Both Jiyong and Taeyeon stays quiet, enjoying the view of the beach that lies upon their eyes. The two decided to just stroll around the hotel’s beach after grabbing dinner in a nice restaurant that the hotel recommended to Jiyong. But even so, they didn’t manage to discuss anything important during their dinner. They just talked, casually, like what happened in the yacht never happened.

And there they were, sharing a beach bench, Taeyeon snuggled up on Jiyong, head resting on his built chest and Jiyong’s arm around her waist.

Jiyong’s heart was racing whereas his brain was going to places, causing his thoughts to get rather unorganized. And this was all caused by the person sitting beside him, who’s so comfortably lost in her thoughts too, admiring the dark waters.

Taeyeon, on the other hand, kept her cool. Though she must admit, after leaving her suite with Jiyong this evening, the only thing in her mind was Jiyong’s question.

“I…” Jiyong finally opened his mouth. “I don’t think I can handle this any longer, can we… go back to what I said in the yacht?”

He thought being straight to the point was the best option at the moment.

And despite the fact that what he said startled Taeyeon for a quick second, she smiled, signaling him that she understood what he was saying. And she, too, agreed.

“To be honest, I’m very confused right now,” she murmured.

“Then let’s simplify whatever that you think is complicated,” he replied, trying to keep his calm.

The thoughts that was flooding Taeyeon’s mind, about her friendship with Jiyong, about whether or not she’s willing to give everything up for him started to come back.

It wasn’t the thought of how the world would take the news if they did end up together. That’s something both of them can work out from each other’s ends. It wasn’t the thought of commitment that scared her either. And this aspect had its best of both worlds. On one hand, it meant that both parties knew that their feelings were fully attributed to one another and no one else. Both trust and comfort were already there between the two. The only lacking thing was a status. And on the other hand, this meant losing both trust and comfort if they end up screwing things up.

“I don’t want to lose you,” she finally said.

Though rather startled, Jiyong managed to give her a reassuring smile. “You won’t, that’s a promise that I’ve been keeping, that I am keeping, and that I will always keep.”

“But how can you be so sure? What if we screw things up, Jiyong?”

“Screw things up… how?”

“What if at the end of the day, I figured that you’re not the one I want? Or at some point, you finally realized that this was the wrong decision?”

Jiyong bit his lip. He hated this… He hated Taeyeon thinking so pessimistically about this.

“I know that sometimes I might not be the exact person who’s got everything planned out and well-calculated… but know that what I feel towards you is the only thing I’m sure of,” he sighs.

Taeyeon felt a mixture of both happiness and sadness upon hearing what Jiyong said. She hated the fact that she’s thinking about this. Heck, she hated the fact that they were talking about this. At the end, a decision must be taken, and whatever it is, change will happen.

“Truth is, I like you, Jiyong.” There, she finally said it. “I do… so much, and it is, too, the only thing I’m sure of, but if at the end we have to end it, then that meant me not only losing a mere boyfriend, but also my best friend too. And I don’t want that.”

Jiyong’s breath hitched upon her confession. Despite the fact that he knew it all along, just like how she knew how he feels towards her all along, hearing her say it felt surreal.

“Then let me show you how we both can make things work,” he whispered, looking at Taeyeon ever so tenderly. His pupils dilated as he began scanning her facial features, silently admiring her beauty, though it wasn’t his first time doing so.

“I don’t want to get hurt.” She said.

“I won’t hurt you, I promise. And this, too, is another promise that I am keeping to you, and that I will always keep to you.”

Jiyong’s hand, that was initially wrapped around Taeyeon’s waist, travelled up to her face, slightly moving her hair away from blocking her face. Brown pair meets another brown pair, and they just stayed like that for quite some time. Just looking at one another with pure tenderness, before Jiyong stole a glance at her lips.

Then he moved his hand onto the side of her face, trailing her jaw with his thumb. He stole a glance again, and caught her doing the same too, before leaning in, his lips that were inches from Taeyeon’s now pressed firmly against hers.

So there… they were.

The two best friends who finally surrendered and gave up… in pretending, acting, and concealing feelings. The two best friends who have secretly been waiting for this day to come. The two best friends who have finally turned into something more than just mere friends.

Jiyong finally pulled back, butterflies still in his stomach. Their lips were still just inches from one another, their forehead still in contact with one another as well. Jiyong leaned in to kiss her once more-a quick peck this time.

Then he smiled, wide.

And she did too.

“That wasn’t romantic was it? I should’ve prepared something, right?” he finally asked, slightly laughing.

Giggling, Taeyeon just smacked his chest playfully with his hand before readjusting her position, now moving even closer to Jiyong. “Yeah, your gestures whenever I comeback are much more romantic than this,” she joked, burying her face in his chest.

Jiyong just smiled, remembering all the times he would send flowers over to MNet, or Music Bank, or SBS, or whatever place you name it, which displays his heartfelt congratulations upon SNSD’s comeback. Or the time he decided to surprise Taeyeon on her birthday by treating her out for dinner, along with her bandmates and everyone from SM and her other closest friends, in a really nice restaurant that he had decorated the day before. Or the time he wrote, produced, composed and recorded a song as an apology for her which stayed unreleased. Clearly, what’s happening at the moment is far less romantic than these moments. But honestly, Jiyong didn’t care. For him, this moment is the only thing that matters.

…

Meanwhile, just a couple hundred meters away from Jiyong and Taeyeon, both Stephanie and Seunghyun were still in one another’s embrace.

Stephanie just froze there, trying to remind herself to breathe. She felt a variety of sensations all at once, and her body felt hot. She wanted to just run away and hide, but at the same time she didn’t want Seunghyun to let go.

She paid attention to his scent. A very strong, warm, masculine scent with both amber and musk as the top notes, also a little bit of cigarette smell, that she always thought she hated with all her guts, but for some reason she enjoyed it coming from Seunghyun.

Then she felt his cheek making contact with the base of her neck as he pulled her closer, burying his face in the perfect crevice of her collarbones. With the warmth from his even and slow breaths, Stephanie felt like she’s about to go insane some time soon.

“Seunghyun,” she whispered, after a while. “I can’t breathe,” she said, a quiet laugh escaping from . He finally let go, and yet relief is definitely not in the list of the things she felt at the moment.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, producing an awkward, quiet chuckle. “Let’s just go inside.” He continued before grabbing Stephanie’s hand with his and pulled her back into the living room after shutting the sliding door.

“Have you eaten?” he asked, after the two threw themselves onto the couch in the living room, sitting beside one ano