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Now you see, falling in love is not as easy as one would think. You don’t just see someone and think you would want to spend the rest of your lives with them. It happens gradually. The realization of love happens in the most mundane situations. Whether it would be watching your friend walking towards you in the hallway, or wiping the sauce off from the corner of their lips or even watching your supposedly enemy’s crush imitating a tiger because you wore an embarrassing leopard print underwear. It doesn’t matter how it happens, it just does.
The point is, for Han Seojun, he remembered exactly when he felt something for Lim Jukyung.
It was at that moment.
That mundane moment where he realized, Lim Jukyung looked ethereal and he then wondered how he could have never noticed it before.
He was on the brink of insanity because this was not his plan. He was not supposed to fall in love with this girl. This was supposed to be just a game, adding fire to his feud with Suho. That was all it should have been. He tried to convince himself that it was just because he has not been dating anyone for so long that he missed the butterflies in his stomach when he likes someone.
Yeah, that’s all it is.
**
Few days later, Seojun concluded that his theory was wrong.
He was out shopping to find a gift for Gowoon and he asked Jukyung to come along for assistance. Not because he wanted to spend time with her, oh no, he was just clueless on what to pick for his sister who has an interest in makeup now and he calls for an expert’s help. That’s all it is. At least, that’s what he thought at first.
When Jukyung finally came, he couldn’t hide his shock at her appearance because for the first time, she didn’t have a smile on her face. Also, she kinda looked like she came out of The Walking Dead with the eyebags and her way of approaching him.
She still looked adorable though.
“Are you sick? You should have told me,” He asked, trying to mask his worry.
“No, I’m not,”
“Then, do you get dumped?”
“No, I wasn’t!” She retaliated, her voice finally goes back to its normal pitch.
“Really? But you really looked like someone that just got dumped,” He says, teasing and she looked at him deadpanned and said,
“He asked me out, alright? I even got invited to his upcoming game. I’m like this because I watched a movie till late last night” Seojun felt his heart break a little at her words but he still remained cool.
“Fine, if you’re still feeling unwell, just tell me later on. Let’s go,”
—-
“Since she will be on stage, highly pigmented eyeshadow and a semi-permanent lip tint will be the best,” Jukyung trailed off, as she looked around for a good lip tint to buy for Gowoon. When she picked one of them, she tried using one on herself and Seojun just smiled, looking at her being in her own element.
“I can’t tell since I already had some on,” She says as she looks into the mirror, testing out the lip tint.
“Why don’t you try it?”
“No way, you just tried it on yourself,”
“Who cares? Come on, don’t be a baby,” She grabbed onto his wrist to stop him from moving and Seojun, not hating this close proximity just lets it happen. Putting on lip tint never felt so intimate before as Seojun stared at her concentrated face.
How is she so calm?
His heartbeat picked up a speed and he wondered if she could hear how fast it was. Her lips, tainted with the same lip tint that he was now using, he imagined those lips on his and he was not going to lie, it was driving him crazy. When Jukyung looked up to him, he could see the falter in her eyes, and she too, looked down on his lips, proving that he was not the only one feeling like this.
“T-the color came out nicely, wow!” She stuttered, her voice bringing both of them back to reality. Both of them retreated awkwardly and Seojun coughed to the side to avoid looking at her.
“Right, this… I will buy her this,” He rambled, grabbing the little brush and putting it back in the lip tint container and walked away to find the salesperson for a new one to buy.
He was so falling, falling deeper than he thought he could.
**
“Do you want me to wipe off your sweat too?”
Seojun couldn’t believe his luck. It’s been weeks since the lip tint incident and so much has happened. The most memorable one was when he was singing on stage at the school trip and his eyes couldn’t help but to be focused on Jukyung. It felt like the rest of the world was disintegrating right before their eyes but they didn’t care, the only thing that mattered was them.
But at the same night, he saw Jukyung and Suho walking together and they were smiling so brightly at each other that it felt like he was interrupting a moment so he hid himself.
And he has been doing that ever since.
Well, until today because both of them are working for a photoshoot. He was being uncooperative on purpose in hopes that Jukyung would storm off in annoyance and leave him alone. He didn’t want to be around her knowing that she liked Suho. It broke his heart but of course, he would never do anything about his feelings.
But now his patience was being tested because Jukyung seemed to be too relaxed in his presence. She got back to the couch they were sitting on and tried to wipe the sweat off Seojun’s face. He brought his hand up to stop her and she looked at him, confused.
“What are you doing?”
“I was just trying to help. You looked a little sweaty,” She tried to move her hand again but he stopped her.
“Forget it, go away,” He says, putting down her hand.
“Why? You will look nicer in the photos,” She says, putting her hand up again, only to be stopped by him.
“I said stop. Is this that easy for you?” He questioned, frustrated at everything that was happening. Frustrated that he felt more for her, frustrated because she did not feel anything and most importantly, frustrated because she was so clueless about his feelings.
“What do you mean?” She asked, puzzled and without his initial control, he pinned her down on the sofa and looked into her eyes, pleased that she was faltering.
“I’m a man too,” He whispered, and his eyes trailed down to her lips that he had been resisting so much to kiss and he leaned in closer, not able to control his mind and body. He could see her closing her eyes and perhaps, she was not against this as what he thought.
Which was wrong because she liked Suho and he didn't think he should be confusing her like this so he retreated his body away from her.
“Tell the photographer that I can’t do the photoshoot today and I will give him back his money,” He says, not looking at Jukyung as he quickly took his stuff and walked out the room. He could hear a faint, “Han Seojun!” but that did not stop him from walking off because he needed to get out of there or he would explode.
—-
As he was brisk walking down the street, he realized he still had his photoshoot outfit on and he should go back there to return it. He cursed internally as he thought about going back there, but he didn’t want to get sued and he would rather choose to push aside his dignity than have to pay money for it. When he turned around, he spotted Jukyung a few feet away from him.
“Han Seojun, you prick! How could you leave me alone like that?” She yelled, furious at him as she panted in exhaustion for chasing him down.
“Um, my mom called asking when I was getting home and being a good son that I am, I wanted to surprise her by coming home early,” He rambled on, lowkey impressed that he came up with such a lie. Jukyung looked at him, raising an eyebrow, unconvinced.
“Great excuse but I’m not buying it. What happened back there-“
“I’m sorry for getting into your personal place, you must have felt uncomfortable and I know you like Suho but acting like a jerk was not it so-“
“Wait, who is having a crush on who now?”
Now, Seojun was the one confused.
“I thought you liked Suho, no? You are always making heart eyes at him or whatever,” He explained, making Jukyung burst into laughter at his ridiculous deduction.
“Well, that was true at first. But, then the um, lip tint incident happened, I started feeling different. We’re extremely platonic and bond over horror comics, that is all. Regardless, you did nothing to make me uncomfortable, don’t worry. I was in fact enjoying it but you just had to put an end to it-“
Seojun grabbed her wrist, pulling her closer to him.
“So you wanted me to kiss you?” Seojun asked bravely, his ears getting red because he just can’t believe what he heard.
“Yeah, but the moment was gone so,”
“You know, for a cute person, I did not expect you to like being pinned down,” He muttered cheekily, and with a new profound courage, he wrapped his other arm around her waist.
“And for a supposedly heartthrob, you’re kind of dumb. Why did you think I closed my eyes? I was waiting for it,” She pouted, embarrassed that he was making her feel like this.
“Well, fret not Lim Jukyung, because you’re getting one,”
Before Jukyung could properly respond, Seojun cupped her neck and collided their lips together in a soft kiss. Kissing her was way better than what he had been imagining, dreaming and yearning for because wow, he could not stop doing it. When Jukyung finally kissed him back, it grew heated and desperate and everything felt like it was falling into place. Their lips moved in sync, and when Seojun heard her moan, he felt like he was on cloud nine.
When they finally had to part, they realized that both of their lips were swollen. Seojun brushed his thumb against her lips, wanting to kiss her again but this time, he was stopped when her palm was against his lips.
“I would love to continue but we have a photoshoot to go to and our break time is almost over,” Jukyung says with the biggest grin Seojun has ever seen so far.
“Well, that’s too bad. Let’s go then, soon-to-be-girlfriend,” He held out his hand for her to take as they walked back down the street to the photoshoot location.
“Not going to ask me out yet?” She cheekily asked, looking at Seojun.
“Of course not. I would have to bring you out on a spectacular date first so that I know you won’t be able to resist me,”
“Alright, bet, soon-to-be-boyfriend,” She bit back playfully, clasping her hand tighter around his.
**
So no, Han Seojun has not fallen head over heels for Jukyung just yet. But he knows he will, gradually, as he experiences being in a loving relationship with the girl he never thought he would ever like.