. That night, I remember I couldn't stop myself from smiling.

Tonight, it's been one month and a day since he told me that. I never said it back. I was still waiting for a moment to say it back to him.

We were sitting on a bench outside of our buildings, looking up at the stars but I wasn't, my eyes were fixed on him. His eyes were glittering with happiness just by watching the stars. Staring at him made my heartbeat loud, it felt like it was going to burst. This was a new feeling to me, it's similar to the feeling I felt when he said he loves me. I felt as though, our hearts beat the same.

"성화씨, 나도 사랑해 (Seongwa-ssi, nado saranghae)," I suddenly revealed my feelings to him, that I feel the same way.

He stopped for a second then turned and looked at me. His eyes lit up from my words and looked at me lovingly as a smile broke off his lips. At that exact moment, I remember seeing the stars shining back on his eyes. He stared at the stars and they shone back on his eyes. I swear, love everything about him, just him, the guy whose name is Park Seonghwa.