Chanyeol huffs heavily upon shutting the apartment’s door, away from the coldness of winter in January (it’s -3 degree Celsius for goodness sake) scurrying off to his room to change to casual wear instead of the heavy jacket he is currently donning. Chanyeol returns to his apartment fifteen minutes past seven, earlier than usual time thanks to his utmost effort to finish his work early, focus unwavering from the computer screen, replying to the clients and the subcontractors as quickly as possible.

After turning on the heater to the medium level, Chanyeol trots to the kitchen in his trademarked oversized sweater and sweatpants with another layer of blanket wrapped around his body, retrieving mug from the cupboard to make himself his favourite caramel latte. The boiling sound of the kettle is the only sound resounding at every corner of his apartment. He poured himself a cup of instant caramel latte when the kettle stops boiling and enjoy the coffee while scrolling through his phone and put the mug in the sink when he finished his coffee. He stood up to strut to his room when he noticed a post-it stuck on the surface of the refrigerator.

The tall man assessed the notes on the refrigerator, Don’t forget to wash the dishes!!! And clean up your mess in the living room >:(, it read, handwriting messy which Chanyeol believed was written by his lover in a hurry. She must be late this morning, Chanyeol thought to himself and without realising, a smile stretched-out across his face.

“Freak,” Chanyeol stumbled backward and back himself up against the refrigerator upon the sudden voice coming from his back. To no one’s surprise, the sound of the voice turns out to be his lover.

“The house was so quiet when I returned. I thought you went out,” he rubs his chest in an attempt to slow down the fast thumping of his heart. She was home but he did not notice. Pretty sure he saw no human when he arrived home fifteen minutes earlier. His lover laughs at the frantic face Chanyeol wears when she surprised him and stretched her hand forward to plant her face on his broad chest and wraps her hand around his torso.

Chanyeol chuckles as he wraps one hand around Seulgi’s lithe body, another hand snakes towards the top of her head to pat her in a slow rhythmic manner as she burrows her face further in Chanyeol’s chest. Chanyeol loves the warmth when they are cuddling together and Seulgi loves the idea of cuddling itself. They frequently do this especially after a long stressful day at work, drowning in each other’s warmth with the purpose of distressing as Seulgi once said. (In which Chanyeol just nodded his head in agreement even though he knows Seulgi is just very clingy, and Chanyeol is in no place to complain. He also loves it when Seulgi is being clingy.)

“Was in the toilet” Seulgi mumbles which Chanyeol would able to catch even with her almost inaudible reply. Chanyeol nods in acknowledgment and release Seulgi from the hug and giggled when Seulgi whines as she was forcibly removed from the comfortable warmth. “It’s cold so let’s get under the comforter” Chanyeol ushers Seulgi to the couch with the heated comforter, the coldness getting into him. Today’s weather has been the coldest day in January and it was only halfway through the month.

“If the bill spiked, you’re paying this month” Seulgi slipped under the comforter and spreading her hands making her looks like a starfish. Chanyeol laughs at her antics and Seulgi gives her signature eye smile. Dressed in an oversized hoodie - Chanyeol’s, it seems - and hair tied in a high bun, Chanyeol does not get tired of this everyday look of Seulgi, not like he ever will. She still smells like coffee, a scent she gets from the cafe she operates down the street of their shared apartment, also the scent which Chanyeol is totally fond of.

“You’re conquering the couch and here I thought we are sharing the comforter.” Chanyeol pouts as he leans down to peck on her right eyelid, her lashes brush over his lips, and she's broken down in giggles as she tries to pull Chanyeol down to lay beside her.

"You are such a baby." Speaking in a toddler's voice, Seulgi runs her hand in Chanyeol’s strands of hair, eyes locked at another pair of eyes. Laying down with each other like this is nothing out of ordinary. Sometimes they spoon, with Chanyeol as the big spoon (Seulgi like to be the small spoon) and sometimes they faced each other, similar to their current position. The couple loves any position they are in, just being in each other’s hold is home to them.

"You're early today," Seulgi said, one hand pulling Chanyeol’s hand to clasp them together.

“Got off early. Just to see you fast” Chanyeol chuckles when Seulgi scowls at him, repositioning his body so their legs tangled together.

“Corny” Seulgi replied. She then took her phone from inside her pocket with too much struggles when it vibrates, notifications alarm dinging, Chanyeol becomes engrossed in playing with her hair, brushing some out of her eyes.

“Sehun messaged me, wants to play Battlegrounds together he said” Seulgi taps on her phone, seemingly replying to Sehun, friend to both Chanyeol and Seulgi. Chanyeol and Seulgi were childhood friends, knowing each other as they lived next to each other’s house when they are in their middle school.

Seulgi and Chanyeol did not talk to each other immediately after she moved in next to Chanyeol’s house. Sehun is a friend of Seulgi, comes frequently to Seulgi’s house with two other friends named Jongin and Seungwan. That one day when Chanyeol was an 11th grader, almost a year after Seulgi has become her neighbour, Seulgi brought three friends of hers over to her house but the group are locked out instead, her family seemed to be out. Chanyeol was outside then, smiling brightly at the teenagers and invited them to his house instead. And that was the starting of their friendship when they realise how much they hit it off.

“Jongin wants to join too, you want to play with us? We need another person to form a group." Chanyeol shakes his head instead. Seulgi pouted in return and Chanyeol chuckles as he peck on her cheek. Sorry, Chanyeol throws a meaningful look to Seulgi, she patted his shoulder, a gesture to show that it was fine.

“Going to do some works” Chanyeol then walks to their shared room as Seulgi hummed in acknowledgement.

“Oh Sehun! What's wrong with you today?!” Seulgi whines when their team lost for the third time that day. Sehun is usually the best player after Chanyeol but Sehun is exceptionally bad at his plays which kind of irks Seulgi, it’s like he is doing this to me on purpose. Sehun is very competitive but all he said after losing the previous game is a meek Sorry. To say that she is annoyed is an understatement.

“Babe, you finished?” Chanyeol pops out of the door of their room, with a wide grin on his face. Seulgi sighs as he bid goodbye to both Sehun and Jongin through the microphone of her earpod, the fourth player is a random girl which Seulgi politely said thank you for joining them.

“Yeah, just finished. Sehun today” Chanyeol chortles at that. “Cuddle with me please?” Seulgi extends her hands forward, acting like a baby begging for the attention of the mother. 

“Later, babe.” Seulgi heard a hitch in his voice. What’s wrong with him? “Can you come here now, please?” Chanyeol said. His voice has a hint of agitation within and his eyes do not meet with her.

“What’s wrong, Chanyeol?” He rarely looks this tense, Chanyeol is nothing but confidence and loud. And of course overwhelmingly handsome too. One of the only time he is this jumpy is when he went to the job interview to try his luck as a mechanical engineer at this one company. And now it’s the company he is currently working at. And another one was when he took Seulgi out on a “date” which Seulgi just laughed him off, taking Chanyeol’s words as a joke instead - because no way is Chanyeol taking her out on a real date, this is too much of a dream comes true. Chanyeol, the man he’s been one-sidedly likes for three whole years, is taking her out on a date. It was just a coincidence that both Jongin and Sehun cannot come with them as they got “works” to do. Chanyeol took a deep breath before saying he was serious, this is a date. I like you. That was after he got the job position, and when Seulgi said yes - the feeling is mutual okay - Chanyeol has insisted that that was the best-est day of his life. I don’t care if best-est is wrong grammarly! He said as he took Seulgi’s hand in his and kiss the back of her hand and Seulgi blushed furiously in the middle of the street in Seoul.

Now, four years later, what could make Chanyeol this anxious?

“It’s okay, just come in” Chanyeol scratched the top of his head, eyes still lingers on anywhere but Seulgi. Seulgi marched to Chanyeol and upon reaching in their room, Chanyeol instructed her to sit on the blue bed shared by both of them. Chanyeol takes a seat next to her, hand fidgeting with the comforter of the bed.

“Hey, Chanyeol. Are you okay?” Seulgi is bewildered. Why is Chanyeol so restless? Seulgi is swimming in her worries inside her head when Chanyeol takes Seulgi’s hand in his to squeeze her hand. His other free hand then open the drawer of the nightstand beside the bed to take a small box out. As soon as the box reached her hand, her brain short-circuited and is left ajar with astonishment.

This cannot be it. She thought to herself. But as soon as her eyes meet Chanyeol’s, his eyes screamed sincerity and she might not be wrong.

“Babe, as soon as I wake up in the morning and see you next to me sleeping, I recalled on how lucky I am to have you, as you are an amazing woman which I am in love with. When you cook something in the kitchen, or when you make me your extremely delicious coffee and your brows furrowed in concentration, I remembered how blessed I am to have you, you are an amazing woman which I am in love with. When you returned home with a worn out face and still the most beautiful, I think of how fortunate I am to have you, and you are a woman which I have fallen in love with a thousand times and I don't think I can stop loving you." Chanyeol wholeheartedly said, eyes not leaving Seulgi. Seulgi’s tears, unconsciously have streamed down her face, replacing the shock she possessed before.

“I have known you for almost a decade, we have been in a relationship for a whole four years and we have lived together in this apartment for nearly a year. And I want to live life with you for longer than this, until the end of my life. I’ve been rambling for too long and I am pretty sure I can’t even understand myself,” Chanyeol tensely chuckles as he opens the lid of the small box revealing a beautiful diamond ring, a white colour, a stark difference with the ring she own - she insisted to buy it herself, this is my first ring so I’m buying this myself when Chanyeol want to purchase for her instead - an elegant jade black on her ring finger of her right hand.

“Kang Seulgi, will you marry me?” Seulgi noticed the tremble of Chanyeol’s hand in her. All the feelings welling up inside her and the proposal - Oh my god, it’s a proposal - coming from Chanyeol is becoming too much for her. Seulgi then burrows her head in Chanyeol’s neck, hiding her weeping face in his shoulder. Chanyeol then turns rigid.

“Look Seulgi if you don’t want this we can-,”

“You idiot. Of course, I will" Chanyeol is then stupefied with her answer, immediately recovers, jumping on his feet to catch Seulgi in a tight bear hug.

“I will cherish you forever. Trust me, Kang Seulgi” Chanyeol retracts from the hug, Hug me more, Seulgi mumbles and Chanyeol hushed her with a quiet and hearty laugh and takes out the ring and put it on Seulgi’s ring finger. Seulgi watched him with so much anticipation and extends her hand out to inspect the ring with much adoration. Chanyeol then pulls her into an embrace, Seulgi’s back meeting Chanyeol’s chest while he leans up against the headboard of their bed. Chanyeol snakes both of his hands around Seulgi’s waist and rested his head on Seulgi’s shoulder. He sighs in contentment, of having Seulgi as his future wife, and a successful plan.

Speaking of plan.

“Babe, I think you should know something. Actually, Sehun and Jongin purposely lose on Battlegrounds so they can buy me times.” Chanyeol meekly smiles, Seulgi turning his head to face Chanyeol with an obvious frown.

"They are banned from our house for two months," Seulgi says with a pout on . “They did this for our supposed hang out too in the past” Chanyeol snickers as he remembered that day.

Turns out the day when Chanyeol first confessed to Seulgi, Jongin and Sehun purposely make an excuse, we got works to do so you both go hang out together, to help Chanyeol braved himself up to ask Seulgi out. Chanyeol was also unaware of their plans and when the new couple comes up to both pranksters - or they called themselves, the cupid - holding hands tightly, they just raised two thumbs ups while Seulgi and Chanyeol turned crimson red. The pranksters just roared with laughter while teasing both of them.

“And then I asked you out. And look us now, we are getting married babe!” Chanyeol delightfully said. Honestly, Chanyeol is too thankful to both Jongin and Sehun, they have been helping Chanyeol too much to gain Seulgi’s heart. “Thank you too for bearing with me, Kang Seulgi”

She snickers. “No way, Park Chanyeol. Thank you” she emphasized the you to make her point “for bearing with me” They beamed at each other. She puts her hand in Chanyeol’s and clasp them together, and honestly, for more days to come either the devastating days or the joyous days, she cannot wait to face them with the love of her life, Park Chanyeol.