Everything was perfect. It was a warm summer evening, but the sun had long since set and the breeze that was coming off the ocean and in through Sana's open window, made it so it wasn't unbearably hot like it had been for the past six days.

It was the middle of August, so the heat had well and truly set in, and Sana and Jihyo had made a habit of going down to the beach every other day since summer started. They both knew that when they started college  in the fall, they would be spending much less time together because they wouldn't be going to the same college.

Even though Sana knew that if she and Jihyo did go to separate Universities, she still encouraged Jihyo applying to her dream one. She didn't want to be the reason that Jihyo didn't do what she'd want for so long. So, with her own desire and Sana's encouragement, Jihyo applied and was accepted.

They both took comfort in the fact that they'd both be on the eastern seaboard, but they knew the distance would be difficult. There was no doubt that there would be periods where the only communication they'd have would be a single text, and that there would be fights, but they were both prepared for it. Their relationship ignited something deep inside them, and neither was prepared to lose that.

So, with their impending departure and separation, Jihyo and Sana were determined to spend and enjoy every moment they got to spend together.

It was approaching midnight and both of them were still wide awake. Their legs were a tangled mess and their arms were wrapped around one another, holding each other close. They would voice the random thoughts that crossed their minds, but they were mostly just trying to commit the moment to memory.

As Sana stared intently at Jihyo, she could help the feeling the bubbled up inside. She'd never felt like that before; had such intense and strong feelings of love? It couldn't be love, could it? They'd only been dating for three months, surely those feelings weren't love.

Sana knew there was something different about Jihyo, about the way she made her feel, she'd known it since New Year's Eve last year, but surely she wasn't in love with Jihyo, not yet anyway.

But Sana kept thinking about the way Jihyo made her feel and the way she would hold her with such strength but also such softness and care. Sana had picked up on the smile that everyone seemed to mention; the smile that Jihyo would only give to her. And the sparkle and pure happiness Sana would see in Jihyo's eyes whenever they were together.

Then it dawned on her; it is love. What she felt for Jihyo was love. But not just the kind of love you have for a partner, it was such an intense love that Sana knew she'd never be the same if she lost Jihyo. 

That feeling that seemed to spread all throughout her body, Sana now recognised was love in its purest form.

Sana began smiling ear to ear because she was so in love and couldn't fathom that she would ever be so lucky to feel this way.

"What?" Jihyo asked with happiness in her voice when she saw Sana's smile thanks to the moonlight that was drifting in through her open window, "What's got you so happy?"

"I am so in love with you," Sana said without really thinking that she'd said it.

Jihyo's eyes widened at Sana's admission. She knew that Sana sometimes had a hard time opening up, especially when it could make her appear so vulnerable. But the smile that was across Sana's face mirrored itself on Jihyo's because this was the first time that either of them had said anything about love.

Jihyo had known for a while by that point that she was in love with Sana, and always would be. She'd gotten that same intense feeling that never left her and only seemed to grow with time.

"Are you now?" Jihyo asked in flirtation.

"Mhm," Sana nodded, her smile never once wavering.

"Well," Jihyo kissed the tip of Sana's nose, "It just so happens that I am helplessly head over heels for you, Minatozaki Sana, and I have been for more than you know."

With smiles adorning their faces, they both closed the already small space between them with a powerful kiss that what they'd just said was true and always would be true.

"We're gonna be okay, right?" Sana asked once they separated, "We're gonna be able to make this work while being so far apart for the next four years?"

"We're gonna be more than okay, Sana, we are going to be amazing. The distance will be hard, I know that, but we'll only come out stronger because of it."

"You'd better be right," Sana knew she was, "because I don't think I can lose you."

"You won't," Jihyo carefully kissed Sana's nose again, "Besides, what would I do without my number one fan?" she jokingly asked, referring to the first time her and Sana kissed, after Jihyo's fall theater presentation. 

"God, you're insufferable," Sana replied, but her tone and smile let Jihyo know that she didn't mean it.

"Maybe so, but you still love me."

"And you love me."

"How could I not?"

"Very true, I am quite lovable," Sana said with playfulness in her voice.

"That you are," Jihyo agreed, a smile still covering her face.

A silence settled between the two after their playful banter had ended, but was only broken when Jihyo quietly spoke again.

"I love you," she said quietly into the small space between them.

"I love you too."