XV. A Promise To Keep

“I bet you're hard to get over
I bet the room just won't shine
I bet my hands I can stay here
I bet you need more than you mind
And I think you're so mean, I think we should try
I think I could need this in my life”

~If You’re Gone (Matchbox Twenty)
 

PAST

 (YONGHWA)

It was the last night. I tried so hard to be oblivious of it—to treat it like another day in our dream. The next day was planned out. I was going to leave while she was sleeping and take the earliest flight out of the island and return to the world I left a few weeks ago. We were both going to return to the lives we left off but we both know we will never be the same again.

That day we hardly stayed in bed, we were just out there with the sands, sea and sun playing and talking and laughing and kissing and holding each other.  I took her to dinner, the really fancy dinner I told her the other night and she wore the dress I bought her. Seohyun looked amazing, effortless, beautiful, wonderful—especially that night.

We walked barefooted back to the suite after dinner. There was hardly any star that night and she moped at that as she clung to my arm. I gave her another surprise that night; while we were having dinner, I asked the resort staff to decorate the bedroom with some ceramic candle holders and the usual petals on the bed kind of stuff and they delivered well.

Her eyes lit up when we opened the bedroom door and she embraced me so tight but said nothing.

And we made love—slow, lingering, unhurried.

We made love knowing that it was our last. That it was only a matter of time—hours, minutes, seconds. I held her so tight as we lay on our sides when we were both consumed and drained for awhile. Shoving her hair gently, I nuzzled on her neck and whispered softly, “Seohyuna, are you happy?”

“Yes. I’m happy, Thank you for making me happy like this, Oppa.” Seohyun shifted to face me and rested her hand flat on my chest, “Are you happy?”

“Enthralled…” I nodded with a wide smile and I kissed her forehead, “And thank you for making me happy. Although, this is like a fleeting kind of happiness.”

She pulled herself up a little and brushed her lips into mine, “So it’s something that we will never forget. This kind of happiness… I will never be happy like this with someone else. Only yours… only this kind with you.”

“Ditto.” I kissed her ever so tenderly. My hands running along the contours of her slim figure until they settle on her cheeks. I looked at her again and she held my gaze for a moment before smiling. My eyes travelled along the lines of her perfect curves. And my fingers followed as I lightly traced her, her breathing started to get uneven once more.

“Candle light suits you best, damsel…” I whispered as my hand strayed on her sensitive corners.

“You have a sweet tongue…” She mumbled softly as her back pressed on the bed.

“Do you mean that figuratively or literally?”

“Absolutely both…”

I chuckled and bent down to nibble on her bottom lip and groaned, “You are so beautiful…”

“Thank you…” Seohyun pressed a hand on my cheek and nodded gently, “I feel beautiful when you look at me… especially when you look at me this way...”

“Because you are… you don’t just feel it. And, I love looking at this beauty…”

“You are beautiful too… and I love looking at you.” She rolled her eyes when I gave her a soft laugh, “Don’t laugh at that. It’s not only the way you look but who you are. I’ve never been with anybody as beautiful as you are, Oppa. You are a beautiful person, you have a beautiful soul.”

I still couldn’t believe I have butterflies in pit of my stomach. Her words touched me so deep that I could just lose my mind. And if it wasn’t enough, she placed a palm on my chest where my heart beats the hardest, “And this heart, Oppa…” She met my gaze and smiled so beautifully, “I love the feel of your heart beating on my palm…”

With that, I was a goner as I grinned so foolishly, “Yeah?” She just nodded as my own hand slid on the valley between her s, “And I love yours on mine, damsel….”

What happened next was another deliriously amazing love making. Like the first time, always like the first time with her. I took her slowly and gently. Taking my time consuming her and marking her completely until I could no longer help myself but move with the same pace as my beating heart— fast and aggressive. However, by the time she was panting and her lids were so heavy to look at me properly, I halted abruptly that her eyes flew wide and whimpered as she moved her hips deliberately but I shook my head and whispered on , "Make this last damsel... feel me as I feel you." After a few minutes, when we could no longer control it, I collapsed on top of her and wondered to myself how we survived that explosion.

She seemed to have fallen asleep really fast afterwards but I remained wide awake as she snuggled on me. I could fall asleep too but the gripping thought of the next day pulled me in and out of consciousness. Some of the candles around us had been long extinguished and only a few glimmered in the room.

I wasn’t kidding when I said that candle light looked good on her. She looked so peaceful and stunning and happy and contented and wonderful.

Yet, I was already melancholic.

In her sleep, I watched her. Keeping this to my memory. Reliving the first day and today.

She stirred, I held my breath. Her eyes opened slowly and her gaze lifted to mine, “Oppa?”

“Hmmm?”

I thumbed her cheek.

“Why are you still awake?”

Seohyun rubbed her eyes but I didn’t answer. She s her arm on my waist as she moved closer to me and I shifted to accommodate her warmth. Our legs entangled beneath the sheets.

“Sleep, okay?” She kissed me lightly.

Before settling back on her pillow, her lips inaudibly created the words I never imagined she would ever say to me. My heart jerked as my stomach churned. “What?” I muttered lifting a brow when she just bit her bottom lip.

A y sleepy smile curved on her lips and the hand that was pressed on my back rubbed me gently, “I said we need to sleep.”

“It wasn’t what you said,” I complained softly. I was sure— so damned sure.

“Aish, don’t be stubborn, Oppa….”

Stifling a laugh, I kissed her forehead then gazed at her and slowly mouthed ‘na du saranghae’ the way she did. Seohyun nodded softly before closing her eyes with a smile.

She understood, be both did.

(SEOHYUN)

I couldn’t sleep after that. I found myself smiling when I recalled how he was able to read my lips. That moment, I just wanted to say it—to look him in the eyes and tell him I had fallen in love, the same way he did. It made me smile even more that I beat h