A few hours later, the final bell finally rang, signaling that school has come to an end.
At Junghwa's house...
Ara's POV...
"Welcome to my home, again." Junghwa throws his backpack to the couch.
I look around the living room to see no signs of Junghwa's mom, which is quite odd. His mom usually likes to sit the living room while drinking tea.
"Where's your mom?" I ask.
"She went to the hospital to see my grandpa," Junghwa says as he walks over to the kitchen to wash his hands.
"I see," I say.
"I really admire her. She's an awesome mother and a great daughter," Junghwa says as he walks back to the living room with a tray of chocolate donuts. "And can you believe that I actually helped her bake these?"
"Hwang Junghwa bakes? I doubt that," I say in a sarcastic tone.
"I only help with the adding sugar and chocolate syrup part. Besides I didn't want to be late for school," Junghwa says with a sassy wink, before walking to the dining room to put the tray of donuts.
As I knew, Junghwa was never fond of baking. He could literally burn the whole kitchen with his lack of interest in anything related to baking.
I roll my eyes and heads to the kitchen to wash my hands. Just then, Junghwa walks back to the kitchen to grab two mugs from the cabinet. He then opens the fridge to grab a carton of chocolate milk.
I dry my hands with the small towel on the kitchen as I watch him pour the milk to the mugs.
"Before we begin, let's chill with double chocolate," Junghwa states. He finished pouring the milk and puts the carton back in the fridge.
"Sure," I say. I didn't know he actually likes chocolate.
The two of us walks back to the dining room with our mugs. We take a seat face to face as we start to have some donuts while drinking chocolate milk.
"I didn't know you were fond of chocolate," I say before I take a bite of the chocolate donut.
"Since tutoring you can be a headache, I decided to go with chocolate at times to reduce the stress," Junghwa says with a cheeky smile, before he takes a sip of his chocolate milk.
I give him an annoyed look. "And you're giving me a headache as a student," I say before I take a sip of my chocolate milk. "I don't know how Hana is able to deal with you."
Junghwa lets out a chuckle. "I'm not a headache to her since I'm extra sweet. As a guy, you have to know which role you have to play to which woman."
"Yeah right. That's what a typical player would do," I say in a sassy tone.
Junghwa smirks. "I am a player, Ara."
Junghwa starts to stare at me with a smile as I take the last bite of my donut. Slowly, his vision trails down to my lips. "Umm..you have some chocolate on your lips."
I quickly grab a tissue from the table. I wipe my mouth and saw that the chocolate stain are now on the tissue.
"Better?" I ask him while feeling a bit embarrassed that my lips were messy.
"Better." He forms smile as he keeps his vision on my lips, before slowing turning to stare into my eyes. My heart starts to beat faster as we ended having eye contact for a few moments. I honestly wanted to run away so badly run now from this moment, but damn that was impossible.
"Well, let's start our lesson," Junghwa says suddenly as he gets up from his seat. I take a deep breath after the awkward moment we just had which almost made me crazy.
We enter the music room and Junghwa explain to me some other skills about playing the piano. This time, the skills will not be as easy as the first, but he tries his best to make it in the most simplest way.
"So basically, it's not too hard. Once you actually get used to it. The key to it is still to memorise from within," Junghwa says.
"I get that it's about memorising with your heart, but it still confuses me," I say.
He lets out a small chuckle. Is this guy even serious? He had been telling me about memorising with the heart but he doesn't even give me a clue how to do it.
"Once you memorise the keys, playing it will be a piece of cake. Look, I'll show you," Junghwa says with a small smile. He then starts to play the piano with his eyes closed.
As silly as it sounds, I think what he's trying to say is that I need to feel the music with my heart. Maybe? Ok, at least I'm starting to get his point a little bit.
I stare at Junghwa as he plays the piano. One thing that never fail to amaze me, the way Junghwa plays the piano is like a professional! Every sound, every rythm, they are all beautiful! He plays the piano smoothly with passion, I can feel it from the look on his face. For a second, it's like his hands are magical. He plays like he is in a dream. Like he didn't care about anything that's going to happen and life's crazy chaos. He was calm. He was in peace.
He finish playing and looks at me, who had been staring at him from the beginning.
"It's your turn," Junghwa says as he turns his head to face me.
I shyly turn my head away as I start ti play the piano. I close my eyes and focus on memorising, but there were still some parts which I find a little difficult. Yet, it was a lot of gain since the last lesson. I actually got better, and it really did became easier when I try to memorise from within. I eventually finish playing the piano.
"Awesome," Junghwa comments as he gives me thumbs up.
"Thanks," I say to him with a shy smile. I sense he noticed my smile and gives me a cheeky smirk. He's a silly boy indeed.
"Ok. Let's continue," Junghwa says.
Through the lesson, Junghwa taught me more skills about playing the piano. He also played to me some songs on the piano from his music sheets.
"What a lovely song," I say to him as he finish the last song.
"You know I'm a professional in choosing songs," Junghwa says with a sassy smile.
"Yeah right," I say as we get up from our seats.
As the two of us exit the music room, Junghwa's phone suddenly rings from his pocket. It was his mom. His picks it up.
"Hello, Mom!"
After a few minutes, the call eventually ended. Junghwa puts his phone back in his pocket.
"Looks like my mom will be staying at the hospital tonight," Junghwa says.
"Ah, I see," I say.
Junghwa turns his head to look at me in the eyes with a rather mischievous look. Come to think of it, he actually has pretty eyes. At this point, it wasn't surprise that he actually succede in stealing the hearts of the ladies. Those eyes could literally steal any girl's heart.
Wait a minute, did I just find him a little attractive? What's up with my head these days? This guy is dating your cousin, Ara! You better erase all those beautiful thoughts about him. Damn.
Junghwa quickly moves his vision to me. He is now looking at me, of course, with those beautiful brown eyes that always got me lost in my mind.
"Would you like to stay for dinner?" he suddenly ask with a smirk on his face.
I look at him with a puzzled look as we went silence for a moment.
"Well, my dad's on a business trip, and my mom is spending the night watching over grandpa. It would suck to have dinner alone, if you know what I mean," he says with a naughty smile this time.
I cross my arms. "Why not ask Hana?" I ask him. He better not be thinking of making me one of his side chicks AND still going out with Hana.
"I already asked her, but she has a family dinner," he says with as he scratches the back of his neck.
"Oh, so you're making me a second option?" I ask him with a rather aggressive tone. I didn't quite understand why I was being aggressive.
Junghwa chuckles. "It's not like that. I just thought since you are around, why not join me for tonight?"
I put my hands on my waist as I stare at the cheeky boy standing in front of me. I guess it wouldn't hurt to have dinner with this guy.
"Ok," I say.
"Cool," he says with a big smile. Obviously I think he knows that deep down I'm happy to spend some time with him at this point.
As expected, Junghwa decides to order some Korean food. Of course, I doubt that he was gonna cook in the first place. That guy doesn't like anything related to the kitchen.
The two of us ends up talking about various things over dinner. From his growing relationship with Hana to music. When he talked about Hana, he seems to have really deep feelings for her. I could tell he is madly in love by the way he describes her, which should make me happy.
Of course, I should be happy that my best friend and cousin are now dating. Right?
"Man, I didn't expect you to be this talented," I say before I take another bite of my gimbap.
Other than playing the piano, Junghwa told me that he also loves to sing and dance.
"Music has become a big influence in my life," Junghwa says. "Though my parents never supported me about it."
"Why?" I ask him with a curious tone.
"They wanted me to go to medical school and become a doctor," Junghwa says before he takes a bite of his gimbap.
Hearing this, I could totally relate to his feelings right now, since I'm also in the same shoes as him.
"I feel you. My parents also doesn't agree with my passion," I say.
"What's your passion, Silly Ara?" Junghwa ask with a cheeky tone.
I roll my eyes. "I want to be a professional pianist, Hwang Junghwa. But my parents insisted that they want me to be a lawyer."
"So we're on the same page," Junghwa says. "And I didn't expect you to really have interest with the piano."
I roll my eyes. "That's because I never told anyone about it. I mean, why would I need to tell anyone? My parents wanted me to be a lawyer.
"Ok, but they agreed to let you take lessons with me? Damn, I'm clueless now," Junghwa states.
"They allow me to practice my dream as a skill, but doesn't support me to pursue it as a career," I say.
Junghwa chuckles. "Man, I thought the only reason you wanted to practice the piano was because of that Matt guy."
"It wasn't only about him. Besides, Matt's not even interested in music. I was only trying to impress him with a skill I've been wanting to learn," I say, but the thought of Matt in my mind suddenly made me feel a bit upset.
Junghwa notice the change in my face and forms an awkward smile on his face. "Hey, Ara! Look at me."
I turn my head to look at him.
"Don't even bother thinking about him. There are a lot of guys waiting for you to be their girlfriend," Junghwa says before he takes another bite of his gimbap.
I became speechless. I didn't expect to hear these words from Hwang Junghwa. Usually this guy would only tease me with his annoying jokes and behaviour.
"I mean, if I wasn't dating Hana, I would have asked you out," Junghwa says with a small, rather flirty chuckle.
I roll my eyes after hearing his sentence. "Enough with the silly sentences."
"I was joking, Silly Ara. But seriously, you have to stop thinking about him. You could get wrinkles," Junghwa says with a cheeky tone.
Silly boy. I thought.
We continue to have a nice conversation during dinner. Often times I would steal glances at the cheeky boy. We eventually finish our dinner and insisted in helping him clean up. After we finish cleaning up, I asked Junghwa if I could try to play the piano again before I go back home, in which he agree.
As I start to play the piano, Junghwa starts singing the lyrics. I am amaze by how beautiful his voice is. Not only is he a piano prodigy, but he also has an amazing voice. As he continue singing, I take a few chances to glance at him. Hopefully he doesn't realize.
The song eventually comes to an end. Junghwa praise my skill which has gotten a lot better.
"You're on your way to prodigy mode," Junghwa says.
"Thanks. But seriously, you got me all surprised with your nice voice," I say to him with a small.
Junghwa gives me a confident smile. "What can I say? I'm the next Justin Bieber," he says in a cocky tone.
"Yeah," I say. "Well, I better get going."
"With me! I'm driving you home," Junghwa says.
I form a smile at the cheeky boy. "Ok."
9:45 PM...
I almost finish my last homework, before I can finally check my phone for a bit, before brushing my teeth, and finally going to bed.
After I finish my last homework, I hop on my bed and grab my phone from the small desk beside it. I decided to call Hana to chat for a bit.
"Hi Hana! What's up?" I say through the phone.
"Good. Just chilling and ready for bed. And you?" Hana ask.
"I just finished with my homework. Thankfully it wasn't much today," I say to her.
"Haha, same. I didn't have much homework today," Hana says with a laugh. "By the way, how's your lesson with Junghwa?"
"It went pretty well.. But other than that, I have some juicier teas to spill with you," I say to Hana, making her curious.
"Ooohh...what is it?" Hana ask in a curious tone.
"Hahaha..he told me he really likes you," I say to Hana with an excited tone, though I knew that my voice might be more excited than my feelings. Damn, what is up with you, Kim Ara?
"He said that?" Hana ask with a surprised tone.
"Yup. Girl, he's definetly falling for you," I say as I try to tease her.
"Ara...I'm so surprised," Hana says in a happy tone. "I really like him too."
My smile slowly fades upon hearing Hana's confession. Her words feels like a blade just slit my heart, creating a wound that stings deeply.
"Thank you for telling me how he feels. If you don't mind, can you please tell him that I also feel the same way as him? Since I don't have the courage to tell him face to face," Hana says.
My heart screams telling me to not do it, but deep down I knew what I'm feeling is selfish. I was the one who got them together, but why didn't I feel like I want to tell my best friend that my cousin feels the same way as him?
Despite feeling like my heart is being slit, I gather enough strenght to say what my heart didn't really wish to say.
"Sure. I'll tell him tomorrow," I say while feeling my heart breaks slowly.
To be continue...