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It was Hyuna’s first day at Anakt High School. She was jittery with nerves as she walked through the school gates. It was thrilling, but Hyuna would be lying if she said that she wasn’t even a little bit nervous.
Hyun-woo wasn’t here to help her calm her nerves either. Since he was a year younger than her, that meant he was stuck at their middle school before he was able to transfer to high school with Hyuna.
Thankfully, the day passed on with no issues, and Hyuna greeted old friends she hadn’t seen over the break, as well as getting acquainted with new classmates. There wasn’t much learning happening as most of the class was dedicated to going over the syllabus and performing icebreakers that the class loathed.
When the teacher finally ended their lecture, and it was their free period, a group of students started to surround her desk.
They all started bombarding her with their words, words melding together in their chaos. It was kind of hard to hear everyone when they were all asking her questions at the same time.
“You’re so pretty! What products do you use in your hair?”
“I don’t recognize your face. What middle school did you go to?”
“Are you single?”
Hyuna wondered if everyone in this school was this nice and chatty.
Her classmates' jumbled interrogation was interrupted by a loud squeal at the door. A girl was standing next to it, looking far too flustered while talking to someone outside. Their expression morphed into that of quiet surprise before they turned back to Hyuna.
“Um, someone is here to see you.”
Hyuna was puzzled about who it was that wanted to see her. The confusion was short-lived when a familiar mop of blond hair fell into view.
“Luka! What’re you doing here?”
A soft smile crept onto her face as he walked over to her. He placed a carton of banana milk that he was carrying on her desk. She quickly snatched it from where it was, making quick work of it as he spoke.
I thought I’d check on you. It’s your first day and all.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Please, you just missed me and wanted an excuse to see me.”
He hummed in response. “Caught me. How can I not miss you?”
Straightforward as ever I see. He was far too adorable for his own good, and Hyuna found herself bringing a hand to his head to ruffle his hair affectionately. She felt as he leaned into her touch, and she swore that if she listened closely enough, she could hear him purring.
“You’re way too cute; you know that?”
Luka’s lips curved into that familiar, far too giddy smile he always wore when she doted on him; shameless in his affection for her. After a while, he reluctantly retracted from her touch, fixing his hair where she had messed it up. He glanced at the people who surrounded them, their faces filled with a mix of shock and scandalized looks. The smile he once wore died off as he shot them all a glare. Many turned their heads away at the intensity of the stare.
“It seems that you are doing well for yourself. I’m going to excuse myself now; make sure to meet me at lunchtime.”
She waved to him enthusiastically as he left. “Bye, see ya later!”
He gave her a light smile before shutting the door behind him. Almost immediately after Luka left, the mob swarmed her again; this time, even more frantic in their questioning. The girl standing closest to her practically screamed in her ear.
“Oh my god, how are you so buddy-buddy with the ice prince!?”, they asked in excitement and anxiousness.
The nickname had Hyuna keeling over in laughter. Was that what people called him at school? Man, she had to make sure to tease him about it later; she could already imagine the grimace that he would have. She knows Hyuna would make sure to give Luka crap about it once she mentions it to him. Just thinking about it had her cackling to herself.
“We’re childhood friends. I’d better hope that we’d be buddy-buddy if we’ve been friends for this long.”
One of the boys spoke up, their voice coming out strained for some reason. “Does that mean that the two of you are a thing?”
Her dating life apparently seemed to be a popular thing to ask today. “Nah, I’ve known him for so long; he’s practically my second brother.”
They took that as an initiative to start probing her for more information, and thankfully, the bell saved Hyuna from the bombardment from her classmates. Despite all the weirdly nosy people in her class, she thought of this as a pretty successful first day.
. . .
It was the weekend, and that meant lazing around and doing nothing. Hyuna was busy melting into the couch when she heard the doorbell ring. Pulling herself from her comfortable placement, she headed to open the door. She beamed when she recognized who it was.
“Hey, you made it!”
He gave her a small smile. “Wouldn’t miss it for anything else in the world.”
When they were younger, Luka would often come over to their house on weekends. If he didn’t have any extra lessons that day, he would crash at their house. Hyuna had recommended that they make Saturday their designated movie day ever since she found out that Luka wasn’t allowed to watch television. Imagine her shock that he had lived without watching TV for eight whole years. If it were her, she would have died of boredom.
Since then, he had made time in his busy schedule to go to Hyuna’s house; these Saturday movie nights became a comfortable thing in their routine.
As he stepped into the house, he scanned the area while taking off his shoes. “Where’s Hyun-woo?”
“He’s not home, he’s at basketball practice.”
He gave a soft hum at the information. “I guess he’s just us then.”
Hyuna strode over to the kitchen, opening one of the cabinets before turning back to face Luka. “I’m going to make popcorn. You can go pick the movie; the remote is on the coffee table.”
He nodded before heading for the living room while Hyuna fished the popcorn from the cabinet. Once she was done, she went back to her room to grab a big cozy blanket from within her closet. As she entered the living room again, Luka was still scrolling through the Netflix catalog.
“Couldn’t find anything you wanted to watch?”
“All of these look boring, or it’s something we’ve already watched,” Luka grumbled.
Hyuna just let out a little chuckle before going to join him on the couch. “Hey, scooch over.” When he did, she promptly snatched the remote from his hand. “If you can’t find anything you like, then we’re going to watch what I want to watch.”
She continued to scroll through the options and found that Luka wasn’t lying about there not being a good selection of movies. She didn’t remember it being this bone dry before. Hyuna was about to give up and suggested that they just rewatch one of the old DVDs she had lying around, until one of the movies caught her eye.
She turned back to Luka to get his opinion. “How about this one?”
He grimaced as he saw what she had picked out. “Absolutely not.”
“Why not? I heard the girls in my class talk about it during lunch. They said it was good.”
“Flowers Blooming in the Springtime?” He squints as he reads the description. “A cheesy rom-com retelling of a girl's blooming high school love. Hyuna, we are not watching that.”
“Oh, come on! You haven’t even watched it yet. How can you know if it is bad?”
“I know my taste, and it’s not that.”
Hyuna just let out an exasperated huff. Luka didn’t know what he wanted to watch, yet he was being this picky. She leaned in, getting all up in Luka’s personal space.
“Hey, if you end up hating it, then we can just laugh at how bad it is together, yeah?”
He looked at her with a deadpan expression and all. She batted her eyelashes at him, hoping to sway his decision. Luka just shifted his head to the side, a light pink tinging his cheeks.
“Fine.” He had his hands out in a show of defeat, letting out a resigned sigh. “You win.”
Hyuna throws her hands in the air, whooping in victory. Giving him the puppy eyes was the correct move; glad to see she still got it in her. She clicked on the movie and watched as it started playing.
They had started to settle into a more comfortable position. The blanket Hyuna grabbed was big enough for the two of them, and they found themselves huddled together in it. Luka had found her hand under the blanket, grabbing a hold of it while rubbing soft circles onto the back of her hand. It was something he liked to do, showing his affection through physical touch.
When they were still elementary students, he would always cling to her like a lost puppy. She could see that the old habit had yet to die off. It was endearing, and she found herself squeezing his hand in return.
The movie ended up being a lot better than the two of them had expected it to be. It was cliché, yes. But there was a softness in how the movie portrayed the love that made her root for the girl. Even Luka, the one who was so vehemently against watching the movie, was now intently watching. They didn’t talk for a while, too busy listening to the film that was playing. That was until she heard Luka speak up beside her.
“That seems nice.”
She turned to face Luka, confusion in her tone as she spoke. “What does?”
“What the main girl has going with the male lead. It seems nice.”
There was something in his tone that had Hyuna wanting to probe for more information. Her voice turned into that of a teasing lilt.
“Does our ever stoic student council president have a special someone in their mind?”
The bright flush that crept up onto his face only egged her.
“Oh my god, you do! Who are they? Have I met them before? What grade are they in? Come on, you have to tell me!”
He looks at her; really looks at her. She thought that he might fold and tell her who it was, yet he just turned his attention back to the film in front of them.
“Maybe one day I’ll tell you.”
It wasn’t the answer she wanted, but in the end, she wasn’t going to pry too hard if it was really something he wanted to keep hidden. Hyuna gave up, slumping back down and resting her head against his shoulder.
It was fine, he would tell her eventually.
. . .
It was school soon after, with the weekend flying away far too fast for Hyuna’s own liking. She and Luka had finished their lunch, and she was walking him back to his classroom. Their chatter filled the otherwise silent trek to his class.
They reached their destination soon enough, and Hyuna spun on her heel to head back to her class. “Okay, looks like this is where I drop you off now. See ya!”
She hadn’t taken a single step yet before she felt a hand grip her wrist, stopping her in her tracks. She turned around to face Luka, who had an uncharacteristically big pout on his face.
“You’re leaving too soon.”
She could only chuckle at his childish antics. Hyuna couldn’t help but ruffle his hair affectionately. “That’s sweet, but I have to be heading back to class soon.”
This did nothing to get Luka to let go of her. Instead, it seemed to actually make him even more clingy. He moved his hand from her wrist to fully squeeze her arm with both his hands. “I wish I could be in Hyuna’s class.”
Hyuna let out another hearty laugh. “Now this isn’t how Anakt’s top student is supposed to act, now is it?”
“Don’t care.” His voice was muffled as he buried his face into her shoulder. It was like he was trying to melt into her and make them become one.
“Seriously, though, I have to get back. The teacher’s already been nagging me for being tardy far too many times, and you wouldn’t want me to go to detention, do you?”
With this information, he quickly retracted himself from her as quickly as he had grabbed onto her. Luka vigorously shook his head before heading into his own respective classroom. Luka was far too entertaining for her to watch.
His attachment to her probably stemmed from her helping him out when they were little. Back then, he was bullied instead of revered like he was now. Luka, being much smaller compared to other children his age, often became the target of the other kids’ malice.
Many of the bystanders didn’t try to help out. As long as they weren’t the ones being bullied, it didn’t concern them that Luka went through. She couldn’t just stand by, though, and had stepped in when she saw that it had escalated to physical bullying.
She still remembered that star-struck face that Luka had worn back then, dazed and in awe. He had quoted her as “my savior,” a nickname that he would still use to this day, despite the bullying stopping years ago. Hyuna doesn’t know why he still refers to her as such, but it touched her that he was still grateful to her even now.
Too lost in her train of thought, she didn’t notice someone was walking in front of her and ended up bumping into them. A string of apologies strung out of her lips as she looked down to see who she had bumped into. She recognized her as one of the girls in Luka’s class.
The girl also seemed to have recognized Hyuna. “Oh, you’re Luka’s friend, right?”
She nodded in affirmation. “Yup”
They looked behind Hyuna before speaking again. “Did you just leave his class?”
“Yeah?” She didn’t see how this information was relevant.
The girl fidgeted for a long time, not looking Hyuna in the eye. It was a long moment before they spoke, their voice coming out quiet and unsure.
“Um, ah. Are you and Luka dating?”
Hyuna felt her eyes bulge out of their sockets. Her? Dating Luka? She would have thought that these rumors would have died down by now. Despite this, she still found herself involuntarily flushing at the accusation.
“What, no!? Why would you think that?”
The girl squeaked at her sudden outburst, surprised at the volume in which it came out.
“I mean, y-you guys are always together a-and you seem really close and all.” Their voice started to fall as they continued speaking, stuttering as they spoke.
Hyuna huffed in frustration. Seriously, these people's imaginations are way too wild. “Well, we aren’t. We’ve just been friends for a long time, so we seem that way.”
“Oh, okay. That’s good…”
Good? Hyuna wondered what they meant by that. She was about to ask about it before the girl cut her off.
“So, um. Does that mean that you can help set me up with Luka?”
Hyuna’s whole body went rigid, and she felt her mind freeze up. An unsettling, awful feeling started to build up in her stomach. It unnerved her, and she didn’t know why she felt so shitty all of a sudden.
It was supposed to be a good thing. Someone was showing interest in Luka, and he had expressed his recent desire to start dating. Setting the two of them up would have been what she should have done as a good friend. Yet, there was a reluctance that she felt.
It was stupid. She should want this for Luka, yet here she was, hesitating to say yes. It took all of her biting down the churning in her guts before she started speaking. Her voice came out more strained than she wanted it to.
“Yeah, sure. I can do that.”
The girl didn’t seem to pick up on Hyuna’s wariness, exhaling in relief before she shone a bright smile at her.
“Yes! Thank you so much; I owe you one!”
The girl skipped off, delighted that she was one step closer to getting her crush. Hyuna heard the bell ring, signaling to her that the passing period was over and that she should be in class. She just continued standing in the hallway, not knowing what to do with this sinking feeling in her stomach.
. . .
Hyuna slumped over the table, her forehead falling onto the pile of papers that lined the table. It was almost the end of the semester, and that meant exam season; her least favorite season. She had employed Luka’s aid in helping her study because God knows she wasn’t going to get anything done if she didn’t have someone keeping her in check.
“Ugh, I can’t do this anymore!”
Luka only spared her a glance before turning his attention back to his laptop. “You can take a five-minute break, but you have to work for the next thirty minutes straight afterward.”
“Only five!? For a whole thirty minutes of work? No way.”
He let out a soft chuckle, and Hyuna wondered what was funny. She was suffering over here. It was a rare sight to see Luka laughing, though, and she found herself lingering on the sound of it.
He reached over to brush a stray strand of hair from her face. Hyuna buried her face into her arms, if only to cover the red flush on her face. Luka thought it was because she was tired from all the studying they were doing at the moment.
Her feelings were all over the place recently. She couldn’t get the conversation within the hallway out of her mind, and she was still confused about why it bothered her so much. It continued to eat away at her mind, causing her to become more distracted in class.
Luka had noticed and had asked what was wrong. She had just brushed off his concern, saying she was just extra bored in class recently. He didn’t seem to buy her excuse, yet he didn’t push the subject any further. That, she was grateful for.
She looked up from where her head was buried in her arms to look at Luka. She bit her cheek, steeling her nerves before biting the bullet.
“Luka, you said that you were interested in getting into a relationship, right?”
He was diligently jotting down his notes, but his pen paused when he heard what she had said. Luka just sat there for a moment, blinking slowly until he turned to fully address her.
His lips were curved into a sly smile, and there was a teasing lilt when he spoke. “Why are you asking? Interested?”
Hyuna only let out an exasperated huff. “No. You know Mina? You should, since she’s in your class.”
The smug smile he previously wore died down; a frown replaced it. “I don’t see how she applies to the conversation.”
“Well, she’s interested in you. She wanted to know if you were free on Friday after school.”
Luka didn’t hesitate when he answered. “No.”
Hyuna kept on pushing. “Are you free any day?”
“No.”
She was starting to get pissed; his quick answers that gave no consideration to what she was saying were getting on her nerves. “You aren’t even listening to what I have to say at this point. Mina’s a good girl; you should give her a cha-”
“No, and that’s final.”
Lukas' voice was sharp and cold, so unlike the kind tone she had grown used to with him. He was the one who hinted at wanting a relationship. She was giving him an opening, and he was just shutting her down.
“I’m trying to help you here. Is it because you’re hung up on another person? How can you just linger on one? Just go on one date with her, please? If you don’t like her, you don’t have to go on another date with them.”
She could see him growing frustrated as he ran his hand through his hair. Luka just stood up and started packing up, closing his laptop and gathering his papers from the desk.
“Wait, where are you going?”
“I’m not going to listen to you keep talking about this girl.”
“Okay, maybe you aren’t into women, then? I can try setting you up with a guy instead.”
“That isn’t the issue!”
Luka’s voice came out loud, causing Hyuna to shut up. She had never seen him so utterly pissed off in her entire life. Even when the people in class were too loud during study time, when his father made him take another extracurricular even though he was already swamped with work, or when he was bullied back then, he had never lost his cool as he did now.
Hyuna didn’t know what she did to get him so upset, but she knew she messed up.
He turned his back to her, leaving her there sitting alone in the library. A little part of her thinks she should chase after him.
She doesn’t.
. . .
Final went and passed, the break coming to replace it. It was Saturday, yet Luka had yet to show up for their movie night. Even before the break, he was avoiding her. Whenever they passed each other in the hall, Luka would just ignore her, not sparing her a glance.
At first, she was upset; upset that their argument had formed a wedge between them. Then she was mad. Hyuna had tried to get his attention, apologize for something she still didn’t know she had done wrong, yet he had ignored her every attempt at doing so.
If he wasn’t going to let her apologize and ignore her, she was going to do the same.
Now it was the weekend, and he didn’t show. The only thing that Hyuna could do at that moment was mope in her bed. She barely lifted her head when she heard a knock on the door before it clicked open. Hyun-woo came into the room, a perplexed look on his face.
“Hey, I was about to leave for practice. Why isn’t pretty boy here yet?”
Hyuna face-planted back onto the pillow. “He’s not coming.”
Her answer only served to make Hyun-woo even more confused. “Why not?”
“We got into a fight, and now he’s ignoring me.”
His expression went from confused to one of pure bewilderment. “A fight? You guys never fight.” Or the blond bastard would have already came back spewing apologies at her like a water fountain; even if Hyuna was in the wrong.
“I know!”
Hyuna shot upright from her position on the bed. She didn’t want to show it, but the absence of Luka deeply hurt her. They had little bouts here and there, but nothing this major before. All conflicts had usually been settled within a day of happening, so this whole predicament was all new to her.
“God, Hyun-woo. I think I messed up.”
“Okay, I’m still lost here. Mind filling me in on what you could have possibly done to actually ward him off?”
Hyun-woo had never seen his sister this distraught before. Hyuna was the type to never show if she was suffering on the outside. Even if something had bothered her, she would just jump back up with that bright smile of hers. It was a jarring sight, seeing his sister reduced to such a state.
She was silent for a moment, probably trying to word it in a way that would make sense to him.
“A girl from Luka’s class had asked me to set her up with him. I said yes, but when I brought it up, he just exploded at me. I mean, I don’t even know what I did wrong. All I wanted to do was help him since he’s expressed a recent interest in dating.”
Hyun-woo just stood there for a good minute, soaking in the new information Hyuna had just given him. After a while, he finally spoke up.
“No, yeah. I think I would be upset if my crush had tried to set me up with someone else, too.”
That made her pause.
“What!?”
“Luka clearly has a thing for you. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed?”
Hyuna could feel her whole face heat up at the news.
“What makes you think that?”
Hyun-woo just shrugged. “It wasn’t like it was hard to tell. I mean, just look at the way he looks at you.”
“There is nothing different about it, though?”
At that, he just had to sigh into his hands. There is no way she doesn’t know. His sister cannot be this dense.
“Who are the only people he talks to?”
“Me and you.”
“Right, he doesn’t really talk to anyone else. And who does he keep clinging onto?”
Hyuna still seemed lost on where he was going with this. “Me, but that’s because I helped him out with those bullies back then. It's just his friendly way of showing his appreciation.”
“Oh my god. You can not think that that is the only reason he does that.”
Hyuna let out a long sigh. “That’s not relevant. Honestly, that’s not the whole story.”
She took a long pause before she started really stating what it was that was on her mind.
“Ever since that girl asked me to help her out, I’ve been feeling hella shitty. I know, I’m a bad friend. I should be feeling happy to set him up. I don’t know why I’m so upset.”
Hyun-woo blankly blinked at what he just heard. He then brought his fist to the palm of his hand as if a lightbulb just went off in his head.
“Ah, I see.” He said it as if he was stating a fact. “You’re jealous.”
Now that really got Hyuna confused. “Me? Jealous of what exactly?”
“You like Luka back.”
That thought shook her to her very core; hitting her like whiplash.
Not once had she considered her relationship with Luka as anything but friendly. But something in her brother’s words seemed to have opened up her mind.
As she sat there and really thought about it, she started to notice the little things about herself. The way her eyes always managed to spot Luka within a crowd, the way in which just seeing him smile was enough to make her day, and the way she sought out his company.
Hyuna had grown used to this comfortable relationship of theirs that she had failed to realize her growing feelings over the years. It was new, and she didn’t know what to do with it.
“I’m such an idiot.”
“Glad to see that we are on the same page.”
She got up from where she was sitting on her bed, with a newfound drive to see Luka. He might not want to see her or listen to whatever she had to say, but that wasn’t going to stop her from finding him.
“I’m going to go find Luka now.”
She heard a faint good luck from her room as she dashed out the door. Hyuna had started into a soft sprint, her feet carrying her to Luka’s house. She didn’t have to go far, though, as she spotted a familiar figure also running towards her.
“Luka?”
He was out of breath when he caught up to where she was standing. She was left there, baffled as he was catching his breath. Had he been running toward her house as she was with him?
When they did speak up, their voices came out at the same time; the two of them speaking in unison.
“I’m sorry!”
Luka was the first to continue. “Hyuna, I’m sorry for ignoring you this entire time. I wasn’t really thinking and let my emotions get the best of me. Will you please forgive me?”
“I don’t know why you’re the one apologizing! I should be the one to say sorry. I clearly pushed the subject too far, and I wasn’t taking into account how uncomfortable it made you.”
Back then, she should have just dropped it as soon as Luka had said no. Her emotion had gotten the best of her in that moment, causing her to push boundaries she never meant to break.
She put out her hand, her pinky finger pointing out.
“Promise to never let something like this come between us ever again?”
As kids, this was the way they made deals, sealing their promises with the crossing of their pinky fingers. This was her way of promising to Luka to never break this oath.
For a moment, all Luka did was stare at her outstretched hand, and she was starting to worry that he wasn’t going to return the gesture. A moment later, though, his pinkie interlaced with her own, giving it a light tug to show the security of it.
Luka then smiled up at her. She didn’t know how much she had missed it until now.
“Promise.”
. . .
Months passed, and she was now in her junior year of high school and Luka’s senior year. It felt like their relationship had grown even stronger since their argument. The only difference between them was the recognized feelings Hyuna held for her “friend”.
The simple touches that they casually shared now sent shockwaves down Hyuna’s skin. The way he spoke, the way his long eyelashes fluttered, or even just the tilt of his head had her enraptured.
She knew she liked him. She was too scared to admit that she loved him yet.
School was on hold at the moment, and the break was happening. It was December 23rd, and she was sitting at a snowy bench in the park. Hyun-woo was on the phone with her as she was waiting.
“Noona, you’re worrying over nothing. He’s going to say yes.”
“How do you know that? What if you’re actually delusional and he only likes me as a friend?”
“Please, I have eyes. Something you don’t seem to have. Here, if he actually says no, which he won’t by the way, I’ll give you one million dollars.”
“You don’t even have ten dollars to your name.”
“That’s how confident I am that he’ll say yes.”
Hyuna just rolled her eyes, and as if Hyun-woo felt it through the screen, she heard him snicker from his end of the line. She was about to fight back with another retort until she heard footsteps crunching in the snow. She looked up from her phone to see that Luka had arrived.
He was tightly bundled up to fight the cold. A wore a thick brown coat over a sweater, a light blue scarf wrapped tightly around his neck. Despite the layers, a pink tinge still covered his face. It was cute, and Hyuna couldn’t help but smile at the sight of it.
“Hey, you came.”
“Of course I did. You asked me to.” Luka looked down at her hands and saw that she was carrying a bag with her. “What’re you holding?”
“Here.” She shoved the bag into Luka’s hands, and he held it close to his chest. “It’s for you. Happy birthday!”
At first, he only stared down blankly at the present in his hands, not sure what to do. It took a while, but a large smile bloomed over his face, and the blush on his face seemed to darken.
“Thank you. Honestly, I had forgotten that it was my birthday today.”
Hyuna just gawked at that. “What!? How? Every week before it's my birthday, I always remind Hyun-woo to get me a gift; otherwise, I call him a bad brother.”
He let out a little chuckle. “It didn’t really feel like something important to remember.”
“Of course it is! You’re eighteen now, which means you’re officially an adult; that’s worth celebrating!”
“It doesn’t really feel like I am one.”
She could only let out an exasperated huff. “Well, you are now. Now open your gift! It’s not going to open itself.”
Luka did as instructed, fishing out what she had gotten him. Hyuna shuffled around a little bit, intently waiting for his reaction. She was rewarded when she saw a glint in his eyes when he pulled out the gift from the bag.
It was two bunny plushies, one brown and the other yellow, with their hands held together by a magnet. The yellow one had its eyes drawn closed, feigning sleepiness. The brown one had a pair of sunglasses stitched to the top of their head, their eyes closed to form a wink, as well as their tongue out. The two stuffed animals held an uncanny resemblance to the two of them. She watched as her eyes shone when he looked down at them.
“You like it. I made them myself.”
“You did?”
He seemed shocked by this. Of course, he would. After all, she had only started practicing sewing two months ago and had undergone tremendous effort to keep it hidden. The idea for this gift had come from Hyuna remembering her classmate talking about how they asked out their boyfriend.
The girl had hand-sewn their current boyfriend a keychain that looked like them. This inspired Hyuna to do the same. She had chosen bunnies since Luka always reminded her of them. Hyuna thought it made for a better gift than anything store-bought.
She truly wanted to express how much she cared about him.
Lukas's hold on the plush seemed to tighten as he gripped it closer to himself. “I love it, thank you.”
Blood rushed to her cheeks, lighting them on fire. This was the moment, but despite Hyun-woo’s pep talk and the practice in her room, she found her words unable to escape her lips. Luka, noticing her flushed exterior, began to grow concerned.
“Hyuna, your face is so red. Is it too cold outside? Here, maybe we should head inside.”
When she saw his back turn to leave, her body moved on its own to seize him by the wrist, stopping him from doing so.
“Wait!”
“Hyuna, we really should go-”
“Luka, I like you!”
He didn’t continue his sentence; he just stood there with shock plastered all over his face. Seeing that he wasn’t going to say anything, she continued.
“I don’t mean it as a friend. It took me a while, but I see that I want to mean more to you; be more with you. I think you were the best thing to have ever happened to me, and I want you to know that.”
By this point, she was gripping both of Luka’s gloved hands in hers. He could probably feel how much she was shaking. Despite her hands being uncovered, they still felt like they were on fire.
“Luka, please go out with me!”
As soon as those words left her mouth, she felt a soft touch pressing against her lips. She didn’t know it was possible, but her face seemed to get even hotter from the sensation.
“Yes, of course.”
Luka’s smile was so bright it nearly blinded her. It was similar to the time when she had first tackled those bullies; his eyes were awe-filled as if she was the only good thing in his life. Hyuna wanted to burn this moment into her memories.
She suddenly fell to the ground, and Luka immediately started to panic.
“Hyuna, what’s wrong!?”
Hyuna just started laughing, full-on belly laughing, full of relief. She had been so tense with nerves that when the relief of his answer rushed in, her legs gave out.
“God, this feels like a dream. Holy shit, I was so nervous!”
Luka joined in her laughter while helping her up and pulling her into a tight embrace.
“Yeah, I feel the same way.”
“Luka.”
“Hm?”
He was looking at her so lovingly, and all of a sudden, the urge to pepper kisses all over his face came back.
“Kiss me again so I know this isn’t a dream?”
He leaned in with no hesitation.
“Of course."
. . .
When she had come back to the house with Luka, hand in hand, Hyun-woo gave her a look that said ‘I told you so’. Being petty, she just blew her tongue at him as she passed by. The same thing happened at school. When she finally got back from break and told her friends that she was now dating Luka, they weren’t even the least bit surprised.
One of them even shouted, “It’s about damn time!” once she broke the news.
She had to wonder if she was being stupid to be the only one who was left in the dark about her and Luka’s feelings.
Even if she was stupid for not noticing, it wasn’t like she was ever going to admit it; especially Hyun-woo. Never Hyun-woo. He would hold this over her head for as long as she was breathing.
Dating Luka wasn’t all too different than when they were just friends. It’s just that this time, there was that mutual understanding of what they were to each other.
Some things were new, though. The kisses shared behind the school, and the whispered ‘I love yous’ that just felt right on the lips, were all things she had begun doing. Hyuna was beginning to wonder how she was able to live without these things before.
When she looks into Luka’s brilliantly golden eyes, she thinks that she would like to stay like this forever.
. . .
“Tomorrow's my birthday, so that means you'd better have gotten me a gift.”
It was September 4th, which meant that her birthday was tomorrow. Hyuna always liked birthdays, but this one was special. Tomorrow would mark her first day of being eighteen, meaning she would be a full-fledged adult. She was already whooping internally in excitement.
Hyun-woo just grumbles. “Yes, yes. Gift, go, get. I’m gonna do it so stop bugging me!”
“Good, or else I would have revoked my favorite brother title from you.”
“I’m your only brother!”
“Exactly, that’s a privilege.”
Hyun-woo slumped onto his desk. “Why can’t you ask your boyfriend to get you an extra gift in my place. Ain’t he rich?”
“Nah, I also need one from you. Besides, I don’t have to nag him to get me a gift since he always goes all out on it anyway.”
“Of course, he does.”
He couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Their recent PDA had been going through the roof, and he always found himself being kicked out of his own house just to give them their alone time. It's not like he would have wanted to stay just to hear them cuddling up with each other.
Hyuna, ever the party girl, started announcing her plans in excitement. “I have this whole party planned out for tomorrow, and I made sure to invite everyone to it!”
“Doesn’t Luka hate crowds? Are you sure that's a good idea?”
“After the party, he plans to take me to dinner for my birthday.”
“I see you’re keeping yourself busy tomorrow.”
“Yeah, it’s a big day tomorrow. Eighteen! I’m turning eighteen! Show a little bit more enthusiasm here.”
“Yippee. See? Enthusiasm.”
Hyuna gave a deadpan expression at his apathetic answer. “Now, you aren’t even trying.”
His facade broke at that moment, and he started laughing. Far used to his antics, Hyuna only spared him an exasperated huff. “Man, the look on your face is so funny. You’re too easy to rage-bait. Seriously, though, I’m happy for you.”
She had to smiled at that, coming over to ruffle his head affectionately. “Yeah, one more year and you’ll finally be eighteen too. How does it feel to be the baby of the three of us?”
“Ugh, I can’t believe Luka’s almost nineteen. I mean, he looks like a freshman.”
“Better to look younger than older.”
He nodded at that before getting up. “Okay, I’m going to leave and go get your gift now.”
“This late? Did you just forget and are doing it at the last minute?”
“Nah, it’s just that if I got it any earlier, you would have found it and torn it open. That would ruin the whole surprise aspect.”
“...Fine, but I’m onto you.” She didn’t want to fully admit that he was correct.
He just gave her another roll of the eyes before shrugging on his coat. As he went to the door, he gave a small wave before leaving.
Hyuna slumped back onto Hyun-woo’s bed, too lazy to go back to her own room. As she lay there, she scrolled through her messages with Luka and sent him a short text saying ‘miss you. He was busy the entire day, and they weren’t able to see each other at all except for in the morning when they were walking to school together.
It wasn’t weird for Luka to be swamped with work. Since it was his senior year, he was probably busy trying to apply to colleges as well as keeping track of his many extracurricular activities. What was weird was the evasive way he would answer her about what he had to do.
If Hyuna asked what he was doing after school, he would just say school stuff, nothing specific, when he would previously give her a whole detailed description of his schedule that day. She would be lying if she said it didn’t raise a couple of flags in her head.
What’s worse is that after she sent the text message, he didn’t respond. That alarmed her the most. Despite his hectic schedule, Luka had always made time to respond to her at record speed. The fact that he hadn’t even read the message yet had a growing worry in her stomach.
Hyuna knew better than to worry. Luka wasn’t the type to do something bad behind her back, but that still didn’t stop her from worrying.
What was it that he couldn’t tell her about?
She would have hoped that he would be more open when they got into a relationship with each other. Luka was always dealing with his father’s expectations and the pressure that came with carrying his name. Hyuna wanted to help with that, but he had always insisted that he didn’t want to burden her with his own problems.
Hyuna's spiraling thoughts were interrupted when she heard the doorbell ring. Was it Hyun-woo? She wondered if he had forgotten something and came back to get it. Knowing him, he probably forgot his wallet at home only after getting to the cash register.
She got up from her bed to answer the door.
“Hyun-woo, did you forget something? You can just come in; why are you ringing the doorbell?” Her sentence was cut off as soon as she saw who was at the door. It was, in fact, not Hyun-woo.
“Luka?”
He was loudly heaving, clearly out of breath. It looked like he had just run the entire way here. She was about to ask if he was okay, but what he was holding captured her attention; a whole bouquet of red primroses, her favorite flower.
“Here, for you.” Luka promptly shoved the flowers into her hands, still loudly panting. “Happy birthday.”
“Did you run all the way here just to give me this?” She found the sentiment endearing but was worried about how heavily he was still breathing.
“I wanted to be the first to wish you a happy birthday.” He started before continuing. “But that’s not the only reason I came here.”
Before she could ask him what he meant by that, Luka had gotten on one knee, pulling a small ring box from his pocket. Her voice hitched as it got caught in her throat. Even through his loud puffing, his voice still came out resolute.
“Hyuna, I know this is sudden, but not an ounce of me thinks this is wrong. From the moment I met you, my heart had started beating for you.”
He took a long breath, finally catching his breath before he made his decree.
“Everything about you just shines so brightly. I find myself wanting to capture every moment with you in my mind; the way you smile and the corners of your eyes crinkle, your boisterous laugh that seems so infectious when I'm around you. I don’t want to see a future where you and I are separated for even a moment.”
“My savior, my beautiful lady, will you marry me?”
Luka found her bringing him into a tight hug, the involuntary tears that streamed out of her eyes staining his shirt. She couldn’t care if she was being loud or making a scene in front of her neighborhood; the only thing that mattered in the moment was the two of them.
“Yes!”
Luka felt the overwhelming anxiety leave his body. He brought his arms out to wrap around her waist, returning her crushing embrace. His eyes pricked with the tears that started to well in his eyes. Leaning into her, he whispered into her ear.
“Let me put the ring on you. Let me see my bride.”
There was a stronger tremor in Luka’s fingers as he carefully slid the ring onto her finger; the hole fit just right. His heart was pounding uncontrollably and couldn’t help the new wave of tears that formed from falling down. Hyuna was too enraptured in the whole moment to see a familiar figure lurking behind the bushes.
Hyun-woo just watched as he captured the moment on his camera, a smile plastered on his lips.