Ryeowook squinted at the cuckoo clock affixed above the coffee bar, the rag in his hand moving absent-mindedly on one of the many table tops scattered over the space. As he moved on to the next table, he peered out of the long stretch of window that gave a view of the street outside. A few office workers from the nearby buildings hurried past, their faces stoic against the nipping wind of late winter. But there was no Kyuhyun.

On nights when it was Ryeowook’s turn to tidy and close the cafe for the day, Kyuhyun would swing by some time after the last customers had trickled out. Most of the times Kyuhyun had just knocked off himself. Despite having spent a usually mind-draining day at the advertising firm which he had set up, Kyuhyun would help Ryeowook with the chores, and when everything was done, they would make their way back, hand in hand, to the apartment they had shared for sixteen months and counting.

At ten p.m. the cuckoo out of the tiny doors to flap its wings and emit three cheerful chirps. Kyuhyun was much later than usual today. 

Just as Ryeowook was starting to worry, the doors of the cafe opened with a tinkle of bells and a howl of wind. 

“Hey,” Kyuhyun approached Ryeowook in big strides to collect him in an embrace. “I’m late. Sorry.”

“I thought something happened to you.” Ryeowook tucked himself under Kyuhyun’s chin where he fitted like a missing puzzle piece. Kyuhyun smelled of winter frost. “You’re chilly. Where’s your coat?”

“Left them in the office. Shh…” Kyuhyun hushed when Ryeowook was about to peel back with a reproach ready on his lips. He drew Ryeowook deeper, their torsos flat against each other. “I didn’t know how cold I was until I realise how warm you are. Let me hug you for a moment. You’re nicely warm.”

“You’re needy today.”

Kyuhyun laughed as if Ryeowook had just pointed out something obvious. “I’m needy when it comes to you.”

For the next few minutes, they stood in the center of the cafe, surrounded by the lingering smell of toasts and roasted coffee beans. The warmth of Ryeowook’s body brought Kyuhyun back to an equilibrium. Ryeowook felt Kyuhyun’s cheeks, pulling away when the skin under his fingertips became warmer.

“I’m still cold,” Kyuhyun grumbled.

Ryeowook fought the urge to fall back into Kyuhyun’s arms. Every time they hugged, he had this impossible wish that time would freeze and just let them be. 

“Let me finish sweeping the floor so we can go. It’s getting late.” 

As he was tying up the loose ends of his chores, Ryeowook sensed that something was not quite right. It took him a few moments to realise that the air was vacant of Kyuhyun’s usual recount of his day at work. Kyuhyun had instead retreated to a chair next to the window, his chin on the heel of his palm and his eyes fixed at someplace faraway. His right hand twiddled with something in the pocket of his pants.

“What’s on your mind?” Ryeowook asked as he knotted the neck of a bulky trash bag.

Kyuhyun twitched, then shook his head noncommittally, snapping out of whatever thoughts that were keeping him occupied. He rose to claim the trash bag from Ryeowook. “Let me,” and he was out of the door with another jingle of the bells before Ryeowook could further ask.

With a shrug of the shoulders, Ryeowook attributed Kyuhyun’s mysterious detachment to a demanding day at work. He moved from corner to corner where the light switches were to flip them off. The bells tied to the door handle sang again when he was about to click the set of switches behind the coffee bar.

“We can go soon,” Ryeowook piped from where he was. As soon as his last note fell, a hand curled on his elbow to turn him gently around and he found himself in a cradle formed by the bar on one side, and Kyuhyun on the other.

“Kyu?” 

Kyuhyun was so close that Ryeowook had to press his back against the ridged lip of the bar in order to look at him properly. The dim orange spotlights above the bar were the only lights illuminating in otherwise dark room. They orchestrated a mime of shadows across the regal landscape of Kyuhyun’s face, and Ryeowook’s breath hitched just a tiny bit at how handsome Kyuhyun was.

“Kyu?” Ryeowook nudged Kyuhyun’s arm, and when Kyuhyun didn’t respond, he added, “You’re weird today.”

Kyuhyun blinked and then shook his head.

“That’s the second assumption you’d made of me today. And guess what?” A slow, helpless smile spread across Kyuhyun’s face. “You’re right. I wasn’t myself the whole day. Yet, ironically, this may be the most important day in my life,” Kyuhyun spoke softly, a slight tremble slipping into his usually confident voice. “Truth is, I forgot my coat because I was too preoccupied thinking about you and tonight. I was cold because even though I arrived more than an hour ago, I loitered at the corner of the street, pacing back and forth, thinking how I should pop the question so that you won’t give me no as an answer. But damn with it because right now, I can’t recall anything that I’ve rehearsed.”

The flurry of words muddled Ryeowook’s head, his mouth slightly agape in confusion.

“I thought bringing you to one of those high-end restaurants with a nice ambience, but you’ve told me once that you feel like you are forced to be someone else when you’re there. And I don’t want to do it in a small eatery where other patrons can witness my dejection in the event that you…” Kyuhyun gulped as though he was forced to swallow something unsavoury, “That you reject me. I thought of doing it in the garden behind our apartment but it’s winter and I don’t want you to remember than you were freezing on the day I propose to you. So here it shall be.”

Ryeowook’s confusion was nullified by the shock that erupted at the back of his head. It stultified his mind, made him flounder for words. “Did- did you… Did you just say…”

Kyuhyun produced a silver ring from his pocket and held it between his thumb and forefinger. “I hope this is the only time I have to ask this. Gosh, I’ve never been this nervous,” he drew in a deep breath, “I want to be with you forever. So, Ryeowookie, will you marry me?”

Forever. The word fluttered like a feather caught in the wind, before it settled for Ryeowook to absorb the full expanse of its meaning.

The pain he had locked away sprung free from its shackles, reminded him how differently he was made from everyone else. Sometimes the pain visited him on nights when he had too much coffee in the day and couldn’t sleep. He would return to being the boy whose birth became the undoing of his family, the little orphan who hobbled around, dragging his left leg like a dead weight and hoping that other kids playing chase would slow down for him. 

So was it real that there could be someone out there who could love him forever when he had trouble loving himself? It was enough that Kyuhyun loved him now, but for Kyuhyun to love him forever, wasn’t that too much to ask for?

Ryeowook broke his eyes from Kyuhyun’s gaze. His hand curled into a loose fist on the leg that was skinnier and oddly curved in a way that decreed that he would never be able to walk without earning the pitiful glances of passersby.

“Kyu, I love you. I swear I do. But…” Are you sure you can spend a lifetime with a cripple? The question was unspoken, but its volume filled the space between them. 

“You know that it has never bothered me.” Kyuhyun’s voice was low and smooth like velvet, as if he was reaching for words from the tenderest part of his soul, grabbing and carefully arranging them into sincere sentences that caressed Ryeowook’s heartstrings. “I fell in love with you because of all the amazing things that you carry around on your inside. Even if you look like someone else, I will still fall for you. That’s an unchanging rule of nature.”

Tiny needles jabbed the back of Ryeowook’s eyes, propelling tears forward. “What did I do to deserve you?”

Kyuhyun’s hand cupped Ryeowook’s jawline, his thumb catching a stray tear that had tripped over the ledge of Ryeowook’s eye. “You’re worthy. Don’t you ever believe otherwise. If it makes you feel better, I’ll break my own leg so I’ll be a perfect match to you.”

“I won’t let you do that.”

“I know. That’s why I didn’t.” Kyuhyun grinned goofily, earning a playful shove on his chest. “I don’t do things that crushes you.”

They shared a short-lived laughter, then fell silent. Their faces were close, the tip of their noses nearly touching. When Ryeowook looked into Kyuhyun’s eyes, he found himself silhouetted in the irises and it was there that he wanted to dwell. In those eyes, he already had a feet over the edge of the cliff, poised in a leap of faith, ready to soar for the man who vowed that he would never let him hit the ground.

Maybe this time it was his turn to have a shot at the kind of happiness that exists without an expiry date.

“I guess I’ll have to ask the question again,” Kyuhyun whispered, his breath ghosting over Ryeowook’s cheeks. Between them, the ring was set aflame by the orange glow raining from the lights above. Kyuhyun smiled when Ryeowook nodded. 

“I’ll ask as many times as you want, as long as you say yes. Ryeowook, will you marry me?”

TBC

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A/N: So I'm back for a short while to share a little story that demands to be written. Enjoy and thanks for reading. :)