RPOV

  Ryeowook had put the frittata into the oven to finish cooking and was now working on the dough that would form the crust of the tart he was making for Kyuhyun’s parents. He looked up and saw that his boyfriend was now fully immersed in his work, fingers working deftly as typed emails and reports that needed to be done.

    It was nice being in his loft with someone else. Hae or Hyuk sometimes stopped by briefly, but this was different. He never had a boyfriend come to his loft, in fact he hadn’t had a boyfriend in years, cooking had kept him busy most of his life.

    Before he met Kyuhyun, he never thought anything of coming back to an empty loft, but with Kyuhyun in his life, he wanted the other around as much as possible. He wanted to be near him constantly and was finding it difficult just to get a good night’s sleep without him.

     Last night was the first time he had gotten a solid night’s sleep in a long time. Being embraced by Kyuhyun’s warmth was something he wanted more of and he didn’t want to wait forever to receive it again. He felt greedy wanting more, but with both of them constantly busy with their jobs, he missed the other terribly when he got home from work.   

      And while texting and talking on the phone soothed him a little, it was different, he wanted to hear Kyuhyun’s voice in person, he wanted to feel Kyuhyun’s touch or just be able to look to the side and see the other there. But would Kyuhyun think it weird if he asked for more this early on in their relationship? He didn’t get to deliberate on the matter anymore.

    As the timer went off on the oven, signaling that the frittata was done, he grabbed his oven mitts and brought the pan out. Then he grabbed two plates from one of the cabinets and stood on his tiptoes to get the glasses, but an arm reached above him and did the job for him. He looked back to see a smiling Kyuhyun.

   “Can I help?”

  Ryeowook laughed, “perfect timing.”

  Kyuhyun kissed him on the cheek, “I know.”

They moved to the small kitchen table that sat nicely next to the kitchen, Kyuhyun set the glasses down and went back for the plates Ryeowook had set down on the counter, while Ryeowook quickly set out the coffee, orange juice and the frittata.

  “Bon appetite!” he said cheerfully as he cut a huge slice for Kyuhyun.

  “Im seriously not going to stay in shape if you keep feeding me like this” the taller warned.

  Ryeowook laughed, “Ill just have to make sure we take walks or go to the gym.”

  Kyuhyun pouted, “I hate going to the gym.”

  “Then walking it is” he said while laughing.

  “And you’re only taking a fraction of what you gave to me!”

 “You’re taller, so you can eat more…and I gain weight easily,” he defended.

KPOV

He didn’t argue the point further because the minute he took a bite of the frittata, he sure as hell wasn’t going to complain about his portion anymore.

   “This is so good!! I mean, it’s like an omelet and a quiche got married and this is the result!”

  Ryeowook looked at him with amusement, “I never thought of a frittata like that, but I suppose that’s a fair representation of what it is.”

  “By the way Kyu, where are we going to dinner tonight? I can’t believe I’m only asking this now, but it would be good to know, so I can dress accordingly.”

 Kyuhyun mentally slapped himself, how could he forget to tell him where they were going? What was wrong with him?

  “Did I really forget to say something?” he asked disbelievingly.

Ryeowook smiled and leaned across the table to give him a small kiss on the cheek, “it’s alright Kyuhyun, I know you’ve been busy this week.”

   Kyuhyun felt like slapping himself. How does someone forget to tell their lover where they’re meeting with who he hopes will become his lover’s soon to be in-laws (yes-his mind went there). Not to mention the fact that Ryeowook not knowing the place they were having dinner probably didn’t help all the stress he had suffered these past few days. Oh God…this was seriously embarrassment taken to a whole new level for Kyuhyun.

  “I’m so sorry I forgot to tell you Ryeowook. I booked a reservation at Appetito, have you…love what’s wrong?

RPOV

  Ryeowook paled visibly when he heard the name Appetito but nodded his head anyway, “yes, the food is great and it’s a beautiful restaurant,” he said biting his lip. He looked down and fidgeted with the hem of shirt, but when he looked up, he found the other was getting up and was moving into the seat next to his.  

   Kyuhyun held his hand, “are you nervous about going there?” he asked gently.

   Ryeowook shook his head, “no, I’m just surprised that’s all…their Italian food is some of the best in Seoul, so booking a reservation is no easy feat,” he said with a shaky breath.

   Kyuhyun looked at him suspiciously, but more than anything, he looked anxious, “Ryeowook, I know you better than that, talk to me love.”

Ryeowook cursed, out of all the places…Appetito, what were the odds. He took another breath, “I…when I came back from studying abroad, I had initially applied to Appetito, their reputation was already good and since I had worked in Italy for a while, I thought I would fit in there well. Anyway, they hired me as their new head chef, since theirs just retired, but what I didn’t realize was that the assistant chef was pretty resentful of the fact that he wasn’t given the position. Most of the staff had worked alongside the old head chef and that assistant chef, so they felt it wasn’t fair either…”, he stopped not wanting to really talk further. 

Kyuhyun nodded his head, squeezing his hand softly for him to continue.  

  “Long story short, they weren’t willing to work with me, no one followed my directions, no one talked with me, the staff only followed the assistant chef and he wouldn’t even make eye contact with me…so I…after two months, I quite my position and it just happened that Joie was in need of a chef, so I ended up there and met Donghae and the rest is history,” he said with a weak smile, tears threatening to fall.

   He thought bitterly back to those days…he had only lasted two months, but the isolation got to him and he wasn’t able to tell the owners what was happening, when clearly the whole thing could be resolved if he resigned.

    Thinking back, he had never felt so alone in his life. And there wasn’t really anyone to confide in. He didn’t have any friends in Seoul, after all he had spent 10 years abroad, and all the friends he had made abroad were far too busy with their own restaurants or training, so he felt it unfair to burden them with this information. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to say anything to his dad, who would only look at him in disappointment. The only person he had said anything related to Appetito was his mom and he didn’t even go into the details of what had happened. He only told her that he got a better job offer at Joie that he couldn’t pass up. He couldn’t bare the thought of breaking down on her, not when she had been so excited that he was finally back in Seoul.

KPOV

   Kyuhyun immediately pulled the other into his arms and he felt his shirt getting slightly damp. He kissed the top of Ryeowook’s head, whispering soothing words, trying to calm the other down.

   “You did extremely well hanging in there for as long as you did. I think I would have punched the guy after a day to be honest…”

He heard a small laugh and finally the smaller looked up at him. Kyuhyun kissed away the tears that were trailing down his cheeks.

   “Thanks Kyu, I’m glad I finally shared this story, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders”, the smaller said while he rubbed away the last of his tears. Kyuhyun smiled as Ryeowook snuggled into his embrace, but he could feel that the other’s hands were still trembling slightly and he felt a surge of overprotectiveness. In fact he wanted to call the restaurant that very minute and give them a piece of his mind…or sue the hell out of them…but he wasn’t about to do either when Ryeowook would probably skin him alive for doing so.

     He was beyond upset, not at Ryeowook of course, but at the bastards at Appetito. How dare they treat Ryeowook with such animosity, it was absolutely cruel what they did. In fact, it was flat out bullying. And for the first time, it really dawned on Kyuhyun how much Ryeowook had gone through.

    In some respects, Ryeowook was stronger than Kyuhyun, he never went against his parent’s expectations in terms of a job and he was lucky his parents had come around to accepting his ual orientation. But Ryeowook was constantly fighting against his father and pursuing what he loved, even at the cost of being away from home for 10 years and starting out at a restaurant that was as thankless as it got. Yet he kept going and Kyuhyun couldn’t help but be in awe of that courage.

    But perhaps what struck Kyuhyun the most, was that Ryeowook had been dealing with all of this himself. And while he knew Ryeowook confided in his mom, more than anyone, he hadn’t even told her about what had happened at Appetito, probably in fear of disappointing her or worrying her. And it broke his heart when he thought of all the emotional distress he went through by himself. He didn’t want Ryeowook to suffer alone, he wanted Ryeowook to confide in him and he wanted to be there for him. And that’s when it dawned on him, how on earth could he show he was there for Ryeowook, when they only saw each other 4 times a week at most? So what came out of his mouth next, wasn’t all that surprising.

   “Ryeowook what do you think about living with each other?” he asked quietly.

RPOV

   It was such a liberating experience to be able to tell someone what he had gone through at Appetito. He felt so thankful that Kyuhyun had stepped into his life, he had never bared so much emotionally to someone else before. But the risk was absolutely worth it because Kyuhyun was by far the brightest thing in his life now and he didn’t care if it sounded crazy. Ten years ago, he thought he would be satisfied if he could just cook in a good environment and do what he loved, but now, he knew that would never be the case. And it was precisely because he had spent so much time with the same routine that he understood that there was something crucial missing in his life. And that crucial thing was Kyuhyun. He could not picture his life without his tall, charming, and witty boyfriend.

     So when he heard Kyuhyun’s question, his brain immediately jumped for joy. He was already resistant to the idea of having to part with Kyuhyun later this evening. And lately he was always getting teary when he came back to his empty apartment because he so badly missed seeing his boyfriend, so the answer came out immediately,

  “Yes, I would love to live with you!”

He laughed as kisses rained down on every square centimeter of his face.

  When Kyuhyun finally pulled back, Ryeowook laughed,

  “I can’t believe two minutes ago I was crying and here I am smiling like crazy, you're a miracle worker."

Kyuhyun laughed, “I know, should I go into therapy?”

Ryeowook giggled while smacking his shoulder lightly, “no, but you can be my therapist anytime you want.”

Kyuhyun caught his wrist easily and pressed a kiss on his hand, “I’m all ears whenever you need me.”

  And Ryeowook melted at the contact, “sometimes I wonder how I got someone so good” he whispered.

  Kyuhyun smiled, “I think that every night after we finish talking with each other over the phone, so it’s only fair that you think the same sometimes.”

  Ryeowook laughed, “I suppose you’re right. But you know what, I’m really happy that we’ll finally be around each other more, it might sound silly, but I really miss you when I get off the phone with you at night. You know…I was actually thinking of asking you myself if you wanted to try living together, but I didn’t know when the best time to ask you was” he admitted shyly.

KPOV

It was Kyuhyun’s turn to melt, Ryeowook was doing dangerous things to his heart. But hearing the other admit that he wanted the same thing, was pretty much the best thing he could ask for.

  “Kyu?”

  “Hmmm?” he asked, still playing with the other’s hand.

  “Did you want to move into my place or did you want me to move in with you?” the other asked.

  He looked up to see Ryeowook looking at him, curiosity clearly framing his petite lover’s face. God, it should be illegal to look that cute…he thought.

  “You know Im fine with either, but since it’s new for both of us, I thought maybe we could switch off. Maybe every 2 weeks we switch?” he answered thoughtfully.

Ryeowook nodded his head in agreement, “but why every 2 weeks?”

  “Because every week is a pain, but if it’s every 2 weeks we get a change of ‘scenery’ so to speak” he said grinning.

  Ryeowook laughed, “I suppose I could see your logic in that. So, whose apartment do we start in?”

  “How about mine? I didn’t really bring any spare clothes with me-except for the ones for dinner tonight. So if we start in mine, you can pack some clothes with you and we can just leave it in my car and after dinner, we can just go back to my apartment.”

   Ryeowook thought for a moment, “sounds good, but I think we should go to the restaurant in two separate cars.”

  Kyuhyun panicked, “Why? Do you dislike being in the car with me that much?”

  Ryeowook laughed and kissed him lightly before pulling back, “No, I love being with you, but tomorrow and the day after that, Im going to need my car to get to work.”

  Kyuhyun breathed a sigh of relief, a little sheepish that he had jumped to the worst conclusion, “right…I knew that.”

  Ryeowook just pat his thigh and gave him a knowing smile, “Sure you did.” He then looked at his phone, “I better get moving, it’s already 11:30 am and I still need to finish the tart for your parents and I need to pack my clothes and some kitchen equipment that you probably don’t have in your apartment.”

  He smiled at the other’s enthusiasm, “I have pots and pans if that’s what you’re worried about. My mother bought them for me, hoping I would someday learn to cook, but she underestimated my laziness.”

  Ryeowook laughed, “well I guess I should be happy I’m working with brand new pots and pans then.”

  Kyuhyun nodded his head, “but we still have time, so let’s finish our breakfast and then I can help you with the baking or packing or both.”

  Ryeowook smiled, “okay, but I think it’s better if you let me finish the tart, but Id love your company while I pack.”

  Kyuhyun laughed, “fair enough.”

They finished their breakfast discussing random topics, ranging from the latest music, to their friends, to different countries they wanted to travel to; happily enjoying their leisure brunch.

    When they finished, Ryeowook washed the dishes while Kyuhyun dried them, after all, with only two of them, it wasn’t worth starting the dish washer. With the dishes done, Ryeowook set to work on peeling and slicing the apples and nectarines for the tart, while Kyuhyun finished reviewing the rest of the documents he would need for the next day.

   By the time he had finished reviewing the papers, he had completely lost track of time and when he looked up from the kitchen table, he saw that the kitchen was completely empty except for a heavenly smell that was coming from the oven and a couple of bags on the countertop with which he assumed were filled with kitchen supplies that were to be taken to his apartment.

     Kyuhyun looked at the kitchen clock, it was 2:30pm, and they were meeting his parents at 6:00pm, so they still had plenty of time. That’s when he realized he had completely forgotten about their reservation at Appetito. He had been so excited about living together with Ryeowook that he had neglected to switch their reservation. He never wanted to put Ryeowook in any type of situation that would bring painful memories back to him. But he knew better than to just book a new place without checking how Ryeowook felt about it, so he stood up and stretched and then headed upstairs, guessing that his lover had gone to get his packing done.

     What he saw when he reached the top had him amused and cooing all at once. Ryeowook’s whole bed was covered with shirts and pants and off to the side lay two bags already overflowing with clothes and the smaller was standing there, face scrunched as he deliberated on what to bring.

   “Are you packing for a year” he teased.

  Ryeowook’s head snapped up from the bed and he smiled. “Finished with work?”

   He walked over and kissed his surprised lover, “Yep, sorry I lost track of time, I was supposed to keep you company right?”

  While he expected a bashful response, instead the smaller wrapped his arms around his neck and brought his head down for another kiss. At this point he found himself gently biting the other’s bottom lip seeking entrance, which was immediately granted. It was driving him up the wall hearing Ryeowook’s moans and he started to grasp the other more tightly. He felt the other clutch the back of his shirt, which only stirred him up more and he began trailing kisses down the other’s neck. When he pulled away, the other was panting with flushed cheeks. How he managed to stop himself from taking the other right there will always remain a mystery, but for some godly unknown reason, he found the willpower to pull back.

RPOV

   When Kyuhyun pulled away, he was out of breath and incredibly . So he was rather peeved that the other stopped

  “Wh..why did you stop?” when the words were out, he immediately covered his face in embarrassment.

  Of course he understood why Kyuhyun stopped, but never did he think those words would come out of his mouth.

   He heard the other chuckle softly, which didn’t calm him down any better, so he continued to hide his face.

  He felt strong arms wrap around his waist from the back and he immediately knew there was no escape for him. He felt Kyuhyun’s breath on his neck, “Please look at me.”

  Like hell he was going to look at him, he was so flustered he could die. Kyuhyun began rocking him back and forth, “Pleeeaaase look at me.”

  He turned around in the others arms, having had enough of the others teasing, “Yahhh if you keep this up, I’m going to get motion sick here!”

 Kyuhyun laughed lightly, “aha! So it's working!”

 He couldn’t help but smile at the other, “yes, I suppose your tactic worked. Annoying, but effective.”

  Kyuhyun laughed, “just humor me and hear me out okay?”

 He nodded in defeat for the other to continue.

  “You know I want to make love to you so badly, in fact I’ve dreamed about it so often, you’d probably think me a ert…”, the taller muttered.

  Ryeowook stifled a laugh, “where are you going with this Kyu?”

The other sighed, “My point is, I want you so badly, but every time we seem to be on the verge of making love, the circumstances don’t seem to be in my favor.

  He quirked his brow, “what do you mean by circumstances?” he asked putting circumstances in air quotations.

  “Like the fact that we’re meeting my parents in approximately 4 hours and the fact that I feel like an idiot that I haven’t yet booked us a new reservation somewhere else, but I didn’t want to book a new place without checking in on you first and..”

  Ryeowook decided to cut him off with a quick kiss because honestly, Kyuhyun was just too thoughtful and cute for his own good sometimes.  

  “This really is the best way to shut you up” he murmured against the other’s lips with a giggle.

  He heard the other sigh playfully, “Ill never win against you, will I?”

  He laughed, “nope, but that’s okay.”

  The taller just hugged him tightly, “well in any case, you’re willing to face me again, so ill take that as my victory” he teased.

  Ryeowook rolled his eyes, but a laugh escaped his lips, giving away his true feelings, “and who was it that told me that they’ll never win against me?”

  Kyuhyun laughed at this, “shall we call this a draw then? And you still haven’t answered about the reservation.”

  Ah right. He hadn’t thought about Appetito. After Kyuhyun asked him to live together, he was too excited to dwell on the painful memories that the restaurant brought up.  And while he was nervous about going back, he didn’t want his lover changing the reservation on account of him, what would his parent’s think of him then? First impressions were important and Ryeowook wanted to show Kyuhyun’s parents that he was worthy of Kyuhyun. So changing restaurants last minute was definitely not in the “good first impression” category.

   As if his boyfriend could read his mind Kyuhyun quickly stated, “And don’t even think of telling me not to cancel because you’re worried about my parent’s impression of you. Ill tell them that I forgot to book the reservation properly-trust me I’ve done it enough where it’s quite believable…”

  He sighed, “are you a mind reader?”

  Kyuhyun smiled at him, “well, it may have something to do with the fact you always put people above you, so I think I’ve sort of figured out your brain to some degree.”

  He frowned, “I’m not that selfless, in fact I think it’s pretty selfish that I’m causing so many issues over the meeting.”

  Kyuhyun looked at him clearly amused, “Love, you’re about as unselfish as it get’s, trust me.”

  His brow furrowed at that, “But I think if I was truly selfless I wouldn’t have made a big fuss about so many things…”, he said with a small frown.

  Kyuhyun leaned down to kiss his forehead, “you are way too tough on yourself, you know that?” he said as he pulled the other into a hug.

  He sighed, “there may be some truth in that”, he said as he wrapped his arms around the Kyuhyun’s waist.

The other laughed, “some?”

 He gave the other a glare, which quickly silenced the other, although he heard a small snicker.

But he immediately softened as Kyuhyun whispered in his ear: “It’s okay to not want to go back, tonight should only be about making new happy memories, so let’s choose a new place to eat at tonight.”

  Those words struck a cord in him.

  “Kyu?”

  “Hmm”

  “I don’t want you to cancel our reservation tonight.”

  “But-”

  “Wait, just listen to me” he begged.

  “Okay, shoot,” the other said.

  “I never dreamed I’d ever go back to Appetito after what happened there, but what I did was unhealthy. I pushed it away, I didn’t discuss it with anyone, not even my mother. But you gave me the confidence to go back and confront those memories. And you’re absolutely right, tonight is all about making happy new memories. So I want to go back to Appetito and overwhelm the bad memories with good ones and just focus on where I am now and how happy I am now,” he said regaining his breath after getting that monologue out.

 “Sometimes you’re so strong, I’m not sure what to do with you.” the taller said as he leaned down to kiss him gently.

  Ryeowook smiled, “I would never have the strength to go back on my own though, so thank you.”

KPOV

     Kyuhyun didn’t know what to say back to that, so instead he just kissed the top of his head and hugged him tighter. It meant the world to him that Ryeowook was relying on him for emotional support. Before Ryeowook, he never knew what it felt like to really feel emotionally needed by someone you love (besides your family-and that was a much different feeling), so this was a new experience for him. And call it weird or twisted in some fashion, but there was something very comforting to Kyuhyun that the more Ryeowook relied on him, the more he felt sure that the other wasn’t going anywhere-at least without him.

  Ryeowook snapped him out of his thoughts with a gasp, “Kyuhyun! It’s 3:40! And I still have to finish packing, load the car, get the tart out of the oven, pick up the flowers, shower and change!”

  Kyuhyun laughed, not willing to release his lover yet, “Hmmm…but I’m not ready to release my captive yet.”

  Ryeowook smiled at him and surprisingly snuggled into the other’s embrace, “can I really be counted as a captive, if I don’t want to go either?”

  Kyuhyun snorted, “don’t tell me your developing Stockholm syndrome?”

Ryeowook pinched his in retaliation for that one, which caused him to release the smaller with a yelp.

  His lover smiled cheekily at him, while he pouted as the other went back to throwing clothes into bags.

  Ryeowook looked up again and motioned for him to sit on his bed, “you’re supposed to keep me company while I finish packing.”

  “I’m not so sure if I should be in the same room with you though, my feels like it’s in serious danger of being pinched to death.”  

  Ryeowook giggled, “which is why sitting is the safest choice”

Kyuhyun sighed, “I suppose you’re right, I’m in less danger if I can see you and my behind is out of sight”, he said as he moved a shirt aside and took a seat on his bed.

"Although, now that I think about it, I suppose a pinch here and there isn't so bad considering yours is going to be quite sore the next time we have the day off..." 

Ryeowook turned red at what they other was implying and threw a shirt at a laughing Kyuhyun. 

   They talked and joked as Ryeowook finished up packing, and when the other was finally done, it coincided perfectly with the timer going off.

  “Ah the tart is finally done, I better go get it out of the oven,” the smaller said.

  “Well, since someone left me in the dark about this dessert, I think it’s only fair that I get to see it now…”

  Ryeowook was already moving downstairs, “alright, but no touching.”

  “I’m not five you realize”, he said putting out his best offended voice.

  “No…not physically, but mentally...” the other teased, and with that Ryeowook flew down the stairs before he could catch him and “punish” him for that one.

  He charged after the smaller but couldn’t really say much when he caught sight of the dessert lying on the countertop. To say it was good looking would be the biggest understatement of the year.  

There stood the prettiest looking tart he had ever seen.

He looked over at Ryeowook who was looking at him with anxious eyes, “do you think they’ll like it? I used apples and nectarines to make the roses. And there’s a custard and chocolate layer underneath.”

  “Like it?! They’ll probably refuse to eat it because it’s so beautiful!” he stated, as he admired the tart again.

  Ryeowook look relieved, “well, I guess ill find out pretty soon what they think of it..”

 He walked over to where his boyfriend was standing and kissed him on the nose, “they’ll love it, trust me.”

  When Ryeowook looked at him, Kyuhyun could see the warmth in the other’s expression, “I trust you.”

 It was one of those moments where emotions seem to bubble over and he couldn’t help but kiss the other deeply, when he pulled back the words just came out naturally, “I love you.”

  And though it wasn’t the first time he had said it, Ryeowook blushed like it was the first time he had heard him say it, which he thought was pretty adorable.

  “I love you too” the other mumbled into his chest.

  “Are you sure?”, he teased.

  The other hit him lightly on the chest, “yes, I’m sure.”

  He couldn’t help but laugh lightly, “Just double checking.”

  Ryeowook shook his head, smiling at his antics, “well, I still need to load my car with the bags and I still need to take a shower, so let’s keep moving.”

  “How about you take a shower and while you do that, Ill load your car. That will save us time”, he suggested.

  “Deal!” the other happily chirped.

 “I can’t believe I’m meeting your parents in 2 hours!” Ryeowook suddenly added.

 Kyuhyun looked at him slightly anxious, “are you feeling nervous?”

  Ryeowook smiled at him, “No, surprisingly I feel pretty calm, probably because you’re here with me.” And with that said, the smaller gave him a quick peck and walked upstairs to take his shower.

  Kyuhyun stood love-struck in the kitchen, before looking at the countertops with bags. He sighed, never in his wildest dreams did he think he’d be wrapped so tightly around someone’s finger. But he smiled anyway, because let’s face it, life was better being wrapped around Ryeowook.

Author’s note: I pinky promise that the next update is the meeting!!! And I never break pinky promises, so that is a solid promise right there! :D Anyways… Please let me know what you think of this latest chapter!! It’s quite long…but hopefully it was worth the wait….