singaSONGofthestars

Genshin Impact

Honkai: Star Rail

Love and Deepspace

Still pondering CORTIS...

The friends’ trip had been going great. It was honestly such a huge group, you didn't know half the people there. Normally, you hated these types of plans, too many people you don't know well. You usually all ended up split into smaller groups anyways though, so it wasn't too much of a bother this time around.

It was especially not an issue when a gorgeous guy was passing by your group. You think you heard someone call him “Myungho”, and you swear someone else had called him “the eight” (???). Name aside, there isn't much else you know about him. He's pretty, he's quiet, and he's really fashionable. It’s a large shopping center you're all in right now, and you're sure he knows all the best stores to hit.

It would be a waste to let this moment slip by. Besides, as such a big group, it's safe to at least be in pairs.

You turn to the person immediately closest to you, who happens to be Jun. “Hey, I’m gonna go with him,” you say with a discreet gesture towards the gorgeous guy.

Jun glances over to who you're pointing at. “Oh, I didn’t know you were friends with Minghao!”

You gave him an awkward look and lowered your voice to a whisper. “I’m not, just curious about him…”

Jun returned a knowing look. “Well, now's your chance. He's great with clothes.” (as you’ve noticed)

A quick goodbye is exchanged between you and Jun, a mental thank-you for his assist with gorgeous Minghao’s name, and you're off before he gets too far away to catch up with.

As you fall into step beside him, he notices you. He greets you with a nod and the utterance of your name. If you're honest, you're not sure how he knows your name to begin with. It's not a complaint, as you feel your cheeks heat up a bit.

“Do you mind if I tag along for a bit?”

“Not at all.”

Just as you had guessed, he’s been in this area before, and knows the shops pretty well. You follow him to one. You giggle at some pieces that aren't quite your taste, are pleasantly surprised by how Minghao pulls them off, and end up trying on some clothes he picked out too. Then another store, and another, and another…

His eye for fashion is evident in his consistently flattering choices for you. He looks great in the clothes you chose too, but you're pretty sure his good looks are doing some heavy lifting.

It's surprising, the way both of you talk and act like you've known each other much longer than the actual reality of your acquaintanceship. It feels oddly natural.

His walking pace matches yours, and you wonder if he's adjusting his pace for you. “Do you want to go to the train station with me?”

You blink a bit in surprise. “To go where?”

“I know a cool place just a stop away, it's where I’ve been going when the others are too lazy to go out all together. It’s a forest-y area next to a park.”

“You're not trying to kidnap me or something, right?”

Minghao huffs out a laugh. “What, you think I would?”

“Hey, I seriously only just met you! Stranger danger…”

His gaze softened, unvoiced thoughts in his mind. “I’m serious, it's really pretty. If you really don't want to, that's fine, but it's a genuine offer. We could go another day.”

You feel your face heat up and you face forward in hopes that he won't notice. “Yeah, that sounds nice.”

Before either of you can say anything else, your phones buzz with a message from the trip group chat. “Oh, Soonyoung and Jihoon are at the food court. I think they wanna gather there for lunch.”

Minghao leans his head closer to read off of your phone, and hums in approval. “We passed by it earlier I think, we can go back.”

The both of you were the first to arrive after Jihoon and Soonyoung. Others continue to trickle in, and a few tables end up getting pushed together to accommodate everyone.

When you take a lap around the food court to weigh your options, Minghao is following close behind you. His input is helpful for your indecisiveness, and you end up ordering together and paying together. He's not pleased that you paid for him, but he's thankful anyways. Jun gives you another look when you sit down with Minghao at the table. Lucky for you, he has the decency not to blurt out whatever it is you know he has on his mind. Most of the group is still gone ordering and getting food, and about half return when your buzzer for pickup starts vibrating. Minghao immediately gets up before you can. “I’ll grab it for both of us,” he said before swiftly leaving, and leaving no room for discussion. Jun immediately takes the opportunity to speak, moving from his seat across from you to the one made newly empty next to you.

His grin is nearly ear to ear. “What's going on with you two?” he whispered eagerly.

Hearing it addressed by a third party brings all the redness back to your face. “It's not like that,” you whisper back. When Jun’s smile drops, you truthfully add: “for him, I don’t think it’s like that for him.”

Jun laughs. “Really? He's like, glued to you.”

“I think he's probably just trying to get to know me better, since we’ve had mutual friends for so long. Anyways, don't make it weird.”

Seeing Minghao on his way back shut Jun’s mouth before he could protest. He had to stifle a giggle at the look on Minghao’s face, seeing the new seating arrangement.

He only makes a short rude comment towards Jun (not too rude; it pulls a laugh from both of you) before taking the seat across from you. He carefully places your order in front of you with utensils and napkins.

The rest of the meal goes by without any further teasing from Jun, something you’re grateful for. After the meal, everyone rides back to the airbnb in the same carpooling set up. For you, that means you're not in the same car as Minghao.

You honestly think you could’ve shopped more after the late lunch, but it wouldn't have been good for your wallet. Besides, it clearly did affect you, because you fell asleep earlier than usual.

You also woke up earlier than usual. As you dragged yourself through your morning routine, you remembered what Minghao said about the train station. Some of the clothes you ended up choosing were ones he had picked. They're pretty, you think.

When you step into the living room, you see Minghao, also dressed up. He was seated on the couch, and he subtly lit up at the sight of you. It would seem that both of you had the same plan in mind for this morning.

You’re walking side by side to the train station, not too long of a trip. It’s too early, so neither of you say much on the way there.

He’s first to speak once you arrive. “Do you have a train card?”

You glance at the machines. “I do, but I don’t think it works here,” you say sheepishly, a little embarrassed by your own lack of foresight.

His response is a gentle nod, soothing your worries. Your worries pick up immediately when he turns on his heel and starts walking away, before realizing he was headed to buy you a train card. Somehow, he gets to the booth before you can stop him, and you don’t want to make a scene, so you end up waiting for his return. It isn’t long before he’s back, handing you a brand-new train card. “Let’s call it even for the meal now,” he said with a soft grin.

“You didn’t have to pay me back for that,” you insist. “Thank you, though.”

The area you’re in wasn’t too busy, so you were able to get seats next to each other. Faint but consistent noise from the outside, the gentle shake of the train, and the warmth of the man sitting next to you feels like enough to lull you to sleep; either that, or you’re still feeling sleepy from the morning. After a bigger shake makes you jolt, Minghao reached to gently bring your head to rest on his shoulder. It makes you question if Jun was onto something.

Drowsiness has mostly left you by now, and so you and Minghao’s chatter makes the walk to the park go by quick. There’s a trail off the side of the park that you follow Minghao on; it’s lush and green. The ground is uneven, and you’re careful to keep your footing. (It’d be too on the nose to fall into his arms.) It’s already beautiful to you, especially as the sun comes out and shines its rays across the leaves and branches above you. You think the light is beautiful on him too, which you get to see every time he turns his head to check on you. Unbeknownst to you, he's thinking the same thing each time he checks to see that you're still behind him.

The brightness of his smile hits you before the glimmer of the sun reflects across the water. He steps aside so that you can see the huge lake in full, stretching wide across your field of vision. It’s sunny, but breezy enough to cool you off. You take a deep inhale of fresh air; the smell is wonderful. At the edge of the water, it shifts in a gentle motion, and you're sure you see little fish swimming around. There’s a couple little boats near the other side of the water, but otherwise, the area is completely private. It crosses your mind, the question of how he found this place. Only briefly, as the breathtaking sight cleared your mind. You hope this image stays in your memories for as long as you live.

Minghao sits on a flat rock, looking up fondly at you. If he's being honest, he’d confess that he liked you from the first time Jun had mentioned inviting you to a get-together. The only thing he had known at that point was that you were a friend of his friend, and that your instagram photos looked really nice from Jun’s phone screen. When there ended up being little chance to talk at that event, he tried to abandon the thought. It was only when he was informed that you’d be coming on the vacation that he told someone about his crush.

He was pleasantly surprised when you came up to him alone at the shopping center, and thrilled that you clicked so easily with him. Just as easily, his feelings were no longer shallowly based on your looks. The little stunt Jun had pulled in the food court had him rolling his eyes, and when he sat next to him in the car… if it wasn’t for the fact that the others were somehow fast asleep, and that Minghao needed to keep his eyes on the road, he would’ve held Jun’s mouth shut himself. He can't be too mad now, he thinks, seeing as being at this lake with you was practically adding years to his own life.

As you sit next to Minghao on the rock, you wonder what Jun will think when he hears about this. The teasing that comes up in your mind feels dismissable in this moment, with the gorgeous view of the landscape and of the person next to you. You turn to face him, and his face is much closer than you thought it’d be.

“Thank you for taking me here,” you whispered, as if speaking too loud would disturb the peaceful area. Minghao just gave you his soft smile in return.