Chapter 22                         

Baekhyun.

You know how songs usually go? How amazing it is to wake up when the first thing you see is the person you love the most? I’m feeling it now. This is too damn amazing. I rest my head on my hand as I watch her sleep. If this is what I get every morning then I’ll set up my alarm just to wake up before her and watch her as she dreams.

I reach out and caressed her hair. She moves a bit and her eyes open. As soon as her eyes meet mine she smiles. I do too. She moves closer to my chest and hugs me. “Did you sleep well?” I whisper kissing the side of her head.

“Mm.” She mumbles. “I can’t get used to this. You’re leaving soon.”

My heart breaks at what she said. I almost forgot that I have to go back after this. This is the first time I hated the weekend.

I hug her back and rest my head on hers. She looks at me and I hold her cheek. “I’m sorry.”

She smiles as she shake her head. I lean to kiss her. Her arms make their way on my neck and I pull her closer. I climb on top of her but I don’t stop kissing her. “Baek..” she repeats my name in between my kisses. Damn it, I’m losing my control again. Every sound she makes takes everything away from me.

The doorbell rings and I groan. Why now?

“We have to get that.” She chuckles.

“They can come back later.”

She laughs and pushed me. “That’s rude.” She hops from the bed and I smile seeing her wearing my sweatshirt. I like it more when she wears my clothes. I can just give it all to her and stare at her all day.

I get off the bed and follow her. I stop seeing Yeon Hee and Chanyeol on the front door.

“Why the hell are you here too?” I point at him.

“Because I know there’s a possibility of you not going back.”

He makes his way inside and puts his luggage down on the living room as he sits comfortably. Yeon Hee enters and waves at me with her having a big bag with her.

“Why does everybody have bags with them?” I look at Yu An.

She shrugs as she walks to me hugging me. “But it’s nice having the four of us together again. They say they’ll be staying for the weekend too.”

“What the hell?”

Yu An frowns. “Do you not like it?”

The way she looks at me makes me love it. I just hate it that I have to share her with them when I have a mindset that I have her for myself for the weekend.

“Do you guys haven’t cooked breakfast yet?” Yeon Hee asks walking to the kitchen.

I eye her still hugging Yu An. “We just woke up.”

“Hm..” she stares at me then to Yu An. “You both slept together?”

“Yes. He sleeps at my room too.” Yu An answers without hesitation.

Chanyeol stands and laughs. “So did you both do it yet?”

“What the hell? Is privacy not even in your vocabulary?”

Yu An laughs and walks to the fridge. “Do you guys eat heavy for breakfast?”

Chanyeol seats at the dining chair. “I’m fine whatever you make me.”

I gasp. I walk to where she is and grabbed the pan from her. “You sit and I’ll cook. You’ll never cook while he’s here.”

Yu An laughs. “Yu An, you have one protective boyfriend.” Yeon Hee says pouring herself a cup of juice.

“But I love him.” I smile then I eye Chanyeol. He shrugs and chuckles.

“Give me a break Baek.”

“Yeah, I’ll give it a thought.”

I glare at Chanyeol as he dress himself. I was really having a good time until he came. He noticed my stare and laughs.

“Holding a grudge are we?”

“I need not to elaborate.” He chuckles walking over to the chair as he dry his hair but I know his reason earlier is not the only reason he’s here. “Tell me, why are you really here?”

“I can really keep nothing from you huh?” He opens his bag and takes a piece of paper in it handing it to me. “I wanted to give you this and you to make your decision while you’re here.”

I take the paper and read it. I don’t know what to feel. “What the hell?”

“Opportunities are there Baekhyun. What will you do?”

--

Chanyeol.

I smile seeing her again for a long time. She looks so happy with my best friend and that makes everything worth it. They’re both happy now and I’ve got to nothing to wish for. Me coming here for that news for Baekhyun makes me feel really bad though.

“You got thinner Yu An.” I utter handing her the plate that I rinsed.

“Did I? Baekhyun mentioned that too.” She replied holding her face. I’m not the first one to notice things about her anymore huh? “Are you doing well? You look good.”

“Do I?” I let out a laugh. “I got over you already. Of course I look good.”

She laughs and grabs me by my ear like she do in the past whenever she gets annoyed by me. “I heard you’ve been keeping up to Yeon Hee?”

“Oh yeah. I ask her about things. She’s really good so I think she just can keep being my manager forever. She’s even better than mine right now.”

She smiles putting the last plate down. “Can I ask you something?” I nod waiting for her question. “Do you.. Do you not feel anything for her Chan?”

I freeze at her question. I haven’t thought of that at all. I haven’t looked at Yeon Hee that way. “I haven’t thought if her that way.”

“Do you think you will in the future?”

I shrug. Her question makes me question myself too. Will I be able to look at Yeon Hee that way?

“You both, Baekhyun and I found a place where we can go to today.”

I hand Yu An the towel and wiped her hands on it. We walk towards the living room seeing Baekhyun with his laptop.

“Let’s go here.” He says showing us a picture of a ski lodge. “I think it’s nice. Chan and I can drive on our way there. I also booked a car that we can rent.”

“Wait, you both are driving now?”

Baekhyun grins. “Loving me even more?”

Yu An laughs and ruffled his hair. It’s really nice seeing them so happy together. I turn and saw Yeon Hee looking at me. She walks closer when Yu An joined Baekhyun at the couch as they find a place where we can stay.

“You okay?” She asks.

I smile as to how she’s still considerate towards me whenever we’re all together. I nod and pat her head. “Never been better. When are we leaving?”

“At noon.”

“Think we should pack our things?”

She smile nodding. We head to the room and before I went in, I called her again. “Yeon.”

She turns holding her door open. “You got any boyfriend yet?”

She lets out a laugh and crossed her arms staring at me. “Why? Interested in me now?”

I grin. “Just asking.”

--

Baekhyun.

We arrived the house that we will be staying for today. I watch as Yu An roam inside the house in awe. “Thank you for this.”

I smile. “Anything for you.”

“Ugh. I can’t get used to this. Are you?” Yeon Hee looks at Chanyeol. He stares at us and smiles.

“But I love seeing them both happy though.”

Yeon Hee rolls her eyes and grabs Yu An. “We’re getting dressed. No time to waste. We’re skiing everyone!!”

I laugh and Chanyeol gestured for us to get dressed too. I nod and we walk to our room to change.

“Have you decided yet?”

I grab my jacket from my luggage and tossed it on the bed. “Not yet. It’s killing me actually.”

“Have you told her?”

I shake my head no and sat on the bed. He takes off his top and I threw him his change of clothes. “It’s not that easy.”

“Well you should tell her while we’re here because this will be your final chance. It’s better if you’re going to decide here. That’s the reason why I brought that letter to you personally.”

I sigh and nod. I hate how right he is with every word that he says. I stand continuing to change my clothes and we both headed down. Yu An stands seeing me and I smile at her.

“You both look nice.” She says.

“Thank you. And so do you both.” I say.

We all headed to the rentals. I was quite surprised when Chanyeol took initiative to get Yeon Hee’s too. I look at Yu An and she’s smiling.

“Are you informed of this?”

“I noticed.” She replied. “They will look great together don’t you think?”

I smile in agreement. I never expected for this to happen by I’m up for it.

Yu An and I sit by the veranda staring at the lights. Yeon Hee and Chanyeol came back with the drinks. I chuckle letting go of Yu An.

“I think this will be the first time you’re drinking Yu.”

“Not really. The first time she tried it she was really drunk because of frustration of being away from...you.” I look at Yeon Hee then to Yu An. Her eyes are glaring right at Yeon Hee but she doesn’t look at me. She drank because of that?

“Here.” She smiles handing me a car of beer. “I have high tolerance now because of that... I think?”

I chuckle grabbing the beer from her hand. She sat beside me and I put my arms around her. I watch her staring at the beer and I laugh.

“You don’t have to drink. We got you juice instead.” Chanyeol tosses a can of orange juice and I caught it for her.

“I’m going to drink.” Yu An said stubbornly. I smile watching her open the can and sipped on the drink. As soon as she drinks it she gets disgusted by it. I smile and grab the beer away from her.

“Don’t force it okay? Nothing will change.” She frowns getting the juice from me and drinks it.

“That’s such a shame. I want to play with Yu An, the drinking game.”

“If it’s a game, I can play. I don’t have to drink a lot in a single chug do I?”

I laugh at her cuteness. “Suit yourself but I warned you Yu.”

She smiles in excitement and grabs my hand as we form a small circle. “Let’s just play a simple game. Rock Paper Scissors. One who loses will drink.” Yeon Hee says.

“I’m up for it.”

“Me too.” I add.

“I am too!”

I smile looking at her. She’s just too cute.

We began the game and the first one who lost is Chanyeol. He drank the first one and the game goes on. Now we are on our sixteenth round. So far Yeon Hee got one drink, I got three, Chanyeol two and Yu An, I guess I can say she’s not that good at this game. She got ten and she’s blushing a bit right now.

“You sure you can go on?”

“I’m good!” She exclaims but I can tell she’s a little bit drunk. “Come on, hands in!”

“I don’t think her tolerance went high.” Yeon Hee laughs.

“I think it’s cute.” I glare at Chanyeol. “That’s just a compliment.”

“Come on! Rock, Paperrrrrr Scissors!” I wince looking at the result. She’s going to have to drink again. “Ugh. Again. But I’m starting to getttt a hang of it. Come on Yeon give it to me!”

“Alright! Here!” She takes the glass from Yeon Hee and I stare as she chugs the glass down. She’s tougher than I expected.

“Okay! Another one! Rock, Paper Scissors!” We all gasped. She’s going to drink again. She chugs on the glass and I sigh.

“I think we should end this now.” I say.

“Whyyy? I’m having fun.” Yu An giggles. I find this cute but I don’t want to share this sight to anyone. I stood up carrying her.

“I’ll put her to bed now.”

“Yeah, you should.”

I walk upstairs listening to Yu An hum on our way there and I can’t help but to smile. “Baekkie..” she utter placing her arms around my neck.

“Baekkie?” I laugh. That’s the first time she called me that. She’s getting cuter and cuter.

“Mm. Sixteen hours left!” I put her down to bed and I look at her not knowing what she’s saying.

“I don’t think I’m following.” She grins and kisses me. I think I’m starting to love the drunken Yu An. I kissed her back and she taste like soju mixed with beer. I love it.

“Mm..” she moans then starts to takes of her sweater. She chuckles and moves away from me. She lets out a hiccup and I laugh. “Sixteen hours left with you..” her eyes closes but her hands remain on my cheek. She’s drunk but she failed to forget that I’m leaving again soon.

I lie next to her and hug her close to me. Her hair smells so sweet. I really love her shampoo. “Baekhyun..”

“Hm?”

“I can’t get used to this..”

“I know.” I whisper kissing her forehead. “But I’m selfish. I want you close to me Yu An.”

I feel her nod against me. Her hands trail from my chest to my back. She clasp on my top and nudged even closer. “I love you..”

“I love you too Yu An.”

--

Yu An.

I open my eyes and felt a pang on my head. I drank again and my head hurts so much. I sigh getting of my bed. I smiled seeing Yeon Hee next to me sleeping soundly. I head to the kitchen and saw Baekhyun holding a cup on his hand. I smile at his presence. He still hasn’t seen me. I wrap my arms around his waist and he throws his head back on my shoulder smiling at me.

“It’s two eighteen in the morning. Why aren’t you asleep?” He asks.

“I can say the same to you.”

“I saw a new you today. The drunken Yu An.” I chuckle and he smiles.

He sits straight getting off from the chair and takes me to the couch. He sat on it first and he pats his lap making me lie on him. When I do, I stare up and him and he did the same staring at me. He plays with my hair and I don’t like the feeling that I’m having. I’m getting used to him being here which in fact I am not supposed to be feeling because I’m being too hard on myself. On Baekhyun too.

“There’s something I have to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“Chanyeol gave me something earlier. It’s a letter. I’m being offered to be trained by a retired athlete.”

I sit up taking his hand. “That’s great!”

He smiles. “I know.”

“Did you say you’re taking it?”

“I’m still thinking about it.”

“Why?”

He looks at me for a while and he kisses my hand. “Yu An, me being trained means that I have to stay there longer than four years.”

I’m blank. I don’t know how to react on that. I feel like someone just slapped something out of me. He’s been offered a good opportunity but knowing that he’ll stay there even longer... I don’t know how to react. But thinking about it, it’s a nice opportunity for him to make himself grow more as an athlete.

“If you don’t have me, will you take it?” His expression changes. He runs his hand on his face releasing a breath. I can tell he’s going through a dilemma right now.

“Yu An, please don’t ask me questions like that.” He looks back at me still looking confused.

“You’re confused right now because of me. It’s a good opportunity Baek.”

“Why are you not stopping me from going?” He whispered. His voice starts to get shaky as I continue to listen. I smile and hold his cheeks making him look at me.

“I don’t want you to stop pursuing what you really love just because of me Baek. Whatever your decision is, I will support you. I know this may be hard for us but I still love you no matter what. We made it for four years and I know we can make it for another.”

He takes my hand and kisses it. I can feel his tears flow from my hand. “I love it both. Running and you.”

“I know. But it has always been your goal to be a good athlete. This is a good opportunity. This came before me.”

“I...” he lets out a breath and I take him in my arms. I can feel him sob so hard that it made me cry too. “I don’t know loving a person could be this hard Yu An..”

I wiped his tears with my sleeve kissing him. “Take your time thinking okay? Whatever it is you want to do, I’ll support you.”

He hugs me tight and I bury my face on his chest. “I love you so so much.”

“I love you too.”

I turn waking up the next day with Yeon Hee not in her bed anymore. I stand walking at the kitchen and around the house but she’s nowhere to be found. I open the closet where she placed her bag earlier but she’s not here.

I headed to Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s room but by the time I got there, I can only see Baekhyun. I walk over to his bed and wake him. He groans and smiles seeing me. “Hey.”

“Have you seen the both of them? Their things aren’t here.”

He sits and stretched. I smile as I watch him. It has only been a day since he’s here and I’m seeing a lot of his sides. He reaches out for his phone and read a text. He opens his arms and I get that cue to climb on the bed with him. He takes me in between as he hugs me from behind.

“Guess they left.”

I look at him. “What?”

He showed me a text from Chanyeol then rests his chin on my shoulder.

I don’t know what gotten into Yeon Hee but she woke me up five in the morning. Said we’re gonna leave but by the time I got in the car, we’re the only ones there. Guess this was planned. See you at the airport later.

I gasp. “They left?”

“Guess so.”

“Why am I the only one panicking about this?”

He laughs and kisses me. “Yu, relax. They texted us so it’s fine. I guess they want us to-“ he glanced at the clock and started counting. “To spend the last ten hours together.”

I laugh. “You just counted.”

“Yeah, I hate counting my hours with you.” He shifts back to his position after putting his phone back at the night stand. “You just counted when I put you to bed last night. But I guess you’re too drunk to even remember.”

I laugh. I hold his cheek as I stare. “Did you decide yet?”

I kind of regret asking him that question because he looks so down right now. “Yeah.”

My heart starts pounding at his answer. He’s decided and half of me want to know and half doesn’t. Because there’s a possibility that he’ll choose sports over me. He leans closer kissing me slow like he’s taking his time to memorize this moment because we both now this will be the last. I gasp for air and he lets me take in what I need. The moment he thinks I got enough, he kisses me again. I wonder if he can taste the beer that I drunk last night? Because I think I can still taste it.

“Yu An..” he says huffing staring at me. His kiss makes me feel like he’s saying sorry because he chose running over me. But I prefer he show it through his actions. I don’t think I can take words right now.

I grab his neck pulling him to me. I don’t want him to talk. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t think I can. I can feel his hands under my shirt and I gasp when his hand contacts my skin. He has this effect on me and I think I’m going to melt. We’ve done this once and I never thought that doing this will make me feel so good.

“Oh god..” I gasp as he touch me. His mouth goes from my lips down to my neck then he stop. I open my eyes and he’s staring down at me. “Why?”

He sits up running his hand through his hair. “Yu An, I have to tell you what my decision is. You just distracted me back there.”

So he can tell. I thought we can go on and just forget about it. He takes my hand and kisses it. “Are you afraid of what I may say?”

I want to take my hand away from him right now because I’m starting to shake. Any moment now and I’m going to burst out in tears. I look up fighting away my tears but I forgot they can roll down on the side of my eyes.

“Oh god. Yu...” he takes me close. I hide my face on his neck as I cry. I can feel his hand soothe my back as I do.

“I don’t want to hear it. You can just take me right now and never say a word..”

He pushes me softly and makes me look at him. “Hey, look at me.” He whispered. His words right now is making me melt even more. “I don’t want you for your body. What we did yesterday, I did it to you because I love you and I’m so thankful that you gave me your first. I told myself not to be wasted. That I’m only going to give my first to the girl I love. That I’m going to do it only if I know that she’s really the one for me.”

I’m crying so hard right hard right now and he’s taking all the air that I need right now. “How do you even know that I’m the one for you?”

“I know it right here.” He says softly making me feel his heartbeat. “Don’t you think that I’m the one for you too Yu An?”

I bit my lip as I sob. To be honest, I don’t think we’ll last with the relationship that we’re having right now. We’re so far away from each other that it’s hurting the both of us so bad. He gets out of bed and grabs something from his bag. He comes back with a small box on his hand and he hands it to me.

“Open it.” And I do. I gasp looking at the ring inside. “That’s the first medal that I’ve won. Before I left for the first time, I saw this shop that turns medals, trophies and other sorts into jewelries and ornaments. When I got inside, I swore to myself that I’m going to win a real medal and have it made to a ring then I’ll have you wear it.”

He takes the ring from the box. I stare at the ring. It’s gold and it has a small diamond on top. “Will you wear it? Yu An, will you take the honor of believing with me that you’re the one for me? Will you marry me?”

I’m crying so hard right now that I want to throw my eyes and curse at them for not letting me look at the ring properly. I nod and he smiles putting the ring on my finger. He leans kissing me. “Thank you.” He whispered.

“I love you Baekhyun..”

“I love you too.” He smiles. “Stop crying. I was supposed to give this to you next month when I return but seeing you look at me like that makes me do it right now. You ruined my plan Yu.”

I stop. I think all of my tears were out on hold after hearing what he said. “Wait. Return? Next month? But didn’t you decided to be trained?”

He laughs hugging me from behind as we both stare at the ring on my hand. “Did you hear me say that?” I shake my head. “You’re getting ahead Yu. I didn’t say that.”

“But you want to fulfill your dreams.”

“I do and you’re in it. I’m just going to stay here with you and be an athlete. I’m still running so it doesn’t matter where I am. You told me to do what I love and I am. I can’t leave one back here in Korea.”

I sit facing him and kiss him. I’ve never been so thankful in my whole existence. And this guy in front of me right now makes every second of my existence worth it.