Like A Forest Fire || Bbangsaz

VIII.

As soon as Minji opens the door, Hanni knows exactly why she's doing this.

Her breath hitches in the back of her throat as she just stares, taking in as many details of the moment as she can - the curve of Minji's lips as she smiles; the line of her neck; the playful glint in those heavy brow eyes; her soft blush on her cheekbones; the way the fabric of her cropped cashmer silk top fits her, her collarbone, her nose-

"Wow," Hanni breathes out.

Minji smiles and softly bites down on her lip. "You look so beautiful," she says, eyes tracing over the girl in front of her, making Hanni feel like her body is about to give out on her any second, because if Minji thinks that she is beautiful-

"Have you seen yourself?" she mumbles, before leaning forward and pressing a quick kiss on Minji's cheek as a greeting.

It only lasts about a second and Hanni pulls back right away, because she suddenly realizes what she has done, and she's never bold like that. She blushes scarlet in less than a second, but the look on Minji's face is enought to make her hearbeat speed up as a wave of confidence rushes through her chest and past her nerves.

"Where are we going?" Minji says then and Hanni swears that her voice sounds slightly raspier than before.

She pulls the door of the passenger seat open, giving Minji a smile. "Come and find out."

"Okay- so, I know it's not really that fancy, but I thought it will be nice to have some privacy - and we will still go out, you know, later - maybe after the event or something, like for drinks - if you want to, of course - I don't know, I just thought you might like this for dinner, but of course I don't really know what you like so I'm sorry if--"

"Hanni," Minji cuts her off and Hanni falls silent.

She can feel her chest heaving up and down in short breaths, because she really isn't sure what Minji thinks about it. She clenches her hands tightly together, digging her fingers into her palms, searching for any indications on Minji's face as to whether or not this was a terrible idea. Minji slowly turns around and bites her lip and Hanni is sure that  she's not going to like it, sure that she-

"God, you know exactly what I like." There's a sharp tug at the back of Hanni's stomach as the surprise rushes through her chest.

"Wait- really?"

Minji takes a step forward, onto the dock. "I can't believe you're even - I mean, this is just..." She spins around, her hair turning into a beautiful mess at the abrupt movement. She smiles, eyes locking straight on Hanni's as she presses her hand down on her chest, right above her heart. "Forest fire, right here."

Hanni can feel herself starting to blush from the words. She quickly steps forward, onto the dock as well, hoping that Minji doesn't notice just how shy she's feeling. She walks to the end of it and spreads the thick blanket and the pillows she brought along with her out on the wooden edge. Then, she quickly hurries back to where Minji's standing, trying to keep her voice steady as she as she says, "Make yourself comfortable - I'll get our dinner."

She takes everything she needs from the trunk of her car. As she turns around, she halts for a moment. Minji is sitting on the edge of the dock, shoes kicked off, toes dipped into the water, the ships and the lights from the harbor all around her, making her a small silhouette against the heated summer night.

Wow.

Hanni almost doesn't want to break the moment, but she also doesn't want the waffles she spent an hour making to get cold, so after taking a mental picture, she quickly hurries forward, slips out of her heels and sits down on the edge of the dock as well.