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On a rooftop, teenagers that were pushed past their limits in order to get into a good school, secretly met up to watch fireworks not far from where they were standing.
It was something so small to rebel against for an hour, but they knew the memory would stick.
They whispered amongst themselves, trying to predict what color the first one was going to be. Cheol whispered a joke (very lame one at that) into Mi-ae's ear and she snorted.
She laughed like the world wasn't watching, and his laughter followed soon after. It quieted down when their cram-mates shushed them and the fireworks started. Mi-ae's jaw dropped in admiration.
It was beautiful – maybe even ethereal.
The way the neon lights contrasted with the black sky and jetted up to create a light show. And where there was a pop, lights scattered in every direction.
She turned to her friend to proclaim her very important (and much needed) thoughts but...
Cheol was just looking at the sky.
No furrowed eyebrows.
No one who would judge the way he looked so entranced by it.
And she wondered, did he like the fireworks that much?
Mi-ae heard the amusement from her other friends in the background, shouting at each other. She even heard Jungwook (out of all people) tell Honggyu to shut up because he wouldn't stop going on about how he got the color of the first firework right.
Yonghui tried to start small talk with Sora, to no avail. So she watched the fireworks with her, a silent compromise. Johan and that other quiet guy just sat there, too nervous to really interact but brave enough to stand next to the others.
Another firework exploded and a grin took over Cheol's face and something tugged at Mi-ae's heart.
Is that how he looked at something he loved?
Cheol couldn't really ignore her stare at one point and took a quick glance at her. "What are you looking at?"
"Huh?"
Oh. She was staring.
"There's a whole thing in front of us, why are you staring at me? Is your vision bad or what?"
Her eye twitched and she leaned closer so he could hear her. "Does your mouth have an off button?"
"Hah, you're one to talk. Focus on what's in front of you for once!"
He easily turned her head to face the fireworks with his hand. It annoyed her to no end because of how effortlessly he did it and how she just…let him. She felt the ghost of his warmth on her head and silently missed it. Her brain told her to listen to him, but not without inquiring first.
"Do you really like it that much?"
He didn't look at her. "Mind your own business."
"Rude much?"
They went silent and even though there were screams of joy and things exploding in the sky, they found it a bit uncomfortable.
Cheol cleared his throat.
"Yes um...I do like fireworks that much." He scratched the back of his neck and fixed his gaze on her. "Don't you?"
Cheol sounded so awkward that it was laughable. But it was an effort.
She masked her excitement. "I mean, yeah, obviously. Who wouldn't?"
"Pfft, probably you."
"W-What? More than like – anything – I–"
She searched her brain for the right words to say.
"–love fireworks!" she ultimately sputtered out, taken aback by what he assumed. Did he think of her as someone with no taste?
He hummed in acknowledgement, also trying to come up with a good response. "I…"
He took a long pause.
Wow, he really knew how to take his time.
"...love them too."
She turned her head to look at him, and the way he craned his neck to get the best view of the fireworks simply...baffled her. He didn't seem like the type of guy to be intrigued by such things. There was a lot that he seemed like, but ended up not living up to at all.
Cheol was just trying to get through his 3rd year, just like her.
And the word love coming out of his mouth was also something Mi-ae didn't expect.
Love?
Ha! Like he would know anything about that word. Cheol's so heartless at times! Throwing that word around like it's some soccer ball but–
She probably was looking too much into this. Into him.
Mi-ae glanced at the fireworks and back to Cheol. She felt something swirl in her gut at the sight of him.
…Love?
Mi-ae watched his jaw slack and mouth form into an 'o' as he gazed at the fireworks and—
Oh.
Is that how she was looking at him?
Mi-ae felt her eyes widen.
Oh.
Did she look at him like that?
Like he was one of the fireworks?
Like how he enjoyed watching them — you could tell by the look on his face — and his eyes scrutinized every dashing light in the sky. His smile from just seeing them, shaped his every feature.
Love.
Such a simple word and she was such a simple girl.
It no longer was simple.
She felt something at the back of her throat.
Mi-ae felt sick.
…
She was in love with him.
With Kim Cheol.
With the way he had a good heart, the way he didn't know how stunning he was, with the way he just…was.
Hwang Mi-ae was in love with Kim Cheol.
Nervously, she laughed to herself. She was right, the world wasn't watching her as she laughed.
No.
Her world was watching the fireworks.