The next morning you slept until the sun was shining onto your face through the window. You spun around to try to hide from it, but by this point you were too awake to fall asleep again. You opened your eyes to find a bare chest in front of you. You smiled and cuddled against it.

“Good morning baby,” a husky voice said quietly. You looked up and found Howon’s eyes slightly open as he smiled at you. “Did you sleep well?” You nodded in response.

“Did you?”

“Mmm, so well that I’m not sure I want to get up yet.” His arms tightened around you while his eyes closed, making you giggle.

“But Oppa, it’s getting late. We should get up.” Howon’s eyes popped open and he rolled over you, supporting himself on his arms, which he placed next to your head.

“Oppa?” A grin spread across his face and his head was tilted to the side. You blushed when you realized you had indeed called him Oppa. Byunghee had been the only one you had ever called that way before. But it had easily slipped out to Howon a second ago. “Say it again~” his voice taking on a cute sound.

Your hands flew up to cover your face while you continued to blush. You didn’t regret calling him Oppa in any way, but you were embarrassed by it. Since you had grown up calling Byunghee Oppa, he had never reacted like this to it.

“Come on, say it again. Please~?” You couldn’t resist Howon’s aegyo.

“Oppa,” you said quietly, still hiding behind your hands.

“Not like that. Say it like you did before.” Howon wrestled with your hands to pull them away from your face, making you turn even more red.

You took a deep breath before meeting his eyes. “Oppa~” you cooed. A huge smile spread across Howon’s face. He leaned down, gently pressing his lips to yours. This kiss grew, just like the previous night. His tongue slipped into your mouth causing you to moan slightly. Howon pulled away at the noise and blushed.

For a moment you thought he was going to stop there, but Howon kissed you again. He shifted his weight to one arm, his free hand slowly sliding down the side of your body, stopping on your hip. When his hand stayed still, you wound your arms around his neck, encouraging him to move closer to you. His hand began moving down again to the top of your thigh. His fingers found the hem of your shorts and lightly traced your bare skin.

While he continued to lightly touch your thigh, you decided to do a little exploring of your own. You let your hand trail down his back, feeling how his muscles shivered under your touch. When you stopped at his lower back, Howon stopped kissing you, and stared into your eyes for moment before smirking. His hand moved further down your thigh, hitching your leg around his hip. You giggled and tightened your grip on him so you could kiss him again.

His lips left a trail from your lips down your neck. He paused at a particularly sensitive spot that made you moan. When he was content with himself, he came back up to kiss your lips again. He broke the kiss, pulling away to look at you once more.

“We should stop. I want to wait for the more physical part of our relationship to give the emotions time to develop.” Part of you wanted to flip him over and pick up where you left off, but the other part was touched by his sensitivity.

You nodded, still trying to catch your breath. “I understand. I think we should wait too.” Howon smiled a little. He leaned down to kiss you softly.

“Waiting will make it better, but I am very excited for when we won’t be waiting anymore.” You both laughed at his statement.

“Go shower before I won’t let you leave the bed,” you said with a wink. Howon nodded and untangled himself from you to get cleaned up. You also climbed out of bed to make some food for both of you.

Just as you were finishing up, Howon exited the bedroom in just a towel. Your eyes widened as you took in the sight of him. After staring for a moment, you reached up to cover your eyes. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to stare!”

Howon laughed. “It’s alright. I just don’t have clothes to change into…”

You were such an idiot. He had come back from the party with you, and it was the first time he spent the night. So of course he wouldn’t have any other clothes here. “I have some things that might work for you.” Howon looked confused, but followed you back into the bedroom. You opened the drawer that contained Byunghee’s clothes and fished out a few things for him.

“I don’t know if these will fit right, but it’s better than trying to go home in a towel.” You handed him the clothes and turned to leave the room for him to change. You returned to the kitchen to dish up the food for each of you. When Howon joined you at the table, he seemed a bit on edge. “Is everything okay?” You asked cautiously.

“Whose clothes are these?” He stared down at the plate in front of him, pushing the food around with a spoon. “They are mens’ clothes.”

“Byunghee’s. He left them here in case of emergencies.” You didn’t want to reveal the real reason for why you had them. “They are clean of course. He hasn’t been here in ages,” you tried to sound nonchalant about the situation. You looked up at Howon, who was now watching you. You smiled reassuringly at him.

“Is there anything I need to be worried about?” His eyes fell back down to his plate as he spoke. The look on his face made your heart hurt. You knew that you should tell him about what happened yesterday with Byunghee, but you didn’t want to hurt Howon. Despite the problems you had been having, he was a very good boyfriend.

You shifted your chair a bit so that you could take his free hand in yours. He tensed up as if preparing for a painful blow. You looked up into his eyes. “You don’t need to be worried. I love you Oppa.” You weren’t sure where the words were coming, but they didn’t feel like a lie. In fact, it felt like you had finally accepted the feelings that had been slowly building up.

Howon’s eyes bore into yours for a moment before he surged forwards, his lips slamming against yours. The two of you kissed each other hungrily. Arms wrapped around each others’ bodies. Hands touched everything they could. The moment felt so heated that it was almost painful when Howon pulled his lips away from yours.

“I love you too,” he said softly. He tucked your hair behind your ear before kissing your forehead. “We should finish breakfast before we risk getting carried away,” Howon chuckled. “As much as I would rather stay with you, I do have to get to work soon.” You nodded, kissing him quickly before you released each other to finish your breakfast.