You awoke to lips slowly moving along your jaw and arms around your waist. You could hear your name being called quietly from beside you. With your eyes closed, you lazily moaned and stretched in bed.

“Morning, baby.” You heard Daehyun whisper into your ear. Your boyfriend’s voice gave you goosebumps as you smiled and turned to face him.

“Morning…” You opened your eyes and frowned; it was still dark outside. “What time is it?”

The wandering lips continued along your skin before he answered you. “A little after seven.”

You groaned, trying to roll away from him. “And why are we awake..? We were up past midnight last night, remember?” You remembered back to the party the two of you had attended at his friends’ place. It had been the best New Year’s celebration you had been to in so long, the third one you had spent with Daehyun. You had counted down until the new year with everyone, kissing him when the clock rang out at midnight.
 

“We’re awake for a very special reason.” He said with a smile in his voice as he kissed you again,  this time on the lips. “Get dressed, we’re going out.” He jumped out of bed and the light, causing you to groan again. “Come on babe, we’re going to miss it.” He yanked the covers off of you and you shrieked, fully awake now.

“Yah! Jung Daehyun!” You glared at him as he giggled before sprinting out of the room with your blanket. Dragging yourself out of bed, you got up and dressed with a grin. You could hear Daehyun singing down the hall, being obnoxious so early in the morning.

As you came down the stairs, Daehyun was waiting for you by the door, holding your coat in his hands. You eyed him as he helped you put it on before you stuffed your feet into your boots. He just smiled at you with an amused grin, only making you feel even more suspicious of him. Then facing you, he pushed a hat onto your head, over your eyes. He laughed loudly before grabbing your hand and pulling you out the door into the cold winter morning.

You pushed the hat up so that you could see as you stumbled along behind him, his warm hand holding yours. “Where are we going?” You asked, glancing around as you walked down the street. It was becoming lighter outside, so dawn must be here soon.

He looked back and winked at you, causing your heart to skip a beat. “It’s a secret~”

You sighed before resigning yourself to just play along. You turned your hand to lace your fingers together with his as you stepped up to walk beside him. He chattered away, talking about the plans his group had for the upcoming year. You couldn’t help but smile as you listened, loving the way his thumb rubbed across the back of your hand as he spoke. He occasionally would glance over at you and his smile would grow or he would wink, causing you to blush and have to look away.

After walking for about ten minutes you reached the beach, a spot the two of you often visited during the summers. The lake was frozen over and the surface gleamed in the growing light. The two of you stopped at the edge of the ice and Daehyun turned to look at you, holding both of your hands in his.

He bit his bottom lip, looking down at your joined hands. His playful demeanor that usually outshined everything was gone. “Baby, I love you, you know that, right?”

You swallowed, a sinking feeling growing in the pit of your stomach. “Y-yeah… And I love you, too… Why?”

He looked up into your eyes, smiling a bit before pulling your hands closer and putting your arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around your waist, his body pressing against yours as he leaned in and kissed you on the lips. Without hesitating, you kissed him back, your hands moving up and tangling your fingers into his hair.

He pulled away just enough to look into your eyes. “This is the first sunrise of the new year..” He started. You glanced around, noticing that the ambient light had brightened even more. “I know we’ve had a lot of ups and downs for the past few years. Like how we argued about going skydiving last week, but you didn’t listen to me so we ended up going anyway. I had the time of my life but was terrified at the same time.” He smiled slightly, bringing a hand up to your cheek. “Kind of like right now, actually.”

He knelt down in the snow on one knee in front of you and your eyes widened, your heart jumping up into your throat. He his lips nervously as he looked up at you and searched for something in his jacket pocket. Daehyun pulled out a small square box, never breaking eye contact. “Baby, I want to make a promise to you. I promise that I will forever be by your side. That no matter what crazy adventure you want to go on, I’ll be there trying to talk you out of it.”  You let out a breathless chuckle as your eyes started to tear up. You quickly wiped an escaped tear away before squeezing the hand that was still holding yours. He continued, his grin growing. “I get nervous when we’re apart, I worry about you when I can’t see you. I want to be by your side every waking moment, and then some. I want to hold you forever, never taking my hands off of you.”

You rolled your eyes and he smirked before letting go of your hand, putting both of his hands on the small box in his hands. “You are the reason I live, the reason I get out of bed every day. I want to protect you with all that I am.” He took a deep, nervous breath, searching your teary eyes before continuing. “Baby, would you do me the honor of letting me be your husband?” You gasped as he opened the box, revealing a gorgeous silver and gold ring with small green stone in the middle. The sun just peeked over the horizon, making the sunlight glint off the stones. “Will you marry me?”

You had to remember to breathe as you stared at him. You were shaking slightly, but not from the cold biting at your face and hands. You nodded and giggled nervously, “Absolutely.”

He smiled in relief before slipping the ring onto your finger. He stood up and you quickly wrapped your arms around his waist. He embraced you in return, holding you tightly and swaying from side to side.

Suddenly there was cheering coming from behind him. Daehyun turned and waved at his five friends as they ran over to the two of you.

“I got the pictures, hyung!” Zelo told him, holding up a camera and smiling widely.

“Pictures?” You asked, tilting your head to look at Daehyun suspiciously.

He blushed and looked at the ground. “I wanted to be able to remember this moment forever. So I asked the guys to take some pictures for us.”

You smiled and nuzzled your face against his chest. “You’re the best, Daehyun. Absolutely perfect.”