No one’s POV

"Do you hate me?" Hannah broke the silence. Hyukjae turned to her direction and stared at her.

"No."

"Come on Hyuk, let’s be honest here."

"I am telling the truth. I tried to hate you. It even came to the point that I am forcing myself to hate you, but I can't. All these times, I just made myself believe that I do." He replied with a weak smile.

"Hyukjae…"

"They say that there is this thin line between hate and love, now I know what that means. Because all these years I made myself believe that I hate you but when I saw you again, I realized that I was just fooling myself. I don't hate you, I just can't accept the fact that you’re not by my side even though I tried my best to make you stay." He added bitterly.

"But... When we meet again during the party, I can feel your anger. You welcomed me with a cold treatment. Now tell me that it is not hatred."

"It is not." He stated confidently.

"It is definitely not a hidden camera, Hyukjae." Hannah commented.

Hyukjae suddenly smiled when he remembered something.

"I've been paranoid about the idea of hidden cameras myself, but no. Someone told me that everything was because of defense mechanism and I admit it, he was right." Hyukjae said remembering the conversation between him and his Leeteuk hyung.

"It was like showing the opposite of what you really feel so that you can protect yourself and your loved ones from getting hurt." Hannah stated absent mindedly. She knows the feeling because that is the same thing that she felt when she broke up with him.

"Exactly! But at that time I was just thinking about myself and my pride, I ended up hurting you. I am sorry, Hannah."

"You already apologized for that, there is no need for you to apologize again. I deserve it anyway because I hurt your feelings. It is me who needs to apologize"

"That's a part of being in a relationship, ...Both of you might hurt each other unintentionally because the moment you loved someone, you are making yourself prone from getting hurt."

Hannah nodded in agreement. The two of them are actually talking about this topic which is years overdue.

"I never thought that we can talk about it like this." Hannah smiled.

"Under the moonlight...on the sands... How romantic..." Hyukjae joked.

"I mean, like mature people. If we talked about this years ago, we would surely end up worst because we are young and impulsive." Hannah said.

"We talked about this 3 years ago. Worst indeed." Hyukjae reminded her while stretching his arms on his back and placing it on the sand for support. Hannah, on the other hand blushed on the memory of what had happened three years ago. Good thing it was dark or else he could see her blushing like crazy.

"Don't worry yourself too much about it, I didn't and will never spill it to Leeteuk hyung. He might skin us alive." Hyukjae suddenly added.

He is quite worried because Hannah became speechless when the topic is opened.

“I really thought you are going to tell him about it a while ago!” Hannah exclaimed.

“He will surely kill me if I did and besides, it is not a gentleman act.”

"You shouldn't have proposed back then. It made things more complicated than it already is."

"I'm sorry to disappoint you but proposing to you is something that I will never regret. Too bad you turned me down." Hyukjae said sincerely.

"Did you mean it?." She asked Hyukjae and the guy is a little confused about the question so she added, “I mean the proposal.”

"Of course! Why? You took it as a joke?!" The guy exclaimed.

"No, but I thought you did it just because something happened between us and you will be grateful if I won’t accept it." Hannah said almost in a whisper.

"I can't believe this. Don't tell me you declined my proposal because of that!"

"That is one of the reasons, I thought you are just taking the responsibility and because something happened, you have no choice but to propose marriage, living with your good morals." She explained.

"Park Hannah! Hear this okay and bear this is mind. I will only propose once and I will never do it again. And when I propose marriage, I really mean it not because it is the only choice left." Hyukjae stated.

"Okay! No need to yell!"

"Just to make sure that you'll get it this time." He replied to Hannah.  "Aigoo~ I can't believe that I was turned down because of that." He mumbled to himself but Hannah heard it.

"You can't blame me! It looked like a desperate act, a spur of the moment decision. Heck, you are proposing back then but you never said you love me! How am I supposed to accept it?! "

"I told you those words numerous times before I propose marriage!" Hyukjae defended.

“What? Like 5 years ago or 2 years before your proposal to be exact. I am not sure if you still feel the same when that thing happened and then you proposed marriage out of the blue.”

“Wait, I think you are forgetting something. I did say that I love you a lot of times on the day of my proposal.”

"Yeah right! You are just saying it while...while..." Hannah stammered on her words while defending her argument.

"While what?" Hyukjae asked.

"While we are...ahm... doing it, yeah, that one." Hannah tried her best to explain herself.

"Doing what?" Hyukjae asked innocently while suppressing a smile. He finds it amusing how innocent and naive Hannah is sometimes.

"Aish~ you know what I mean!"

"I don't."

"You are enjoying this, aren't you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Stop playing innocent, Lee Hyukjae!"

"Cute." Hyukjae pinched Hannah's cheeks but caressed it immediately when Hannah complained.

"What's wrong with asking you to be more specific? IT... THAT... It is confusing, you know."

"No it is not. You are just making fun of me. I can't say it directly, it is embarrassing!"

"You can say it as 'while we are making love', it is not as embarrassing. " Hyukjae commented with a laugh when Hannah covered her ears.

"Aish, Hyukjae! You ert!" Hannah shrieked.

"You are too old to act like that. These things are natural, nothing embarrassing about it."

"Fine! Just stop talking about it!"

"You started it." He said with a teasing smile and Hannah pouted.

“So, that’s the only reason why you declined me back then?” He continued.

“No. I also declined because it is not really a great time for you to get married. You are on the peek of your career and getting married is not a good decision.” He reasoned further and Hyukjae nodded. Thinking about it, he thought what happened in the past were all for the best.

"Anyway, I think my proposal . It is just now that I realized that I didn't do it right and I did it in a very bad timing. So… everything is settled now?"

"I think I still need to confess something too."

"What? You are finally proposing to me now?"

"Hyukjae, be serious!"

"Okay, go on. I'll shut up." He said before zipping his mouth.

"Remember when I broke up with you and my reason is that I want to fulfill my dreams by studying at Berklee?" She asked and Hyukjae nodded, keeping his promise that he will shut up.

"It was an excuse, because the truth is I broke up with you because I want you to fulfill your dreams." She explained. Hyukjae knotted his forehead as if asking her what she meant by that.

"When I got that scholarship at Berklee, I decided not to accept it because I love it here. I can't leave everyone. I can't leave you. When you told me that you are debuting with oppa, I started to worry that our relationship might affect your career negatively. I thought of how your fans will react and the scandals that they might bring up about us. That is when I heard oppa breaking up with his girlfriend. He said something about the company told you guys that it will be better to end current relationships first because it will drive fans away and that scandals and rumors might follow."

Hyukjae is listening intently so Hannah continued.

"I waited for you to break up with me. I was actually expecting that you will. It will be hard for me but I am fine with it since I wanted you to succeed but you never opened up about it. It bothers me thinking that it was hard deciding on your part because I know and I can feel that you really love me. But the thing is, if you won’t end the relationship, it will be hard for you to succeed being an idol considering how possessive some fans can be and you were just starting, so I decided to do things on my own. I don't want to be a hindrance on your success. I want you to fulfill your dreams of being a good performer and sharing your talents to the world. I am really sorry I have to make that decision for both of us."

"Do you think you made the right decision?" He asked, his face void of emotions.

"I have regrets at first but seeing you right now, I know I made the right decision. You fulfilled your dreams and together with Super Junior you made your existence known to the whole world. It makes me feel proud." She smiled warmly at him.

"Are you really proud of me?" He asked.

"Of course! Why wouldn't I? My ex boyfriend is one of the hottest and most popular guy on earth!" Hannah said, her voice full of pride.

"I heard that! You said I am hot!" Hyukjae exclaimed.

Hannah rolled her eyes. "Your fans are saying that all the time, aren't you immune yet?"

"It is still different if you are the one who said it. I feel more special."

"Because you are a special child!" Hannah joked.

"Okay, you are forgiven. I never thought forgiving will be this easy. We've been through a lot of misunderstandings. A relationship was ruined by misunderstandings. What a pity."

"At least we can learn from it, right?" Hannah said and Hyukjae nodded.

"So, what are our plans now?" He asked.

"Let’s start all over again. How about... Friends?" Hannah said. She is actually hesitant on saying it considering everything that they have been through? But as of now, it is the best to start with being friends and who knows what will happen next?

"FRIENDS?!" Hyukjae exclaimed.

"If you still can't accept what I am offering, it's okay. I understand. After everything that I have done to hurt you, I know it is still hard for you." Hannah said thinking that Hyukjae still has this grudge against her so he can't accept her friendship.

"Uh...No, I mean. Okay, friends." Hyukjae stated. On the back of his mind... 'Friends? What the?! I thought we are heading somewhere deeper!'

Hannah smiled brightly at him and offered her hand for a handshake but instead of accepting it Hyukjae pulled her and hugged her tightly.

"I miss you very much, FRIEND." He said stressing on the last word.

"Are you taking advances on me, my FRIEND?" Hannah asked in the same tone but still hugged back.

“Wait, just to conclude everything, you broke up with me and you declined my proposal because you want me to fulfill my dreams and to succeed, those are the only reasons, right?” Hyukjae pondered.

“Yeah.” Hannah answered.

Hyukjae smiled like he just found out something. ‘I still have a chance.’ He thought.

"Remember what I told you at the party? I will still work on it, Hannah. Always remember that." He said.

'I'll make sure that you will fall for me again.' She repeated his words on her mind.

'How can I possibly fall in love with you again if in the first place, I never fall out of love?'She answered him on her mind.

Hyukjae smiled at himself. It was a good start after all. No more awkwardness. Just friends? Of Course not, but he will take things one at a time. He decided not to rush Hannah, he is giving him enough time to reconsider the status of their relationship.

And another thing, he is thinking if he should tell Hannah that the 'company instruction' thing was just his oppa's excuse to break up with his girlfriend before debut. Because the truth is, his leeteuk hyung really wanted to broke up with the girl, he just don't know how so when the news of the debut came, he got the idea of using that excuse.

Oh well, maybe next time.... The mood and setting is good, he wouldn't want to ruin it.