bodyguard ; kth

26 ; explosion!!

the next morning, i was up bright and early. my steps left footprints behind me as i walked along the blanket of snow in the forest. my eyes on the ground, hands in pockets and as always, deep in thought.

suddenly, a snowball collided onto my back. my body jumped in surprise, i turned around to see aera with a stupid grin plastered on her face.

"wow, that actually hit you!" she shouted, surprised by her newly found throwing abilities.

i scoffed, looking at her with a dumb expression. then a smile crept on my face as i leant down, bundling snow in my hands. looking in her direction, i brought my arm back and threw it as hard as i could.

not to my surprise, the snowball landed perfectly on aera's forehead. a cry escaped her lips as she fell back on the ground.

"taeby!" she yelled, wiping her face to get rid of the snow. i let out a chuckle in response, watching her struggle.

"whoops, sorry," i said as i made my way towards her. she remained on the ground, looking up at me with a grumpy expression.

"that was mean," she said in a sulky tone. i smiled at her, bringing my hand out to help her. she took it willingly, getting up on her feet with my help. but this time, with a smile on her face, she wrapped an arm around my neck and pulled me down, leaving both of us on the ground.

"aera...wha-" i muttered as i looked down. my hands were lodged in the snow on either side of her face, my body hovered over her and our faces were inches apart.

unlike me who was blushing like crazy, aera, on the other hand, was laughing hysterically. she covered her mouth with her hands, laughing sweetly beneath me. i cracked a smile, watching her enjoy herself.

in the midst of the joyful moment, my mind lingered back to jiae's words from last night.

"no wonder aera hates you."

that bothered me. i didn't want aera to hate me. i peered down at aera who quietened down after seeing my expression. with a smile on her face, she asked me, "what's wrong?"

i shook my head slightly, looking away from her eyes.

"no, it's nothing. i just...wanted to ask something..." i said quietly.

"yeah?" she asked, staring at me. i gathered up the courage to look at her and asked almost in a whisper, "are we...i mean...are we like...friends? do you like me...as a person..."

aera raised an eyebrow, glancing up at me with confused eyes. i mentally screamed, scolding myself for asking such a question. i looked away, muttering, "forget it, it's stupid."

it was like she read my mind because she placed both her hands on my cheeks, forcing me to look at her. she smiled with a light laugh, "taeby, it's not stupid. nothing you do is stupid...and i know we had some issues in the past but we're okay now. i like you so so much, taeby. so so so so much. i could never hate you."

that sparked a little joy in my eyes, a small smile rested on my face.

"really? you like me?"

aera nodded, saying, "so so so so so so so much."

i smiled.

she smiled more, repeating it more times, "so so so so so so so-"

"aera, okay, i get it," i said, rolling my eyes with a smile.

▬▬ι═══════ﺤ -═══════ι▬▬