The Kissing Booth: Adult Edition

A Stranger

[Lee: Alright, here's one. What are you most afraid of?] [Me: That's not why we made this chatroom, Lee] [Noah: Here's a question for the group. Why don't we go to a club or see some music while we're in Busan? We can go after you get your books at the uni library] [Me: The last time I heard live music was in Dublin, and I stumbled into that pub by mistake] [Marco: Lol, you're so cute, Elle. You got all these little stories that just come up at the most random of times] [Me: Smiley face emoji] [Noah: So is that a "no" to the music?] [Lee: Nothing will beat Irish music, huh Elle?] [Marco: I think we should get there and get back as soon as possible. I wanna be home before midnight] [Noah: Killjoy] [Marco: It's just to be on the safe side] [Me: I'm with Marco on this. I think we'll be fine coming back, but I don't want to ride the train too late] [Noah: Fine, fine. We'll have dinner then head back. How's that?] [Me: Perfect. Let's try to find somewhere to eat before we go- that way it'll be easier once we're there] [Lee: Aye, aye, Miss Adventure]

I smiled, about to put away my phone before I got a private message outside the group chat we'd recently setup. It was from Marco, reading: Have a good day at school. This was topped off by a smiley face emoji. A grin drew across my lips as I typed back for him to have a good day as well and I'd see him at home later. Right after that I checked the time.

Nine fifty-five! Crap! I'm going to be late! My feet started to pick up as I began running through campus. I was so close to my building, but I doubt I'd actually make it in time, and Korea's big on making it in time. I suppose was more preoccupied with this thought than watching where I was going. In the most comedic of timing, my foot slipped on a wet patch of concrete. Without realizing what had happened, I found myself falling forward; the papers I had be jolting to hold onto in my arms went out all in front of me. Any sense of pain was non-existent in that moment; my hands just scrambled to grab everything I'd dropped. Some sheets flew in the breeze, drifting a bit far from me. I snatched up what I could reach, not paying attention to my surroundings. If I had been, I would have seen the man pick one of my stray papers up.

"Is this yours?" My head shot up at the unfamiliar Korean voice. A Korean man, roughly about my age, stood in front of me with a paper outstretched my way. He smiled friendly enough and spoke to me entirely in Korean. I straightened up, took the sheet back, and grinned at him in return. "Thank you for your help. I'm running a bit late and uh, fell," was my shy reply. He wasn't a bad-looking man by any means; he was pretty handsome in fact. But I didn't have much time to think of anything besides getting myself to class asap. The stranger gave me a once over, but not in a weird; it seemed like he was scanning me over for injury or something like that.

"You sure you're alright? You didn't hurt yourself back there, did you?" My suspicions were confirmed by his questions. Funny though... The more I talked to him, the more.... familiar his voice sounded to me. It's bizarre because I know I've never seen him before, but there was something about his voice. I couldn't put my finger on it, but there was something... I decided it was probably my imagine and ignored it, remembering to be as polite as possible to him. "I'm fine, thank you. But I really need to get going. Thanks again for helping me," I bowed slightly in a respectful fashion. He nodded, not saying anything this time. With one last smile his way, I took off down the way again...

not realizing that his eyes hadn't left me since the moment he first saw me back there.