Seulgi’s apartment’s rooftop brought an atrocious association to both her and Jongin. That was where things took a giant leap for them, and stepping into the travertine tiles alone made them reminisced the way they were screaming at each other, the way their feelings crumbled and shattered last summer. The memories of their fight still lingered as they looked up to the morose sky far above their heads.

But perhaps taking a wrong turn, sometimes, could lead you into a better path, the one that you thought had a possibility near zero.

The cold air of September grazed Jongin’s and Seulgi’s skins as they rested on the old, backless chairs they grabbed from near the rooftop’s door. Jongin leaned his back to the concrete, both of his elbows also. Seulgi, next to his right, crossed her legs and cupped her knees with her palms.

“What’s with you and your obsession with writing a letter?”.

That question made Jongin chuckled. “Because I can really take my time to arrange my thoughts. Do you know how many times the letter I wrote ended up in the trash bin?”.

“How many?”.

“To be honest, I don’t even remember—but that’s not my point!”, Jongin turned his head to look at Seulgi. “I just...I...I wanna find the most proper way to say it”.

“And do you believe that the way I punched you a thousand times proved your hypothesis?”.

“I can’t be sure about that yet. You’re the one to prove it, Seulgi”.

Seulgi’s heart leaped a beat when he ended the sentence with her name, a fragment that sounds more delicate than the rest of the words he had spoken before. She looked at him from the side and exhaled deeply.

“I’ve tried to move on from you”, Seulgi stated. “That sounded weird. We didn’t even date. I convinced myself that you’d be fine without me because the last conversation we had was about how stupid I was to think that you were into me. But damn. That made it worse sometimes because of how pathetic I ended up perceiving myself to be”.

“I’m sorry”.

“No, don’t say that”. Seulgi then continued, “And I swore, the time Seungwan asked me to watch a gig in your campus, I’ve predicted that I would be okay if, by chance, I accidentally see you around. That’s why I attended the gig. But your letter was a very unpredictable and intervening variable”.

“Because you thought that I’ve gotten over it?”.

She nodded her head. “Perhaps it was because I didn’t see you for a month that I thought I would be okay. I just...learned to be alright without you. And I did. But you reminded me of how it would be so much better when you’re around in a way that made me so...”, Seulgi stopped. She didn’t really know the right words for her thoughts.

Jongin scooted closer to her. “In the way that made you hugged me when you said you hate me?”.

Her deep breath was taken as a yes for Jongin.

“Are you really serious with what you wrote in your letter?”, Seulgi asked.

The absence of any other words from Jongin made Seulgi turned around, only to find him already gawking at her.

It was baffling yet ecstatic at the same time that Seulgi felt so drawn into Jongin’s presence when their gazes met. Even when his lips were sealed and no words were spoken. Every inch that they were apart was a torment for her. But she knew she wasn’t used to this. She had broken the pattern of being comfortable next to Jongin since she decided to move on, and adapting to a new situation in this context wasn’t really her forte.

“I’m sorry that my past actions made you doubt my words but right now”, Jongin reached for her hand. The space between Seulgi’s fingers was filled by his as he held it gently, still looking at her uninterruptedly. “I mean, and I’m sure of everything I’ve said”.

Seulgi wasn’t aware of the way her torso propelled into Jongin until her vision was full with his face, half because of her effort and a half because of the way Jongin did the exact same thing as her. How she loved the way her body really betrayed her mind. At this point, where she already rotated her body almost wholly facing him, any attempt of turning back would be futile.

Jongin raised his smile bigger. He needed no time to sway into Seulgi, closing his eyes, tilting his head, and finally locked her lips on his.

Kissing Seulgi felt like he had been resurrected to the surface after a complete minute underwater. Like seeing the light after walking on an obscure tunnel for weeks. Like laying on a perfectly ironed sheet with a warm blanket after a long day outside.

Kissing Seulgi, felt like home.

And he was more than thankful to finally be there after being so lost in his own world.

His hand made its way to reach Seulgi’s nape so he could kiss her deeper, and she was ready for it, for the way she grabbed Jongin’s shoulder and lessened the gap between them.

The exploding fireworks in Seulgi’s chest could not be verbalized with all words in all language. So, she kissed him more, to tell him that this was precisely what she wanted, that they wanted the same thing.

When Seulgi was stifled due to the lack of air she could inhale, she pulled away from Jongin to break their kiss. This time, without regret.

Because now she knew that she could repeat what they just did again and again without hesitation.

Both Seulgi and Jongin withdrew their hands from each other. They kept their positions and their unbreakable gaze for a while. She looked at the faint red smear on his lower lip and near the corner of his mouth. It was her doing. Her lipstick stains. This feeling inside her tummy was so funny, in a good way, in a way that she was dying to feel with Jongin all this time.

And Jongin decided to steal the start by staring at her forehead before he spoke gently,

“There’s something on your forehead”.

Seulgi raised her fingers to feel what was there, but halfway through, Jongin already came close and kissed it.

She widened her eyes.

“Oh, there’s something on your cheek too”.

And he repeated what he had done to Seulgi’s right cheek. She covered with her palm, still very shocked, while Jongin was grinning widely.

“Jongin, stop. I—“. Seulgi stood up from her seat and turned around to the concrete wall, where she rested both of her elbows there, sinking her head down. “What did he just do?!”, she mumbled to herself. Her whole face felt so hot, and there was no way Jongin was allowed to see this.

“What is it?”, he approached her from behind, squeezing both of her shoulders. Faster than the speed of light, Seulgi dodged his hand with her arms, but now the face she intended to hide was exposed to Jongin.

He chuckled. “Oh my, your face is so red”, he put both of his palms at her cheeks. “You sure are thrilled right now”.

Seulgi chewed on her lower lip before she smiled. “I-I’m not used to this. But I will, since I like it”.

He rested both of his palms on the top of the concrete wall, flanking Seulgi’s body in between his arms. Looking into Seulgi’s eyes, Jongin then smiled.

“Seulgi?”.

“Yeah?”.

“Let’s stay together for a really really, really really long time”.

Seulgi knew she had the rightest answer to Jongin’s question because her heart would never lie.

“I’m sure we will”, she said before bringing Jongin into her embrace and hug him tight. And as Jongin wrapped his arms around Seulgi’s body, her heartbeat reverberated through his skin, ribs, and until it finally reached his heart to make them in sync.

~***~

“So, did I actually lose the bet or not?”, Joohyun asked.

“Technically, you lose”, Seungwan was the one who answered. “If you brush off the deadline”.

Seulgi pushed the glass door to a pizza restaurant with Seungwan on her right and Joohyun on her left. They went straight to the cashier to take the menu book and sat on the long couch near the front door to decide their takeaway orders.

“What do you think, Seulgi? Does the bet still apply?”, Joohyun rested part of her chin on Seulgi’s shoulder.

“Nope anymore”. Seulgi’s eyes were busy scanning on the menu. All of them looked delicious, but they only had one stomach per person. “I didn’t even know Jongin would change his mind”.

“Yay! So the pizza is on us three, not on me, right?”.

Seulgi nodded. 

Joohyun turned her head to look at Seungwan and stuck her tongue out, while Seungwan replied by pinching Joohyun’s cheeks with her index finger and thumb. 

“What did he like? Meat? Fish? Veggies? And how about Chanyeol?”. She touched the glossy page of the menu book and turned it around to the back.

“Chanyeol will be fine with anything besides vegetables”, Seungwan answered. “Oh! How about bacon BBQ?”, she pointed at one picture on the page.

“Sounds nice. Jongin will be okay with everything too”.

After several minutes of consideration, they went to the cashier to place their orders. They ended up buying three large pizzas for five persons and waited until all was done. Took them a bit longer to wait because it was close to the lunch hour, and people keep flocking in.

Two weeks had passed since Seulgi officially addressed Jongin as her boyfriend. That felt surreal. Throughout the day, she would get a random short text from Jongin to tell her that he thought of her in between the boring lectures and group tasks. Or a picture of himself sometimes early in the morning when he just woke up, along with a line that kinda sounds like this ugly face is only for you to see! He would call Seulgi when she had a rough day, and when she got sleepy, he let her sleep