I wake up the next morning with a smile etched to my face, feeling expectant to find myself wrapped in a pair of warm arms as I stir. I can feel the sun shining down on my face through closed eyes. The birds are chirping outside, completing the serene morning air.

I reach a hand out to my side, only to have my palm landing flat on the empty space beside me. I frown at the unexpected. I search again to my other side but still, I find no one around. My eyes snap opened. I look around me and notice that I was sleeping in my bed, tucked in my white comforter and alone – not somewhere at the balcony and secured in his embrace. My cloudy head is abruptly wakened. 

I shoot up into a sitting position and blink a few times to adjust my sight with the intensity of sunlight streaming through the window. But the warmth of the sun does nothing to the cold feeling that suddenly creeps my chest. And it feels dark all of sudden. Where's Hyukjae?

A familiar insecurity takes the best of me. It feels like I am being pushed off the bed to rush towards the door to my room as my fear heightens. Flinging the door opened, I head for the stairs, my footsteps sound frantic as I turn my head from side to side to catch a glance of him. Beads of cold sweat begin to form on my forehead. Where is he? Where is he?

The last thing I remember before I fell asleep was Hyukjae humming to me. He was there, watching me with eyes gleaming by the beam of the moon and warm smile on his lips.

But then, it’s always like that. I could feel him by my side when I was asleep, but the moment I open my eyes, he was gone somewhere. He was gone when I woke up the morning after we talked at the park, and even now, he’s gone again.

Dr. Jung, Kyuhyun’s friend whom I’ve been talking to for quite awhile now, had told me distantly that I might have grown somekind of trauma with the feeling of being left. But with Hyukjae’s leave and my mother’s a few years back, I wouldn’t be surprised if one day I find out that I really have grown the trauma. I get scared and shaken up so easily when I think of those moments, where the ones I depended on so much went away.

I quickly shake my head to keep those thoughts away from my mind. My grip onto the stairs' railing tightens.

“No no no, you added the sugar too much, Hyukjae.” My ears perk up at Sunhwa Ahjumma’s voice, and before I can think over it, I find myself running to the kitchen where some noises that I didn’t realized exist before are heard.

I arrive at the kitchen soon, stopping by the doorframe with my breath racing. I'm staring unblinkingly at Hyukjae’s broad back as relief floods through my body heavily. I put a hand over my pounding heart. Oh, he’s still here. He’s really here.

I swallow everything unnerving and normalize my breath, before stepping further into the kitchen, very slowly as I take in the sight of him. He is wearing a crumpled, white dress shirt, and a pair of gray suitpants. I notice it’s his work attire from yesterday. Maybe he even stayed the night here.

In contrast to the clothes, a baby blue apron is tied around the back of his neck and waist. He stands in front of the kitchen counter with one hand rested on his hip while the other one busies itself with stirring.

“Really? I think I didn’t even add it enough.” Hyukjae says to Sunhwa Ahjumma, who is standing beside him and patiently guiding him to stir the mixture of God knows what.

“Hyukjae-ah,” Sunhwa Ahjumma laughs softly. “You’re going to get us diabetes if you add the sugar some more.”

“I’m not that bad of a cook.” Hyukjae protests with a pouting voice.

“I know, I know. But let’s just have breakfast with another menu, alright? We have bread, bacons, eggs, cereals... oh, or do you want me to make pancakes?” Sunhwa Ahjumma pipes with the ingredients.

From behind I can see Hyukjae’s shoulders deflating when he sighs. “So are we officially considering this waffle as a failure now?”

“I’m sorry, dear,” Sunhwa Ahjumma pats his arm gently. Just like to me, I know she has a soft spot for Hyukjae that makes her so fond of him. “Do you want some pancakes?”

“Okay,”

“Wait while I make them. Just go upstairs and wake Nayoung- ah, there she is.” Hyukjae’s head snaps toward my direction at the mention of my name. Immediately, a grin plasters his face. “Okay, now you kids, wait at the dining table while I make your breakfasts.” Sunhwa Ahjumma pushes both our backs toward the dining room.

Hyukjae grins again, so boyishly that it makes him look a few years younger. “Thank you, ahjumma.”

Sunhwa ahjumma nods her head with a smile and steps back to the kitchen, but not without flashing me her wiggling eyebrows. I blush and look up at Hyukjae.

“You were cooking?”

“Well good morning to you too,” he chuckles and tucks his hands into the front pockets of the apron. “And no. Actually, I was trying to cook. But as you can see, I failed miserably.” He flushes a little as his own words.

“Okay,” I raise a brow. “What did you try to cook?”

“Waffles. Your favorite.” He frowns. “It looked so easy when they made it on TV.”

I giggle at his cute expression. “That's very sweet of you. But maybe you and kitchen just don’t belong to each other, Hyukjae.”

“Oh trust me, Nana, we don’t.” Hyukjae grins playfully, and I laugh again. “So, did you have a nice sleep?”

“Yes I did.” I answer with a smile. I had a really nice sleep. Especially when there’s no Kang Daeyoung banging his fist on my door to wake me up for work. “Oh, where’s Daeyoung Oppa?”

“He’s on a business trip, he had an early flight this morning...” Hyukjae blabbers on how Daeyoung has to go to somewhere and handle something there. But my attention is already distracted away. The thought of that trauma is suddenly back to intruding my mind, pushing away Hyukjae’s words from my ears. I stare at my feet, remembering how unnerving it was...

“Don’t do that again,” I tell him abruptly, cutting him off short in the middle of his speech. My voice is surprisingly small when inwardly, I am screaming to fight off the fright.

Hyukjae looks taken aback when I look up at him. “Do what?”

“Don’t do that. Don’t leave without giving me notices.” I shake my head slowly, tremblingly. “I woke up this morning alone, while I wasn’t prepared for it. It... it scared me.”

Hyukjae grows very still at my sudden confession. “But I’m here, Nana. I didn't go anywhere. And you were sleeping.”

“You could’ve woken me up before you left.”

“I didn’t have the heart to wake you up. I didn’t-”

“Please,” I look into his eyes. “Just don’t do that again.”

Hyukjae stares at me with confusion written on his face. After getting a small, hesitant nod from him, I turn away and sit at the dining table. Hyukjae follows and sits next to me, turning his chair to fully face me.

“What’s wrong, Nana?”

“It’s nothing.”

“It can't be nothing. You're shaking now. Is it the nightmares again?”

I look up at him, shocked. How does he know about my nightmares?

“Oh Nana,” he engulfs me into his arms, as if he knows that I’ve been cold from the start of the morning. “I’m here, I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”

I close my eyes as he smoothes my hair gently, leaning my temple on his chest. He feels so warm.

“Daeyoung came home very late last night, and he saw my car outside. And when he saw me inside your room, well, he didn’t really appreciate it and wanted me to sleep at the guest’s room.” he explains, and pulls away a little. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” I shake my head lightly. “Did he throw a fit at you?”

“He did.” Hyukjae smiles.

I frown. “You really should’ve woken me up.”

“It was just your brother, Nana. I can always handle him. Although he can be very violent at times.” He mumbles the last sentence, but I can clearly hear it.

“Violent?”

He smiles. “A handful, I mean. He can be a handful at times.”

I pout. “Still, Daeyoung Oppa is very overprotective.”

“Honestly, Nana, I’m glad he is.” He cups my hands gently with his bigger ones. “I can see he’s playing a great role as a brother. He protects you and takes a good care of you. I'm glad that he's keeping his promise.”

“His promise?” What promise?

“Hmm.” He brushes his thumb against the back of my palm gently, distracting me from flooding him with questions. “I have a meeting at ten. Do you want me to drop you off to work?”

I stare at him, a bit surprised by the offering. It never came to my mind, the image of him driving me to my office. However, it excites me to think of that. “Sure.” I flash him a smile, reflecting his breath-taking one.

After we've had our breakfasts, Hyukjae drives me to my office. He’s dressed in Daeyoung’s navy blue suit, and he wears his white striped dress shirt inside with a matching tie, since he didn’t even expect himself to be staying the night in my house. He looks gorgeous and confident in suits, giving off the vibe of a young, successful excecutive that he is.

Suddenly I’m reminded to take Daeyoung’s place at work since he’s away now. “Uhm, Hyukjae, I forgot, where did Daeyoung go again?” I didn’t forget it. I just didn’t hear it.

“Daeyoung? He’s on a business trip to Jeju.”

My eyes widen as I look away from the window to him. “Jeju?”

“Yes, Jeju.” Hyukjae takes a brief glance at me. “Why so surprised?”

“No, I mean, business trip to Jeju? That sounds more like a vacation.”

Hyukjae takes another glance at me, before falling into a fit of laughter, leaving me more confused. “Vacation?” he asks, still laughing.

“Vacation,” I repeat. “What’s so funny with that word?”

“You are, Nana. You are.” Hyukjae tries to calm his laughters down.

“Me? How am I funny?” I stare at him, flustered. He steps on the brake and the car halts softly. I look out the window, only to find the car stopping in front of the lobby to my office building.

Hyukjae turns his body to me and inches closer to unfasten my seatbelt. But when he’s done, he doesn’t move away. He takes a deep breath after completely spending it up for the laughter, looking at me with a barely covered mirth.

“Next time, Nana,” Hyukjae starts with a deep voice that makes me blush. “Please pay attention to the presenter when you’re at a meeting.”

“What?” I blink up at him.

“In the next three days, we’re going to catch up with Daeyoung to Jeju.” He smiles, and before I can ask him what he meant by that, he grins and steps out of the car. A moment later he appears beside my door and holds it open for me, carefully taking my hand to lead me out of the car.

“What do you mean we’re going to catch up with him to Jeju?”

“Because we will.”

I furrow my brows. “Hyukjae-”

“And Nana,” he cuts me off, holding up an index finger in front of me. “It should be ‘Hyukjae Oppa’ for you.” he narrows his eyes playfully. “And if you still don’t get the business trip Jeju, ask your secretary or anyone that was present at the meeting yesterday. They would know. Unless they didn’t pay attention to the presenter as well.”

I blush, remembering that on the meeting yesterday I was tuning out the whole presentation and absent-mindedly staring at him.

“This morning has been wonderful,” Hyukjae sighs contentedly and cups one of my cheeks in his palm, pulling me out of my trance. When I glance up at him he's already giving me the intense, heart-warming smile. “You've handled the jetlag really well so far, Nana. You've been more relaxed to having me around again.” Blushing, I shift shyly as I hear a few whispers around.

“Hyuk-” I stop myself when he raises a brow at me. “O-Oppa, people are looking.”

“I know,” but he doesn’t pull his hand away. “I just want to say thanks to you. For giving me the second chance. For allowing me to step back into your life. Thank you, Nana-yah.”

Hyukjae’s eyes always look like that when he’s being sincere. Light, twinkling, and warm. His brown orbs penetrates into mine as a beautiful smile reaches his eyes. I silently admire myself, recalling how I was actually able to go through those years without this guy by my side.

I was strong, after all. But I don’t know if I can be that strong if he leaves again.

“I’ve got to go now,” Hyukjae leans forward to press a kiss on my forehead. “I'll call you...” he trails, not sure with his own sentence.

“Later?” I finish for him, knowing how busy he will be. He smiles with a little flush.

“Later,” he nods. “Have a great day, Nana.”

He releases my cheek and retreats to his car. He pulls the window down and waves to me, before closing it again and driving away from the lobby of Kangsan Building.

Hi everyone! It's been a long time :'')

Sorry I haven't been updating this story for soooooo long. But I have the same excuse. About school. I'm sorry! >_<

And sorry if this chapter is too crappy, and not so fluffy, or maybe failed. I'm sorry!

Anyway I should inform you guys that I won't be updating this story very regulary, the longest time will be until the end of this month. But I'll update it as soon as I have free time. Please be patient with me? :)