[ C H A P T E R   F I F T E E N ]

    “I don’t know what you’re so worried about, to be very honest. You love each other more than any other couples I’ve seen.”

It has been two weeks since Eric asked her, and she still had yet to give him an answer. She has been avoiding this topic with him, and he never really brought it up again ever since that night. Yongsun guessed he didn’t want to make it seems like he was forcing an answer from her, but she wasn’t entirely sure if he was only joking about it or not as well. 

    “To be very honest, if I have a future parents-in-law like yours, I would get married immediately. They even came to your solo debut stage and surprised you with a huge bouquet of flower, not many people would do that.”  

When Yongsun was promoting during her solo debut, she heard from Eric that his parents were coming to Korea to visit their relatives in Jeonju, so when she finished her performance and came backstage to his parents surprising her with a huge bouquet of flower, Yongsun almost cried. They called Eric who was overseas for his schedule during dinner and he feigned being hurt that they never really surprised him like that before, but he laughed and told them to have a nice dinner anyways. The next day, Yongsun got another bouquet of flower delivered to her waiting room from someone you might know. She laughed, because the whole room knew it was clearly from a certain someone in LA who has been complaining non-stop about not being able to personally came and supported her.

She sighed, her thought wandered onto something completely different again. A few days ago, Eric got a message from his ex with a photo attached — it was a paparazzi shot of them on a date the other day, her message short and crisp. Yongsun remembered exactly the moment in the photo, they were leaving one of their favorite restaurants, his hand wrapped around her waist and his other hand gently cupping the other side of her cheek like how he usually would. She wasn’t even sure if she was mad his ex would followed them like that, or mad that a fluttering moment she thought only them would shared had to be shared with someone very unpleasant as well.

If I can’t have you, then I’m going to make sure no one else can either.

Eric was fuming mad, Yongsun had never seen him that way but she held him and told him to ignored her because she was clearly doing this to get a reaction out of him. Yongsun tried to convinced them both that she wouldn’t really go that far, but now she was the one freaking out. What if she would really go that far?

The girls told her to not worry about it too much because it was unlikely that she’d go that far. Yongsun agreed with them on that, she had no idea what was she even trying to get from this — was she trying to get Eric back, or was she just trying to ruin every little piece of happiness they both have? She sighed, her mind has been a mess for a few days now, and she wasn’t even sure if it was her worrying about Eric’s proposal to move in with him, or about his ex who tried to blackmailed them for what, they didn’t even know. 

Yongsun’s phone rang when she was having dinner with the girls, she had no idea who it was from or what the call was about, but something within her tingled like something terrible was happening. She swallowed the food in , a little bit too quickly that she almost choked on them, but she picked up the call anyways. 

It was from their CEO.

His tone wasn’t crisp or furious, he sounded exactly the same as how he would usually speak — come to the company for a little bit, but Yongsun’s stomach made a big flip. Her fingers trembled probably a little bit too much when she rushed to the portal site in her phone, just to check if nothing was really happening. Byul asked her why was she so pale, but Yongsun couldn’t even hear her even though the current breaking news on the site she was checking was about another celebrity. 

Nothing was happening, she tried to convinced herself as she made her way to the CEO’s office. But her heart dropped when she got a text back from Eric that he was being called to his company as well. Maybe something was really about to happen, Yongsun swallowed the lump in . She wrapped her arms around herself as her small body shivered from the non-existing cold air around her. Byul tugged on her hand, and told her they’ll go in with her. 

Yongsun nodded, but she really couldn’t hear anything at all right now. 

Their company never really prohibited them from dating. In fact, dating was actually encouraged so you could have stories to write about in songs, but she felt her heart dropped to the ground when the first question he asked her was if she was in a relationship right now. Yongsun expected him to be very furious, and probably to yell at her, but instead he smiled and mumbled something along the line of I’ve always known you two matched each other well ever since wgm. 

Byul raised her brows at her in surprise, Yongsun only gave her back a quick shrug. 

    “So, a journalist contacted me and sent me this.” He flipped his laptop around so she could see what he was looking at. “Someone sent him a picture of you on a date, and asked him to release it to the publics.”

She felt her hands trembled again, this time in anger and Yongsun felt Byul tightened her grasp on her hand. It was the same picture Eric received that day. She heard Hyejin muttered a little curse under her breath, and her whole body warmed up — it wasn’t the kind of heat radiating from her body whenever Eric was a little too close to her, or was being a tease, but the kind of heat radiating from her body because she was trying her hardest to not cry from anger. 

What does she want so bad from them?

    It was Byul who managed to hold her composure and asked him. “Why is the journalist forwarding it to you instead of directly publishing it to the publics? Isn’t this the kind of contents they’d always be crazy for?”

    “This is always the kind of content journalists are looking for, Byul.” He said, his tone still the same usual tone they were used to hearing, and Yongsun had no idea how he managed to be so calm about all of these. She was trembling in anger. “But, this is also a blackmail content — they know they can also get sued as an accomplice.” 

    He flipped the laptop back to himself, his hands clasped and placed on his desk. “Of course they’re not going to publish this, but we can’t guaranteed that the person behind this won’t personally upload it themselves. There is only one thing we can do — announce your relationship before they do, it won’t be pretty, but it’d be better for fans to hear it personally from you than from someone else’s mouth.”

    “As for whoever is behind this, if you want to take actions, we can do that but if you don’t want to, we can issue a warning so by chances she tried to attempt this for the second time, actions will be taken immediately.” 

Yongsun hadn’t utter a word ever since she walked into the CEO’s office — the entire time, it was the girls who were doing the talking, the girls who had their arms wrapped around her for emotional support. This wasn’t how she expected to announce their relationships, this wasn’t the timing she wanted to announce their relationship at all. 

    “We’ll let you guys announce the news yourself because it’s your private matters, we’ll take care of the medias and the legal stuff for you.” He said, and offered her a reassuring smile. “You found yourself a great man, Yongsun. For someone who is known to be very kind and very forgiving among the celebrities in this industry, he didn’t even hesitate to choose the first option for your sake. I’m happy for you.” 

The girls were a lot more surprised than she was to hear that Eric would choose the first option, he never really came across as someone who could get this mad at someone to them, but Yongsun guessed that was because they had never seen how mad he was when he received the message for the first time.

When she met Eric again in his car, they were both especially quiet. Music was playing softly in the background, just for the sake of calming themselves down a little bit. Yongsun stole a glance at him, he looked mad, way too mad that she could have sworn she had never seen him that way, his knuckles turned white from grasping onto the steering wheel too tightly — but, he held it all in because that was how he had always been. He’d always tried to bottle it all up, until he reached a point where he couldn’t hold it in anymore and held onto her for support because it was all too much for him to take in. And, every time that happened, her heart broke but she held him back as tightly as she could because that was all she could do for him. 

She took one of his hand, holding it tightly in her own. When he turned to take a quick look at her, she gave him the most reassuring smile she could offered — they will get through this together. Eric asked her how does she want to announce their relationship, and as much as she doesn’t really want to yet, maybe this was all for the better as well. Yongsun contemplated writing a letter, but she didn’t want to make it sounds like it was a crime to be in love, so she decided that maybe she could finally upload one of the videos they filmed together and just left it there on her channel for the whole world to see. 

Their fans will hate it, or they will like it. She doesn’t know, but at this point, she doesn’t know if she even cares anymore — do whatever they want, she’s exhausted. All she wants to do is to be in love, peacefully and quietly. 

She listened as the Korean version of his song Runaway played in the background, the song has always put her in a good mood. She remembered Eric admitting later on to her that he wrote this song while thinking of her, and even though she already knew about it, she playfully punched his arm out of embarrassment. 

When he stopped his car at his apartment, engine still on, and they were just sitting there taking comfort in each other’s presence just for a little bit longer, she asked what she thought might sounded a little crazy even to herself.

Let’s go on a little getaway to somewhere far far away, somewhere no one can find us and we can just live and love like it’s only the two of us, at least for a short moment.

It was a crazy suggestion, she wasn’t entirely herself the whole evening, and it was something just hanging at the edge of her last consciousness, but he took up on her offer and decided that tomorrow doesn’t really sound too bad of an idea. Where to exactly, she doesn’t know yet, but the farther the better — somewhere they can’t see or hear people having too much opinions on them dating when it’s actually their lives, somewhere no one can tried to take away the last piece of happiness they’re both holding. 

The thought of getting to go on a little escape might have put her in a better mood than earlier that she almost forgot that she had their couple’s questions and answers video uploaded with a little message in the description box a few hours ago. Eric was fast asleep first, he still wasn’t looking the brightest like he usually would, but she understood because this was getting to him more than she thought. 

Climbing into his bed, she snuggled into his arms quietly. His eyes fluttered open as the bed shifted, and hers were the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes. He quietly reached his hand out to hold her waist and pulled her closer to him, his face nuzzled into hers and he closed his eyes again. 

    “I’m sorry.” 

His voice came in a small whisper, and it broke her heart at how fragile he sounded.

    “What are you apologizing for? It’s not your fault.” 

    “I don’t know.” His voice broke, he paused so he could still held onto himself. “I just want you happy, I want to give you the world, and make you the happiest, but all of these keep on happening because of me and I feel absolutely useless because there was nothing I could do. I’d do anything to give you the whole world, Yong.”

    “I don’t want the whole world.” She mumbles, her own voice on the verge of breaking down as well but she tried her hardest not to. “If it means you’re going to be unhappy to give me the whole world, then I don’t want it. I want to do this together with you, I want to be happy together with you.” 

His eyes searched hers amidst the dark surrounding of his room, his hands tightly wrapped around her waist and her hand gently traced along his cheek. His quiet voice broke the silence in the air, short and genuine, that it took her by surprise again. 

    “Marry me?” 

She stayed quiet, her fingers still caressing his cheek and he was looking into her eyes. This time though, Yongsun knew he wasn’t joking the last time he asked her, he meant it, and this time she knew that he really meant every single word of it. 

    “Why me?” 

    “Because I want my forever to be with you, I want to grow old with you.” 

If she was half-asleep, Yongsun would have thought she was still dreaming. He wanted a life together with her in the future, and Yongsun had no intention to reject that at all. She loves him, a little bit too much every single day that it was impossible for her to imagine her life without him again one day. 

    In a soft whisper, she finally gives him the answer she has been taking a little too long to decide. “I’ll marry you.” 

He smiles, the corners of his lips curved into the beautiful smile she loves on him, and he embraces her tightly. Yongsun smiles into the crook of his neck, the world can throw anything at them now, but she knows now she will not be alone through all of it. 

    “Let’s get married tomorrow.” 

Her sudden suggestion might have startled him completely awake, and he broke the hug to stare at her confusedly. Yongsun giggled, this might sounded a little crazy to him and she wasn’t sure if he was going to agree to that, but maybe she would give it a try. 

Wheein’s idea didn’t sound too bad to her. 

    “We can always host a wedding ceremony later, when we’re both really there in our goals, but for now I’m happy even with just registering our marriage. No one really needs to know, and we don’t really owe anyone an explanation — we need to tell our families, of course, but at this point, I have a feeling they won’t even care as long as we get married.” 

He laughed, and nuzzled into the crook of her neck as he planted soft ticklish kisses along her neck. Yongsun broke into a giggle fit, one that is too loud and filled with all the happiness inside of her and just like that, all the bad things were forgotten. Just like that, this made up for all the bad things they were having like it never existed in the first place. 

Or maybe they can get married after their little getaway because they still have so much to pack for their trips tomorrow, Yongsun didn’t really care anymore, she can get married anytime now — she doesn’t even mind getting married right now if the Civil Registration Office is still open, she’s pretty much already on cloud nine just at the thought of getting married.

When they were both about to fall asleep, she said something that made Eric laughed so hard, she was so sure they weren’t really going to sleep tonight. 

    “To be very honest, that proposal was a little bit disappointing compared to the one you did in wgm.”

OMFGGGGGGGG GUYS YONGSUN WON FIRST PLACE TODAY, IM SO HAPPY FOR HER SHE DESERVES ALL THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD AND SHE HAS WORKED SO HARD ALL THESE YEARS SHE DESERVED THIS IM SORRY IM JUST SO HAPPY FOR HER I WAN TO CRY AHHHHH ;-------------------;