Sooyoung stood up as she saw Taeyeon approaching. She didn’t actually think she would come. She had been waiting for over 30 minutes. But, as they say, it was better late than never.

“Thank you for trusting to meet with me,” Sooyoung began politely.

“I don’t trust you,” was Taeyeon’s reply. She sat down on one of the seats and looked out of the huge glass window, watching the planes. After a couple of seconds, she finally looked at Sooyoung. “Why did you ask to meet here?”

“I’m leaving for Japan,” Sooyoung replied simply. “And I wanted to fix things before I left.”

“How nice,” Taeyeon commented. “So what did you want to say?”

Sooyoung looked at her straight in the eyes and apologized. “I’m sorry.” When Taeyeon’s eyes widened in surprise, she went on, “I know that this is way overdue and that it wouldn’t do anything to reverse everything that had happened, but I wanted to tell you that I am sorry. For everything.”

“What’s everything exactly?” Taeyeon wanted to know, watching her closely. She had heard the story from Kyuhyun, while Eunhyuk and Sungmin filled her in with other details, but she was curious as to how she will tell her side of the story.

Sooyoung took a deep breath and watched as an airplane took off the runway. “No matter what you might think, I did love Eunhyuk,” she started, turning her gaze back to the other girl, who was watching her with piercing eyes. “I just… when I met Kyuhyun… it felt different.” This wasn’t going to be easy for Sooyoung and she knew that Taeyeon was making it purposefully so. “For the first time, I felt like I found the person I wanted to be with for a very long time. I even considered forever.” She sighed and half-shrugged. “But he ended things with me.”

“It seemed like you didn’t want him back when he did break up with you,” Taeyeon responded, her face empty of expression. She leaned back on her seat and crossed her legs and arms.

“I’ve never known how to beg before and I didn’t want to,” Sooyoung relayed. “I’m not that kind of person. I thought he’d realize what he’d lost after a while, but…”

“He never did,” Taeyeon finished for her. “So why, after all the time that had passed, did you decide that you were going to finally get him back?”

Sooyoung shook her head and smiled a little. “Believe it or not, that wasn’t my intention in the beginning. I really was just trying to get Yuri together with Eunhyuk.”

“What?” Taeyeon uttered, stunned at this disclosure.

“I’m sure you’ve noticed how Yuri used to be so into your best friend,” Sooyoung went on, smirking at the thought.

“So how exactly does Kyuhyun fit into all of that?” Taeyeon questioned.

“You were in the way,” Sooyoung simply stated. “I noticed you and Kyuhyun had met so I got the idea of getting him to get close to you so that you wouldn’t spend so much time with Eunhyuk.” Taeyeon opened to say something, feeling upset, but decided to just let her continue talking. “Kyuhyun didn’t want to go through with it,” she assured her.

“But he did,” Taeyeon bitingly countered, averting her gaze from the other girl.

“He was around you because he wanted to be around you,” Sooyoung retorted, shaking her head. “As much as I want to say that it was because I coerced him, he did it out of his own accord.” She shrugged. “It became so much easier for me that way.”

Taeyeon quietly breathed a sigh. She could only remember too well the first time they talked and the first time they’d officially met. He had seemed so nice and sincere about everything. It never occurred to her that he was being friends with her because of some ulterior motive so she believed Sooyoung when she said that. “Go on,” she pressed.

Sooyoung then went on to tell her about all the scheming that she did; how she called Kyuhyun’s ex-girlfriends to make an appearance, how she blackmailed Kyuhyun, how she tricked him that one night, among the many others. “I really didn’t expect that seeing him with you would remind me of the feelings I’d had for him,” Sooyoung confessed. “I didn’t mean for things to go this far.”

“How could you say that you still love Kyuhyun or that you even loved him at all when you were with Hankyung?” Taeyeon interjected. She almost sneered. “I think you intended for everything to happen the way they did.” She stood up and turned to go. “I’m not going to listen to any more of this.”

“Wait,” Sooyoung called, standing up as well. “Listen to this last one then.” Taeyeon stopped and waited for what she had to say. “Kyuhyun loves you. You may not believe it since I’m the one who’s telling you. But I hope that when he finally tells you again, you’ll believe him.” She paused, composing herself. “He loves you Taeyeon. I’ve never… he’s never shown me even a scrap of love that I’ve seen him give you. The way he looks at you is proof enough of that. So please… don’t break his heart.”

Taeyeon turned around and glared at her. “Stop telling me what I should and shouldn’t do. I’m tired of you dictating everything that’s going to happen in my life,” she snapped.

“Taeyeon…” Sooyoung began, a bit surprised at the other girl’s reaction. “I didn’t mean—.”

“Stop it,” Taeyeon directed angrily. “Just stop.” She clenched and unclenched her fists.

“There must be a lot of things you want to say to me,” Sooyoung began again after a couple of seconds of silence. “You can tell me…”

“There are a lot of things I would like to say to you, things I’ve never even dreamed of telling another person before,” Taeyeon shot back, taking a deep breath. “But I’m not going to do it. I’m not going to waste my time because I have the consolation of knowing that you’re suffering enough as it is.”

“What are you—?”

“You’ve failed in everything that you intended to accomplish,” Taeyeon interrupted. “On top of that, you’ve lost friends and you’ve lost Kyuhyun completely.” She stopped for a second, intently looking at her. “You are all alone,” she slowly but clearly spelled out, making sure that she heard every single syllable. “I think that’s enough for me.” She watched as the color drained on her face. “Good bye Sooyoung.” Without another word, she walked away.

~ * ~

“This looks good,” Siwon said as he carried the tray of freshly baked cupcakes to the kitchen counter. He then helped Tiffany with the batch she was carrying.

“It should be good,” Tiffany commented, smiling as she watched Siwon take care of the finishing touches in the designing. “I hope it tastes good. The people we’re making these for aren’t easy to please,” she went on, thinking about their friends and how critical they could be when it came to food. They were preparing for the pre-Christmas party that Jessica was having at her house and they wanted to help out in making some food for everyone.

“They’ll love it,” he assured her, turning to her to give her a kiss on the forehead.

“Let me do that,” she told him when she saw that he was having a difficult time forming a Christmas tree on the cupcakes. She got the tool from him and made him sit down.

“You’re beautiful, you know that?” he suddenly remarked. Watching her making cupcakes, wearing an apron, looking every inch like a beautiful wife, he couldn’t help but smile fondly.

She laughed. “What do you want?”

“What? I don’t want anything,” he defensively replied, looking offended. “Can’t I call my girlfriend beautiful anymore?”

“You compliment me excessively when there’s something you want to ask or when there’s something you want to say,” she knowingly reminded him. She stopped what she was doing and turned her complete attention to him. “So which one is it, ask or say?”

“When did you know me so well?” he muttered, scratching the back of his neck, feeling embarrassed.

She rolled her eyes at him. “You know you can tell me anything,” she pressed.

“I just… I’ve been thinking about when we should talk about this. I don’t know if we’re supposed to—I don’t have much experience in relationships, but I feel like maybe it would help if I knew,” he babbled.

“What are you talking about, Siwon?” she asked, fighting back a giggle.

He took a deep breath then blurted out, “I want to talk about your ex-boyfriends.”

“What?” she replied, totally caught off-guard. That was the last thing she expected him to say. “My ex-boyfriends?”

“Yes,” he hesitantly confirmed. “It may be uncomfortable for both of us to talk about it, but I think it’s something I should know about.”

“Why… do you want to know?” she inquired, feeling confused. She abandoned the baking and just turned her attention to him.

“They’re your past,” he explained. “I mean…” He shrugged. “I just want to know.” He met her eyes with uncertainty.

Tiffany didn’t say anything for a while. She just stood there, biting her lip and staring at the kitchen counter. After the silence, she looked up at Siwon. “Why would you think that I’ve had a lot of boyfriends before?” she wanted to know.

“I…” He thought of a way to answer, but stopped himself. “Didn’t you have a lot of boyfriends?”

“Who told you this?” she demanded, starting to feel upset.

“No one,” he immediately answered. “I just—.”

“After all this time, do you still think that way about me?” she continued, taking a step back, looking hurt.

“I… Fany, what are you saying?” he asked, standing up from his seat and going towards her. “What’s that way?” He wrapped his arms around her waist.

“You still think of me as a queenka, a typical queenka at that,” she answered for him, looking up and meeting his eyes with her teary-eyed ones.

“How could you think that?” he panicked. “Of course I don’t. I know you’re not a typical queenka.”

“Okay you don’t think I’m a typical queenka. You just assume that I had a lot of boyfriends, that I’d dated around, that I’d kissed other guys before,” she enumerated.

Siwon stared at her with surprise and wonder in his eyes at this. “I’m your first…” he trailed away, not believing what she was actually telling him.

“Yes, you dummy,” she established, rolling her eyes. “I really don’t get why you would ever think that I’d had past relationships when I can’t even—.”

He didn’t allow her to finish and instead captured her lips with his, tightly wrapping his arms around her. She eagerly responded by kissing him back with equal fervor, clutching at his shirt.

“I love you,” Siwon whispered as they pulled away. “And I’m not just saying this because you told me I was your first boyfriend and first kiss. I’m saying this because I do love you. It doesn’t even matter if you’d dated a hundred guys in the past, I would still love you even then.”

“But I hadn’t dated a hundred guys,” Tiffany retorted, pouting.

Siwon merely chuckled and kissed her again.

~ * ~

“This is not going well,” Jessica commented as she observed Donghae and Sungmin attempt to arrange the flowers for the centerpieces of the tables.

“I’m on it,” Sunny immediately suggested, not wanting her boyfriend to get a scolding from Jessica, who had become a bit scary.

Jessica walked back in the house and to the kitchen to check on the food. Seohyun and Hyoyeon were both there, helping out with the chopping of things that needed chopping. “Everything okay in here?”

“Yes,” Seohyun assured her with full confidence. “Have you heard from Taeyeon yet?”

Jessica shook her head. “All Sunny told me was that she left this morning and that she hadn’t talked to her since. I’ll call her in a bit. She needs to help out, too, you know.” She exchanged laughs with the two girls then left the kitchen to check on the guest list. There weren’t much people coming over, just their circle of friends. This included the queenkas minus Sooyoung and the kingkas minus Hankyung and probably minus Eunhyuk and Kyuhyun as well. Then there were Sunny, Taeyeon, Seohyun, Hyoyeon, Siwon and, of course, Donghae. She made sure to invite only the people who really mattered.

“You’re stressing yourself too much,” a voice said in her ear, which caused her to jump.

“I hate it when you do that,” she grumbled, turning around to face Donghae, who was grinning like a little kid.

He chuckled. “Everything’s going to go well. I don’t know why you’re stressing,” he promised.

“Considering you and Sungmin were practically murdering the flowers out there, there’s a lot of reason for me to be stressed,” she pointed out.

“And that is the reason why I’m here now and not out there,” he retorted teasingly. She merely rolled her eyes at him. “Come with me,” he suddenly told her, pulling her hand towards the staircase.

The sun was almost setting as they leaned against the railings of the balcony. They stood side-by-side, just enjoying the cool breeze.

“Thanks for inviting me,” Donghae broke the short silence.

Jessica looked at him like he had grown a pair of arms on his head. “Are you serious?”

“What? There’s nothing wrong with being thankful,” he innocently stated.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “You should stop being so formal with me.”

“I haven’t really been formal with you in quite some time,” he reminded her, smiling at the thought. “I just wanted you to know that I really am thankful for everything. I never expected us to be friends. Who knew tutoring could help you find lifelong friends?” He chuckled.

“I know what you mean,” she agreed, smiling wistfully. “I feel lucky. With you being my tutor, I managed to get my grades up and I managed to become a better person.” She paused. “This is cheesy, but I’m really happy you’re you, Donghae.” If he had been any other person, they would never have been so patient with her.

He grinned. “I really have learned a lot from you, you know.”

“We’ve both learned so much from each other,” she corrected. “I feel like, if I hadn’t known you, I’d still be trapped in my own world and would never really know what’s out there. I would never have experienced so many things. What makes me happier is that I got to experience those new things with you.” She thought back on all their tutoring sessions, the charity work that they did together, the movies they’d watched, the walks in the park, the jokes and bantering, all the laughter and smiles. They were wonderful experiences, wonderful memories.

“We have experienced a lot together,” he granted. “But there’s something else that I wanted to try with you, something we hadn’t done before.” He looked at her.

“What?” she curiously asked, facing him.

“This.” He took a step towards her and pressed his lips on hers.

~ * ~

“Finally,” Sunny giggled.

“Finally what?” Sungmin asked, glancing at his girlfriend inquiringly. They were seated on one of the benches in the garden, enjoying the darkness that was enveloping them as the sun set.

Sunny turned her gaze away from the balcony and smiled cutely at her boyfriend. “Nothing, my Sungminnie,” she cooed. She leaned her head on his shoulder. “Are you excited for tonight?” she asked him. It had been a while since they’d all hung out together. Everyone seemed to be too busy for something else.

“Mmmhmm,” was his only response.

They stayed quiet for a couple of minutes, just sitting beside each other, her head on his shoulder, hands clasped together. Sunny liked it when they just sat like this, just breathing and being with each other. Sighing contentedly, she smiled and snuggled closer to Sungmin.

“What are you thinking about?” he quietly inquired, giving a kiss to her head.

“I’m thinking about how I like moments like these,” Sunny answered honestly. “I like it when I lean my head on your shoulder and you hold me like this.”

He smiled and nodded, putting an arm around her waist. “How would you like to have these moments forever?”

“That would be lovely,” she acknowledged, smiling at the thought.

He looked happy with her answer. Looking up at the sky, he squeezed his girlfriend’s hand. “How would you like to be married to me, Sunny-ah?”

Her head shot up so fast that she almost hit his jaw. She withdrew her hand from his grasp and stared at him. “Sungmin, what are you saying?” Before he could answer, she went on, “We’re too young. We haven’t even finished high school yet. What will our friends say? What will our parents say? Oppa is definitely not going to agree to this.”

“Are you done?” he asked, merely chuckling.

“Er, I…” She frowned at his reaction. “This isn’t funny. This is serious stuff.”

“I know it’s not funny,” he amended, trying hard not to laugh any more. “I wasn’t proposing.”

“You… weren’t?” she repeated, a blush creeping to her cheeks. He shook his head. “Oh.” She bowed her head down to hide her embarrassment.

Slowly, he reached for her hand. “But it was a question,” he clarified. When she finally met his eyes again, he continued, “I don’t think there’ll ever be another girl I’d ever think of spending my whole life with. I was just wondering if you felt the same way,” he ensued hesitantly.

She giggled, both from embarrassment and from his sweet words. She resumed her previous position and leaned her head on his shoulder, his arm wrapping around her waist once more. He closed his eyes and decided to just enjoy the feeling of her being close to him.

“Being married to you would be nice, Sungmin-ah,” she stated in almost a whisper, squeezing his hand. He hugged her tighter, closer to him, letting her know that he heard her.

~ * ~

“These look great, Fany!” Shindong cheered, munching on one of her cupcakes. Tiffany chuckled and offered him to eat some more.

Everyone was finally gathered together. Tiffany, Sunny and Yuri sat on one table, excitedly chatting with each other, while Yoona and Kibum were discussing some stuff with Donghae, Sungmin and Siwon near the buffet table. Shindong and Hyoyeon were talking to each other, while getting some food. Seohyun and Jessica were making sure that everything was in order, while Taeyeon helped them out.

“This was really nice, Jessica,” Taeyeon wistfully remarked, watching everyone socialize with one another. It was really quite a sight.

“It is nice,” Seohyun agreed, smiling.

“If only we were complete,” Jessica commented, sighing a little. She turned to Taeyeon. “Didn’t Eunhyuk say whether he was coming or not? I sent him like five emails.”

Taeyeon shook her head. “We really haven’t been talking much. I think… you should ask Hyoyeon.” She grinned and shot a look towards the said girl, chuckling a little.

“What do you mean?” Jessica asked.

“How do you know about that?” Seohyun blurted out at the same time, a shocked look on her face.

“Despite the drama in my life, I have not failed to notice that they have been talking a lot,” Taeyeon knowingly shared, smiling.

“And you’re okay with this?” Seohyun asked, feeling a bit baffled. She knew that Taeyeon didn’t have feelings for Eunhyuk, but she still felt surprised at how cool she was taking everything.

“Why wouldn’t I be okay with it?” Taeyeon commented with a light shrug and a warm smile.

After a while, the dinner started and everyone pushed the tables together so that everyone would have the chance to interact with each other. Tiffany and Siwon was ever the sweet couple with Tiffany putting a lot of food on Siwon’s plate, while Siwon just accepted and ate everything. Sunny and Sungmin seemed much more subdued than usual, only giving each other secret smiles and glances. Meanwhile, there seemed to be a different sweetness to Donghae’s and Jessica’s actions towards each other, ones that didn’t go unnoticed.

“Are you two finally together?” Yoona loudly questioned, piquing the interest of everyone. Kibum chuckled at his girlfriend’s directness.

“Yah!” Jessica chided with a smile, a blush forming on her cheeks. Donghae merely smiled, but seemed to feel a bit shy at the question.

“Finally!” nearly everyone chorused. Everyone had the feeling that the two were merely dancing around the issue, both afraid that they were just imagining the developments between them. It was a relief to know that they’d finally seen what was right in front of them all along.

“You guys should have a life,” Jessica pronounced, rolling her eyes at them. She turned to smile at Donghae, who reached for her hand under the table and gave it a squeeze.

Everyone had gotten back to the comfortable conversations with the people near them when suddenly Sunny, who was facing the veranda doors, squealed like a little girl who had seen Santa Claus for the first time.

“Eunhyukkie!!!” Sunny screamed, standing up from her seat, almost knocking it over and running over to the mentioned male. The rest scrambled to turned around to see for themselves.

Sure enough, Eunhyuk was back. He put his suitcase down to accommodate Sunny in his arms. He chuckled as she squeezed him tight, her eyes shut. When they pulled away, everyone had stood up to greet him, shaking his hand and hugging him.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were coming,” Jessica told him, slapping his arm as a form of greeting. “I emailed you dozens of times.”

“Sorry,” Eunhyuk apologized. “I couldn’t get to a computer most of the time.” 

“Good to have you back,” Yuri told him, giving him a quick hug.

“It’s good to be back,” Eunhyuk agreed. He turned to smile at Yunho, who offered to shake his hand.

“I haven’t had the chance to thank you for what you did those months ago,” Yunho appreciatively stated. “If it wasn’t for you…”

“I had nothing to do with it,” Eunhyuk responded, shaking his head. He looked around. “Where’s Taeyeon?” he asked.

At that moment, Taeyeon came out from the house, from the washroom. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Eunhyuk standing there. A big smile formed on both their faces as soon as they met each other’s eyes.

“You’re here,” Taeyeon greeted him with a tight hug. “You’re back.”

“I’m here,” Eunhyuk confirmed, closing his eyes for a second as he wrapped his arms around her. “I’m back.” He pulled away and looked at her. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

Taeyeon grinned happily and pulled him into another hug. The rest watched fondly, all relieved that things were finally good between them. When Taeyeon pulled away, she was about to launch in a series of stories to catch up but Eunhyuk stopped her.

“You didn’t keep your promise,” he claimed, quirking an eyebrow at her.

She looked confused. “What promise?”

“Are you ever going to talk to Kyuhyun?” he directly inquired.

“I…” she mumbled. The truth of the matter was that she hadn’t seen him in a while. She wanted to talk to him when they did finally see each other, but, somehow, they just never crossed paths.

He shook his head. “Could you get something in the car for me?” he asked.

“What? Get something in the car for you?” she repeated, confused at the change of topic.

“Yes.” He nodded and pushed her towards the door.

Taeyeon looked at him in confusion, but followed his orders.

“You’ve only been back for a couple of minutes, yet you’re already ordering her around, just like a best friend should,” Hyoyeon observed teasingly, suddenly at his side.

Eunhyuk’s smile brightened when he saw her. “Who else would knock some sense into her?” he chuckled.

“Who else indeed?” she agreed, nodding and smiling widely.

~ * ~

Taeyeon had already walked out of the house and had already gone down the steps towards the garage when she remembered that Eunhyuk had gone straight there from the airport. This meant that he didn’t have his car with him. She made a face and rolled her eyes, grumbling at the thought that he hadn’t been back for an hour and yet he was teasing her already. She was about to get back in the house when a voice stopped her.

“Hi Taeyeon.”

She gripped the doorknob and slowly turned around. She would recognize that voice even in another lifetime. As her back faced the door, she saw Kyuhyun standing there, looking as handsome as ever with a smile that she remembered him giving her the first time they met, shy yet with a certain confidence. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest as she wondered what she could say to him.

“What are you doing here?” was the first thing that came to mind and so that was what she said.

Kyuhyun smiled. “I’ve been told that there was a party,” he simply answered. “Can we talk?” he pressed before she could say anything else.

They sat down on the front steps of the house. For a while, they were merely enveloped in silence. Taeyeon kept looking up at the stars, while Kyuhyun stared at the ground.

“How have you been?” Taeyeon asked, breaking the silence and surprising Kyuhyun.

“I’ve been…” Kyuhyun trailed away. He took a deep breath. “I’m just going to say this.” He turned in his seat so that he was facing her. “Taeyeon, I know I hurt you—.”

“Kyuhyun,” she began.

“No, let me finish,” he interrupted, shaking his head. “I need to tell you this.” He gazed at her. “I know I hurt you with all the lies. I lied about who I am. I lied about my friendships with people, about my past. I want to tell you that I am sorry about all of those things. I never ever intended to make you cry.”

“I know that,” she quietly stated.

“I am sorry,” he earnestly apologized. “I’ve probably ruined your outlook on relationships and I feel terrible about that, but I hope that someday you would find a person who could make you happy the way I was never able to.”

“What are you talking about?” she asked, puzzled.

“So much has happened and I know things would never be the same,” he continued. “I just want you to be happy.”

“Are you telling me that you’ve moved on?” she slowly clarified, watching his reaction carefully. He hesitated and didn’t answer. “I see,” she said, nodding in understanding. “Well I have something I want to say.”

“What?” he curiously asked. He hadn’t really expected her to say anything. He knew how she felt about him and about everything. Nothing much had to be said.

“I love you,” Taeyeon confessed.

“What are you—?” Kyuhyun began, but she shook her head at him to make him stop.

“I love you,” she repeated. “I don’t think I stopped loving you, even when it felt like my heart was breaking into pieces.” She paused for a moment to take a deep breath. Tears were starting to form in her eyes. This wasn’t how she expected things to go. She didn’t expect that he would’ve moved on. It was selfish of her to have ever thought that maybe he would wait for her. “I’m sorry we’re only talking now and that I hadn’t had the courage to tell you this before, but I want you to know that I forgive you about everything and that I do love you. I understand things better now. It was stupid of me to not have listened to you before.” She smiled, teardrops falling on her cheeks. “But this is the end for us. Maybe in another lifetime.”

It took for a couple of seconds for Kyuhyun to process everything that Taeyeon said. Somehow, he couldn’t quite comprehend the fact that after everything that had happened, after everything that he’d done, after the mess that he had created, she still loved him. It astonished him that she had grown to love him at all. There was no doubt about how he felt for her. He knew right from the beginning that she was that one person for him, the one he would willingly change for, the person he would move mountains for. He knew that it was now up to him, like it should’ve been right from the beginning, to fix things. She’d said her piece. He had to make the decision. Could he really wait for another lifetime for her?

He hurriedly got off from his sitting position and stopped her from going through the front door and into the house. She turned around to face him, eyes still watery. He stopped just then, realizing that he didn’t know what he wanted to say. He could tell that he loved her and that he wanted to kiss her, but would that be enough?

“Kyuhyun?” she asked, watching him curiously. He suddenly grabbed her hand and shook it. “What are you doing?”

“I’m Cho Kyuhyun,” he uttered, still holding her hand. She opened to say something, but he went on, cutting her off. “I’m 18 and a junior in your school. People say that I’m a genius, which I don’t believe, but it’s probably why I’m one of the top students in our year.” twitched at this statement. He went on, “My favorite color is blue—I don’t really know why. It just has always been blue. I hang out with the kingkas and queenkas. Jessica is one of my closest friends. I used to date Sooyoung, the “queen bee”, among many other girls. But I’ve changed and haven’t dated in a while.”

“You haven’t?” she couldn’t help but blurted out, somehow wanting to remind him of herself.

He shook his head. “Not since I fell in love,” he answered earnestly. Her cheeks turned pink. He changed the subject. “I like watching dramas, sometimes playing games, when I’m not studying or hanging out with friends. I’m right-handed. I snore when I sleep. I laugh like a little kid and act childishly sometimes—friends say, most of the time. I enjoy listening to ballads, but I don’t sing. I can’t sing to save my life. I don’t do dancing either.” He paused to take a breath. “There are many other things I would like to say about me, but… I’d really like to learn more about you instead. Do you think you’d want to be friends with me?”

She didn’t say anything for a while. “Do you always introduce yourself like this?” was her curious question. She glanced down at her hand still being held by his.

“Sorry,” he murmured, dropping her hand. After a couple of seconds of silence, he pressed, “So what do you think?”

She pursed her lips as she thought about what she was going to say. It didn’t make any sense in prolonging her agony, their agonies. “I have a question.” She looked at him. “Can people who’ve just met… kiss?”

He cleared his throat after a being stunned with her question. “Well, uh, that can be arranged,” he responded confidently. He slowly pulled her closer to him, cold hand clutching onto cold hand, both happily nervous. 

As he leaned his forehead on hers, she closed her eyes. “I don’t want to not know you then relearn things about you,” Taeyeon quietly stated. “I know who you are. I don’t have doubts anymore.” She had never felt so sure about anything before. She left everything that she was unsure of in the past. Knowing that she wasn’t hurting anyone, she was sure that this was what she wanted. She wasn’t stuck in the middle of the past and the present. She wasn’t stuck in choosing her mind or her heart. She wasn’t stuck in the middle of her best friend and the one she loved. She wasn’t caught in between anything anymore.

“I love you, Kim Taeyeon,” Kyuhyun softly but clearly declared. “I love you.” He then gathered her in his arms, agreeing to her request, and kissed her.

End.