Word Count: 5,620

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Sunday mornings have always been Jinah’s favorite time of the week. To her, nothing compares to a peaceful morning of wearing sweats, hair up in a messy bun, sipping a steaming mug of homemade coffee while working on her next article or creating new layouts. Sunday mornings have always been Jinah’s favorite, but over the past 24 months, these peaceful moments have become a bit sweeter.

Jinah used to spend Sunday mornings at the large work table in her apartment’s living room, laptop hooked up to a giant 27” external monitor. But these days, she spends her early Sunday mornings sitting on the floor, crammed between the couch and the coffee table, squinting at the 13” monitor on her laptop. For someone so practical, the logic doesn’t make any sense; but every time she even begins to question why she is doing this, a warm arm wraps around her shoulders from behind and suddenly the reason becomes clear.

“It’s too early for you to be working, noona,” a raspy morning voice mumbles into the nape of her neck. “Come take a break for a while, won’t you?” Jinah should be used to this by now, but a huge smile still spreads across her face as if it is the first time.

“Haven’t I told you not to come sleep on the couch here after your gigs on Saturday nights?” she scolds the person behind her, not bothering to check who it is. “That can’t be good for your back.”

“But then I couldn’t wake up to this every Sunday morning,” Chanyeol reasons, as he nuzzles his nose deeper into her hair and exhales strongly, tickling her. “Besides, if you really didn’t like that I stayed here, you would throw me out or change your passcode, don’t you think?”

Jinah grasps his hand and plants a kiss in the center of his palm, admitting, “Yeah, I would,” before she zones out thinking about when this Sunday routine began.

It was five months into their relationship when Jinah finished her final semester and graduated from university with a huge sigh of relief. Although it was originally a difficult decision for Jinah’s parents to let her study abroad, they both made the long flight from America to see their favorite (i.e. only) daughter celebrate a big milestone on her way to her dreams. They arrived in Korea the day before the graduation ceremony, and were eager to see their daughter again. They were also curious to meet the younger man who had managed to interest their little girl for more than one date.

Chanyeol had gone with Jinah to pick up her parents from the airport. She had told him that wouldn’t be necessary, that she would be able to fetch them from Incheon just fine by herself, but he had insisted that they go together. Contrary to his initial desire to accompany his girlfriend, though, he was an absolute wreck on the train to the airport.

“It’s going to be fine, Yeol,” Jinah comforts her boyfriend, resting a hand on his knee to cease the nervous bouncing, “They are going to like you just fine.” Chanyeol grunts a sound of acknowledgement and stops moving his legs, instead focusing his energy on flattening his now-back-to-black hair against his forehead.

“Are you sure I made the right decision with this hair color?” he asks her for the fiftieth time since they got on the train.

“I swear, if you ask me that one more time…” she threatens, but an amused smirk paints her lips. “Going to be honest though,” she whispers, leaning closer to his ear, “the fiery red was hotter.”

The comment makes Chanyeol visibly shiver and he swallows hard, protesting, “Noona! You can’t just say things like that to me!”

Jinah laughs with mirth as she leans back and explains, “You know? Fire is hot? Temperature wise? Where is your mind at?”

 The boy crosses his arms across his chest petulantly and scoffs, “Oh please, that is not what you meant at all!”

His girlfriend rests her chin on his shoulder, dangerously close to his face. “I am totally innocent,” she claims. Before he has the chance to reveal any episodes of her less-than-innocent behavior, the train pulls up to the airport. Jinah stands up quickly to leave, but Chanyeol is glued to his seat.

“Chanyeol, are you ok? We’re here,” she asks, concern lacing her voice. He looks up at her weakly, and she reaches down to grab his hand reassuringly. He looks like he is going to be sick. “Were you like this meeting your other girlfriends’ parents, or is it just mine?”

“What other girlfriends?” he manages to croak out, not meeting her eyes. Her heart is filled with warmth and affection for the younger boy, as she realizes the reason behind his behavior. Despite knowing about his childhood traumas of being teased and bullied, she had always figured that girls would have flocked to him after his glo up.

“Hey, babe, look at me,” she says softly, pulling him up and out of the train by his hand. He looks at her, startled by the sudden use of a pet name. She has never called him that before; it has always been ‘Kid’, ‘Chanyeol’, or ‘Yeol’.

“Y-yeah?” he stutters.

“You are amazing. You are kind, you are smart, you are talented, and most importantly, you make me so so so happy. You know that, right?” she assures him. “That’s all that is going to matter to my parents. Besides, I have already told them all about you.” She says comforting words, but a part of her is a nervous wreck as well. She has never brought a boy home to meet her parents, either.

As they stand at the exit waiting for her parents, she clutches his left hand in both of hers, squeezing it occasionally and rubbing circles into the back of his hand in a manner that she hopes is soothing and calming. His palms are sweaty, but she doesn’t mention it. She points them out as soon as she seems them coming, and he immediately jumps to attention, dropping her hand.

He folds into a full 90-degree bow, arms stiff at his side, and formally introduces himself, “Hello, I am Park Chanyeol. It is nice to finally meet you.” He doesn’t seem like he is going to stand up straight any time soon, so he doesn’t see the amused looks on the Lee family’s faces.

“Is it really meeting us if he hasn’t looked us in the eyes yet?” Mr. Lee snickers.

“Daaaad,” Jinah whines, “Be nice to him, he’s just really nervous.”

“Why would he be nervous?” Mrs. Lee asks, motherly side showing immediately.

“Have you met you?” Jinah snorts, “You scare the crap out of all of our friends the first time.” She nudges her boyfriend in the side with her elbow. “Um, Chanyeol, you can stand up now.” Chanyeol straightens immediately, red in the face. He is met with the sight of a mild-mannered looking couple, probably in their late-fifties. Jinah’s mother looks like she is a solid 4 inches shorter than his girlfriend, but the facial resemblance is uncanny. Jinah’s father is slightly taller than Jinah, and is wearing a pair of wire-rimmed glasses. The smile lines on his face are deep and distinct.

“Mom, Dad, this is my boyfriend, Park Chanyeol; Chanyeol, these are my parents,” Jinah introduces them quickly. “Now that we all know each other, let’s get going, shall we?”

Jinah’s mom stares up at the gangly boy in front of her and asks, “How tall are you? Do you play basketball?”

“Oh my God, Mom,” Jinah groans, “Do you have to ask that to every tall person that you meet? You ask cousin Alex that every time you see him!”

“Um, I am 185cm, and no, I don’t really play basketball,” Chanyeol responds anyway.

“You didn’t have to answer her!” Jinah hisses.

“I see; what a waste,” Mrs. Lee comments. Jinah is absolutely mortified.

“Are you happy?” Mr. Lee asks the boy next. Chanyeol looks like he is going to open his mouth to reply again, and without even thinking, Jinah slaps her hand over his mouth.

“Dad. Have you been listening to monks on YouTube again?” Jinah sighs. Chanyeol has been thrown right into her family’s oddities.

“They have good life philosophies,” her dad shrugs.

Chanyeol gently removes her hand from his mouth and belatedly replies, “Yes sir, I am very happy.” Jinah shoots him a look. “What? He asked me a question.” The next thing she knows, Jinah’s parents and Chanyeol are all laughing together and shaking hands. Jinah’s mom is even giving Chanyeol a hug. Jinah throws her arms in the air in defeat and stalks towards the door, not bothering to see if any of them are following her. She does look back right before she boards the outbound train, though, and sees Chanyeol dragging along her parents’ luggage, one in each hand, as they speak animatedly to him on either side. The sight brings a smile to her face.

The rest of the day is very laid back; after dropping off the luggage at Jinah’s apartment, they opt to keep things lowkey and have an early dinner before retiring for the day, to ensure her parents get enough rest for the next day’s festivities. Chanyeol drops them off and bids them farewell with a wave, promising to return bright and early in the morning.

“You know, it’s fine for you to give our daughter a goodnight kiss,” Mr. Lee permits, “You aren’t a couple of teenagers anymore.”

“DAD!!!” Jinah screeches, “You are embarrassing me!” Disregarding the boisterous laughter from the Lee parents, Chanyeol swoops to give Jinah a fleeting kiss on the forehead before sauntering towards the elevator.

“You two are really out of control,” Jinah scolds her parents once they are safely locked inside her apartment. “I’ll be surprised if Chanyeol ever comes around here again.”

“Oh please,” her mom snorts, “He obviously adores you, he had hearts in his eyes all day, even with us here. He’ll be back for sure.” She winks.

“I like that boy,” her dad chimes in, “He seems very positive.”

“A little too positive…” Jinah mutters. “Wasn’t even phased by how ridiculous you guys are.”

“Even more reason to like him,” her parents agree. “Alright, well we are exhausted and need to get a good night’s rest—see you tomorrow morning, our lovely graduate!” They retire to her bedroom (Jinah will sleep on the couch), and Jinah finds herself alone for the rest of the day.

It isn’t long before she calls up Chanyeol to see how he is faring after meeting her parents. “Hey,” she greets him, “Are you still alive?”

“I like your parents a lot,” Chanyeol gushes, “They are so cool.”

Jinah groans, “They really aren’t. They were about as uncool today as humanly possible.” Chanyeol chuckles, and the familiar sound warms her, even through the phone.

“Okay, maybe they are a little cool,” she concedes, “But I can’t believe you went from nervous wreck to being their best friend in .02 seconds.” Chanyeol admits that he was surprised as well, but can’t wait to spend the next day, and the entire next week, with them as well.

“Ugh, you make it seem like they are your parents,” Jinah comments. “You don’t even like your parents this much.”

“Maybe that’s how it is supposed to work,” Chanyeol says thoughtfully, “I am supposed to like your parents more, and you are supposed to like my parents more. Then we can be one big, happy family.”

“Hm, maybe…” she hums, not sure how to respond.

“Do you want to meet my parents?” Chanyeol suggests suddenly.

Jinah gulps. “Do I want to what?”

“Meet my parents. You know, since I met your parents and everything,” he explains.

“Isn’t it, I don’t know, kind of soon to be meeting your parents? You only met mine because they happened to be in the country for my graduation and who knows when you’ll have another chance to…” Jinah sounds scared out of her mind.

“Hey, hey, it’s ok,” Chanyeol backtracks, “You don’t have to yet, it was just a question. We can wait as long as you want.”

Jinah exhales a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Sorry, I just…”

“It’s ok, forget I even mentioned it. Let’s just focus on your graduation tomorrow and our week with your parents, and then we can think about mine,” he says.

“Thanks, Yeol, you’re the best,” she praises him.

“You make me be my best,” he says, and Jinah gags at the cheesiness. “Alright, you should probably get to some beauty sleep for your big day tomorrow. I’ll see you in the morning, ok?”

Jinah doesn’t really want to hang up but agrees anyway. “Night, Yeol.”

*~*~*~*~*~*

The next day is a blurry whirlwind of hugs, kisses, and endless photographs. To his credit, Chanyeol dutifully plays the role of boyfriend, taking picture after picture of Jinah and her parents, happy to stay in the background. After a while, though, Mr. Lee calls him over, shouting to a random set of parents to take a few photos for them.

“No, no, it’s ok, Mr. Lee, it’s your family photo, I don’t need—“ Chanyeol starts to protest, but Mr. Lee gives him a stern look that has him handing the camera over to the stranger. Jinah’s parents make space for him between Jinah and her dad, and they all smile brightly for a couple shots before thanking the strangers. The Lee parents then insist on taking couple photos of Jinah and Chanyeol, claiming that it would be such a waste if they didn’t, since they were both dressed so nicely.

“Mom, don’t make him if he doesn’t want to!” Jinah scolds, but Chanyeol is quick to agree to whatever Mrs. Lee wants. “Ugh, Mom has you wrapped around her little finger already,” she complains, but allows herself to be pulled closer to Chanyeol’s side. She wraps an arm around his waist, and he slings an arm around her shoulders.

“You are the perfect height, shorty,” Chanyeol muses, “We fit together so nicely.”

“I am a perfectly normal height, thank you very much,” Jinah retorts, “It is you who is an abnormal giant.” Chanyeol make a whimpering noise and clutches his chest, wounded.

“Don’t be so dramatic, you are making me look awful!” Jinah pouts.

“You don’t look awful, you look beautiful, so smile,” Chanyeol assures his girlfriend. She looks up at him with stars in her eyes, and he beams back at her.

She reaches up to smooth a strand of his hair off his forehead and appraises, “You look amazing with your hair up like this…” He blushes at the compliment. “But don’t do it too often, or other people will start to take notice.”

“Yah! Lovebirds! The camera is over here!” Jinah’s dad yells, waving his arm in the air. Jinah blushes brilliantly and turns her attention back to the camera, hollering back, “Sorry, Dad!”

The rest of the day, and the next week as well, passes in a flash, with Jinah spending the days exploring Seoul with her parents, and Chanyeol joining them for dinner. Saturday morning comes too quickly and the four of them find themselves back at the airport once again. Jinah and her parents are tearful, and Chanyeol is unsure of what to do with himself, so he awkwardly stands a few steps away as they say their goodbyes.

He doesn’t hear Jinah’s father approaching him. “Son,” Mr. Lee address him, as he clasps a hand on Chanyeol’s shoulder. “You seem like an upstanding young man who cares for my daughter.”

Chanyeol gulps before stuttering, “Y-yes sir, I do.”

“I know you still have a couple years of school ahead of you, but please take care of my princess, will you?” Jinah’s father asks of him. “She has never so much as mentioned any boy to us before, so the fact that she has introduced you to us after only 5 months…it means something.”

Chanyeol is taken aback, unaware that he is the first boyfriend who has met Jinah’s parents. The thought makes him sweat, but also fills him with a sense of pride. “I’ll take care of her, sir; I promise.” They shake hands before Jinah’s mother approaches him next.

“My daughter cares for you,” Mrs. Lee tells him point blank.

“I, uh, I feel the same for her, ma’am,” Chanyeol replies.

“Don’t expect her to support you through the rest of your studies,” she continues.

“I am studying on scholarship, ma’am,” he assures her.

“Don’t let my daughter distract you from your studies so that you lose that scholarship, young man,” she warns him. “Finish school quickly and get a good paying job, ok?”

Chanyeol feels like he is talking to his own mother, “Yes ma’am.”

“Oh, you are such a lovely young man; I can’t believe our Jinah has finally met such a wonderful person to spend her time with,” Mrs. Lee gushes, as she engulfs Chanyeol in a tight hug. “You should really think about picking up basketball as a hobby, though, I think that would make you even better…”

“Mom, enough with the basketball already!” Jinah complains from afar. “You are going to miss your flight!” Jinah exchanges one last final hug with her parents and her and Chanyeol wave until the couple disappear through the security line.

Back on the train, Chanyeol notices that Jinah’s mood is significantly down since the departure of her parents, and understandably so. He doesn’t want to leave Jinah home alone for the rest of the day, so he invites her out for the evening.

“Hey, my band is playing a gig at a small club later tonight…do you want to help us get ready and watch the show?” he asks her. His girlfriend visibly brightens at the suggestion.

“You really want me to come?” she asks him.

“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t want you to,” he assures her. And that is how Jinah finds herself backstage at a small club, watching her hotter than hot boyfriend rock out with his band in front of a packed, college-aged crowd. He has his hair styled up again, and he is sporting a cutoff tank and ripped skinny jeans. Chanyeol has played for her numerous times before, but seeing him play guitar on stage in front of a crowd makes her see him a whole different light. It makes her think that instead of music composition, he should be studying music performance.

As soon as their set is over and the band steps off the stage, Jinah is by Chanyeol’s side with a towel and a cold water bottle. Chanyeol takes the water bottle gratefully and while he chugs it down, Jinah pats away some of the sweat that is accumulating on his forehead and neck.

“Gross couple alert!!!” one of his bandmates, Jongdae, yells. The rest of the band groans loudly and makes gagging noises. In response, Chanyeol wraps both of his sweaty arms around Jinah and pulls her in to kiss her full on the lips. The groaning quickly turns into whooping and hollering, and Chanyeol smiles into the kiss. Jinah, too embarrassed to face the group, covers her face with her hands and buries it into Chanyeol’s sweaty chest. He tightens his hold on her as he laughs along with his friends.

“Alright guys, settle down,” Chanyeol says, “I’m going to walk my lady home and then I’ll be back to help pack up, ok?” Jinah and Chanyeol bid the rest of the boys goodnight and depart for the short walk back to Jinah’s apartment.

“So…how was it? I looked pretty cool, right?” Chanyeol asks, eager to hear his girlfriend’s opinion. He has one arm slung around her shoulders, and his other hand in his pocket as they walk down the road.

Jinah pretends to think deeply about the question before replying, “You guys weren’t bad, I guess.” Chanyeol stops walking and looks at her, repeating, “We…weren’t bad?” He looks like he is about to cry.

She elbows him hard in the side before facing him to exclaim, “I was kidding! You guys were incredible! I can’t believe I haven’t ever seen you guys perform on stage before. And you, in particular, Mr. Gun-Show-Biceps Guitar Player, were absolutely amazing.” For emphasis, she squeezes one of his biceps as she tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek. “I should put a ring on you before those groupies start thinking they have a chance.”

“I wouldn’t say no if you asked, Mrs. Park,” Chanyeol jokes, giving her a kiss on the forehead, as they continue on their way. A couple of short minutes later, they arrive at Jinah’s doorstep, and she hesitates to go inside.

“I had a lot of fun tonight, Yeol,” Jinah says softly, “Thank you for distracting me from the fact that my parents went home this morning.”

Chanyeol looks taken aback and sounds flustered when he asks, “Oh, you knew what I was trying to do?”

Jinah laughs at her boyfriend thinking that he could trick her. “I knew from the moment you invited me to go. I pick up on things pretty quickly, you know…I am a journalist, after all.” She is thoughtful for a second before adding, “So don’t try to hide anything from me. Because I will find out.”

She laughs, but inside Chanyeol feels a bit terrified by the threat. He can tell she is joking, but is also kind of serious. She leans her back against the door and quietly plays with Chanyeol’s fingers for a couple minutes before speaking up, “You should probably go help the guys pack up, huh?”

“I think they can manage without me for one time,” he murmurs, bracing one forearm on the door and leaning over his girlfriend. Jinah blushes and firmly pushes him away with two strong hands to the chest.

“They are going to either kick you out or make you break up with me if you start slacking,” she tells him. “You should go!”

“I want to stay here with you, though,” he pouts. “Don’t make me go, noona.”

Jinah’s heart palpitates in her chest. “You’ll probably see me tomorrow, anyway. Go be responsible.”

“Responsible is boring,” he complains.

“Responsible is necessary,” she counters. “So go!” She turns her back to him to punch in the passcode to her apartment, but she doesn’t get very far before a pair of arms wraps around her waist. “Yeol…” she says in a warning tone.

“Are you really going to just leave me like this?” he whispers into her ear. “I need something to remember you by.”

She turns to face him with arms crossed in front of her chest and one eyebrow arched. “I didn’t realize I was so forgettable.”

Chanyeol leans his face towards her and taps his finger to his lips. “You are unforgettable, I just have a terrible memory.”

“Tch,” Jinah scoffs, “What a lame excuse.”

He leans in even closer, so that their noses brush. “But you like me, even if I am lame.”

“I don’t know what gave you that impression,” she starts to disagree, but her breath gets caught in .

He leans in closer, still. “I don’t know…maybe because you haven’t slapped me yet?” Her eyes crinkle into half crescents as she laughs at his explanation (because where is the lie?), and he finally closes the gap between them. Jinah goes weak in the knees and temporarily forgets that her boyfriend has somewhere that he needs to be. A sudden buzz from her watch brings her back to reality, though, and she gives him one last peck before pushing him away again. “GO!”

She retreats into her apartment, door still open, and watches as he saunters backwards down the hall, not breaking eye contact. It all would have been very romantic if he hadn’t tripped over a wrinkle in the carpet. She giggles as he recovers and proceeds, facing forwards this time to avoid embarrassing himself further. Once he is out of sight, she closes and locks the door, and goes to bed.

She can’t have been asleep for more than a few hours before she is shocked awake by the constant sound of her doorbell. “Who the heck is coming to my house at—“ she looks at the clock, ‘Five in the morning?!” She stumbles out of bed and to the front door, and is dismayed to see that it is none other than her boyfriend, who looks more than a little intoxicated. “Flippin’ sophomore…”

She opens the door and forcefully yanks him inside. “Park. Chan. Yeol. What the heck do you think you are doing here?”

“Noooooooona,” he drawls, “I was afraid you wouldn’t be awake.”

“I wasn’t awake,” she snarls, “But it’s kind of hard to stay asleep when your drunk won’t stop ringing my doorbell!” With much difficulty, she removes his shoes, drags him to the couch, and throws him down.

“The band went out after we cleaned up the venue,” he explains.

“Clearly,” she huffs. “That doesn’t explain what you are doing here.”

“This was soooooooooo much closer than my dorm—I was being practical. You like that, right, noona?” He smiles widely and looks incredibly proud of himself.

“I should throw you out,” she threatens.

“But you won’t, right?” he challenges her.

“Why wouldn’t I?” she asks.

“Because you like me,” he says simply, as if it is the most obvious thing in the world.

“That can’t be your answer for everything, brat,” she complains, as she drags her hands down her face. But despite her complaints, she knows he is right—she won’t turn him away, just like she wasn’t able to turn him away those many months ago at the library. With a sigh, she retrieves a spare pillow and blanket from the linen closet and sets up a makeshift bed for him on the couch. She pulls him to a sleeping position and drapes the blanket over him. “Try not to puke all over my living room tonight, ok? I am not going to clean up after you.”

“Thanks, noona,” Chanyeol mumbles, half asleep already. Jinah brushes his hair off his forehead and plants a kiss there before returning to her room, sleeping a bit sounder than usual, knowing that her boyfriend is right outside her bedroom.

The next morning, Jinah finds Chanyeol still very much asleep on the couch, one arm hanging off. She sits on the floor between the coffee table and the couch and admires the features of the flawless young man in front of her. She lightly traces the contours of his face with her fingertips, careful not to wake him. Before, she would have never thought that her life and her heart would be filled with so much affection for someone who had completely disrupted her life as she knew it. Now, she can’t imagine living a day without him.

By the time he stirs awake, she has her back to him, laptop on the coffee table, as she browses the internet. He stares at the back of her head for a while before wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “Is this real life?” he muses, “Or is this a dream?”

“Would it help you decide if I dump a cup of cold water on your head?” Jinah proposes.

“Definitely real life—Dream Jinah is nice to me…” he determines.

“Yah! I would probably be nicer if you hadn’t shown up at my doorstep drunk at 5 in the morning,” Jinah scolds. “Next time you find yourself here in the middle of the night, do me a favor and just let yourself in—I value my sleep! The passcode is 84265.”

That is how their Sunday morning routine began. Every Saturday night since then, drunk or not (mostly not) Chanyeol lets himself into Jinah’s apartment after his gigs. He sneaks into her room and gives her a fleeting kiss on the forehead before making himself comfortable on the couch, where more often than not, Jinah has already laid out a pillow and blanket.

Jinah doesn’t realize that she has zoned out for more than a few minutes, completely lost in their memories. The feeling of a trail of kisses up and down her neck snaps her out of her reverie, along with protests of, “Earth to Jinah? Babe, pay attention to me!”

She shuts her laptop and finally turns to face him. “Sorry,” she apologizes, “I was just thinking.”

Chanyeol scoots as far back into the couch as he can and motions for her to come join him. “What were you thinking about?”

Jinah lays down face-to-face with her boyfriend and responds, “I was thinking about when you met my parents for the first time and started staying over here on Saturday nights. Can you believe that was almost two years ago?”

Chanyeol smiles and lightly drags a finger down his girlfriend’s nose. “I was scared out of my mind, you know. That your parents wouldn’t like me, that they wouldn’t think I was good enough for you, that they wouldn’t want you to be dating someone who was younger and still in school.”

“I told you all they would care about is whether you make me happy or not,” Jinah assures him, “and I am very much as happy as I have ever been since I met you.” Despite his morning breath, she gives him a light peck on the lips. “And look at you now! You are graduating soon, you already have a job lined up as a songwriter at a record label—you are living the dream!”

Chanyeol hums in agreement, “My dream is certainly almost complete.”

“Almost?” Jinah asks. “What would make your life complete?”

“If you were my wife,” he answers seriously, eyes not leaving hers.

Jinah visibly stiffens in his arms at his response. “Chanyeol, I don’t—“ She breaks eye contact.

Chanyeol can tell he has said something wrong and immediately backtracks. “I’m not saying we should get married tomorrow. It’s just…I can’t imagine any part of my future without you.” Jinah still stares resolutely at Chanyeol’s throat. “Do you not feel that way too?” he asks, afraid to hear the answer.

“I do! I swear I do,” she answers, panicked that her hesitation is giving him the wrong impression of her feelings. “It’s just that you are about to graduate and start your job and who knows what kind of impact those changes are going to have on our relationship. We should wait until things settle down after those transitions before we start planning too much into the future, don’t you think?”

Chanyeol frowns as he replies, “Starting work is not going to change how I feel about you, how I feel about us.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Jinah sounds frustrated that she can’t adequately express herself. “I mean that our schedules are going to conflict. It was easy when we were both in school, a bit more challenging when only you were. But we were able to make it work because at least one of us has had a decently flexible schedule. But once we are both working…I’ve seen it happen with my friends, Yeol. They graduate. They start working. They never see each other. They literally have to block out time in their lives to have dates. And suddenly their relationship starts feeling like another obligation, another meeting invitation on the calendar. And then they start to cancel, and then they start to fight, and before they know it, they are pointing fingers and placing blame and the whole thing is going to hell in a handbasket.” Jinah’s breathing is uneven and she sounds close to tears.

Unsure of where this conversation went wrong, Chanyeol tips Jinah’s chin up to look at him and searches her eyes, trying to calm her down. “Babe, that isn’t going to happen to us. Where is this even coming from?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know, I’m just a mess right now and I don’t know why,” she hiccups, clutching at Chanyeol’s shirt and burying her face in his chest to hide her tears. How did this Sunday morning go south so quickly? Jinah has never felt insecure about her relationship with Chanyeol before—he has never ever given her a reason to think that he has eyes for anyone but her—but suddenly the words are bubbling out and she can’t stop them. “Just ignore me, please.”

But Chanyeol doesn’t want to ignore this; he wants to understand where this is coming from and eradicate any trace of doubt that his girlfriend might have, but he also knows that pushing her to talk about it right now is not going to get him anywhere. So he peels her far enough away from him that he can steadily hold her gaze as he tells her, “Lee Jinah. I love you. More than I ever thought I could be capable of loving someone. And yeah, maybe once I start working we will be busy, and we won’t be able to see each other as much as we’d like to. But that won’t mean that I love you any less. You are my priority, and I will always make time for you; for us. I promise.” He wipes away her tears and kisses her tenderly before pulling her back into his chest. Slowly, her breathing evens out and she falls into slumber in his arms. Meanwhile, he is still very much awake, with eyes wide open.