PURSUE {Park Jihoon & Kang Daniel}

36

I sat in the living room and watched tv when I heard a knock on the door. Then another one. And another.
My parents were gone for the day and I didn't have any work so I was home alone.

As someone kept knocking on the door I stood up from the couch and hurried to the hallway. When I touched the doorhandle I was startled by the person's sudden command.

"Open up it's Santa Claus!" Daniel said from the other side of the door and I couldn't help but giggle.
Before opening the door I took a deep breath to dissolve the smile on my face.

I opened and leaned against the wall with my arms crossed. "What do you want?"

He wasn't faced by my rude tone and smiled brightly. "Hey." He said. As simple as that.
I didn't smile back and continued to stare at him in confusion. "What. Do. You. Want?" I repeated myself.

He cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head. "Hehe.. You're coming with me today." He told me and I raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?" I said and waited for an explanation. He looked nervous for some reason and took his time before answering. "I told you yesterday that I was taking you somewhere.." He began and I remembered that he actually had said that.

"What if I don't want to?" I said to tease him even though I knew I would go with him anyways because I was bored.
With a straight face he didn't hesitate to answer. "I won't allow you to decline." He told me and I was a bit baffled and accidentaly giggled again. "You sound like a businessman.. haha."
His serious expression disappeared and his smile came back. "Get your things." He then told me and stepped inside my hallway.

Fifteen minuites later I was following him to wherever he had planned us on going.

I walked beside him and noticed how he little by little moved closer. I didn't care about that until he tried to grab my hand. I slapped it away as soon as he touched it, but he did it again and this time he held it firmly so that I couldn't crawl my hand out.
He was so straightforward and forceful that I began to consider if this was even legal. Though I dropped that thought after a while.

I sighed loudly and got his attention. "Where are we going? You haven't told me." I asked and he carefully looked around us as he had done many times already. "And why are you being so cautious?"
Then it hit me. Us being together like this was a big risk for him to take. He obviously made sure no one was taking pictures or anything else. "No." I quickly said before he could answer my questions. "Let it be a surprise."
His grip around my hand softened after I had said that. I didn't let go of it.

Some time later we reached a big aquarium. "Here we are." He said happily and I observed the building. It was big and blue and the entrance was huge with posters of seacreatures. "As long as there are no deadly sharks.." I muttered and we went inside.

When we came to the first room , that was full of colorful fishes, Daniel got some kind of enlightment and stopped.
He dug through his pocket and then put something over his mouth and nose. It was a mask. One that I had seen him wear before and that many, especially celebrities, are seen wearing sometimes. "Well why didn't you think of that earlier.." I said to him and he only lifted the mask and grinned back at me stupidly.
I really didn't want to be this cold and have this attitude towards him but it didn't feel right to be all nice and lovable.

He walked over to a tank full of fishes with eyes big as buttons.
"Haha!" He suddenly laughed and I backed away in shock. "God you scared me.. What's so funny?" I asked and held my hand over my heart.
His eyes pretty much disappeared when he smiled bright and laughed some more. "Haha.. Sorry.." He said and turned to me. "It just.. reminded me of you.. Haha"
My jaw dropped and I lightly hit him on his arm. "Hey that's not nice!" I said flustered.

Now he laughed even more and I continued to tell him to stop. "No but look." He told me and I looked at the fish he was pointing at. "It resembles you a lot actually. See those eyes." He teased me and I pulled him along to another room.

This one was filled with different types of seastars and turtles. They were really pretty and I took some pictures that I later planned to send to Rayeon. The room after that one had corals and shells and so on. We didn't spend much time in there. Then we continued on.

When we finally got to the last room my eyes widened. It was so much bigger than any of the other many rooms, but that probably was because of the big - big "fishes" in these tanks.
"No way.." I uttered and Daniel glanced at me. "If you're bothered then hold on to me." He told me and took my hand and layed it on his arm. I wrapped my arms tightly around his and right away felt much calmer.

The tanks covered the most of the room and the corridor to walk on was small. The sharks in the tanks were big and the glass separating us from them felt unsafe. The arm I was holding on to felt safe.
"You've always been afraid of sharks and things like that." He said and slowly led me towards the exit. "Ever since we where kids."

"I can't help it." I told him and pulled him forwards faster.

"I know." He said and patted me on my head. "I think this is enough for today. Think of it as a date okay?" He took of his mask and kissed me on my forehead.

~To be continued~

I plan to finnish this before
the end of the year..