---

With the lump from before still clogging his throat, Jongin walks out the door and descends the few steps leading to the school building. With Jongdae and Baekhyun not by his side like they always are, Jongin is quickly overtaken by a swarm of silence. The entire recess area as well as the parking lot both feel exceptionally empty despite being crawled with students, so Jongin does his best to block them out as he makes his way to the bus stop. Since he's only had one lecture, he figures he'll have time to go home, enter their bedroom and fall asleep before Sehun arrives home from work and kicks him out before returning to his usual, mysterious cell calls. It's not a lot of time, probably about three hours or so, but that's all Jongin really needs right now. Not to mention he's absolutely starving, and he sort of regrets choosing to ditch his beef stew earlier.

Jongin swipes his bus card before trudging over to an empty seat. He quickly finds one and sits down, making sure to place his backpack on the seat beside him; a fair warning for anybody looking for a seat not to get within three feet of him since all he wants is some space. Jongin looks out the window and rests his head on the palm of his hand as he tries to ignore the feeling of numbness in his gut. It's funny, really, because one would think scoring the top score on an exam you barely studied for would result in days worth of euphoria; except not in this case, because despite his crumpled Biology exam lying at the bottom of his bag with a bright red 'A' in the top right corner, Jongin feels physical pain every time he makes an effort to feel happy. 

No matter how hard he tries, Jongin can't help but think back to this morning; he wants nothing more than to find out who was on the other end of the line when Sehun stormed past him and into their room. What Jongin does know, though, is that he detests said stranger with a burning passion since he or she ruined what could have resulted in him and Sehun possibly fixing their current situation. The thought makes Jongin so filled with rage that he has to clench his hands into fists as to not accidentally punch the elderly woman who walks past him to find a seat. Now that Jongin thinks about it, he isn't sure if he's ever seen so much distraction in Sehun's eyes as he did a couple of hours ago and it makes him nauseated to even spare it a thought.

Jongin nearly misses his stop fifteen minutes later. In fact, he's so distracted that he has to run up to the front and demand the driver to stop the bus, considering the fact that it'll take at least twenty minutes for him to walk home from the next stop, and he does not want to miss any potential beauty sleep. After hopping off the vechicle, Jongin checks the time on his phone. Half past two; at about this hour he'd normally be typing a sappy text to Sehun in which he'd tell the latter to come home and wish him a good day at work. Jongin only swallows before shoving his phone back in his pocket. To his right, he sees a fancy, red Porshce parked on the other side of the street, which only reminds Jongin of one of Baekhyun's many rambles about Chanyeol. To be exact, this one time when Baekhyun apparently kicked Chanyeol out of their shared apartment (for a whole fifteen minutes) after falsely accusing the latter of cheating on him after seeing a red, incorrectly parked car sitting right outside their apartment. Jongin hates himself for even thinking about it, but he briefly halts in his step when a thought suddenly strikes him. He quickly dismisses it, though, and picks up his feet in an attempt to distract himself.

Once he reaches the apartment complex he's so used to seeing (and now sort of hates), Jongin stares at it for a while, seemingly contemplating it, before wasting no time in opening the door and walking towards the elevator (his brain is in no condition to walk up six flights of stairs; he figures he'd probably lose his balance and crack his head open on one of the steps). Before he reaches it, though, he hears somebody descending the stairs and the next thing Jongin knows, he's face to face with his and Sehun's neighbor of three months, Zitao.

Jongin's initial reaction is to sigh, because he knows how talkative and disgustingly chirpy Zitao is on a regular basis (they've actually had plenty of hearty discussions, but Jongin would literally rather die than engage in one right now), and Jongin does not want to be stuck in small talk with this guy for the next two hours and risk missing his beloved nap. Jongin still manages a (unconvincing) smile, though, which Zitao returns, like always. Except there's something slightly off about it this time, but it's not like Jongin can put his finger on it. He's no expert on reading people based on their smiles, but he would be lying if he said Zitao's smile wasn't slightly different from how it usually looks. Not in a bad way or anything; in fact, Jongin is pretty sure Zitao is looking at him with a certain glimmer in his eyes, a glimmer Jongin can't pinpoint, but different enough to notice it at first glance. On the other hand, Jongin figures he should probably take himself with a graint of salt since he does run into Zitao almost every day, and the latter smiling differently was simply so out of the ordinary that Jongin couldn't help but notice. Either way, Jongin hopes Zitao will go away and head out before he collapses in exhaustion.

"Evening, Jongin, my pal!" Zitao says, as happy as ever, as he smiles brightly. Jongin flinches a little.

"Uh. Hey," Jongin replies lamely, scratching the back of his neck. He just noticed he's no longer smiling, but he can't bring himself to put it back on his face. Not to mention he doubt Zitao even noticed, or cares, for that matter.

Zitao runs a hand through his raven black hair, and it's not until he does so that a whiff of food fills the air. "How're ya doin?" he asks, clearly not in a rush since he proceeds to lean against the wall subsequently, much to Jongin's dismay.

Jongin bites his lip, unsure of what to say. If there's somebody whose face you absolutely shouldn't lie to, it's Zitao's, so he simply shrugs. "I've uh, felt...better, I guess," he mumbles, hoping Zitao will take it as a hint to leave him alone. The strong smell of food is still abusing his nose and he briefly wonders if Zitao might have picked up a bottle of olive oil by accident instead of his usual perfume before walking out the door.

Zitao seems to stare at Jongin for a few moments, the latter gradually getting creeped out, before he nods. "That's a shame, I'm sure you'll feel better soon," he says as a matter-of-factly and Jongin nearly cries in frustration because he's never hated optimistic people more than he does right now.

Attempting a smile, Jongin nods. "I hope," he says, scratching the back of his head. "Uh, I gotta go, I'll see you around, say hi to Candy for me." He slowly inches towards the elevator.

"Alrighty then, and I will," Zitao says brightly and is about to turn around before his eyes light up. "Hey, one more thing!"

Cursing under his breath, Jongin raises an eyebrow in false curiosity. "What?"

"Make sure to hit me up tomorrow, be it here or somewhere else, alrighty?" Zitao asks and Jongin doesn't even get a chance to ask why before he's walking out the doors. It closes with a bang behind him.

Jongin stands glued to the floor for what feels like forever until he finally comes to, and when he does, he simply curses Zitao's overly cheery attitude (which he finds him exceptionally irritated at today, for some reason) before jabbing the elevator button with his thumb with so much force that he has to bite back a curse. He wearily steps into the claustrophobia inducing metal box and follows the doors with his eyes as they slowly come to a close. With a sigh, Jongin finds himself moving and standing in one of the corners whilst keeping his gaze fixated on his feet. He suddenly wishes he took the stairs, because all he can think of right now is how he and Sehun would laugh themselves nearly to death at the strange selfies they'd take in the mirror to his left. Almost as not only the entire universe, but the elevator, as well, is out to get him, Jongin swears he feels it ascending at a much slower pace than usual.

After what feels like centuries, the elevator finally reaches the seventh floor and Jongin nearly collides face first with the doors as he rushes out. With his well deserved nap being all he can think about, Jongin quickly fishes his keys out of his pocket and practically jams it into the keyhole. He turns it with lightning speed and swings the door open-

Only to blink in surprise when the smell of food hits him square in the face.

Jongin stands in the doorway for a minute before biting his lip in worry, because this could mean either two things; either Sehun made lunch a while ago and forgot to turn the stove off before leaving for work, or Sehun chose to eat lunch at home after leaving work earlier, and honestly, Jongin doesn't know which scenario terrifies him more. He settles for the first option being worse (and more believable), because, despite suffering from severe heartache, the last thing he wants is to live his life homeless alongside it after his and Sehun's apartment ultimately burns to the ground. So, with that horrifying thought in mind, Jongin shrugs his backpack off, throws it into the hallway and steps across the threshold. He has no idea where the fire extinguishers are, or how to use one, or if the apartment is even equipped with any, for that matter, but he figures-

"Hey."

With his mind clogged to the brim with the thought of the place being on fire, it takes Jongin a full minute to register what he just heard. And when he does, he blinks before looking up, only to see none other than Sehun, who is leaning against the wall a couple of feet away. The shock coursing through Jongin's veins as a result of realizing that Sehun may or may not have said something to him just now is soon forgotten, however, when Jongin's eyes seem to adjust.  And it's not until Jongin realizes that Sehun is clad in a navy blue suit, including his suit pants and loafers (and a tie, which he never wears), that his eyes widen a little.

"Sorry-" Jongin croak-garbles, flailing his hands in all directions. "I- I didn't know you brought your collegues over for lunch, uh, I can come back later-" He's about to walk out the door and call Baekhyun to see if the latter wants to hang out when he feels a steady hand on his shoulder. To say that he nearly jumps clear out of his skin would be a severe understatement, to say the least.

"Let me take your jacket," Sehun says softly, sending Jongin a smile; one of his smiles that could light up an entire city (at least according to the latter). Upon closer inspection, Jongin notices his hair is exceptionally styled, almost as if he's had a professional do it. His voice sounds like honey, which is far from the scolding tone Jongin had expected to be met with. 

Jongin blinks, needing some time to process Sehun's words before he slowly slides his jacket off, his arms moving of their own accord as they remove it entirely and hands it to Sehun, who carefully accepts it before treading a hanger through the sleeves and hanging it up on the wall. Jongin can only watch in confusion as Sehun reaches into his jacket pocket and retrieves a rather gorgeous, red flower; a boutonnière, if Jongin remembers correctly. 

Sehun doesn't say anything (just like Jongin predicted), but his eyes remain soft as he takes a few steps towards Jongin, before proceeding to gently stuff the flower in the latter's shirt pocket (a pocket Jongin didn't even know he had until now). Afterwards, he looks Jongin in the eye with so much warmth that the latter nearly feels his breath being taken away. But Jongin figures he spoke too soon, because the heat that explodes somewhere in the depth of his gut when he suddenly registers a soft, familiar pair of lips pressing against his own is enough to make every single drop of oxygen escape his system at once. In fact, he's sort of thankful Sehun pulls away a moment later because Jongin worries he might have died from asphyxiation otherwise.

"You hungry?" Sehun asks, fixing the flower in Jongin's pocket. 

Fighting the urge to lean against the wall for support, since his legs feel like overcooked spaghetti, it takes Jongin a while to croak out an answer. Except it leaves his mouth sounding more like an old man trying to cough phelgm out of his throat, so he resorts to nodding, because his stomach is threatening to digest itself from the inside out from how hungry he is. He watches, with a great sense of confusion, as Sehun gestures down the hallway, presumably at the dining room. At least the place isn't on fire, Jongin thinks before somewhat reluctantly following after.

Jongin walks three or so feet behind Sehun, suddenly feeling awfully underdressed as he keeps his eyes glued on the latter's suit, as they make their way to the dining room. A part of Jongin desperately wants to catch up with Sehun and grab his hand, but he decides against it and instead chooses to keep his hands snug in his pockets. As they continue to walk and turn corners, the smell of food only grows stronger and Jongin feels his mouth watering, because he's pretty sure he recognizes that smell. In fact, he's about to tap Sehun's shoulder and ask him about it when the latter suddenly stops walking. Instinctively, Jongin looks up in confusion.

Only to nearly scream out in happiness, because, if Jongin isn't hallucinating, there's a large bowl of macaroni and cheese sitting smack in the middle of the dining table - his absolute favorite. Other than the fact that the entire room seems a little bit darker than usual, to make things that much more mouth watering, there's a giant carton of apple juice sitting on the table, as well, and Jongin is about to zoom towards it and devour it all in one bite when he suddenly feels a hand on the small of his back, nearly making him jump in surprise.

"If it's okay, I want you to sit over here," Sehun says, using his free hand to point to the chair at the edge of the table. His grip on Jongin's back is so tender that the latter briefly forgets about the heavenly odor.

"Uh." Jongin blinks, trying to pull himself together as he eyes the chair before him. With a low hum, he gingerly walks towards it and ignores the way his stomach cramps painfully upon laying his eyes on the cheesy, yellow goodness in front of him on the table. Now that he thinks about it, the table is covered with a fancy, silver threaded tablecloth he's never seen before. He waits for Sehun to pull his own chair back before doing the same-

Only to halt right before proceeding to sit down, because there's something on the chair.

Raising an eyebrow, Jongin doesn't see what it is as he bends down to lift it up. It's a framed photograph, with a layer of protective glass on top and bands of gold lining all four corners of the frame. They're smooth to the touch and Jongin finds himself biting his lip in thought as he continues to stare at the photo, which consists of what he assumes is a hallway with lockers, gray chipped walls and-

Realization hits Jongin like a freight train three seconds later and he nearly drops the photo in surprise. He doesn't know if he's 100% correct, since the cogs in brain are all absolutely clogged, but he feels a certain warmth spreading across his cheeks anyway. As he continues to gawk at the photo, as if taking his eyes off it for even a second will cause it to disappear in his hand, Jongin scans every detail of it, completely unaware that he's grabbing onto his chair to keep himself from falling over. In fact, he doesn't even realize how long he'd been staring at it until Sehun chuckles.

"Glad you like it," Sehun says with a small hum whilst unfolding his napkin. "You're so, so cute," he chuckles, placing it in his lap.

Jongin automatically swallows, hoping Sehun doesn't notice the glossy state of his eyes. "Is...is this-" He looks at the photo again, just to make sure he isn't seeing things.

Sehun nods, a smile spreading across his face. "It is."

Jongin continues to stare at the photo, as if missing a single detail would end in disaster. Upon closer inspection, he notices the number '42' written on one of the lockers. "We met by locker number 50, didn't we?" he blurts out, not knowing whether to laugh or run away in embarrassment when Sehun lets out a hearty chuckle. "I mean, we met by my locker-"

"Your locker was number 42, I'm positive," Sehun says confidently, carefully fixing his hair. "If I remember correctly, there was still a mark from one of your pink highlighters on number 43 when I was there," he adds, crossing his legs and continuing to keep his eyes locked on Jongin like he's the eighth wonder of the world.

After looking closer at the photo, Jongin does, to his surprise, notice a bright pink stain in the bottom right hand corner, and he immediately feels his cheeks heating up again. He remembers it all too well, and isn't actually sure if anybody except he and Sehun know how it actually went down. For weeks, Sehun had been telling their friends the true story, but after Jongin insisted they change it up in fear of his reputation being ruined, Sehun agreed, although reluctantly. On the other hand, Jongin figures he should consider himself special, because he's pretty sure he belongs to the minority that can say that they met their boyfriend or girlfriend by quite literally bumping into them and dropping and spilling their belongings everywhere without dramaticizing it, faking it or acting in a movie. Jongin clearly remembers practically hiding behind his computer case in shame as he watched Sehun, who was still a stranger at the time, pick up his stationery after they'd flown in all directions and, ultimately, left a mark on one of the lockers. And as downright humiliating as it might have been back then, Jongin won't deny that holding the memory in his hands right now, fills him with a sense of warmth.

"When did you take this?" Jongin asks quietly, his worries from earlier quickly being replaced with a euphoric sensation. He's sort of glad he wasn't so hasty a minute ago, or else he definitely would have sat down right on top of it and broken the protective glass, which he'd never forgive himself for.

"Yesterday," Sehun replies, the rest of his words disappearing without a trace after Jongin, without a warning, rushes over and envelopes him in a bone crushing hug that nearly causes him to fall off his chair. "Easy now," he chuckles, snaking his arms around Jongin's waist and giving him a tight squeeze. He adjusts the boutonnière in the shorter's pocket afterwards. "You know, it wasn't easy. First I had to evacuate the entire hallway and then deal with some who couldn't handle arriving two minutes late to class." He rolls his eyes but emits a low chuckle when Jongin laughs loudly.

Jongin giggles a little. "Wait, you actually got everyone to move aside just so you could take the picture?" he asks, eyes wide and mouth agape. "How'd they agree to that?" He gently puts the photo on the table.

"Like you just heard, some didn't, and it wasn't easy, but I managed," Sehun says, fixing Jongin's shirt before kissing him on the forehead. "Anyway, you said you were hungry, so let's eat before it gets cold." He grabs the spoon he'd placed next to the bowl and proceeds to submerge it underbeath the thick layer of cheese. Afterwards, he carefully distributes it across Jongin's plate, the latter watching with glittering eyes. 

Quickly shovelling food into his mouth, and practically about how tasty it is (he's really forgotten how much of a master chef Sehun is, that's for sure), Jongin grabs the juice box and fills his glass to the brim. "Man, this is good, I think you might've sprinkled some bits of heaven into this," he says between loud chews, squawking in surprise when Sehun lightly swats his arm.

"Chew with your mouth closed, you think I wanna see that?" Sehun chuckles in a disgusted tone, his features contorting into a grimace. He lights two candles with a match before blowing it out. "How was school today?" he asks, blowing on his food.

"Good!" Jongin says, immediately closing his mouth after Sehun scolds him a second time. "Sorreh. I had a test today, by the way," he adds, swallowing the cheesy goodness. "Won't your co-workers send you dirty looks if you show up later with food stains all over your suit?"

Sehun takes a sip of his juice. "A test? Oh, you mean that one in Biology?" He leans in, clearly interested. "How'd it go?"

"I got an A!" Jongin exclaims happily, nearly knocking his glass over as he flails his hands in excitement. "Seriously, I thought I'd flunk," he giggles, mainly in relief. Sehun reaches out and his cheek with his thumb, much to his embarrassment.

"I knew you'd be magnificent," Sehun praises, making sure to tuck a lock of Jongin's hair behind his ear so it won't get in his eyes. "You always make me so proud, you know that?"

Blushing a little, Jongin presses his lips together. "M hmm," he hums, hiding his face behind his glass to conceal his reddening cheeks from view. A certain feeling settles in his chest and he feels his heart starting to pound. At this point, it's so quiet that he prays Sehun can't hear it. "Uh."

Sehun's eyebrows furrow a little when Jongin lowers his head. "What is it? Is something the matter?" he asks, shifting a little to get a better view of Jongin's face, with little luck.

"No, it's just-" Jongin cuts himself off and closes his mouth. Honestly, he has no idea how to formulate himself, especially since his heart is racing at abnormal speed, but he bites his lip anyway. "Is it okay if I-" He clears his throat to avoid choking on his own spit, since that would definitely be difficult to live down. After raiding his brain for the words to say, only to find none, he continues to keep his head and gaze lowered as he slowly stands up and moves his chair over to Sehun's side. To his relief (and surprise), Sehun immediately wraps an arm around his waist. 

Sehun straightens Jongin's flower and cards his fingers through the latter's hair. Reaching across the table, he grabs Jongin's spoon before stabbing it into his own macaroni. "Remember how we always used to do this?" he chuckles, raising the spoon to Jongin's mouth.

Jongin immediately blushes, because he definitely hasn't forgotten how Sehun used to spoon feed him back when they first started dating. It started out as a joke, as a result of Jongin accidentally spilling some food in his lap at a fancy restauraunt, closely followed by Sehun making a joke about him needing to wear a bib or be spoon-fed for the rest of his life. After that, Sehun would take to feeding Jongin as a joke, but since the latter showed no signs of protest (at least at the time), it sort of evolved into a regular thing. However, Jongin isn't sure how to feel about it right now, especially since deep-throating a spoonful of macaroni and cheese with Sehun watching in amusement wasn't exactly on his list of things he wanted to happen to him today.

"I remember," Jongin mumbles with macaroni in his mouth, as he attempts to swat Sehun's hand away. In his peripheral, he notices the blinds to the windows are pulled down, which he assumes explains the darkness. On the other hand, the candles illuminating the room with a faint, yellow glow are rather mesmerizing so look at. 

"Don't gimme that, I know you love it," Sehun chuckles knowingly, carefully guiding the spoon towards Jongin's mouth. He scoops up another spoonful of food and proceeds to feed it to Jongin again, only for the latter to shake his head. 

"I can't eat any more, I'm stuffed," Jongin mumbles, feeling the cheese travel down his throat while he gently rests his head on Sehun's shoulder. His stomach is threatening to explode any minute. "Sehun, no," he whines in protest when Sehun jokingly tries to fit the spoon in his mouth with no success. It's not until he notices the latter checking his watch that he feels his heart tremble. "Uh."

Sehun checks his watch again before ruffling Jongin's hair. Without a word, he pushes his chair back, stands up and waits for Jongin to do the same thing. "I take it that you enjoyed it, then?" He ruffles Jongin's hair again, making it even more messy than it already was.

"It was really good," Jongin blurts out, barely able to stop himself from adding something along the lines of 'I can't remember the last time you cooked for me', as he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. He and Sehun stand in the middle of the dining room for a while, the silence slowly growing awkward. "Uh. Thanks for all...this," he says, gesturing at the table. "It was nice, you really didn't have t-" He blinks. "Wait, did Baek tell you?"

Raising an eyebrow, Sehun eyes Jongin curiously. "Did Baek tell me what?"

"...Nothing," Jongin murmurs lamely, continuing to stand glued to the floor for what feels like forever. Sehun's hand is only a mere foot away and his fingers are itching to reach out and grab it. "Have...uh, have a good rest of the day, I'll...see you later today," he says, looking up and sending Sehun a smile that hopefully doesn't look all too miserable. On the flip side, at least he'll be able to sleep away the food baby growing in his stomach.

Instead of walking towards the front door, like Jongin initially expected, Sehun only stays right where he is. His expression seems to shift a little, but just barely, but it's soon replaced with another one of his signature smiles. "Come," he says, almost cautiously, as he extracts his hand. 

Jongin stares at Sehun's hand like it's a grenade about to go off, and even though his confusion is skyrocketing, he finds himself instinctively scrambling to grab it. Moments later, Sehun intertwines their fingers and Jongin would be lying if he said he wasn't feeling as if he'd swallowed a billion butterflies. In fact, he's so caught up with trying to process what just happened that he barely even notices Sehun guiding them both out of the room. The next thing Jongin knows, he's standing right outside their bedroom door, instinctively swallowing because whatever has been going on in there for the past two weeks is definitely not something he wants to be a part of. However, he barely gets a chance to think about it when Sehun slowly opens the door.

The first thing that Jongin registers is how dark the room is. In fact, he doesn't think he's ever seen his room is such a state of darkness even on the coldest nights, and Sehun has to usher Jongin past the threshold after the latter finds him gaping in surprise. In fear of accidentally tripping over something, Jongin latches onto Sehun like a baby koala as they both walk into the room, the latter closing the door behind them. Out of nowhere, the sweet smell of vanilla and grapefruit and all sorts of fruits hits Jongin all at once, and he's about to ask Sehun if he dropped a bath bomb in here earlier, when he suddenly halts in his tracks.

Because once his eyes adjust, and he walks a little further into the room, Jongin can clearly make out tens, no, hundreds of tiny, scented candles, placed out to spell what he thinks is 'S + J'. His assumptions are proven correct when he takes one step closer; in fact, at least fifty candles are scattered across the floor to form a perfect love heart a few inches away from the J. Upon even closer inspection, Jongin, after nearly walking right on top of one, also notices that bright red rose petals are carelessly, yet delicately strewn about on the wooden floor. Looking around, Jongin notices that there are rose petals absolutely everywhere, which only makes him notice the lack of, no, total absence of furniture. Even their bed and Sehun's office desk are missing, and Jongin doesn't want to know how long it must have taken to extract them from the room. The sight, combined with the heavenly smell of the candles, is enough to make Jongin feel like he's floating on clouds made of cotton candy. 

Figuring he should probably say something, Jongin swallows, which is ridiculously difficult considering his entire mouth is bone dry, and turns to look at Sehun. Jongin can barely even see the latter as he stands off to the side, but the faint glow of the candles, which perfectly illuminate and accenturate Sehun's sculpted cheek bones, flawless eyebrows and overall everything, is enough to take Jongin's breath away. Now that he thinks about it, he clearly remembers Sehun's eyebrows and broad shoulders being the two very first things he noticed about the latter as he was picking up Jongin's belongings all those years ago. 

"This is so..." Jongin clears his throat as to prevent himself from sounding like an old man with speech problems. "This is so pretty, it's so nice-" He looks back at the candles, his eyes glittering. "Did you do this? It's so beautiful, Sehun."

Sehun isn't saying anything, but his features melt into a hearty smile when he turns his head and locks eyes with Jongin (who probably still looks like a lost goldfish). Afterwards, he elegantly; almost as if he's avoiding stepping on any rose petals lying in his path, walks over to the corner of the room. When Jongin's eyes adjust a little more, he makes out what he thinks is a small table, on top of which a vintage record player is sitting (Jongin didn't know those things still existed in this day and age). Jongin watches as Sehun picks up the tone arm and gently lowers it down onto the big, black CD inside the case. The song that fills the room subsequently is one that Jongin doesn't recognize, but he can tell that it's probably one of those love songs from the 50's or a song you'd listen to whilst doing your homework. Either way, it sends chills running down Jongin's spine, a rush of warmth soon overcoming him.

After making sure the CD is spinning like it should, Sehun sends Jongin a smile before proceeding to walk towards him. His black hair, which is perfectly styled into a quiff, doesn't even move or bouce during his short walk, which makes Jongin wonder just how much product he's got in there. But that thought vanishes from Jongin's head without a trace when Sehun suddenly stops in front of him. He isn't really sure, mainly due to the darkness, but Jongin swears he sees Sehun's eyes either staring right past him or at the floor. Either way, they're not looking directly at him, which makes Jongin bite his lip in confusion. The soothing music surrounding them does nothing to calm the buzzing of his nerves.

Seconds later, Sehun reaches out and grabs Jongin's right hand, squeezing it tightly. He's definitely not looking at Jongin, as the latter notices, and he's about to ask if something's the matter when-

"Kim Jongin, you mean the goddamn world to me."

Jongin blinks. He doesn't know if it's all the scented candles getting to his head or the music, but he finds himself biting his lip in question. 

"On that Tuesday, I genuinely wondered if I was making the right desicion by choosing to stop what I was doing and help you collect the things you'd dropped. Not because I was worried about causing traffic jam in the hallway, but because I immediately had this nagging feeling at the back of my brain that told me I'd never get you out of my head. Jongin, you should know that I spent the rest of that entire day thinking about your pretty face, and the way you'd struggled to apologize after bumping into me, and your adorable blush, even to the point that my friends started questioning what the hell was wrong with me." Sehun chuckles low in his throat, and he tightens his grip on Jongin's hand before continuing. "And not just that day, but every day, and every month after that, and I know how badly you want to repress that moment and act as if it never happened, but I honestly wish you didn't, because it means everything to me, just like you. And I know you've always complained about my lack of emotions or me being an iceman, and I cross my heart and hope to die that I'll do everything I can to change and make you feel just as loved as you deserve to be." He tightens his grip a little more. "I love every single thing about you; how beautiful you look when you wake up in the morning, your fear of attic monsters, your constant need to take selfies in elevators, how you always call me at work whenever you're feeling lonely, angry or bored, the fact that you won't even hesitate to get up and out of bed and make me kimchi spaghetti despite it being 4 AM, the way your eyes light up whenever you see a cute dog on the street, your precious laugh whenever I show you the daily comic in the paper, your bearhugs every time I walk in the door after work, and mostly, that you're mine. Yesterday, you looked so soft and angellic after I woke up in the morning, and I found myself asking myself if and how you're even real. I love waking up next to you, and I pray to God that I'll be doing so until the day I die." He looks up, his eyes locking with Jongin's. The candles a few feet away perfectly bask his face in a dim, golden glow.

Jongin finds it incredibly difficult to look away, or even blink, as he keeps his gaze fixated on Sehun's now golden orbs. Maybe it's the music distracting him, or the smell of the candles and or roses getting to his head, but at some point his heart must have picked up speed because it's beating unnaturally fast (in fact, he can barely even hear the music over the pulse in his ears) Jongin is actually sort of thankful that Sehun is grabbing his hand, or else he might just collapse right on the floor. As much as he wants to speak (or rather, blurt out something potentially humiliating), Jongin worries he won't be able to choke out a single word considering his mouth and throat seem to have gone numb.

Hoping it'll do instead of speaking, Jongin simply gives Sehun's hand a tight squeeze, finding himself unable to take his eyes off the latter. The room suddenly feels not only a lot darker (actually, Jongin bets on his life that his face is bright red, and he's glad Sehun can't see it), but hotter, as well as Jongin continues to stare, transfixed, into Sehun's eyes. Jongin continues to do so until he mentally punches himself in the face, because he should probably say something, but he opts against it in fear of his dry throat preventing him from uttering a single sound. He figures he would probably sound like a frog.

However, Jongin is subsequently proven incorrect, since the low gasp that automatically escapes his lips when Sehun lets go of his hand and gets down on one knee, is anything from frog like.

"Kim Jongin," Sehun says, his voice low but loud enough to be heard over the music, as he elegantly reaches into the inside of his suit pocket. The entire room seems to light up after he retreives a small, red velvet box and opens it, revealing a diamond ring. "will you marry me?"

Jongin certainly takes back what he thought a moment ago, because he's definitely, secretely a frog. Or at least, that's what he figures the series of garbled stutters, that remind him of a frog with a sore throat, that leave his lips subsequently would lead anybody to believe. In fact, Jongin quickly closes his mouth in fear of weirding Sehun out and causing the latter to run away, but he figures standing there like a dead tree with staring issues isn't much of an improvement. Jongin doesn't get much time to think about it, though, because the next thing he knows, hot tears are flowing freely from his eyes and running down his face. He feels a tad bit embarrassed, since the last time he cried in front of Sehun was two years ago, on their way home in the car after putting their dog Monggu down, but Jongin doesn't bother stopping it. Through his blurred vision, Jongin can barely make out Sehun below, but he can tell that the latter is staring up at him with a heartwarming smile. It almost feels as if the last two weeks never existed as Jongin sob out a barely coherent 'Yes' (so much for being a frog), the butterflies in his stomach threatening to escape in the process.

With a smile, Sehun stands up, his eyes also seemingly glossy as he wastes no time in pulling Jongin in with his free hand and kisses him square on the lips. It almost feels like their very first kiss (which probably isn't much to go by, since it was considerably awkward and ended in nervous giggles, but still), and Jongin hopes Sehun doesn't mind the taste of somebody else's tears as they flow down his face at an impossible rate. In fact, Jongin has to lean away five seconds later in order to avoid accidentally sobbing mid kiss and end up leaving this whole thing on an embarrassing note. 

Thankfully, Sehun doesn't seem to mind at all, because he only chuckles hearily before proceeding to gently grab Jongin's hand. Jongin watches as Sehun, without any difficulty, slides the ring (which is, as Jongin just noticed thanks to the candlelight, an elegant shade of gold) onto his finger. The diamond is nearly blinding and, after wiping his puffy eyes, Jongin stares at it in awe for what feels like hours. He almost feels like the main antagonist in a crappy teenage romcom, or a chickflick, and he secretely awaits the 'Cut' before Sehun goes on to remove the ring and applauses are heard. Except this isn't a movie, and there is no director yelling 'Cut', and he most certainly isn't an actor, which only becomes that much more clear when Jongin looks up, only to be met with Sehun staring at him with so much adoration that he fights the urge to pinch himself.

Jongin continues to take in every last detail of the ring, which fits perfectly around his ring finger, until his vision becomes blurred again (he blames it on Sehun's godly speech writing talent). He quickly wipes his eyes with his sleeve and, the next thing he knows, he's throwing his arms around Sehun's neck and nearly tackling him to the floor. The latter manages to stay vertical as he tucks a lock of brown hair behind Jongin's ear, before leaning in and pressing their lips together. Jongin didn't ever think that the taste of macaroni and cheese could be so enticing.

They stay like that for a while, neither of them saying a word; the only audible thing being the soft ballad playing a few feet away as Sehun squeezes Jongin even tighter. They're crushing rose petal after rose petal as they sway back and forth, almost like they're alone inside an empty ballroom. Moments later, one of the candles burn out, darkening the room a little bit, but Jongin doesn't notice. In fact, after he opens his eyes and takes in the sight on his finger, it's almost as if the room has gotten a lot brighter.

Jongin doesn't know what Sehun thinks of him as of right now, being the tear faced, sobbing mess that he is, but he ignores the thought. A minute later, though, the entire room goes quiet, presumably the CD dying out, but it's not like Jongin can hear the difference. Sehun shifts in his arms, seemingly so he can walk over and replace the tone arm, but Jongin finds himself latching onto Sehun's sleeve before the latter has a chance to do so. 

"It's fine, I don't really need music," Jongin says, stepping back a bit but still grabbing Sehun's hand for dear life. He hopes he doesn't sound arrogant. "I mean-" He cuts himself off, finding it difficult to speak due to the warmth coursing through every capillary in his body. 

Sehun only chuckles. "Sure." He nods and uses the back of his hand to wipe a few tears away from Jongin's face. "You really are gorgeous, damn," he says, mainly to himself, making Jongin blush madly. "What? You can't hate me for speaking the truth!" he squawks.

"I'm not," Jongin whines, a sob leaving his lips. "It's just... Sehun, that...what you said-" He wipes his eyes, avoiding Sehun's gaze. "It was so beautiful, damn it." Another set of tears well up in his eyes and he hurries to wipe them away.

Ruffling Jongin's hair, Sehun smiles fondly. "I'm glad you liked it," he says, kissing Jongin's forehead. "I-"

"You got one thing wrong, though," Jongin blurts out, mentally slapping himself afterwards. "I mean...yeah-"

Sehun raises an eyebrow. "You mean...wait, what do you-"

"I'm not afraid of attic monsters!" Jongin whines, even though he knows it isn't true. "I mean, maybe a little, but-"

"So that's why you always ask me to enter first and scream at every noise while we're in there?" Sehun chuckles, rightfully earning him a harsh slap on the arm. "Alright, I'm sorry," he hums against the top of Jongin's head before planting a kiss amongst the locks. "So-"

"Just a question," Jongin says, lifting his arm so he can inspect the ring on his finger. It only makes him stand even closer to Sehun, if that's even possible. "Where...uh, where are supposed to sleep later?" he asks, looking around. He sees no signs of their furniture anywhere and there aren't exactly many places in the apartment in which you could effectively hide a king sized bed, a desk, lamps and, well, you name it.

Sehun runs a hand through his hair. "Here, I figured," he replies, gesturing all around them. "Sleeping on top of and among rose petals isn't actually that uncomfortable, you know," he adds for clarification when Jongin only blinks. 

"Cause you'd know about that," Jongin mutters sarcastically whilst playing with Sehun's hair, which is starting to droop and stick out in all directions, presumably due to the heat of the room affecting the products in it. "Although sleeping together on top of rose petals does sound pretty romantic," he adds, blushing profusely subsequently upon processing his words. "Wait, nevermind, I...damn it, nevermind-" He mentally slaps himself, his eyebrows furrowing a little bit. "Wait...where even is the furniture?" he asks, glad to be changing the subject completely.

Sehun blinks, but a small smirk quickly spreads across his face. "Chanyeol's," he says simply, bursting into laughter when Jongin's eyes widen to the size of dinner plates.

"Wait-" Jongin blinks, scratching his head. To say he wasn't expecting that reply would be a vast understatement. "You mean...wait, so...our things are at Chanyeol's place? Right now? God, really?" He blinks again, trying to imagine how difficult it must have been to get Chanyeol to agree to this. "Just...wow, okay."

"The other rooms are jam packed and he's moving closer to Baekhyun next month anyway, so it's not like he's got a jam packed apartment at the moment," Sehun chuckles, clearly reliving the memory in his head. "He called me this morning at breakfast and asked if he could come over, but you were still there so I sort of had to...well, postpone it until after you'd left. Jeez, you should've seen his face when I told him he had to help manouver the goddamn bed down all those flights of stairs, I was actually pretty worried one of us would end up getting hurt, but hey, it worked," he adds with a chuckle. "That reminds me, I owe him five bucks for that."

Jongin giggles. The sight of two twenty year old men moving a bed, bedside tables, lamps, an entire office desk, an office chair and so on must have been quite bizarre for anybody watching, even if it was just from one apartment complex to the other. Also, the thought of carrying a bed down three flights of stairs with only his hands is enough to make Jongin's biceps tingle painfully. He makes a mental note to thank Chanyeol next time he sees him. On the other hand, Jongin seriously applauds Sehun's persistence, because it really did pay off.

"Anyway, I can't believe you'd do all this for me," Jongin mumbles into the crook of Sehun's neck. The latter's suit is soft to the touch, so Jongin finds himself tracing invisible patterns into it. "You're the best fiancé ever." Never in his entire life did he think he'd ever hear himself call Sehun that, which makes a burst of heat swell in his chest.

"Not to sound cheesier than those ty paper comics, but I'd do goddamn anything for you, you know that," Sehun says, the sincerity in his tone making Jongin shiver. "And uh, not to be a killjoy or anything, but I promised Chanyeol I'd head over to his place tomorrow morning so we could discuss what to do with our stuff, like, when to take it back," he adds, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly.

Jongin grins brightly. "I'm coming with you!" he says, tightening his grip on Sehun's hand. "Not to mention I haven't seen Chanyeol in like a month, so it'll be a good opportunity to meet him." He furrows his eyebrows when another candle burns out. "Jesus, aren't you hot in this?" He gestures at Sehun's suit, trying not to break out into a sweat himself just by looking at the latter's attire.

Sehun blinks at the sudden subject change. "A little, yeah, now that you mention it," he says, but he makes no move to remove it. "But I'll keep it on since I know you love it," he adds, sending a Jongin a wink that only makes the latter squawk in embarrassment. "And sure, I'm sure he'll appreciate seeing you again." He ruffles Jongin's hair, nearly jumping in surprise when a loud sound suddenly fills the air. "...What was that?"

Feeling himself blush, Jongin bites his lip before looking away. Truthfully, he didn't know standing up this long could make somebody this hungry, because it feels like he hasn't eaten in a year (happiness burns calories, he figures). A minute later, almost as if on cue, his stomach rumbles again, even louder than before, and he clears his throat in embarrassment. On the other hand, he fully blames not eating enough earlier on Sehun for choosing to spoon feed him. "...Yeah."

"I think the food's a little more than cold at this point, but I could warm some up for you in the microwave," Sehun chuckles adoringly. The brunet's finger seems to glow, almost as if it's surrounded by an ethereal, angellic light, which only makes him love Jongin that much more, which he didn't even think was possible. "I thought I fed you enough," he laughs when Jongin's stomach emits yet another growl. In front of him, Jongin only smiles shyly before grabbing his hand and proceeding to drag him towards the door.

As they approach the door, Jongin nearly slips on one of the rose petals lying on the floor, and Sehun only chuckles inwardly because yes, it's definitely possible.

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