44 Night of Magic

** Harper **

Assuming that Eli's eagerness suggested hunger, Harper added an order of loaded Belgian waffles to share. He didn't turn it down. They took their time with the sumptuous treat, and when they finally left the shop with a sugar overload, dusk had fully settled in, casting a veil of blue light over the park.

"Wow." Harper halted in her tracks as she took in the new view greeting them. "Does this park somehow transform into a different place at night?"

Lights had come on all around them, the warm glow dazzling against the evening backdrop. Shop signs flashed pink and soft yellow, rows of string lights along the roofs dancing in a merry rhythm. Fairy-shaped lamps lit up the sidewalks. Across the plaza, the glittering crest of a carousel spun in a kaleidoscope of colors, and the chimes of its music drifted on the wind, crisp against the quiet splashes of ocean waves just beyond the promenade.

They both stood silently for a moment. "This is … magical," Harper said at last. Not the thrilling and heart-racing type of magical like the rides, but dreamy and enchanting. Beautiful.

"The classic postcard view," Eli agreed. His eyes swept over the panorama, then landed on the gleaming carousel in the distance. "I remember that one … There weren't this many lights on it last time, but you were transfixed enough without them. We couldn't peel you off of it — I think you spent half of the trip on that ride alone, and the other half looking longingly at it from a distance."

Harper let out a slightly embarrassed giggle. "Did I? I actually don't remember that part … But it totally sounds right. It's every girl's dream to go round and round and round forever on a carousel, after all. There's something about the little Victorian carriages and the painted roof that's just so lovely, like a fairytale."

Idly, she wondered who the lucky girl living her fairytales on the carousel tonight was. Scanning the colorful ponies, she spotted her — a small figure in a ponytail all but bouncing in her saddle, waving her arms excitedly as her mother tried yet failed to hold her still. The dad was sitting in the carriage across from them, and their laughter blended in with the music, vivid and sweet.

"Do you want to do it again?" Eli noticed her somewhat wistful look. "Relive your favorite dreams?"

"Nah." Harper smiled and nodded toward the happy family. "They are having such a good time. Let the little one enjoy it. Besides … The ponies look a bit small now, don't they?" She turned her attention to the horses and carriages. "Last time we were here, they looked so impressive, and I thought I was riding so high up the ground that I was almost afraid of falling. But I suppose it'll feel completely different for a grown-up … I'd rather keep my memories and not ruin that feeling of awe."

Yep, those silly sentimentalities were definitely creeping back again, under the wispy enchantment of the evening.

Thankfully, Eli didn't judge, and he seemed to be considering those sentimentalities thoughtfully. "Maybe we should do the ferris wheel instead then," he suggested. "Last time, you thought it was too high and got scared when we reached the top. Maybe you'll like it better now that everything looks smaller and less imposing."

"Oh!" Silly sentimentality was quickly replaced by fresh intrigue. "That's a great idea! Let's do it!"

Sparing one last nostalgic glance at the carousel, Harper followed Eli's lead back onto the promenade.

The sky above them had dimmed further as they lingered over the plaza. A few of the brightest stars had winked into existence, and a crescent moon was now hanging low over the water, adding a silvery sheen to the ocean's rippling surface. As the two of them strolled along the shore, the music from behind them slowly faded, and the soft sounds of waves washing up the beach was soon all they could hear, gentle like a low lullaby.

Harper took a deep breath of the salty scent of seafoam, looking up toward the horizon before them. There, etched against a twinkling sky, was the ferris wheel that watched over them like a brilliant eye suspended in time. Behind it, city lights sparkled and shifted along the shore, like a thousand candles cradling the wonderland they walked upon.

"It's incredible, come to think of it," she marveled. The sight stirred a kind of exquisite feeling that she didn't quite know how to put to words. "I've always thought of amusement parks as giddy places to get your head reeling in adrenaline. I never knew it could also feel … so alluring, in a peaceful way."

She heard Eli smile with a soft puff of air. "I suppose that's why parks like this are in almost every K-drama," he said. "They do give off a charming atmosphere. Maybe you should consider adding a similar scene to your web novel."

… K-drama?

Suddenly, she realized what the exquisite feeling that she couldn't put to words was.

There was a sense of romantic beauty to this moment, as the two of them ambled along the moonlit ocean together and watched the quiet lights and stars twinkle from afar. They had done the exact same walk ten years ago, of course, but to relive that memory again after so many years, at such a magical hour … felt much more delicate, in an almost intimate kind of way. In an almost K-drama kind of way.

Did he notice it too? Or was his comment only a casual thought because he happened to be thinking about her web novel?

Harper stole a furtive glance at Eli. He was looking toward the horizon, not noticing her attention, his profile a hazy silhouette against the starry night. For a moment, the darkness blurred the image, and Harper thought that she was once again staring at the college boy in her memories, the same one who had stirred all those butterfly flutters in her heart years ago.

… Yep, silly sentimentalities.

She turned her gaze away, though that moment of exquisiteness lingered. Lingered still when they arrived at the ferris wheel, settled into their seats across from each other, and slowly began to rise into the air. Lingered still when they watched the city skyline come to life beneath them, a dazzling brightness stretching on for as far as the eye could see.

Maybe K-dramas were right, and there truly was magic in a place like this.