My Platinum-Blond Childhood Friend Is So Pretty

31 – 11. Our Beginning Now -2

About three hours on the KTX to Gwangju.

Although it might be a long time, it didn’t feel that way at all.

It was nice just to hold hands with Ellie and talk, making the time fly by without us realizing.

“Is there anything you want to ride when we get there?”

“I won’t ride anything.”

“Nothing at all? There’s even a train that just goes around in circles.”

“I said I won’t. Just buy the admission ticket.”

“Huh? Just the admission ticket? What about the observatory…”

As I was about to mention the observatory, Ellie opened her eyes wide and said,

“You have to buy a separate pass for that. Why don’t you know that, bringing it up all of a sudden?”

“Ah, I see.”

I didn’t know. I just thought I could ride if I bought a general pass. I only knew that the observatory was there and its size, along with the operating hours.

“Ah, you’re going to die…”

“Mentos, do you want some? Oh, go ahead. I’ll feed you.”

“……Ah.”

In Elly’s mouth, she took out a Mentos from her bag, not something I brought, and fed it to her.

With a pouty face, Elly ate the Mentos while grimacing, though her mouth remained closed.

I found her face cute, so I gently brought my head closer.

“…Mwah.”

Elly softly pressed her lips against mine.

And then, Elly immediately turned her face away, and I leaned in closer, following her movements.

She pushed the Mentos into her slightly plumper cheek, once again.

-Mwah

We kissed. Not only our lips, but our cheeks were incredibly soft.

It wasn’t just a gentle touch, but an extreme tenderness that felt like melting cotton candy.

Afterwards, I smiled at Elly and said,

“Feed me too.”

Elly blushed and glared at me slightly, but…

“Ah-“

-Swoosh

I snatched the Mentos from my hand and put one in her mouth.

It was sweet.

Not as sweet as Elly’s lips, but still a little.

As I rolled the Mentos in my mouth and was about to say something, storing it in my cheek for a moment, Elly took the initiative this time.

“Mwah.”

She kissed my plumper cheek with the Mentos.

“Hmm…”

Unable to resist, I let out a small laugh. It was filled with joy and happiness that came from deep within. With a smile in my eyes, I locked gazes with Elly.

-Mwah…

Naturally, our lips touched once again.

It happened so quickly.

As we continued to talk, occasionally our lips would meet.

Arriving at the Gwangju train station, our destination, happened in the blink of an eye.

***

Although we arrived at Gwangju Songjeong Station by KTX, unfortunately, it wasn’t the end here.

After switching to a bus, we spent a little over an hour in the car.

“Wow… it’s beautiful.”

Inside the bus, the surroundings murmured somewhat similar to Seoul, but it was familiar, so no big deal.

“Why didn’t we take a taxi?”

“Waste of money for a taxi. Let’s just go.”

“Wow. You’re really good at Korean.”

Listening with one ear to Ellie’s much more fluent Korean than most peers, I faintly reacted.

It was around 5 p.m. when we finally arrived at Family Land.

The closing time for Family Land was 9 p.m., and if we intended to enjoy the freedom pass, the given time would have been about three and a half hours.

You could argue, having come all this way and spent a lot of time and money, was it worth just three hours of fun?

Ellie didn’t have any particular words about that fact.

Although we didn’t directly talk about it, we both knew that the one and only purpose we had was the Ferris wheel. Even before, when we went to an amusement park, we didn’t ride the rides much.

Moreover, the time spent chatting on the train, sharing Mentos, and the moments our lips met.

It was our date.

So, when we got off the bus and had Family Land in front of us,

I proposed to Ellie.

“I’d like to ride the Ferris wheel after 8 p.m. How about exploring and wandering around until then?”

Confidently, I suggested riding the Ferris wheel while enjoying the night view.

Checking the time, Ellie, as if it were a familiar place, took my hand and led the way.

“Let’s eat first. There’s a cafe in the zoo.”

“Oh, there. Did you find it too?”

“Just follow me.”

And after taking a few steps, she turned slightly, asking again.

“Do you want something else to eat? Are you really hungry?”

“No, not at all. Let’s go and share a piece of cake and a latte.”

“Sure.”

Ellie, as if she had memorized the map in advance, walked confidently ahead.

Perhaps it was because I didn’t really feel hungry, but I suggested getting some snacks at the cafe. I felt the same way.

As I was about to give her the ring on the Ferris wheel, the tension surrounding me made the hunger feel less significant.

We entered the zoo, where admission was free, and headed straight to the cafe.

We ordered one Americano and a small slice of cake, and sat at a table.

There were two straws and only one fork.

“Mom, mom! Look! A foreigner!”

“Shh, don’t point like that.”

“She looks like Elsa!”

Because it was the weekend and we were in the amusement park zoo, there were a lot of children with their parents.

Those young children, with innocent eyes, were thinking the same thing as me when they saw Elsa.

Although the hairstyle was a little different, with the hair color and the prettiness, Elsa resembled Elsa.

I sat in the chair and chuckled at the sound of the children’s voices coming from around me.

Then Elsa raised both arms on the table, placing one hand on her cheek, and said with a pouting expression.

“Don’t laugh.”

“Huff… When you face someone, you have to laugh.”

“Who said to laugh like that?”

“Hmph.”

It’s a bit frustrating to even control how I laugh.

But because the princess might feel uncomfortable, I suppressed the laughter and picked up the fork.

And to Elsa who didn’t seem to have any intention of using her hands, I cut a piece of cake and brought it to her mouth.

“Ah…”

Naturally, my lips came close enough to touch her wide-open mouth, as if I were trying to feed her.

“Nyum.”

Right before, I turned it towards my mouth.

It was just the taste of a plain frozen chocolate cake. It didn’t taste amazing, but it wasn’t bad as a snack.

“….”

“Well… I wanted to see if it’s edible before you eat it. You know?”

Elsa didn’t get angry at my prank. With a slightly surprised face, she seemed to find it amusing that her mouth corners were slightly drooping.

“Ah.”

She purposely opened her mouth again, making a sound. Seeing that, the desire to play another prank rose, but I knew she would get angry if I did it repeatedly.

This time, I honestly cut a small piece of cake and put it in her mouth.

Then Ellie, with a fork in her mouth, mumbled, “Munch, munch…”

After showing a chewing-like motion, she let go of the fork.

Thanks to that, the plastic fork was slightly soggy with Ellie’s saliva.

“…….”

“What are you doing? Eat.”

Ellie looked at the fork and urged me to eat more quickly. At the same time, she pulled out one straw from the Americano in front of her.

Now, there was only one straw left in the Americano placed between us.

“Why only one straw…”

“One is enough, right? No?”

“…Right.”

“Finished the cake? I’ve had enough, so you eat the rest.”

“Okay.”

I cut a small piece of cake with a fork and put it directly into my mouth.

Watching me do that, Ellie observed with a raised corner of her mouth.

I thought it was just an ordinary frozen cake, but trying it again, it was surprisingly sweet.

Whether it was because of the cake or for some other reason, I don’t know.

Anyway, it was sweet.

***

“Is there a white tiger here?”

“Even if there is, if it says I look like it again, I’ll put it inside us.”

“Because it’s cool…”

“Enough, Ameri.”

“Here.”

After playing a little prank and finishing the cake, we walked out of the cafe with the remaining Americano in hand.

And first, we stopped by the zoo for a while.

With a cup of Americano in one hand and holding Ellie’s hand in the other, every time Ellie said “Ameri,” I handed the Americano in front to her. Then we both took a sip.

Of course, with only one straw, together.

After wandering around a bit and seeing only a few large animals near the entrance, we left because the zoo closed at 6 o’clock, and there was no other choice.

And they entered Familland.

As soon as they entered, the amusement park inside, which was both cute and surprisingly full of everything, and the colorful flowers scattered throughout, made their eyes happy.

Seeing that, I felt a little disappointed.

“If only we had come one week earlier. The cherry blossoms have all fallen.”

“Next time, let’s plan considering that.”

“Well, it was impossible because of the exams…”

“Are exams more important than cherry blossoms?”

“…Cherry blossoms are important! I’ll consider everything next time.”

“Hmph.”

“But we did see plenty of them near our school…”

Is it the same seeing them there and coming all the way here to see them?”

“It’s different. Sorry.”

Although the pedestrian paths were beautifully decorated with various types of flowers, it was a bit disappointing because it was just after the cherry blossom season.

Anyway, we just walked along the flower path. Honestly, there wasn’t much to see in the amusement park.

Just leisurely walking, we stopped a staff member passing by underneath the mini clock tower for commemorative photos.

“Can you please take a photo for us?”

“Uh, s-s-sorry! I-cant-ing-glish…uh?”

“We’re asking for just one photo.”

“Yes, yes! I’ll take it!”

With the help of the staff, we took a photo holding hands.

Watching the staff member, who seemed possessed, taking the photo and moving away, I covered my mouth.

*Cough*

“Yoon Doyoon.”

“For a second, I wondered what your reaction would be if you knew I got a Grade 3 in Korean.”

“Do you want to die?”

As evening approached, I became tense, but also relaxed because I enjoyed these small moments with Ellie.

As we looked around, the sky gradually darkened.

And seeing more and more people heading towards the Ferris wheel, we naturally moved in that direction as well.

During the time when you can see the night view, the Ferris wheel naturally had a long line starting from the self-service ticket machine.

“Since it’s the weekend, there are definitely a lot of people. We won’t be able to ride it twice.”

“It only needs to be once, why do it twice.”

We waited in line and bought tickets when it was our turn. There were various types of Ferris wheels, such as ones with glass floors, karaoke Ferris wheels, and VR Ferris wheels, but we chose a regular one.

-Scream

After getting the tickets, we stood in line again on the stairs to ride the Ferris wheel. I felt a little sweat in my hand holding Ellie’s hand.

I couldn’t tell if it was coming from my hand or Ellie’s hand.

From then until we boarded the Ferris wheel, no words were exchanged between Ellie and me.

We just quietly waited for the moment we would get on the big Ferris wheel.

A moment later.

“Enjoy your time!”

Following the staff’s guidance, we were able to get on the Ferris wheel.

Once on, Ellie and I lifted our feet in the closed space where we couldn’t get off for 15 minutes.

And then we let go of each other’s hands and sat across from each other. Soon, I felt a strange sensation as we gradually moved away from the ground.

“……”

“……”

We looked at each other’s faces without blinking.

There were no words exchanged, but Ellie’s flushed face seemed to urge me, asking what I was going to say.

Seeing that, I thought,

‘…What should I say?’

Even though I already knew the outcome, I was nervous in this moment of anticipation, not knowing what to do.

What words should I say, and in what tone, to make Ellie happy… Even though I had thought about it beforehand, my mind went blank and my body stiffened.

But soon.

“……”

In the dark night sky, even in this dark space, I saw Ellie’s platinum hair shining brightly.

And as beautiful scenery began to faintly illuminate behind her.

I instinctively took out the ring case from my pocket, stood up, and kneeled slightly in front of Ellie.

At the same time, Ellie’s gaze fell on the ring case in my hand, and a soft sigh escaped her lips.

“Ah…”

Ellie probably expected it 100%. That I would confess here today.

But maybe she didn’t expect the ring, as her blue eyes widened and the blush on her cheeks deepened.

On her beautiful, lovely, and cute face.

Surprised by the appearance of my childhood friend and the thought that the surprise was successful, I felt my heart calming a bit, and a natural smile spread across my lips.

“Alicia.”

I called her name in a low voice. Not using a nickname, but addressing her by her full name, Alicia.

And.

To my childhood friend whom I liked from the first time we met, still liked now, and would continue to like in the future.

“I like you. Will you go out with me?”

Without any embellishments.

I confessed sincerely and straightforwardly.