seaside

VIII

"Hangyul!"
Tazannah calls-
loud enough for the boy
a few metres away
to hear
but toning down
her volume slightly
to not disturb
nearby residents who
are relaxing
in their homes on
this Friday night.

and Hangyul
waves back at her,
his lips stretching
into a
smile that
Tazannah finds
so welcoming,
so inviting-
just like the waves
that brush
lightly across
her toes
as she runs over to him.

he starts off
with a light conversation
starter as she
approaches him. "i forgot
to ask yesterday, what
happened to
you for the past week?"

Tazannah chooses
to tease the
boy- wiggling her
eyebrows. "why, you
missed me?"

Hangyul desperately
wants to say yes,
i did, but instead, he
replies with a laugh,
"you wish."
Tazannah then
explains what happened
and her
boring week of doing
school assignments,
waving her
hands animatedly
as she does so-
an unconscious movement
that Hangyul
finds cute.

"that sucks- but
at least you're finished,
right? that
means I get to see
you more often
these next few weeks."
and Hangyul
tries to ignore the
burning of
his ears afterwards
because
what has gotten
into him?
he's never
been this bold.

he pushes
the thought off when
Tazannah laughs-
the sound
an echo of a whisper
in the dead of night,
a melody that
he wants to repeat
again and again.

"good to know
you're whipped for me,"
she jokes, but
unbeknownst
to her, he really is-
ears a deep shade of red
as he tries
to keep his cool.

but hell,
he can't even keep
himself together
when he's already
fallen- even
if he can't tell with
the rapid beating of his
heart- and
there's nothing
stopping
his feelings
as his infatuation with her
grows every
minute they spend
together.