6 months later

Aecha and Chanyeol had been dating for six months now. Aecha thought that her love life could never be better or more perfect. Chanyeol was so sweet and so caring, he treated her like she was his queen, the centre of his world. He was the perfect boyfriend that a girl would ever ask for. It was as if he wanted to make up for the time they spent apart, which was three years.

===

After his confession, Aecha had hesitantly asked him what he would do about the girl that he liked. She had been worried about the girl’s feelings, but she didn't know that the girl was none other than herself.

Chanyeol called her a dummy and held her close to his chest. He whispered into her ear, saying that it was none other than her, all this time, it was her that he loved. The girl had cried once more, didn’t believe in what was happening. So he would be hers for real this time? Nothing could separate them this time? Aecha was so happy to know that. They had spent that night talking with each other. They agreed that they would try to make this relationship work. After all, a relationship is a two-way street, give and take.

===

“Baby, I miss you so much. When will you be back?”

 Chanyeol whined into his phone. He hadn’t seen Aecha for three months now, she was working as a temporary assistant for their company’s New York branch. Gosh, he missed her so damn much.

Well, so much for temporary!

She was working there for eleven months. ing eleven months and the director called it a temporary position. Chanyeol was so mad and so sad when he knew about Aecha’s job transmission.

Chanyeol couldn’t even ask the director to let him work there with her. Ever since the director knew that the black haired female and the brunette male were dating, he had all the more reason to hate Aecha. His reasons were all unreasonable. The elder man made it his goal to separate them when it was possible.

Chanyeol had come to work in the branch a few times, but he never met Aecha there. She was always busy. He thought that they were indeed busier in New York than in Seoul, but it was not too busy that Aecha couldn’t spare anytime for him. He just found it weird that Aecha couldn’t meet up with him once in three months time span.

He didn’t understand why it was so hard for them to be together. Maybe karma was biting him back because of how he treated her before.

“I miss you, too. But we can’t do anything about it.” Aecha said, a sigh slipping past her lips. Seeing that Chanyeol didn’t answer her, Aecha continued, “I’ll come home and visit you this New Year eve, and after that, I will only have to work here for two months. Wait for me, ok?”

Chanyeol pouted, even though Aecha couldn’t see him. He missed her like crazy, they hadn’t seen each other’s face for three months. He would have forgotten how she looked like already, if it hadn’t been for the photos they took together.

“Yeah, I will wait for you.” He said, with a slight yet firm nod of his head.

Then they chatted for a while; telling each other about life, work, and everything in between. It was nice to talk to the one that they had in their hearts.

Through this phone call, it felt as if they were snuggling up next to each other. It erased the longing in their hearts that they were feeling, and instead they grew fonder of each other. 

Ending the call with a simple ‘I love you’, Chanyeol couldn’t wait to meet Aecha by the end of this year.

===

Travelling to the airport to pick his beloved Aecha up, Chanyeol could feel butterflies swimming in his stomach. They hadn’t seen each other for eight months now and he felt very nervous to meet her again. All the giddy feelings bubbled inside his body, he felt like a high school boy coming to pick up his crush to go on their first date.

He wondered how she would look like after all these months. Did Aecha change? Did her hair grow longer? He missed playing with her hair, he missed winding his hand through it. God, he missed her.

 Strutting into the airport, he could see a lone girl standing with her back to him, she was waiting for someone. It was like a déjà-vu of the time when he went to see her off four years ago. She had waited for the same person all these years, that person was him.

That time, they were just friends, Chanyeol never thought he would love her so much like he did.

That time, he was too busying chasing after Hana to notice Aecha. 

That time, he didn’t care about her at all. 

Now, all was different and Chanyeol vowed to make her happy for the rest of her life.

“AECHA!” 

Chanyeol called and ran toward her, he couldn’t wait to be with her. He couldn't wait to envelope her hand in his embrace, to wrap his arms around her waist and to kiss her senseless.

The girl turned to him and a bright smile decorated her lips. Standing in the same spot, the female waited for the male to come and crush her to his chest.

“Baby, I missed you so much.”

His voice was strain when he managed to utter those words. Aecha smiled and held him close. Her heart swelled with affection.

“Chanyeol, I missed you, too. I'm so happy to be here with you.” She mumbled, her voice muffled by his shirt. Pulling back, the female chewed on her lower lip as she gazed at her boyfriend, her expression tender and loving as she did so.

Pulling her at arm’s length, Chanyeol examined her. 

“Oh god, you’ve changed so much. If it weren’t for your familiar figure, I wouldn’t recognize you,” Chanyeol half joked, half told the truth. Of course, he would still recognize her but seriously, she had changed so much.

“Long story, I’ll tell you when we get home. Let’s go now.” Aecha said, a smile still on her lips.

Taking her hand in his, Chanyeol led her to his car.

He couldn’t help but bombarding her with all the questions about how she had lived all these months. Chanyeol really cared for her. Aecha could tell that he cared a lot for her, she felt as if she was the luckiest girl in the world.

===

When the pair arrived at home, Chanyeol figured out that Aecha had taken some surgeries to change her facial features. She did look a lot better, all the pain she endured was paid off.

He didn’t blame her for doing it or had he had anything against it. It was her right to change for the better.

Chanyeol also admitted that he liked pretty girl more, but that wasn’t all what mattered to him. It was her personality that Chanyeol loved the most about her. The male wanted Aecha to be the way she was. He liked the old Aecha more, but he loved her all the same; before, now, and in the distant future.

Aecha had also considered her decision over and over again before she went for the surgeries. It’d make her life a lot easier to change some traits on her face. And it wasn’t really a bad thing, even though she didn’t like the idea herself. Her changing wasn’t just for herself. It was for Chanyeol’s sake, too. The director, his friends, his family, etc, many people would look at her when she was in a serious relationship with him.

Even when Chanyeol didn’t mind what they said, Aecha did. Some of them would judge her for being with Chanyeol. They didn’t say it out, but Aecha could tell they didn’t like them being together. By the way they looked at her, Aecha could tell that they were envious of her. When a girl like her was side by side with Chanyeol all the time, could she really blame them for being envious? Human is a selfish creature.

Though it was a hard decision for her to make, in her time staying in New York, Aecha had made up her mind. She would take the surgeries, and she would change.

Now, there she was, still the same Aecha but with some different features. She could tell Chanyeol was disappointed at her, but he would get used to it.

===

It was after the meeting with Chanyeol's parents and Aecha was in his room, waiting for him. She was very nervous to meet them, but Chanyeol was constantly by her side, taking her hand in his to assure her. He made her feel at ease, and her first meeting with his parents went smoothly.

Mrs. Park and Mr. Park were very nice to her, and they seemed to like her. That made Aecha feel a lot better.

They were now sitting on his bed, Chanyeol just came in after talking to his mother.

“What does she think about me?” Aecha asked anxiously, looked at him with wide eyes.

Chanyeol kept on a grim face as he scooted closer to her and wrapped his arm around her waist.

“She…said…,” Chanyeol said slowly, watching Aecha’s worriedly eyes widened even more at each word he uttered.

Then he couldn’t keep up his act anymore, kissing her on her cheek, Chanyeol grinned and continued, “Don’t worry, she likes you a lot.”

“You jerk, you got me here!” Aecha exclaimed as she lifted her hand up to slap him on his chest. 

Chanyeol rolled around on his bed, moving out of her reach and laughing like crazy. When Aecha finally caught him, Chanyeol hugged her tightly to his body, restraining her movements. Aecha struggled for a while, but she got tired and snuggled up to him instead. They lay on his bed, talking and playing around like kids.

As they were talking, Chanyeol’s phone suddenly rang. He got up, letting go of Aecha and answering it.

When he was done and returned to Aecha’s side, Aecha reached out a hand and said jokingly, “Give me your phone. Let me see which lover of yours just called you.”

Chanyeol smiled, lying down next to her on the bed again and gave her his phone. Aecha smiled in return, she was happy that Chanyeol was being obedient. She took his phone in her hands and searched for some games to play. There wasn’t any games in his phone, Chanyeol was surely a man of work.

A little bored and curious, Aecha punched in her phone number to see what would be her name in his contact list.

“Hey, why am I “ugly duck”? That’s a mean nickname Kris gave me.” 

Aecha stated, her bottom lip jutting out in a form of a pout as she looked up at Chanyeol. The pair's faces were only a few inches apart.

Chanyeol smiled warmly at her, taking her hand in his, and he leaned down to press his lips against hers in a chaste manner before pulling away. Gazing into her eyes, he whispered, meaning every word from the bottom of his heart. 

“You are my ugly duck, and I love you no matter what.”