OUR HEARTBEAT [BEOMJUN] ✅

thirty-seven

This is Gyu. Where are you?

The hill behind the stadium, Yeonjun texted back almost immediately.

“Thank you for not being too far,” I whispered.

I drove over the single block and parked next to Yeonjun’s car. I carefully exited and stared up the hill. Sequoia trees blocked my view so I couldn’t see him, but I started walking up, anyway. When I arrived, he was holding a golf club and a pile of golf balls were by his feet.

We locked eyes from forty feet away.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in the middle of recording a podcast?” he asked.

“Yes, but I had a magazine to read,” I said, inching my way forward.

“Did you like the articles?” he asked.

“So much. Even better than the originals.”

“Yeah?” He twisted the golf club back and forth, perhaps a nervous reaction.

I finished my walk to him and held out my hand for his. With no hesitation, he placed his hand in mine. I smiled and drew the word Valor on the back of his hand. A shiver went through him, but then he tugged on my hand, bringing me closer to him.

I looked up, meeting his eyes. “I once got some advice that if I liked someone and wanted to know how that person felt about me, I should just kiss them,” I said softly.

“Really? I got that same advice.” He dropped my hand and the golf club at the same time and pulled me into a hug.

I pressed my cheek against his, savoring the feeling of being this close. Then I turned and kissed his cheek, then his jaw, then the spot right below his ear.

He let out a low hum. “I think I’ve run out of patience.”

I smiled and finally let my lips meet his. He tasted like mint and smelled like pine. Or maybe that was the trees. It didn’t matter. It was my favorite smell in the world, and this was my favorite feeling in the world. His hands traveled the length of my back and up into my hair. I stepped even closer to him and nearly tripped on the golf club that lay between our feet. He wrapped one arm tight around my waist, lifting me off the ground slightly, and kicked the golf club out of the way. We continued to kiss, soft at first and then the way we should’ve been kissing for weeks, urgently and holding back nothing.

He pulled away first and looked at me, slightly breathless. “Tell me everything.”

It took my brain a second to catch up to what he’d said. “Everything?”

“From the first time I called in to the podcast until now.” He pointed to a fallen tree nearby and we both walked to it, hand in hand, then sat down.

“Okay, the first time you called in, anonymity was kind of our selling point for the podcast and we planned to keep true to our word,” I said. “We would keep the callers anonymous for the listeners. I didn’t think it was a big deal. I didn’t know any of the callers, anyway.”

“Until me.” He ran his finger up and down each one of mine in his hand.

“I wasn’t sure it was you at first, either. You were disguising your voice. Arin didn’t think it was you.”

“Alana … so you assumed I was talking about her the whole time?”

“Yes, she liked you. And everything you said on the podcast made it seem like your crush was her.”

“Like what? Because I was pretty sure everything I was saying made it seem like it was you …” He paused and smiled. “You know, since it was you.”