SeolHyun's POV

Ever since Wonho kissed me, my head has been fuzzy and I'm on a constant cloud nine. My members don't get where it is coming from, except for MiNa of course. She saw the whole thing going down and is happy for me, but she thinks I need to tell the members sooner rather than later. And she's right. As soon as we establish this relationship I'll tell them. Wonho has been floating in and out of my mind all the time while dancing and performing. Luckily it doesn't really interfere with the performances. I'd get scolded if it did. No one comments on it either. 

I haven't seen Wonho in nearly a week, it's been very hard for us to find time and meet up somewhere. We've both been busy as and can't seem to find the time right now. I desperately want to see him and tell him about everything that has happened in his absence. My phone suddenly buzzes while we're having some free time. Our stages are ending, so we're trying to change it up a little for the final stages. 

"Hello?" I pick it up without looking who it is. 

"Hello, baby", I hear a very excited Wonho say. The last word is whispered some more. I grin at the nickname. 

"Ahh, it's been a while since I've heard your voice", I coo and he chuckles on the other end. 

"I'm free tonight and I need to see you. I think I'm going to explode if I don't see you", I can hear the pout through the phone. 

"I think I can make some time", I look around the room. We haven't really scheduled anything for tonight. We were going to take some time off. Take it slow. 

"Good! I rented a room at the restaurant I like so no one will bother us. Of course we'll have to go in separately", his voice grows a little distant. 

"Okay, text me the address and I'll be there!" I comment and smile widely. 

"I can't wait." His voice is as deep as it was during his confession a week ago. It makes my heart flutter and skip beats every single time. "I'll see you tonight." 

We both put down the phone and I join my members again in dancing and preparing. We don't have a stage tonight since we are let off once a week. No station is doing a show tonight. I'm really happy I'm going to see him tonight. Finally a chance to come clean about everything. About my trust issues and about the both mental and physical scars. He's going to understand it all now. 

The day flies by and when I get home I'm rummaging through my closet. I need to find something decent to wear. After tonight I'll tell the girls everything they want to know. Tonight will tell me everything I need to know to start a relationship with Wonho. 

I wear a skirt that ends midway my thighs and fans out a little. I combine it with a white tight fitting shirt. It's simple and just the way I like it. I love it this way. And I'm sure Wonho will too. It's kind of casual too, so the girls won't expect too much of what I'm going to do. Of course I'll tell them I'm meeting Wonho, but I won't tell them about the kiss and restaurant. 

"I'm off!" I shout after having done my make-up and hair. They wave and no one says a thing. Wonho has already texted me he's there and put the address in it too. I decide to walk over there, it'll be okay. My heels aren't that high and I kind of don't have money for a cab anymore. The summer air is pleasant on my skin while I walk. No one really sees me and it pleases me for once. I walk a little faster to get to Wonho sooner. I long to see him again. I want to be with him to tell him everything. 

The restaurant is full of people when I arrive. I walk inside, afraid that I'm underdressed. All the people inside look so fancy while I look so normal. The moment I step inside, no one lifts their head, they just stay focussed on whatever they're doing. The maitre comes over to me with a big smile. 

"Mr. Shin has been waiting for you", he tells me while taking me with him to the back. It's been a while since I've heard someone address him so formally. It's weird that he even knows I'm the one he's been waiting for too. Did he show a picture or something? And what about secrecy? Is this guy trustworthy? We arrive at a room and he opens the door for me. Inside is Wonho, dressed up in a suit, without the jacket. The moment he hears the doors open he gets up and bows at me. I smile at him while walking inside. "Just call me if you need anything." Then the man leaves us while closing the door. 

"You look stunning", Wonho says while coming over to me. He engulfs me in a little hug. It's the warm kind of hug that I love so much. 

"You clean up pretty good too", I joke while he lets me go. We stand like that for a few seconds. He's hesitating about something somehow. 

"I've missed you", he confesses and takes my hands in his, intertwining our fingers in the process. 

"I've missed you too", I whisper while looking down a bit. 

"Would you mind if I kissed you?" his voice is a lot closer than before. I lift my head up and stare directly into his eyes. My head nods before I can register his request. His kiss is chaste and soft against my lips, not the passionate one we had a week ago. That kiss was filled with things we've withheld for such a long time. This one is telling me how much he cares about me. "Let's sit down." His voice is a bit hoarse as we both sit down on the cushions on the ground. 

"This is honestly way too much", I chuckle and spread my arms to point out the room. This restaurant is the most expensive one I've ever been to. That doesn't really say a lot since I rarely go out to eat with someone. 

"I want to things right by you", he comments while handing me the menu. I look over the choices and my mouth falls open. 

"Can you afford this?" I ask before thinking and he seems a bit offended by my statement. 

"Don't worry about it", he says while looking at his own options. 

In the end I pick the least expensive thing in there. I see him rolling his eyes at me because he knows why I picked it.  I just don't like leeching off of someone. Call me strange, but it's the independent woman inside of me. The waiter leaves us alone again and we both look nervously at each other. For different reasons of course. He's nervous because of our impending relationship and I'm nervous because of how he's going to react. Will it be good? Will he get it? I don't know. 

"So how have things been going?" he asks casually while waiting for our food. 

"They've been well. Our stages are progressing just fine. It's almost the goodbye though", I look down at both my hands because it pains me to say it. 

"It's hard, isn't it? Leaving the stage and your fans?" he smiles wryly at me. 

"Yes, it is", I nod at him while the waiter comes back in with the food. We thank him and he's off again. Dinner goes pretty much the same. We talk about different things and catch up, which we haven't been able to do since we've both been busy. It's kind of nice, sitting here with him like that. It's stuff a normal couple would do. 

The food is absolutely delicious and is gone in mere minutes. It's gone too fast, but I'm totally full. Wonho keeps it clean too. We both decide not to get desserts since we're both on a diet. It's really handy to have a boyfriend with the same profession as you. He gets it. But still complains about me being too thin for my own good. Which is a totally normal thing for a boyfriend to do. We leave the restaurant to go walk around. In the end we go back to a karaoke place. It's always quiet in those booths and you can really be yourself there without having to wonder if anyone has seen you. There are special karaoke's around town for stars, to not be disturbed. This time we go in one of those. 

"I kind of need to talk to you", I say nervously as we're in the booth. We've paid for an hour. I'm just praying it'll be enough. The karaoke place is not too far from our dorms too. So if things get hard I can just run home. 

"What is it about?" He sits down, clearly a bit concerned about my tone. 

"Well, I want to tell you everything that's happened", I whisper and his eyes widen. 

"Are you sure?" he asks me, taking my hands in his. "You don't have to do this, you know?" 

"Oh, but I do. I need to get this off my chest", I sigh and then lean back into the couch on the wall. 

"I won't judge you", he's so sincere, it almost breaks my heart. 

"Where do I even start?" I look around the room for some kind of sign. 

"The week I left?" he suggests and I nod. That would be avery good place to start off. 

"The week you left, things were quite alright with mom and stepdad. They were not arguing or drinking. I kind of felt safe again at home.  It wasn't until a few weeks after you left that they began again. The drinking became even worse with my stepdad and he just completely lost it. Mom got worse too, she started blaming me for everything that ever went wrong in her life, telling me it all starting with her pregnancy. Stepdad used this occasion to work some of his anger out on me again. This time you weren't there to shield me, I had no where to run to..." 

"I'm so sorry", I see the tears in his eyes but I can't let him interrupt me. 

"Please let me tell this in one piece, okay?" 

"Okay, sorry." 

"He beat me until I was blue. I had a shiner and some bruises in my face, as well as along my body. Some ribs were cracked and I'm sure I had a dislocated shoulder. I set the shoulder myself, since I've done it before and covered the rest up with a lot of make up. It stayed like that for weeks. Every day I got home, there would be a beating. No one at school noticed, everyone in the neighbourhood kept quiet. That's what hurt the most, I think. No one cared enough. Not even you. Around the time you started ignoring my calls, he got more violent. My mother would laugh at the whippings I got, she would smile and tell him to do more. One day he got his belt and bared my back by ripping open my shirt. He beat me until I bled and then left me in my bed to cry. The wounds were never properly treated since I can't reach them very well. Those are the scars you saw. It went on like that. I'm sure my mother would've let him abuse me even more if she hadn't been afraid he would like it more with me than with her. In a way she is even worse than that guy. 

"A year and a half after you left I found a picture in a box of my mom's. I was rummaging through it for some reason. It was my father. It said he was in Seoul, waiting for her. That's when I got the genius idea to go look for him. Of course it was stupid, but still. I needed to get away from them. I was literally going to die if I had stayed there for even a second longer. They'd been starving me for the past week. The only things I ate were rice waffles I had in my room. They were stale and horrible, but better than nothing. 

"For some reason I ended up in Seoul, partly looking for my dad, partly looking for you. The only thing I had with me was a picture of him. A woman scouted me on the streets and that's how I ended up at my company. The president was the first person I ever opened up to about all of this and he's been treating me good ever since. He's the only person I have ever trusted enough to say this to, except for you." 

The tears are streaming down my face while I look down. This was one of the hardest things to ever do. My voice is gone and I'm feeling dizzy. The only thing keeping me from fainting are Wonho's hands, which are holding mine. When I look up I see him crying too. He also seems mad. 

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that on your own. You have no idea of how sick I feel right now, and angry. They are just sick people. To do that to a little girl... And I'm so mad at myself for leaving you, knowing how much your mother resented you. The hitting stopped when I came into view, but started again after I was gone. I was positive they were going to stop..." He shakes his head furiously. 

And that's the moment I know: I've completely fallen for Shin Wonho. He's the one for me.