XI. Another

       Joonmyun was over the moon for as long as light could see.

       Honestly, it made Sihyeon a bit uncomfortable, causing her to be where she was now—locked away in the girl’s restroom as she disinfected everything before munching on her lunch.

       She never said that she loved Joonmyun, she just said that she thought that she liked him. But, of course with Joonmyun being Joonmyun, he interpreted that however he liked. He was glued to her at the hips the moment she stepped out of her house that morning. He followed her where ever she went, claiming out loud to everyone in the halls that they were in love with each other.

       Switzerland sounds like a nice place to move to.

       Ocean.

       Sihyeon groaned and stuffed her sandwich into . He was near her. If she could smell him, he could most definitely smell her.

       “Love, why are you eating your lunch in the bathroom?” he sang.

       No one but Sihyeon was in the stalls, allowing Joonmyun to take a step in, but only to be pushed out by Sooyoung.

       “Ugh, could you not, Joonmyun. Even if she is your mate, I’m pretty sure she hates you right now. You’re being too obsessive with her.”

       “B-But, I love her!” Joonmyun frowned.

       Sihyeon rolled her eyes before gulping down a bottle of water.

       “If you give her some space, she’ll love you back, now get out, you peeping tom,” Seulgi joined in on the conversation.

       “Fine,” Joonmyun muttered before walking away with a frown.

       Once the scent of the ocean was no more, Sihyeon sighed with relief.

       “You know, Sihyeon, I know that you don’t like all the attention that you’re getting, but you should try to open up to Joonmyun a bit. He’s being an idiot right now, but it’s only because he’s scared that you’ll never truly accept him,” Seulgi said as she leaned against the walkway into the bathroom while Sooyoung was on lookout, hissing at anyone that tried to walk in.

       Sihyeon nibbled on her bottom lip, staring at the sandwich that reminded her of their date.

       Unknowingly, a smile stretched across her lips.

       What was really stopping her from truly accepting him?

       Her bastard of a father? Her mother assured her that Joonmyun wasn’t the same.

       Her being afraid of all the attention? She had been dealing with it for the past couple of weeks, and it wasn’t too bad. Her smile disappeared.

       Her being afraid of opening up to Joonmyun and him learning of all her faults and falling out of love with her? Despite trying to find all and any reasons possible to not be with him, Sihyeon knew that that would never be one. She just knew. He wasn’t like that. He wasn’t her father.

       Slowly, Sihyeon broke out into a sob.

       She had tried so hard to put up walls to block him out. She had tried so hard to reject him, knowing fully well that the rejection process would never work in a million years. Sihyeon tried so damn hard to tell Joonmyun that she wanted nothing to do with him.

       But, the harder she tried, the harder he tried to win her heart and that was the very thing assuring Sihyeon that he would love her forever.

       What more could she ask for?

       Coming to a revelation, Sihyeon quickly packed up her things and zoomed out of the bathroom as Sooyoung and Seulgi watched their future Luna rush out of the bathroom with knowing smiles.

***

       Joonmyun was sad. Joonmyun was sulking. Joonmyun was . . . not Joonmyun.

       Sihyeon could feel it.

       Even when she knew he could smell her scent, Joonmyun still sat on the bench with his shoulders slumped forwards.

       “I’m sorry,” Joonmyun muttered rather quietly.

       Sihyeon’s heart broke. He shouldn’t have been.

       “I know I’m forcing too much upon you. I’m sorry that I didn’t take your feelings into considera—”

       Sihyeon sat down next to him and grabbed his hand, slowly entangling their fingers together as though Sihyeon was still learning how to hold hands.

       Joonmyun’s heart skipped a beat. He took in a sharp breath and watched as Sihyeon brought the back of his hand up to her lips to press a short and sweet kiss on it.

       “I’ve been lying to myself quite a bit,” her gaze stayed on their hands. “I don’t think that I like you. I really do like you,” Sihyeon muttered.

       Joonmyun didn’t want to act like he was the happiest man on earth because he was scared it would push Sihyeon away again. And so, he just smiled and patted her head.

       “I really do love you, Sihyeon,” it took all of him to not pull her into a bone-crushing hug while pressing kisses all over her face.

       Sihyeon chuckled, as though she knew that he was trying to contain himself.

       And so, Sihyeon grinned at her mate with a sweet and innocent smile.

       “Can we kiss?”

       Joonmyun gulped. He had been waiting for this all his life. To finally kiss those lips of his mate and see how well they would mold in with his.

       “I would love to,” Joonmyun breathed out, still trying to contain all the hunger to devour the sweet Sihyeon.

       But again, slow and steady.

       Joonmyun slowly leaned while Sihyeon did as well, closing her eyes in the process.

       And within seconds, they shared their first kiss.

***

       “Thank you for taking me home,” Sihyeon smiled shyly, not willing herself to look up at the alpha.

       Joonmyun chuckled and wrapped his arms around her before pressing his lips against the crown on her head.

       Now that they had kissed, Joonmyun had become more touchy than ever despite his inner pleas to not be and scare Sihyeon away.

       But, he just couldn’t help it.

       He was just so damn happy.

       But then. Everything changed.

       In an instant, Joonmyun felt Sihyeon go rigid in his arms. With a frown, Joonmyun looked down at his mate.

       “Sihyeon, love, are you okay?”

       Joonmyun’s heart rate spiked in worry at the look of Sihyeon.

       “Love, what’s wrong?” Joonmyun bent down to her eye level and tried to look for any injuries on her body. What if he had accidently hurt her?

       It didn’t take long for Joonmyun to smell something.

       Something that just wasn’t right.

       Joonmyun’s eyes traveled to Sihyeon’s home.

       An alpha is in the house.

       And based on Sihyeon’s reaction, Joonmyun knew who it was.