HWAMB — Chapter 16

As we neared the top, I thought it strange how they would shrink even further.

Excited, I chattered away.

“They say it stops once at the top. That must look amazing.”

“Yeah, that’s what I heard.”

I lifted my phone to take a photo through the glass, but the screen captured only grainy patches of light, so unlike the real view.

Disappointed, I gave up and lowered it.

“Guess because it’s night, the photos don’t come out pretty. Too bad.”

“Want me to take one?”

“Yeah. I mean, it’d be nice for memories, and it’s so pretty I want to keep it, but I guess night views are tricky.”

I thought maybe it was better to just keep it in my eyes.

“….”

Hyun-woo said nothing.

He wasn’t a talkative person to begin with, but today he seemed even quieter.

“Hey, remember? You couldn’t ride Ferris wheels before.”

“Did I?”

“Yeah. You said it felt like your feet were hanging in the sky, and you clung right up next to me…”

“You remember the weirdest things.”

“It was cute. Easy to tease you about, too. Oh, and there was that time with Santa—”

I was happily chattering away when Hyun-woo gave a crooked smile. Alarm bells went off and I shut my mouth.

Every time he wore that smile, whatever followed always managed to crush me flat.

Damn mouth.

As expected, he spoke with that sly grin.

“Now that you mention it, there was that other time.”

“…What time?”

Uneasy, I asked back, and he shrugged lazily.

“The first time we met, you threw a tantrum begging me to marry you…”

“Ah! No, that’s—!”

“You even said you’d take full responsibility. Pretty promising for a four-year-old. If it were me now, I’d fall for you too.”

He spoke smoothly, not giving me a chance to defend myself.

Embarrassing as it was, everything he said was true.

When I first met him through our parents, I, always drawn to pretty faces, had greeted him with, “Marry me.”

Hyun-woo, hiding behind his uncles, had run away on the verge of tears, and I, flustered, had chased him relentlessly.

“Argh! You’re the one remembering the weirdest things!”

“It was cute. Easy to tease you about, too.”

He threw my own words right back at me as I covered my ears in horror.

“Want me to tell you more?”

“No, that’s enough… Let’s just call a truce, okay?”

Smiling weakly, I got his cheerful laugh in return. I had overlooked something.

It wasn’t just me—Hyun-woo had a good memory too.

As we talked, the Ferris wheel steadily climbed toward the top.

I paused and gazed out the window.

The world below was even smaller than when we’d first risen.

The view stretched out like a perfectly crafted miniature, and I felt like a giant towering over it.

The blinking lights of the rides sparkled busily, like starlight in a world of dwarves.

I let out a small breath of awe.

Grinning brightly without thinking, I pointed outside.

“Hey, look! That’s the one we rode earlier.”

“….”

“Wow, did it really spin a full 360 like that? Looking at it from here, it makes sense you’d get dizzy, but riding it didn’t feel like—”

The moment I turned my head toward Hyun-woo, my words came to a halt.

He was looking at me.

His fingers fidgeted slightly, as if nervous. The glow filling his eyes looked strangely unfamiliar.

“……”

“……”

A peculiar air lingered inside the Ferris wheel cabin.

Seeing my expression, Hyun-woo gave a small smile and leaned back against the seat. With a more relaxed face, he said to me,

“This is nice.”

“…The Ferris wheel?”

“Just… all of it.”

Right then, the wheel stopped at the very top.

In the pitch-black silence, I held my breath and looked at him.

My heart began to beat a little faster. It felt like the cool night air might seep into my slightly parted lips.

Moments later, the biggest, most beautiful orange firework bloomed right at the perfect angle for us to see.

Like a flower bursting into full bloom, it scattered sparks across the sky.

Its graceful brilliance slowly dissolved into the black night.

“…They say the fireworks look prettiest at this time of night.”

“……”

“Eun-jae, I like you.”

“I-I-I already know that, so why again…?”

“Yeah. I just wanted to say it again.”

Hyun-woo smiled softly. His easy grin carried a kind of shameless charm.

The firework flared above, crimson petals spreading like a giant flower. Maybe it was that, but his face looked even redder. The reflection of my own face in the glass was just as flushed.

My skin burned as if scorched by fire.

Every time, it was like this—I got swept up in him.

And it troubled me.

Looking down at the floor, I stumbled through my words.

“I… I wasn’t sure if you really liked me. Or if it was just…”

“Why?”

“Because… you always act overprotective, like I’m a child… It felt like maybe you mistook the feelings of a friend, or even a guardian, for liking me.”

“Do you ever feel like kissing a friend?”

At that bomb of a statement, I froze and stared at him.

Kiss… kiss?

That one word snapped me to my senses.

My cheeks, already faintly red, turned scarlet.

“What…”

“I don’t feel that way about friends.”

“O-of course not!”

I shut my mouth at his reply, ignoring my flustered outburst.

A heavy silence drifted between us. I didn’t answer, and he didn’t press me.

I thought the best thing was to keep my feelings buried and just watch the view from the very top.

Of course, I couldn’t actually see a thing anymore.

But one thing was now certain—Hyun-woo’s feelings for me were no misunderstanding.

I sank into thought.

A kiss… huh.

While pretending to look elsewhere, I kept sneaking glances at him. Hyun-woo was gazing out at the night view.

I finally mumbled in his direction,

“S-so… you’ve been wanting to, um, do that with me all this time?”

“Do what?”

“Oh, come on… you know…”

“I’m not saying it unless you do.”

His lips curled with laughter, teasing as always.

I glared at him, annoyed, and he turned back to the nightscape.

There he goes again, teasing me.

“Then… want to try it now?”

“Try what?”

“…A kiss.”

“You? Ha, quit joking—”

But he never finished the sentence.

Because I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his.

It was impulsive.

At first, it was just to startle him, the same way he always teased me. Just pay him back in kind.

But the fireworks, the night sky, the suffocatingly strange mood, and Hyun-woo himself—looking prettier than usual, nervous, shy in a way that wasn’t like him—

All of it made my chest pound.

I gave a quick peck, pulling back immediately.

It was more of a clumsy bump of lips than a proper kiss, but that didn’t matter.

Because even that much had clearly startled him.

Clunk—the Ferris wheel began to move again from its stop at the top.

Hyun-woo, finally snapping out of it, covered his mouth with his hand.

I scrambled back into my seat, automatically brushing at my lips.

Huh? That wasn’t so bad…

Not unpleasant at all.

It hadn’t even been a real kiss, but still.

I rubbed my lips slowly. The faint warmth still lingered there.

And thinking that warmth belonged to Hyun-woo made the feeling even stranger.

Until the Ferris wheel touched down again, we stayed silent.

Even Hyun-woo—who always teased and laughed at me—was at a loss for words this time.

* * *

Chirp, chirp, chirp.

I woke to the noisy chatter of birds. The blurry image before me gradually cleared, and I realized this was my room.

Drooling in my sleep, seriously.

I guess the relief of finishing exams had loosened even my nerves. I wiped the drool off with my sleeve and checked the time.

Five minutes before my alarm. I had woken a little earlier than usual.

“A dream, huh…”

I shoved my bright-red face back into the pillow. No one was watching, yet my face burned as if set on fire.

A kiss, really? As if.

My lips still felt faintly warm, but I shook my head in denial.

It had just been an impulsive act swept up in the mood. If it had really happened, even now the thought of it made me want to die of embarrassment.

Even dreaming something like that…

Then, the door opened.

“Eun-jae, get up and eat breakfast.”

It was my brother.