“Hyunsuk, what are you doing here?” I questioned.

“Come with me.”

“What?”

“Come with me on an adventure. At least just for tonight. Please?”

“Hold on, I don’t understand what you’re saying, what do you want me to do?”

“I know how you’ve been really stressed lately, and I like you a lot, so I wanted to do something fun with you. I know it sounds insane, but I want you to run away with me. I'll take you wherever, just stay with me for one night.”

I thought for a moment, trying to process what had just been offered to me. The more I thought about it, the more appealing it sounded. I could get away for just one night with someone who likes me, and now that I think about it, is pretty good-looking. 

“Can it be more than one night?” I asked sheepishly.

He nodded his head. “Sure. However long you’d like.”

“Let me pack some clothes.”

I grabbed my duffle bag from underneath my bed and tossed my favorite clothing items and other essentials into it.

“No rush, just make sure that Seunghun doesn’t find out. He would kill me if he knew about this.” Hyunsuk chuckled.

I decided to write a note for Seunghun. I probably wouldn’t be home by morning and he’d be worried sick not knowing what I was up to. I wrote,

Seunghun,

I’m going to be gone for a while. Don’t worry too much, I will be fine. I’m with someone who I know will take care of me. I love you and I’ll try to call sometime.

-Seunghee

After setting the note on my pillow and making sure that I had everything I needed, I grabbed a jar from my dresser.

“This was supposed to be my college tuition money but… I guess that’s not a thing anymore.”

I shoved it in my bag and then handed the bag to Hyunsuk through the window. He set the bag on the ground and then assisted me in crawling through the window as well. It seemed so surreal, almost like a dream, and I hoped that it wasn’t. We got into his car and started driving to who-knows-where.

We didn’t say much, but there wasn’t much to say. I knew why I was doing this and so did he. I thought about how Choa had said that Hyunsuk liked someone else that wasn’t her and connected the dots. He was set up on a blind date by the very person he liked. Ouch.

Then I thought more about that last bit. Wait, he really likes me? It cannot be for my personality because of obvious reasons, but I’m also not very pretty, either. Especially compared to some girls his age. Why would he fall for a hot-tempered, average-looking teenager?

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“I’m kind of hungry. Wanna get burgers?”

I smiled and glanced at him. 

“I’d like that.”

We pulled into the drive-through of a fast food restaurant and ordered some burgers for the road. It was calm and I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I felt free and for the first time in a long time, true happiness. But with the calmness in the air, there was also love. Despite just barely becoming closer with Hyunsuk, I felt like he loved me. And I think I loved him too.

~~

I fell asleep at some point and woke up still in the driving car. For a moment I forgot where I was.

“Do you want to go home?” Hyunsuk turned to me and asked.

“No,” I replied quickly and surely. “I want to stay with you.” 

He nodded and gave a reassuring smile.

“We can go back whenever you want.” He glanced at me, who had already been looking at him for a while. “Or we could not.”

My eyes widened. “That’s an option?”

“Yes.”

I smiled brightly at the thought of basically running away and starting a new life with Hyunsuk.

“That sounds nice.”

I noticed that we weren’t on the main road, so I asked if we could pull over for a moment.

“Sure,” He pulled over and turned to me.

“What are we?” I asked the question that I had been wanting to ask for a while now.

We were both serious now, and we were both thinking deeply. Hyunsuk took my hand.

“We can be whatever you want us to be. We can be best friends or we could be…”

Without really knowing, our lips were drawn together and indulged in a soft and brief kiss. Our faces lingered close to one another even after we separated.

“Does that mean what I think it means?” Hyunsuk guessed silently.

I nodded and touched his soft cheek, bringing him to reciprocate the smile on my lips. I brought my hand up to his hair and toyed with its vibrant green color. I wondered what we would do from here.

I thought happily about starting a new life with Hyunsuk. Even though I wished time didn’t have to move, I looked forward to where it would take us. Maybe this was the biggest mistake that I would make in my whole life, but I had a feeling that it would be alright.

“What do you want to do now?” Hyunsuk broke the silence.

“Honestly,” I thought for a moment. "I just want to be with you. Whatever we do and wherever we go, I’m okay with it, as long as I’m by your side. We could start a new life or we could go back home. That part is up to you.”

“Would it be selfish of me to not want to take you back home?”

“No, that’s actually the option I was leaning towards.”

“Great, where are we moving?”

I laughed. “Why do you keep asking me all the important questions?”

“I’m giving you options! I’m making sure that you know what’s going on so that this doesn’t qualify as kidnapping.”

“I don’t need to know what’s going on. I just want to have fun.” I leaned back and looked straight forward.

“What am I supposed to do with you?” 

“Treat me very nicely. That would be sufficient for me, I think.”

Hyunsuk started the car and we drove away to wherever we would end up. Our destination was unclear, and our plan as well. But one thing we were sure of was that we were both happy and excited for the road ahead--Metaphorically and literally.

The End ❤

Author’s Note (please read all the way through)

This was a very short story, especially compared to Picturesque, but I really enjoyed writing it. I feel like the stories I write really deeply reflect how I feel, and I guess you could say that I want to elope with literally anyone :’) 

But I definitely want to take on a more poetic and traditional style of writing in some future stories. I want to portray the true emotion and beauty of romance because honestly, I am such a hopeless romantic. This won’t be all of the stories though, but I might make some that take place in older times, maybe a royalty AU? Also, I LOVE the idea of soulmates so an upcoming story will probably be about that.

And if you really want, I might make a sequel to Run Away 😳 But if not that, at least an epilogue. Anyway, please tell me what you want to see more of and thank you so much for reading, Goodbye! <3