"Since when did you start putting smiley faces in your notes? No - scrap that, when did you start leaving cute messages?" Eunsung teased the other on their journey to school. The girl had woken up to the bleeping alarm clock but after reading Sehun's post-it note, the prospect of not being able to continue her sleep dissolved into thin air.

Sehun grimaced at her words, "Don't call me cute, you know I dislike that." 

"Aw, the guy who looks cold on the outside is trying to maintain his soft interior - don't worry, your secret's safe with me, gotcha," Eunsung winked cheekily before hopping onto the bus. 

"Wait I-" Sehun protested but then merely chuckled. At least she's back to her normal playful self again, I couldn't ask for more, he thought before hopping on the bus too. 

During class, Eunsung was halfway through her note taking when a slip of paper landed on her desk. Pausing in her writing, she glanced up curiously to see a timid Zelo keeping his gaze resting on the paper. It seemed as though he was still too afraid to meet her eyes. He didn't want to scare her away after the events that transpired last night. 

Biting her bottom lip, she unfolded the slip and read the words that had been quickly scribbled.

"I have something to say to you... can we talk? You can bring Sehun along if you want." 

Suddenly she thought back to the moment of Zelo leaning in again and her pleads, how terrifying that- no! She shook her head out of those thoughts and willed herself to form a rational decision.

"It's okay, I trust you." 

Slipping the note back over to the guy's desk, she resumed focusing on the slide on the board. She didn't look back at Zelo to see his reaction to her words for the rest of the lesson though - not even once. 

When class ended, there was a short break since the students had had 3 lessons back to back. In this break, Zelo and Eunsung headed over to their usual spot, which was a certain area on the field. They sat down on the soft grass with no words exchanged between them both. The sun was shining and there was a cool breeze that rustled the leaves on trees. 

After a minute, Zelo was the first to break the silence, "Firstly, thanks for still coming to meet me. I honestly thought for definite, there was no way you would want to still see my face after that. But somehow you're here... and by yourself. You're too kind - how do you still trust me after that? If I were you, I definitely wouldn't want to see my face again and especially not if I was alone." 

Eunsung lets her fingers run through a blade of grass before she says softly, "I trust you because I know that you won't hurt me and you didn't intend to hurt me." The Zelo she has known for the past year has been nothing but warm, generous, kind and would never even hurt a fly. The person she witnessed yesterday wasn't the true Zelo - just one that had been through too much and had resorted in doing something that was beyond his control. That was why she trusted him even now. People make mistakes, do outrageous things in sudden moments but that doesn't mean they're a bad person. 

For Zelo, looking at the girl being so honest with him made him want to kick himself harder. How could he do such a thing to this person? The fact that she was understanding made him blame himself further - he didn't want her to let him off for what he had done. She should avoid him, ignore him and hate him. But instead, here she was with him, talking to him, comforting him.

Sensing that the latter had gone silent as if stunned by her answer, she continued, "Yesterday... that wasn't you, that I know for sure. And I want to apologise for being so oblivious to your feelings, I'm sorry for hurting you unintentionally. I really didn't know-"

"No," Zelo interrupted shaking his head causing the girl to pause in her sentence, "I should be the one apologising. I regret my actions towards you last night sincerely. If I could control time, I would go back and change that. Yes, it was true that I harboured feelings for you but I didn't mean for them to be revealed like that. I wanted to confess to you somehow during the China trip but a lot of things happened. There was never the right time or maybe there was, I was just too much of a coward to ruin our friendship. And when we returned to Korea, I was planning to confess but then... you had a boyfriend. I couldn't do that. I guess I was just too distraught and angered that I never had the chance. And for that I truly am sorry."

Eunsung furrowed her eyebrows and looked at the boy beside her. Her stomach turned at having heard his side of the story. She reached her hand out to pat his shoulder but stopped mid air just as Zelo glanced back up to see her hand. Realising this, she let it fall back to her side. She wanted to comfort him, she did, but didn't know how to after hurting him like this. 

"But hey, don't feel sorry for me, I'm fine," Zelo assured the girl noticing her inner turmoil, "And it was a good thing Sehun was there yesterday - his punch really brought me back to reality. I'm telling you, your boyfriend has an iron fist." His attempt to joke had the girl's corner of her lips tugging upwards which made him feel relieved. He didn't want her to blame herself for it; after all, he should know best, you can't control who you have feelings for. It just happens.

"Fool, look at your face and you can still joke about it?" Eunsung scolded him causing Zelo to smile. She fumbled her pockets for her wallet and pulled out a plaster (she had always kept some for emergencies after the camping trip). She pressed it into his hand, "Better cover it up big shot otherwise your fans will go ballistic."

Zelo rolled his eyes at her comment. I wouldn't care even if they did - I deserved it for hurting you. 

They went silent for a while more before Zelo spoke quietly, "If I asked you for the favour now, would it still be valid?" (NB: he's referring to the favour he had in Chapter 7)

"Of course it would! I never thought you would ask," the girl smiled, "So what is it?" 

"Could you... sit here with me until the bell rings?"

The girl found it odd that he would request this but agreed nevertheless. Zelo looked at the girl one last time before focusing his gaze on the sky ahead with a smile.

Thank you for staying with me. Thank you for letting me experience what it was like to fall in love, although it was never with you, the chance to have these feelings for someone like you is more than enough. This is the last time we will be together as the guy who has an unrequited love for his friend. Next time it'll just be Eunsung and Zelo, two good friends. My first love, goodbye. 

For some reason, at the end of the day, Sehun didn't appear outside the girl's last class to pick her up to walk home together. Eunsung waited several minutes for him until Luhan came to tell her that Sehun had something important to do so he couldn't take her home. In his place, Luhan had come to keep her company.

"Did he say it was to keep me company?" she asked as they walked. 

"Nah that was my translation of what he said," Luhan answered.

"And what did he say?" 

"To ward off any advances if you know what I mean," Luhan wiggled his eyebrows which caused Eunsung to punch his arm playfully. 

The house was a lot quieter without Sehun's presence but that also meant no distractions. Although Sehun was a good boyfriend and tried not to steal her time away from studying, Eunsung couldn't help but think of him when she was working. And now that he wasn't here, Eunsung managed to finish her homework in a shorter amount of time than it would've taken normally. 

"Stupid Sehun filling up my brain space," she muttered but it was obvious that she didn't mean it in a bad way.

Packing away her books, she lazily walked over to the kitchen to get a glass of water. It was getting late now and she had to cook dinner soon. Just as she was about to open the fridge to look at what ingredients she could use for a meal, the doorbell rang. She set her glass down on the countertop and walked over to open the front door. 

"Sehun...?" she furrowed her eyebrows, "I thought you said you were busy tonight." 

The boy's cheeks were slightly pink from the cold but he was grinning from ear to ear. He nodded but made no move to step indoors, "Get your coat on, there's something I want to show you." 

Slightly confused, the girl threw her navy coat with a furry hood on. Then she grabbed her gloves and scarf from the table and pulled her shoes on, before following the boy out.

"What were you doing before I got home?" Sehun asks as he links their hands together. 

"Oh just some homework which made me remembered - you're a major distraction, do you know that? I only took half the time I usually spend on it," the girl pouted. 

Sehun raised an eyebrow, "It's not my fault you keep staring at my face when I'm around." He smirked when the girl stammered, speechless.

Moments later she mumbled, "You're so full of yourself." 

Sehun laughed out loud, "You love it." 

They stopped walking when they reached the nearest park. It was normally filled with excited children and their worried parents but since it was so late, it was completely silent and empty. They decided to sit on the swings for a bit since it had been a while since they had both done so. Sehun pushed the girl's one at first, laughing when he pushed it quickly and with a lot of strength causing her to yell at him to stop. As payback, Eunsung did the same to him - except Sehun didn't yell to stop, instead he just laughed wholeheartedly causing the girl to glare. When they had their fun, they rocked back and forth lightly on their swings individually. 

"I loved the swings when I was little. My parents were barely at home so I would go out to the park every day to have fun and forget. Obviously it didn't help that there were parents with the other children that went there. But I used to pretend that if I could swing high enough, I could reach my parents' workplace," the girl smiled, remembering those fond memories. 

Sehun listened and nodded, "Before my parents passed away, my father used to pick me up and sit me on his shoulders. He used to tell me that one day I would grow as tall as him and be able to protect the people I loved." Eunsung reached her hand over to his and held it, encouraging him. The boy had grown more comfortable talking about his parents' death to her now that she had seen everything and he had put his trust in her completely. She was happy that he expressed himself more than before. 

Something suddenly fell on the boy's nose.

Snow. 

Noticing this, the girl gasped, "Sehun-ah, it's the first snow this year." The other's cheeks were rosy pink now making the girl giggle. She got off her swing and wrapped her scarf around his neck to keep him warm. He looked so cute with the scarf now covering his lips and his soft hair falling over his eyes. Just as she was about to return to her own seat, Sehun reached out to grab her wrist.

"Sit here," he said, standing up and pushing her to sit down on his seat. 

Meanwhile, he walked over to behind the slide and clicked a button. This caused the rest of the park to be illuminated suddenly. Many bright lights flickered on. Eunsung's eyes widened and she gasped in delighted surprise. It was beautiful. 

"Sehun, did you do this?" she couldn't believe it. It would've taken long for himself to do alone. 

"Yup all 285 lights by yours truly," Sehun grinned as he crouched down in front of her, "I wanted to do something special for you. You, who walked into my life without me realising and changed everything; you who encouraged me to trust others; you who helped me with my lifelong fear of loss and most of all, you who let me know what it was like to fall in love and be loved back. This year has been full of ups and downs but the fact that you were there with me throughout it all made me realise that there are things in the world worth fighting for. I'm so glad I met you and I can't imagine what it would be like if I hadn't. I love you." 

By the end of his sentence, Eunsung had tears in her eyes. She hugged him tightly and let her tears fall on his jacket, "I hate you. Who taught you to say these kinds of things?" 

Sehun chuckled as he her hair. The two stayed wrapped up in their warm embrace as snow continued to cover the floor. 

As they parted, Eunsung smiled, "I love you so much Sehun-ah, the person who has taught me to accept others' help; the person who has let me feel at home for the first time in a long time; the person who has always been there for me wherever and whenever and most of all, the person who made me feel so fortunate to have the chance to love and be loved by." 

Sehun tucks a strand of hair behind the girl's ear before leaning in to meet her lips. Her lips are a little cold but that contrasts with his warmer ones. It seems like their lips were made for each other. 

When they break away from their kiss, Eunsung's stomach suddenly growls which causes them both to pause before Sehun bursts out in uncontrolled laughter where his eyes are pressed into crescents and he holds his stomach to stop himself falling over. Eunsung grimaces and she hits him for laughing at her, "I'm hungry okay! Stop laughing!"

"Okay okay, let's go and feed this little monster," he says pointing at her stomach, "What do you want to eat?" 

"Ddeobokki! Fish sticks! Ramen!" she lists excitedly. 

"You're going to empty my wallet one day," Sehun mumbles. 

"I love you!" she giggles as she tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek before running away to the direction of the stores.

Sehun touches his cheek before letting out a laugh. They were still young and had plenty of worries like figuring out their career path and their university plans soon but one thing was for sure for Sehun, everything would turn out okay in the end because he had learnt to trust others and had people he loved and that loved him. And that was all that mattered. 

 ♥ AUTHOR'S NOTE;

Tada! Here's the end of TNOLY, finally after 9323857914 years... literally cannot apologise enough for the amount of time it took me to finish this fic but since it's Christmas I wanted to surprise you guys :) MERRY CHRISTMAS MY DEARS ♥ I hope you all have a joyous day filled with happiness, laughter, friends, family, exo & food! And for those of you who don't celebrate it, happy holidays!

I would like to thank all my subscribers for reading this fic, supporting and commenting. Thank you to those who have upvoted too - I cannot believe I have gotten so many, I'm sincerely grateful. I LOVE YOU GUYS AND I'LL MISS THIS FIC.

I'll be starting a new fic in the summer, so watch out for that and let's keep in touch!

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