76 Thoughts of it...Again and Again...

"Mia?" Jun called her name while standing in the door of her room.

Mia was sitting on her bed, hugging her cushion and was looking out of the window.

As Mia didn't react to Jun's call, he called her name again. "Miaa??"

Still no response.

So he quietly went towards her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"M-Mia?"

Coming back to her senses Mia quickly turned back.

"Huh?...What?....Oh Jun….What is it?"

"Are you okay?"

"Huh?....What do you mean?"

"…You are making me freak out!"

"Hm?"

"You…You've been behaving like this since we came back from the hot spring…"

"…What do you mean?....What did I do?"

"You keep staring in the space.

You don't respond when someone calls your name.

You keep smiling to yourself.

And it's just so….creepy…

I have a feeling that you…"And Jun stopped talking.

"That I….?" Mia asked.

"….I think you have been haunted!!" And thought of his own made Jun's face turn pale.

"What?" Mia got up from her bed. "Oh please!!" She said as she slightly hit him on his shoulder.

"No. Really. You are acting weird since you came back from that cursed hill."

"Can't a person be just happy?"

"Happy? For what?"

"Well….I wouldn't tell you that!"

"Whatever….But just don't act weird….cause it gives me creeps!"

"Hmph. I'll do what I want to. You just couldn't see me this happy. All you want to do is, fight with me."

"Huhhh.." Jun sighed loudly shaking his head sideways. 'Oh idiot….I'm the one who's always the happiest when you smile….' He thought.

"I was here to call you for the dinner." Jun changed the subject. "So hurry up now."

"Yeah. I'm coming. You go ahead."

~

'Oh god!! I just can't believe what happened on that cursed hill.

Ray kissed me!!!

RAY KISSED ME!!!

Eeek!!!

Oh my god! What should I do now? I just….I don't know what to do…

We are going to meet tomorrow at school.

So….now….How should I greet him?

What should I say?.....Or….I'll just wait to see what he says…But…

But…How should I react then??? I mean….HE is the one who kissed me, right? So then…What if he's embarrassed to talk to me?

What if he doesn't talk to me?

Then…Should I take the initiative? Or….Should I just act cool like nothing happened?

I think….I'll just decide on how he starts all this?

…..Wait wait wait…..

He kissed me…..Does that mean he likes me too???

Oh god! Oh god! Oh god!.....Of course…Otherwise why would he kiss me?....'

While Mia was thinking all this, she was at the dining table having dinner with her family.

Looking at her weird thinking face, Mia's father and mother exchanged glances worriedly.

"…Mia?" Mother called.

But Mia was completely lost in her thoughts.

"Mia!!" Her father's loud call, made Mia blink.

"Ye..Yes Father?"

"The food is getting cold." He said.

"Huh?....Yeah Yeah…I'm eating…" She said and hurriedly put the spoon in her mouth which she has been holding for a while now.

"…Uncle…Auntie….See? I told you!" Jun said.

On those words, again Mia's father and mother looked at each other and then at their teenage girl who was lost in her thoughts….again.

~

The next day.

Mia entered the school with Jun.

"Let's go to your class first." Mia said.

"My class? Why do you want to come to my class?" Jun asked raising an eye brow.

"..Huh…What….I just…I just want to meet April. That's all." Mia said hurriedly.

"Um…Okay…."

"And why I have to explain everything to you? I can do anything."

"Sheesh! Alright Mia…Why are you starting a fight now?"

"What? When did I—" And before Mia could finish her sentence,

"Lalala….La…La…LaLa…" Jun started singing to himself and walked passed her, ignoring whatever she was saying.

"Ughhh!!" Mia growled.

~

As both of them entered Classroom 1-C, they saw that April was sitting at her seat with two of her classmates, while Ray was standing at the window with some guys surrounding him.

'Okay….Okay….Now just act cool….Act cool…And go talk with him….' Mia kept saying to her.

As Jun went towards his seat, Mia turned her feet towards the window.

Taking a deep breath, she let it out from her mouth.

'I can do this…I can do this…'

"Hahaha!!!" Suddenly, everyone surrounding Ray started laughing on something he said.

As everyone laughed, Ray's brightly smiling face came into Mia's vision.

His cheerful, sparkly eyes and his bright as the sun smile, made her heart race.

She just stood still like a rock. '….I….I can't do this! I can't do this!'

Saying something to him was far afar, she could not even get to him.

She just turned back completely and walked out from the class with long and hurry steps.

Jun saw her getting out from the class in hurry.

He went towards April.

"Hey…April?"

April quickly got up.

"Y-Yes?" She asked with a smile.

"What did Mia say to you just now?"

"Mia? Was she here?"

As Jun heard April's answer he looked confusedly at the door of the class from where Mia had just stepped out.

~

In the lunch break, after the lunch, Mia was standing in the hallway with Hana and Ye Rin.

"…And like that we get back to our hotel." Ye Rin was telling Hana about everything they did at the Hot Spring and specifically about the cursed hill.

"Oh god! That was really scary. But it also seems a lot of fun at the same time.

I wish I was there too." Hana said.

"We'll go next time together." Ye Rin said.

As these two were talking, Mia noticed Ray walking into their direction.

'…This time…I'll do this…I'll definitely do this…'

As Ray came near to them, Mia called his name, "…Hey Ray?"

Ray heard her voice and looked at them.

"…Hey….I'm sorry…But I am in a hurry right now…See you later!" And then without even stopping, Ray walked passed them and went towards the Teachers' room.

"Busy boy." Ye Rin said.

'…Did he…Did he just ignore me?...' Mia's thoughts started running in a different direction now.

'…Is this because of what happened last time…?

Oh No No…Maybe he was really busy…He'll talk to me afterwards…what if he doesn't?

Why are you thinking like this Mia??...Don't think negatively.'

~

Mia was waiting at the gate of the school with her bicycle at her side.

"Where is this Jun?" She said to herself, looking at the time in her phone.

After sometime, she got a message from Jun saying he'll be late because of his activities with the music club and so she should head home.

'Huhhh….This guy…Why didn't he tell me before?....'

Thinking this, Mia got on her bicycle, as she was about to paddle, she saw Ray coming out from the school building.

As soon as she saw him, she started panicking.

'…Now what?...I think, I should just go now…That will be better…'

But then,

"HEY MIA!!" Ray called her name.

'..Oh noo…'

She turned back and looked at him. He ran towards her.

"What are you doing here? Waiting for Jun?" Ray asked as he came before her.

"Huh?...Umm…Yeah…" She answered.

"But he'll be late today cause he went to the music club..."

"Yeah I know." She said in panicking squeaky voice.

Ray looked at her confused and smiled. "What happened to your voice…?"

"…Nothing.." Again the squeaky voice came out.

"…Haha….You are funny!" Ray said laughing.

"Haha…." Mia laughed along awkwardly.

"By the way…" Ray said. "Our short trip was a lot fun! Right?"

As soon as these words came out from his mouth, Mia's heart started racing really fast. 'I know where this is going now….He's going to talk about it….Oh god…Now what?'

"I just wanted to tell you one thing…" Ray said.

"What is it?" The squeaky voice asked.

"Haha…It's just that….I'm really happy that I got to spend time with you…"

Mia quickly looked up at him, "With…With me?"

"Yeah…I mean…y-you, Jun, April and all others too." Ray said hurriedly, scratching back of his head.

"I'm always busy due to football practice…So I was the happiest about this trip. We spent time together and it felt like the bond between us got stronger…"

"The bond got stronger…?"

"Hmm…It was really nice. And I would never forget the time on the cursed hill…"

Mia's eyes got widened in surprise. Her cheeks turned red. 'Did I hear that right?'

"Tell Jun thanks from me again. I gotta go now. Getting late for the practice. See you tomorrow." And saying that he waved her goodbye.

As Mia was looking at his walking away figure from the back, she thought to herself, 'He…He talked so easily about it..! Though he didn't say anything directly, he….He said, he liked that we spent time together…But does that mean, he has feelings for me?....And that's why kissed me?....Or maybe he just hasn't realized about his feeling yet….But then why would he kiss me?

Oh God!!!! This is so complicated!!!! Complicated than the maths problems!

I think, I'm thinking too much. I should just be patient. Wait for him to realize his feelings and then maybe something will happen.

I should act cool, just like he did. And wait for him to talk about it directly.

Panicking over these things and thinking about it again and again won't help.

I just need to calm down. Take a deep breath and…and wait for him….'

Deciding this to herself Mia sat down on the seat of her bicycle and paddled away…