“Baby, what’s the matter?”

“Nothing Onew, just…nothing…”

“You’re not always this quiet when you’re with me.”

“There’s a first time for everything.”

“Shall I kiss you?”

“No, I don’t need a kiss..”

“I think you do…”

Onew pulled Ary close and gave her long peck on the cheek. He smiled. “Feel better?” He asked while rubbing her shoulder.

In an attempt to get Onew off her back, she smiled and nodded. “Yes. Thanks, man.”

“Don’t call me ‘man’! Call me ‘oppa’!”

“Onew, I don’t feel comfortable calling you ‘oppa’...”

“And why is that?”

“Because I’m not a petite little Korean girl. I have my own names to call you.”

“But it makes me feel good when you say ‘oppa’.”

"I can't do that."

"But Ary---"

“Onew, I’m not calling you oppa!” Ary yelled a bit louder than she intended to and glanced at Onew’s surprised and slightly embarrassed face.

“Onew…I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scream. I’m just…not having a good day.”

“Why don’t you explain to me what’s wrong? You’ll feel better if you talk about it.” Onew put an arm around her and pulled her close, leaning his ear to her lips in expectation of her spilling the details to him.

“I don’t really wanna talk about it, Onew. It’s not that serious. I’ll get over it.”

Onew studied her before placing a hand on her chin and lifting it so that their eyes met. “Are you sure?”

Ary looked into his eyes—those beautiful eyes of his, the eyes that swallowed her whole whenever she stared into them. They made her feel enough warmth to the point where she genuinley smiled. “Yes.”

Onew nodded and pulled her into his chest. He rocked her gently, just sitting and enjoying the feeling.

Ary wanted to break the sweet silence between them. She really wanted to ask Onew how he felt about her being somene other than Korean. She wanted to ask him the real reason he had gained such an interest in her.  But she kept silent.

I’m not going to ruin the moment. Not now, at least.

December came faster than expected. The snow prematurely fell onto the ground in a romantic, light and suttle way. Stray tracks of animals were now becoming visible and more commonly seen each day, and as the weather changed, so did Ary’s feelings about MinYong’s proposal. As each day passed, Onew showed more and more favor towards Ary, favor that couldn’t be contradicted by what MinYong said. Like the leaves that decomposed under the snow, Ary’s negative thoughts went with them.

After another hard yet interseting day of school, Onew met Ary by her locker as usual. They had become a little less careless with who was seeing them, seeing that whoever did see them never cared, however they were still careful around their friends, who still had no clue about the couple’s relationship.

As always, Onew stopped by Ary’s locker and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Hey,” he said with a michevious smirk.

“Hey…what are you thinking about?” Ary asked.

“Well…my birthday is coming up…I’ll be 18…and alone at home…with no one to spend it with…”

Ary smirked. “Ohhh I see. When is it it?”

“The 14^th.”

“Ahhh, so next Friday? Perfect timing.”

“I know. Will you be there?”

“I’ll put it first on my list. But why are you being home alone? Where is your mother going?”

Onew laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Ahh, you see, I convinced her to go out and have fun. That for my birthday, I just wanted the house to myself. Maybe invite friends over and stuff. And she thought that was a good idea.”

Ary nodded in approval. “Great. So by ‘friends’ I’m guessing you meant me?”

Onew scoffed playfully. “Who else?”

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Short update, I know. I'm sorry! I just gotta let it simmer once in a while, lol.

So you and Onew are going to spend his birthday together at his place??? Hmmmmmm, what's gonna happen there??????????? XD

Thanks for the upvotes! They mean alot, lol.

And HEYYYY to the new subs. You guys rock. And thanks for sticking with this story, I'll try to update more frequently, I just don't want this story to finish before it reaches its full potential!

and one more thing to say

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TAEMINNNNNNNNN

credit to them for the pic!

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