Jooyoung's alarm rang at 7 in the morning and she's been wide awake since 4 hours ago. She has pushed her schedule until later in the noon cause it's not like she will be able to focus on anything at work in this state. There's a guy, who went MIA from her life for the past 3 months, sleeping on her couch probably having the worst hangover he's ever had in the last year and confessed his profound emotion towards her.

So later that night, she called someone to hopefully lend her a hand in this chaotic moment of hers. She then been promised to have the man picked up from her house early in the morning.

30 minutes later after her alarm rang, someone rang her bell. She walked past her living room, scared and didn't bother to look at the figure who was still lying down on her couch. She opened the door and stood there, the supposedly lifesaver, "Joonmyun."

Her brother, and also a very good friend of Jongdae "How's he?"

Jooyoung let out a sigh as she led them to Jongdae "I don't know. Didn't dare to look."

"Hey," Joonmyun stopped them just before they walked into the living room "How are you?"

Joonmyun was probably the only person who knew both sides of the story. He knew what they both had gone through since the breakup, and he knew that sooner or later someone had to confront the other but he never expected it to happen in such stupidity.

"Yeah, I guess." She shrugged "I just didn't expect that. How did he get here, anyway? Were you not drinking with him last night?"

"Uh.. yeah. But he uh he took off first."

"And you let him?" Considering how drunk Jongdae was last night and they actually let him took off alone at 3 in the morning sounded absurd and stupid.

"Yeah, he said he's fine and he was really convincing." Joonmyun shrugged the skeptic off of Jooyoung and it's not like it was her biggest concern at that moment.

She replied with a sigh, "Fine. Can you just get him, please?"

"Okay." Joonmyun mouthed before he proceeded to the living room where Jongdae is still fast asleep on the couch. Followed by Jooyoung who then sit on the other chair.

"Rise and shine, pisshead!" Joonmyun shouted as he pulled the blanket away from Jongdae which startled his soul like it was going to leave his body "C'mon wake up."

Jongdae groaned as he fixed his position "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to pick you up, Aurora. So chop-chop, we got things to do."

Jongdae looked at Jooyoung who was also looking at him. Now that he's looking at her with his sober eyes, he adored her even more. It made him even more. So she must've called Joonmyun for help, now he felt really bad. He wanted to say something but Jooyoung said she had to get ready so she left them, where in reality she just didn't want to hear Jongdae say anything.

-

Along the ride home Jongdae was surprisingly silent for someone who is usually very whiny. Joonmyun took a glance at Jongdae every once in a while. He looked so lifeless for a lively person and Joonmyun didn't like it. He only stared out of the window blankly.

"Do you want to stop for breakfast first?" Joonmyun tried to make a conversation but Jongdae didn't even respond "What? Now you lost your voice, too, Ariel?"

Still no answer.

"You know, Jongdae," Joonmyun started again "you can't just walk out of someone's life, didn't cㅡ"

"Contact her for three months, and then came banging on her door at 3 in the morning, drunk, and tell her that you love her." Jongdae cut Joonmyun before he could finish his sentence "So I've been told."

"You told her that you love her?!" Joonmyun raised his voice in shock "I didn't know that. What the ? Are you crㅡ"

"I know!" He cut him once again "I know it was stupid, okay? She's probably moved on and is now in love with someone else. I don't know, maybe. I haven't seen her in a while what the do I expect. And to be fair, I didn't even know how I got there in the first place."

"I told you not to date nor my sister. You did both and look where you are now." Jongdae couldn't really tell if Joonmyun was joking or not. He really did say that, though. Specifically.

He never wanted any of his friends to go out with Jooyoung. He figured maybe he didn't want to be caught in the awkwardness if things ended up going south. Which Joonmyun eventually did, and he gotta admit it was a huge pain in the even for him. Too much drama he couldn't handle. But in the end, he saw what Jongdae and Jooyoung had and he saw how great and happy they were together. It was good enough to convince him.

"Look, if there's anything I know, your feelings are mutual okay. You guys are just dumb and coward enough not to confront your problems." Jongdae rolled his eyes cause here we go again, Joonmyun and his life lecture "Don't roll your eyes on me, punk. I can sense it."

"How do you know that it's mutual?"

"I'm her brother for s sakes. I've been caught in this and I didn't even ask for it, but it happened by default. She told me s, okay." Joonmyun tone was a bit frustrated, Jongdae could tell "She misses you, too. But you idiots think that by leaving your heart in a suitcase and let it get lost in the desert would be a good idea because you think that the other idiot is doing the same thing. But that's not how moving on works, because eventually, either of you is going to crawl back into the desert earlier than the other looking for the suitcase cause you realize you cannot live without your heart. Which is you, idiot number one, crawling into her place highly inebriated."

Jongdae hated the fact that Joonmyun is right. But in his defense, he didn't know what Jooyoung really felt. So he took the worst case scenario and played along. Living like she had moved on so he had to, too. When in reality, this scenario was killing him to his very bones.

Jongdae let out a sigh. He wished that things didn't have to be this difficult. But then again, he guessed there is no easy game in love "So what do I do?"

"You've found your suitcase. It's your call. Do you want to bury back in the desert or take it home with you and put it back where it belongs?"

-

The day didn't get any better for Jooyoung. She thought that work would've distracted her from Jongdae, but it's Jongdae who distracted her from work. It had been officially the hardest day to get by. Those words, his voice, his face, everything was constantly playing in her head like a broken record. People were noticing how she had seemed to lost her muse today. She could only brush them off and told them that she didn't get enough sleep and that was all. It wasn't completely wrong, she really didn't get enough sleep and it was easier to explain than the "my ex-boyfriend, whom I haven't talked to in three months, came to my house at 3 am, very wasted, and told me everything I wish he had been feeling." story. So she chose the easier road.

She continued working and working and working. And just when she hadn't been thinking about Jongdae for a bit, her co-worker tapped her in the arm and pointed at something behind her. She gave him a frown, and when she turned her chair, there's Kim Jongdae. She stared at him blankly for a few seconds because really? He couldn't choose a more perfect timing? Jooyoung blinked several times, taking herself back to earth.

"Guys, let's take a quick break, okay?" She announced and then waited until everyone had left. She stood up from her chair, giving a sign to Jongdae to follow her into the isolation booth. Just in case someone might eavesdrop "You got 5 minutes."

"I'm really sorry for the inconvenient last night. I was too drunk and did something too stupid." Jongdae said his line cautiously as he tried to read Jooyoung's expression but she didn't even make any eye contact with him "I'm sorry for never reaching out to you after everything Iㅡ"

"It's fine." She interrupted "You don't have to."

She's acting cold and indifferent, but Jongdae knew her too well to see that she's anxious.

"Well, yeah, I'm really really sorry about last night. I didn't mean to scare you off." There were a few seconds of silence. Jongdae was trying to gather up every bit of his courage there is inside of him "But I did mean everything that I said."

Jongdae took a step closer to her and Jooyoung was still refusing to make any eye contact "I should've tried harder and convinced you that we could make this work, Jooyoung. I don't care how busy we get with our works as long as at the end of the day I know there is you I would go through it."

Jongdae noticed a tear streamed down her cheek, and it broke his heart to see her cry. So he took another step closer. He lifted her chin and cupped her cheek, forcing her to make an eye contact with him.

"I'm scared." She said softly.

"Me too." He said as he wiped her tears "I can't promise you that it will be easy. But I promise you we will make it work. Okay?"

She's terrified. But Jongdae was right. As long as she knows that she got him at the end of the day, she didn't mind. So she nodded. "Okay."

Jongdae closed the distance between them and locked their lips together with a gentle kiss. He pulled away to look into her eyes once again, "I love you."

She smiled as she brushed their nose together.

"I love you, too." Said a high pitched voice from the speaker.

They both frowned and turn their heads to the window and turned out it was Baekhyun with his girl voice speaking to the microphone from the control room along with the rest of EXO waving at them. Apparently, those who knew Jongdae came to the studio for Jooyoung immediately spread the information for everyone at the office. And of course, as a bunch of people who don't know the meaning of boundaries, EXO ran to the studio to watch the action themselves.

"Smooch, smooch." Teased Baekhyun once again only to get shoved by Joonmyun who then spoke.

"Next time, If you want to be safe, make sure that you mute the mic, okay?"

They laughed it off and turned their focus back on each other though later Baekhyun got a very painful pinch on the arm that would last him a lifetime for ruining such a perfect moment. "I love you, too." She mouthed and Jongdae gave her the most loving look she's been missing.

"Wait, I'm curious, though." She stopped Jongdae just before he leaned in for another kiss "How did you get to my place last night?"

Jongdae frowned at the question because he didn't even remember it himself. The last thing he remembered was Jongin ordering them their fourth bottle of vodka and they competed on who could drink the most shots, and the rest went very much blurry after that event. The next thing he remembered he was in her building "Hmm.. honestly, I don't even know."

Jooyoung didn't care. As long as it brought Jongdae back to her, she didn't care. He's here now, arms wrapped tight around her, lips pressed tightly against hers, and that's all that ever mattered.