All I Know Is Now

It was a good song. The upbeat music made you want to spin 'round and 'round. The only thing that bothered you were the lyrics. Despite the upbeat mood, they actually turned out much more nuanced than it seemed. You had always thought, since the release of the EP, that it was about "How Sweet" a relationship could be. And you probably never would have understood the real meaning, if not for her.

In her baggy blue cropped sports jersey and khaki cargo pants, she caught your eye immediately as you walked by her in the plaza. Spinnin' 'round and 'round, she was dancing with four other people to a song that sounded vaguely familiar. They had actually drawn quite a large crowd.

Is it How Sweet?... No, it sounds different. But you recognize the voices... is it part of the same EP? The mood is pretty similar.

The music faintly registered.

"Have you right here in a basket / Oh my baby, sweet like-"

"Bubble Gum!" you suddenly blurted out (a little too loudly, even for your liking), scaring the five dancing members and eliciting a chorus of bewildered glances. As your face turned red, you chose a seat on the fountain a few feet away, where you could continue enjoying the performance without disrupting them unintentionally.

Who are you kidding? You're just embarrassed.

It was a good fifteen minutes, mainly consisting of you scrolling and occasionally looking up, trying to make eye contact, which obviously did not happen. But as you stood up to leave when the performance was ending, you felt a tap on your shoulder. It was her; the one in the Y2K athletic streetwear who had arrested your attention the moment she entered your line of sight. She was standing behind you, slightly hunched and breathless. She paused for a moment, waiting a beat for her breathing to steady before offering a bright smile.

"Hi, I'm Minji!" she huffed.

"Hi!" you replied. Her cute pose had you grinning inwardly.

"I liked that stunt you pulled back there..."

"Yeah, sorry about that. I was trying to recall the name of the song."

"Bubble Gum!" she shouted, the same way you had, attracting a few looks from passersby.

"Mhm..." you said sheepishly, blushing a little.

"You're cute! Could I get your number?" she asked playfully, but with a touch of sincerity.

"Really? You'd do that for me?" you asked sarcastically. "Just kidding, of course! I needed the ego boost today."

As you typed your ten oh-so-precious digits into her phone, which she scrutinized with striking intensity, you heard her say, "This better be your actual number." You grinned, but didn't reply.

While you watched her jog back to her groupmates to leave, Minji looked back just as your phone started ringing, beaming as you answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Just making sure it's your real number."

You watched her silhouette vanish into the distance.

As it turned out, texting Minji became the best part of your day. The rapid-fire texts for hours on end daily eventually culminated in a date to your apartment on a rainy Saturday evening.

Stripped of her stylish and athletic streetwear, she showed up in an oversized plush hoodie and fluid baggy sweatpants, looking cozy and comfortable. You met her at the door, welcoming her into your 35th-floor apartment, overlooking the city skyline.

"Wow, your place is nice!" she said, breathing in the situation.

Your apartment was pretty clean, minimalist, some would even say. Everything you had was white, which made it a travesty to clean, but looked pretty nice. The kitchen area was furnished with stone tiles and oak, which complemented the alder flooring. Everything else, though, was mainly white with black outlines, including the walls, your entire bedroom (almost) and most of the bathroom.

It was a pretty large apartment complex, with four rooms but the price was something to talk about another day.

"Wanna order pizza? We can watch a movie in the bedroom?" you ask.

"Sure, sounds great!"

You order a large with two cokes, which arrives in 20 minutes.

"What movie are we watching?" she asks, her voice bouncing off the walls and echoing around the house.

"I don't know... you have any preferences?"

"Well, I always wanted to watch 500 Days of Summer. I heard it was really good."

"Alright, I'll pull it up."

"Can I take off my sweatpants? It's really hot in the blankets."

"Yeah, of course!"

As the two of you cuddled, your heads resting against each other, eating the slices of pizza every few minutes, sometimes even nibbling the other person's ear, it was a scene far more intimate than you had imagined. But she did something to you, to your mind, that made skipping all the foreplay, as they call it, seem natural.

At one point, at a quiet scene in the movie, you suddenly brought up the song.

“You know… that song How Sweet from the NewJeans EP,” you said, running your fingers through her hair. “I always thought that it was just a cute song about how sweet a relationship could be.”

"Yeah, it does sound sweet... it is in the title after all," she replied, a little pensive. "It's actually about toxic relationships, and how sweet it gets after you leave them. No more spinning 'round and 'round, drama. I personally think it's about living life to your fullest extent."

She looked a bit shy after explaining it, not wanting to come off as some know-it-all. You smiled and kissed her forehead.

Her explanation shed a whole new perspective on the song.

"That's so much more interesting than I've always thought it was..." you said, thoughtfully. Then, pulling back, you looked at her for a moment, heart feeling strangely warm. Without thinking, you pulled her a little closer.

The movie played on in the background, almost white noise. The half-eaten pizza slices sat on the plates by the bedside table, as Minji slowly shifted closer towards you, her oversized hoodie riding up to reveal the pearly-white smooth skin that were her thighs. You felt her warm breath against your neck, warm, comforting, but a little shy, before she tilted her head and kissed you properly for the first time that night.

The first few exchanges of saliva tasted of soft lips and a taste of coke, but the moment that you cupped her cheeks was the moment she melted into you, with a tiny moan, that went directly to your cock.

For a few minutes, you both just held each other that way. She played with your shirt while you ran your fingers through her hair and up and down her back. The movie continued playing, but neither of you were paying any attention anymore. Minji eventually looked up at you with a small, shy smile. “I’m really glad I asked for your number that day,” she whispered.

"Me too. I've been waiting ever since we met at the plaza that day."

She let out a soft, melodious laugh, music to your ears, before she melted against your body again. You felt her hips shift again as she moved even closer.

"You're so warm," you muttered against her neck, as your hand slipped under her hoodie. You forgot she had already taken off her pants.

"And you're so hard," she grinned, but her voice slightly breathy. Her eyes sparkled, but her face was still shy. "Is this alright?"

"Yeah."