moon child | lai guanlin

moon

"and also the moon."

third person pov •

the night fell, the streets that grew dark called upon the moon for light, and the stars in the sky twinkled as brightly as they could.

the boy's heart palpitated against his chest, emotions he couldn't seem to identify filled up the cavities in his heart. he lifted up his hand, fingers shaking as he decided whether or not to ring her doorbell.

"come on, guanlin.. the amusement park will close in three hours, stop being a pussy!" he thought to himself.

placing his index finger on the grey button, he quickly pushed it and released the breath he didn't know he was holding.

a 'ding!' emitted from the bell and he found himself smiling, reason unknown.

"huh? guanlin? why are you here?" he heard the girl's familiar voice. a voice he hasn't heard for too long.

"can you go out right now?" he queried, crossing his fingers behind his back as he waited for her response.

"uh, yeah. where to, though?" she stared at the boy with a blank expression, but it quickly changed to amusement when she heard his quiet cheers of happiness.

"it's a surprise." heeun raised her eyebrow, a skeptical look plastered on her face. after a few seconds, she sighed, "..fine, i trust you."

guanlin smiled. he thought heeun wouldn't be able to see it, since it was dark and the only thing that lit up the area were three extremely dim street lights.

but she saw it.

and she smiled, too.

heeun •

"we're here! you can open your eyes now." i opened my eyes, blinking a few times to get used to the sudden brightness.

"the amusement park?" i furrow my eyebrows. i've never been to an amusement park before. the thought of being around so many strangers was enough to drive me away from them.

although, i must say that the sight in front of me was quite a pleasant surprise.

everything was so ethereal, so bright and beautiful that i almost forgot it was 10pm at night.

"which ride do you want to go on? i don't think we can go on many, since there's only around thirty minutes left until they start to chase us out of here." guanlin spoke.

i pointed at the ferris wheel, the corners of my lips twitched up and formed a small smile.

;

we climbed into the capsule and sat down. there was nobody else on the entire ferris wheel, and almost nobody left in the amusement park as well.

"the view is beautiful, isn't it?" guanlin said with a large grin, his eyes not leaving the transparent walls of the capsule.

"why did you bring me here, guanlin?" he peeled his eyes off the wall and turned his head to look at me.

"because i want you to find the beauty in this world." he responded, and my heart started to beat faster every second that passed.

"can i ask you another question?" guanlin nodded, and i took a deep breath, trying to build up the courage to form the words that i had wanted to say for a long time.

"why do you think i'm beautiful?" i stared right into his eyes, the pair of dark brown eyes i would never be tired of seeing.

it took a moment for him to comprehend the question, his dark eyes bore into mine, as if searching for an answer inside of them.

"because there's nothing about you that's not beautiful." guanlin said. i was waiting for a "i'm kidding", but to my surprise, it never came.

"stop lying, guanlin. there's plenty of things about me that isn't beautiful." i broke eye contact with him, gazing down at the ground.

"i'm not lying, heeun. everything about you is beautiful. the small crinkles that form around your eyes when you laugh, the way the edges of your lips curl up into a smile and the melodic sound of your voice makes my heart forget to beat every single time. you're so ethereal that sometimes i wonder how you even exist as a human being,"

"and it's okay if you don't see how beautiful you are. but please believe me when i say that i have never, ever, met someone as heavenly as you."

my breath hitched, my face was flushed and no matter how hard i tried, i couldn't seem to force a single word out of my mouth.

guanlin.. what are you doing to me? how do you know the exact words that make my mind turn into a tornado, sweeping every possible trace of self-control away from my body?

before i could respond to his words, the ferris wheel stopped moving and we had to get off the ride. there were no other patrons inside the amusement park, and barely any staff left inside, either.

we walked in silence, side by side. it wasn't the type of silence where the only thing you'd want to do is run away because of how unbearable the awkwardness was.

it was the type of silence you'll only share with people you're absolutely comfortable with, where the only thing you'd want to do is stay like that forever.

we exited the park. i opened my mouth and was about to speak until guanlin spoke first.

"is it okay if i hug you?" he said in a soft voice. my eyes widened in shock at his sudden request. "u-uh, sure.. but only for 5 seconds, okay?" guanlin nodded, and i shut my eyes as he wrapped his arms around my torso.

we stood in the same position for 5 seconds. i let out the breath i was holding and let my tense shoulders drop after guanlin stepped away.

he chuckled, and i found myself chuckling too.

"thank you, heeun."

the girl smiled at the boy. she was happy that she could help him. even though, deep down inside, she knew that the hug was for the both of them.

(a/n: wanna one's debut is in 2 days!1!1! and yesterday's music bank was lit as fuuuck i waved my lightstick so hard for such a long period of time both of my arms are sore. bonus: i screamed so much i completely lost my voice. ALSO, thank you for 900 reads and 60 votes, yall are nunbusyeo shining shining 🖖 i'm sorry for not updating for so long but here it is!!!)