“I going to see her”

“Hm?” Woohyun perked up from his iced americano, which he was drinking and half spilling all over the creamy white seats of his newly furbished car. The two of them were driving back from Dongdaemun where Woohyun wanted to do some shopping before they visit his family for the holidays. After he gave his car away to his brother when he enlisted, Woohyun never bothered to get it back, mostly because he either had his personal company CEO or the Group company CEO playing butler for him for the day.

“See whom?” 

Sung Gyu pressed his lips together, gripping the steering wheel, his eyes set at the traffic in front of him. It took a second for Woohyun to understand.

“Oh, right,” He said.

“Do you think I can? Is that okay?”

“Are you asking me that?”

Sung Gye looked around himself in the confines of the car. “You’re the only one inside this car besides me, surely”

Woohyun hummed and loudly drank from his drink. For a moment, it was just the sound of ice in his plastic cup and the hum of the air conditioner before he answered thoughtfully. “I think you’re asking me after you have already decided”

“I want to see her, Woohyun” Sung Gyu admitted sincerely and manoeuvred the car forward when the lights turned green. “I feel like I have to”

It wasn’t a decision he made just overnight. It took days and sleepless nights of contemplations, balancing the needs of not only himself but also his bandmates and family. Taking a solo trip to Manila by himself to meet a girl was a risky step to take, he knew this too well. But he felt like he walked away from something that he valued so much, five years ago. And he didn’t want to be the one doing that again.

But not everyone was on the same page as himself.

“So you’re telling me you’re going to meet Belen Torres in Manila. The same city where we performed three weeks ago to two thousand other girls like her?”

“I’ll be careful,” Sung Gyu assured him determinedly. “I know I have to”

“And have you thought about what you would do next?”

They stopped at yet another red light. 

Sung Gyu contemplated his question as they waited, watching pedestrians crossing the road. What would he do next? Sung Gyu really didn’t know. At this point, he wasn’t sure what they even were for each other. Friends, yes. They have already established that. But what did the whole night they spent talking to each other in bed the other night mean, then? It was the moment he’d decided he wanted to see her. Laying in pillows in each other’s rooms, watching the other slowly drifting off to sleep just wasn’t enough. He wanted to talk to her in person, visit places, hold her hand, watch her smile, hear her laughter. He didn’t think they needed a label of any form to be able to do that. He just wanted to see her, and the rest, he’d cross that bridge when it comes to that.

“You see, hyung, I know that you never take decisions out on a whim” Woohyun spoke when Sung Gyu’s silence prolonged. “I’ve known you for nearly half my life, and nothing you’ve done and said has hurt any of us. You know what you’re doing, and that’s something I admire you for”

“Thanks” Sung Gyu muttered and released the heavy breath that he’d been holding in. 

“But, I don’t know Belen Torres. Or enough about the company she’s working for, for that matter. More than putting infinite’s image at risk, it's yours that I’m worried about”

“I know Belen Torres” Sung Gyu took a sharp turn to the right, and soon his apartment complex came into view. “I know her enough to say I’m in safe hands”

He was surprised he didn’t have to stop and think twice about that. Sung Gyu wasn’t the type to trust people easily; he couldn’t afford to do that because he often had too much at stake. But Belen Torres was someone he could trust himself with. She was the girl who’d stayed in a hostel dorm with him through a storm, bought animal slippers for him and took care of him over a whole night. If she could, she had enough chances and opportunities to exploit him and ruin his life. But she didn’t. All she did was trust him back in return and be vulnerable before his eyes, a complete stranger who had hardly anything in common with her. And just the other night, she opened up to him, showed him her weakest, rawest, most vulnerable self and trusted him with it. Sung Gyu could tell with guarantee, she was someone who’d protect him as much as he’d protect her.  

“You sound so sure of it” Woohyun’s voice was light, teasing, almost. 

“I am” And he had no doubts about that.

Woohyun laughed, then loudly slurped at the last of his drink while Sung Gyu slowly ventured his car into the underground parking lot.

“So when are you going?”

“Hm?”

Sung Gyu turned around a half a perimeter; parallel parking wasn’t his greatest forte, as it turned out.

“When are you going to Manila?”

The car certainly wasn’t in a perfect line, but he hoped his neighbours didn’t mind. “Tomorrow”

“Tomorrow!?!”

Woohyun yelled so loud that the shock made him press the break hard enough that the vehicle shook.

“What the hell, Nam Woohyun!”

“What do you mean you’re flying out Tomorrow?”

Sung Gyu sighed and narrowed his eyes at the darkened back of his car. “Exactly that. I’m going tomorrow”

He killed the ignition and reached for his bags in the back of the car. “Now, I’ve got to do some packing to take care of. Lunch is on you”

“But hyung!”

Sung Gyu ignored him and slammed the door over his whining. He had no time to sit and listen to grown men crying and complaining, he had much bigger, better things to worry about.

“When did you say you were going?”

Belen couldn’t believe the stupidity of herself to have gone and told Faye, of all the people, that she’d be flying to South Korea. 

“It’s the third time you’re asking me this” Belen sighed and hung back the sweater she was looking at. The colour was pretty, but it didn’t suit her face. “On friday. This friday, I’m going to South Korea”

Ever since she stupidly ran , Faye had been asking about it at least five times a day. She also asked if they were dating, if he had feelings for her, if they ever kissed or held hands; for which, Belen sincerely had no answers. Belen would be happy if she herself knew what the two of them now were, at least. But was their connection something that they could give a label to? It would solidify things, make it mean something. And that possibility scared her.

“That’s in two days!” Faye exclaimed like Belen just admitted to going fully bald. 

“Yes, that’s in two days” Belen calmly replied, reaching for yet another sweater in the rack. It was pink, pastel pink to be precise. Belen loved pink, it was her favourite colour. She held the sweater to her chest and looked at herself in the nearby mirror.

“What are you even going to do there? Go and see Kim Sung Gyu? In Seoul? Do you want hundreds of protest trucks parked in front of his office building?”

Belen knew she would have something along that line to tell her. In the beginning, she’d thought Faye would be a least bit supportive of her. But without a warning, that real side of herself would come out.

“Relax” She sighed and rested the sweater across her arm. “I’m not going there to see him. I just want my doll back”

“And how are you going to do that?”

Faye was driving her out of her mind, really. 

“From Infinite Company? I don’t know. I’ll figure it out”

Those were lies. Because, she knew if she wanted to get the doll from Sung Gyu somehow, he’d figure out the way for her. He was the man who stayed up an entire night, listening to the despondent realities of her life, texted her the next day that he waited until she drifted off, and that he hoped she was fine. Sung Gyu may still be Infinite’s Sung Gyu. But he’d also proven to her twice that he saw her as a friend at a personal level. 

But Faye didn’t have to know that.

“They’ll toss you out to the curb” Faye laughed, liking the mental image she had created of that situation. “Going to a whole company to ask for a doll? They’ll think you’re crazy”

“That’s fine” Belen gave her a tight smile. “I will get my much needed vacation, at least. I have nothing to complain about that”

Faye’s face perceptibly changed over this. She hadn’t had a chance to take a proper holiday as she used up all her leaves on useless things. Now all she had to do was resent the people who did manage their leaves properly, like Belen. 

“Anyway, since you’re going there, I’ve got a bunch of things…” 

It was expected of Faye to use this opportunity to her gain, and Belen chose just to go with that. She was her friend, after all; albeit annoying, and weird. And she was glad she changed to direction of the conversation because going to see Sung Gyu without a plan was something that Belen didn’t want to talk about with her. It was outrageous, she knew this. It was risky. And the most likely outcome of this, despite their long, over-the-phone conversations was hom not agreeing to see her after all and not really getting her doll back. She was mentally prepared for this, although she’d just rather cross that bridge when she comes down to it.

It was Wednesday, and since she had no time to pack her bags for a week worth of a trip, she decided to start off the same day. She bought a few nice outfits, lest she got to meet him after all. At least she’d look nice in pictures even if she didn’t. Through that night, she prepared for the trip checking her phone occasionally in case he dropped her a message again. Since the last one he sent of Chama set up by his apartment window, watching the rain, he hadn’t sent her anything else. The last message was a whole day ago. But Belen wasn’t nervous. After all, what were they for each other anyway? And he was a busy person. She’s just a fan.

Exhausted, Belen hit bed early that night. She saw Sung Gyu in her dreams, at the concert where he stole her doll. In her dream, Sung Gyu snatched Chama right after the fan benefit photos and ran away with him stuck in his back pocket while Belen chased after him, on and on and on, across the hall, down the back stage, traversing the outskirts of the Phillippines arena while vibrant lights blinked around it. The next morning, she was awoken not by the sound of her alarm. She never had to set up any, stress woke her up anyway.

Instead of an alarm, she was receiving a call. On her screen, Sung Gyu’s kakao ID blinked at her like a morning greeting. 

An odd time for him to call in the day. It was by instinct that her heart caught pace. She reached for the phone and let him through.

“Rise and shine, Belen Torres”

“It's so early” She muttered and glanced at the clock on the table. “It’s barely 7 am!”

“I know,” He laughed. “I don’t wake up this early, but I’m headed to the airport today”

Today. In just another day. Belen would be flying to South Korea. Her heart fell to the ground without warning, but she tried not to let it show.

“Oh, nice. Where will you be going?”

“Just out for work. It's somewhere nice!”

Belen pouted. So he wasn’t going to tell her? Was she supposed to find out through fan accounts on twitter?

“I’m sure! Hope you’d have a nice flight!”

“Of course” There’s a sound of shuffling on his end. A closing door. “What will you be doing today?”

She rubbed sleep out of her eyes. “Just…work”

“All day?”

“Mm, no” There’s a bit of weight in her chest. In the evening, she was going to plan out how she was going to approach him about her trip to Seoul and maybe arrange to meet him. But it appeared there would be no use of doing that if he wasn’t even going to be there. “How long will you be away for?” She asked him, hoping for a silver lining.

“A week? Yeah, a week”

A week. Which is also the amount of time Belen would be spending there. It must be her fate, the alignment of her stars. Nothing good seemed to work out in her favour, these days.

“That’s a long time. I hope you have fun!”

Sung Gyu laughed, so light hearted and gentle, but that did little to ease the burn in her chest.

“I’m sure I will! Now, I’m boarding the flight soon. I’ll catch you again!”

Belen greeted him goodbye, and with a heavy heart, watched her phone as the line went dead. She got out of bed, preparing herself mentally for a horrible rest of the week, a horrible month, essentially, and a horrible life. Her trip to Seoul was going to be just a trip after all. She hated having to one day admit to Faye that she was not wrong.

The rest of her day at work went by in a blur. Another A-list kpop act (Twice) was coming down to Manila on their tour so the whole office floor was pretty much preparing for that, so there wasn’t much time for her to sit and mop around about the sad turn of her life. Faye and her didn’t find a moment to talk, which was a good thing. She was, however, approached by her manager to ask if she really needed that leave, which was a bad thing. Belen went with it anyway. Although Kim Sung Gyu won’t be there when she reaches Seoul, at least she could have a nice time off in her favourite place (Or place where her favourite person came from) Besides, work wasn’t about to be the distraction that she needed.

By four in the evening, Belen was packing her bags and her sad little heart to be taken home when her phone rang again. She was in the washroom at that time, Faye outside by the sink. 

“Faye, can you check who is calling please!” She called over the door. A minute later, Faye gasped so loud, it might as well have been a scream. “Kim Sung Gyu is calling you!?!”

Belen hadn’t run out a toilet cubicle so fast in her life.

She knew he was just calling to tell her he landed, even if she knew he had no obligation to do so. But deep in her chest cavity were fluttering butterflies.

She grabbed the phone from her and didn’t even bother to run from Faye who was staring at her in wild shock. Her fingers were trembling as she slid them across the screen, and pressed it against her ear.

“Hi”

“Good day at work?” Sung Gyu asked her, warm but casual as if it was an everyday occurrence to call her like this.

“Yeah,” Belen blindly nodded.

“I just called to tell you I landed…a while ago”

“Okay”

“Alright to switch to video calling?”

Belen glanced at Faye, who, with just her expression, seemed to promise to be quiet. 

“Sure”

The screen switched, and it became so bright until his face came into view. A black chanel cap kept half of him in the shadows. But you could easily tell it was him.

“Guess where I am right now”

The screen soon zoomed out and flipped to the opposite view, his view. It took a second for her to take in what she was seeing. But it’s Faye who realised it first. To her credit, she stayed away from the view, gasped quietly and grabbed Belen’s arm.

The streets, the signboards and the cathedral in the distance in the backdrop of the clear blue sky. Her home was etched in the back of her mind, there was no way she could be mistaken.

Kim Sung Gyu was in Manila.

“No way…”

He was in Manila.

The shock was so much that what came to her was her own language.

Kim Sung Gyu’s laughter filled the quiet bathroom and the phone switched back to him.

“What…are you doing here?”

“Holiday. Vacation” He shrugged, but his smile widened like the sunshine. “I don’t have a manager with me today. Not because he’s sick or anything, I just left him behind because you know…” A thoughtful pause. “I already have one in here”

Faye leaned against a nearby wall as if she lost her footing. Understandable, because she was feeling the same.

“So,” Sung Gyu continued and brought the phone closer to himself. “I was wondering, if you’re-,”

“Yes!” Belen exclaimed, she didn’t even have to think for a bit. There were no doubts, no qualms. It was all she wanted to do. “Yes! I’ll be there in a minute!”

“Woah, hold on, slow down” Sung Gyu laughed and even gestured with his hand for that. “I’ll be here somewhere…I’ll-I’ll drop you a text”

“Okay” Belen gasped, earning another hearty laughter from him.

“I’ll see you soon then, Belen Torres”

Then the line was gone.

For a minute, the two of them stood completely still, trying to register the sudden  turn of their events. This morning, Belen was just a girl who secretly had her frail, silly heart broken. In a matter of minutes, she was the girl who was about go see her most favorite person in the world.

There was a look of pure outrage in Faye’s eyes when she slowly turned to her. 

“What just…happened?”

Belen shook her head. 

Kim Sung Gyu. Here. In Manila. All on his own.

Probably there to see her. A devilish voice called in her head, which he quickly shook off because there is no way. There is no way.

“Is he here to see you?” Faye still, broke the code. And Belen suddenly realised the formidable weapons they had somehow harnessed her with.

She quickly moved to her, grabbed her by both her arms. “Faye, you’re my best friend. You’re my best friend, right?”

Faye looked bewildered. She nodded, nevertheless. “You are my best friend”

“Then don’t tell anyone about anything. About Kim Sung Gyu being here…or-or that he speaks to me, that he has my doll…that I’m going to see him…”

“Belen Torres, are you out of your mind?” 

Now it was Faye’s turn to grab her by the arms. “You’re my best friend, I just told you that right?”

Belen nodded blankly. It was with determination that Faye suddenly pulled her into a long embrace. “I’m so jealous of you” She muttered, her voice muffled on her shoulder. “But I’m never going to let that screw me up and lose my best friend”

Belen closed her eyes, slowly relaxing into her arm. 

“Now” Faye pulled away from her. “Before you go, you look like a mess”

“Thanks”

Faye ignored her and hurriedly looked through her bag. She located her hairbrush, a light pink lipstick, and liquid eye-liner.

“If you’re going to go out with your celebrity boyfriend, Belen Torres, at least try to look like it”

“He’s not my boyfriend!”

Faye raised her brows and caught her by her cheeks. “You never know”

Sung gyu had seen the Metro Manila skyline only a handful of times, but he had to admit, it hadn't looked so beautiful until tonight. The sun was yet to set; he knew it would be in a while. According to the research he’s done before coming here, Intramuros, the wall city of Manila, was the best place to watch the setting sun. And to watch it with a girl he really, really liked.

“So this is the sunset you grew up with”

Huddled in his arms, Chama was just his quiet, aloof, doll self. But subconsciously he knew it wasn’t the doll that he was talking to. This sunset, that ocean he could see far beyond; the Intramuros bridge far beyond them, the glimmering city lights. It was her home, where he had imagined, for months, Belen Torres lived her very best life. Years later, he was here to see her again. Fate was truly an amazing thing. 

Before coming here Sung Gyu made sure to drop her a text of where he was and just in case, shared his location with her. He didn’t know how traffic and roads were like in here, he hadn’t spent long enough to know that. But he hoped she’d reach here before the sunset so they could see it together. He’d hold her hand maybe, if she let him. He’d asker her about her favourite places, most memorable sights, things that she grew up doing, her childhood dreams. There was so much for them to talk about and catch up with. Would just a week ever be enough? Would that even make up for how much he earned for her?

Time seemed to run so slow as the sun started to change its colour. Soon, it was a massive golden vermillion disk, hovering over the purple-grey sky, creating pink and orange hues. In a minute, the sun would set, dusk would fall, and one day would have already gone by. Just as he, heavy heartedly so, imagined they would miss the sun set together, Sung Gyu heard the footsteps, so familiar that it's etched in his mind like an old song.

Belen Torres is here.

Kim Sung Gyu is here.

His tall, lean impeccable stature, the familiar black and white outfit, a hand in his pocket, standing in the backdrop of the sunset was a sight hard to miss. Belen took two steps at a time  but she couldn’t reach him just soon enough. Her heart beat in her chest so fast, so hard; it could have been the way she had run, or it could be just the existence of him, the constant reminder in her mind lest she convinced herself it's just a dream. Kim Sung Gyu was here, in Manila, Philippines. He was here to see her. 

Just as she reached the foot of the staircase. Sung Gyu finally turned around to see her. Chama was there in his arms, held against his chest like a child. When he caught her eyes and when he smiled, the inflated balloon in her heart exploded into a thousand tiny fireworks. She tried to catch her breath, tell him something, anything. But words failed her. All she could do was try to smile.

“You’re here” Sung Gyu said, reaching out a hand in a gesture of warm welcome.

“Yeah…Hi” Belen stepped closer, closer until all she could see was the golden sunset and him.

“Hi” He returned. And then silence. It was unreal, that Kim Sung gyu was truly standing there with the Manila skyline reflected in his eyes. It was just stuff out of fairy tales.

“I’ve got…your doll”

Cautiously he held Chama out to her with both his hands like an actual child. Chama was back in his blue hoodie and jeans, he had his shoes back on. Belen could have reached out to him, taken that doll,  thanked him, turned around and gone home. That’s what they were there for, after all.

But in the horizon was the slowly setting sun, the wind carrying salty air from the bay rushing past them; in a distant, the sound of the city, sounds from her home. He was here in the city of Manila, standing against the grey sky of the Intramuros, right before her eyes. It would only take a bit of courage to reach out and hold his hand, tell him everything that she’d carried around like a diamond in her heart. Would it be too much to ask for?

Even if it wasn’t, Belen didn’t think she’d ever find the courage to do that. He held her gaze, still. There was affinity, wonderment and warmth in the way he looked at her. She could drown in his eyes and lose herself in there forever.

“Belen Torres” He took a step towards her.

“Hm?”

“I’ve got your doll with me”

Belen fisted her hands on her side. She’d planned everything that she wanted to tell him in her mind, everything. Seeing him now, they were all lost in her thoughts. So she asked him the first thing that came to her.

“Did you come here to give me the doll?”

Sung Gyu looked taken aback for a second. But he laughed.

“Yes? And no”

Belen smiled. 

“But you see, on my way on the plane here, I was thinking about something”

She tilted her head and wind caught her hair, dragging it across her eyes. “What did you think about?”

Sung Gyu held the doll to his chest with both his arms. “After what happened…five years ago, there was a part of me who imagined, for months, how the two of us would meet again”

Something shifted in the depth of her heart. “You did?” 

“I did,” Sung Gyu nodded, his eyes crinkling. “I thought about it after the concert, on my way back home, in the nights that followed, and then when I was in the army” He heaved a long breath, his eyes set somewhere on the damp ground. “In fact, my time in the army was so hard and…thoughts about meeting you again…was pretty much all that helped me through the day”

Belen was rendered speechless. She just stared at him, at the way his eyes shined under the shadow of his cap, at the way his hands gripping the doll turned pink, thinking about how none of this sounded real to her.

“Of all the ways I imagined how we would meet again, I never imagined…” He held out her doll and looked at him with such warmth. “It would be like this”

If Belen could tell him the truth just now; she never imagined them meeting again. The possibilities were just too far. But here they were, standing just barely a foot apart.

“So, Belen Torres, I have a proposition for you”

“What would that be?” It was only then that she finally found her words.

“I don’t want to give you the doll.” Sung Gyu simply told her and held it to him even closer. “He’s all I have of you with me”

That’s not…what she expected he would say.

“But he’s my doll” Belen muttered, a little perplexed by what was happening. If it wasn’t for the doll, why was he here?

“I know,” He nodded. “But he’s also mine. He’s ours”

Ours. He just called her doll child Ours. 

“So that’s why I’m proposing to you-,”

“What?” Belen froze, her hands to her chest, outraged. But it was when he laughed that she realised; the real meaning was just lost in translation. 

“I’m proposing to you, Belen Torres. Go on a date with me, let’s talk about child custody over a cup of coffee…or Banana cues. While I’m here, I’m down with anything if I could do that with you”

Her chest was a cavity of fluttering butterflies, heart raw and real on her sleeve. “Are you…are you asking me out on a…date, Sung Gyu-Ssi?”

Sung Gyu didn’t seem to think twice as he agreed; “I am,”

“Oh” 

Her mind was racing, her whole world spinning around her like a horse galloping in circles. She took a step away, turning her back to him 

“Oh wow… I-I have to think about this”

Sung Gyu reached out with the doll in his hand. “Do you want to hold Chama while you panic?”

“Okay” She breathed, grasping Chama to her chest. The familiar feel of his light weight or soft white hair couldn’t do anything to calm her ruthless heart. 

“You must be joking”

The warmth and the gentleness of his smile was enough indication that he wasn’t. “I’m not” He assured her, for greater measure, she thought. But that still sounded like something out of a dream.

“But you don’t have to… if you don’t want to, Belen-Ssi”

“No, no, it’s not that I don’t want to” Belen soon admitted; there was nothing she wanted more. To be liked by Kim Sung Gyu, to go on dates with him, to talk about the 360 degrees of marvels of their lives over a warm cup of coffee. But at the same time, after years of not not going out with a man, after years of being his fangirl, it was the kind of reality that Belen wasn’t prepared for. 

“It’s just that…” She sighed and dared looking up to him. “I’m not ready for that”

Sung gyu smiled with so much adoration, Belen could have melted into a puddle at his feet by that warmth. His eyes crinkled in the corners, and he moved closer to see her better, reaching her height.

“You know, when I came down here, I wasn’t prepared for that either” He muttered, almost whispering as if he was sharing a little secret with her. “But I’m in Manila right now, in this colourful city with a beautiful girl I very much like. I don’t want to just go back and think about missed opportunities for the next five years, Belen Torres. It’s terrifying, I know. But if you’re ready for that, I want to do the scary stuff with you”

A cold gust of wind rushed by, the sun, now dipped much closer to the horizon, created hues of brilliant colours in his eyes. That did nothing to the honesty reflected in them like a quiet promise. In him, she started seeing a very close reality, a future that she never imagined. It would be fleeting. It would end as soon as it started. She’d be jumping head first into dangerous waters that she could potentially drown in, but with effort she could try to swim. Protest trucks, hate trains, the possibility of being found out and shunned for life. Or worse, risking a heartbreak to last for a lifetime. 

But at the same time, Belen knew she'd be rewarded with long, heartening conversations, comforting words, quiet gazes in long nights that feel like a warm embrace. Maybe a little sacrifice was all she had to make for something bigger than them. Life was too short to run away from what scared her, and this time, she wanted to live with no regrets.

“I’ll be here for a week” Sung Gyu continued in that same, quiet tone. “If you are, and only if you are ready for that, I’m willing to spend that whole week for us”

Belen nodded, nodded and nodded. Her whole world was in a whirlwind. There was no right way of approaching this, because the stakes were just so high. Sung Gyu was a celebrity. Belen was just an ordinary girl from Metro Manila; the unimaginable crevice between them may have been bridged somehow for a week. But it's unsteady and rickety right now. She was so scared it would break and fall apart when they met halfway through.

Looking down at the doll, she weighed her options again, inclining very heavily towards one.

“And I’ll be careful,” Sung Gyu added as if she was just reading his mind. “I know what you’re worried about, I think. I’m worried so much about that too. But I will never do anything that will hurt you, Belen Torres. I promise you that”

“A week,” Belen muttered. Seven days. Or six, when she thought about it now. It was so short, it would be gone in a blink. “I’m not sure if that will be enough time Sung Gyu-Ssi”

“I know” He smiled, albeit sadly, and gazed into her eyes. “But it's better than just twenty-four hours, right?”

Belen laughed, his little chuckles followed. Silence fell for a minute afterwards, the sunset was almost over now, and so were her qualms, one after the other.

“Well then…” Belen started cautiously, scanning his face. “What happens in Manila, stays in Manila” Whatever they’d do for a week from now, she wanted them to be brief happy memories that she could carry with her for the rest of her life; not ones that would haunt her. 

Sung Gyu smiled, his eyes shining in recognition. He pressed a hand to his chest. “Don’t worry, Belen Torres. I’ll be taking this to my grave”

That, Belen thought, provided her enough inclination to say what she said next.

“Then yes,” She nodded, her heart exploding like fireworks. “I’ll go out with you, Sung Gyu-Ssi, I’ll talk about child custody over a cup of coffee with you”

“Or empanadas and banana cues” He laughed.

“You remembered!”

He shook his head. “They taste better when it's us”

As the sun descended deeper into the horizon, Sung Gyu moved closer to her and opened up his arms. That was a whole world for her, a brief future, millions of possibilities, and like he said, loads of scary stuff. But she dunked head-first into it and walked right into his arms, courageously, determined to make it work.

Sung Gyu embraced her, and that warmth coiled up through her soul, seeping through her veins right into her heart. He was so warm, that rich citrus scent of him was reminiscent of the first hug they shared in the dark backstage, a quiet mutual goodbye, never knowing they will see each other again. Belen dared to bury her face in his chest, her heart pounding so hard she knew he probably felt it too. Sung Gyu’s arms came around her, his face resting on the crown of her head. The breath he let out was audible, reverberating where she had her ear pressed.  She closed her eyes tight, wishing this moment lasts forever. In that silence, Sung Gyu slowly ran his hand up her arm, threading his fingers through her hair, and took a resounding breath.

“Belen Torres?”

“Hm?”

“I’m glad I got you back. I’m so glad”

Belen let out a heavy sigh. “I’m glad too”

Between them, the tiny weight of Chama rested like their actual child. Things turned out just for the best, even though she always blamed her stars. Had she gone to Seoul, she never would have done this, she never would have found the courage to. On the soil of her home, she could comfortably fold to this chapter of her life, although brief and fleeting. She could be happy, she could feel alive.

After what seemed like forever, she slowly moved away from him. He stepped back, and he was smiling. Belen thought she saw millions of glimmering stars in his eyes.

“I heard the sunset looked the best from here,” Sung Gyu muttered, looking closely at her. “And I wanted us to see it together” 

Belen glanced at the horizon where the sun was barely visible in the hazy twilight, it was already gone. “Oh no”

Sung Gyu laughed. As the cold breeze from the bay brought her hair across her face, he reached out and slowly tucked it behind her ear. “It’s okay, the sun will set again tomorrow”

“And you’ll still be here” Belen said out loud, the thoughts in her mind.

“That’s right. I’ll still be here”

In the comfortable quietness that followed, Kim Sung Gyu slipped his hand into hers. In one arm, she held her beloved doll, her lucky charm who made this all happen, as with the other, She threaded hers through his fingers. The Manila skyline glimmered beyond Intramuros, the disappearing twilight making way to thousands of stars. As the day slowly ended, they opened up their hearts, hopefully waiting for another.

Until that day, Belen Torres didn’t believe in fate and second chances. Good things were never supposed to happen to people like her, that she never expected for things to turn out for the best. But she took a leap of faith one night, took Kim Sung Gyu’s hand, agreeing to see a fleeting future together. Perhaps just for her luck, Kim Sung Gyu did believe in fate and second chances. He didn’t know what their future would be like from now. But he could still see tomorrow, he could still imagine the rest of that week, and he was happy, beyond words, to take those memories back home with him. Future was bleak, Belen knew this, Sung Gyu did too. But sometimes, it's just better to leave that for time to decide and live for now, for just now. Because right now, life was good. For Belen Torres and Kim Sung Gyu, life was so good.

~Fin~

Author's note.

It's been a while!

With 32,665 words and 91 pages, this story finally comes to an end. This is one of my favorite stories; Belen x Sung Gyu is one of my favorite ships to write. As someone who never writes sequels, this is a fresh and new experience for me. I don't know if their story will continue or if this is the end. But I'm glad to have given them another chance since the last time I wrote them three years ago.

My biggest thanks go out to Melissa for always sharing her (and her friends') cute and silly dreams so I could write about them. Also for answering all my questions for parts I couldn't imagine. (And for letting me use pictures of her baby Chama for the cover, who also inspired this whole story. My thanks also go out to all my friends from the Philippines. As I said before, for some strange reason, yours is a country that I really care about. Maybe because you and I come from countries that had similar histories and similar presents; we have struggles that are so reminiscent of each other, friendships, and the same fondness for Infinite that we share. I have never been there before, but I hope one day I will. 

All my well wishes for Infinite in Manila to come true! (And maybe that will be the time I will fly to Manila to meet you all too?!? You never know!)

Take all my love with you.

Stay safe!

Achini