ENHYPEN - IMAGINES (FF)

SJY: New Year's Party

31st of December. The day you prayed wouldn't ever come. The day that people like you, the introverts dreaded.
But it was a tradition and being friends with the most extroverted people only meant exasperation.
But you just wanted to get done with it as soon as you could, call it liberation if you will.
You were willing to do anything to leave early and stop you from kissing random guys at 12. This part terrorised you.

"Just stay till 10-ish, fake an irritable bowel syndrome, excuse yourself to go to the toilet, jump out of the window, run for my life, reach my house, collapse on my bed by 12"

You gave yourself an adulating smile while going through your imaginary checklist of things you should be doing tonight.

You clutched on to your belly from the sudden feeling of nausea and abdominal pain, probably from the social anxiety as you opened the door of your friend's house.
You distinctly remember her telling you that it'd be only a couple of people, but it looked like a whole set of rats infesting the room, just like in the movie Ratatouille.

You tugged tightly onto your dress as your eyes frantically kept looking for your best friend, the host of the special night. But that girl was nowhere to be seen. So you mustered up the courage to ask if anyone had seen her.

"Umm.... excuse me? Have you-"

"Hey, my first time seeing you. I'm Sunwoo. If you're looking for the pool, it's right there"

He said pointing his fingers at a distant object like a little kid. You wondered how many shots he must've had to actually be that drunk and talk randomly.

You faked a smile and walked outside to the green lawn that was decorated with lights and glow-in-the-dark pebbles. You loved the aesthetics of it. So you took out your phone and clicked some snaps and while you were at it, you thought you should just call your friend instead.

"Hey!"

You turned around to the sudden call.
A fairly tall guy with luscious brown locks of hair looked at you with puppy eyes. You almost felt dizzy from all the heavenly ambience that he was radiating.

"I'm actually looking for my phone, I think I lost it somewhere, do you mind if I asked you to give me a call?"

Without hesitation you nodded vigorously and handed him your phone.

He excitedly dialled his number on your phone but the sudden burst of vibrations and lights going on and off from his pocket puzzled you two.

"Dang, I should've taken it out of my pocket" He cursed under his breath as if he was caught in a felony.

You got the hang of what was going on and so you decided to play along.

"Great! So what do I save it as?"

You asked him after he was busted to have his number saved by you in the cutest way possible.

"Name's Jake. But you can decide what you want to do with it. I'm just gonna have to save yours as Noona"

"How do you know I'm older than you?"

"You're friends with Sarah and you're both in the same grade, so ...."

You chuckled at his cute responses.
Hearing him call you Noona hit differently. No one has ever addressed you that way before, you weren't exactly a guy's type of girl.

Surprisingly it was just the two of you in the backyard, underneath the beautiful starlight.

You talked for hours. Indeed you were so lost in the conversation, that you had totally forgotten about your imaginary checklist starting from feigning an IBS.

After what felt like years, you were finally greeted by your bestie Sarah.

"Looks like you've found yourself company for tonight. Hope you stay like this the whole year, make it your resolution too maybe"

Your friend exclaimed while wiping away the fake tears off her face upon seeing you interact with a guy after ages.

"It's almost time!" She said while patting you both on the shoulders and making her way back to the crowd for the countdown.

You looked at your watch, surprised to learn that you only had 10 seconds until you kissed somebody.

Jake and You shared glances and quickly looked at the ground to cover up the blushed cheeks at the thought of actually having to kiss each other. But you weren't sure if he was down for it.
So you in the most awkward way possible stuttered while asking him

"So .... do .... should we-"

"5! 4! 3-" [countdown in the background]

"It's my first time, so I-" You continued.

"Not anymore" He smirked

"2! 1! Happy New Year"

He took the initiative and crashed his soft, thick lips onto yours.
As a reflex, you both closed your eyes and he pulled you in a hug while taking it slow with the kiss.
You could hear the fireworks as a distant sound, you just didn't care about it.

It was your first ever kiss in 23 years.
Although most people have their first kisses on New Year's, this felt like it could go somewhere for you two.
Only thing you regretted was having met someone like him this late. Where was he when you were at your lowest? How you wished he was there with you when you graduated from college or when you wanted a shoulder to cry on when you were down?

You felt blessed for having him hold you by waist and pull you closer with each passing second and never letting you go. You wanted this moment to last forever. This was the best New Year's that you've ever had. And you hoped you'd get to share many more with him in the years to come.