You sighed at you put away some cups at the restaurant. You didn't hate the fact that you had to work in order to get through life, but it definitely was hard at work these days. The restaurant was getting more popular and your boss had scheduled you for more shifts. You liked the people you worked with and you usually had nice customers, but the thing you were most sad about was having less time to spend with you boyfriend, Dean. He was busy as it was but now there was less and less time where the two of your free time lined up. He was sweet and understanding but sometimes you felt lonely without seeing him for a long time. 

You glanced at the clock on the wall. Fifteen minutes left of your shift. You sighend in relief and smiled. Soon you would be free. You heard the bell at the door ring and you mustered all your strength for the last fifteen minutes. "Hello and welcome!" you chimed bowing to the customers. You smiled glued to your face as you raised your gaze to see the young couple in front of you. Time seemed to slow as you put a name to the face in front of you. It was your ex-boyfriend Daeyeon and his new girlfriend. You breath caught in your throat and you could feel your smile falter a little bit. 

"Y/N?" Daeyeon said in shock and confusion. "You work here?"

"Oh, Daeyeon," you heard yourself saying. Your mechanical customer service voice was kicking in. "Yeah, I've been working here for about a year now. It's good to see you." You sat them at a table and retreated to get them drinks. You pulled aside one of your coworkers and explained the situation to her. 

She nodded in understanding and told you she'd take over their table after you took out their drinks. You sighed and thanked her. 

You took out the drinks to Daeyeon's table. Placing them in front of them you smiled at his girlfriend. 

"Oh, Y/N," Daeyeon said, "this is my girlfriend JaeHyeon. JaeHyeon, this is my long time friend, Y/N." 

You felt a little sick at Daeyeon's introduction but you forced a smile. "Nice to meet you, JaeHyeon. Daeyeon has told me a lot about you." 

JaeHyeon smiled and chatted with you for a moment. You couldn't deny she was beautiful and sweet. Your heart squeezed a little as your coworker called for you. "Excuse me," you said to them. "Your server will be with you shortly."

"Oh, you're not serving us?" Daeyeon asked in surprise.

"No," you said quietlly. "My shift ends soon, but it was good to see you and it was nice to meet you." 

You retreated too the back room and your coworker hugged you. "Get out of here," she said. "Go home and rest," she encouraged.

You smiled at her weakly and nodded. You made your way to the back room as you changed clothes and grabbed your purse. Without your permission scenes of your and Daeyeon's relationship flashed before your eyes. It hadn't ended well between you two but you had been happy for a while. You would be lying to yourself if you said you didn't miss him a little. You sighed and shook the thoughts out of your mind. It just caused you too much strain to think about it. 

"Oh, Y/N," a coworker of yours called from the door. "Someone is here for you."

You dreaded that it would be Daeyeon calling for you, but to your surprise you emerged from the employee lounge and found Dean waiting for you in the front of the restaurant. You had to hold yourself back from running to him. It had been a week since the two of you had seen each other, but you swore it was forever. As you passed through the dining room you felt a pair of eyes on you. You glanced over and saw Daeyeon looking curiously at you as you reached Dean. 

Dean immediately pulled you into his arms and pressed you too him tightly. He pulled back and held you by the waist looking down into your face smiling. "Hi," he murmured to you. 

"Hi," you replied smiling up at him shyly. Dean lowered his head quickly to softly peck your lips. As his lips touched yours, your mind couldn't keep itself away from Daeyeon. How he was watching, how he had used to kiss you like this. How he now had someone else. How you hadn't been good enough for him. As Dean pulled away and took your hand you couldn't bring yourself to smile back at him. He lead you outside and you glanced over your shoulder. Daeyeon was looking after you and as your eyes met his, there was something behind them you had seen before and would never forget. Jealousy.

Dean looked down at you on the subway ride home. You were quiet and there was a distant look in your eyes. He carressed the back of your hand with his thumb and you seemed to jerk back into the present. He smiled down at you as he gripped your cheek between his thumb and forefinger, tugging lightly at your squishy cheeks. You swatted his hand away and smiled. He felt a little relieved at you smiled, but normally you would laugh out loud at an act like that. You seemed so reserved right now and it worried him.

You pressed the keycode for your apartment and opened the door. Dean followed you closely and flopped down on the couch as you changed clothes. You came out in leggings and a large grapic shirt of Dean's. Dean was sprawled on the couch looking up at his phone. As you came into his line of sight he put his phone on the floor and opened his arms to you. You happily laid down on his chest and let his arms encircle you tightly. You sighed as you listened to his heart beat steadily. The sound calmed you and your eyes closed naturally as Dean rubbed your back slowly, soothingly. 

"Tell me what's wrong," he whispered in your ear. 

You sighed and tried to not let thoughts of Daeyeon invade your mind. You focussed all your mind on the your cheek that was pressed to Dean's chest. You thought about how warm he was, about how soft the flannel he was wearing was, about how the steady rise and fall of his chest was soothing, about how his hearbeat made you feel so close to him, about how safe he made you feel, about how much you loved him, and about how much he cared about you. All of it was almost enough to bring you to tears. Dean didn't deserve a girl who was getting shaken by seeing her ex. He deserved someone who would be unwavering to him unconditionally. You dreaded telling him about what was bothering you. Would he be angry? Would he be disappointed? "What if I don't want to," you breated. 

Dean stopped rubbing your back and held you closer tightly. "Is it that bad?" he asked quietly. 

You shook your head and tried to block out all the fears you had about what Dean might say. "Earlier today," you started shakily, "at the restaurant, Daeyeon came in. He's my ex-boyfriend. He was with his new girlfriend." 

Dean was quiet for a moment. You could almost hear the cogs and gears turning in his head. Suddenly his grip around became even tighter around you and ou gasped in surprise, your breath squeezing out of you. Dean placed a firm kiss to the top of your head. "I'm sorry," he murmured. 

Your breath caught in your throat. Why was he apologizing? You should be the one apologizing. 

"It must have been so hard," Dean continued. "I'm sorry you're still hurting."

You sat up abruptly and looked down at Dean. Tears b in your eyes. "Why are you being so nice?" you accused him. "Why are you apologizing? I should be apologizing!" Your voice shook as your hurt and betrayal mixed with your small amount of anger at Dean for not being angry at you. Your tears began to threaten to spill over. "Be angry at me," you demanded weakly. "Be disappointed for still being hung up on my ex. Tell me I can do better." Your tears finally spilt over and ashamed you brought your hands up to cover your face. You felt Dean sit up and you could sense his face was close to yours. You wiped your tears. 

Dean pried your hands away from your face and took your face between his palms gently. He looked down into your eyes that were made glassy by the tears. "I'm not angry," he said, "because you don't need that." He kissed your forehead slowly. "I'm not disappointed because you still smile at me and I know you love me." He kissed the tip of your nose and just under each eye. "I'm not going to tell you that you can do better," he whispered hovering just above your lips. He pulled back and looked into your eyes until it felt like he was looking into your very soul. "Because you already have." 

Finally he lowered his lips to yours and you prayed time would stop and allow you to live in that moment forever.