One of my favorite pastimes is holding Heejin’s hand. I love holding it when we’re walking together, when we’re standing together, when we’re sitting together, even when we’re arguing and she wants to do anything but hold my hand. I can’t stop myself from rubbing my thumb across the soft skin on the back of her palm or rolling over every individual knuckle. When she wears rings, I twirl them around her fingers over and over until she swats me away, but I always come right back before long. I love tracing the lines in her palms forward and back, studying them as if I could see her future within. That’s when I lose myself in daydreams of our future together.

            “Hyunjin,” Heejin said as she jerked her hand back.

            A whimper escaped my throat before I could stop it and I looked up at my girlfriend for answers. Her expression was serious, but not angry.

            “I told you that tickles!”

            “Sorry,” I quickly said as I reached for her hand again. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

            Thankfully, Heejin seemed to like when I held her hand just as much as I did. She had developed a real talent for using only one hand to perform regular tasks. She was practically ambidextrous at that point. From my spot kneeling at the side of the bed, I could see the reflection of her phone in her eyes. A girl could get lost in those big brown eyes, even when she wasn’t looking back at you.

            “You’re staring again,” she said without looking away from her phone.

            Her snarky tone didn’t match the smirk that had appeared on her face.

            “I can’t help it,” I said. “You’re the cutest girl I could ever dream of. You’re unreal, unbelievable even. How am I expected to sit here, in your presence, holding your hand, and not stare at you? It’s simply impossible, and I’m appalled you would even try to stop me.”

            Heejin rolled her eyes at my comment, but the smirk turned into a shy smile.

            “Alright, Romeo,” she teased. “What do you want to do today?”

            I tapped a finger against my chin, scratched my head, and made a big show of looking stressed as I thought of what to do. When I eventually thought of something and looked back at Heejin, she was looking at me with such judgment and feigned annoyance that I had to stifle a laugh. She blinked rapidly, waiting for me to give her a response.

            “Do you still want to learn how to play the piano?” I asked.

            Her face suddenly lit up at my suggestion, and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling back at her. She’d been begging me to teach her to play ever since I played her the song I wrote for her birthday. She didn’t say a word, only pushed herself off my bed and made a dash for the door, pulling me up and dragging me along with her. I heard her giggling as she ran down the stairs as quickly as her legs could move, and as she practically threw the bench out from under the grand piano. She moved to sit down, but thought better of it and turned to me.

            “Should we sit next to each other or…” she trailed off, letting me fill in the blank.

            I knew my girlfriend well enough to understand what she really wanted.

            “No, you sit, and I’ll guide you from above.”

            Heejin wasted no time in settling herself perfectly in the middle of the bench and the piano. She straightened out her posture and hovered her hands over the keys, unsure of where to place them. I gently gathered her hair and moved it to the left side of her shoulders and moved her left hand down to her lap.

            “We start with the right hand,” I said as I moved her hand to the basic starting position.

            I pressed her thumb down until a clear note rung through the living room.

            “This is Middle C. It’s important to know Middle C, because it’s the core of a lot of pieces of music. When we get into reading music, I always found it easier to find the key when you use Middle C as your base. Okay?”

            I felt her nod excitedly, clearly eager to move on, but the shaking of her head caused the scent of her shampoo to make itself known. I closed my eyes and pressed my nose to her hair, inhaling the smell of tea tree oil.  She seemed to notice my distraction, because she reached up and pulled my own hair to bring me back to reality.

            “Ow!” I squeaked, but I quickly got back to the task at hand. “Okay, so you know the letters of the alphabet?”

            “Uh-huh."

            “Music uses the letters A through G, hence middle C here.” I pressed her thumb to play C once more as I said it.

            “Ohhhh,” she said, leaning forward slightly. “Okay, makes sense.”

            Once she understood how the music scale worked, we moved on to playing familiar tunes like Mary Had a Little Lamb, Hot Cross Buns, and even Chopsticks. Her face when I sat next to her and started to play the accompaniment was cuter than I’ve ever seen her before. She never got frustrated when she couldn’t get the notes right away, and I made sure to only help when she really needed it. She always learned better when she could figure things out for herself after minimal guidance. Eventually, after she started to feel worn out from focusing so hard, she asked me to play something for her.

            “Any requests?” I asked as I took my place on the bench.

            “Surprise me,” she said as she turned her back to the piano, propping herself on her elbows and gazing out at nothing in particular.

            I thought for a moment before positioning my hands over the keys and playing a gentle melody. Before long, my hands started to move on their own and I stole a glance at Heejin, who had now closed her eyes and was swaying slightly to the tempo. I could only see her profile, but anyone who’s ever seen Heejin’s profile has truly seen the definition of natural beauty. The curve of her brow, the slope of her nose, the perfect amount of pout in her lips, and a jawline sharp enough to cut glass. I often wondered how it was possible for someone like this to be made completely naturally. Even more than that, I wondered how it was possible for someone like this to like me. Me, with my pin straight hair, big forehead, too-small nose, and soft jawline. We’ve known each other for 4 years, but somewhere along the line she fell for me and all my imperfections. How did I get so lucky?

            Heejin slowly peeked her eyes open and looked at me, confusion in her eyes.

            “Why’d you stop?” she asked.

            I hadn’t noticed I stopped playing, but that didn’t matter now. I don’t remember how I got there, but somehow I was standing in front of Heejin, hesitating even though I’d kissed her a thousand times by now. For some reason, this time it was different. She looked concerned, and I’m sure I looked completely insane, but I was frozen in place.

            “You okay, honey bun?” she asked.

            Hearing the nickname settled my nerves, and I gained control of my body again. I surged forward and tightly wrapped my arms around her waist. I could feel her tense up from the sudden movement, but soon enough her arms took their rightful place around my neck. Her expression softened, and her eyes trailed down to my lips. I noticed her inching forward, ever slowly, her eyes closing as she grew nearer. As soon as I felt her lips graze mine, I really lost all control of my brain.

            “I love you.”

              Heejin came to a full stop, her lips still barely grazing mine. She pulled back slightly and looked up at me with those eyes. The eyes I can never look away from. The longer I looked into them, the deeper their color became. Too soon, they closed and I felt her press her lips to mine. She kissed me with more feeling than I had ever felt in my life. I had never felt so in sync with her until this moment. We were the only two people in the world. When she pulled away and opened my eyes, I felt tears threatening to fall from them. Heejin held my face in both her hands, looking at me with an intensity I had never seen before.

            “I love you, too, Hyunjin.”