"You're cute when you yawn," I tell Leo over Skype before I'm about to go on my morning jog with my friend, Sun. He chuckles quietly, lowering his head onto the kitchen table he's sitting at. We've been together for the last five years and even though we're sixteen hours away, we're still going strong. He finally lifts his head, brushing his bangs out of his face before yawning. He's a handsome one with fair skin, soft features that can seem intimidating at times, and now dark brown hair. He has on a tank top and pajama pants, getting ready to go to sleep. "You still can't take a compliment from me after five years of dating? Five?"

"You know I don't take compliments that well," he chuckles again. For a guy that doesn't smile a whole lot, he sure has a beautiful one when he does decide to show it. I'm one of the lucky ones that sees it more frequently. "Morning jog?"

"Unfortunately." I look at the clock behind him and see it's almost eleven at night over there and that he probably wants to go to sleep soon. He stifles yawn and he looks pretty aborable while doing it. 

"I'll let you get some sleep." 

"Okay." Nod once, twice, thrice. Stalling, I can tell. He opens his mouth to say something, but closes it soon after. "I..." Yes! I love you, too! "Will let you go. Have a good jog."

Sigh. Five years and he still can't say the three words I want to hear him say.

"Have a good night." I blow him a kiss and it sends him into another fit of embarrassed chuckles before he shyly returns it with an obvious pink blush coating his cheeks. 

"We've only done four miles!" Sun exclaims to me as I stop, placing my hands on my knees as I wheeze. Sun is my best friend and a model. She's tall with shoulder length dark hair, a stunning face and a slim figure. She's also getting married to one of Leo's friend, Seo In Guk, in four weeks. Sun has been exercising and dieting nonstop to make sure she fits into her wedding dress. Being the Maid of Honour, she's dragged me along in this fitness rollercoaster with her. 

"Four miles is a long distance," I wheeze. She rolls her eyes. "Especially when you have no motivation because your boyfriend can't say he loves you." She chuckles.

"Three more miles and then we'll get breakfast," she states taking a drink of water. I'm starting to think she's getting a little obsessed with all of this. She didn't even workout this hard when she was a Victoria Secret Angel.

"When's In Guk flying in to see you?" 

"Tomorrow morning. I'm picking him up from JFK around ten." 

"Are you getting excited?" She shrugs as we start at a slow jog. "Sun, it's your wedding. How are you not excited?! You have the perfect venue, perfect dress, perfect guy. It's going to be-"

"Perfect." I look at her to see she doesn't look all that enthused about it. "But that's just for one day. What if our marriage is everything but that?"

"No marriage is perfect, but that doesn't mean it won't be a good one."

"Very true...but at least I know he loves me." I glare at her as she speeds off ahead of me, laughing.

I shower and get dressed so I can go out to lunch with my parents at noon. It's something we do every other week, always going to a different restaurant from the last time we met. I'm convinced we've eaten at almost every restaurant in New York City by now. 

"So, how are things at work?" my mo asks me after we've ordered at some little italian restuarant. 

"Good," I answer as I pour some creamer into my coffee. "I have to go to Minneapolis at the end of the week." I work as a salesman at a pharmecutical company here in the city. It was the perfect job for me because you get to be in medicine without the blood or excessive years of school, travel and still earn a nice paycheck. My parents were happy with my choice in a career, my choice in men, they haven't been as fond of.

Leo and I met in our sophomore year of college here in NYC. He was going to Julliard and I was going to NYU. We met at a concert after making eyes at each other for an hour before I finally approached him seeing as he was too shy to do so. We officially got together four months after that and we've been happy ever since. However, my parents didn't like that he was a music major saying it wasn't a "sensible" career and that the job market is slim and doens't make a "sufficient" amount of money. It all came crashing down when I missed a final statistics exam when I feel asleep at Leo's apartment studying the night before. My grade was already suffering and missing the exam meant an automatic zero which would mean me not graduating that spring. My parents blamed him for it not knowing that I'd been fighting the flu that whole week and that was the first time I'd slept in days. My professor gave me a retake on the quiz, which I got a B on, but they saw Leo as the root of the problem. They forbid me to see him or they would kick me out. It was him or them. He flew to Seoul the next day so that I wouldn't get kicked out and that I could still finish earning my degree. With him out of the picture, and the country, they let me stay. They thought we broke it off after that, which was two years ago, but they don't know that we're still together.

"When are you going to start dating again?" my mom asks as the server brings us our food. "You can't mope over that musician forever." I nod, everything she's saying going in one ear and out the other.

"There's that guy that lives on your floor," my dad points out. "The one in law school.-"

"Guys," I say firmly but politely. They look at me with raised eyebrows and I give them a weak smile. "Thanks for worrying, but I'll find someone eventually." 

"How's Minneapolis?" Leo asks me when we're Skyping later in the week. 

"It's nice," I yawn, seeing the daylight stream through the window behind him and looking to see the moonlight stream through mine. "Not as busy as New York which is super comforting at times." 

"New York is kind of hectic," he agrees with a nod. "But so is Seoul." 

"Speaking of Seoul, when can I come visit?" He puffs his cheeks as he blows out air and I chuckle at the cute act.

"Hakyeon, Ken and I are moving into a bigger apartment in two days and I don't know how much time it'll take for us to get settled in."

"Maybe in about a week? I have a few days in New York after I leave here tomorrow but then I have to be in Seattle for about four days. That's almost two weeks though." I pout and he chuckles. "But, my parents will be out of town so we don't have to worry about them dropping by." He rolls his eyes.

"You know how I feel about dating you behind their back," he sighs. "It's been two years. We should tell them." 

"Over Skype?" I suggeset with a smile. He gives me a look and shakes his head. "Fine, in person. You know, I don't even remember that last time I saw you in person."

"It wasn't that long ago," he states simply. "It was in April. For your birthday."

"It's October babe," I point out. He somehow finds enough time to blush before giving a confused look that it's really been six months since we've last seen each other. I chuckle when he disappears from the screen and actually comes back with a calendar, flipping through it with a frown on his face.

"Why are you frowning?!" a voice exclaims in the background. All of a sudden, a tall, tan guy with dark hair is appearing on the screen and wrapping his arms around Leo's shoulders. Hakyeon, or N. Leo tries to struggle out of it, but he's caught in N's vice-like grip. " Leo-ah, why are you frowning?" 

"It's been six months since I've seen my girlfriend," he mumbles sadly. I feel my face grow warm at how sad he sounds that he hasn't seen me in such a long time. 

"She's on the screen," N states, waving at me through the laptop screen. Leo looks at him and N gives a 'oh' of understanding. "Well, you can fly out tomorrow.Ken and I can take care of the moving stuff." Leo shakes his head. "Ravi, Hongbin and Hyuk said they'd help. It's fine. He'll see you in a couple days!" N beams at me as he waves at the screen and ends the call.

"I thought he was getting on the plane yesterday," Sun says as her, In Guk, and I are out to lunch a couple days later. She said he should get some rest but he wants to come along with us on "wedding runs" and see the city again. He's tan with dark hair and full lips. Plus he's tall, like Leo's height who is about six foot himself. 

"N bascially told him to but ended the call before Leo could say if he actually was or not," I explain as the waiter brings us our water and coffee. "Probably before Leo could argue with him." They both nod. 

"How are you two anyway?" In Guk asks me. He's been a friend of Leo and his friends for a long time. He met Sun when Leo wanted us to double on our first date because he was nervous. He figured that In Guk was the best option because there was a slim chance that he would embarrass him, or least not as much as the others. Sun and In Guk have been dating for a little over fours years and have been engaged for one.

"Good," I answer with a nod. "Just busy that's all. He's working at the music school and I've been traveling a lot so we don't get to talk as much." Leo teaches piano and vocals at an art school in Seoul. He also helps out in the dance department from time to time, but focuses more on vocals. He adores his job because it involves two things he loves: music and kids. For somebody who's kind of intimidating at first glance he gets along with kids great. It was a pleasant surprise when his face lit up whenever his sister brought his niece around. 

11:30 PM.

That's what time it is when I''m dragging my feet out of bed because there's some lunatic knocking at my door. Don't they know the day I've had?! Well, most likely not. Sun, In Guk and I registered items at numerous stores, confirmed floral arrangments, ordered the cake which took an hour to pick out because why are there dozens of different cake flavors anyway? We checked that all the bridesmaid dresses were altered and ready to be worn in the next month and that they're the right color, picked out In Guk's shoes....it was a very long,very exhausting day for this Maid of Honor. Which brings me to my original question...

Who the hell is knocking at my door at 11:30 at night?

I look through the peephole and when I see a tall, dark haired guy humming and adorably puffing his cheeks out, I suddenly feel a lot more awake. Leo's a little taken aback when I'm throwing the door open and tackling him in a hug, but he holds me anyway and kisses the top of my head. 

"I see someone missed me," he chuckles as he nonchalantly runs his fingers through my hair.  

"Damn right I did," I answer into his chest. I finally pull away enough for me to stand on my tiptoes and kiss him. The first time, more like the first ten times, I kissed Leo he would furiously blush and barely kiss me back. During those five years he finally learned to kiss me back like he does now, but that doesn't stop the deep pink blush after we pull away, also just like now.

"So you actually listened to Hakyeon this time?" I question as I pour Leo a glass of milk as he's munching on some cookies I bought earlier. He's always eating! 

"I listen to him sometimes," he chuckles. I smile as I hand him his drink and take a seat beside him. 

"How long are you here for?" 

"A few days. The kids have a showcase coming up soon and I have to get them ready for it." I nod, pursing my lips together in sadness. Only a few days? "I know it's  not long, especially since we haven't seen each in half a year. But once Christmas time comes around they'll be on break for a while and then I can stay here longer. Or you can stay there longer." I nod at him, still looking down at our feet dangling. I kick myself when I let a sniffle out. "Oh, don't cry!" 

"I can't help it," I answer, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand and finally look at him. "It was supposed to get easier with time but it's been two years and it's still so hard." I seriously didn't intend on crying but I end up nearly sobbing when he wraps his arms around me and kisses the top of my head. 

After I calm down, we attempt to watch some tv but end up knocking out halfway through it. Me from the exhausting day that I had and him from being jet lagged. I wake up to the smell of eggs, pancakes and sausage. Leo's eyes are lighting up as he places all the food on the table. I peck him on the cheek as I fix us some coffee and he blushes. It's quiet as we eat, which isn't really uncommon but Leo is eating a lot of food at quite a speed.

"Hungry?" I ask as he scoops some more eggs onto his plate and another pancake. 

"I miss American breakfast so much," he answers, covering his mouth as he chews. "Ken can't make pancakes to save his life and Hakyeon is always destroying the scrambled eggs." I laugh as he gives me a cheeky smile and continues eating.

It's when I'm getting out the shower that I hear voices downstairs. I quickly slip on some clothes and that's when I see my parents standing in the doorway and Leo standing feet in front of them. 

Uh oh.

"What are you two doing here?" I ask them as I come down the stairs. 

"What is he doing here?" my mom asks irritably. "I thought you broke it off with him!"

"Leo, go upstairs," I tell him, gripping his arm. His jaw is set and I grip his arm a little tighter. "Go, I'll be up in a minute." With a quiet nod he leaves and I watch him go, not turning back to my parents until I hear the bedroom door close. "What are you two doing here?"

"What is he doing here?!" my dad all but shouts. "We had an agreement! You're not to see him-"

"That's when I was living in a place you bought me," I hiss. "And lower your voice. I don't want him to hear you." They both give that parental 'watch who you're talking to' eyebrow raise and I cross my arms over my chest. "I bought this apartment myself with the money I earned from my job. So I will have whoever the hell  I want in it. And secondly, we never had an agreement. You guys were making me choose between him and you, and he left so I wouldn't have to make that choice."

"How long have you been keeping this from us?" my mom questions seriously. "A few months?" I shake my head. "A year?" Another shake of my head. "Since he left?" I'm quiet but finally nod. They both give loud, frustrated sighs and it again freaks me out that they've been together so long that their body movements are synchronized. 

"We told you that this musician was not suitable for you!" my dad snaps furiously. "They don't make a decent enough income to support themselves, nevertheless someone else! You need someone on your level-"

"Stop with the damn levels!" I shout, surprising them and myself. "I don't care about how much he makes. I don't care how if he's on my level. I don't care...if you guys approve of this relationship or not." They're quiet. "I care about him and that's all that matters. So, if you two are not going to accept that, you can leave." It's silent. I avoid their gaze and stare at the ground, trying to hold myself together. It's when I hear the shuffling of feet that I finally look up at their retreating forms. It's when the door closes that I finally break down in the middle of the livingroom.

"So, how bad was it?" Sun asks as we're getting table decorations. Leo and In Guk went out to eat while we finish up some shopping. I shake my head. "That bad?"

"Catastrophic," I answer with a nod. "I'm pretty sure they hate me and it's breaking my heart." 

"But imagine how much more it would break if you had to break up with the guy of your dreams," she points out. Valid point. "I know it's going to be hard, but a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor." I laugh, getting looks from the other women in the shop. "You two have been through too much to quit now, so just stay strong alright?"

"No wonder In Guk loves you. You're so wise." She laughs as I wrap my arms tight around her.

"Stop unpacking me."

"Stop leaving me." 

Leo looks up from his suitcase to where I'm sitting on the bed in front of it. He leaves early the day after tomorrow, but is getting most of his stuff together so he doesn't have to worry about packing it all so quickly. I play with a loose thread on the comforter and sigh when I feel the bed dip beside me. I frown when he wraps his arms around my waist and rests his chin on my shoulder. 

"I dislike this just as much as you do," he tells me quietly. "And I really wish things were different, but until we work all of that out this is how it has to be."

"Well, how it is ," I whine turning to look at him. "We're so busy we barely talk, our schedules conflict because we're on diffferent sides of the globe and whenever I get to see you you're leaving just as quick as you got here. And I really miss going out to coffee, eating dinner at your apartment and having movie marathons at mine. I just miss how things used to be."  Leo grins and as pleasant as it is, I'm confused as to why he's doing it. He pecks me on the cheek before grabbing my hand and pulling me off the bed. "Where are we going?" I only get a grin as an answer.

The video store. We go the video store, rent three movies and then Leo drags me to a grocery store for junk food. I still don't know what he has up his sleeve until he tells me to go take a shower and come down afterwards. My jaw drops ten minutes later when there are blankets spread out on the livingroom floor with all the junk food and the first movie in the DVD player ready to go. 

"Did you plan this after my rant from earlier?" I chuckle, sitting beside him and smiling when he hands me the Twizzlers. 

"You seemed sad," he states simply. "And I feel exactly the same way so I thought this would help." I quickly peck him on the lips and he blushes. "I guess it worked." 

"Absolutely." 

The next day I don't have any Maid of Honor duties, so we spend the day like how we used to when he lived here. We go out to breakfast in the morning and then go windowshopping. We share an umbrella as it rains, but when it starts to donwpour we run into an antique music store. Leo's eyes light up as he sees a keyboard and I chuckle when he dashes to it. He always loved playing the piano.

"It looks like the one I had in college," he grins as he plays a scale or two on it. "Let's go. If I stay here I'll buy it." 

"I never knew you to be such an impulsive shopper," I laugh as he grabs my hand and lead us towards the door. "Leo, it's still pouring!" He doesn't seem to care as we approach a bus stop. "Where are we going?" 

Carnegie Hall. Apparently, there's a symphony tonight that In Guk told him about the other day and he really wants to go see it. 

"We can make a night of it," Leo states as we hold hands and he keep the umbrella above our heads. "We can get all dressed up, go to dinner and then go the symphony."

"What about after? A moonlit boat ride?" His face scrunches up in a frown. 

"Isn't it a little cold for that?" I laugh as he has a really focused expression on his face. I see a couple kiss down the street and that's when I realize that I've always wanted to kiss someone in the rain. "Leo?" He hums in response as I move the umbrella from above us. The rain is still coming down hard and even a little cold, but I don't care. "Kiss me." Leo gives me a questioning look or more like 'are you out of your mind? We're going to get sick' kind of expression. When he sees I'm serious he just goes for it. He's blushing when we pull away and I laugh. 

Dinner is amazing and the symphony is beautiful, but I can't help but feel sad that this is our last night together. I try not to show it though because I know he's just as sad as I am. We're up bright and early the next morning so I can drive him to the airport. The airport isn't insanely crowded, but not many people are boarding planes at six in the morning. Leo laughs when I question him if he has his ticket, his passport and all his luggage because if he leaves anything it'll take two weeks for him to receive it by mail. I sniffle once and he pulls me into a hug. 

"I wasn't crying," I laugh as we pull away. "I'm sniffly from the rain yesterday." 

"That's because you asked me to kiss you in it," he retorts. He places a hand on my forehead and frowns. "You have a slight temperature. I always thought that was a bad idea, why do girls like it so much?" 

"Because it's romantic." He rolls his eyes but nods. They call for his plane to start boarding over the speaker system. This is it. I step on my tiptoes to kiss him and this time when I pull away and sniffle, it's from crying. The words 'I love you' almost tumble out right then and there, but I purse my lips because I want Leo to say it first. He opens his mouth and closes it a total of three times before he finally settles for kissing me on the forehead. 

"I'll be back," he promises, lacing our fingers together. I nod and then the speaker system is doing second call to board the plane. He kisses my hand and I chuckle because that always made butterflies erupt in my stomach. He walks away, not letting go of my hands until we're our of reach. I blow him a kiss and he blushes before returning it. It's when he's out of sight and I'm left by myself in the airport that I realize I'm really tired of saying goodbye to him...and I don't know how much longer I can do this.