Joy stared blankly out the window of Sungjae’s car watching the city pass by as Sungjae started to drive toward her dorm after their latest date. It had been almost a month since Sungjae's talk with Irene and Wendy. They still met up weekly still but neither spoke of that night. However, since then Sungjae’s earnest words from that nigh continued to replay in Joy’s head. It made her realized he was very self-assured in his feelings for her and how he wanted to act upon those feelings.

Contining to reflect on the past two months she knew Sungjae was refraining from pushing their relationship further. Every week they would go on a simple date then eventually the tension would grow between them. Sungjae would quickly dissipate it with a silly joke or change the subject completely but it still left her flustered.  His patience was almost unnerving but it showed her how much he wanted her to be as comfortable as possible. While she appreciated his efforts a part of her was getting anxious. It had been two months since they started but she felt they were moving at a snails pace. Letting out a frustrated sigh Joy decided it was time they talk about their progress.

The drive so far was fairly quiet and both would typically soak in each other’s presence. Hearing Joy’s sigh Sungjae quickly glanced at her and tentatively asked, “Something bothering you?”

After closing her eyes to take a deep breath Joy answered,“I think we need to talk.” Joy knew it sounded suspicious to only tell Sungjae they should talk. However, she needed time to collect her thoughts so she could articulate clearly what was on her mind.  She couldn’t understand why she was so nervous all of a sudden.

Sungjae gripped his steering wheel tighter hearing Joy’s request. He knew her desire to talk didn’t automatically mean she wanted to break up but it still made Sungjae nervous. In order to keep his cool Sungjae cleared his throat before answering. “Um Okay.  It’s getting late. Where did you want to talk?”

Joy’s mind went blank. She couldn’t think of a private place where they could talk. Before she could say anything Sungjae read her mind and he offered, “There’s my place…if you’re comfortable. He saw Joy’s body tense up from his suggestion, which caused him to softly add,  “If it’s too—“

“No…I think that’s fine.” Joy recovered quickly in an attempt to cover up her apprehension. Although his offer caught her off guard she couldn’t deny his apartment would guarantee the privacy they needed for them to speak freely. Joy knew she could stay a little bit longer with tomorrow being her day off.   Looking back at Sungjae earnestly she nodded to assure him. He nodded back in return and started to turn the car in the direction toward his apartment. The rest of drive was filled with tension and silence. After arriving at his apartment Sungjae led Joy toward the elevator.

Joy could feel the tension and nervousness emanating from Sungjae as the elevator made it to his floor. In an attempt to calm him down Joy tried to hold his hand however the elevator dinged open and he quickly stepped out. Disappointed Joy merely followed him toward his door. Sungjae made quick work of unlocking his apartment and ushered Joy in.. It was a rather large apartment surprising Joy. She saw his kitchen had clean white counters and brown cabinets with a few stainless steel appliances throughout. As she continued to walk deeper into the apartment she  passed an equally simply dining area. Across from it was what Joy figured was his living area. Against the wall was a gray sofa and warm brown accent furniture that all faced a large TV. Joy marveled at how the apartment exuded Sungjae’s presence everywhere. Everything was simple but sophicated mirroring Sungjae’s taste. As she continued to take everything in Sungjae caught up with Joy to offer her a brand new pair of house slippers.

Finally breaking the silence Sungjae said, “I don’t usually have guests so I hope you don’t mind that these may a little big for you,” 

Joy turned in somewhat surprise to Sungjae to accept the slippers. “Thank you,” she simply replied with a small smile.

Sungjae felt relieved seeing her smile. She was so quiet this entire time he could only assume whatever she wanted to talk about was bad news for them. Her smile gave him a glimmer of hope. He motioned for her to take a seat on the sofa while he sat in the brown armchair adjacent to it.

He couldn’t take it anymore. If she had something to say he wanted to hear it sooner than later. “So…you’re killing me here with the silence. It’s very unlike you. What’s going through your mind Sooyoung,” Sungjae asked nervously as ran his fingers through his hair.

With a sigh and Joy nervously nodded trying to muster her courage. Returning his stare Joy looked him in the eye and finally replied, “There last two months have been great. I enjoy every moment I am with you as I imagined I would.” Joy watched Sungjae nod in response. She could tell he was still tense and waited for her to continue.

“But it has been two months and a part of me feels like you’re holding back. As much as I appreciate you being so considerate of me I also think it prevents us from going forward. I know now I want to be with you too. Our lack of progress makes me wonder if I am in love with you, Yook Sungjae; or if I am in love with the feeling of being in love with the person you were from 5 years ago. I can tell you you’re not that exact Sungjae anymore, you’ve grown. But there’s something holding you back from being completely the person who are now. I want to know who are now.”

Sungjae was shocked to hear Joy felt that way about their relationship. He figured she was still hesitant therefore he didn’t want to pressure her into anything. He opened his mouth to reply but Joy continued to talk.  “I heard you that night when you dropped me off in my dorm. I woke up after hearing your voice. I knew you were holding back then but I thought after your talk with my Unnies things would change. I wanted to hear you say those things to me. So I waited patiently hoping you would be comfortable enough to be truly you. But you kept restraining yourself. There would be times when I think we were going to take a step forward but you—“

Joy stopped abruptly when she saw Sungjae leave his chair to kneel in front of her. He stared at her with an intense look she could not decipher. His close proximity made Joy clam up in anticipation. He raised his hand to cup her face before he leaned to capture her lips. Joy’s eyes fluttered shut in response as she felt Sungjae deepen the kiss. Joy in response wrapped her arms around Sungjae’s shoulders. Both continued to kiss before separating for air. Sungjae leaned his forehead against Joy with his eyes shut while still holding on the cheek.

“I’ve wanted to that since our first date,” he gasped out while trying to regain his breath. He chuckled and leaned back before cupping her face with both hands. He propped himself up to kiss her forehead and continued to scatter soft butterfly kisses on Joy’s face.

Joy smiled in response with a small tear escaping her eye. Sungjae chuckled again as he kissed her tear away. “Why are you crying?”

Joy opened her eyes to look at Sungjae and smiled nervously. “I don’t know. I think I am just happy you let go. I feel like you are being you 100%. Unabashed.” Joy was caught off guard by his kiss but happy he did it. It was like all the tension they’ve built up over the past two months disappeared.

Shaking his head smiling he rose to join her on the sofa. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to kiss atop her forehead. She snuggled into his side content. “You know you did most of the talking…it was more of a confession than a conversation,” Sungjae joked.

“I just needed to get that off my chest. I didn’t want you to hold back anymore,” she simply replied.

Sungjae thumbed her shoulder while she spoke. “Ahh typical Sooyoung speaking her mind. If I had known you felt this way I would have showed you more of my feelings earlier. Maybe not as aggressively as just now…but you know gradually. I didn’t want to scare you away.  I promise from now on I show you all of me. I have nothing to hide from you..”

“Neither do I. I promise to dwell too long. I want to show you all of me too,” said Joy. Sungjae sounded completely relaxed, something that made Joy happy.

After a moment of being completely content Sungjae asked, “So you said that you heard me talk to your Unnies the night I dropped you off in your dorm room. What did I say that convinced you wanted to really try to be together?” 

Joy reached for Sungjae’s other hand to play with as she thought about how to respond. “It was when you said that every step you took since our last day filming was deliberate. You sounded so determined and serious in that moment. I was shocked to hear you felt so deeply about me. I was ecstatic but I wanted to see those feelings in person.”

Hearing Joy’s response made Sungjae smile anxiously. It made his heart soar and made him want to kiss her silly again. Remembering her words Sungjae threw caution to the wind and leaned over to kiss her softly again. Sungjae the bottom of her lip asking for entrance into . Joy slightly opened her lips to allow his warm tongue enter . He continued to explore the warm cavern of . Joy shyly ran her tongue against Sungjae’s causing him to smile. He broke away ending their kiss. “I might need to stop for now.”

Joy smiled shyly as Sungjae leaned back on his side of couch. She leaned into his side as she did earlier and a comfortable silence engulfed the room. After some time Sungjae spoke up, “Hey I should get you back to your dorm.” However he realized Joy had fallen asleep against him. Alright 5 more minutes before I wake you up.

A/N: I had a serious case of writer's block...hence why this chapter took forever to post. Totally uneditted but I will be back to redo things. If you see any typos or things that don't make sense please message me. A lot of this chapter is inspired by Justin Beiber's song called The Feeling as well as his new song Cold Water. I had both songs on repeat as I tried to decided how to move foward. As you can see things have moved into hyper drive.

Thank you again for the comments, views, upvotes, etc. Especially the comments! Your feedback gave me the motivation to finally sit down and just write it out. I changed the beginning to this chapter maybe 5 times but I was determined to post because of all the lovely comments. I appreciate all you who have read thus far and continue to look out for more.