Kian

My thumbs hover over my phone, thinking of what to say next to Kian.

My phone buzzes again.



When I read it'll be cute like in the movies, I start to feel my cheeks redden. I start to nibble on my bottom lip, feeling my face warm up. I stare at the text message for a couple of minutes before replying back.





He’s watching me walk closer to him near my mailbox and without a doubt, his gaze makes my stomach twist. My palms start to sweat so I stuff my hands into the pockets of my jeans.

“What happened to us biking to the restaurant?” I ask while Kian opens the passenger door for me.

“Aunt Adalyn let me borrow this bad boy for the night,” he says, watching me shuffle into the car.

He gets in the car and starts the engine and drives along the road.

“We could've walked, y'know,” I comment. I look out the window and we’re almost near the parking lot of the BBQ place.

Kian shrugs, letting out a soft laugh. “Oh, Bethany.”

He parks the car. We enter the restaurant and are seated near the back, in a booth with a window view of the town.

We are greeted by a waiter and he offers us water and hands us the menu. He starts the grill in the middle of the table and leaves.

With Kian sliding in the seat across me, he looks at me closely, running a hand through his hair.

“Do you really not know how to ride a bike?” he asks.

I wink, ignoring his question. “This all looks good,” I say while hovering my eyes over the menu.

“I can teach you,” he breathes, opening up the menu too.

“I'm a slow learner,” I laugh lightly. I cross my legs, lowering the menu. “I'm not kidding.”

Kian starts to chuckle. “I'm a pretty patient guy.” He starts squinting at the menu. “What do you recommend?”

“I love their pork belly and the bulgogi,” I say, leaning a bit forward, pointing at a picture on his menu. “Do you like spicy food?”

Kian shows off a half smile. “I think I can handle it.”

I smirk. “We’ll see how much you can handle it,” I start, “Oh! We can get some spicy kalbi too.”

The waiter comes back and I do most of the talking. He brings us our meats and we begin grilling.

“Have you tried bubble tea before?” I ask, lifting my chin.

Kian nods. “I have. There's a bunch of boba places around San Fran. The good boba places are the ones farthest from school.”

“Oh my god,” I muse, “They have the best boba here and you have to try it.”

We break our chopsticks and begin eating. While popping a piece of meat into my mouth, Kian hums, doing a little dance while he eats. He's bobbing his to the faint music while stuffing his mouth with a little bit of the kimchi and kkadugi on the side.

He's trying a little bit of every one of our sides (I think his favorites are the kkadugi, japchae, and oi sobagi), smiling while he's stuffing his face.

“Do you watch anything on TV?” Kian suddenly asks. I barely make out what he says. He watches me nod and continues, “What types of shows do you watch?”

“Mostly whatever’s on TV or random stuff on Netflix,” I admit. And it's true. I usually watch reruns of The Office or Law and Order.

“Do you watch Stranger Things?” he asks while he starts to chew on a piece of the spicy kalbi.

My face lights up. I swallow the last of my food before saying, “I'm not up to date but I'm in love.”

“I didn't see last week’s episode but,” he throws up his chopsticks in the air and continues, “that last episode was insane. Where the hell is Barb?”

My eyes widen. “Will has to be alive, right?!”

“You need to be up to date. A new episode comes out this week.”

We’re laughing together, sipping on the Thai Tea bubble drink. My chest is still swelling but my hands are no longer sweating. I'm looking at Kian and as he smiles, all I see is his uneven dimple popping out. The same silver ring is hanging from his lip too.

Kian looks straight into my eyes, forcing a smile. His tongue hangs out as he begins to sip on his bubble drink. His face starts to turn red as he jokingly says, “See, I can handle the spice.”