He’s late, she thought to herself. She had finished crying, letting the events of the day settle around her. Slowly, she started the hard road of acceptance, but that didn’t change the fact that she wanted to see him. She wanted to find herself in his arms, and she wanted to be the one to tell him everything that had happened.

She checked the clock on her wall. 11:05pm. She sighed, left her front door unlocked, and then picked out her favorite novel and slid under the covers of her bed. He could just let himself in, when he got there.

As she read, she thought about Sunggyu, and couldn’t help but smile. That kid is such an idiot, she chuckled to herself. But deep down, she loved it. She loved the fact that that idiot belonged to her.

Before she knew it, she fell asleep, a small smile gracing her lips as she waited for his arrival.

***

Sunggyu cursed, running up the old steps of her apartment complex. He finally got to her door, panting slightly, and then knocked lightly. He couldn’t hear anything. On a whim, he tried the knob, and to his luck, he found it unlocked.

Quickly, he looked about for her, but only found silence. Finally, he came to her bedroom, and saw her asleep in bed, on hand curled around a book.

He smiled, eyeing her peaceful face. Then, he pulled the book away from her, kicked off his shoes, and slid in on the other side of the bed.

She lay with her back to him. He didn’t want to wake her, but as he positioned himself beside her and looked over her shoulder, he was overcome by that familiar feeling of overflowing emotion. He could resist. As gently as he could, he planted a small kiss on the skin of her neck, just behind her ear.

She stirred, and he slid his arm around her waist, hugging her back to his chest. He kissed her again, on her shoulder.

She chuckled. “You’re late.”

“Mianhe,” he said between kisses, tracing from her shoulder to her neck and back again. She turned to face him, and he pulled her closer. He kissed her lips tenderly, and she reached up to trace his jawline and run her fingers through his hair.

“Busy day?” she asked.

“Yeah. Meetings, and more meetings, and Woohyun suddenly disappeared for a moment…” Then, he remembered, pulling away suddenly. “But when you called… what happened? Are you okay?”

She sighed, reading the care he had for her through his eyes. She opened , ready to pour out everything that happened.

But as she looked at him, all of a sudden, the events of that day didn’t seem all too relevant. Ultimately, she was here, with Sunggyu, and she didn’t want to pollute the air and dampen the mood by mentioning Kibum’s name.

“…Yeah. I’m okay.”

“Will you tell me what happened?”

She sighed again. “It’s really not important. What’s important is this. You. Me. Being here together.”

He read her eyes, and she didn’t let herself look away. After a moment, he kissed her again. “Mina, you know I’ll always be here for you, right?”

“Yes.”

“But someday, I hope that you can really learn to trust me.”

“…I know, Sunggyu. I just need—“

“Time,” he finished for her. “I know.” He smiled. “I told you I’d wait, right?”

She smiled back. “Right.” Then, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into another kiss. He kissed back, trying to ignore the lingering feeling that she was hiding something from him.

*******

The next day, Sunggyu rubbed his eyes groggily. He and the other members were preparing for another photo shoot, and these late-night sessions with Mina were really taking a toll on his body. The stylist slapped his hands away, ordering him not to mess up the make-up.

Once he had finished, he sat off to the side and waited. He leafed through Ari’s book, settling on a page with a lot of his own highlighting and margin notes.

They say that timing is everything, and in many ways, they can’t be more right. In this crazy life, everyone is on their own paths, trying to make it to the next day by any means necessary. But what if you decide to share your path with someone else? That significant other that fills your heart… did they appear out of sheer luck, or destiny? Are we really ‘made for each other’, or did our paths just happen to align for the moment?

I’d argue the latter. There are no soulmates. There’s only good timing.

He frowned, rereading the text. All of a sudden, he didn’t agree with it. He didn’t want to agree with it.

“Hey, hyung.”

Sunggyu looked up as Woohyun took a heavy seat beside him.

“How… how are you?” the dongsaeng said.

“Psht. Okay. Someone gave me a lot of trouble by randomly disappearing yesterday,” he said, throwing Woohyun a look.

“Mianhe. I was just stressed out. I needed to clear my mind for a moment. Get away from all of this,” he said, motioning to the frenzied dressing room.

Sunggyu nodded. He understood the feeling. “But where did you go, anyways?”

Woohyun’s gaze flitted nervously to him. “That’s… that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Sunggyu watched, waiting.

“How are things with Mina?”

Sunggyu shrugged. “There are some things that I can tell she doesn’t want to tell me yet. But I get it. I’m giving her time, and in the meantime, I’m sticking by her side. One day, she’ll really open up to me,” he said, desperately hoping that he was right. Then, he turned back to Woohyun. “Why do you ask?”

“I saw her, yesterday. When I went out.”

Sunggyu’s eyes rounded. “Really? Yeah… she mentioned a meeting of some sort. I figured it had to do with her writing.”

But Woohyun shook his head slowly, apologetically. “I don’t think it had to do with that.”

Sunggyu blinked. “Well? What happened?! Spit it out, Woohyun!”

He took a deep breath. “She met with Kibum at a coffeeshop. She talked with him for a while. He seemed to ask her something, but I couldn’t hear what they said. Then, they both stood, and he kissed her across the table.”

Sunggyu sat, stunned. It must be a mistake, right?

But Woohyun cringed visibly. “Hyung. When they kissed, she didn’t pull away.”

Suddenly, Sunggyu realized that he was clenching his fists so hard that his nails cut into the skin of his palm. Woohyun cautiously placed a hand on his hyung’s shoulder. “Mianhe, hyung. But you had to know.” Then, he stood, leaving Sunggyu to tend to his thoughts.

Sunggyu could only see red. The image of them kissing, of Mina not pulling away, flooded through his mind, making him grit his teeth until he thought they would split.

‘I need you to wait. I need you to trust me,’ Mina’s words replayed in his head.

No, he found himself responding. No.

Suddenly, he jumped up, punched angrily at the wall, and stormed out of the dressing room.

---

:/ Recently, I think Mina's been asking for too much. It's about time Sunggyu reacts :(

P.S. Stole the bedroom scene straight out of a dream I had. Twas a good great dream! XD