{Eunhyuk's POV}

I eat my breakfast slowly, making sure that everyone else finishes before me. After a while it's just me, Erika and Maura in the kitchen. For some reason Maura decided that today is the day she'll start being helpful. She just has to pick the worst timing. I need to be alone with Erika for a minute. Can't she see?

Well, I guess not. She wasn't exactly there yesterday. So I stare pointedly at her, hoping she'll get the hint. Eventually, she spins around to say something to me.

"Eunhyuk-shi, aren't you going t-" She notices my glare and thankfully catches on. She looks to her right to see Erika and then looks back at me. "Oh. Um, well, I don't want to use up all my helpfulness today! Who knows! I might be useless tomorrow if I do! Better go see what Yesung-oppa is doing!" She exclaims, dropping the dish towl in her hands and quickly running out of the kitchen.

"Bu-but Maura!" Erika calls after her, desperately. When she realizes that she's not coming back, Erika just sighs, looks down and turns back to her work, washing all the dishes.

It's completely silent. I have no idea how to start. Maybe... Maybe I should start by helping her out. I get up from my chair and move over to the counter, picking up the dish towel Maura dropped a few moments ago and pick up the clean plates one by one, drying them. Erika's back stiffens and then she reaches out a hand as if to stop me.

"Hy-Eunhyuk," She catches herself. "You don't have to."

I just swat her hand away and ignore her resistance. "No, it's okay. You've been doing all the work around here ever since we got here. I'll help." Her face softens in to a smile and she looks at me gratefully.

But then the smile turns hesitant. "Eunhyuk-shi... I'm sorry."

I jerk my body to looks at her, confused. "What? Sorry for what? Did you do something?"

Now it's her turn to looks confused. "What do you mean? Yesterday you got mad at me because I called you Hyukjae as if we're close. Did you forget? Did you hit your head or something?"

"Wh-What are you- Oh. Oh." I finally realize what he means. She thinks I'm mad at her! With good reason, of course. I mean, I did scream at her. I start laughing. Hard. She stares at me as I bend over, holding my stomach, shoulders shaking violently.

"What? What's so funny? I just apologized to you!" She yells, trying to act hurt, but I see her face betray her as the corners of quirk up in to a smile and she giggles. I somehow manage to control my laughter and look up at her, one hand on her shoulder as I attempt to keep my balance.

"No. I'm not mad at you! I was just in a... Strange mood. I over reacted, that's all. I thought you were upset with me after I yelled at you. I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have done that." I explain.

"Upset with you? No, more like upset with myself. I thought you hated me!" She says, laughing. I see tears of relief in her eyes, threatening to fall. She's about to lift her finger to stop them...

When I reach forward and pull her to me. I wrap my arms around her and bury my face in her hair. She smells like Lilac. I nuzzle my nose in deeper, trying to breath in the full scent of her.

She tries to resist by putting her hands on my chest and pushing weakly. But she gives up after only a few seconds and leans her head just under my chin, her hands still placed gently on my chest. I'm surprised that she gives in so easy but I'm happy. Happy that she doesn't hate me or want to stay away from me. Maybe she even shares my feelings? At least a little bit?

"I could never hate you," I mumble in to her hair. "That would be absolutely, completely impossible. You're too good."

I feel her whole body slump against mine, defeated, when I say these words. Her arms move to twine themselves around my waist, pulling me closer to her, not leaving me any option to let go. Not that I would want to, of course. That would be crazy.

"And I could never hate you either, Eunhyuk." She says to me, making my heart practically stop.

"No," I start. "Don't call me that. I like it when you call me Hyukjae."

She slowly lifts her head to look at me with those big blue-green eyes of hers, her chin still resting on my chest. Thankfully, they're free of any tears. "Really?" She asks, smiling up at me.

What I want to do so badly is to close the space in between our faces and kiss her, finally. The way she's looking at me right now is like she's asking for it. But I don't want anything to ruin it again and I don't want to make any assumptions. So what I do instead is just repond "Yeah."

"Hyukjae." She laughs breathily, trying out the name, gazing at me happily.

Oh . Now why does she have to do that? How am I supposed to hold in my temptation now?

Well, I can't.

My breathing gets heavy, my whole body, from head to toe, is filled with desire. Desire to kiss her. My body does what it wants, my face finally closing the gap between us. And this time, there's nothing to stop me.

My lips crash against hers, hungrily. My heart is beating 100 miles an hour. She makes a small noise of surprise in , kind of like a sqeek, but she doesn't pull back. I don't dare to move, fearing the worst, but I don't want to pull back either. My lips just rest where they are, unmoving, and my hands stay in place, not wanted to push her more than I already have.

So you can imagine how suprised I am when she suddenly removes her arms from around my body and instead twines them around my neck, her fingers grabbing the back of my head, pulling my face closer to hers as she kisses me back desperately. I waste no time in responding, crushing my body up against hers, getting as close as I can to her.

I lose my head completely, only thinking about the kiss and how it feels. Which is amazing, by the way. I'm finally releasing all my pent up frustrations concerning her and how much I want her. And she's even kissing me back. This is even more than I could ever imagine. I feel like my head is going to spin off and my heart is going to jump out of my chest. It's beating so fast. Faster than it's ever beaten for anyone else. This is the effect this girl has on me.

My mind is filled with thoughts of her. She's so warm against me. She tastes like strawberry juice. Her lips are so soft against mine. Her hands feel amazing running through my hair. Her face is smooth and hot where I touch it. Her hair is so soft. I can't think of anything besides her. All I need in this moment is her. Why couldn't I have heard of her sooner? Someone should have walked up to me years ago and told me 'Hyukjae. There's an amazing, beautiful girl waiting for you in Canada. Go get her.' and I would have been on the next flight to the Yukon, if I had known. But I'm thankful I have her now. Finally.

Until, of course, Maura's singing interrupts us.

"My cute Wookie~

Is so cute.

He is the cutest,

Of them all~!"

We both pause when we hear Maura's completely unoriginal song about how cute Ryeowook is. Neither of us dare to move. I fear that someone's going to come in and discover us. But all we hear is laughter from the other room and Maura AH-ing, probably at something Ryeowook does.

Once we realize that we're safe, I feel her smile against my mouth. The moment is kind of ruined, but I don't want to let her go just yet.

I give her one more, soft kiss, and then bury my face in her neck, chuckling, my arms tight around her waist. "Maura's ridiculous." She says, laughing.

I look up at her and she smiles at me while blushing. I swear I've never seen anyone so red. It makes me smile back at her and I kiss her cheek affectionately. I'm relieved that the atmosphere isn't akward. Does... Does this mean she likes me back? I need confirmation.

I move my lips to her ear and whisper huskily "I like you."

I feel her body shiver against mine and she clutches the back of my shirt. "I-" It sounds like she's still trying to catch her breath. "I-I think I... Like you... Too."

I'm so thrilled at her response that I don't even hear the 'I think' part. Before she can say anything else, I lift her up into the air and spin her around, laughing all the while. She laughs along and places her arms around my neck once again for support.

This is complete bliss. I'm more than happy. I'm ecstatic. Relieved. Over joyed. Excited. Actually, even these words can't even begin to describe what I'm feeling.

But the doorbell just has to ruin everything.

Ding Dong!

Erika's head jerks to the side and she drops her arms, making me sad for a moment, but I guess I can't hold on to her forever. I, too, drop my arms and follow her out the kitchen toward the front door. Maura's already beat us there though.

"Omigod," She gushes at whoever's at the door. "It's been so long! How have you been?"

I hear a man's deep laughter from the other side of the door. A hand reaches in to ruffle her hair affectionately. "Fine. I just got back yesterday. I missed you guys so I came to see you." Whoever-it-is says.

Erika's entire body stiffens upon hearind the voice and she stops dead in her tracks, frozen in place. I reach out and touch her arm. "Erika, are you okay?" She says nothing in response and just stares at the half open door.

"Hmm, who's in there with you?" The guy asks. I see his hand push against the door to open it fully.

Standing there is a seriously tall guy, atleast 6'3", with a muscular body. His hair is a pale gold and his eyes match exactly. His eyelashes are too long for a guy and make him look innocent, despite his manly body. His skin is tan and when he opens his mouth in what seems like surprise, I see two rows of perfectly straight, white, shiny teeth.

He stares at Erika and I for a second. He glares at me for some reason but when his eyes reach Erika's face, he noticeably softens. The two stare at each other for a moment, Erika looking like she wants to get out of here and him looking like he wants to run up and hug her or something.

He smiles kindly and his eyes crinkle, making him look completely gentle despite the fact that he could probably crush a guy like Ryeowook with just his pinky finger. "Erika. I missed you."

She unfreezes and her whole body seems to deflate. She stumbles forward a few steps, a look of desperation on her face, but she stops again, obviously not wanting to get any closer to this guys. It's completely silent and then I hear her whisper...

"Jace... What are you doing here?"