It was finally the day for you to go home and you had been up for almost 24 hours. While saying goodbye to your family and loading all of your luggage into the taxi, you couldn’t wait to go home and run into your boyfriend’s arms. 2 month’s may not have been a long time but it seemed like you were gone for much longer and you were definitely missing your fishie. And that’s all you could think of during the ride to the airport.

Once there, you had to wait almost 2 hours, going through security and the normal procedure before you could even board the plane. And after your first flight, you had to go through the entire process again since your ticket required you to take two flights, which always puzzled you because it would’ve been much easier to take one flight straight to Seoul, but the only one available for that day had to stop in Shanghai before reaching home. You didn’t complain though, you just wanted to make it back to Korea in one piece. You prayed that there would be no delay so that it wouldn’t get too late and then you’d have to end up spending another night away from Donghae. You just kept your fingers crossed, hoping for the best and imagining what it’ll be like when you get to the apartment.

After what seemed like hours, your journey was finally over and your plane had landed safely at the airport in Seoul. You quickly found your luggage and took a cab home. It was almost 9 pm when you were outside of your apartment. Since it was a weekday, you assumed Donghae was at the studio rehearsing so you had an idea to surprise him. You carefully opened the door with your keys and put your stuff down, trying your best not to make a sound so that you could see it he was home or not. When you didn’t hear anything you walked around the house to double check. You went through every room and stood there shocked when you reached the kitchen. You saw Donghae in complete silence and concentration as you saw him decorating a cake. Not wanting to disturb him, you just stood there and watched as he finished his work.

When it seemed like he was satisfied with his work, he put down the bag of icing he was holding and stepped back to admire his creation. When he looked up, he saw you standing in the doorway. His face lit up at the sight of you and he just smiled. He didn’t say anything but with that smile it was almost as if you heard him say “Welcome home.”

You walked up to him and hugged him, wrapping your arms around his shoulder and making sure to hold him tight, almost begging him not to let you go. And it was like he read your mind because at that moment he returned your hug and you both just stood like that in the kitchen for a while, just taking everything in.

When you broke apart, you looked at his cake and gave him a questioning look. “Since when did you know how to do all of this?”

He laughed a little. “Just something I picked up while filming. I wanted things to be special for when you came home.”

“Oh! That reminds me. How have things been since I was gone?”

You saw Donghae’s face turn black as he quickly avoided the question. “Umm…First, why don’t you tell me you’ve been. How’s your family?”

Ignoring his odd behavior you sat down on the dining table as he cut 2 slices of his cake and joined you. You told him all about your trip starting from the plane ride to hospital, not leaving out any details. You weren’t sure if Donghae really cared about every little thing but you just continued to talk because you loved the way he looked at you to let you know that he was paying attention. It gave you this reassuring feeling that he really cared about you.

As you were finishing up your story, you picked up the last bits of cake on your plate and complimented Donghae on how delicious it was. He smiled as he picked up your plate. You offered to wash the dishes yourself since he had made the dessert but he just sat you back down and told you that you weren’t allowed to do any work since it was your first day back.  You pouted but didn’t complain because you really didn’t feel like doing the dishes.

As Donghae finished putting the plates away he made his way back over to the table to sit right next to you. Feeling a little playful, he attempted to sit on your lap but you pushed him off as soon as he did because he was too heavy. You both laughed but at the back of your mind, you kept wondering why Donghae refused to answer your question earlier.

“So you never told me how your drama went? Anything interesting happen?”

Donghae’s face dropped again. “Uh..Yeah. Filming was great. I gained a lot of experience and I met a lot of new people who were really supportive. I just hope the drama does well…”

You knew something was up when Donghae only told you those few details. “That’s it?”

Donghae sighed and started to talk about his director and how he was always being scolded and how terrible he felt. He kept going on about how on some days he would have double schedules and that it became really tough especially because he was constantly missing you. You figured that was the reason why he was acting weird and why he was so reluctant to talk about the last 2 months. You felt sorry for your fish and held his hand.

“Aww Donghae. It’s okay. The important thing is that you tried your hardest. I’m sure your drama will be a huge success….Let’s forget about it and go to sleep.”

You were tugging his hand as you were about to make your way upstairs, but he quickly pulled on your arm and in one move you were trapped into his tight embrace.

“Donghae! Wha…”

“I’m sorry!” He buried his head into your neck as he started to whimper.

“For what?”

“Do you remember that time when I promised you that I would tell you anything?” He was talking into your shoulder so you could barely hear what he was saying.

“What are you talking about.” You began to pet his head, not sure what else to do.

He pulled away a bit, lifting his head but still holding you close to him. “Do you remember that time when I  told you that I was going to a rehearsal but I really went on game show? Even though you told me not to because I was already sick and that I would get hurt. Then afterwards I ended up injuring my knee but I continued to hide it from you. You were so mad at me for not listening to you and for being careless and then I promised you that I would always tell you the truth no matter how bad it was.”

“Yeah…but what does that have to do about anything?”

He started to hug you tighter and you could swear that you saw tears forming in the corner of his eye. “I’m so sorry Jagi!”

Getting worried, you didn’t know what to think and so you pushed him away from you. “Donghae…what happened?”

“While you were gone, I went to the club and I…I brought a girl home.” He put his head down in shame as he said the last part.

You felt as though Donghae was cutting through you and you didn’t want to hear what he was saying. Tears started to fall from your eyes as you were imagining the worst. Donghae reached his hand over to wipe your tears but you slapped it away. “Why?”

“It was the day you told me that you thought you were going to have to stay for another month and…”

Your blood began to boil and you felt like throwing something across the room. “Hold on a second! You mean last week?!”

Donghae tried walking towards you stepped back. “Jagi….let me explain.”

In your head you didn’t want to hear any more of this, but when you looked at his pleading eyes, you gave in and let him talk.

“I was so alone and depressed that day and so Eunhyuk hyung wanted to take me out so that I wouldn’t be sitting at home by myself. We ended up going to a nearby club and I met one of my cast mates there. We started talking and she offered to buy me a drink…I guess I got carried away with the drinks because we started off talking, and then we kissed. From there we ended up on the dance floor and then after that we came back here.” He couldn’t bring himself to look at you as he told you about the night.

You felt like your world was crashing down on you. Donghae cheating on you was one of the last things you thought you would ever have to worry about. “Did you…?” You couldn’t even spit out the last part of your sentence because you knew you would start to form images in your head.

But there was no need for you to finish your sentence because it was like Donghae had read your mind. You could see tears falling from his eyes as he looked straight at you. “No. Nothing happened….That night was a mistake and I’ve never felt more ashamed in my life…Jagi…I…I don’t expect you to and I don’t know why you would…but please forgive…please don’t leave.” He dropped to his knees and started to cry. After a minute, neither of you said a thing. Donghae had no idea what you would say so he just looked up at you like a lost child.

The moment you saw his face, your heart softened. Thoughts of leaving him had been running through your mind for the last 30 minutes since he had told you, but that one look on his face made you search for reasons to stay with him. He was being sincere and he was obviously scared about you leaving, which meant that he was already suffering from his own mistake. Your heart felt sorry for him and you couldn’t stand seeing your fishy so hurt. Then you remembered how much you had missed him over the time that you were apart. It made you realize that your relationship meant too much for you to throw it away over a little mistake that he was already punishing himself for. Looking back at the whole situation, and seeing Donghae like that, made you think about how much he loved you. Any other man would’ve kept it a secret and you would have never found out but Donghae was a man of his word and he loved you too much to lie to you. You started to wonder how you ended up with such a great person as your lover, but looked at it as a blessing.

After what seemed like forever in silence, you reached for Donghae’s hands and motioned for him to stand up. Not knowing what you were going to say, he stood up and kept his head down, still letting tears fall down from his cheeks.

You wiped them away and held his head in the palm of your hands. He opened his eyes completely shocked at your actions.

“Donghae…I love you too much to let you go. And seeing you be so honest with me makes me love you even more…I don’t want to see you hurt and I definitely do not want you to think that I hate you. I could never hate you.”

“You’re not leaving me?” A smile started to form on his face.

You giggled. “No. Being away from you made me realize that I can’t bear to not have you in my life. I love you.”

Donghae was still trying to understand why you weren’t throwing him into a wall. “So…you’re not mad at me?”

You shook your head. “No. Just don’t fall for any other woman. You’re mine and if it isn’t already obvious…I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Donghae smiled from ear to ear as he pulled you into a tight hug, only to pull away a few seconds later to pout at you.

“What’s wrong?”

“Jagi…it’s not fair! I wanted to say those words to you!”

You laughed at his kid like behavior. “Then get down on one knee and say it.”

His childish smile quickly turned into a smirk. “It’s like you read my mind.” Then he got down on his right knee and performed a little magic trick in front of you. Suddenly a small box appeared in his hand. He opened it slowly and inside was a small ring.

As he slipped the ring on your finger he whispered three little words. “I love you.” And that marked the beginning of a new promise between you and your fishie.