“Youngie, what the heck is this?”

I look up at Khun and see that he’s slouched over a box, holding up a mangled teddy bear in his hands. I feel myself break out into a smile as I reach out to take the toy, which is in quite a state of disrepair.

“Oh, I haven’t seen that in years!” I exclaim as I look at the object in my hands. It has one of its eyes missing, and an ear too, but at least it looks well loved. “I didn’t realise I had even packed that.”

A few days after that confrontation outside the restaurant with Nichkhun’s ex, the rest of my stuff has finally just arrived from Korea, after a few months of waiting. It's just in time for my move into Khun’s apartment!

“It’s cute…” He chuckles as his hands return into the large box containing my personal belongings that I had pretty much forgotten the contents of. As I stare at the childhood toy, wondering how it had even made its way into the box, I hear Khun sigh. I raise my head to see what he’s doing, and see him holding a picture frame in his hands.

“Who’s this?” He asks, smiling and turning the photo around. It's a picture of myself, and an older, taller girl. We’re sat on a concrete step leading up to a tall building behind us, and it seems to be summer judging by the clothing we are wearing. We’re both smiling happily, carefree without a worry in the world. I look about fifteen in the picture, which must have made her seventeen.

“My sister,” I say, taking the frame from him gently, “Junhwa. We haven’t spoken in ages…” My voice trails off, and I my thumb across the glass surface of the photo frame. I may have left Korea dissatisfied at my parents, but I still miss my sister a lot.

“Junhwa…” Khun repeats slowly, his tongue rolling over each syllable as he processes her name. “It’s pretty. But hey, you never told me you had a sister. Come to think of it, you haven’t told me much about your family at all!” He laughs, reaching over to slap my arm playfully.

“Well you never asked!” I exclaim, moving away from his hand tapping my shoulder. “There’s not much to tell… We’re pretty normal - there’s my mother and father, me and Junhwa. That’s it! You know the rest, I was peeved at my parents trying to marry me off to some perfect stranger, so I ran away!”

He looks at me, smiling. I swear there’s a twinkle in his eye, and he seems satisfied with my answer. As he takes the photo frame from me and places it on the bedside cabinet, he sits on the mattress of the unmade bed and asks, “Woo, what do you miss most about home?”

“About Korea?” I sit beside him, and he nods. “I’ve never really thought about it - besides my family, of course.” I stare down at my feet, clad in white sneakers, thinking about my past life halfway across the world. Somewhere along the line, I must have gotten lost in thought because I suddenly feel Khun patting my knee.

I look up at his face, which I notice is scarily close to my own, and laugh, “The food, I guess…”

“Oh, is my cooking not good enough for you?” He raises his eyebrow teasingly, knocking his shoulder against my own. I splutter as I remember that we usually take turns to cook for each other in the evenings late at night before we go home.

I quickly backtrack my words, “Hey, I never said that! I- I just meant that I missed my mom's traditional home food, you know?”

“I know, I know. I’m just teasing,” he laughs, affectionately squeezing the hand that still rests on my knee. I still secretly like it when he does things like that, but it doesn’t seem like he ever knows how he affects me.

I really wish I could show him what a good relationship looks like, I think sadly before I brush those thoughts aside.

“There’s a place that sells Korean food down the road actually.” He points out, releasing my leg and gesturing with his hands, “I don’t know how authentic it is, but perhaps we could take an early lunch?”

I nod in agreement, thinking that such an activity would be nice after spending the morning cooped up inside.

A little while later, we’re sitting inside the previously mentioned restaurant. It's only a small place, run by a young Korean lady and her French husband, but it serves some delicious food that brings about many happy memories. We’re at a small table in the corner, where no one else seems to be able to see us, and Khun is sat across from me merrily munching on some kimchi stew - a dish neither of us have had for what feels like years.

Whilst we started with cheerful conversation once we had entered the restaurant, we have now fallen into a comfortable silence. For some reason, I can’t help but stare at Khun as he eats; it seems he looks breathtaking no matter what he does.

He must be the most handsome and the nicest guy I have ever met, and even with his not so happy past, he still manages to be so positive all the time. I find myself admiring him for that more and more each day. Besides the way he looks when he’s moving about the kitchen, partaking in his passion - which is my all time favourite look of his - the way he manages to stand up, square his shoulders and face his problems is his most attractive quality.

I really wish his heart wasn’t so injured, and that he seems to be unable to let anyone else into his built up walls since that Alex person hurt him so painfully. It hurts me to know that he feels he has lost his sense of love. I wish I could help him.

Khun breaks me out of my thoughts suddenly as he speaks, “Why do you look so serious, Youngie? What’s on your mind?”

He smiles at me, prompting me to shake my head, “It’s nothing… I just have a few things on my mind, is all…”

“Like what?” He his head, stuffing his mouth with another spoonful of kimchi stew, “Maybe I can help?” He reaches over the table and squeezes my hand gently.

You’re not making things any easier, Khun, I think, mentally rolling my eyes at him. If only he knew what I was thinking right then. I sigh, unable to think of a way to retreat from the conversation topic. Shockingly, I say something that not even I was expecting.

“I was thinking of… you…” I say slowly, hesitating before I plunge forward into somewhere unreturnable. “Well, more specifically, us.”

Screw it! I think, What’s the point in dodging around the topic anymore? I’m just gonna ask him out and be done with it.

He looks at me with confusion, but before he can speak, I cut him off. I look down at our hands which are still connected, laying on the surface of the table, and say “I know you said you would never be able to trust someone that much ever again, Khun, but I’ve wanted to say this to you pretty much since I met you.”

I fill my lungs with a deep volume of air and breathe out nervously, looking away from his face. I’m suddenly too scared to see what he’ll look like when I finally confess.

“I really like you, Khunnie. I want to help you mend your heart.” I peek up at him, a sheepish grin on my lips, and I see his mouth quivering. He doesn’t quite know what to say, so I continue, “Will you let me?”

He retracts his hand in surprise, but he doesn’t seem to want to run away like I had expected - which is a good thing. He drops his cutlery and speaks, his voice a whisper, “Wooyoungie, I… I don’t know, I’m unsure about these things.”

“Please, Khun?” I reach over and take his hand again, this time holding tightly so that he’s forced to face me, “I really want to show you that not all guys are as bad as him.”

He sighs, and even smiles a little despite the exhaustion on his face, “Alright.”

He doesn’t say much else, but he doesn’t need to because even that one word is enough to make me so happy that I feel like I’m on cloud nine. I rush around the table, pushing my chair aside, and pull him into a standing hug. Unlike the one the other day, this one is full of joy and happiness and satisfaction.

As I pull away, I risk a kiss to his cheek to show that I’m serious. I gently brush my lips against his skin, which is softer than I expected it to be, and I see him blush a bit. His complexion turns a slightly darker shade, and I observe a small smile appear on his lips.

“Nichkhun Horvejkul, I promise to make you the happiest man alive!”

A/N: Here you go, an early chapter because I got too excited to write and post this bit! If you want to, let me know what you think! I love you for reading <3