A/N: Hi, guys!

First, I'm really, really sorry! I know I promised to have this up by Monday, and it's already the early hours of Wednesday that I'm posting this. But, you see, I had to go out with my parents that day. But thankfully, I was able to have a doctor's appointment today (Tuesday) moved to Thursday instead, so I was able to spend the day writing this.

And it's really longer than I originally expected it to be. I mean, Changmin and Erin's talk alone took about 20 pages in Word already o.O But then again, they discuss everything about their relationship there. And given that it's a talk that's been delayed for years, well, there's really a lot to talk about. So, yeah, that part's going to one emotional rollercoaster, full of ups and downs and twists. And even loop-the-loops.

So yeah, this final part will have it all. Prepare yourselves for tastes of happiness, tastes of sadness, tastes of drama, tastes of celebration, tastes of comedy, and even tastes of desire (and we all know this part mainly comes from a certain maknae :P). There's even tastes of diva here. ;)

Enjoy! :D

It was the warmth that woke me up. It was just a bit too warm.

When I opened my eyes, the room was still quite dark. There was only a bit of light flitting in through the glass wall beside the bed. It must be just before dawn. We must have been asleep for only more than an hour so, but I was already awake again. I tried to lift my arm to rub my eyes groggily, but I found out that I couldn’t move it at all. My right half was stuck under Changmin, who was curled around me, with an arm and a leg of his draped over me protectively/possessively.

No wonder I felt so warm.

But I’m not complaining. I couldn’t think of a much better way to wake up than this.

Using my free left hand, I gently brushed back his hair from his forehead. Then, I let my fingers graze on his cheek, caressing him softly. His face just looked so peaceful while he was sleeping. His mouth was slightly open, the air tickling the side of my neck as he breathed in and out. I wiggled in his hold a little bit so that I could move and snuggle against his chest.

His bare chest.

My whole body heated up as memories from last night came flooding back into my mind.

 Oh, holy sweet Merlin! We actually-!

I squirmed uncomfortably, feeling awkward and flustered now, but stopped immediately when I felt a shot of pain in my lower regions, making me wince a bit.

Yep, we definitely did.

All my movements must have been disturbing Changmin, because he groaned and mumbled irritably in his sleep, before going back to his peaceful slumber when I lay perfectly still again.

Carefully and slowly maneuvering myself out of his locked embrace so as not to wake him, I slipped out of the bed covers… that had been the only thing covering us. Blushing even more furiously now, I climbed over him and out of the bed, grabbing my shirt and sweatpants –well, they’re Changmin’s, actually- from the floor where he had tossed them aside last night. I hurriedly put them on and padded into the bathroom, trying to calm myself.

Flustered and early hours of the morning so didn’t go well together.

God, I didn’t even know why as I was feeling so shy and embarrassed right now.

I walked over to the sink and opened the faucet to wash my face with cold water, hoping it would at least help calm down my nerves a bit. I was just drying up with a towel when I heard Changmin’s panicked shout from the bedroom.

“ERIN?!”

Worried by how scared he sounded, I rubbed my face roughly with the towel faster and then quickly hung it up on the rail beside the sink. As I all but ran out the bathroom, I saw that Changmin had just put on his sweatpants again and looked like he was about to dash out into the main suite.

“Changmin?” I said worriedly.

The relief on his face was palpable when he turned around and saw me looking at him with a confused expression. He crossed the room towards me in just a few, quick strides and pulled me into a tight embrace.

“Oh, thank God,” he breathed out shakily.

“What’s wrong?” I questioned persistently. I couldn’t understand how he suddenly went from the peacefully sleeping form that I had left just a few minutes ago to… this.

“I woke up and you were gone again,” Changmin whispered in a pained voice, closing his eyes and burying his nose into my hair, breathing deeply.

“Oh.”

My heart clenched painfully because of his answer. Gone again, he said. No doubt he probably had a flashback of how I had already gone back to my own time just right after he finally got me after their celebratory party when he woke up a few minutes ago and saw that I was no longer in bed with him.

My feelings of shyness and embarrassment earlier were replaced with guilt right away. I didn’t mean to scare him when I left the bed. And I also still felt guilty about just disappearing on him that morning years (for him) ago. Of course, I knew that it really was irrational for me to feel guilty about that part, because I couldn’t really help it if it was already time for me to go back to my own time. But still…

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly, hugging him back just as tightly and pressing a kiss on his neck. “I didn’t think you would think that I just left again. I’m sorry. I was just in the bathroom…”

He just nodded a bit. I kept murmuring reassurances to him that I was still here for a few more minutes before I felt his breathing return to normal and his body relax again, the tension in him finally leaving.

“I promised you I won’t leave you again, remember?” I reminded him gently.

“I know,” Changmin sighed, nuzzling my cheek with his nose. “I’m sorry, I guess I was just being paranoid a while ago…”

I pulled back a bit and raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you always paranoid?” I had to smirk up at him.

He rolled his eyes. “When it comes to you, yes, I’m afraid I am.” Then, he glared sternly at me. “And rightfully so. You don’t take your safety seriously.”

Now, I was the one rolling my eyes at him. “You’re incorrigible,” I muttered.

“But you love me anyway,” he grinned down at me.

Well, there was no way I’d be denying that, so I just rested my head back against his chest as we continued to just hold each other.

“Four years is a goddamn long time to be without you,” Changmin told me quietly. “I suppose it would just take a while before it finally sinks in to me that I would never lose you again. That I would never have to go another day without you again.”

That made me pause.

“Oppa… I promised that you’ll never lose me again, and I’ll stick with that promise until the very end,” I began slowly. “But you do know that I can’t always be with you?”

“What do you mean?” Changmin asked quickly, the fear and panic on his face again.

“Well, it’s just that I do have to go back home. I still have school,” I hurriedly explained. I rubbed his arm comfortingly to reassure him, but he really had to realize this. “And you… well, I suppose you have to be here, or in Korea, or wherever it is in the world that you and the others would need to be, right?”

He frowned deeply as he realized the point in my words.

We couldn’t be together every single day. We lived totally different lives from each other, there was no way we could just deny and ignore that great fact. We would have to be practical and realistic about how our relationship would work. And this was something that I’ve realized since Junsu had mentioned last night that I needed to get used to flying around everywhere now that I was with Changmin.

I realized and accepted that we couldn’t always be together.

Though, of course, that didn’t mean that I had to actually like it.

Because I definitely didn’t like it one bit.

“I was hoping we could put it off until later today when we’re both more well-rested, but I suppose now that the topic’s open, we should just get on with it already…” Changmin murmured quietly.

“Get on with what?” I asked, puzzled.

“That talk we were supposed to have had that morning before we went to meet with Avex if you hadn’t had to leave.”

“That talk about all the serious stuff?” I asked for confirmation.

Changmin nodded slowly, eying me a bit anxiously.

“Oh. Well, okay, then. Let’s talk,” I agreed. I mean, no reason to put it off, right? He was right, we really should get on to talking about it all. Whatever ‘all’ might involve exactly.

Changmin led us back over to the bed and I just plopped down to sit without thinking.

Stupid!, I chastised myself as I winced in pain again.

“What’s wrong?” Changmin immediately asked worriedly, sitting beside me and rubbing my arms, his eyes raking me up and down as he tried to figure out where I was hurting.

“It’s nothing,” I mumbled, embarrassed again. I mean, I really didn’t wanna go and mention this to him. “I’m fine…”

I could tell from how his eyes were narrowed suspiciously and the way that he was scowling at me that he wasn’t buying that for one second. Then, suddenly, his scowl turned into a frown as his eyes fell on a few red spots that stained the ivory white sheet- evidence of how he had finally claimed me as his last night.

“Are you hurting? Are you sore?” he asked, cupping my face and making me look up at him so that he could search my eyes anxiously. “I wasn’t too rough with you, was I?”

I rolled my eyes. Such a worrywart. “No,” I told him. “I’m fine. Honest.” I mean, it was mainly just a dull ache.

“But-“ he gestured helplessly at the red stains.

“Oppa, I’m good. You know that that’s, uhm, normal to happen to girls in their, uh… first time,” I muttered. My face felt like it was about to burst into flames, but I kept my eyes locked determinedly with his, to make him see that I really was perfectly alright. “I’m fine. So, please stop worrying, okay?”

“I know, I know,” he sighed. “But… are you sure? It was alright for you last night? I mean, it didn’t hurt too badly? I wasn’t too rough?” Changmin seemed like he just couldn’t help but ask again, worried and needing to be 100% sure that I was fine.

It was both very amusing and very sweet of him.

“No, you weren’t ‘rough’,” I all but rolled my eyes again. Actually, he had been the farthest thing from being rough. He had been so… gentle and loving. Cue blush. “And, yes, it was alright. In fact, it was more than alright. It was perfect.”

God, can my face get any redder right now?

Well, at least Changmin was smiling again now.

Scratch that, he was grinning widely now.

Just a little too widely.

“Really, now?” he asked in a suddenly very self-satisfied sort of way. Okay, now I just totally wanted smack that huge, -eating smirk on his face. And I couldn’t even say anything that would lessen his rapidly expanding already-oversized-ego, because those would be nothing but just total lies.

Not that I had previous experiences to compare with, but Changmin was really a very sweet and considerate lover. Quite skilled, too.

Very, very, very… “skilled”.

But still… I couldn’t decide what got into my nerves more: the overprotective, worrywart Changmin or the smug, arrogant bastard Changmin.

Just then, Changmin put an arm around my back and his other arm under my thighs. I was surprised as he carefully lifted me up and gingerly sat me on his lap again.

“You are perfect,” he murmured softly, brushing his lips on my forehead.

And then the jerk just had to go on say things like this that reminded me all over again of why exactly I fell in love with him in the first place.

I wrapped my arms around him and we just stayed cuddling like this for a while, with him humming to me some melody I couldn’t recognize. It was sounded quite sweet, though. Sweet just like he was sweet.

“So… what exactly did you want to talk about, again?” I asked eventually, looking up at him curiously.

Changmin stopped humming, a small frown gracing his face. “Oh, yeah…”

He scooted us further into the bed so that he could lean his back against the bed’s headboard, and then adjusted me on his lap so that my body was comfortably resting on his chest, my head on his shoulder.

“Well, actually there are a few things I wanted to talk about, not just one…” he began slowly. “They’re nothing really bad, though,” he added quickly, when I suddenly looked up at him with a worried expression.

“Oh, alright, then.”

Changmin seemed to be gathering his thoughts together, and I just sat on his lap quietly, patiently waiting for him to begin speaking again.

“I suppose I’ve always known that even if we did find you again, I can’t be with you 24/7 even if wanted to. That would be impossible with what I and my hyungs do for a living,” Changmin said. He was holding my hand and his thumb was making small, circular patterns at its back. “You were right when you said a while ago that our job requires us to be in different places. Places that are far from you. And, as much as it pains me, I can’t always just go away to see you. Even if we do own our own company now, that just means that we have even more responsibilities on our shoulders…”

“Of course,” I said immediately. “I don’t expect you to shrink away from your responsibilities to DBSK and to your company and jump on a plane every other day just to come and see me.”

“Yeah, I was thinking of doing it every day instead… Kidding!” he added hastily when I glared at him.

“You better be,” I told him warningly. “Or else I’m going to kick you right back to wherever it is that you just came from!”

“I can feel your love for me so much,” he deadpanned. “Alright, alright! Let’s be serious again,” he sighed, rolling his eyes when I glared at him again.

I rested back against his chest again. And blushed. I only realized just now that his chest was still bare. He had only put on his sweatpants and was still shirtless.

Gulp.

Shaking these thoughts out of my head –come on, it’s time for serious talk!, I mentally scolded myself- and trying to focus again on what we were talking about, I said quietly, “I know you have a lot of things to do that you can’t just ignore, Changmin oppa. Heck, the same thing goes for me, too. I still have school, after all, and I’m not about to just start treating my schoolwork lightly. I value my education too much for that.”

“I know,” Changmin hugged me tightly. “Did I ever tell you how proud I am of you for that?”

“Nope, but thanks,” I smiled, hugging him back.

“So, where does this leave us now?” I asked him after a while.

“Well, I know it’s going to be hard for both of us, but I really want this to work…” Changmin said carefully, looking down at me anxiously.

“Me, too,” I hurriedly reassured him.

Even way before I knew about DBSK, I’d already always known that dating a celebrity would be no easy feat for anyone. So much more if he was an internationally famous K-pop idol from one of the best and most in-demand K-pop groups of all time. But that didn’t stop me from wanting to be with Changmin. I was willing to do anything to make our relationship work. The past half year without him in my life had been a kind of personal hell for me, and my whole being was cringing away at anything that might lead me to going through that again.

“I think the only way we can go for now is something like a long-distance relationship. I mean, since both of us have other commitments that we can’t just suddenly leave- my work and your schooling. I’ll try my hardest to be with you as often as I can, but still, we might have to go for weeks without seeing each other. Many weeks, if our schedules are quite hectic or if we’re having some international concert tour," Changmin said.

I just nodded quietly. I’d already expected this.

My silent answer just seemed to have made Changmin more anxious, though.

“Sometimes, I-“ He swallowed audibly a few times. “Sometimes, I kind of really wish that I could be… normal… for you. You know, just the average boyfriend who doesn’t have to be thousands of miles away from you. A regular guy who could pick you up every day after school and who could keep you accompanied when you need to do all-nighters for papers and reports. Someone who could just take you to dates whenever you feel like taking a break and just having fun… It’s not exactly easy to be in a relationship with a K-pop idol,” he told me sadly.

“I know it’s not,” I answered seriously. I mean, only a fool would say that dating K-pop idol is just like a walk in the park, right?

But then, Changmin’s face fell. And I realized that he took it to be meaning that I know that it’s not easy to be with him, and so that's why I won’t be.

Oh no, I better correct this quickly!

We can’t have the love of my life thinking that I didn’t want to be with him, can we, now?

I pulled his head down and kissed him deeply. He was a bit startled at first, probably since he was thinking that I didn’t want to be with him, but after a while, he responded and kissed me back quite eagerly.

“I know it’s not easy to be with a K-pop idol,” I whispered to him when we finally broke away from each other again, both of us panting slightly. I looked into his eyes seriously. “You’re worth it, though.”

That had him smiling his happy smile that made his eyes crinkle with joy and become mismatched.

“And don’t ever let me hearing you say again that you wished you were ‘normal’. I mean, I don’t want you feeling bad because your job makes you so busy. We can still have and do all those things that you mentioned before, anyway. Of course, it won’t be so easy to do, but we can. Besides, other than your job, I think you’re a pretty ‘normal’ guy. Well, except for the fact that you’re quite often more of a jerk than most guys,” I said, smirking a bit at the end.

“Oh, is that so?” he pretended to huff and look offended, before starting to tickle the life out of me.

“Gah! O-oppa, stop!” I managed squeal out through my giggles.

Changmin laughed at my expense but thankfully ceased tickling me. When all our laughter was done, he surprised me by suddenly swooping in and capturing my lips yet again. The humor was gone from his eyes; instead, they were quite soft and tender as he looked down and smiled at me softly.

“Don’t say that again, okay, oppa? Don’t regret that you’re not a ‘normal’ boyfriend,” I told him again seriously. “I mean, yes, it does make things quite a bit more complicated for us, that’s true. But… well, I’m just worried that if you’re not what you are now, we might have never met at all. I mean, if you’re not a K-pop idol, a member of DBSK, you wouldn’t be involved in that messy lawsuit , and, even if I was still sent back to the past in that scenario, I probably still wouldn’t get to meet you, wherever you’d be then. And I really don’t want to think about even just an alternate timeline where I never met you.”

“Hmm, you know what, I don’t really think so,” Changmin said thoughtfully, playing with a stray lock of hair of mine. “You’re meant for me and I’m meant for you. So, no matter what kind of different lives we were living, fate would have brought us together somehow.”

My heart would officially like to present to Shim Changmin the “Heart-Melter Award”.

I became teary-eyed and it took me a few moments before I could control the strong emotions that I was feeling. Changmin surprisingly didn’t even tease me one bit about it, and just remained silent as he waited for me to compose myself again, pressing small kisses on top of my head the whole time.

When I finally managed to get myself together again, I said curiously to him, “I never really realized that you were such a firm believer of fate and the like?” Because I had really felt the conviction in his words.

“I’m not. Well, at least, I wasn’t… until I met you. Then I started to believe in all of it. Fate… destiny… heck, probably even the concept of ‘soulmates’. All those cheesy and romantic ideas that I just used to scoffed at before. Now, I believe them all... and, more importantly, I want them all with you,” Changmin murmured, trailing kisses from my temple, down to my cheek, until he finally reached his main goal- my lips.

We kissed long and hard.

“So, you’re okay with that?” he asked again after a while, when we had both caught our breaths again. “With maybe not being able to see each other for maybe weeks?”

“Well, it’s not ‘okay’, per se. I mean, not seeing you for any long length of time is not ‘okay’ in my book. But if you’re asking if I’m willing to put up with that kind of set-up for you, then, yes, I am,” I told him reassuringly, smiling, though my smile was a bit wistful. “You’ll call often me, though?” I couldn’t help but add anxiously. I mean, not seeing him for so long is one thing, but I hoped that we could still contact and talk with each other frequently.

“Of course,” he vowed immediately. “I’ll call you every day. Ten times a day, at least. I’m afraid you’ll get sick of me and begin to find me to be quite a pest in your life pretty soon,” he added only half-jokingly. He seemed pretty serious about calling quite often. Maybe too often. Probably to check up on me and make sure that I wasn’t doing anything that he deemed to be ‘unsafe’ for me.

“I highly doubt I’ll ever get sick of you,” I rolled my eyes at him. I mean, I don’t really see that happening, even if he acts too much like the overbearing, overprotective idiot that he could sometimes be. “Though if you get me in trouble with my profs for calling me and making my phone ring in class, I’m allowed to give you hell for it the very next time I see you,” I pretended to say sternly, though I wasn’t really successful in keeping the playful smile off my lips.

“Oh no, you don’t! If you get in trouble for that, that’s entirely just your own fault for not putting it in silent mode in the first place!” Changmin huffed at me pompously.

I whacked him on the top of his head for trying to get smart with me.

“Just kidding, baby,” he snickered, wrapping his arms tightly around me. I knew it wasn’t just because he wanted to hug me, though; he had effectively pinned my arms against my sides. In case I wanted to hit him again. Which I actually did.

“Are you really?” I asked him doubtfully.

“Nope.”

I glared at him. “Damn you, Shim Changmin,” I muttered in annoyance, struggling out of his embrace to move off from his lap.

“Uh-uh, not so fast there, baby,” he smirked, keeping his arms locked firmly around me. “We’re not yet done talking. And I have another question for you.”

“What?” I all but snarled the word at his pretty face. Because as irritated as I was, I couldn’t that his face was pretty. Really pretty.

Though I’m not sure if he’d find it even remotely amusing that I’m calling his “manly” face ‘pretty’.

“You only have one more year of school to go, right?” Changmin asked me, suddenly very serious again.

The question caught me off-guard.

“Uhm, yes? After this school year, just one other year to go before I graduate…”

He nodded thoughtfully but didn’t say anything else.

“Why do you ask?” I pressed him.

“Well…  I…” I’d never seen Changmin look so unsure of himself before. “You see, baby, I was just… well, wondering if, you know, after you’re done with school… you’d think about… being more… based in Korea?”

I stared at him. Did that mean what I thought it meant? “You want me to move to Korea?”

“So that we won’t be apart anymore, yes.”

I just stared at him some more.

Seeing my blank expression, Changmin ran his fingers through his hair, the uncertain expression on his face becoming more pronounced. “Believe me, baby, if it was possible for me to move instead to where you are, I’d do it. Right now already, even. But as it stands, I just-“

“You really want me to be in Korea with you?” I asked him again, interrupting his rambling.

“Well, yes, as selfish of me as that sounds.”

I cocked my head to the side, confused by his choice of words.

“What, are you actually going to say now that I’m not selfish?” Changmin managed to pull off a smirk, though the playfulness of the gesture didn’t really quite reach his eyes.

“In your dreams, oppa,” I huffed, rolling my eyes. “You’re probably one of most self-absorbed jerks I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet,” I joked and stuck my tongue out at him.

“Don’t stick your tongue out at me,” he suddenly said sternly. For a moment, I thought that he was already easily offended by that, but then, he added, “You don’t know how much you’re tempting me by doing that.”

That made me immediately pull my tongue back into my mouth.

Tempt him? Tempt him exactly how? Holy , did I even want to know?

Changmin had the audacity to smirk at me, so I socked him on the shoulder. But then, he looked so cute that I couldn’t help but hug him and snuggle against his chest again.

“So… why would you wanting me to move to Korea be selfish of you?” I asked him again quietly.

“Because that would be asking you to leave everything while I gain everything,” he answered simply, smiling despondently at me.

Uhm… what?

Seeing the bewildered look on my face, Changmin let out a big sigh and proceeded to expound, “You’ll be leaving everything and everyone you knew to be in a new and foreign place, whereas I’ll be gaining everything that I’ll ever want in my whole life- you.”

“How do you know I won’t be gaining everything that I’ll ever want, too?” I pointed out to him. “Yes, I suppose it will be hard at first, adjusting to a new and foreign place, but you and the others will be there with me, right? Honestly, it’s all worth it if it means I don’t have to be away from you anymore.”

“So, I’m everything that you’ll ever want, too?” Changmin asked, a big, goofy smile slowly spreading across his face.

“Yes, you big doofus,” I rolled my eyes at him. I mean, wasn’t it obvious? “I don’t know why, but, yes, you are.”

“Well, I am quite a catch, you know,” he told me arrogantly, puffing himself up. “I’m handsome, and smart, and hot, and-“

“Yeah, but ‘humility’ is definitely not in your list of positive attributes,” I rolled my eyes, interrupting him. Geez, I love him so badly, but the size of his ego was sometimes- often- so astounding.

“But you love me anyway,” he murmured, nuzzling my cheek with his nose before kissing it. “You’ll really move to Korea with me after you graduate?”

“Of course.”

“But what about your family and friends?”

“I’ve already gotten my parents used to the idea that I’ll be going to Japan to work after I graduate. Changing it to Korea won’t be that much of a stretch,” I explained, shrugging a bit. “As for my friends, well, there’s always social media and it’s not like I can’t just always go back to visit them…”

“You’re opening up now to riding a plane often to go back and forth?” Changmin raised his eyebrows in mild surprise.

, I didn’t realize that!

The airplane part had me backtracking immediately.

“You know what, seeing each other in person is too overrated, in my opinion. Talking on the phone and chatting is definitely just fine,” I said hastily, making him laugh loudly. “Stop laughing at me! It’s not funny!” I hissed at him crossly.

“Sorry,” Changmin grinned as he smothered his laughter. “But, baby… Junsu was right last night. You really do need to get used to flying."

“I need to, yes, probably. But that doesn’t mean that I’ll ever get used it!” I pouted unhappily.

“Don’t worry, I’ll just have to keep on ‘distracting’ you when we’re in the air, then,” Changmin smirked cheekily at me.

That had me brightening up at once. Ohh, me likey that part!

Changmin snickered at me, but before I could wallop him for it, he started to talk seriously again, “You know, you could also still work here in Japan. I mean, like us, we’re always going back and forth here and Korea. Actually, now that I think about it, why don’t you go and work for us in our company?” he said, suddenly looking so excited.

But I was already shaking my head vehemently before he could even finish his last sentence.

“You don’t want to?” Changmin looked like I had just shattered all his dreams.

“Well, what I really want to do is to do some editing for a publishing company. Besides, I don’t think I’ll be so comfortable working in your company. First, I don’t really know much about the music and entertainment industry-“

“You know enough from the time you’ve spent with us before in the past,” he cut in.

“Well, yeah, I suppose,” I acquiesced on that part. “But still… I mainly don’t think that I’ll comfortable that you guys would technically be my bosses. I know you guys too personally.”

“Our friends from Super Junior, Shinee, and other idol groups have also joined our company right after their contracts with SM ended. We’re all close friends; they know us quite ‘personally’, too.”

“Yeah, but it’s quite different with my case. I mean, you’re my boyfriend, after all…” I said honestly, getting to the heart of the problem.

Changmin didn’t look too pleased that it seemed like it was my relationship with him that was making me hesitate the most about joining their company, though. “What does that have to do with anything?” he demanded.

“I don’t want your other employees to think that the only reason I got in there is because I’m with you.”

“You’re quite capable of getting into any company without having to use ‘connections’!” he shouted, indignant that I would even suggest something like that about myself.

“I know, Changmin oppa,” I said earnestly. “But really, people can be quite vindictive with their thoughts and words.”

“I’ll fire anyone who even so much as suggest anything like that about you,” Changmin said decidedly.

“Oh, because that won’t just make everything so much worse,” I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes. “Really, oppa. Thanks for the offer, but no. I’d really like to be able to work without any unnecessary drama around me. Besides, again, it’s reallythe publishing industry that I want to get into…”

Changmin withdrew his arms from around me and folded them across his chest to begin to sulk like a three year-old boy.

“Aww, come on, don’t be like that, oppa,” I sighed, hugging him and pressing myself close against him. He just turned his face away from me, the sulky expression still on his face. He seemed quite determined to remain in a hurt and severely disappointed mood with me.

God, this guy!, I internally rolled my eyes.

I didn’t let him see my exasperated side, though, and instead peppered his face and neck with kisses until he finally smiled and looked at me again.

"Well, you can't blame a guy for wanting to have you around 24/7," he sighed.

Then, Changmin pulled me into his embrace again, and then kissed me deeply.

Oh sweet Merlin, I could never get enough of him. Ever.

Our kiss was getting even deeper, more passionate, and much, much, much hotter, when Changmin pulled away abruptly.

“Uhm, baby, I hate to stop- it kills me to stop, really- but I still wanted to talk to you about a couple more things, you see…”

I narrowed my eyes and pouted at him.

“Later, promise,” he chuckled, giving me a quick, chase kiss on the lips.

“Promises, promises,” I rolled my eyes, before turning serious again. “Alright. So, what else do we still have to talk about?”

“I was wondering what you would say about keeping… us… a secret?” Changmin looked at me tentatively.

I frowned deeply. “And what exactly do you mean by that?”

“That we only let our close friends and family know that we’re together…”

“Who are we keeping in the dark about our relationship, then?” I asked, now confused.

“Uhm, other people… and fans… and the press… and, well, the public in general…” Changmin trailed off, looking at me anxiously.

“You don’t want them to know that you’re with me,” I said in a small and barely audible voice. It was a statement, not a question. My heart was clenching in pain.

He didn’t want others to know that we’re together? Why? Was he ashamed of me?

“Hey, no!” Changmin said urgently, his eyes widening as he correctly guessed the hurt that I was feeling right now. He pulled me tight against his body, leaving no space between us at all. I tried to move off his lap, but he wouldn’t let me. He cupped my face with his hand and made my face turn towards his, but I kept my teary eyes stubbornly looking away from him. “It’s not like that! I didn’t mean it like that! Honestly, I really want them to know, I really do! I want all of them to know that I belong you, only you, and that none of them can ever have me! It’s just- Argh! I guess it sounded badly when I said it, didn’t it? I’m sorry! Grr, I’m such an idiot!”

My tears welled up in my eyes and started to creep down my cheeks. Changmin sweetly kissed them away at once. “Baby, please don’t cry… I didn’t mean it like that, honest!”

But I still didn’t look up at him.

“I’m such in an idiot,” he now muttered angrily under his breath. “God, some boyfriend I’m turning out to be! It’s only my first day, and I’m already making you cry!” He continued to growl and rant furiously at himself, hitting his forehead hard with his first repeatedly in frustration.

I was still feeling a bit hurt and confused, but I grabbed his wrist and pulled it away. I mean, it’s not like I could ever have it in myself to let him just continue on with hurting himself, right? I gently kissed the now red area on his forehead, before snuggling against him again.

He took that as a good sign. Or, at least, a sign that I wasn’t as upset as before anymore.

“I’m sorry,” Changmin said again as he rested his cheek on top of my head. “Believe me, baby, if I could have it my way, I’d be shouting from the top rooftops and buildings that I now belong to you. But I really don’t want the public to know. I mean, it’s not safe for you, and I don’t want you getting hurt, so-“

“This is about my ‘being safe’ again?!” I demanded, sitting up properly on his lap to glare at him. My earlier hurt had turned into incredulity and hell-raising anger in record time.

“Well… yes, mostly?”

“Ugh, can’t you give me a break, oppa?!” I groaned. “I mean, it’s really sweet and all that that you’re so concerned about my well-being, but- goddammit, Shim Changmin! Will you please stop being so paranoid about my safety all the time?!”

“Erin, baby, I’m not being paranoid this time, honest,” Changmin told me insistently. “I don’t want the press hounding your every footstep! And who knows what some of the fans who are more of on the crazy side woud want to do to you? Especially sasaengs!”

That made me pause and think

Changmin did have some pretty valid concerns there.

“Would media people really be following me around?” I couldn’t help but ask him. “I mean, I know they’re bound to get pretty interested that I’m with you… but, really. My life is so mundane.”

But as for the crazy fans part… well, I understand that quite well. Seeing as I’m a fan myself, I’ve seen how crazy and desperate some people can get when it comes to getting their hands on their oppas.

“Nothing about you is ‘mundane’,” Changmin scowled at me. “Your life is special, so never call it that.”

Changmin was really an expert at making me feel like rolling my eyes and wanting to melt into a puddle of goo at the same time.

“Oppa. I go to school. I go to the library to write papers. I go to cafes to finish my readings. I go home. Repeat that cycle every single day. Of course it’s mundane compared to what the other people that press usually stalk do. I mean, even if they start