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Meadow

Seoul, South Korea

(Late Spring- May)

         Leeteuk decided to send her on a short getaway from the dull hospital and they visited Seoul. It was embarrassingly the first time Taeyeon had travelled but she trusted him. He took care of all her belongings and had ordered a private resort for the two of them, as they shared a two-bed room. She insisted a separate room but under Nurse Hwang’s insistence and overprotective nature made them sleep together as they did in the hospital, much to her embarrassment.

          It was spring and the weather at night was especially cool. Leeteuk held onto her hand as they walked over to a nearby meadow. It was a special place for him as he recalled his childhood memories with his late sister. He placed his jacket on the grass and helped Taeyeon to lie down with him. They stood shoulder to shoulder and she closed her eyes, feeling the wind blowing across her face. It was no secret that he loved secretly gazing onto her face but after several months together he knew that she held a special place in his heart. Taeyeon knew whenever he stared at her, but she kept quiet and didn’t mind it. Then, Leeteuk’s fingers went over to hers, his gentle voice whispered into her ears as he looked up to the sky.

“Oh, there are stars here.” He laced his hands, intertwining theirs and pointed towards them through hers.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. And brought her finger towards his nose.

“Nine.”

She chuckled. “You’re so full of yourself.”

He laughed too, still holding onto her hand.

“It’s a beautiful constellation,” he told her as he stared into her brown eyes. No star had compared to her beauty and he only saw her amidst the rest of the glow that stood above the sky. “You know, I’d like to make a wish.”

“And what will it be, Leeteuk?”

“I wish you would be able to behold a sight as beautiful as where we are now and see the stars for yourself.”

“Which includes you, you mean.” Earning a laugh from him.

And I wish to see you too, Leeteuk. Taeyeon sometimes felt insatiably sad knowing her sight can never be granted. Stars, I will never see you. 

Bedroom, Private Resort

Seoul, South Korea

          As he drove back to their resort, it was inevitable for him to notice her stiff expression in the car. Taeyeon shut her eyes and gripped onto her seat belt, biting her lips in fear. Troubled, he stopped the car and led her out, immediately engulfed by her hugging him tight against his chest. She didn’t say anything but after regaining her composure, Leeteuk had made sure to hold on tightly to her hands as he drove back slowly.

          He sat across her bed, tucking her in to sleep. “My parents died in a car accident. I was in it as well but saved because I sat in the passenger’s seat. The glass shards, it went into my eyes and they told me I was blind in addition to being an orphan.”

Her voice spoke monotonously and he knew she was trying to hold back her feelings. It was the first time she told anyone of her phobia. He softly caressed her cheek and her tears fell. She embraced him and he her hair. He didn’t say anything but he understood her, how she feels and just knowing that someone was there with her is enough.

Leeteuk can’t deny that he is beginning to fall in love with her, but he also realizes how they are in fact, worlds apart. He never told her of his background, afraid that she might decide to leave. He also acknowledges how old he was for her. Six years apart, he wished she wouldn’t, to never fall in love with him or at least cease from doing so. I will never hope for you to love me back.

He took her hands in his and held it against his cheek. “I will look after you,” he said and she nodded against his chest.

Ballroom, Private Resort

Seoul, South Korea

          The beauty in love is that it begins in these moments they shared. She starts breathing his scent until a part of her lungs just suffused with them. They don’t notice, but there is an inexplicable connection, this oneness that they start to experience.

“Leeteuk, where are you bringing me?”

“Let me show you something.”

He held her hand and guided her fingertips. She sat down beside him and her fingers pressed onto a key. She smiled.

“A piano..?”

“Here, play with me.” He held his fingers on top of her and moved them gracefully, creating a beautiful melody. She felt so intrigued and smiled hearing the beautiful music.

When he hears the music, he thought of her.

He loves the feeling of her fingertips laced around his own. The music they played, it sounds like the way she makes him feel. And hearing this, it made him remember how happy he was.

The only sound emitting from the room was the piano and Leeteuk had been watching her the entire time. As the song came to an end, she merely smiled wistfully. Again, with their silence and she could feel his eyes on her. What is he always thinking of?

"I can't read your mind, silly. I need you to say it." She blurted.

"You have a beautiful smile," he confessed as he ran her fingers through the piano keys hastily, earning a laugh from her.

She had a hunch that Leeteuk was no ordinary man. She didn’t know of his past yet she never questioned his intentions. Nurse Hwang hinted that he was from a prosperous family as she described to her how he looked and presented himself. How easily he booked a resort and rented their transport, she noticed it all. In a way, Taeyeon began to grow great admiration for his beliefs and manners that astounded her more as days passed.

It is a bright moment there as they played music, for her it feels as if light and rain collided above the stage. It feels like healing.

Unknowingly, Taeyeon started singing and Leeteuk listened to her melodious voice. He brushed his hands on her cheeks and lips, before finally tucking a hair behind her ear. She blushed at his touch and placed her hands over her chest feeling how rapidly her heart beat.

When she hears her heart, she thinks of him.