00:00 a.m. the cuckoo bird chirped as the clock struck midnight, you soullessly stared at the cold plates of his favorite dishes on the table in front of you.

He was late.. again, for the 7th night in a row, he stood you up when he was the one to set the date, he seems to have gotten addicted to practicing late even when he didn’t have to, but what about you?

You were getting tired of waiting, it seemed like all you ever did was wait for him, you were tired of being second to his career, sometimes you wondered if it was worth it, if he was worth it.

True, he was your first love, but you waited for him then too, ever since you were in middle school all you did was wait, until he figured out that he liked you too, until he made his debut, until he wasn’t a rookie anymore, but he was trying so hard and that made the wait a little easier and worthwhile, now though it’s like he stopped trying, like he didn’t even care, all that mattered to him was practice, practice, and more practice.

You decided you were too tired to clean up, you left things as they are, and headed to your bedroom, you changed out of your dress into some pyjamas and washed your make-up off, you lied in bed and you felt tears well up in your eyes, so you let yourself cry the night away, you cried and cried and cried until you fell asleep.

Jongin opened the door to your apartment with the spare key you gave him after nobody answered his knocks, he walked into the kitchen and he saw the set table, he felt a huge pang of guilt, he looked at the clock, it read 02:35 a.m. he knew you must’ve grew tired of waiting and went to sleep.

He tiptoed into your room and saw your tired figure sleeping deeply.

He didn’t want to wake you so he whispered a hushed apology and left.

~~ The next day ~~

You woke up and mindlessly started your morning routine, you looked and felt like a zombie, as you lifelessly walked into the kitchen and found last night’s dinner untouched, you felt pain but nonetheless you cleaned everything up.

~~ Later that day ~~

Your phone rang for the tenth time already but you were in no state to answer it, you watched as the screen lit on and off displaying his name.

There was a knock on the door, and you had a feeling who it might be.

You took a deep breath and opened the door, you were met by a tired looking Jongin, which broke your heart but you were too angry to hug him and make him feel better.

“Why didn’t you answer my calls?” He asked quietly.

“I didn’t want to! What do you want?” You said coldly.

“Why are you being like this?”

“Like what?” Your voice was cold as ice.

“This!! Cold and shutting me out!”

“Why am I like that?! Are you kidding me?” You were angry and it showed.

“I’m sorry I was late, okay?! Practice ran late!” He said defeated.

“You’re sorry?!” You asked in disbelief. “You’re sorry?!” You raised your voice. “Sorry doesn’t magically fix everything!! Sorry is not gonna make up to me all the time I waited for you! Sorry doesn’t mean anything!” You were breathing heavily with anger and sadness.

“Why can’t you just understand?! This is my job and you know that!! You were okay with that!” He raised his tone to match yours.

“Why do I have to be the one to understand?! Why can’t you be the one to understand!!” You felt tears but you were not going to cry, not now.

“Understand what?!” He shouted.

“Jongin, I’m tired!! I’m tired of putting my life on hold for you! I’m tired of waiting!” You said defeated.

“Peyar…” you held your hand up stopping him, your name sounded strange coming from his lips now.

“Don’t Jongin!! I’m not ready to forgive you yet!! Please leave” you quietly said, trying with every ounce of your self-control not to cry.

He turned around and left, you watched his back leaving, and you fell to your knees crying when he was out of sight.

Jongin left with heavy steps and even heavier heart, maybe he did take you for granted, because you were always there, ever since you met in middle school, you have never left his side, when he was confused about his feelings, when he was a trainee, you gave him courage and cheered him up.
You waited for him patiently and all he did was hurt you. He flashed back to your glossy eyes, with tears threatening to fall, he caused that, he caused the smile he adored so much to disappear.

He felt guilty and scared that you’ll leave him, he loved you so much, but he obviously didn’t do a good job letting you know that.

Jongin was deeply lost in thought, he didn’t notice that the green light lit up and he shouldn’t cross the road. He crossed the road and cars honked at him but he was lucky none of them hit him.

There was a speeding motorcycle though that failed to notice him just as much as he failed to notice it, and the unfortunate happened, it hit him and he fell to the ground bleeding. The driver panicked and he got off his motorcycle and carried Jongin to the hospital.

~~ That night ~~

Your phone rang and you looked at the screen, it was Kyungsoo. You looked at the time in your phone and it was 23:00 p.m.
You wondered why he would be calling at this time.

“Hello?” You answered.

“Peyar, how are you?” He said on the other end of the line.

“I’m good! What’s up?!” You asked curiously.

“Is Jongin with you?! He won’t answer his phone and we can’t find him anywhere!” He said, worry lacing his voice.

“No, he’s not!! He left a few hours ago!” You quietly said.

“I know that tone!! Is everything okay with you two?!” He asked concerned.

“Not exactly!!” You sighed deeply “When you find him call me!!”

“Okay, it will be okay Peyar-ie! Don’t worry too much!” He knew you were worried by now.

He hung up and you fell back on your bed with your hands on your face, you were so worried, for some reason your heart was uneasy.

~~ One hour later ~~

You were staring at your phone, you were on the verge of breaking down, you were so nervous, so worried, your anger long forgotten.

Your phone rang and you immediately picked up.

“Peyar-ie…” Kyungsoo’s voice was quiet and careful.

“What happened?? Did you find him?? Is he okay??” You bombarded him with questions.

“Yes, we did! He’s in the hospital, he was in an accident…”

You gasped on the end of the line, you were shocked and scared beyond words.

“Peyar… are you listening?! I said it’s nothing serious!! Peyar??” He yelled your name in absolute fear.

“What hospital??” You asked already running down the street to find a taxi. You didn’t care that it was raining or that you were in shorts and an over-sized sweater, you only cared about Jongin, was he in pain?! Where was he hurt?! What can you do to make it hurt less?!

Kyungsoo told you the name of the hospital and said he’ll wait for you outside.

You reached the hospital and realized the only thing you had was your phone, no wallet, no money, not even your keys, but luckily Kyungsoo handled that and you promised to pay him back.

He guided you to Jongin in the ER and the moment you saw him, sitting on the hospital bed with his feet hanging from it, bandages wrapped on his head and his leg, you ran and hugged him, wrapping your arms tightly around his neck, you didn’t even care that people were watching, or that you were drenched from the rain, you were so relieved and grateful he was alive. He instinctively wrapped his arms around your waist, and closed his eyes appreciating the fact that you were in his arms again.

You pulled back just enough to put your forehead to his, and you put your hands on his cheeks, your eyes were closed and you felt tears threatning again, this time though they were relief tears.

“You have no idea how scared I was!!” You whispered in a small voice.

“I’m okay!! I’m sorry, baby! I really am” he whispered quietly.
“I love you so much Peyar, more than words could ever describe! I promise I’ll do a better job from now on!! Having you in my life is what got me to where I am and it’s more important than anything in the world!” He looked you straight in the eye and you could feel the sincerity in his words.

You shushed him and kissed his lips, gently, a tender and sweet kiss, to convey your love to him.

You were in a trance of your own, until someone cleared their throat, and you quickly pulled apart, and looked down in embarrasement when you saw the man in the white gown smiling gently at the both of you.

“Ahh!! Young love!!” He sighed contently, making you blush harder.
“You’ll be fine, young man! But you have to spend the night here to make sure you don’t have a concussion and such! But you should be fine, there’s no need for your pretty girlfriend to worry!!” He smiled and excused himself. “For privacy!” He winked and closed the curtains, and you had a fit of giggles.

Just as Jongin pulled you closer and leaning towards your lips, Kyungsoo came bursting through the curtains.

“Seriously?!” Jongin groaned.

“Good to know I’m welcomed here!!” Kyungsoo retorted full of sarcasm.

“Of course you are oppa!!” You grinned at him, and he pinched your cheeks.

“Yah! Yah! Yah!” Jongin yelled, you just stuck your tongue at him.

After a while, Kyungsoo offered to get you home, but you said you wanted to spend the night beside Jongin. So he left, and you spent the night having some much needed quality time with your loving boyfriend.