Jongin not being much of a talker, just hummed in response, his fingers lazily flitting through Kyungsoo’s thick soft hair.

“Tell me about your first love.” Kyungsoo demanded seriously, his eyebrows furrowing as he awaited an answer.

“I’ll tell you about mine if you want to know. You’re it. Baekhyun hyung never let me date due to all the hospital visits and stuff, and him being overdramatic and overprotective in general.

I want to know yours, Jonginnie. Tell me” He cutely whined.

Jongin sighed, his fingers momentarily pausing their movement as he thought about it. His first love.

“It’s not a happy story, Kyungie. Actually, it’s not a story at all. It never really begun in the 1st place.”

Jongin then told Kyungsoo about it. It was two years ago, and he had just transferred from the Daegu hospital to the new Seoul one.

He had already established his reputation of being apathetic and blunt, when a patient arrived for a consultation.

He was attractive and tall, with an extremely stoic expression on his face. His already pale skin had a kind of pallor to it and Jongin could tell he was a sick man from his appearance.

“My name’s Oh Sehun. I was asked to get a referral from you.” He spoke coldly, as if wanting to show how much he didn’t particularly care about his illness.

Jongin asked Sehun about how long his problems had been there and if he had been exposed to something new in his environment recently.

He was not used to patients be so distant with him and it irritated him to know that he seemed to care more about his patient than the patient did for himself.

“It’s been a week or two, doctor. I’m a kindergarten teacher, so it’s safe to say I’m exposed to pretty much all types of things.” He said, rolling his eyes- a fond smile tracing his lips as he thought about his kids back at school.

“It’s because of the kids that I’m taking this really seriously. I don’t want to make any of them ill because of what I have.”

Jongin could finally see a bit of the real Oh Sehun shining through the seemingly cold façade he put on and he liked the man’s frank genuineness.

As a couple of days went by, Sehun was admitted into the hospital due to his failing health and raging fever.

As Jongin studied his patient more as time passed by, realising that Sehun’s doctors had misdiagnosed his bronchial pneumonia for something far more tragic and he felt beyond irritated knowing that his patient’s health could have been improved much earlier rather than him suffering in the state he was now.

 They had started treatment right away once they realised their faults and Jongin came to visit Sehun every single day throughout his stay at the hospital, offering his company and time whenever he could.

He started to appreciate little things about the man. His glaring honesty and bluntness of opinion was similar to Jongin’s own, his smile and sarcastic humour made him even dearer to Jongin.

As he saw Sehun crinkle up his eyes as Jongin cracked a particularly lame joke, his heart started to beat faster. He had to admit it to himself; he was deeply infatuated with the man named Oh Sehun.

They hung around Sehun’s room, just talking about their lives and themselves.

They sometimes even took long walks in the hospital garden- holding hands and exchanging whispered words, touches lingering longer than they should.

The attraction was mutual for both of them and had the potential to be so much more, but Jongin remained stubborn to the idea of patient doctor relations, and kept trying to push his feelings as further back as he could.

Sehun was getting much better in the next couple of days and was to be released from the hospital soon.

 He would be lying if he said he wanted nothing more from Jongin, they both shared a level of intimacy that was far beyond than that of a physical one. But he knew Jongin would be Jongin and avoid his feelings as much as he could.

By the time Sehun packed up his things and left, Jongin still remained stubborn to his way of thinking.

And just like that, they were over before they even begun.

Kyungsoo furrowed his eyebrows and smacked Jongin on the nose as he heard the story, the man albeit very cute, was a complete idiot.

“You do realise you are an idiot, right?” He said out loud.

Jongin just sighed loudly and kissed the nape of Kyungsoo’s neck, inhaling the familiar smell of vanilla bean and something floral.

“I wouldn’t have met you otherwise, Baby Soo. So believe it or not, I’m glad things turned out the way they did.”

Kyungsoo smiled beatifically up at the man who captured his heart, bringing his face up for a kiss.

“You’re right. Everything will be perfect.” he said, kissing him full on the lips, eyes sparkling.

They spent Christmas day with Chanyeol and Baekhyun, and it was quite different from how it usually went when Jongin spent it with his family.

His family who he was currently extremely miffed with, as they called Jongin’s dating Kyungsoo a charity case and waste of time. He couldn’t believe how judgemental they were towards his happiness.

Back at home, everyone would be too busy on their phones to bother celebrating the holiday, but here with these three people, every little Christmassy thing was celebrated with excitement and happiness.

Kyungsoo jumped on his lap with his antler headband, looking extremely cute, cuddling into his shoulder, asking him if he wanted any homemade egg nog.

He shook his head, leaning back a bit more on the sofa so that the younger boy cuddled into him easily, resting on him entirely now.

He loved this feeling of warmth and completeness. He loved Kyungsoo and the beautiful aura the boy possessed.

They had done the whole ‘I-love-you’ thing a while back, into their 4th week of dating.

Kyungsoo said it first; he didn’t want to hold back from getting the whole ‘Kim Jongin package’ as he called their relationship.

“I’m not being selfish, am I? By saying it first?” he implored.

Jongin just took his hand and squeezed it. “No, it’s the perfect moment. I’m in love with you too, Do Kyungsoo.”

And just like that, it was perfect.

They were the type of couple you’d see on hallmark cards.

Kyungsoo would never show any restrain while meeting Jongin in the hospital, proudly proclaiming him as his ‘man’, and after feeling awkward about the PDA for the first 10 minutes, Jongin decided he didn’t care about the judging looks he got.

If he was going to love someone, he was going to show the world how much he loved them. Hospital regulations, be damned.

They hadn’t gone all the way though. Kyungsoo wanted them to wait until the New Year, so that they’d have the picture perfect beginning to 2010.

They had made plans to spend it by the beach, having rented out a little beach house until their birthday