The soft rustle of blankets follows my foot as I move under the sheets and it succeeds in waking me up. Before, I even open my eyes, I register an unfamiliar warmth around my body that has nothing to do with the bedspread. My mind goes into a slight panic as I try to think of all the people who could be in my bed with me until…I recall last night’s events…and the fact that I wasn’t even in my own bed. This was my…boyfriend’s bed. It was Yoseob’s bed. Even in my mind, it seemed so unreal to call him by boyfriend, after dating Seungri for about half a year.

I crane my neck up so that I can see his face. He looks so handsome and surreal with his face relaxed with sleep. Even a little kid-like. My heart swells, and I feel like I’ve fallen in love with him again. I’m about to plant a soft kiss on his lips, when he suddenly speaks. Scaring me,

“Hey…I know I’m handsome, but you shouldn’t stare,” Yoseob croaks, his voice deep and laced with sleep.

I jerk in his arms and he lets out a low laugh, opening his eyes and grinning at me.

“That was mean,” I say, but I can feel the corners of my lips threatening to lift up into a smile.

“Eh. Your words contradict your actions. I can see the corners of your lips going up.” Yoseob says, grinning wider.

I pout, now purposely trying to focus on not smiling, but in the end, I fail and burst into a bubble of giggles and laughs. With Yoseob, it was so easy to laugh and smile. It was one of the many things that I loved about him. Still full of bubbles of laughter, I lean my head up and plant a solid kiss on his lips. I can feel his smiles through the kisses, and once I pull away, I’m presented with a wider-than-life grin.

“What?” I ask, worried for his face muscles. There was no way that anyone’s could stretch that far.

“I don’t know,” he answers, honestly, “it’s just nice to kiss you finally.”

I blinked. It wasn’t like we hadn’t kissed before now. “What do you mean? We have kissed before.”

“I know.” Yoseob nods, “but right now, it is different. Cause right now, you are my girl. And I don’t have to feel guilty for wanting you all to myself.”

I smile. Because he was right. It was different now that I knew that I was actually his girlfriend now. And not Seungri’s. Unable to think of anything better to say, I’m about to lean in for another round of kisses, when Yoseob bursts into another round of laughter instead.

I my head in a form of a question at him and he follows by laughing harder to the point he has tears in his eyes and is gasping for breath. So I wait for my dorky boyfriend to stop laughing so he can answer.

“Haha…he…sorry,” he hiccups, calming down, “I was just laughing at how I’m in bed kissing a wonderful girl, who almost broke my stepbrother’s face last night instead of calmly breaking up with him after the date. In fact, you two didn’t even go on the date, did you?”

“N-no. He showed up late with that girl,” I explain, surprised that this is what he was laughing at. But that was right. We had decided that it was best if I go on one more date with Seungri and break it off with him when we got home. Instead, it ended with my fist connecting with his face before the date even started.

“Hehe. And you never hit him before that either…do you remember what I said that earlier last night? Long before the fight?” Yoseob asked, reaching down and intertwining our hands.

©¨ª§©¨ª§©¨ª§©¨ª§©¨ª§©¨ª§

(Flashback)

I leaned against the kitchen counter as I watched the clock tic away, sipping on a glass of water. Irritation crackled and bristled around me. Footsteps approached and I didn’t have to turn and look, I could already smell his sticky cologne.

Seungri didn’t greet me as he walked past to rummage around in the cabinets for food.

I frowned, scowling holes into the back of his head. I was here per his request. The least he could do was acknowledge me in person. But in fact, he didn’t even come out of his study when I arrived. He just told one of the maids to tell me that he knew I was here, and that he would be out shortly. I grew more and more annoyed. And when I opened my mouth to speak, but it didn’t even seem worth it to complain anymore. Not to him. Instead, I quietly sipped on my water to keep my mouth busy.

He turned to me. “Why are you here?” he asked, sighing as if I was the biggest torn in his side.

“What do you mean? You asked me to come here,” I said, trying not to yell.

“What the hell are you talking about? I didn’t ask you to do anything,” Seungri responded.

I sighed and reached into my back pocket, pulling out my cell phone to show him the text sent at 7:30 this morning. Unlocking it and clicking the messaging app, I handed it to him.

“Mei Rin. I need you here at the house.” He read aloud. He looked up from the cell and shrugged, “well, I guess I did. Since you’re here, I guess we could go out on a date.”

I blinked at him. How could he just say that? As if I didn’t rush over, thinking it was an emergency and had to wait around the house for him. I had so much pent up, but I just sighed. I wouldn’t even know where to begin if I decided to start yelling at him now. There was just so much that I was unhappy about between the two of us. Mainly him flirting with other girls and not respecting the fact that my whole world didn’t just revolve around him. Like what just happened. He acts all he has to do is grace me with his presence and all is right in the world again. Sighing again, I shrug. Trying to act indifferent. “Sure. Whatever you want.”

“Okay babe. I have a meeting, so I’ll meet you later okay?” he briskly came up to me and pressed a firm smack on my and a grind on my leg. Before I could retaliate, he moved away and left the kitchen. Sighing again, I pressed my fingers against my temples and tried to not think that I hated his touch now. That I didn’t even want to be around him.

I was saved from thinking to hard about it, when a soft voice came behind me. “Hey. Mei Rin, are you okay?”

I turned, knowing already who it was. I could pick that voice own from a crowd of millions. “Yoseob…I’m…I’m okay,” I lied.

He frowned. “No. You’re not okay,” he said, firmly, as he put down his suitcase and pulled me into his warm embrace. I immediately melted into him, and clutched onto his suit jacket. Oh. He must have just come home from work.

I sniffled a little when he pulled away just enough so we could see each other’s faces. “Hey…why are you with him if it makes you so unhappy?” he asked. “Why can’t you just be happy, with me?”

I choked on the pitiful laughter that bubbled up. “What? You think I could just switch from him to you? How could I do that to your father? After all he has done for me, and I just jump between his sons?”

And the Seungri I knew now, wasn’t the Seungri that I had come to love. The one I fell in love with waited with me while I visited my father, blushed and shuffled his feet when he asked me out, and more importantly, loved me. But the one I knew now didn’t even give me a second glance.

The scowl on Yoseob’s face pulls me back to him. “I don’t think my father would see it that way.”

I force myself to pull away, knowing that what we have and are doing is wrong. I’m no better then Seungri right now. Being unfaithful. “Doesn’t matter. I do.”

He sighs, letting me out of his arms. I already miss it. “Fine. Be unhappy,” he says, looking away, hurt by my rejection. That hurts but not as much as when the truth stabs another knife into the already made wounds. Because I know he is right. That I would be so much happier with him, the one I truly love.

I can’t hold, and a sob breaks through. Yoseob’s head snaps back to me, and he hurriedly embraces me again. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he whispers in my hair, as he stokes it, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it. I know it must be hard for you. I’m sorry. I won’t make you choose.”

His words finalize my thoughts. I’ve been so sad with my father’s passing. Why force myself to be anymore sad? I hiccup once more and gather my thoughts before pulling away gently. Yoseob allows this but keeps a light grip on my forearms. “No. Don’t be sorry. You’re right. Why should I force myself to be unhappy when I have you? Someone who makes me so happy by just smiling.” I reach up and cup the side of his face and his smiles, placing a kiss on the inside of my palm. I savor the moment, before starting again. “Seungri planned a date tonight. So, I can go with him, then break up when we come back. I want to be as gentle as possible. So I don’t think I should break up before we go, because I said I would go.”

Yoseob nods. “Yeah. Sounds good. But make sure to text me before you decide to, I want to be nearby in case he takes it wrong.”

I smile. “Of course.”

He breaks into a huge grin before pulling me into his arms again. “I’m so happy you are finally going to be my girlfriend.” He pulls away again and presses a light kiss on my forehead. “I promise I’m going to treat you right.”

Several hours after that, Seungri returned home with a girl and alcohol on his breath.

(End of flashback)

©¨ª§©¨ª§©¨ª§©¨ª§©¨ª§©¨ª§

“You promised to treat me right,” I say, looking at our hands.

“I did,” he confirms, as he raises our hands up to his lips, planting a soft kiss on the back of my knuckles.

I wait for him to say more, but he remains silent, only occasionally rubbing his thumb against mine. It is a long time before he says anything,

“What would have happened if I didn’t find you crying in the gardens that day?” he whispers into my palm.

“Then this most likely would have never happened. Or at least wouldn’t have happened until much later,” I answer without missing a beat.

He blinks and looks down at me. “Why is that?”

“Because,” I say simply, “I would have never seen you long enough and talk to you long enough to love you.”

©¨ª§©¨ª§©¨ª§©¨ª§©¨ª§©¨ª§

(Yet another flashback.)

At the time that Yoseob had found me, I had been dating Seungri for 5 months. And he found me crying in the gardens because I had caught Seungri with his arms around a maid. He had claimed that she came on to him, but I had known better.

So rather than having Seungri see me cry, I ran to the gardens and cried there. Until I was interrupted by Yoseob. He had been reading nearby when he heard me, and worrying for me, he came and asked what was wrong. I didn’t know what it was, but something about him had always felt safe, so I told him everything. My doubts and my sadness with my relationship with Seungri. I became the perfect girly girl that forced people to listen to her problems. But he just listened and nodded along. Never looking bored or annoyed.

As I was talking, I realized that even though I had grown up with him, I didn’t ever really have the chance to talk to him, since he was always in a rush or abroad studying to become a good business man for his father’s company. But when he could, he came a visited my father and I in the hospital.

But when I was finish, he smiled and hugged me. Telling me that I was going to be okay. Cliché I know, but somehow…when he said it, I believed him. And every since that day, I sought him out purposefully. Hoping to see him again. 

(End of flashback)

©¨ª§©¨ª§©¨ª§©¨ª§©¨ª§©¨ª§

Yoseob frowned at me, but eventually he nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. Cause I wouldn’t have been around enough to have talked with you or have a reason to talk to you without that hiccup you had with Seungri.”

I nodded. “As much at the hiccup hurt, I’m glad that it happened. Because now I have you.”

“And I have you. And now that I do, I promise to always treat you right,” he smiled, leaning down and kissing me tenderly on the lips.