#yeonju

You never imagined your relationship to be anything beyond it, just quick glances that left you with momentary impressiveness that later escaped you as you changed your sweater for the orange polo shirt that was required for your job at a local supermarket. 

That was until Yeonjun crashed into you. Like literally.  

You still don’t understand how it was possible seeing as he always seemed to have such control of the board. If there was anyone you expected to crash into you it was the boy that sometimes accompanied Yeonjun but seemed far less experienced as he made wobbly tries to stand on the skateboard.

So when Yeonjun suddenly turned to someone you’d only seen quickly from afar to someone that literally sent you flying down to the ground and almost crying out of pain, it was inevitable that something would come out of it. 

It wasn’t exactly a friendship that developed that day when Yeonjun with profound apologizes and concerned eyes helped you up onto your feet. The conversation that day didn’t reach beyond an exchange of names along with more apologies, and neither did it develop the following days. What followed after was rather quick hellos with friendly smiles that was sometimes replaced with waves across a skatepark filled with boys and girls with scraped up hands. 

To you, your relationship with Yeonjun was nothing more really than acquaintances with a rough start, but you couldn’t help but to wonder if said boy thought a little differently about the two of you. A thought that was very loud and clear as you now sit on one of the benches facing the park, being one of two people in the grande audience looking at what Yeonjun just a few minutes earlier had declared a ”really cool trick he had just learned”. 

You glance over at the other person in the audience, the boy that never really seemed to figure out the puzzle of riding a skateboard even though he always seemed to be taught by Yeonjun when he accompanied him to the park. He had only introduced himself briefly as Kai before he had plopped down beside you and with intense eyes and a few snickers watched Yeonjun stumble around on his skateboard.

This day had been no different than others really. You had been on your way to work and as the park had come closer, you had subconsciously fixed your windblown hair as you looked for Yeonjun to exchange your usual greetings. 

It didn’t take long to find him, however. To your surprise, the boy, clad in a gray hoodie and torn jeans, was standing right at the beginning of the park with his worn skateboard covered in stickers propped under his arm. When he saw you his eyes lit up in a way that made you wonder if he had been looking for you. 

He met you halfway and immediately started talking as if you guys had already developed a relationship way beyond vague hellos. He was talking fast, almost as if he was nervous, saying something about a Caballerial kickflip and how you just had to see him do it. You didn’t really have time to question it, neither did you have time to explain that you had work soon, before you found yourself in current position, with one boy beside you and one boy on a skateboard in front of you.

You know Yeonjun is good at skateboarding, you have countless scenarios as proof of it, so you can’t understand why it suddenly seemed impossible for him to even stand on the skateboard. At first, you thought that maybe you were just bad at understanding skateboarding and that that fall was part of the trick. But when Kai gradually starts to snicker more and more and as you see Yeonjun’s face grow more and more frustrated, you can’t help but think that maybe something is wrong. 

You turn towards Kai to ask him if everything is fine with Yeonjun when you hear an abrupt stop of the wheels of the skateboard and the sound of body meeting concrete. As Kai bursts out laughing you quickly turn around to find Yeonjun sprawled on the ground in front of his board.

”Dude, are you okay?” You ask as you stand up and walk over to him as Kai falls over the bench, hand over stomach as his laughs grow louder and louder. 

Yeonjun looks up at you, his hair disheveled and his cheeks red. ”Yeah, sorry I’m- I’m fine, sorry.” 

”No, don’t say sorry” you assure him. ”Can you stand up?” Just as you’re about to reach out a hand to help him up, Kai walks up from behind you while clapping his hands excitedly. 

”That was amazing, wow, ten out of ten.” He says, still laughing as he takes a hold of Yeonjun’s arm and heaves him up onto his feet. You try to meet Yeonjun’s eyes to really assure that he’s okay as Kai bends down to brush off his pants, but he just looks over at the other end of the park, totally ignoring you. 

You understand that he probably felt embarrassed but you really wish he would talk to you again like he did earlier. It was probably just wishful thinking, but as Yeonjun met you earlier you really thought something more might’ve come out of today. But Yeonjun seeming to now refuse to even acknowledge your existence made it clear that you were done here for today. Besides, you were probably late for work anyway. 

You quietly turn around and walk back to the bench to take your bag thrown on the ground. ”Hey, are you leaving?” As you look over your shoulder you think that it’s Yeonjun who has finally decided to speak to you again, however, it’s Kai looking at you with a friendly smile. 

”Yeah, I’m actually late for work,” you say as you point over your shoulder in the direction of your workplace. Now both boys are staring at you and you suddenly find it hard to breathe at the very undivided attention. If you weren’t so hyperaware of everything, you would’ve missed Kai’s quick glance in Yeonjun’s direction. You follow his eyes and look at the boy in the gray hoodie whom to your surprise really looks like he wants to say something. 

When he doesn’t however and the silence starts to get borderline uncomfortable, Kai simply gives you another friendly smile. ”Okay, cool.”

You just throw your bag over your shoulder and with a wave in the boys' direction leave them both behind you. 

It’s dark outside when you with a tired sigh let the door to your job fall shut behind you. When you had changed into your uniform earlier today after quickly explaining to your boss that traffic made you late, you had expected to as per usual forget all about Yeonjun. However, today had clearly been different and your thoughts as you had tried to unpack groceries and smile at customers had all been about the boy in the skate park. 

You hate to admit it but there were several times during the day where you had looked towards the entrance of the store hoping that Yeonjun would walk in, which was simply ridiculous seeing as he has no idea where you work. Today has simply been weird and right now you want nothing more than to get home and shower it all off. 

As you get closer to the park again you can’t help but acknowledge the way your heart seems to start beating a little faster. The park was usually deserted this time of night so there was really no reason for you to suddenly feel nervous. You try to shake your body out of it and keep your eyes strained to the ground as you walk past it. 

You have almost made your way past the park when you suddenly hear someone quietly clear their throat behind you, giving you a heart attack as you jerk around ready to punch someone in the face. In the short span of a few seconds you have time to imagine the worst case scenarios of some robber looking to steal your bag, so when you come face to face with Yeonjun who quickly takes a surprised step back when he sees your raised fist, you almost cry out of relief. 

”Wow, I’m sorry,” he says as he throws both his hands up into the air, dropping the skateboard he had under one of his arms, making you flinch one more time as it hits the ground with a loud bang. ”I really didn’t mean to scare you.”

You bend forward with your hands on your knees as you take deep breaths trying to calm your beating heart. After a while though, you realize that it isn’t Yeonjun’s scare that has your heart beating, it’s simply just him standing in front of you. You straighten your back and you can feel your face grow red as you come face to face with Yeonjun. ”Are you okay?” He asks with a shy smile. 

”I’m okay, it’s fine.” You look to the side in embarrassment, finding it hard to meet his eyes. At the sight of the empty skatepark, you suddenly wonder what in the world Yeonjun is doing here so late at night. ”I’ve never seen you here so late at night, what's up?” You ask as you look over at him again.

This time it’s Yeonjun’s turn to shyly look away as he scratches the back of his neck. ”Eh well, honestly I was waiting for you.” You feel your face grow hot again as you look at him with big eyes. 

”You were waiting… for me?” You just had an eight-hour shift, there was no way he had waited for you for so long. 

He looks over at you again, his face a matching shade of red like yours. ”Yeah I just wanted to say sorry for earlier,” he says as he reaches into the pock of his hoodie. ”I got you this as an apology gift.” In his hand is a bar of your favorite chocolate. There were so many questions circling in your head but at the moment none of them seemed to want to leave your mouth so you just found yourself staring at him.

”I don’t know if you remember the first time we met,” he continues. ”Or well, when I ran into you, sorry about that by the way. I just remembered you were eating this chocolate so I figured you liked it and so I got it for you- and yeah..” 

”Wow I…,” you say as you look down at the chocolate in his hand. You can’t believe he remembers it, you don’t even remember yourself that you were eating this chocolate when you first met Yeonjun. ”Why did you get me an apology gift?” You ask again, refraining to slap yourself on the forehead for asking a stupid question instead of saying thank you. 

”Because you had to sit and watch me totally fail earlier.”

”If anything it’s me who should get you a gift. You were the one that got hurt.” You say and look up from the chocolate to his face. You swear you almost pass out when you see him smiling at you. 

”Well, I also didn’t say goodbye which I felt really bad about. I’m sorry about that too, I guess I was just way to flustered after falling. It’s been happening a lot lately actually, Kai thinks I got a fuzzy brain after I met-” Yeonjun suddenly stops himself and you notice his cheeks growing red again. 

You can’t help but to smile as you reach for the chocolate, your fingers lightly brushing his palm as you take it from his hand. He looks up at you again and for a while, you just stare at each other. For so long Yeonjun had just been a mere silhouette of a boy on a skateboard on the other side of the park so to suddenly be standing so close and seeing the details of his black hair and beautiful brown eyes almost get too much for you and you have to look down at the ground.

It feels like there is so much to say, but at the moment neither of you know what it is. That is until you see his skateboard and you look up at him again with a small smile. ”So, can you teach me how to ride?”

Yeonjun seems taken back at your question. ”Do you really want to be taught by someone as bad as me? I mean, didn’t you see how much I fell earlier?”

”Hey, I’ve seen you before Yeonjun. Seriously, you have always stood out to me. I know that you have talent that no one in this park even has a smidge of.” For a moment you think you might’ve said a little too much and for the hundredth time this night you can feel your cheeks grow hot, it’s nothing however compared to Yeonjun’s cheeks. He quickly bends down to reach for his board as to hide his face, but you have already seen it and the smile on his face you think will be etched into your brain forever.

As Yeonjun takes up his skateboard and as both of you side by side make your way further into the park, you can’t believe that you are actually hanging out with Yeonjun. Though you were still slightly confused as to where you were standing with him in terms of your relationship, there was nothing you wanted more than to get to know him more. 

It takes a while before you manage to even stand on the skateboard and you suddenly understand why Kai always looked about ready to fall off the board. Even though Yeonjun wastes no time encouraging you as you carefully try to place both feet on the skateboard. Your balance is awful and if it wasn’t for Yeonjun being right there, you’re sure you would’ve broken every bone in your body by now. 

But you can’t really complain about your lack of balance, because as the night grows darker you and Yeonjun grow braver. Soon his hands have no problem holding onto your hips and your hands as he balances you up on his skateboard. And after what might be hours but feels like mere minutes, you finally manage to ride around the entire park without falling and when Yeonjun takes your hand to do a celebratory dance, you think that you have probably never been happier. 

”So what really happened that day when you ran into me?” You ask later when Yeonjun is walking you home, arms brushing together and the chocolate you just split sweet on your tongue. ”It seems so unlikely for you to just lose control of your board like that.”

Yeonjun is quite for awhile like he is trying to find the right words. ”It was an accident really,” he starts. ”But honestly…”

”Yes?…” you trail off. 

”I- I was really trying to impress you.” He says suddenly and now it’s your turn to go quite. Was Yeonjun actually confessing to you? When you don’t say anything, he glances over at you. ”I mean I’ve seen you walk past the park for some time now and you just really caught my attention. I don’t know why but I guess I thought I could get you to talk to me or something if I just showed you my skills.” You laugh at that which makes Yeonjun smile.

”Yeah, well you definitely manage to catch my attention,” you say, wondering if you should say the next words. ”But honestly, you had caught my attention way before that.” You can’t meet his eye, but from the corner of your eye, you see him smile.

”Well, it didn’t really go the way I wanted to. After that incident, I kept thinking of different ways to approach you and well today Kai just told me to man up and just talk to you. I didn’t really know what I should’ve talked to you about so I just decided to try and impress you again, which clearly didn’t work this time either. Sorry if I came on too strong by the way, you must’ve thought it was so weird when I just started talking to you all of a sudden.” Yeonjun says, scratching his ear at the memory. ”Man, Kai thought it was hilarious. Wouldn’t shut up about it after.”

You laugh at the memory of Kai snickering on the bench beside you. ”Well, I’m really happy you came up to me Yeonjun.” You say as look up at him. Though there was still some confusion about your relationship with Yeonjun, it was clear that you were moving towards something way beyond acquaintances and even friends. Without thinking you reach for his hand to thread his fingers with yours, making Yeonjun stumble over his own foot.

”I’m sorry you just give me a really fuzzy brain.” He says and as you both continue into the night hand in hand, you can feel your own head start to fog with thoughts of only Yeonjun.