akansuya47â:
God, she thought to herself, he looked the same and talked the same so why didnât Ana want to believe that he was the exact same person he was when she left? Maybe it was because there was a small part of her that was scared he wasnât, even in the tiniest of ways. No, her fear was centered around the fact that the guy she loved had moved on to someone else and there was no chance for her anymore. Eighteen years of loving the same man and then suddenly having to figure out how to move on and deal with it, while still keeping him in her life. That was a situation that Ana wanted to avoid because it was completely possible. She couldnât really say anything to his rebuttal. There was nothing to say. Theyâve teetered around the fact that this wasnât just them seeing each other like DJ left for college and was back for summer break. There was a whole eight-year time skip for them and Ana would be a fool to pretend that it wasnât there.
It was so odd what she was feeling. To have herself blabber on in front of him. Ana never felt more like herself but also not at the same time. To have him back set something back to normal, but also threw other things off course. Where this fluttering was a distant memory and she wasnât used to it anymore. She wasnât used to having him around, especially since the last time she really did see DJ, Ana had kissed him and they never never got a chance to talk about it because Ana was gone the next day, for reasons completely unrelated. âYouâve never not gotten in trouble for your big mouth,â she noted, easing back into it, into them. There was nothing to really think about, she had to remember. It was just them. It was just DJ and AK. Even if the roles were switched and he was that one trying to get her to go out. The oddity of the tables turning was the real issue of why things felt weird. Not anything else. Nope.
âWaaaait,â Ana said, putting her weight into her legs and digging her heels slightly into the ground to pause the venture. She looked down at her appearance, old cotton shorts and a thin hoodie. Practical wear for a day in spent in front of a TV yelling out for help from her team. Not something she would want to wear out, much less out with the guy that grew up well, even if he had seen her through her years with pigtails and questionable color and pattern combinations. She redirected their course, making a beeline for her room with DJ in tow, sadly letting go to start to dig through her closest, hoping to find something of hers or Babyâs in there that she could quickly throw on.
Without any hesitation or thought, Ana pulled off the hoodie. Switching it for a loose crop top and the shorts that were extremely lived in for a pair of high waisted denim shorts, Ana was almost ready to go. She wasnât going to say that growing up didnât help her, because it did. The girl finally grew into her lanky arms and legs, not that they were a huge issue when she was still in high school, but they were toned and strong now, thanks to all the boxes of liquor she would carry on the daily. There werenât exactly assets to show off, none like her roommate, but she worked with what she got. A quick brush of mascara and a moment to think about the consequences of wearing a beanie out in the brink of summer before throwing it back on, Ana was ready. âOkay. Now we can go,â she said with a wide smile, taking his hand back and pulling them out of her apartment. âA full day of ice cream. You said it. No take backs.â
They were almost out of the door when Ana pulled back, resisting him. He could feel it in that moment, the strings of his heart starting to ache at the thought that she was going to give him another excuse as to why she wouldnât be able to go out with him. There was just a moment where he got nervous that she had a change in heart. Or that she really was a different person and didnât want to involve herself with him. After all of these years pining for her and wishing that she was still in his life, he truly believed that they would be able to fall right back into what they had been. Picking up from the place they had left off on (albeit an awkward kiss that was never discussed again still hung in the air between them). But that moment quickly faded when she started dragging him to her room, figuring she just didnât want to go out in the clothes she was wearing.
He couldnât help his mind though. DJ still didnât know the reasons why she had disappeared all of those years ago, how was he supposed to know what she had been thinking all of that time too? There was no way to really know, and he wasnât about to ask her for all of the details of what was going through his mind after they kissed. After his dad went missing. That was a day he wished he could forget, but clung so desperately to it so that he could remember that sliver of a moment when everything in his life was going exactly according to plan.
Without a moments notice, Ana pulled off the hoodie she had been wearing. âOh uh,â his eyes went wide and a nervous chuckle managed to sneak its way past his lips. He quickly turned around, bringing his hand up to his neck trying to play it smooth. Of course he had wanted to look, and there had been plenty of times where he had seen her. Something about the kiss they shared still hung over his head and made everything seem more awkward than it shouldâve been. Plus, they were older now. They werenât in those awkward teen stages where they didnât have any say in what their bodies were going to do. And he wasnât sure about how she felt, but not seeing Ana for eight years had only made his heart grow fonder and she had gotten hotter from the last time they spoke too.
DJ was just thankful that she didnât bring it up when she was all finished getting ready. He turned back to her, smiling and briefly letting his eyes wander down her body for a moment before she pulled the pair of them back out of the apartment. âI promise you, Iâm not going to take back what I said. We live in Manhattan for crying out loud, we could spend our whole day going to different ice cream shops and barely hit a fraction of the ones in the city,â he pointed out. He wasnât even sure how many there were because typically he went to the same three, but bad ice cream wasnât exactly a thing, you really had to try hard to fuck it up.
âI donât have a certain one in mind,â he started saying as they made their way to the street, hands still interlocked with each other. âI am still on the hunt for Dinosaur shaped ice cream in case you know a place that does that. Iâm willing the shed some big bucks for that kind of artisan artistic crap. Those ice cream artists are about the get the fastest tip from Park Dae-Jung itâs not even funny,â he beamed down at her before letting his eyes catch a quick glance of their hands. It felt so natural to be hand in hand with her, yet at the same time he was still so painfully aware that they had been holding hands. And he was just waiting for the moment she would take her hand back from him.

















