Magic Island | [A TXTzy Story]

Chapter 13: First Kiss

"Sorry, I'm late! What the-"

Lia sits straight up and still as Soobin's face was only inches from her. Yeji stared at the two confused as Soobin carefully dabbed a cloth under Lia's eye while whispering, "You have to be careful next time, if that went on your eye you could've been blind." Lia asks, "Did you get all of it?" Soobin says, "Wait." He shifts his eyes to her lips and slowly dabs under the nose and on the bridge of her nose. Soobin finally backs away from Lia's face and smiles, "There you go. Oh when did you get here Yeji?"

"See what I've been dealing with for the past couple of weeks?" Yeji turns to Yeonjun who sat there with a dead expression. Yeji chuckles, "They're cute." He replies, "It was cute the first hundred times, now it's annoying. Do they not feel the tension? Look, they're completely ignoring us again."

Yeji turns to see Lia checking Soobin's face for any stray splashes of the potion that blew up before Yeji came in. Yeonjun smiles, "Glad you're here now, I have someone to talk to." Yeji asks, "So what's the plan?"

Yeonjun says, "Soobin and Lia are better than me in potions so they're already done. I have a week to finish mine but it's all planned out." Yeji smiles, "Great, let's hear it." Yeonjun places his hand on Yeji's face and says, "I'm gonna need to borrow your eyes and blood." She chuckles, "Okay, anything else?" He looks at her surprised and asks, "Really? You don't need to know why?" Yeji smiles, "I trust you."

"Get a room."

Yeji raises her eyebrows at Lia and says, "Look who's talking." Lia chuckles while Soobin stares at her confused, "I don't get it."

Yeonjun says, "I'm going to try and replicate what makes your eyes capable of seeing mine without turning into stone. Soobin already knows how to but I need to find out what's different with yours and the others." Soobin replies, "And that's why Lia and I would be leaving you two alone for a little bit." Yeji looks at him confused as Lia replies, "We're going to need tear samples and blood. Make sure the tears are emotional and not from pain." Yeonjun asks, "Why does it matter?"

Lia answers, "It's part of the potion. No shortcuts, byeeeee!"

Soobin and Lia leave the room as Yeonjun glances at Yeji. She says, "You can take them off." He slowly removes his sunglasses as Yeji stares at him in the eyes. Yeonjun smiles, finally making eye contact with someone who doesn't turn into stone. Yeji says, "Your eyes are really pretty." He says, "You're the first person to say that." She jokes, "Well, I'm the only person who's seen them. I bet everyone else would say the same."

Yeonjun glances at her eyes and says, "Your eyes are sharp." Yeji says, "It runs in the family." He says, "So... I have to make you cry. Should I make fun of you or tell you a sad story?" Yeji replies, "How about tears of joy?" Yeonjun threatens, "I can tickle you until you cry." Yeji backs away and says, "Don't." He jokes, "Maybe, I will." She turns her eyes red as her fangs come out, "Don't tickle me."

Yeonjun laughs and says, "I was kidding. I won't touch you but I've been told my jokes aren't funny." Yeji replies, "I laugh easily. Try me."

Yeonjun asks, "Hmm... okay. Did you hear about the goblin who had his left arm and left leg cut off?" Yeji shakes her head as Yeonjun snorts before he can get the punchline out. He laughs a little bit then says, "Well, he's alright (all right) now! HHAHAHAHA!"

Yeji looks at him confused as he continues to laugh at his own joke for a couple of more minutes. Yeonjun says with laughter in between his words, "Get it? He's all right, no left arm or left leg so it's just his right arm and right leg. All right." She smiles at him with pity, "I got it the first time..."

Yeonjun says, "Maybe we can just share childhood stories." Yeji smiles, "Great, I'll go first. I'll talk about the day my brother and I messed with our cousin." Yeonjun stares at her ready to listen to the entire thing as Yeji stares up at the ceiling reminiscing of old memories,

"Hyunjin is my twin brother. We were really close before but drifted apart recently. He's too loose and wild compared to me so we don't really get along like we did before. But we were really close during our childhood. We were around 12 when this happened. Our cousin, her name was Seulgi, was around 16 and she got her first boyfriend. She wanted to hide it from our parents but Hyunjin caught her sneaking out one night and we followed her after he woke me up. His name was... something that started with a J. Anyway, Seulgi was going into the woods and she was going to hang out with J. Sounds cliche but he was a werewolf and our parents don't like them. Hyunjin and I climbed a tree and just stalked on their date. It's creepy now but we were kids and kids are weird. We staked out for a couple of hours before she was going to sneak back. But Hyunjin had an idea. Seulgi was actually really innocent and cute and she still is. So Hyunjin wanted to scare her a bit while she was in the middle of the woods at like 2 in the morning. Hehe, we were flying around and whispering scary things around her so she had the scariest walk home. She caught us though and chased us around. I knew she beat Hyunjin up and left me with a warning but it was one of the last fun experiences I had with him. But hey, kids grow up right?"

Yeonjun stared at Yeji with full jealousy as she continued to talk about her family. She smiles at him, "Sorry if it was boring..." He replies, "No, not at all! I was just jealous. Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't really have any interesting stories. It was just me and my mom the entire time. Gorgons were kind of hunted by demons and gods so it's not really safe for us to wander outside our nests or caves. Our bodies don't really decompose so they usually weaponize our heads when they kill one of us. Which is why my mom always said to never leave because we might indirectly kill others. So it was just boring old cave time my entire life... well until now. Magic Island has been great so far. Yeah, I'm still treated like shit with most people but hey I met you! And you helped me get even more friends. So if I were to share a happy memory, I would say when we first met. Yeah, when I first saw Hwang Yeji's eyes. That's my story."

Yeji stared at him with teary eyes, suddenly feeling terrible. He's lived his life in solitude with the fear of hurting others despite him not doing anything wrong. Tears dripped from her eyes as Yeonjun was quick to collect them. He smiles and wipes the rest of her tears, "Thanks. Sorry if I had to make you cry, I wish I was funnier so it didn't have to be like this." Yeji places her hand on his as he caresses her cheek as she closes her eyes and leans forward. Yeonjun was quick to catch the hint and let himself fall into the feelings and emotions of the room. 

The two kiss in the silence of Soobin's dorm as Yeonjun places his other palm on her nape to pull Yeji even closer. She places her free hand on his chest as he pulls her until she's on top of him with their lips still connected.

"Are you two done already—" Lia pulls Soobin back out the room as she notices the two intimately kissing on the ground. Yeji and Yeonjun pull apart bearing Soobin walk in as they smile at each other with blushing lips. Yeonjun whispers, "Did that just happen?" Yeji nods in silence still blushing and flustered while Yeonjun asks, "Do you regret it? Because I don't." She whispers back, "I don't." He smiles at her, "Can we do it again?" She chuckles and replies, "You have to finish your project." Yeonjun says, "I can procrastinate for a couple of days." Yeji says, "Nope, you should finish it as soon as possible." He asks, "Then I can kiss you again?" She nods her head as Yeonjun stands and stretches, "Then let's hurry up!"

The two open the door to see Lia with her ear on the door and Soobin staring at her with a smile. Lia stands up straight as Yeji says, "We're done." Soobin says, "Sorry for interrupting, I didn't know you two liked each other like that." Lia chuckles, "So oblivious, it was obvious." Yeji raises her eyebrow as Yeonjun says enthusiastically, "Let's get this project done!" Yeji smiles at him as Soobin and Lia cheer to match his energy.