“Break up with her,” the CEO said.

            “I won’t,” Leeteuk said defiantly, crossing his arms and raising his chin. “I like her. A lot. I’m almost thirty! You can’t expect me to hide my relationships anymore. How am I supposed to get married?”

            “You’ll ruin her, and you’ll ruin yourself,” he warned.

            At that, Leeteuk slumped in his chair, becoming a different man. He only wanted Sora to be happy, but how could she be happy if he ruined her passion? “Then what am I supposed to do? Sir, I told you, I can’t break up with her. No matter what, I can’t.”

            The CEO rubbed his temples. “We have to win the fans’ approval, first.”

            “I hate that,” Leeteuk said bitterly. “I hate how they control my life.”

            “You need them,” the CEO reprimanded. “They pay for your entire life. Without them, you are nothing.”

            Leeteuk sighed wearily. “Fine. How am I supposed to do that, then?”

            “Get married.”

            “Mwo?!”

            Later that evening, he was talking to her on the phone, explaining the situation and why they needed to appear on We Got Married together.. “Is that okay with you, Sora-so?”

            “It’s fine,” she reassured him. “We have to do what we have to do.”           

            “But the thing is, we can’t act like we know each other, or we’ll be in big trouble with the fans. We have to work to win their affection.”

            “Whatever works,” she said determinedly.

            “Okay,” he said, relieved that she would go along with it. “Good night, then.”

            “Good night, oppa.”

            Jungsoo waited for a moment, then protested childishly, “What, no goodnight kiss?”

            “Mwah,” she said, after a moment, into the phone, blushing.

            On the other side of the line, Jungsoo couldn’t help but blush too.

                                                                                                                                       ~*~

            Celebrating Jungsoo’s thirtieth birthday privately, just the two of them, Jungsoo asked curiously,

            “What made you call that day, the day before our first kiss?” They were strolling home, walking hand-in-hand, simply enjoying each others' company and the warm summer night.

            “I heard you were going to enlist, and I had to confess before you left,” she admitted.

            “But then it was me who ended up confessing,” he pointed out, amused. But he didn't mind, as long as he had her. He loved to look her, and her pretty skin and eyebrows, and the way she smiled, and everything about her, every little thing, he loved to see. He loved watching her and having visual proof that she was alive, and well, and his and only his.

            “Shut up,” she said, pushing him away lightly.

            “Did you like me for that long?” he asked, his heart touched.

            She nodded, too embarrassed to look at him again. She made another confession, "It's because of you I decided to be an actress."

            He leaned over and kissed his on the temple. “You’re so cute.” He had only these simple words to explain his heart. There weren't words for how he felt for her, the woman who had been at his side for almost fifteen years. Leeteuk was an eloquent, charming man, but Park Jungsoo was nothing but a fool when it came to loving Kand Sora.

            She pushed him away again, grinning widely. She loved his kisses. She could remember each one, startin from the very first time her kissed her to make her boo-boos better. Each one was a precious memory to her.

            “Yah!” he whined. “Is that any way to treat the birthday boy?”

            “Oh, you’re right,” she smiled wickedly. “I forget you’re an old man now. I shouldn’t treat you so rudely. My parents raised me to be a good girl, respectful to her elders. And if I push you too hard, your old bones might break!” To be honest, she liked pushing him because it gave her an excuse to touch his muscles, but she wouldn’t admit it to him as long as she lived.

            “Now you’re being cruel.” He shook his head. “I need to punish you—with kisses.” He kissed the side of her face nearest to him again and again, causing her to squeal and run away.

            Later that week, when they were filming for We Got Married, she kissed him on the cheek, whispering quietly enough that no one but he could hear,

            “That’s revenge for before.”

                                                                                                                                          ~*~

            Two years. She waited two years for him to come back, two years to feel him hold her again, two years to kiss him again. She had missed him so much: she visited their swings often, thinking only of him as she sat there, swinging. She kissed the poster of him in her room every night. She often went to Kona Beans to talk with his mother and help out in his place. She visited with him when she could and called him at every opportunity, but it wasn’t enough. She had just missed him too much.

            She stood as close to the discharge gate as was allowed, craning her neck to look for him. ELFs and reporters alike took hundreds of pictures of her anxiously waiting for her boyfriend. Everyone knew the truth now, and their We Got Married stint had really helped them deal with the hate. Most ELFs were TeukSo fans, and every TeukSo fan defended them fiercely.

            The cheers and the clicking from cameras intensified as Jungsoo came closer. At first, he was nothing but a speck, but his face became clearer and clearer the closer he got. Her heart was racing, and her hands were yearning to touch him again.

            He was so close; she could see the dimple in his wide smile. He looked so handsome and manly, and he looked so happy—Sora couldn’t help but feel proud of him. She was so, so, so proud of him—she would always be proud of him; she would always love him.

            Sora-so, she could see his mouth moving to say her name, the name only he had ever called her. She could see him mouthing that, she could see the dimple that she loved, she could see every detail about his beautiful face and body…

            But she didn’t see the ring that he kept carefully hidden in his fist.

            Yet.