Eun Gi is absent the next day. Chanyeol can feel Kyungsoo’s restlessness as he realizes that the front row is completely empty without its usual dweller, the grim loner who’s not so grim anymore since Kyungsoo maneuvered his way into her life. Chanyeol wants to know what’s wrong with him, but Kyungsoo only shakes his head. Kyungsoo grits his teeth as all his facial muscles tense. He gets up too quickly when the first class ends and runs down the hallway to the parking lot.

“Yah, Do Kyungsoo! Are you gonna skip the second class?!” Chanyeol shouts, but Kyungsoo is already disappearing in the swarm of people coming out of classes.

Kyungsoo drives frantically, the sound of Eun Gi’s cry and the image of the knife in her kitchen keep replaying in his mind. He doesn’t realize he’s been holding his breath until he lets it out before ringing the bell in Eun Gi’s apartment. His fists clench and unclench nervously on his side as he paces impatiently in front of her door. It takes her an excruciatingly long minute before she opens it, the signs of sleep deprivation marked all over her face.

Kyungsoo feels the knot on his stomach loosen up upon seeing her.

“Thank god,” He lets out a relieved whisper.

“Sorry for yesterday. I lost control.” She keeps looking at her feet, too embarrassed to bring her eyes to meet his.

“Sorry for showing you the worst part of me. You’re maybe disgusted by me now. I kno-”

Her ability to speak is stopped abruptly when Kyungsoo crashes his lips into hers, his hands cupping either side of her face as the door closes behind them. It takes Eun Gi a full second to register what is happening, her eyes wide and bewildered upon tasting an unfamiliar force on her lips with her back pressed against a wall. Kyungsoo moves his hands – one placed at the back of her neck, one around her waist – entirely closing the gap between them without breaking the kiss. Too afraid to kiss back at first, Eun Gi tries pushing Kyungsoo away, but he doesn’t budge. Kyungsoo’s lips feel so soft and sweet that she can’t help but part slightly to allow the heart-shaped lips explore her own. She drinks on his taste as she traces one hand along his jaw, wondering how someone so solemn-looking has this much passion escaping his body. She pulls away for a second, barely catching a breath only to get crushed again under the weight of Kyungsoo’s plump lips against her thin ones. He her hair gently and she his, feeling the spike of his thick black locks with her thinning fingers. They break the kiss after what feels like a delightful eternity. Kyungsoo drinks the view of her face with his eyes like a starving man, registering every detailed features at  his brain. Eun Gi looks up at his owl eyes, searching for the stars in his black pupils that have been replaced momentarily by worry, passion, guilt, and something else she can’t tell.

“You made me worried sick,” Kyungsoo breaks the silence between them with a sigh as he carefully caresses her cheek with his fingers.

Their foreheads against each other. Their breaths mingle together. A hundred butterflies tingle on their stomachs.

They sit side to side on her violet couch, their shoulders touching. Even after Kyungsoo’s numerous visits to her supposedly unknown apartment, it still feels surreal for Eun Gi to actually have someone to sit together in the ugly old couch. It still feels surreal for her to have a shoulder to cry on after years of seclusion and pushing people away. When Kyungsoo offers his outstretched arm, she rests her head on it gingerly. The memory of last night’s chaotic scene happening in this very sitting area makes her look away with embarrassment.

“Please don’t do this to yourself,” Kyungsoo turns to face her. “You can share all your worries, all your problems, all your insecurities with me. Let me help you. I’d sell my soul if it means I can ease your burden in some way.”

Eun Gi can’t hold back her laughter, “And who would want to buy your soul?”

Kyungsoo smiles as the sparkles on her eyes are slowly coming back to life. He clears his throat and opens up to her first, about how his parents are on the verge of divorcing, how he left home because living there was unbearable with the constant shouting and fighting every time his mother and father set eyes on each other, how it breaks his heart whenever he remembers that his sister is still left behind, stuck in that hell called home. How he stole one of his father’s car – the black Chevrolet— and used up his 6 years’ worth of saving to pay his apartment rent, how he now writes songs and sells them to entertainment companies until he graduates and can find a steady  job related to his major. Eun Gi listens and wonders how he can hide all the burden he shoulders behind those big bright eyes and dazzling smiles.

“You left home just after being discharged from the military?” She asks.

Kyungsoo raises one eyebrow.

“I never told you I was enlisting, though,” He smirks.

“Well, people talk,” Eun Gi blushes. “You just happen to be one of their subjects and I just happen to be a coincidental listener.”

Kyungsoo adores the faint splash of red rising up her cheeks. “My parents have had it bad for as long as I remember. It just got much worse over the 2 years I wasn’t home. It was bound to be – my leaving home, I mean. I will graduate in no time, find a decent job and make enough money to settle down by myself.”

“What about your sister?”

“I will take her to live with me once she finishes high school. I’ll definitely recommend Chung-Ang to her.” He smiles.

“Anyway,” Kyungsoo adds jokingly, “What you said earlier means that you know I’m older than you. Call me sunbae from now. It’s unbelievable how impolite you are.”

Eun Gi scoffs, “Why should I? We’re classmates, and you’re not my senior.”

“I’m not, but I used to be. I entered university earlier than you. According to my calculations, you’re supposed to be 2 years younger than me.”

“Good point,” Eun Gi replies nonchalantly, “But not at all relevant.”

“What, you’re gonna call me oppa then?”

Eun Gi tacitly curses at Kyungsoo’s exceptional talent at making her blush. Kyungsoo grins sheepishly, enjoying the view of ruby red staining the pale skin around her cheekbones. Eun Gi shuts her eyelids in an effort to find something else to talk about, and before she knows it, the words flow out of without a second thought. The words come out much more smoothly than they do in front of her psychiatrist. The words that hold the secret to her anxiety and her inescapable nightmares.

She tells him how her father died when she was a toddler, how her mother married again 12 years later to a constantly ually-deprived psycho, and how she was extremely terrified by what her stepfather might do to her with his spare key unlocking her bedroom door after her mom fell asleep every night.

“I was fat back then,” Eun Gi smiles bitterly. Kyungsoo doesn’t need her to elaborate the details of the ‘things’ her stepfather did to her. He knows it from the way her lips quiver. He knows it from the cold sweat and the shivering of her body that makes a comeback.

“So when I finally found the courage to tell my mom about it, he defended himself in the most ridiculous way,” Dry laughter. “He said ,’Who would want to that fat pig you call a daughter?’

“My mom believed me, but she didn’t dare to defy what my stepfather said. So she sent me to study in Seoul while they stayed in Busan, never disclosing my whereabouts to anyone especially my stepfather, and then-” she tries pressing her tears back with the heels of her palms.

“My mom got sick. She’s always been a light sleeper, so that evil drugged her to sleep all those years to make sure she didn’t wake up when h-he barged to my room.” When he me.

 Eun Gi’s whimpering now, her voice shaking in every syllable. “The drugs she didn’t know she was constantly consuming finally catch up to her.”

 Kyungsoo feels the urge to fly to Busan right this second to find Eun Gi’s stepfather and punch the life out of the wicked man’s body. Instead he pulls her to an embrace, hand her back rhythmically.

Eun Gi scratches her hand, “I really want to see my mother, be there when she needs me the most. But she never lets me—afraid that I will meet my stepfather and all the disastrous memories will be awoken. I never want to admit it, but I was relieved—and I hate myself for it. I never have the guts to face the possibilities of encountering him again. I-I’m so pathetic.”

She clings to Kyungsoo desperately, hoping that the boy’s presence will somehow repel the horribly vivid memories lurking at her mind.

“I despise everything about myself—my cowardice, my impurity—and I couldn’t believe he still got words shot from his mouth that hurt more than what he did to me every night. He even made me feel disgusted at my body, too. He made me feel like I’m made of filth inside out.”

She says as she starts to sob, “I had panic attacks since then. I was so afraid he might find me, and—,” she chokes, “That’s where my eating disorder began, too.”

“It hurts, Kyungsoo,” she gulps. “This misery—this pain—it’s so unbearable it hurts.”

Kyungsoo feels a stream of warm tears dropping on his chest where she buried her head in.

“Ever since I let you know where I live, I’ve been terrified that someday the bell rings and it’s not you, but him, waiting to barge in here.”

Seeing her like this is pure torture. “Eun Gi, listen to me. Do you believe in me?”

Kyungsoo can feel the weak nod she gives in response. He pulls away from her just far enough to look at her eyes. “I will protect you. Do you hear me? I will protect you. I will never let anyone hurt you.”

Eun Gi nods again ; the hands cupping her face feel safe, secure, and protective – an entirely different sense of safety, security, and protection the four walls of her apartment offer.

An hour passes and Kyungsoo still feels a tight knot of mixed feelings in his stomach : fury, rage, wrath, and many other variations of intense anger. He’s mad at Eun Gi’s stepfather, the fiend in the tales of her life that broke her into a million parts. He’s extremely furious at him for making her this way – destroyed almost beyond repair. He curses himself for not being there every time she screams and chokes on her own tears when the inerasable self-disgust creeps its way into the darkest corners of her mind. He’s mad at himself for being so powerless, for not being able to do anything as the flowers within her—trapped too long in a drought that no amount of water can bring them back to life—wither.

Another hour passes and Kyungsoo’s still sitting in that ugly violet couch, the weight of Eun Gi’s head is warm on his outstretched hand. The girl has fallen asleep from exhaustion ; the weight of mental and physical drain is too much for her small, weak body. Kyungsoo stares at her tear-stained cheek and her partly-opened lips. The same delicate lips he had pressed against his just a few hours ago. Then his eyes move to her left wrist that houses a large number of scars—cutting scars. Kyungsoo blinks back his tears ; the knot in his heart tightens upon seeing the evident of Eun Gi’s self-harm attempts, as if the very knife were stabbing him in the chest.

Watching her peaceful rhythm of inhales and exhales, Kyungsoo rubs her wrist gently and wonders :

How can someone look so beautiful and broken at the same time?

How can someone so beautiful got herself crumbled under the enormous weight of nightmares and traumas?

How can those nightmares consume her ray almost completely, leaving only a shell of dim light that flickers every few heartbeats and threatens to disappear anytime?

“Eun Gi,” He murmurs softly, not expecting an answer.

“Hmm?”

Kyungsoo wonders how long she’s been awake with her eyelids closed.

“I think I love you.”

His voice sounds like a cup of hot chocolate in a drizzling rain, the low timbre sweet and calm and comforting. Eun Gi smiles.

-

Kyungsoo drives Eun Gi to her third eating disorder group sharing session on Saturday. She finally does something about her weight loss obsession.

They meet up with Kyungsoo’s sister, Jung Hee, per the younger girl’s request at a busy coffee shop near their parents’ house once the 2-hour mental treatment is over. Kyungsoo introduces Eun Gi to his sister as his girlfriend. The butterflies on Eun Gi’s stomach won’t stop fluttering. That is the first time Kyungsoo formally introduces her as his significant other to anyone.

“Dad moved out. Mom and I stay at our home,” Jung Hee announces while stirring her iced Cappuccino.

Kyungsoo nods, “Are you okay?” His parents are officially divorced now.

“Better than when they were still together. At least the house’s quiet now,” Jung Hee stares sadly at her older brother. “You sure you don’t want to come home? Mom’s really worried about you.”

“I’m happy where I am now,” Kyungsoo smiles reassuringly, glancing at Eun Gi as he says so.

“Eun Gi Unnie, please bear with my oppa. He’s too much of a weirdo to handle sometimes. His eyes are the problem. People may think he’s glaring at them, but it’s just his poor eyesight, really.” His sister teases.

“I agree. You should quit forgetting to bring your glasses,” Eun Gi responds, eyeing Kyungsoo.

He shakes his head disapprovingly.

“I want a boyfriend, too,” Jung Hee pouts.

“Yah,” Kyungsoo snaps his neck so fast you could almost hear a crack. “You’re not even 18! Just focus on studying and no boyfriend until you graduate.”

His sister scoffs, secretly finding her brother’s flustered nagging cute, “You sound just like Mom.”

They leave after Eun Gi finishes the last sip of her sugar-free Americano. Jung Hee waves goodbye when Kyungsoo drops her off in front of their house — his mom’s house. Both Kyungsoo and Eun Gi return the wave with a wide smile, pink thin lips and plump heart-shaped ones curve upward in sync.

They spend the rest of the evening cuddling in Kyungsoo’s sofa. They lie face to face, Eun Gi’s head nuzzled at the crook of Kyungsoo’s neck while he puts one hand around her waist and  the other plays with her hair. They lie in silence, no words traded as they listen to each other’s heartbeat.

“I think the sharing session works,” she says as she readjusts her head’s position against the boy’s chest. He smells like warm linen and melon-scented soap. “The sight of food doesn’t make me want to throw up anymore.”

“You should never skip it, then,” Kyungsoo rests his chin on top of her head. “It’s not fun to hear grumbling stomach in between our kisses.”

She chuckles, “What a motivation to recover.”

Just then, Kyungsoo’s belly lets out an embarrassingly loud inhuman sound.

“Is that your stomach?” Eun Gi crinkles her nose.

The boy grins, “Talk about timing.”

Eun Gi abruptly gets up and walks to his kitchen. “I’m gonna cook something for you. You stay there and let me do what you always did for me.” She points the tip of a spatula to his direction, a warning of don’t move, I don’t need your help here.

“I have a collection of Chinese delivery phone numbers if your cooking turns out horrible,” Kyungsoo teases, an exuberant beam plastered on his face.

Eun Gi ignores him as she rummages through his fridge and takes out eggs, chicken strips, carrots, broccoli, onions, and cloves of garlic.

Kyungsoo fetches his guitar and starts strumming it after a couple minutes of adjusting the keys. His sweet voice suits ‘She’s Dreaming’ perfectly. Eun Gi is tempted to stop cutting vegetables and sit beside him to listen to his singing as closely as possible, but cooking is her priority in that very moment.

“You know, I’d totally support you to audition for SM Entertainment if you’re not too old.” She praises him while whisking up her eggs.

He pouts, “I’m 24 in Korean age, I’m not old.”

“Well, G-Dragon was 24 when ‘Fantastic Baby’ was released.”

“Why are you comparing me to a legend?” he sighs dramatically, “Okay, I’ll just stop and go sulking in the corner now.”

But he doesn’t. He continues with an acoustic version of ‘Boyfriend’, and Eun Gi occasionally closes her eyes with her back facing him, wrapping her head around the symphony. His voice is warm and fuzzy. Hot chocolate in a drizzling rain. Melted sugar disguising itself as a euphony she has the luxury to savor.

Eun Gi is almost reluctant to announce that dinner is ready, because it means Kyungsoo has to put his guitar down and stop singing.

“I’m nervous,” she states just before Kyungsoo spoons a large chicken strip down his throat.

“Why?”

“First time cooking in years. I don’t know if you’ll like it.”

“I still have the Chinese delivery numbers,” he grins.

She opens a packet of store-bought kimchi and rolls her eyes.

‘Delicious’ isn’t quite the word to describe Eun Gi’s cooking, but it’s not terrible either. The omelette is fine ; the stir-fry is a little bland, but edible nonetheless. Kyungsoo stuffs himself.

Eun Gi doesn’t hesitate to put food on as much as she used to, even though her eating pace hasn’t gotten any better. She knows Kyungsoo plays a huge role in this improvement, much bigger than her group sharing sessions or her psychiatrist’s encouragements do. Everything has been a lot easier since Kyungsoo invites himself into her miserable life, and she’s grateful for it. She’s grateful for Kyungsoo.

“Eat as much as you need. I don’t care how much you weigh, I just need you to be healthy and happy.” Kyungsoo had said.

“What, you’re gonna bake and eat me like the witch in Hansel and Gretel did once I fatten up?” she answered jokingly.

“Your lips would suffice, thank you very much. They’re the sweetest part of all. I don’t think the flesh would suit my taste.”

-

“Don’t move your head, and don’t talk too much.” Eun Gi grumbles ; her left hand is holding a sketch pad, a studio pencil gripped on her right one.

They are sitting on Eun Gi’s balcony, their feet dangling on the space between the bars separating the safety of her balcony’s floor from empty air seven stories above the ground.

“My nose itches,” Kyungsoo complains.

Eun Gi doesn’t respond.

Kyungsoo clears his throat, “I didn’t know you can draw.”

Eun Gi nods, eyes unmoving from her sketch. “I used to make money from it. People like my style, and I love doing it, but lately it’s been too hard to focus on anything and drawing isn’t an exception,” she blows the dirt on her sketchpad, “But you make a good model. A good muse, even. Has anyone told you that?” she finally looks up and smiles.

“Well, I never had an artist girlfriend before.” Kyungsoo attempts a wink and gets his arm poked deeply with her pencil in return.

They sit in silence for minutes, the scratches of her pencil against rough paper and the distant voices from the TV in her living room are the only sound around them. Eun Gi mostly focuses on her sketch, adding a few here and smudging faint shades there, making sure to emphasize the stars in his eyes. Occasionally she looks up at Kyungsoo to make sure her drawing looks exactly like its model – and always finds Kyungsoo already looking at her. He’s studying her face as she does his, memorizing her features precisely as if he were also sketching her in his mind.

When Lotto plays in the TV, Kyungsoo breaks the silence by voicing his imagination aloud.

“If I won the lottery, I would get us a nice, comfortable house somewhere far from the city, with a large backyard and a fish pond. Maybe we could get a dog. Golden retriever would be nice, they make a good pillow and very loyal as well. You would paint, I would sing. Every morning we’d walk our dog, maybe we could name it Timmy or Tammy, according to its gender. The air would be much fresher, the sun brighter, and it’d feel nice to be away from all the chaos and vehicle noises the city beholds.”

Eun Gi looks up and sees the bright sparkle in Kyungsoo’s eyes she adores so much. There he is : her panacea—her cure for all ills. She stops moving her pencil, rests her sketchpad on her lap, and joins in the daydream.

 “Or we could get a place somewhere near a stream. You would fish, but you’d be so bad at it—either that or the water is so clear that the fish can escape easily once they see your sloppy hands approaching. Either way, you’d sulk all day and bought chicken for dinner instead. But once in a blue moon, when you actually catch something, you would let the doomed fish live long enough for me to draw them, because you want your achievement to be captured perfectly, as if you forgot cameras exist. Then you’d beam all night long as you cook your game, and we’d roll out a blanket in the backyard and eat while gazing at the stars.”

Only when she stops talking do they realize they’ve been staring at each other so intently, their eyes filled with yearning of something that doesn’t quite have a name.

“I can already smell the fish stew,” Kyungsoo comments, sniffing vigorously.

“No. Fresh fish are best grilled.”

One moment they are laughing at their pointless debate, and the next they are kissing—their sixth kiss—longer and deeper than any of the previous ones.

-

“You’re insane,” Eun Gi gapes at the sight of Kyungsoo in her front door at 3 in the morning.

“Go change while I pack us some food.” Kyungsoo plays with his car keys.

“We have finals tomorrow.”

“Our last finals. We deserve a little bit of vacation to relax the nerves.”

Tomorrow is the last day of their final weeks and after that, their fall semester will be over.

“No. I haven’t studied yet.” Eun Gi replies firmly.

Kyungsoo laughs slowly as if confirming that he hasn’t either. “You can study with me after we arrive.”

He herds her to her room and leaves her to change her clothes before she can protest any further. Kyungsoo heads to the kitchen to pop a bag of corn kernels and pack them with two bottles of orange juice. Eun Gi comes out reluctantly just when Kyungsoo finishes smoothing up the paper bag.

“This is a bad idea.” Eun Gi claims, but she doesn’t refuse when Kyungsoo takes her hand as they walk to his car with matching footsteps. It’s the beginning of winter and the air is chilly. Both of them wear two jackets.

The 3-hour drive doesn’t feel that long as Eun Gi tries her best to keep Kyungsoo either talking or munching, to make sure he’s not driving sleepily, even if there’s not even a slight fatigue in his eyes. By the time they arrive, there’s only a quarter of popcorn left on the paper bag. Both of them step out of the car as the soft sound of waves hitting the shore welcomes them. Eun Gi takes off her shoes and let the sand comfort her freezing feet. Kyungsoo plops himself a feet away from the line that separates the land and the sea after abandoning his sneakers somewhere near his car. He pats a spot next to him, beckoning the girl to sit beside him.

“Come here,” He smiles. Eun Gi obeys.

“Can you draw something on the sand?” Eun Gi has no idea how and when Kyungsoo retrieves the thin twig he’s now handing her.

“What should I draw?”

He smirks. “I don’t know, a heart sign, maybe?”

“I’m sorry, Do Kyungsoo-ssi,” he knows she’s teasing him when she calls him formally with his full name. “I don’t think I can accept your challenge. Heart signs make me cringe.” She takes the twig anyway and starts carving the sand.

So instead of fulfilling Kyungsoo’s request, Eun Gi draws three big, almost identical rectangles, meaning them to be panels like the ones short-strip comics have.

On the first one, she draws an oval and gives it features : crescent eyes,  a straight line as a nose, small lips, straight thin hair, and a gloomy look all over its face.

On the second rectangle, she draws the same girl, facing her right this time, looking slightly dumbstruck. On her right is another face : big owl eyes, sharp jaw but soft cheeks, heart-shaped lips beaming radiantly. She adds a few more lines surrounding them, giving an effect that rays of light are radiating from him and shining on her.

The third two-dimensional box is populated by lines and curves taking form of the same girl and boy, sharing a thick-looking scarf around their necks, but now they both are laughing. Eun Gi adds a little note under the last panel :  넌 나를 구했다. You saved me.

Kyungsoo blinks. Long seconds of staring at her drawing and he still can’t believe what he sees. Each lines and dots and curves are carved deep into the sand, clean and meaningful. You saved me.

Eun Gi stands at the side of her impromptu masterpiece, satisfied upon seeing the touched look on Kyungsoo’s face. She doesn’t realize Kyungsoo has stood up and walked to her spot until she feels a pair of hands slipping around her waist and hugs her from the back. She isn’t surprised when Kyungsoo buries his nose into her shoulder. She’s surprised when she turns around and see the longing, painful look on his eyes. Her heart softens. Kyungsoo’s hands are still circling her in a tight, desperate wrap, but they are standing face to face now.

“Thank you,” Eun Gi whispers.

“For what?” Kyungsoo looks down to her, searching her eyes.

“I never told you this before because it sounds cheesy and I hate being cheesy, but thank you. For everything. For coming to my life. For staying through my worst. For helping me fight all the difficulties that used to make feel that my life wasn’t worth living. For never leaving me alone. For making me happy—happier than I’ve ever been,” Eun Gi smiles as she locks her eyes on his. Countless times of staring at his face and it still stuns her how the heavily contradictive black and white look so beautiful in his eyes. “Thank you. Never before have I been so grateful for having someone in my life.”

A few seconds of silence and Kyungsoo kisses her. Eun Gi totally welcomes it when he closes his lips on hers gently, guiding them to move against each other in a familiar rhythm. He rubs the pink blush on her cheek with his thumb while she runs her fingers through the boy’s hair, noticing that the thick locks are now longer than she remembers. And then everything escalates quickly. One second Kyungsoo’s her lips carefully, asking for permission, and the next they are all over each other’s mouth. They explore every nook and cranny as their tongues fight for dominance. Eun Gi puts her palms on Kyungsoo’s shoulders when he pulls her impossibly closer. Making out at the beach proves to be more difficult than it sounds, for the sticky sand makes them stumble and topple down into an intriguing position, with Kyungsoo on top of her. They are both panting but somehow manage to laugh under their breaths, trying to control the thirst they have for each other. Kyungsoo scans her subtly, from the top of her head to the end of her torso, until his eyes find her lips again and slams them on his. They kiss with such longing and impatience, trying to savor every last bit of each other as if this would be their last time together. They are halfway undressing each other when the abrupt chilly air stabbing on their skin reminds them that they are on an open, public space. There’s no other soul in sight at the beach this morning, but still. They pull away only to chuckle embarrassedly and start putting their clothes back on. Right before Eun Gi zips her jacket up, Kyungsoo leans in again and pecks every inch of her face slowly, gracefully : her forehead, both of her cheeks, her nose, her temples, her chin, the space between her eyes. Eun Gi inhales the air Kyungsoo exhales. His breath is warm, just like everything about his being, and Eun Gi starts tracing her fingers on the lines of his shoulders. Butterfly kisses on her jaws. Playful bites on her neck that leave her half whimpering, half his name. Kyungsoo, Kyungsoo. One of her hands is buried on his neck, the other digging in the sand.

They lie down side by side when everything is over ; their entire bodies are covered with grains of sand but they couldn’t care less. They listen to each other’s breath as the sun starts to rise.

“Aren’t you cold?” Kyungsoo asks.

Eun Gi shakes her head. “Can we stay like this?”

He smirks. “Sure, but you told me we have finals tomorrow.”

“I do bring books on my backpack, you know.”

Kyungsoo laughs. “You always do the most impractical things.”

They drown themselves in the calming sound of the waves hitting the sand, slowly washing away the drawing Eun Gi made half an hour ago.

“We can,” Kyungsoo speaks after a few moments pass.

“What?” Eun Gi asks, puzzled.

“We can stay like this. Together, I mean,” He purrs softly, “I’d love to.”

I love you, and I’m scared.

“That’d be nice,” Eun Gi ponders, not noticing the yearning in Kyungsoo’s voice. “We can go to a lot of impulsive trips ; you’ll drive and sing, I’ll take pictures along the road to paint them later. You’ll prepare the snacks and I’ll decide our destinations. I’ll judge  the food you make and you’ll complain if the place we’re heading to doesn’t turn out to be as great as I convince you.”

“You’d make a really nosy backseat driver. You know my cooking never leaves room for complaints,” he says defiantly. He likes this imaginative side of her very much. “Plus, my vote for our destination counts more since I’m the one driving.”

“Let’s just drive in turns then,” she playfully pouts. “We switch every one hour. Or I’ll do everything : decide the places, drive, and make snacks. Not that making popcorn is particularly hard.”

“Why don’t we have a popcorn-making competition? Chanyeol will be the judge.” Kyungsoo teases.

“Deal.”

“I’ll make paprika-flavored one next time.”

“I’m gonna use that expensive grated parmesan.”

Both of them love the small talks, the occasional silence, the comfortable air hanging around them, everything that involves them being together. The distant croaking of seagulls. The faint swish of car engine passing the road behind them.

“Kyungsoo?” The first sunray illuminating her face makes her look much younger, almost like a child, the brightness shines upon her pale skin.

“Hmm?”

Kyungsoo wonders if somewhere in the parallel universe, another Eun Gi and Kyungsoo are lying side by side on their backyard, gazing at the stars.

“I love you, too.”

The sweet words voiced by the girl she can’t live without are blending with morning winter breeze to create a pleasant harmony in his ears. Kyungsoo closes his eyes and smiles.

­-

Kyungsoo tells Chanyeol about his parents’ divorce the next day. The tall guy finally gets the answer why his best friend always looked devastated—although he constantly denied it—a few months back, and he’s relieved to know that Kyungsoo’s okay with it now. Eun Gi also tells him about her panic disorder so that he understands why the girl always swam in solitude : meeting people was very hard for her. Eun Gi apologizes if the way she behaved seemed rude or ever offended him in any way. Chanyeol shrugs and smiles and says why should you apologize for trying to protect yourself. He’s also happy for both Kyungsoo and Eun Gi. The effect they have for each other is evident : Kyungsoo talks and jokes and laughs a lot more, Eun Gi stutters and fidgets nervously and avoids people a lot less. Chanyeol isn’t the only one who beams all the time now; they do, too, especially in the company of each other. Both Kyungsoo and Eun Gi have never been happier. But it doesn’t last long.