“I don’t mean to be an before our date has even started, Jae, but if we don’t get there in the next 5 minutes there’s a very real chance you won’t survive.” As you cut your eyes to the side you saw Jae’s shoulders shake with mirth as he watched the gps for directions. The two of you had been driving for nearly an hour now. Leaving the city behind you were now whizzing past forests of pine trees and rural farm houses; you were no longer in familiar territory.

“We’re almost there. Less than 5 minutes according to the gps.” His eyes now scanned the horizon for their destination. “Just keep going straight and it should be on the right…”

In the distance there was only more trees. And a cow or two. “What kind of date happens in the woods, an hour from home? This is starting to feel like the beginning of one of those crime solving shows. The good looking boy lures the girl away from home…” when you peered to the passenger seat he was watching you with amusement in his eyes. “Where no one will hear her screams…”

“Listen. Only one of us in this car has brought up or thought of murder today. Twice, even! And it wasn’t me.” His easy smirk warped into a wide smile as your car crested a large hill, revealing a valley bathed in the twinged light of a setting sun and a limitless sea of evergreens. “It’s there! Turn into that road!”

When the car came to a stop you took in your surroundings as Jae climbed out of the car like a kid at an amusement park, tripping over his own feet in the scramble. The evergreens hung low weighed down by the snow that seemed to have sat undisturbed for a very long time. The trees wrapped around the clearing, completely shielding it from the road and anything but the small frozen lake in the distance. There in the center of the clearing was a beautiful log cabin that looked like it was out of a post card. A wrap around porch on both the first and second floors; knobby wood used for the railings. Off the side of the building a cute bench swing sat under a little wooden roof. Stepping out of the car you heard the soft crunch of the snow under your boot as you scanned the clearing for any sign of Jae. Suddenly the cabin before you hummed to life. Warm yellow light spilled from large glass windows and strings of Christmas lights twinkled across the railings, painting the snow with a rainbow of color. Jae jogged from behind the house, hopping down the front step with long strides, to crash into you. He pulled you close to his chest as the two of you took in the beautiful scene.

“Pretty nice, huh?” Tearing your gaze from the house you saw the smirk on his lips.

“This is gorgeous, Jae. How did you find it? Where are we?”

You felt his warm hands lock together on the small of your back before he answered. Light chuckles vibrating in his chest. “Michael’s family owns it. Dude’s rich. Like crazy rich. I think his mom is in the mafia…”

Slapping his chest lightly you immediately pictured the sweet woman who came to visit dressed in a black suit with a small gun hidden in her handbag.

His smile split even wider as he looked at you with wide eyes. “I’m serious! They pay someone to come out here and smooth out the ice on the lake! That’s some mafia money, babe.”

“How can you say that about that sweet old woman?!”

“It’s always the quiet ones. That’s why I have such a loud and boisterous personality. Makes me more trustworthy. Basic social science, really.”

You snorted before stepping out of his embrace, reaching for a hand instead. “Boisterous huh? I think loud would have sufficed.” Ignoring the pout he was sporting you started to walk towards the cabin but a soft jerk had you spinning back into Jae’s arms. Looking up you saw the goofy boy wagging a finger at you and shaking his head.

“Not yet, we still have things to do before it gets dark.”

“Aw, come on Jae! It looks like a Hallmark card!” Your hungry eyes spotted a huge fridge through one of the windows.

His only response was to drag you back towards the car and reach into the backseat, quickly pulling out a set of shoes and dangling them before you. Ice skates.

“Ice skating? Jae, if you wanted me to embarrass myself we could have done that without the shoes with literal blades on the bottom.” He jerked them your way before reaching in and grabbing a set for himself.

—————-

It took 20 minutes for the two of you to finally make it to the lake even though it was a short walk from the cabin. Due entirely to Jae’s fretting about ‘proper winter attire’. Which apparently meant not only warm but fashionable. So when you finally reached what would be the shore, the sky was a tapestry of pinks and orange; a low sun clinging to the horizon.

“Gotta look good for our date~”

“You spent 15 minutes looking for that red beanie.” you grumbled as you sat down to slide the ice skates on.

“Uh yeah. But I look good as hell, now don’t I??”

Snorting as you tried to stand, you quickly realized what a truly flustering evening you were in for when you almost immediately tumbled forward to land in the snow on your hands and knees.

“A true swan, baby. That’s what you are.”

Shooting a glare over your shoulder you were slightly dismayed to see him standing tall and sturdy in his skates. “How are you good at this? With those lanky legs of yours, I assumed you’d be falling all over the place…”

“Excuse you. I am an athlete. Damn near pro at badminton. And they aren’t lanky, they’re long. Like a model.” He reached down to help you stand and did his best to lead the two of you to the ice. When he noticed your hesitance he clambered out on to the ice ahead of you, holding your hand firmly. Turning around he gave you a soft smile and a light tug.

“I’m going to fall.” You watched his feet, frozen to your spot of somewhat stability.

His eyes were soft as he grinned from the ice. “Most definitely. But I’ll catch you. Or try. Probably just fall with you.”

Your eyes cut to his face. “Don’t laugh when I fall.”

“No promises.”

Scowling at the smiling man you took a cautious step onto the ice. Surprising both of you with the successful first step you took another, then another. Soon enough the two of you were at least 5 feet from the edge. Noticing how far out you were a sudden concern made you cling onto Jae’s arm in fear. “Jae, are we supposed to be this far out? What if the ice isn’t thick enough?”

“Don’t worry. I asked Michael and he said that the lake is surprisingly shallow and it freezes thick enough for trucks to drive all the way across.” He peeled your hand off his arm and intertwined your fingers and his own before skating ahead; towing you behind. After a minute you began pumping your legs in time with his and making your own strides. Gaining a bit of confidence you released your death grip on Jae’s hand and managed to skate on your own for a few minutes. Jae watched you from behind, smiling at the way your knees shook slightly. Soon enough, you felt the familiar shift in your balance before your feet starting sliding around wildly and you began sputtering obscenities. Unfortunately for Jae he was skating close by and in proper Y/N style you grabbed at him frantically, ultimately pulling him down to the ice with you. Landing with a crash you ended up on your back, eyes on the puffy clouds drifting above. Jae was sitting with one leg stretched out before him, which he poked at you after catching his breath.

“You had to take me down with you?”

“Course. If we’re together that means you suffer with me.” After a moment of silence you nudged him with your knee. “It also means you have to sit here with me while I catch my breath.”

“That’s fair.” He scooted over to sit closer and watched you without comment for a moment before speaking again. “You know, that fall was very reminiscent of the first time we met.”

Your face scrunched in confusion as you pulled yourself into a sitting position to face him. “That was my dad, dork.”

His eyes twinkled for a second before he nodded slightly. “Poor wording on my part. I meant the first time I saw you. We didn’t meet till later, technically.”

Confused still you just stared at him as he giggled. He leaned forward so that his face was about a foot from yours and watched his mischievous grin grow as he recalled the tumble he had in mind. “I was just standing there, freezing near to death, saving a parking spot for my cousin. Who was pregnant, might I add! I was being a good cousin! A gentleman! And this girl walks out of the doors to the mall.”

Memories swam in your head, realizing a month later that he had been watching you from the moment you’d left the mall. His eyes shined, a playfullness sparkling in those dark irises. “I thought to myself, ‘What a cute girl. Bundling up like that, she must be cold. Wow she looks cool. I hope she sees that patch of ice…’” you felt your cheeks heat up as you realized what he was talking about. A moment of grace that you’d forgotten about completely. “and then that cute girl started to slip and swear like a 45 year old sailor.” Jae had to pause as he couldn’t stop laughing enough to communicate. “And then- and then you looked around for witnesses like some kind of criminal!”

“You saw that?!” your face burned with redness. Jae was cackling in front of you, holding his stomach.

“Imagine my surprise when she comes strutting up to me in a huff and starts calling me names 15 minutes later.” Jae finished, wiping at tears. “Space goggles. Steve Erkel.”

Reaching across to smack at the top of his head you attempted to stand, Jae quickly hopped up to help once he noticed. The two of you glided over to the edge of the lake and switched into the boots you’d worn down here. Jae continued his version of events, sparing no details. Even when you begged.

When you entered the clearing the sun was down; leaving the house and the moon as the only sources of light in sight. The colorful lights could be seen even from the lake.

“Why do they still have the lights up?” You wondered aloud.

“Apparently Michael likes them so his mother keeps them up year long.”

“Michael is babied by his mother? Unsurprising.”

Jae held the door open for you. A grin plastered across his smug face. “I’m not one to brag.” He ignored the snorting sound you made. “But I think I might have found the perfect date spot.”

The inside of the cabin was cozy; with big fluffy couches and a small kitchen off to the side. There were blankets set out on a love seat in the corner. A wooden staircase along the wall led to a second story walkway lined with doors to what you assumed to be the family bedrooms.

“Oh! I forgot our stuff.” Jae grabbed the keys out of your jacket and scurried back to the car. Returning with a large blanket and two pillows, along with a bag of your favorite snacks. “I asked Michael and Krystal what kind of snacks you liked and grabbed a bunch.”

As you started to pick through the bag you suddenly came to a realization concerning the rest of the things in his arms.

“Are we sleeping here?”

There was a quick flash of what looked like panic in his wide eyes. “I mean that was the plan… i-if you don’t want to we can go back to the house. I just thought it would make sense.”

Smirking as you tapped the blanket tucked under his arm you tried not to laugh at the growing blush along his cheeks. “One blanket?”

The redness quickly spread to the tips of his ears as his rambling burst forth again. “I promised you a date off of the couch. There are beds upstairs and Michael said we could use the master bedroom because it’s the only full sized mattress.”

You watched him squirm for a minute before nodding once. “Okay. We’ll use that one. Now let’s put this stuff away. Anything else in the car?”

Jae smiled before setting the bags on the counter; quickly running out to grab a few more things. His guitar, a few movies, and more snacks included. When he returned you grabbed the snacks and followed after him towards the staircase. “Rooms up here. It’s the one right in front of the stairs, according to Michael. We should watch a movie or something while we eat.”

At the top of the stairs you reached an arm around Jae to crack open the door after watching him struggle to juggle the movies and his guitar. “Why did you bring your guitar?”

He tossed the movies onto the large bed before setting the guitar down like it was made of glass. “Uh a little thing called romance, Y/N. Look it up. What kind of dream date doesn’t have a serenade in it?”

“One that’s not cheesy.” you mumbled under your breath.

“Incorrect, sweet lady. A ty one is the proper answer.” He spun around to face you with a huff. “Let’s go put the pizzas in the oven. I’m wasting away.”

“Pizzas? Plural?”

“Yeah. One for me, one for you, and one in case we’re still hungry.” He said as he walked past you towards the hall.

“You say that like it’s the most normal thing…”

—————-

“How much longer?” You could feel the puppy dog pout he was sending your way from his end of the couch. One you fully intended to ignore.

Sliding the phone out of your pocket you noticed the notifications across your screen as you checked the time. “5 minutes.” Tuning out the loud whines you tapped on the message from Michael.

Typing a quick “No promises” reply you turned off the notifications for this conversation and tapped Krystal’s name.

Deciding the best way to handle this one was to simply ignore it you set down your phone just as the timer on the oven went off.

After attempting to keep Jae from grabbing the pizza with his bare hands and insisting he waited for it to cool you managed to get the two of you back upstairs with no injuries.

You were fiddling with the disconnected DVD player when you heard the light strumming of a guitar. When you looked over your shoulder Jae had his eyes closed; face full of over dramatic suave.

“It’s time for the highlight of the evening. A serenade from renowned musician, Jae Park.” With a slow and corny strum of the chords he gave you a bright smile. “Before my hands get all greasy from the pizza.”

You rose from your spot in front of the television and made your way to the bed where he was waiting. “The romance of it all.”

“Hush and let me do my thing before I charge you for it.”

You watched him tweak the tuning keys you realized once again how fond of him you really were. He was a grade A dork but he was also one of the sweetest people you knew. Definitely helped that he was absolutely adorable. Taking a moment to take in the curves and edges in his face you heard him start to sing a familiar song.

Car is parked, bags are packed, but what kind of heart doesn’t look back
At the comfortable glow from the porch, the one I will still call yours?

….

All I have, all I need, she’s the air I would kill to breathe
Holds my love in her hands, still I’m searching for something
Out of breath, I am left hoping someday I’ll breathe again
I’ll breathe again
Open up next to you and my secrets become your truth
And the distance between that was sheltering me comes in full view
Hang my head, break my heart built from all I have torn apart
And my burden to bear is a love I can’t carry anymore
All I have, all I need, she’s the air I would kill to breathe
Holds my love in her hands, still I’m searching for something
Out of breath, I am left hoping someday I’ll breathe again
It hurts to be here
I only wanted to love you
It hurts to be here
What am I gonna do?
All I have, all I need, she’s the air I would kill to breathe
Holds my love in her hands, still I’m searching
Out of breath, I am left hoping someday I’ll breathe again
I’ll breathe again

When the music faded out you heard a sniffle. Jae lifted a sleeve to drag under his eyes. “Jae. Are you…crying?”

He raised his head to glare at you, distinct redness his eyes. “I am a modern man of the 21st century. I am not afraid of my feelings.” He sniffled again, wiping at his eyes once more. “And no I’m not crying. I’m just almost crying. Which doesn’t count.”

You slid across the sheets to hold his face in your hands. Feeling your own eyes prickle when you saw the small pools of tears about to fall. “You’re such a dork. Stop it.”

Jae reached up to catch your hand in both of his. “I’m going to miss you.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m gonna miss you too. Your serenade was really nice though. I loved it.”

He smiled down at your hands, running his thumb along your palm. “Oh so now it’s not corny?”

“It definitely was but it was still nice. Things can be both. Especially when they involve you.” You said with a soft peck to his nose.

“I am a highly complex and interesting person so that makes sense.” He looked at you, lopsided smirk contrasting the red rims around his warm eyes.

Reaching down you slid the plate of pizza towards the edge of the bed and leaned forward to press your lips to that infuriating grin. Why is he always smirking. As if he could read your mind you felt Jae smile into the kiss and you let out a frustrated groan. This kids smart ways were going to get him in trouble one day. The thought brought an idea to mind. You sat up on your knees, never breaking contact with him, and swung a leg over his lap to straddle his hips. The smirk faltered immediately and you peeked at him to see wide eyes staring back. Now it was you smirking under eyes swimming with mischief and lust. His hands slid up your sides to hold your waist.

When you drug your lips over to his jaw he complained in a breathy whine. “You’re some sort of sadist aren’t you? Always using this…kind of stuff to mess with m-me.”

You snickered quietly into the underside of his jaw when he leaned back to give you better access. “It’s just so much fun though~” you leaned to the side to get to the spot behind his ear that you knew would get him but the moment your lips made contact his leg jerked suddenly and you heard a loud clatter behind you. Sitting back to rest on his thighs you turned to see where the commotion came from to see pizza slices scattered across the wooden floor.

“MY PIZZA.”

You swiveled back to see Jae staring at the overturned plate in horror. “Y/N I might actually cry now. Honestly.”

Your head dropped into the hollow of his neck with a sigh as you swung your leg off the bed to patter over to the entertainment center where your plate was sitting. “Here. We can share. There’s still that whole other pizza downstairs.”

“See? I knew it was a good plan to make more than one.”

“Yeah yeah.” you muttered as you laid down near the end of the bed and grabbed for the remote.

“Are we gonna watch a movie now?” you heard a strange twinge in his voice and when you looked at him he was rubbing the back of his neck shyly. “I kind of ruined the mood huh?”

You smiled before tugging his arm so he fell to the mattress beside you. “Yeah I don’t feel like messing around after you only almost cried at the idea of leaving me but would actually cry over a wasted pizza.”

“Pizza is an international delicacy.”

“Besides, I was warned not to ‘taint’ this cabin.” You finished with a snort. Michael’s texts bringing a smile to your face.

“Fair enough. So, what are we watching?”

——–

After two pizza’s and two and a half movies the two of you were getting ready for bed. Jae tossed you a pair of sweats he brought for you to use as pajamas and when you left the bathroom he was already changed into a pair of shorts and a loose tshirt. The two of you got into the bed easily enough, both of you too tired for bashfulness at this point. You grabbed one of his arms and laid your head on his bicep before wrapping one of your own around his waist. You felt a rumble of laughter in his chest. “Just help yourself to my body why don’t you? I’m not a throw pillow.”

“Why? You don’t wanna cuddle? Gotcha I’ll-” Your attempt to untangle yourself from him was interrupted by his arm pulling you closer to him with a huff.

“So sensitive…” he grumbled into your hair.

You laid there for a while. Listening to the sound of his heart, the sounds of his even breaths slowly getting more and more relaxed. You found yourself wishing you could memorize everything about him. Even these things. You looked down at his hand rubbing back and forth on your arm and then up to get a better view of his face. Full lips and soft rounded nose. The realization that after just a few days you’d have to say goodbye hit you for the hundredth time. Overcome with a flurry of emotion you raised a hand to touch the corner of his mouth. When he turned to you you took in the colors of his eyes, the shape, and soon you saw a beautiful mix of emotions spinning there reflecting your own. When he leaned in your eyelids fluttered to a close; you spent the rest of your night memorizing everything you could about this beautiful boy. Michael’s warning falling on deaf ears.

AN: I am so sorry lol I am the worst. Shout out to everyone who was being so sweet about me being a garbage person about updating and loving the story enough to put up with me. Also, the song in this update is Breathe Again by Sara Bareillas. (I changed a few words but it’s such a good song)