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It was a cold November night in the year of 1999 and two middle schoolers were walking hand in hand.
Cheol and Mi-ae were walking home from a study group at Wook's house; it was routine for them to bike home together (Mi-ae would hold on to Cheol while he pedaled). But for today, they decided to walk.
Mi-ae was humming a small tune while Cheol listened contently, or at least she thought he was. In reality, Cheol was lost in his thoughts. He would occasionally glance down at Mi-ae, mustering up the courage to break the monotony. After a while, he took a deep breath and tugged on her hand.
“Hey, do you wanna hang out at my place?”
Mi-ae looked up at him in pure awe. Cheol was inviting her over? After the two began dating, they hung out at each other’s houses very often to study together. Though it wasn’t necessarily weird or out of the ordinary, it was a treat every time.
They had managed to get most of their homework done after studying with the others; maybe he wanted to get more done?
“Really? Of course! We’ll have our homework finished in no time!” Mi-ae smiled at Cheol.
Cheol looked away from her as his skin turned a pink shade.
“Ah..no. I was wondering if you wanted to watch a movie. My parents rented this movie which I thought was pretty good; I think you’ll like it. We can also get some…snacks,” his voice wavered slightly.
“OH! Like a date?” Mi-ae teased. “Of course! Why would I say no to a movie and snacks with my boyfriend?”
“Right,” Cheol chuckled. “Then let’s stop at a store for snacks. I’ll buy.”
“Sounds good! Let’s go.” Mi-ae beamed.
They walked to a nearby convenience store. Mi-ae grabbed some chips and a drink and put them in a basket.
“Is that all you want?” Cheol asked.
“Huh? Yeah, why- Oh! Right. You eat a lot. We should probably get some more!” Mi-ae smiled.
“That’s not what I meant…” He tried explaining, but Mi-ae was already back to browsing the snack aisle. She came back with some bread and another drink and added them in the basket.
“I think that’s enough! Let’s go check all this out!”
“Can you go outside while I buy it? It’ll be uh, faster…” Cheol’s voice wavered again.
“Huh? Uhm, sure!” Mi-ae chose to not question it.
She walked outside and waited for a while until he came out.
“Cashier sure did take a while, huh?” Mi-ae reached for the bag. “Here, I’ll help you with the snacks since you bought them!”
Cheol quickly held the bag above her.
“No! It’s fine!” He slowly lowered the bag. “I’ve got it. Don’t worry.”
“Oh… Ok,” Mi-ae slowly laughed as he intertwined his free hand with hers. “Gosh! My boyfriend is such a gentleman! How did I get so lucky?”
Cheol chuckled as the couple continued their walk home.
//
“Hello!” Mi-ae yelled out, greeting Cheol’s family as she took her shoes off.
“They’re not here. They went out to visit family and won’t be here until tomorrow,” Cheol explained, taking his shoes off and placing the bag down.
“Oh? Is that why you invited me over to watch a movie with you?” Mi-ae teased. “Gosh, how scandalous! And here I was thinking my boyfriend was such a gentleman! Oh, how wrong I was!”
“You wish, you twerp,” Cheol chuckled with a slight shaky exhale.
He turned on the TV, placing the tape in the VCR. He turned to get the snacks when he saw Mi-ae about to reach into the bag.
“No, wait!” He quickly rushed to get the bag out of her hands. “I’ve got the snacks! Don’t worry! You go sit down on the couch. I’ll bring them over.”
“Uhhh, ok… Sure…” Back when he refused to let her carry the bag, Mi-ae sensed something was up, but now she was sure that Cheol was uneasy about something. Still, she trusted Cheol, so she walked over to the couch and made herself comfortable.
She watched him pull the snacks out of the bag and walk towards her.
“I could’ve helped you with that…” Mi-ae told him.
Cheol sat beside her and set the snacks down between them.
His lips were in a straight line as he looked straight at Mi-ae.
“I know. I just… wanted this to be a surprise,” He said as he slowly pulled out some Pepero sticks from behind him. “Happy Pepero Day, Mi-ae-yah.”
Mi-ae’s eyes slowly widened as she took the Pepero sticks in her hand. Was this the thing that was making him uneasy?
“Cheol-ah…” She gazed at him with sparkly eyes that rivaled a night sky in the countryside. “Thank you so much, really! I love it!” She giggled while pulling him in a hug.
She heard a shaky, but relieved sigh and couldn’t help but laugh. His embrace was tight and warm; she couldn’t help but melt in his arms. Still, she pulled back and opened the Pepero box. She was going to offer Cheol one when she stopped and made a smug face instead.
“Hey, Cheol-ah,” she smirked.
Cheol looked at her, his eyes questioning, but quickly realized why Mi-ae had that look on her face. She had placed the tip of one chocolate stick between her lips, leaned towards him, and raised her eyebrows at him bullishly.
Cheol felt himself get red as his eyes widened. Did she want him to play the Pepero game?
Cheol felt butterflies swarm his insides. Why did she have to be so straightforward sometimes? He saw the crinkle around her eyes and knew she must’ve been aware of his inner turmoil.
And he was right.
Mi-ae was living off of his panic. She saw the way he made the realization. The way his eyes widened and the way he got red. The way he was frozen in front of her. He was so cute!
Mi-ae, having been satisfied from the reaction of her prank, raised her hand to grab the stick of Pepero when she felt a close presence, met with some pressure from the stick. She looked back up to see Cheol’s mouth on the other tip of the delicate snack.
She froze, looking at his face. It was so close, red, and his eyebrows were arched. The sight would’ve been adorable and she would have pinched his cheeks if she weren’t so caught off guard.
She remained frozen until she heard a sudden crunch. Returning from her state of shock, Mi-ae was able to think as she finally processed the situation.
Snap!
“Wait! Wait! Hold on!” Mi-ae cried as she pulled back and her face turned to a dark shade of red. “It was a joke! A prank! I wasn’t actually asking for you to play! I just wanted to tease you!”
She raised her hands up to her face to hide her humiliation. Oh, how this backfired…
She peeked between the gaps in her fingers and saw Cheol’s eyes widen again. The color on his face seemed to darken as well and his lips loosened causing the Pepero stick to fall between them.
“Oh… Right.”
Mi-ae cringed hearing the embarrassment dripping from his voice. Why did she do this? Now, the movie date was going to be awkward! She lowered her hands and pursed her lips. She made the situation turn out like this, so she felt as though she should be the one to fix it.
“Uhm, Cheol-ah, we can play if you want,” she said through a shaky voice and averted eyes.
“What?!”
“Only if you want to, of course! It’s just you were up for it and I suddenly pulled away…” She finally looked up at him. “So, we can play! I’m ready now!”
Cheol gazed at Mi-ae, who’s confidence was slowly crumbling by the second. She did say she was ready, but if he didn’t answer soon she knew her words would slowly lose their truth.
“Mi-ae, it’s fine. We don’t have to play,” Cheol sighed. “I was willing to because I thought you genuinely wanted to. I just want you to enjoy your snacks.”
He smiled softly at her, reaching for the remote when she grabbed it out of his hand.
“Then…let’s play!” Mi-ae stared straight at him. “I want to play.”
Cheol’s heart skipped a beat as he saw her pull another stick of Pepero from the box and place it between her petite lips. His face began to heat up again as she leaned in and shut her eyes. He softly chuckled at the sight, but felt the butterflies in his stomach as he too leaned in to bite at the tip of the Pepero stick.
Mi-ae shut her eyes tighter when she felt Cheol on the other side of the stick. Hearing a crunch in front of her, her heart started to race.
Truthfully, she was a bit disappointed when he said he had only wanted to play because he thought she wanted to. Initially, she just wanted to play a prank on him- but now that she saw he was willing to play, well, why not?
Mi-ae felt herself get lighter each time she bit down on the Pepero stick and, as to compliment her lightness, her heart would skip a beat each time she heard a crunch from Cheol.
Mi-ae, planning to shut her eyes the entire time to save her from the awkwardness, opened them when she felt the soft sensation of Cheol’s lips on hers. They both stared at each other, having no clue what to do.
Thinking about it, who would be the one to win in this situation? They both reached the middle so they both ate an equal amount of the Pepero stick. Was the first one to pull away the loser?
They didn’t think this far - not thinking they would reach the middle.
They stayed frozen as their faces darkened in color. They kept their gazes locked on each other’s until Cheol shut his eyes so tight his eyebrows arched. Mi-ae, having witnessed it all up close, couldn’t help but pull back, laughing at the situation (and Cheol).
“Oh my god!” She laughed.
“Huh?”
“You win! You won!” Mi-ae cried between giggles.
“God, who knew you had it in you, Cheol-ah!”
“You were the one who asked to play!”
“And you decided to go through with it and win!”
Mi-ae cackled at Cheol’s crimson face and wiped tears from her eyes. Cheol felt himself get redder (if that was even possible), but soon joined in laughing at the bizarre situation.
As they calmed down, Mi-ae closed the gap between them and pecked Cheol on the cheek. Cheol wrapped his arms around her in response and the two began to cuddle.
“Happy Pepero Day, Cheol-ah.”