I woke up the next day with a very excited state of mind. When Kookie arrived at the kitchen’s doorway, he walked in on me bouncing around, from the kitchen-counter to the table as I dressed the latter a bit nicer than usual. With a noticeable spring in my steps, I turned around the small many-vegetable scented area, wiggling my hips to the song that had decided to take over my thoughts this morning. My skirt floated above my knees as I myself, concentrated on the task at hand. It is only when I finished placing decorations on the kimbap and the eomuk I had cooked that I realised someone was looking at me from the doorway. With his hair -still messy from sleep-, his half-opened dark brown eyes and his cat-ears adorably brushed to the side, he smiled at me.

I made jazz hands in the table’s direction, “Tada!”

I grinned as he sniffed the air and his lips, “Is that eomuk I’m smelling?”

I nodded at him, “You said you’ve been craving fish ever since you became human so… Here you go.”

Kookie walked up to me, grabbing my hands and kissing them, “Thank you, my love.”

I felt myself melt in front of him, my body burned from head to toe. I did not manage to hold his gaze; my head dropped down to hide what I knew to be the result of my timidity displayed on my cheeks.

“Hey, don’t hide your beautiful face from me.” Kookie slipped his index finger under my chin, forcing my eyes to meet his. He smiled softly at me making my knees weaken. He leaned down and pressed his lips to my forehead, adding more warmth to my already blazing features. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pressed his torso against my chest, enveloping me in his warm touch and making all sorts of frizzy-creatures flap around in my stomach. “Thank you, (Y/N).”

After devouring the entirety of what had been cooked in the morning, Kookie had claimed having a very special surprise for me. And oh boy, what a surprise it was indeed.

“Oh my…”

They actually did it.

A few months ago, Seoul’s Museum of Art had made an official statement in which was announced the landing of Van Gogh’s Starry Night from New York’s Museum of Modern Art. A Youtube account had even been created to follow the painting’s stop-over flight. Watching it had been a guilty pleasure of mine for the past few weeks and I could not believe that it now stood in front of me.

The crowd surrounding the painting was seemingly as excited as I was to get to see this painting in real life and take a few selfies beside the glass-protected piece of art.

“Jungkook!” I called him as he stood a few feet behind me, looking around in amazement at the art around us and rushing from one side of the gallery to the other. He approached rapidly when he heard his name escape my lips and cocked his head to the side in inquiry, “Can you take a picture for me?”

Tall as he was, he had no difficulty reaching the painting with the camera lens and taking a few shots of it. A toothy-grin appeared on my face as I looked at the pictures.

“You’re amazing! You have a real talent for photography!” I looked up at him and he grinned, snaking his arm around my waist and pointing the camera to us.

“Let’s hope I’m as good for selfies!”

We kept strolling around the museum, grabbing the camera from each other’s hands to take pictures or posing in front of sculptures in an overly-dramatic manner. Soon it turned into a competition of who could make the silliest face. To no one’s surprise, I won; cracking dad jokes that would have rivalled with anyone’s wit, making Kookie tear up from laughter.

As soon as we neared the exit, Kookie picked me up bridal style and turned around on himself in a perfect circle. I held on to his shirt for dear life as he walked happily, deaf-toned to my desperate calls for him to put me down.

Afterwards, Kookie made it his mission to carry me all the way to the apartment where we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon. Enveloped in blankets and in each other’s arms, talking about everything and anything.

“Kookie?”

He hummed, my hair with his soft fingers.

“Could we get drinks from that place down the street? I just really love their tea.”

Kookie kissed my forehead, smiling down at me, “Sure, beautiful.”

Ever since he had woken up this morning, Kookie had been showering me with the cutest names and I was inclined to do the same for him.

“Thank you, handsome.” I mused happily, kissing his cheek.

Taking on my little competition, Kookie did come up with very imaginative names like ‘foodie-cutie’ or ‘non-neck-kissable sweetheart’, the latter being the one I was the fondest of.

As we reached the small café, we both realised how late it actually was at the sight of the owner of the place who was closing the blinds of the small windows from which we were to order our drinks. I rushed forwards, calling my closest acquaintance here at the top of my lungs.

“Mr. Kwon! Mr. Kwon please!”

He peeked through the half-closed blinds, narrowing his eyes questioningly at me as I struggled to take my breath back.

“I- we did not realise how late it was…” I articulated between shaky breaths, gesturing towards Kookie who had just arrived beside me and smiled at the man politely, “But we were wondering if you could just spare 10 minutes of your time for us?” I hazarded, “You know how much I need your tea.”

At this, Mr. Kwon laughed and shook his head, promising to be back in a few minutes as he got our drinks ready.

“Phew, that was close.”

I rested my back against the wall of the building, lifting my head up to look at the sky. Its midnight blue was covered in the reflections of the still-busy city’s lights. I shifted my eyes to look at the moon which proudly displayed its full body; staring down at us from space and mirroring the sun’s light into a vibrant white haze.

I only noticed that Kookie was not beside me when the soothing sound of his breath and the fog which resulted of his warm breath grazing the cold air disappeared.

“Jungkook?” I called in the empty street which was only lit up by the café’s sign.

I called his name again, getting more and more scared as he did not answer.

Suddenly he was there again, crushing my spine against his chest as he back-hugged me, “Did you miss me?” He muttered.

I slapped his forearm and turned to face him, “Yah! Don’t do this ever again! Understand?”

Before he could reply, the windows of the café opened a bit wider and two drinks were slipped out of the window frame on a tray.

“Fuming only creates hot air, my dear.” Mr. Kwon smiled at me.

“With this one it’s even more true.” I nodded at Kookie.

The owner insisted that I took the tray to carry the beverages but I told him that two strong arms like Kookie’s could easily do so; though I ended up carrying mine and Kookie his. Mr. Kwon nodded politely at me and we exchanged goodbyes.

As I started walking -or more like jogging- towards Kookie who was already a few feet in front of me, I tripped and spilled my drink on the floor.

At the sound of my posterior colliding with the floor, Kookie turned around and came towards me, “Ah shi-”, I stopped myself from swearing as I shook my head.

With his free arm, Kookie helped me up, bringing me back on my feet effortlessly. I watched his features fill with concern, “It’s my fault I was walking too fast, I’m sorry…”

He kept apologizing and I kept brushing his apologies off, “No I just have two left feet, it’s fine.”

Kookie peered into my eyes for any sign that I was not feeling fine but when he did not find one, he placed his drink in my hands, “Take it, you were the one to crave tea after all.”

Seeing that it was not a choice when Kookie’s grip on my fingers which were holding the beverage tightened, I lifted it up to my lips and drank it. He smiled a toothy-grin and I thanked him. We walked back to the apartment slowly, taking the time to enjoy each other’s presence as we kept on talking.

When we neared the apartment, Kookie intertwined his fingers with mine. His warmth swiftly rose along my arm, creeping up my neck and resting on my cheeks. I sheepishly looked down and hurried to the door, pushing my code in and opening the door. Kookie entered behind me, pushed the door closed with the tip of his foot and spun me around into his chest.

“Please, will you stay with me like this forever, (Y/N)?” Kookie gazed down at me lovingly, his eyes dotted with thousands of star-like sparks.

Maybe too cliché?

“Yes.”