Watch the Fireworks with Me

        “Hyung… Hyung! Wake up!”

         “What do you want Kale…?” Aidan asked sleepily in English. He lifted his head and looked up at his brother who was staring at him.

         “You know that Mom and Dad already tried to wake you up right? Don’t you have to be at your school festival in like 20 minutes or something?”

         Aidan shot up in bed and grabbed his alarm clock. It read 8:18 AM in red. “What?! How come you didn’t want me up sooner?” He jumped out of bed and scrambled for his clothes.

         Kale sighed and said, “We did. This is the third time.” Aidan ignored him and ran into the bathroom. Kale threw up his arms and mumbled, “Stupid Hyung.” He left and went down the stairs to eat breakfast.

         A few minutes passed and Aidan ran down the stairs to see his family eating breakfast.

         “Abeoji,” he said, referring to his father, “can you drive me to school?” Aidan looked at his father with pleading eyes. His eyes were a light blue, like his mother’s.

         Daehyun looked away and sighed. “Yeah yeah. Just don’t look at me like that. Always making me feel bad when I say no.”

         “Don’t leave without eating breakfast though or you’ll go hungry.” His mother, Aliena said in Korean. Aidan grabbed a piece of toast and stuck it in his mouth. He bowed to his mother and said what sounded like, “Good-bye Oemeoni.” He waved to his younger brother and went outside. Daehyun went outside to the car a few moments later.

         “Ok, Abeoji! To school! Hurry please! I need to be there in 10 minutes!”

         Daehyun looked at his son with one eyebrow raised. “You do realize it takes about 15 minutes, right?”

         “Well, yeah, but you’re just so fantastic at driving. I think you can get there in less than 10 minutes.” He smiled innocently at his father.

         Daehyun laughed and began to drive. They were a few minutes away from the school when they encountered a road block.

          “It looks like there was an accident. Looks like this will take another 5 minutes.” Daehyun said. Aidan made a small noise out of frustration. He turned to his father and said, “I’ll just walk from here Abeoji. Thank you.” Aidan quickly bowed and left the car. He ran the rest of the distance to school.

         “Hey! You finally made it!” exclaimed his best friend, Ok Dongwoo, in English.

         “Yeah. Sorry I’m late. I hope Ms. Lee doesn’t yell at me.” Aidan said. He took in large breaths of air and put his hand against the wall.

         “I don’t think so. You’re only a few minutes late. There is a lot of work to be done though.” Dongwoo frowned. He yawned and stretched his arms.

         The two heard their teacher yell for the class to get together. She instructed them to get ready for the festival. Their class was in charge of the entire festival and was to make sure everything went smoothly. It was a large responsibility to put on a group of 30 high school students, but it did not seem to bother any of them.

          After a few hours of preparation, the festival began. There were paper lanterns and lights shining brightly throughout the main building of the school and outside. Vendors and carnival games were lined up outside the school. Student activities were set up inside. The student’s families and other people flocked into the festival. Soon it was filled with laughter, voices, and cries of joy from younger children.

         Night fell soon after and Aidan’s class was allowed to have a break.

         “Oh, I almost forgot. Here’s the money I owe you. Thanks” Dongwoo handed Aidan 45,000 won.

         “No problem.”

         “Hey, you can use that money and hang out with Min.” Dongwoo smiled and nudged Aidan roughly.

         Aidan’s ears turned slightly red and said, “What are you talking about?”

         “There you are Aidan!” a voice said.

         Aidan turned his attention to the voice. His ears turned a bright red. It was Min.

She ran up to him and said, “Teacher wanted us to walk around the grounds during break and see if anyone needed help or something. She assigned us two as partners. Dongwoo, you’re paired up with Eunyoung.” She looked at Aidan and frowned slightly. “Are you cold, Aidan? Your ears are red.”

         Aidan opened his mouth to answer, but Dongwoo intervened and said, “Yeah, cold… He’s really cold, Min.” Dongwoo smiled and waved bye to them both, leaving Min and Aidan together.

         Aidan looked at Min and said, “So… Shall we walk around?” She nodded and smiled. They walked through the area with the vendors. Little conversation was made between the two. Whenever there was conversation, it was short and awkward. Suddenly, Min let out a small gasp.

         Aidan looked at her and saw her staring at one of the carnival games. He noticed a rather large purple hedgehog. “Do you like the hedgehog?” He asked her. The words came out of his mouth clumsily.

         “Yeah, but I can’t win so I don’t really want to try.” She looked down at her feet.

         “I bet you could win. I’ll try for you if you want me to.”

         She looked up at him with her round dark brown eyes. Aidan’s ears turned red again. “I would like that.” she said quietly. Min looked away. Her face was a light shade of pink.

         Aidan smiled. He reached for his wallet, but realized he left it at home by mistake. Then he remembered that Dongwoo gave him money. He sighed in relief. Aidan paid the vendor who gave him three rubber balls.

         “If you want anything big, like the hedgehog, you need to knock down all of the bottles on the first try.”

         Aidan threw the first ball. It knocked all of the bottles down except for two. He frowned and told the vendor to set it up again. He tried this several more times before he was successful at knocking all of the bottles down in one shot.

         She exclaimed her thanks when Aidan gave the hedgehog to her. They continued to walk outside near the vendors and conversation between the two became more relaxed.

         “The fireworks are coming on soon, but we have to keep working.” Min said. She gave a quiet sigh.

         “We can take a break. We just won’t tell anyone. I know the perfect spot.” Aidan said. He paused and added, “Un-unless you don’t want to watch with me.” He looked ahead, trying not to be embarrassed.

         “I want to watch the fireworks with you.” She said. Aidan looked at her. She gave him a gentle smile. He was about to take her hand when their teacher came.

         “Remember, you two, that the rest of the school, besides the main building, is off limits.” She said to them before leaving.

         Aidan frowned and said, “But the best place to watch the fireworks is in another part of the school. Let’s go anyway. We’ll sneak over there.” He smiled and took her by the hand. They went inside the main building and were about to turn when their teacher saw them.

         “Aidan and Min! What did I say –” She began.

         “Teacher Lee!” She turned around to see Dongwoo running to her. “There’s a problem with one of the vendors. You need to come see him. It’s really important.” Dongwoo flashed smile at Aidan and Min and dragged the teacher away.

         They continued to the room. As they walked down the hallway, they passed three other rooms.

         “It’s this room.” Aidan said. He opened the door just as the fireworks began. The room was flooded with a multitude of colors.

         “It’s so pretty.” Min said. She looked around the room as red and blue lights filled the room. They sat next to each other on top of the desks with the hedgehog behind them. Aidan felt a slight pressure on his shoulder. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Min’s head. After some hesitance, he put his arm around her shoulder and they watch the fireworks for the rest of the night.