30 minutes later...
Junghwa walks out of Hana's house. To his surprise, despite still feeling sad inside, somehow his heart felt more relief that he finally let out all that was needed in their farewell. As he reaches Zach's car, he opens the car door and sits next to Zach.
"Done. Let's go," Junghwa says with a relief tone.
"Everything ok now?" Ara asks.
"Yeah. Everything's ok," Junghwa says. "Finally said all the things we needed."
"Well, that's good," Zach says.
Silence fills the moment as Zach drives to exit neighborhood. Ara, who is sitting on the back of the car, finds herself starting to shift her gaze to Junghwa for a few seconds at times. She is glad that he is finally relief with the matters he has with Hana, and that she hope that Hana would also feel better after. Like a ray of light suddenly just came a cross her head, she felt a small beautiful feeling that she was able to help both her friend and cousin to say their farewell, even though her heart hasn't been in the best condition. She learned the beauty of pure love is not only to receive, but to give without hoping for anything in return.
The next day....
At school...
Ara walks through the crowded hallway as she heads over to her locker. Glad to say she was able to finish all her homeworks last night, though she didn't get much sleep since she slept at 12:30 AM. Yet, it was better than having to listen to the constant nags coming from the annoying teachers which she didn't like to hear.
"Hey!"
Ara turns her head to see Zach walking over to her, looking all chill in his gray hoodie, complete with black jeans and white sneakers. He forms a small smile on his thin lips to her, in which she smiles back.
"Hey," Ara says as she grabs her science book from her locker, before closing it shut.
"So did you finish your homework last night?" Zach asks as the two begins to continue to walk through the hallway.
"Thankfully, yes. Though I didn't get much sleep last night," Ara states in a rather sleepy tone. Not getting much sleep reminded her of her insomnia days in which she didn't want to return to at any days.
"Why? Finished late?" Zach asks.
"Well obviously," Ara states. "What about you?"
"Same, but I had a cup of coffee in the morning," Zach states in a chill tone. Whenever he needed to energize himself, he would always go get a cup of coffee.
"Man, and why didn't I thought of that? I should start taking morning coffees at some points," Ara says.
Zach chuckles. "Maybe you were too sleepy to even thought of it."
"You got that right," Ara says.
As the two teenagers continue to walk through the hallway, they noticed that some girls, who are Tracy's so-called followers, began to shift their gazes at them in a dirty way. Since both Ara and Zach are still going on with their pretend relationship, the whole school still believes that the two are still dating, hence still making them the hot topic of the school.
"I swear some of Tracy's followers tried to hit on me at some points," Zach says.
"And how did you react to that?" Ara asks.
"I told them to stay away since I already have Kim Ara in my heart," Zach says in a cheesy tone, making Ara roll her eyes.
"Geez, how cheesy," Ara states.
"Well, we are "dating", Kim Ara," Zach says.
"Pretending to date, if I corrected," Ara says.
"Well, at least we could say, we're trying to fake it till we make it," Zach says before bursting out another chuckle, again making Ara roll her eyes at the childish boy's behaviour.
"By the way, I was wondering if you happen to be free this Saturday?" Zach asks.
"Well, I've got nothing to do," Ara says. "Why?"
Zach chuckles. "I want to ask my girlfriend out. What do you say?"
"After these past few months, you still consider this as a date between a boyfriend and a girlfriend?" Ara asks in a rather curious tone. It's not that she felt awkward about going out with Zach. She went out with him often as friends, yet since they decided to portray a couple in school, and after Zach confessed to her of his feelings, he began to consider their "friendly date" as a "couple's date", in which Ara would often remind him of their status.
"Like I said, we are "dating"," Zach says in a cheesy tone.
"Pretending that we're dating, at least," Ara says, this time her voice sounded more sassy than before.
"I know. But, come on, Kim Ara. So what do you say?" Zach asks, this time in a more whiny yet childish tone.
Ara roll her eyes at her best friend's silly manner just now. She thought that he might not give up anytime sooner in trying to convince to upgrade their relationship from fake couple to real lovers. Yet, after having a bitter experience of her so-called romantic feelings towards Junghwa, Ara knew that jumping into a new relationship and falling in love again would be the last thing she would want to do. Besides, Zach is her best friend, and she didn't want to ruin their friendship by taking things to the next level. She is happy about whatever they are now.
"Consider it a friendly date and I'm in. What do you say?" Ara asks.
Zach sighs. Though he's not fully satisfy with Ara's answer, yet he couldn't be too disappointed knowing that he still has the privilege of spending some quality time with her, both as a best friend and a fake boyfriend. For now, at least he could feel lucky enough, and he is grateful of that.
"Fine," Zach says. "So I guess I'll pick you up at 6 PM?"
"Sure," Ara says.
Hearing that, Zach forms a smile on his thin lips. Though he hasn't succede in convincing Ara to upgrade their relationship. Yet for now, he had to be satisfy enough with her answer of a regular friendly date, while still pursuing a deeper relationship. After all, he thought she just might need time to start all over again.
Saturday...
At Ara's house...
6 PM....
"Ara, there you are," Ara's mom says as she enters her daughter's room.
"Yes, Mom. What is it?" Ara asks as she finished tying her hair into a ponytail.
"Zach is here," Ara's mom says. "And he's waiting for you."
"Ok, I'll be down in a second," Ara says.
Downstairs...
Ara's POV...
I walk downstairs all comfortable in my baby blue t-shirt, complete with my navy jeans. I see Zach sitting on the couch, throwing a cheesy smile at me. I smile back at him as I approach the young boy.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," I say.
"For you, I can wait longer though," Zach says before bursting out a sarcastic chuckle.
"Come on, Zach. Enough with the random pick-up lines," I say in a rather annoyed tone.
"Haha, ok," Zach says. "We will back before 10, Mr and Mrs. Kim."
"Ok, Zach," my mom says. "Have fun kids!"
"Stay safe," my dad says as he grabs a cup of tea from the table.
"Let's go," I say to Zach, already feeling awkward that my parents are starting to watch us.
To be continue...