Picnic (1/1)

Summer was gone, and fall was in the air. The colours and the smell were beautiful, and that could be the reason why people called fall as the season for lovers. I was with Minji and Chaerin, we were having lunch, and for some odd reasons, we chose to sit under a tree this afternoon. I love having picnics, but sitting under a balding tree wasn’t exactly the best idea, especially if the weather was insanely windy like today.“I think a bug fell into my chips.”“Eww! Hani! Throw that away!”“You don’t have to. Just bring out the bug, and you’ll good to go.”“Chaerin, that’s gross.”“That’s survival.” We had a blanket under us, and Minji put her iPod on speaker mode for some music, so it was a rather peaceful lunch.“So Hani, do you have a date this Saturday?”Asked Chaerin while she opened her can of coke.“Yepp, I do. He’s taking me to the water park.”“Water park? In this weather? Is he serious?”Minji’s eyes were as round as her bagel.“I guess.”I just shrugged the craziness of the idea away. Joon and I, we had been a couple for a good full month now. The next Saturday would be our fifth date actually, as we only went on dates on Saturdays, because his weekdays were full of activities and he insisted that he would want to spend his Sundays with his family. It was okay for me though, I felt rather free like that. However it did make me felt like I was without a boyfriend sometimes. I hardly saw him at school, he was not in my class and he was way too busy with the students’ body and his basketball team, and the only time I saw him was when he walked me home, only if he didn’t have any practise that evening. And our skinship was kind of limited. How could you touch your boyfriend (that sounded so wrong) when he was always out of your reach? And we couldn’t even be all that passionate at school, because except for Joon and I and our closest friends, nobody else knew that we were together. I figured that since the relationship was still new, it was best to keep it under wrap first. Joon was reluctant at first, he wanted the whole world – well, the whole school – to know that I was his, but he couldn’t resist my pout, and so he just followed my request. Okay, was this healthy for our relationship? “He hasn’t confessed his feelings yet, has he?”Minji had finished her meal when she asked me that. She wouldn’t touch my chips, and Chaerin wouldn’t share. She must had been feeling bored.“What do you mean?”“Has he said, ‘I’m in love with you’ to you yet?”All sets of eyes were on me now.“No, not yet. Again, we are still new.”“And you guys are way too far from each other.”I looked at Chaerin questioningly.“Far? As in distance?”“Far, as in feelings.” “Explanation, Chaerin?”She looked at me attentively.“You are not glowing.”“Humans do not glow.”“They do, Hani, when they are in love.” Here we go again. Chaerin had this crazy idea that I actually accepted Joon’s heart because of what he felt for me, not because I felt the same way as him. She always said that I never looked thrilled when I talked about Joon, and I didn’t have those dreamy eyes when Joon was mentioned in our conversation. And that I didn’t glow. “Chaerin, don’t.”“I’m just saying, Hani.” Minji just looked at us, back and forth, back and forth. The tension was deafening, and if neither of us do anything to cut the stress, this war could last for days. It once did, and trust me, none of us should go through that phase again. Let’s just say, Chaerin’s picture on my dart board didn’t look anything like Chaerin at all. RIIING! “Ah, lunch hour’s over. Let’s go, guys! It’s the ever interesting and exciting Math!”Minji bounced in front of us, grabbed both of our necks, pulled us up, and we somehow ended in a group hug.“Now, play nice. It’s too tiring to pick sides, you know?”Minji squinted her eyes and puckered her lips in her attempt to look cute, because she knew that was her only weapon she could use to kill Chaerin and I. “Haha! Okay Minji, I surrender.”I gave Minji a nudge on her shoulder, and gave Chaerin a peace offering smile.“Y--Yeah! Now stop that!”Chaerin was trying her hardest to veil her own smile and to break free from our hug.“Hahaha! Oh Chaerin, I know you like this cute face..!”Minji puckered her lips even further, and Chaerin’s face wrinkled in disgust.“Hani, kisses on Chaerin in three! Three, two, one--”Chaerin was fast to run away from us.“You guys are nuts!”“Hahaha! But you love us anyway!”Minji trotted closely behind Chaerin, leaving me and my slow steps behind. I loved my friends, even if they were the most unreasonably craziest people in the world, and like any good friends, they knew me through and through. So, could what Chaerin desperately trying to push into my head, be true?