kiss: our characters sharing a kiss, whether innocent or passionate
It probably shouldnât have surprised him that he finally found his inner calm at the bottom of a bottle. Minhyuk should have stopped when he realized the water bottle smelled funny, but like anything new in this strange place, he wanted to learn just what that slightly sour scent was, why something about it made his skin prickle with nerves. Something in his memory whispered of taboo holidays with an old uncle that liked to stir things up, but he had already downed about half of it before he remembered the word alcohol.
The word itself tasted foreign, exciting, forbidden, and he suddenly felt the urge to plug the bottle back up and tuck it under the sink before anyone else could catch him with it. Would he get in trouble? Was this academy anything like regular school? Old Minhyuk didnât know, and new Minhyuk didnât care. This felt like the safety release he had been searching for, an easy smile warming his features as he identified thatâs a pot, and thatâs a pan, thatâs where you keep your cookie sheets, and youâre supposed to pull out a chair for a lady youâre dining with.
Somehow it just came to him like this, and while his stomach churned a bit, it was merely from excitement as he walked quickly out of the kitchen, hands brushing along the walls on the off chance that his knees would give out again, like they had when he first stood up. He needed to explore, see everything with his enhanced goggles, but somewhere in his hazy mind, he hadnât expected to come across any person he knew.
When a familiar face caught his attention out on the school grounds, he stopped, happiness washing over him when he instantly put a name to the face. Hyoyeon, the blonde woman he had encountered during his first week there. He had acted like an idiot without really meaning to, but he had the feeling she hadnât held it against him. Back then, he had been more focused on just finding a place with those he came across, but now, he realized with a shock that she was really kind of pretty. Like really pretty.
Stopping, he hid himself partially behind a tree, wondering vaguely if she had a big catâs sense of smell as well, as he allowed himself to oogle her just a bit. Girls had such soft faces, it was a lovely sight. Pretty lips, bright eyes⊠Minhyuk felt the urge to trace her body, but he had been raised proper by his grandparents, and wouldnât let his shameless gaze hug her curves just like that. Oh, he would have loved to, but somehow, he couldnât let go of the idea that she knew he was there. So why not step out and say hello?
Was that confidant inner voice really his? It seemed so, a feat so astounding it would have frozen him in place if he hadnât already been moving. But he had, and he raised a hand to catch her attention, though she didnât seem at all surprised when he moved into her path. In reality, he hadnât realized the tree he had hid behind was pretty skinny.
A smile curled over her features, and he missed whatever she had been saying to instead stare at her pink lips as they moved over syllables. Was he really that much of a dog when alcohol entered the mix? Or was he like this normally and just unable to tell?
âUm, yeah.â He answered, when she seemed to be waiting for a response from him, a sheepish smile stealing over his previous, simple expression.
Minhyuk glanced down, already feeling the awkwardness beginning to set back in, but her sweet, normal reply to his phoned-in words had him glancing back up at her with renewed interest. Wow she looked gorgeous in the setting sun, rays of the yellow star offsetting the healthy sheen to her hair. He licked his lips thoughtfully, once again missing her words. And this time she called him on it, her voice rising with the inflection, before he finally made the jump into where his mind had been going all along.
Leaning in, Minhyuk went to cradle the side of her face, hand shaking ever so slightly with the enhanced focus on staying properly upright, and kissed her with all of the eager focus of an excitable puppy. Sure; it wasnât anything romantic, and his lips felt clumsy even to him, but the warm press had his heart doing jumping jacks, the manâs mind locked in a stalemate of excitement and happiness. However, the egocentric focus had him miss her reaction, so when he felt her wheeling back, he suddenly recalled that kissing random acquaintance-almost friends or whatever they were was a stupid idea.
Backpedaling, he started babbling apologies in time with âwow you have nice lips, I really enjoyed our time together,â before he spun around and got the hell out of there.
He was lucky she hadnât turned into a cheetah to eat him -perhaps she was baffled by the tipsy, stumbling stranger enough to let him leave. Either way, next time heâd avoid that alcohol stash altogether. The world didnât need a socially awkward clone-turned pervert on the loose in any sense of the wordâŠno matter how fun that actually sounded.
And no matter how much fun he thought kissing her again would be.
