#thewritersnetwork

“Jae.” She calls out as she enters the apartment. Shoes off at the door she pads through the apartment in search of Jaebum.

She throws her bag on his bed just as he exits the bathroom. Hair still damp from the shower he must’ve taken as he slips a white t-shirt over his head.

“I missed you, happy birthday.” Arms wrapped around his waist and a feather light kiss pressed to his back as he applies moisturizer to his hair.

He doesn’t need to reply for her to know that he missed her as well. It’s in the way he looks at her once he turns in her arms. The way he caresses her face as he angles it towards him so that he can press a kiss to her lips.

“It is now that you’re here.” He smiles at her. “How was your day?” He asks as he lifts her in his arms and walks them over to his bed where he sits up against the headboard with her in his lap.

“Shitty..” she sighs raising her head from his chest. Arms around his neck as she plays with his hair. He found it adorable how she found comfort in doing the most mundane things like playing with his hair or his ears or even just tracing the contours of his face and though she thinks it’s weird he enjoys it.

“Is Christian still being mean to you?” She nods and sighs. Jaebum knows that whatever is going on between her and Christian is bothering her especially since he’s like an older brother to her.

“I can handle Ian, honestly I’m just stressed about finishing this final semester and applying for grad school plus I need to stop slacking on gym day. I just need a breather.” She rests her head on his shoulder and snuggles closer to him.

“You know you can always come over, even when I’m not here right? I gave you the code for a reason. I already told you that you don’t need to lose any more weight.” He says twirling her hair around his finger.

“It’s not the same especially when you leave for tour. I just come by and make sure everything is in check and maybe smuggle a shirt or four. I didn’t even lose that much.” Jaebum chuckles and the sounds vibrates through his chest.

He didn’t mind her taking his shirts, quite frankly he found that they looked much better on her especially in the mornings when she stays over and is at the stove making breakfast or standing in front of the ceiling to floor windows sipping on her preferred brew that morning. He liked it even more when she wore nothing underneath as it gave him easy access to the ambrosia between her thighs. Jaebum didn’t care that she wasn’t some dainty little princess either well she was his princess but he liked-loves- her full figure. Her soft womanly curves that he loves running his hands over, her tummy that she didn’t quite like but he couldn’t help but rub every time she laid with him. It was something that had become quite soothing for him as they got closer. He didn’t want her to lose weight because he thought she was perfect the way she was but he also knew that it was her body and if she felt like losing weight the only thing he could do was support her. He prayed she didn’t lose those thick thighs the most, he could spend the entirety of winter between those and not be cold which is why he often found himself being the little spoon during cuddle sessions. Between her thighs, legs wrapped around his waist with his head on her chest as she played with his hair or ears, Jaebum swore that was some of the best sleep he’d ever had.

“Jae, baby what are you thinking about?” She questions.

“Nothing really” he says not wanting to give away where his thoughts had gone. They weren’t even sexual but he knew he was aroused.

“Then why are you hard?” She teases as she bounces on his lap once. He groans as he grips onto her waist.

“The guys are picking me up in less than an hour, don’t start nothing we can’t finish baby.” He whispers in her ear as his palm smooths over the curve of her ass before smacking it lightly, feeling it jiggle against his palm.

“We’ve made each other cum in less.” She bites back grinding down on his lap.

He lets out a pleased hum before turning to his side, flipping them over so that he’s situated above her. “Careful what you wish for sweetheart.” He nips at her earlobe as he makes his way down her neck.

Hands that once caressed her sides slides to her knees, spreading her legs apart and fitting himself between them. “Are you sure you gotta work today? It’s your birthday.” He didn’t have to look up to know she was frowning and as much as he’d love to spend the rest of his birthday with her, the session had already been booked.

“It’s not gonna be that long, it’s just to finalize some things and then I’m gonna come back here for you and we’re gonna go chill for a bit until we decide to come home and cuddle.” He smiles brightly up at her from his position between her legs. “Until then however, I want a taste, it’s been so long and I know you’ve been pent up from the stress of school and exams. Can I?” He asks but he already knows the answer as his fingers hook in the waist of her tights under her skirt pulling it down along with her underwear and tossing them over his shoulders.

With school and work she was preoccupied until the week before Christmas and by then Jaebum had already left to visit his family for the holidays. He had only gotten back over the weekend for work and didn’t have any time to go see her.

“Please..” she whispers threading her fingers in dark hair. His thumb traces circles into her outer thighs as he takes a tentative lick at the nectar between her thighs. Jaebum groans lowly before he throws both her legs over his shoulders and reacquaints his face with her sweet cunt. He loved the way her body reacted to him, he relished in the fact that he was the first to bring out a side of her that she’d kept hidden because of insecurities.

“Jae, b-baby fuuuck just like that.” She moans out at the little bites he places on her clit. Her little penchant for pain mixed with pleasure released a side of Jaebum that he didn’t think much about before her. Sure he’d read about fans saying that he held a very dominating aura and while his sex life before her was not vanilla, the things they did with each other were down right filthy and he loved every second of it.

“God you treat this pussy so good baby.” She grips on his hair and pulls him closer to her heat, rolling her hips up against his tongue. Hands locked firmly on her thighs, he flips them both over so that she’s sitting on his face. He knew she low key enjoyed it but would never say it out loud because she had this fear of suffocating Jaebum between her thighs and to be honest he honestly didn’t think it was a bad way to go.

Her hips still on his face but one harsh nip to the inside of her thigh and she’s gripping his hair again fucking herself on his tongue. He knew she was close, he prided himself on the fact that he could make her lose herself with just his mouth and maybe, just maybe he had developed a bit of an oral fixation.  

“Close…baby please,” she whines.  “Fuck yessss… make me cum.” She whispers looking him in his eyes. Thighs shaking on either side of his head, she releases onto his awaiting tongue and he happily licks her clean. She falls next to him on the bed trying to catch her breath and he chuckles lightly at the blissed out look on her face.

“My ego’s gonna go to the roof if you keep looking at me like that every time we get done.”

Propped up on one elbow she laughs at his comment, quickly leaning over and kissing him. “Your turn.”

“As much as I’d love that, we got like fifteen minutes before the boys come bursting through my front door…ten max.” Without a word she rolls onto her stomach and pushes backwards until she’s on her knees, back arched and cheeks shaking to tease him.

He laughs at her antics knowing that she knew exactly what she was doing. Kicking of his sweats he angles her body to face the long mirror he has behind his bedroom door. Stood behind her, she winks when they make eye contact and Jaebum grips her hips with one hand, the other in her hair as he pulls her back against his chest and down on to his awaiting length. He pulls out ready to slide back in but instead hears “Yo, JB!” and the slamming of his front door.

“Shit.” he mumbles against the side of her head looking at her pleading eyes in the mirror. This wasn’t the first time they’d been deep in each other only for someone to appear on the other side of the door. The last time had been her friend Mariah who’d come over to chill unexpectedly. Both hid in the closet in her bedroom and fucked for a good half hour before Mariah eventually left after trying to call her and got no reply as her phone always went on do not disturb when they spent quality time together.  

“You’re my good girl aren’t you princess?” She nods at him. “ you’re gonna stay quiet and let me fuck you with my brothers right on the other side of that door?”  

“Yeah..” she whispers breathlessly, her pupils dilated as she takes in the sight of Jaebum’s damp hair, the hand on her hip holding her skirt up to display the way they connect and the hand that had traded her hair for her throat. “So are you gonna fuck me or not daddy?” She smirks at him.

“Hyung, are you ready?” a voice calls from outside his bedroom door as he slides back into her and starts a brutal pace. Hand tightening slightly around her neck he fucks into her like hated her.

“Hyung?” Yugyeom he thinks to himself.

“Yeah, just got out the shower, give me like ten minutes and I’ll be out.” He shouts out never faltering in his thrusts. Her walls clench around his length and he bites into her shoulder to muffle the loud moan that escapes his mouth. The hand on her hip slides down between her thighs rubbing figure eights on her clit. Her back arches off his chest and Jaebum removes his hand from her throat letting her fall onto her stomach.

“That’s it princess…so fucking tight no matter how many times I stretch you out.” Her cunt clenches tightly around his length at that.Two sharp thrusts and she grabbing at one of the pillows on his bed and moaning into it as her orgasm washes over her. Thighs twitching, he doesn’t give her time to come down from her high as he starts back a brutal pace hurdling towards his end. Jaebum covers her body with his, face hidden between her neck and shoulder groaning and moaning as he fills her up with his warm seed. He feels her walls tighten around him once more as he body twitches under him.

“Shit, did you just cum again?” He chuckles grinning from ear to ear.

“Mhmm..” she mumbles as she turns her head to face him. Jaebum kisses her forehead and nose before pulling out of her and heading for his bathroom. Quickly cleaning up himself, he heads straight for his closet grabbing a pair of jeans and a jacket to throw over his t-shirt as it was cold outside.

She’s still lying on her stomach when he’s finished getting dressed and so he flips her onto her back and drops to his knees cleaning up the mess he made between her thighs. He presses a kiss to her mound once he’s done and laughs when she shuts her legs and swats her hands at him. He helps her out of her skirt and pulls down the sweatshirt he recognizes as his own over her thighs before pulling his covers over her body. A soft kiss to her lips and forehead before he realizes that she’s asleep. Turning off the light he quietly slips out of his room and down the hall to his living room to meet his brothers and head out.

Jackson pulls him into a hug as soon as he sees him only to pull back, face scrunched up. “Why’s your shirt all wet bro?”

“Shower, no time to dry my hair properly.” He says smoothly while ushering them out his front door and locking up behind him. Once they get to the van and settle in, he’s pulling out his phone and sending her a text to wake up to.  

“That’s not what I’m trying to say at all. I’m saying that we have gone 21 years in our life and have been single for the entirety of it.” He huffed and crossed his arms, brows furrowed and mind getting caught on that same train of thought.

“Being virgins has nothing to do with the fact that we’re single. We could go down to any frat party going on down the road and come back without our v-cards,” you stated, drying your hands and going to sit next to Seungkwan.

“But doesn’t it seem better to do it with someone you’ve known and loved for so long? Doesn’t the idea of knowing someone else’s body better than your own excite you? Knowing where to touch to make them feel good? And not just in a sexual way, if you needed to comfort them you’d know how to cheer them up, how they like to be cuddled and how to make their life seem so much brighter.” The boy spoke with so much desire.

Seungkwan was the type of person who daydreamed a little too hard about the perfect life and in his mind, the perfect life consisted of a beautiful partner and two or three children, all living in a nicely furnished family home. He longed to love and be loved.

“It sounds nice but you know what sounds even better?” You looked at Seungkwan and he raised a brow at you, “letting life take its course.” Before Seungkwan could rebuttal your suggestion, you held up your hand to stop him and kept talking.

“If you get too caught up in trying to find ‘the one’ you’ll scare them off. Then when you don’t meet them you start to get desperate and by the time you’re 40 you find that you’ve ended up just settling for someone that you don’t actually love but it’s too late to get out of that relationship because you’ve already put too much time and effort in and all of that would’ve been a waste so you just end up… stuck.”

A quietness settled down between you two until Seungkwan elbowed you lightly in the side and scoffed. “That sounds a little too real, how are your parents?”

You let out a bitter chuckle before speaking, “Still miserable.”

There was a time when you had once asked your mom a burning question that had popped into your head after reading one too many relationship magazine articles. It went along the lines of “if you had never given birth to me, would you and dad still be married?” and her response was “No. If you hadn’t been born, I would’ve divorced him years ago.”

Your parents didn’t hate each other, in fact, they loved each other dearly but they weren’t in love. They were both missing out on potential lifelong relationships with the loves of their lives but were stuck in some sort of love limbo because they were too scared to lose what they’ve already built.

You wouldn’t say that you were scared of falling in love but seeing the way your parents lived, both of them just simply existing in the same house, made you okay with the thought that there was a chance you never would fall in love. There was also the fact that you would always have people you knew you could love and love you back. Family and friends would last you the rest of your life. You didn’t need to fall in love because you already loved who you had.

The idea of never being in love, however, didn’t sit well with Seungkwan. This then lead to your current situation.

Seungkwan had roped you into going on a double date. His friend, Vernon, would set him up with a girl from one of his music theory classes and Seungkwan would set him up with a girl from his world business class. Unfortunately for you, Seungkwan’s classmate had cancelled last minute and he was forced to bring you along with him.

If it weren’t bad enough, the girl that Vernon had planned to set Seungkwan up with seemed to only have her eyes on Vernon. This then lead to an awkward double date with you four sitting at a small diner close to your campus.

“So…” you started off, hoping someone would speak up. The three turned to you expectantly with looks that made you feel sort of guilty about not having anything important to say. “The chips are kind of soggy don’t you think?” You turned to Vernon and he smiled, popping a chip into his own mouth. He nodded while chewing and downed the sad excuse of a chip down with his soda. “Should we ask for new ones?” he proposed but you shook your head knowing the moody waiter, Jeonghan, would likely return the same plate of fries after taking it to the back.

Vernon was easy enough to get along with; you’d meet up with him and Seungkwan from time to time which meant it was easy enough on your part. The hard thing for you was watching Seungkwan get shut down every time he would try to talk to his date. He’d initiate conversation and she’d reply with dead answers.

You leaned over to Vernon and whispered, “you really fucked up with this one dude, was it hard choosing between this girl and Satan?”

He then moved his head to reply, his lips almost touching the shell of your ear making you shiver slightly, “I know, I suck. What makes me feel even worse is that Seungkwan made the best possible choice for me.” He then sat back up straight and winked at you and boy did your heart flutter.

The next day you woke up in a bed that you could tell wasn’t your own. You moved to get up but the arm around your waist kept you stationed under the blankets. The touch was warm and familiar, bringing a smile of comfort to your features. You rubbed at your eyes and your blurry vision slowly disappeared, revealing a sleeping Seungkwan. He looked as peaceful as a child who was surrounded by their stuffed toys, only instead of stuffed toys, Seungkwan was bundled up in a blanket that wrapped around the both of you.

In the moment that you were admiring his features, you were suddenly hit with the realisation that you were pressed up against your best friend. Sleepovers weren’t anything new, let alone sleeping in the same bed, but after last night, the moment seemed a little intimate, like something that should stay unspoken between the two of you when the both of you moved on with your days. You knew that the two of you would be a little more emotionally connected after what went down the previous night.

Last night’s double date was fine, great even, however Seungkwan didn’t feel the same way. He brought you to his own dorm afterwards and let everything out to you about how he was sad about being single, how he felt that he was missing out on crucial life experiences and how he hated how well everything was going between you and Vernon.

 (”What’s so bad about me and Vernon getting along?” You could tell how irked Seungkwan was about the situation but you couldn’t help getting annoyed at his disdain for you and Vernon.

“It was just so annoying seeing how much you two were enjoying each other and how your eyes would turn to hearts whenever the other would so much as to look in your direction.” Seungkwan paced back and forth in front of your figure sitting on his bed.

“Because of what?! Don’t tell me it’s because you have some bullshit feelings about me.”

“Because!” He paused in front of you to continue, “It sucks seeing you, someone who could hardly give a damn about being in a relationship, actually get a chance to do something that I, someone who actually wants to fall in love, have been waiting for for ages!” His frustration had gotten to him and you could see tears start to well up in his eyes. That was so Seungkwan. Only he could get worked up about something so trivial.

Your heart ached seeing your best friend try to hold back tears.

You gently took his hand and pulled him to sit down next to you, wrapping your arms around him and letting his silent tears fall. You didn’t say anything because you couldn’t understand how he could feel so strongly about a topic you couldn’t care less about, but you did understand the level of frustration someone would feel about seeing someone get something that you deserved more.

After a few minutes of silence, Seungkwan spoke up quietly, “I just can’t help feeling so lonely. I have you and I have all of my other friends, but I don’t have that special someone.”)

 You lifted his arm from your waist and got up, collected your things, and left. As much as you wanted to stay in bed and sleep in with Seungkwan, you needed to get ready.

Vernon was probably already waiting.

Seungkwan was right. You did have some sort of crush on Vernon after last night and you could tell he had some sort of crush on you too. Meeting up with him wasn’t entirely self motivated because he did offer to try and do a better job at finding Seungkwan his ‘match made in heaven’. You weren't there for yourself, that was just a perk, you were there for Seungkwan.

Apparently, the best place to be discussing such an important topic was in the local arcade with the constant chatter, flashing lights and loud arcade games. The two of you had gone through half the arcade, just enjoying each other’s company before you eventually remembered that you hat to remind Vernon of the real reason you were there. After a race on the ‘Super Bike 2’ arcade game, you were seated in one of the food booths waiting for the boy to come back with your plate of fries.

He arrived and sat into the seat in front of you, sliding your plate across the table to you.

“Hopefully these fries are better than the ones we had last night,” He joked.

You gave a curt laugh and nibbled on a fry, trying to figure out how to bring the topic up. “About last night…”

“Don’t tell me,” He cut you off, “You’re only here out of politeness and you’re going to try to let me down nicely.”

“What? No, I’m here to talk about Seungkwan. Remember? Last night you said that we should meet up to find someone else to set Seungkwan up with.”

The two of you fell silent. Eventually Vernon broke the silence with a soft ‘oh…’ and popped another fry into his mouth. “Honestly, I thought you knew I was joking about that.”

“You were joking?!”

“Well yeah, it was my way of asking you on a date…”

After the entire time of loud games and rowdy conversation, that one moment of silence was enough to equal out the entire day of noise. None of you knew how to break the silence and instead decided eating was the best way to deflect the conversation.

You couldn’t help but imagine how embarrassed Vernon was. This whole time he thought you two were on a date and here you were thinking of another guy. Granted, you enjoyed the day like it was a date but in your mind, the idea was non-existent.

“There’s… There’s this girl,” you looked up from the stain on the ground at the sound of his voice, “she’d be perfect for him. They share the same type of mindset and their personalities are basically spot on.” He spoke which a type of unsureness, like he wasn’t telling the whole tale. You gave him a look that told him to keep going and he sighed.

“How much do you want this for him?”

Although the question may have caught you off guard, you replied almost instantly, out of instinct, “more than anything. You may not believe me but it physically hurts me seeing him so sad about something so dumb.”

Vernon nodded, opening his mouth to continue and hesitated for a bit, eventually getting to his point.

“She already has a boyfriend.”

If Seungkwan was ever in any sort of trouble, you would do anything for him. Cheat, lie and murder; you would go as far as you needed --at least, that’s what you would tell him constantly-- but watching through the cafe window at the couple that Vernon introduced as Min and Chan, there was no way you could break up their relationship. You had agreed to meet up with Vernon to meet the girl under the guise of a double date, but that meant you had to watch the two love birds interact.

You sat at the table, introducing yourself to them and them doing the same, and took in how the two acted. Vernon was right, it was like you were watching your best friend in another person’s body. If Seungkwan were dating someone, he would definitely be as affectionate as Min was. She really did radiate love and you couldn’t stand the way she looked at Chan as if he were the only person in the room. They made being in love look so good that you almost changed your stance on how you viewed love and relationships.

The date was mainly all small talk and the more you spoke with Min --Chan was basically invisible to you-- the more you spotted similarities between her and Seungkwan. “You two are the cutest, I can almost feel the love from across the table. Are you guys still in the honeymoon phase?”

Vernon raised his eyebrow at you and you gave him an innocent look. It would definitely ease your conscience knowing the couple you were about to break up were only dating for the slightest amount of time. That was until you got your answer that you were about to just up and leave the establishment.

Min giggled and Chan moved his arm around her shoulders as he answered, “I guess we are in the honeymoon phase. That is, if the honeymoon phase could last for 5 years. It was my 15th birthday when she asked me to be her boyfriend. It was cute because when we were both 12, we made a promise that we would start dating once we were both 15…”

His story trailed on for much longer but you tuned him out trying to think everything through. Were you really about to break up a 5— no, scratch that, an 8 year relationship?

It wasn’t until Vernon placed his arm around your shoulders that you were brought out of your thoughts. You were able to catch him halfway through his sentence and nod along to what he was saying.

“—I guess it could be three dates including yesterday but I’m not really sure… Actually the first time I was supposed to be meeting with a different girl but she cancelled so I’m not sure if the first one counts either. I don’t know, I guess we’re just seeing each other? Is there a label?” He looked down at you with questioning eyes and your heart dropped.

You looked over at the two and they smiled wide, probably excited for another couple to hang out with. You looked away from their expectant stares and back to the boy next to you.

“Uh… A label? We’ve only seen each other for three days, and I’m not even sure if today is considered a “thing”. Is a label really necessary?” You gulped out of nervousness but your mouth was so dry that it hardly did anything to ease your nerves.

It wasn’t until you heard a familiar voice calling your name that you looked up and saw Seungkwan standing at the table with a coffee in his hands. “I’ve been looking for you! Remember we have that thing later? We need to start getting ready soon! Let’s go!” He hurried you up and out of your seat, gave Vernon a small greeting and then a curt nod to Min and Chan before dragging you out of the cafe.

As you walked back to your dorm room with Seungkwan, he passed you the drink he had in his hands. You took and sipped it, tasting your regular order.

“Thanks,” you muttered to him.

“For what,” he scoffed jokingly, “the coffee or for saving your ass from that whole situation?”

“Both.”

He chuckled and linked arms with you, forcing you to walk a bit faster. To be honest, Seungkwan had no idea you would be on a double date and when he walked past and saw you and Vernon through the shop window, he went in hoping to do something petty. There you were, on a double date that looked like it was going so much better than the one he went on with you and Vernon just nights before. It wasn’t until he finally got your drink that he overheard your struggle and knew he had to get you out of there.

When you arrived at the dorms, he followed you in, knowing the two of you would end up hanging out anyways. As you hung your coat up, Seungkwan went straight to the couch to lie down. You soon joined him, sitting down at his feet and flicking on the tv.

“Why did you go on that date with Vernon? I mean, I know you like him but you literally freaked out when he asked about putting a label on your relationship.” He sat up to look at you and you didn’t respond, trying to get rid of the embarrassment bubbling back inside you. “Do you know how much I want that? I would literally kill for that.”

“Fine, kill me! then you can have him!” You let out in annoyance. Seungkwan’s eyes widened in surprise and then the two of you burst out into laughter. After a few minutes of laughter and a few tears of amusement, you were both calmed down enough to talk.

“I wasn’t really on a date with him. We were trying to find you someone to date,” you admitted.

“Oh really? Who were you thinking of setting me up with? The girl who clearly had a boyfriend or the boy that clearly had a girlfriend?” His tone was heavy with sarcasm and you couldn’t help but hesitate.

He gave you an expectant look, waiting for an answer until his eyes widened in shock. “Were you going to set me up with someone who was already in a relationship?!”

“No!” You were quick to defend yourself, “I was going to get her out of the relationship first and then set the two of you up.”

Seungkwan looked at you with an exasperated expression and shook you by your shoulders. “Do you realise how idiotic that sounds?! Did you hear that come out of your mouth just then?!”

You pushed his hands from your shoulders and pouted at him. His expression softened and you took that as your chance to speak. “I just, I don’t like seeing you sad. You were especially sad after the double date and I needed to make you happy.”

He could only sigh and pull you into a hug. He kissed your forehead and thanked you for how much you cared about him.

Seungkwan was truly touched by his best friend’s actions. He would just have to tell you off some other time.

After that stunt, there were no more mentions of love and relationships from Seungkwan. He was content knowing how much you cared for him. When you asked why he was so quiet on the topic he would say that the empty feeling he had in his heart was ‘temporarily filled up with his love for you’.

You and Vernon didn’t end up working out. You did end up apologising and asking him out again but after 5 more dates, you couldn’t handle it. You just couldn’t bring yourself to say yes when Vernon asked you to be his girlfriend. You let him down honestly, saying you did enjoy spending time with him but there was more self discovery that you needed to make before being with someone else.

Seungkwan was more than welcoming after hearing your voice over the phone. He opened the door and pulled you into a hug as you cried into his shoulder. His voice was soft and spoke words of comfort into your ear. You were heartbroken and it was completely your own fault but Seungkwan was able to make you forget that. He said it wasn’t anybody’s fault and that it just wasn’t your time.

For the second time, you woke up in bed with Seungkwan holding you reassuringly and you knew that there was a new sort of bond between you two. Instead of waking up feeling empty, you were awake with a new sort of foreign feeling, one that made your heart palpitate whenever you remembered your best friend comforting you, or when you could feel his arm snug around your waist, and especially when you looked up, caught his gaze and he smiled softly at you.

The idea that the two of you would never be apart was a crazy concept to the both of you. Best friends since birth all the way through to college. Life, however, always has different plans for everyone. Seungkwan had graduated top of his sector for his international business degree and received so many job offers from different companies across the globe.

While he was working overseas, you were back from college and in your hometown, working in your childhood primary school as a teacher. It was a job you loved and worked hard towards but with the hours that needed to be put in and the time difference between you and Seungkwan, the communication between you two had eventually died down.

There was no way you would have ever forgotten him. You were in your old hometown and surrounded by different memories of the two of you.

Years went by and you had your on and off relationships. As each relationship came and went, you were able to last longer. Your view on love changed and you were able to slowly open yourself up more and more to each partner. You were finally able to give love and not think too much about ending up miserable.

Another day at work was coming to a close and you rushed your children out of the classroom. You needed to pack your equipment quickly before you were late to your meetup. After years of not seeing him, you felt the butterflies flutter around in your stomach. There was no way you could contain your excitement as your smile spread permanently on your face.

“Well someone seems to be in a rush. Big day today?” A familiar voice rang throughout the classroom and your heart stopped. Your head turned and your gaze fell on Seungkwan leaning on the doorframe of the classroom with a bouquet of flowers in hand. You immediately stopped what you were doing and sprinted at full speed towards him, jumping into his arms and hugging him as tight as possible.

“Miss me?” He chuckled and gave you a quick peck to your cheek.

“Why are you here?!” You asked ecstatically.

Seungkwan gave you the flowers and explained, “I wanted to surprise you! If you knew I was coming here it wouldn’t be as fun.”

You went back to collect you bag and Seungkwan followed. “So…” he started, “What should we do now?”

As soon as he asked that, you froze. Seeing Seungkwan made you forget about everything, to the point where you forgot why you were so excited in the first place.

“Actually… I was going to meet with Vernon.”

Seungkwan’s heart sank and all he could do was let out a disappointed ‘oh’. He nodded slowly and stepped back. “Have you guys been seeing each other long?”

“Oh! No, it’s not like that! He was passing through town and wanted to catch up with me, see how things are.”

“I guess I should’ve called before coming then. Maybe I would’ve beat him to the punch huh?”

You placed your hand on Seungkwan’s shoulder sympathetically and then linked arms with him. “I guess since you’re so cut up about it, I’ll let you tag along.”

It was like a mini reunion meeting up with Vernon. Both Seungkwan and Vernon’s features had matured but you all acted like nothing had changed and you’d all been friends for ages, as if those years apart had never happened. The three of you hung out for hours and eventually had to say goodbye.

“I’ve gotta say,” Vernon looked at the two of you, “I was surprised to see the both of you come together. I thought it would just be the two of us.”

You laughed and apologised, “Sorry, I invited him. Why, was this supposed to be another date like old times?” You joked. Vernon let out another laugh and nodded, catching you off guard.

“I’m a little disappointed but seeing what a happy couple you two are, I just want to say that I’m happy for the both of you. After all the trouble you went through for him I guess it makes sense that you two ended up together.”

You all said your goodbyes and Vernon was off, leaving you and Seungkwan to head home. You invited him to stay over at you apartment and he happily agreed.

“Can you believe he thought we were together?” You spouted. Seungkwan smiled and shrugged as the two of you walked back to your apartment.

“Can you believe we aren’t together?” he retorted.

Your heart pounded at his words. The two of you graduated college with feelings left untouched and words left unsaid. You knew, nearing your college graduation, that you felt something for him but on his quest to find his true love, he had never once hinted that he might feel something for you too. You thought he only saw you as his best friend.

“Well… We haven’t spoken in almost 5 years, we’ve always only been best friends and we live thousands of miles apart. I think it’s pretty believable that we aren’t together.”

He grabbed your hand to stop you from walking and pulled you to face him, holding both your hands. He looked into your eyes and eventually spoke.

“I’m moving back. I’m coming home. My boss wants me to manage a branch over here.”

He rubbed the back of your hands with his thumbs and you almost melted. It wasn’t until you snapped yourself out of your trance that you pulled away from him. “Oh no buddy, I know what you’re doing. There’s no way that you’re suddenly into me after all those years we had a chance to be something. You’re trying to settle aren’t you?” your voice held an accusatory tone.

If Seungkwan hadn’t known you for most of your life, he’d definitely be offended.

“Jeez, you’d think after all these years you’d finally get over your fear of commitment.”

“I’m not scared of commitment, I just want what’s best for you and I know that I am not that.”

He scoffed and threw his arm over your shoulder as you continued to walk.

“Trust me when I say, you never know what you have until it’s gone. It was the most painful thing seeing how much you’ve grown and let people in and out of your life. I knew that I didn’t want to be someone you let out of your life. I want you to let me in as much as possible and I never want to leave.”

You got to your apartment building and looked back at him. You wouldn’t be his best friend if you didn’t know how to tell whenever he was lying and telling the truth, and in this moment, he had never been more truthful.

When you didn’t speak, he continued, “I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable but I know before I moved away, we were the closest we had ever been in that last year of college and that’s when I realised I was completely in love with you. I also knew you weren’t ready for a serious relationship, especially a long-distance one. But right now, the time is right—  it’s never been more perfect and I’d be a damned fool if I didn’t take this chance to tell you that then, until now, I love you with my entire heart. Please, give me this chance to show you how much I love you and how perfect we are for each other.”

Tears flowed down your cheeks and Seungkwan lifted a hand to wipe them away. His eyes glistened and eventually tears fell when you nodded your head and quietly agreed.

He pulled you into one of his signature hugs and peppered kisses along the side of your face. You both pulled away from each other and once again, you were staring happily into each others eyes.

“Can I… Can I kiss you?” His eyes never left yours and you pulled him in. You both looked into each others eyes and let the kiss take you away, letting your eyes close as you both got more immersed in the action of love.

Seungkwan was a person of love. He longed to love and be loved.

You were a person wary of love. You needed someone to teach you how to love and be loved.

The two of you were the perfect pair.

whew im glad that’s over. is this my return to writing ?? who knows ?? definitely not me !! I tried my best to just spew this out and I stayed awake for over 24 hours (not completely doing this lol i had stuff to do) so it might not make complete sense. theres also the fact that i never edit my work but ykno who does amirite 

This was the 6th installment of my fanfic trope showdown writing challenge (check out my ‘writing challenge’ tag or my masterlist to read the others) and hopefully i’ll shit the rest out real soon.

I’m workin on the next chapter of ‘LCAYF’ but theres also a chance I’ll upload some fluff because I like fluff, thats my shit.

She finally replied to you after your 2 hours of constant texting, with just a simple sorry, and a long paragraph.

After reading some of the paragraph, you decided you would leave.

Part of you was angered that this person had the audacity to not even say he was leaving, just because he in his opinion you were ugly.

Like you, ugly, this person needed glasses.

The other part of you was angered that someone could be so vain.

Just as you were getting ready to leave, someone slid into the seat across from you.

Xukun and his friends had just arrived about ten minutes before, and while the group of 9 were waiting to be seated, he noticed a person that seemed to be alone and texting someone.

As they were finally making their ways to their table, he overheard a waiter telling another waiter, that it had been about 3 hours and they were going to kick you out of your table so they could seat another couple.

For some reason, after he watched your face fall as you read a text, he felt compelled to dine with you.

After he told one of his friends what he was doing, he moved over to your table, and sat down.

He sat down as you were grabbing your stuff to leave, and you just looked at him confused.

“I thought you could use some company.” He simply says, after seeing your confused look.

You then decided that your day couldn’t get any worse, so why not eat dinner with a complete stranger.

At least he had more manners than the guy you were set on a blind date with.

It was a few minutes of awkward silence, before a waiter had came back to your table, giving Xukun a dirty look, assuming he was the blind date you had been waiting for.

After the waiter made a snarky comment about making sure you aren’t three hours late next time, Xukun finally spoke to you.

“Three hours?” He asked, he personally knew himself if his date had stood him up for over an hour, he would have left.

Nodding your head, you just looked down at your plate. “Yeah.” You simply replied.

He was honestly just really confused, since like who would stand up someone like you, he personally knew he never would have.

“I can’t believe someone would stand you up.” He said, which made you feel sorta better.

Since at least he had the decency to sit with you, while your blind date couldn’t even tell you to your face that he refused to go on the date with you.

After that the conversation just sorta flowed, and soon you two were talking like old friends.

You two were enjoying yourself so much, that it wasn’t until the restaurant was about to close, that you realized you should probably leave.

He gave you his number, before saying that he’d like to take you on an official date.

You two started texting, and just the next day he asked you out, and you of course said yes.

The next two days were honestly mildly nerve wracking, since you actually wanted to impress him.

When it came to the day of the date, part of you wanted to call and cancel, but you didn’t.

To say he was captivated by your beauty when he picked you up, would be an understatement.

If it wouldn’t have probably freaked you out, he would have literally stared at you for a good five minutes, but he knew that would probably freak you out.

He’d probably use some stupid pick up line he heard Yanjun or Justin use once, like, “Does the Louvre know their most beautiful sculpture has escaped or am I just blessed?”

He would probably take you to a restaurant for dinner, yet the date wouldn’t end there.

He would make sure that you eat dinner early enough, so that you can go get coffee.

He would probably take you somewhere cute, like this little cute cat cafe or sheep cafe, some sort of cafe that happens to have one of your favorite animals.

You two would honestly have such a great time, Xukun would probably order a ton of pastries and little sweet things like that, for you two to share.

You two would enjoy your coffee or tea, pastries, and talk, before starting to pet whatever animal the cafe is for.

He would honestly love it since he would just find it so adorable, how cute you were petting it.

He wouldn’t let you pay for anything, he feels the need to treat you since he’s the one that asked you out.

If possible, you enjoyed this date more than the first, even though the first wasn’t really planned.

It would lead to a third and fourth and fifth, before you two are just dating steadily.

Xukun would probably take it slow, like really slow, he’s not gonna try anything unless he’s 110% you want it also.

It would be your tenth date when Xukun finally kisses you.

You honestly would be like why hasn’t he kissed me yet, since you’ve been dating like a good two months.

It happens when you two were standing on your doorstep, as he dropped you off at home, and he’d probably be staring at your lips and mutter something about wanting to kiss you.

He doesn’t realize you heard him, but you are just like “Do it then.”

And he does.

You two would probably make it official about a week later.

He would be really shy about it too, he probably wouldn’t really ask you until you ask him, what he thought you two were.

Despite wanting to take it slow, he definitely says I love you first.

Like he’s honestly pretty sure about his feelings for you when you’ve been dating for like three months, but he just didn’t want to say it that early, since he thought it might scare you off.

Says he isn’t cute.

Is actually the cutest.

But don’t tell him or he’ll spend all day trying to prove to you he’s manly.

Or you know, maybe tell him, since he’ll spend all day trying to carry you around and prove his strength.

Maybe just tell him he’s cute if you don’t mind being carried around all day, as he tries to prove he’s manly.

When you two are walking near a road, he always has to have you on the side away from the road, like he won’t allow you to walk by the road where vehicles are going by.

If there is a puddle, you can bet he’s picking you up and carrying you over it, or he’s gonna put his jacket down over it so you can walk over it without getting your shoes wet.

But more than likely he’ll just carry you across it, since he doesn’t really wanna go through the hassle of getting his coat dry cleaned.

He would always be a gentleman.

He has to open the door for you.

He’ll run around the vehicle just to open the door for you and close it.

He’ll always go wherever you want to go.

Even if he’s extremely extremely tired, he’ll still go with you.

Even if it’s somewhere he doesn’t want to go, he’ll still go with you.

He’ll always be willing to go shopping with you.

He won’t admit he likes shopping, but honestly, he likes shopping.

You’ll never pay for things though, since he’s like no no no it’s my treat; yet, if you fight him, like no, I’ll pay, he’ll let you.

He lowkey loves seeing you be independent and pay for yourself, since like damn they are just with me for the money.

He’ll also buy you little pastries and ice cream and stuff that you like.

But he’ll often just buy one so you two have a share.

Like you know that couple that shares a milkshake, that is you two, since he’ll buy one, you’ll share it.

Yet if you are still hungry or thirsty, he’ll buy another for you to share.

He’ll always let you steal his food, but to start he’ll feel bad about stealing your food.

That is until you are like “I steal your food so you can steal mine” and then he’ll sorta start doing it.

It’ll take a while before he will do it without your encouraging, since to start he will think he might take something you like or want to eat.

If you are ever stressed, he will literally take a whole day off work, just to help you destress and calm down and all.

The type of boyfriend to see you sad and text you like “Don’t be sad, because sad backwards is das, and das not good.”

When you are sad, he’ll do everything in his power to make you happy again.

Once he ever said he’d sell his soul if that was the only way to make you smile again.

Your happiness and health, he feels is more important than his.

Yet, you feel his happiness and health are more important than yours, so you two balance each others out.

He’ll really do anything to see your beautiful smile, especially when you’re sad.

He would do things like play with your hair, if you allowed him too.

He would especially love it if you laid your head in his lap, so he could pet your hair.

He won’t admit it, but he loves it when you do it to him also.

Like let him lay down and rest his head in your lap, and play with his hair, and he’s literally just like how did I get such an angel.

He’d probably falls asleep also.

He would love to just hold you in his arms.

Like going out for a date, nice.

But staying in and cuddling while watching a movie, even better.

Like he loves showing you off, while going out on fancy dates.

Yet staying at home, ordering way too much take out, and just cuddling all night, the best date to him.

He literally has 3 moods.

Cute as hell, while saying he’s not cute.

And rude as hell, while probably doing some moves from Mack Daddy or I Wanna Get Love.

Along with the usual all the above, honestly it’s not that rare, it’s how he usually is.

He’ll act all cute then start singing I Wanna Get Love to you.

He loves just pulling you into his lap.

He’ll often do it.

Like you’ll be hanging out with Nine Percent and there is a completely empty seat, but Xukun is like “Well, no empty chairs, guess you gotta sit in my lap.”

And you’ll be like “There is one there.”

And he’s just like “No empty seats to be seen.” and just pull you into his lap.

He loves holding your hand.

Like whether in public or private, he doesn’t care.

He’s that boyfriend that will hold your hand and lead you around when in public.

He won’t admit it, but if he sees you getting closer to another one of the Nine Percent members, he’s gonna swoop in and steal you away.

He gets easily jealous, like it’s not that he wants to be really possessive of you, he just doesn’t trust other guys around you.

Except Linong, he trust Linong because Linong is a baby.

Zhenghao too, since Zhenghao might as well be his child.

He won’t be a petty person when jealous though, he’ll just pout all cutely until you kiss him and remind him that you love him, not whoever it was you were with.

He probably has a whole playlist dedicated to you.

He has many, like to be honest.

He has one of soft songs that makes him think of you, one of songs he think you might like, one of songs that can be used for date nights that he thinks you’ll like, and he probably has a sex playlist, I Wanna Get Love is probably on it.

When he does takes you out for dates, he goes all out.

Like suit and all, nothing basic for you, only the best.

He’ll also buy you something fancy to wear for it.

Like you’ll get home and there will be a bag on the bed, and he’s just like “Wear that for the date tonight.”

He would take you to an art museum or a really fancy restaurant.

He probably orders the most expensive thing on the menu like only the most expensive for my baby.

But then it taste horrible and he’s like only the best tasting food for my baby and orders something else.

He honestly can make outfits better than you can.

You’ll just let him loose in your closet and he’ll make you like a week worth of outfits.

He will then lowkey make his outfits that week match yours in some way.

He’s not into big couple outfits, but like coordinated items.

Like you both wear red sweaters but nothing else is the same.

Or he’d be into little couple items.

Like you two have couples phone cases.

Or matching lockets with photos of each other in them.

He can and will celebrate all the little couple holidays and anniversaries.

Like happy one month, six months, one year, 400 days, and all.

He probably celebrates Pocky Day also, and you are just like we don’t live in Japan though, but he just wants a reason to kiss you other than just wanting to kiss you.

He’ll deny it, but he lives for your attention.

Like if you don’t give him attention at least once every twenty minutes, he thinks he’s dying.

Like even if it’s just a peck on the cheek, he needs it.

Texts you numerous times a day.

90% are just him saying I love you, and the other 10% is good morning, good evening, good night, and just all the other stuff.

He’ll spam you with text and photos and memes often, which is mostly just him saying I love you.

He will take you to fairs and win you all the stuffed animals he can.

He’ll spend like $100 to win you the animal you wanted, but when you ask him how much he spent, he’s like “Oh only $10.”

For your first White Day as a couple he buys you a huge teddy bear.

He’ll literally buy you the biggest one he can.

He’ll then be like, when I’m not hear, you can cuddle it and think of me.

He will kiss you often too.

Like after your first kiss, he ain’t probably gonna ever stop kissing you.

Unless he’s sick, but he’ll probably kiss you without realizing he’s sick and he’ll get you sick.

He’ll always be sorry about it however.

His kisses go from 1 to 100 real quick.

He’ll go from kissing your nose softly, to giving you hickeys on your neck, to you better hope none of the babies in Nine Percent enter the room since this might seem like something it isn’t.

If you two are on a sofa, you will more than likely end up being pulled on top of him, as you kiss him, since he likes that contact when you two makeout.

Like you’ll be cooking and you’ll go from him softly kissing your neck, to you on the counter him between your legs, trying to pull you as close to him as he can get you, while you two make out.

His favorite place to kiss you is definitely your neck.

Like he’ll just pull you into his lap and start kissing along your neck.

To start he’s like ‘this is sorta weird’ but then five seconds later he’s like ‘wait no this is nice’.

He can and will cover your neck in hickeys, and probably laugh later when you complain about having to cover it all.

He’ll always offer you a scarf, or offer to help you cover it with makeup.

He can help you cover it with makeup, but you’ll have to redo it, since he’ll be laughing so much he’ll mess it up.

He can do your makeup really well, but don’t expect it to be good if he starts laughing.

He loves playing with your hair, yet other than basic ponytails, he can’t do your hair.

He’s a prince, and so he probably calls you princess/prince.

He also has other pet names he likes to use with you, like kitten, babe, baby, and stuff.

He probably has you saved in his phone as something like ‘My Princess/Prince’ with like 5 heart emojis.

He loves picking you up and carrying you around.

You can be taller than him or weigh more than he does, but he doesn’t care.

If you are like “No I’m too fat/tall.” he’s just like “What, who told you that, give me a name so I can beat them up, you aren’t fat/too tall.”

If you say something bad about yourself he’s just like “I said I’d fight the next person that said something bad about you, so square up babe.”

When you two sleep, you two always sleep in each others cuddling.

It’s honestly really cute, and if you fall asleep at the dorms, you can bet the other Nine Percent members are taking photos and sending them to you two.

He will always wake you up with a kiss, and then probably act like the prince from Snow White like he’s awakened you from your eternal slumber.

If you don’t want to get up, he’ll literally pick you and just carry you into the living room.

Yet, if you wake up first and try to wake him, and he doesn’t, just kiss his face repeatedly and he finally will.

If you try to be like “No don’t kiss me, I have morning breath.” he’s like “So, I don’t care, I do too.”

He would enjoy watching the sunrise and sunset with you.

But he is never up early enough for the sunrise.

So he just watches the sunset with you.

Constantly says stuff like, “The sunset might be beautiful, but you are more beautiful.”

He honestly can’t wait to meet your parents.

Even if they speak a total other language, he will learn as much of it as he can, before meeting them.

He’s probably the one that brings up meeting your parents first.

He also can’t wait for you to meet his.

Like his parents practically already know all about you, since he calls his mom daily just to tell her that he loves her, and always ends up talking for a good hour about how much he loves you too.

Just like how you will try you best to impress his parents, he’ll try his best to impress your parents, but really neither of you needed to try, since they already loved you.

He’ll google himself, and then show you photos and videos that come up.

He’ll probably also complain about something like the top photo doesn’t look that good.

Doesn’t want to admit it, but he’ll laugh when you trip or fall, but immediately after run over to help you up.

He will cook with you, but he’s not the best cook.

Like leave him to chopping, measuring, and mixing.

But don’t trust him to use the oven or stove unless it’s for something like ramen.

If you let him pick a recipe to make, he’ll pick something really difficult and fancy, just so you two can cook together for a long time.

He’ll love just coming up behind you as you cook, wrapping his arms around you, kissing your neck, and then rocking you back and forth, as much as he can without disrupting your cooking.

Food either ends up perfect or burnt, no in between.

Yet, if it’s burnt, he’s always willing to get take out.

Arguments are rare, but when they happen, they happen badly.

Like he won’t speak to you for a week, until you apologize or he realizes he was wrong and apologizes.

You can always tell when he’s mad since you don’t get your usual 50 I love you text a day.

While some people might want others to help them, he doesn’t.

Helping him or trying to makes it worse.

Just leave him alone until he calms down himself.

Since if you try to help him, he can sometimes explode and say things and do things he didn’t and doesn’t mean.

Laughter surrounded the massive dining hall. Everyone had their own business, all having something to talk about, whether it be politics or the news, or things that are completely random. On the other hand, you sat there, looking at nothing in particular as your mind flew elsewhere.

Exams at uni were coming, and sleep was a concept that you have never heard of nor experienced for the past couple of weeks. By this time, coffee and make-up was your holy grail. Only those two things make you awake and actually look like it.

It felt like you were dragged from a faraway world when you heard your name from a distance. It continuously echoed through your head over and over again, before you acknowledged the fact that you weren’t just imagining things.

“Princess? Princess?”

“Honey, are you alright?” Your mom, the queen, asked. It can be seen on her face that she was worried. Her brows were furrowed, thin pink lips that were usually stretched into a genuine smile was now turned into a frown.

The other royalties were turned to you, silent, patiently waiting a reply. Your mind felt like a fog covered all of it, you don’t know what to say even if your mother’s question was easily answered by a yes or no. After a few more minutes of silence in the dining hall, a coughed out ‘yes mother’ came from across you. It ticked something inside of your head, making it the fuel to actually open your mouth and finally answer.

“Yes, mother,” You quickly said, a reassuring smile plastered on your face. “I was just thinking about how beautiful it would be if it’s possible that we have more gatherings like this.” You couldn’t remember the last time you wished so hard for everyone to buy your lie. The smile on your lips started to hurt your cheeks, making it less genuine than it had been earlier.

Half a second passed before they all agreed with you, nodding their heads and immediately returning to their previous conversations with a new topic to talk about.

Relief washed over your whole body as a deep sigh came out of your lips. You looked from across you to the person who practically saved your ass that night. You recognized him. He was definitely a prince, but you couldn’t put a name to his face. He had long dark lashes that covered his deep eyes, his light brown hair was away from his forehead, and a face that was practically sculpted by the gods. You’ve heard about him. People called him “prince charming”. Other princesses from different kingdoms always gushed about him. And not only that, even queens and staff, and of course, other kingdoms—they all loved him.  However, a name still doesn’t pop into your head.

Settling for a just a quiet greeting, you looked at him directly, thanking him with your eyes, wishing that he would understand your gratitude. But then, as you did not expect, you almost swooned when he flashed you a heart-stopping smile.

The Royal Library was empty, and you thanked the heavens for that. The other royalties were staying, so you decided to literally drag yourself to the other side of the palace when the dinner was officially over. You desperately needed some peace and quiet. You simply just do not have the time to socialize and talk about your plans as future queen.

You wouldn’t be queen for at least two more years. Your father said that he’d pass down the crown once you’ve graduated from college and when you’re ready for marriage. However, since no man has ever captured your heart yet, and your graduation is still two whole semesters away, you enjoyed your time as princess.

It was the sixth time that you were reading the same paragraph as you did almost an hour ago when you started. Frustration boiled up inside you, the thin line between ‘studying’ and ‘giving up´ is now close to breaking. You couldn’t afford to let your grades drop this semester. Your mother promised you a car of your own (and you could drive it without a driver, THANK GOD) if you remain at the top of your class.  

Even if you enjoyed being royalty, being a princess isn’t all glitters and glamour. It’s studies, pressure, discipline, and a whole shit ton of responsibilities all in one. And with all of that on your plate, you still need to act and look like the princess that your whole kingdom would look up to.

Trying once again to fully understand the same freaking paragraph, you felt someone sit across from you. Irritability immediately was what you felt, and out of impulsiveness and stress, you grumbled out something that came out rather too rude for a trained princess.

“If you sit there just to distract or disturb me from my study, then you are more than welcome to walk yourself out.”

A deep chuckle was the only reply that you heard. While grumbling to yourself once again, you placed the book down on the table, ready to have a few words with the person.

But then your sudden outrage came to a halt as you saw the same charming face that saved your ass earlier. And then it all clicked…

It was Prince Jeon Wonwoo.

He sat there, an amused smile playing on his lips. You could see that he was trying his best not to laugh at your surprised reaction to see him there, and you know very well that he could also see the embarrassment slowly show on your face.

All you wished at that moment was that you could bury yourself right then and there.

“The Queen calls for you, Princess. I’m sorry to disturb your study,” He said, his voice deep and soft, but his eyes held mischief. You were still there-- unmoving and all-- when he stood up and left with a playful smile on his lips.

Well fuck.

His eyebrows fold together, wondering if he’s heard you right. Carefully, he puts the green bottle down on the table. The bitter liquid has not even hit his lips, and yet he feels lost. Very slowly, he turns his head towards you. “Huh?”

You blink. You know he’s heard you. “How many?”

He almost wants to laugh, but there is urgency swimming in your eyes that stops him. Your irises are lined with a fear that he has not seen before. And so, after some time, he says, finally, “I’ve fallen in love so many times.”

You scoff and lean back into the couch, one leg propped up and the other stretched lazily outward. “Can you just give me a number, I won’t be mad.”

“It’s hard to say,” he chuckles, tilting his head to study your expression. Your side profile is beautiful, he notes. “Infinity, maybe?”

“Wha- with infinity girls?” You roll your eyes, turning away from him. Everything is a joke with this one. “Taehyung, I’m too sober for this. Why can’t you ever just answer a question?” You are mumbling, mostly to yourself since Taehyung is too busy being amused by your frustration, as you reach for his open beer.

He reaches forward, his hand on top of yours at the neck of the glass. The cold condensation of the beer bottle kisses your palm, but the warmth of his hand is what sends a shiver snaking through your body. You look over.

“Ask me with who,” he says. He is completely unreadable, an enigma and a half, always teasing, always surprising. The corner of his lips turns up for a fleeting moment, but you catch the smirk.

You shake his hand off, crossing your arms over your chest. All he had to do was answer the goddamn question. You had sat with it, molding it in your mouth, waiting for the right moment to ask, and all he was doing was messing with you. The grin on his face is mocking.

“With who?” You say it dismissively, looking away from Taehyung. His eyes are fixed on you and that gaze has you squirming. He sits in silence until you turn to him, and then he’s grinning. That stupid smile, you think. Fuck, I’m in love.