Hae In tossed and turned in bed forcing herself to sleep out of fear of the consequences of a drunken night. But as the light of day that illuminated the room prevented her from falling into a deep slumber, she covered her face with a pillow in the hope that darkness would help her relax, yet her brain was already functioning, causing her to lose any sleep.

She sat up as her memories suddenly became clearer, fully awakened by a vision of herself in Yu Gyeom's arms as she half-shouted a confession: "Yu Gyeom-ah... 사랑해! I love you!"

She held her head with both hands while groaning painfully as she recalled a series of flashbacks: she had gone to a karaoke with GOT7 whom had performed some sort of private concert, during which she had happily recited a fanchant, until the moment Yu Gyeom had started singing and she had given in to her emotions. Alcohol had gotten the best of her by then, and she had shamelessly thrown herself into his arms while repeatedly confessing her love for him.

She felt herself blush a deep shade of red at the remembrance that he had responded with a tight hug and these words: "I love you too, Hae In-ah. I really do!"

. . .

Yu Gyeom pressed a cold bottle of water against his forehead in an attempt to ease his hangover. He was half-sitting, half-lying on a couch in the corner of the practice room whilst the other members were taking a break from practicing a new choreography. Even though all of them suffered from the consequences of heavy drinking, BamBam was lucid enough to recall that Yu Gyeom had taken Hae In home, hence he was curious as to what had happened between the two of them.

"Did you take beautiful Hae In home safely ?"

The rest of the group gathered around the youngest with a curious look in their eyes.

Young Jae lifted his eyebrows suspiciously while asking: "did you sleep over ?"

"Did you have a romantic night ?" Jackson whispered in a seductive tone.

And Mark used the same voice to add: "with some y background music ?"

The two of them tried hard to hold back their laughs when Jae Bum started singing: "we need to go deeper, deeper."

"No... we didn't do anything." Yu Gyeom revealed with a pout.

As the group bursted out in laughter, Jin Young sighed in annoyance at their obscene thoughts.

Thankfully, the conversation became a lot more decent as Yu Gyeom started telling of the way Hae In and him had chatted the night away. The more he talked, the wider the smile on his face grew, and so his friends did not need any more clues to guess that his silly crush had evolved into a deeper feeling.

Throughout the years that GOT7 had spent together, there had been fights, pranks, jokes and serious conversations which bounded them together as they helped one another grow as artists, and as human beings ultimately. Therefore, they were all motivated to guide the youngest member of their family to charm his way into the heart of the one woman he had ever truly loved.

. . .

It was already past ten when Hae In finally got home after a long day of work, wishing for nothing more than a soothing shower and a good rest. She aimed for the bathroom first, staying under the warm jet for a long time, then tying up her hair in a messy bun and changing into a silk pajama blouse with a matching pair of shorts before heading to the living room to look through the programs on Netflix, mentally noting a few interesting titles, until she was disrupted by the sound of the door bell. Leaving the remote control on the coffee table, she walked to the entrance of the apartment to open the door, only to find that Yu Gyeom had showed up unexpected.

He stared at her from head to toes as she became more and more conscious of her ready-for-bed appearance. But judging by his smile and the way his eyes lingered on her figure, he was not bothered by the outfit.

It was only after she invited him in that she noticed the bouquet of flowers in his hand, the sight of which made her give him a questioning look.

"I'm here for our date." he said.

"I thought that was a joke."

"No, I meant it. I wanna go on a date with you."

"Why ?"

"What do you mean why ?" the sound of his signature laugh made her smile unconsciously. "You said I'm boyfriend material, you said you don't wanna be single for long, so I'm here to help. Let's have a blind date of our own."

"But I'm not..." she pointed towards her pajamas as if to indicate that it was not an appropriate attire to go out, but he shook his head and argued that they were not actually going out as they better not be spotted together in public. In fact, he had planned for them to enjoy an indoor date night. Somehow, it reminded her of the sleepovers their younger selves organized whenever there was an exam period. Except that they were adults now, young adults who both hid their attraction to each other.

She busied herself with arranging the bouquet in a vase while Yu Gyeom made himself comfortable on the couch, then took a few steps in his direction but stopped midway to observe him. The fact that he was here, at late night, as though he went back home to his girlfriend made her heart beat faster. She did not know whether their meeting could be labeled as a date, but it certainly made her feel pleasantly nervous.

She no longer wanted to fight against her emotions, thus decided to play along the lines of his scenario to acquire a chance at living her fantasies, even for a short evening.

She sat beside him, and he shifted closer to her while casually drapping his arm over her shoulders.

"What are we supposed to do if we're on a blind date ?"

"Um... introductions come first." she giggled, "let me start. My name is-"

"Oh Hae In. A woman who's passionate about art, who's talented enough to become a professional painter but isn't confident enough to do so, whose favorite colors are yellow and blue, who says her favorite singer is Jay Park even if it's actually GOT7's Kim Yu Gyeom, whose hobbies are binge-watching K-dramas or reading, who believes that honesty is the best policy, who has a sweet character, and... well, the list goes on but I'll just cut it short."

"I'm flattered!"

"Good." a satisfied smile lit up his face. "What do we do next ?"

Although the words that went through her mind sounded crazy, she spoke them out clearly: "charm me. Make me fall in love."

His face drew nearer to hers, allowing her to feel his breath on her skin as he whispered: "aren't you already in love with me ?"

"Maybe you haven't gotten over your crush on me." she replied with a confidence she never knew she had.

"What if I haven't ? Will you date me ?"

Hae In's heart skipped a beat at the realization that their interaction exceeded the limits of friendship as they used suave words and sensual attitudes to flirt with each other. She could see in his eyes that he was seriously into it, he was not joking, nor was he pretending, but he was sincerely asking for her opinion. And it caused her to hope that he was still in love with her despite the various obstacles that they had encountered before finding their way back to each other.

Because she liked him, a lot.

"I'll date you if you can make me love you." she said in a seductive manner.

"How do I do that..." he said in an equally seductive voice while bringing his hands to her waist then lift her to sit on his lap. She felt aroused by the feel of his light caress on her thigh, and her body temperature increased as he pushed her hair aside to place a kiss in the crook of her neck. "Should I use actions..." one of his hand slowly made its way to the top of her blouse to undo the first button, revealing more of her cleavage in the process, before he continued speaking: "...or will a confession do ?" The light in his eyes changed when he looked up to see her face. The expression of lust was replaced by a real look of love as he pleaded: "Hae In-ah, let me be your boyfriend."

The situation felt unreal to her, him being here, her sitting on his lap, them being in an intimate position. It all felt like a dream.

"I like you, Hae In."

With that, he pressed his lips onto hers for a gentle peck, leaving her dazed yet amazed.

"I kissed you already so you don't need to go on blind dates anymore, okay ?"

He did not give her time to speak, and his lips found hers again, only this time it was a more fervent kiss. He caught her lower lip between his teeth and nibbled on it before letting his tongue dart out to part her lips. He hummed in satisfaction when she responded with equal passion.

His arms encircled her hips after he ended the kiss.

"You let me kiss you twice, so we're a couple now."

As he leaned close for the third time, Hae In blocked his movement with her hand in order to ask: "do you really wanna date me ?"

"Of course!" he kissed the fingers against his lips, "I love you. I think I've never stopped loving you, Hae In. I just... lost you for a moment, but I found you now. And I'm not missing our second chance at love."

Her hands traveled to his cheeks to cup his face while scanning his expression with her eyes, and as she lost herself in his tender gaze, the images of their friendship flew through her mind. She thought back to the numerous times he had walked her home after school, to the pranks they had liked to play on each other, or to the hidden spot in the school library where they had often sat close together to talk, study or listen to music with a single pair of earphones. These fond memories that had lingered on her mind for the past years were the reason why she had been looking forward to meeting Yu Gyeom again, although she could not tell whether she had missed him as a friend or more. The one thing that she knew for sure was that she had thought of him every single day.

She had attended the fan-sign event without any expectations, letting herself be surprised when he had insisted on reconnecting with her.

Her life had become happier since their reunion, and even though she had never anticipated his love confession, nor the overwhelming feelings that grew in her heart, she could not deny that she was fond of the idea of engaging in a romantic relationship with him.

And so she pulled him in to whisper against his lips: "I love you too, Yu Gyeom-ah."

Their lips met in a seal of affection, and their sweet, slow and passionate kiss was in the image of their relationship that had finally blossomed into a sweet, slow and passionate romance.