E  P  I  L  O  G  U  E

The loud, annoying alarm from Adam’s mobile phone went off, mercilessly invading his dreamland like an electric shock ripping his soul away from his body. He got up from the sofa and checked the time. It was only 6.45 a.m.; he fell asleep for barely 2 hours, but he had to get up already to finish mixing a few tracks for B.A.P’s new album. He needed to get everything finished by tomorrow, but there were still a lot that needed to be worked on.

In groggy steps, he left the recording studio he had spent the night at; working, and headed towards the toilet to refresh himself. He was thinking on staying for a few more hours, and then get home just before lunch to change before he returned to work again. He most probably had to spend the night awake again.

Adam left the toilet feeling much more refreshed this time, but anyone who saw him could tell that he was seriously deprived of sleep. His eyes were red, framed with the obvious, dark eyebags against his pale skin.

“Oh, hello, Adam oppa!” Sunhwa greeted cheerfully when they bumped to each other at the hallway.

Adam raised his eyebrows. “Hey, Sunhwa. You’re early today.”

“Yeah, I have to record for a variety program.” She chirped, but in split second, her usual bright smile was totally wiped away from her face as she leaned closer to Adam to whisper, “I have something to tell you!”

“What is it?”

“Sssh!” Sunhwa grabbed his hand and then dragged him towards the recording studio as her neck craned to her left and right, making sure that no one was around to see them together.

“What’s with-”

“This is a secret!” Sunhwa quickly cut him off as she shoved him inside the studio before entering it herself. She even locked the door behind her.

“Oppa!” Sunhwa intensely stared at Adam, causing the older guy to wonder what she was up to this time. Out of the four girls, Adam found Sunhwa to be the most troublesome, but he had came to adore all of them just like little sisters since 6 months ago, since he decided that he would rather to continue his work at South Korea. Well, except for Hyosung, the only girl who managed to find a special place in his heart.

“What is it?” Adam narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Sunhwa.

“Oppa, do you know what day is tomorrow?”

“Thursday,”

“No!”

“But tomorrow is Thurs-”

“Tomorrow is October 13^th!”

“And that’s Thursday.” Adam gave her a judging side stare.

“Ugh! How can you, out of all people not know?!” Sunhwa pulled her her hair in frustration, which almost caused Adam to burst into laughter if it wasn’t for the next revelation she relayed to him.

“It’s Hyosung unnie’s birthday!”

“Really?” Adam’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Ugh, oppa, you’re so bad!” Sunhwa slapped his arm. She might looked slim and fragile, but that little slap hurt.

“What?!” Adam retorted in irritance.

“Listen! We’re going to surprise her with a party tonight, at my uncle’s restaurant nearby. You have to come, okay?”

Adam looked away, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. His works were already overdue, he couldn’t postpone them any longer.

“Don’t tell me you can’t...” Sunhwa didn’t finish her sentence, and then pouted like a sulky little girl as she gave him accusing look.

“I can’t. I really can’t. Not tonight.”

“How could you! But you’re her boyfriend!”

Adam sighed. He really didn’t fancy explaining, but it wasn’t a good idea to keep these girls believing in things that were not true.

“I’m not her boyfriend. Who told you that?” He said as he combed his hair back with his fingers, looking a little frustrated.

Sunhwa stared at him wide-eyed, slowly forming a hollow, big ‘O’ in disbelief.

“B-but... You two are always together and, and-”

“Did Hyosung ever said that I was her boyfriend? No, right? Now stop speculating and get back to whatever you were doing. I need to continue my work.” Adam opened the door and then placed his hand on her head easily as if she was a kindergartener and pushed her out of the room, ignoring her blabber all at the same time.

Adam plopped onto his chair and then immediately rested his head in his palm.

It had been six months. Six months since he decided to not return to America, six months since he appointed Hyosung as his teacher on how to be ‘human’. He might still appear cold, and aloof and intimidating, but he knew how to respect people’s feelings, or be kind to them now. A lot of people began to open up to him, but Hyosung was still the closest person to him right now. They weren’t dating though.

None of them ever brought up the topic. He knew about how Hyosung felt about him, but she didn’t know how he had grown so much affection towards her. And he wasn’t planning to let her. In fact he wasn’t sure if he will ever let her know because he still had that thought that she deserved someone far more better than him.

It was five in the morning, and Adam finally had everything finished. He got everything done earlier than he thought, but instead of going straight to bed despite the major sleep deprivation, he decided to cool his head with cold beer, at Hyosung’s favorite park where the urban lake was. While he took small sips of the drink, his other hand fiddled with a small box, about the size of a cd case; just a small gift for Hyosung he bought that evening on the way to the company.

He almost dropped the box when the phone in his pocket vibrated at an incoming text message. He set the box by his side and looked at the messsage. It was Hyosung.

‘Are you still at the recording studio?’

He gave her a quick reply.

‘I’m having cold beer.’

‘Can I join?’

‘It’s late.’

‘I’m on my way. Don’t go anywhere!’

Her last reply put a smile on his face. She was always stubborn, but it was one of the many traits of hers that he loves. If she wasn’t, he would still be the old Adam who kept scaring people away, and he would still be alone in America by now. But she kept coming back to him, kept trying to prove to everyone else, to Adam himself even, that he wasn’t scary and he was just as kind and warm like everyone else.

“Hey!” Hyosung shouted from behind him as she happily skipped down the steps and then plopped herself next to Adam. She snatched a can from the plastic bag beside him and helped herself with the drink. Adam watched her every movement and then chuckled to himself. He was glad that she seemed happy on her birthday.

“Ah, cold beer is the best!” She stated after taking long gulps of the drink.

“How was the party?” Adam casually asked.

“It was great. Everyone was there. There were lots of yummy food too.”

“Yeah? Good for you,”

“It would have been perfect if you were there.”

Adam chuckled, hiding the awkward guilt for not celebrating her most important day there with the rest.

“Sorry,”

“I was just kidding,” Hyosung playfully bumped her shoulder with his own. “It’s okay. I understand,” She added with gentle, reassuring voice.

“What did I say about going out alone at night though?”

“It’s technically morning right now,”

Adam gave her a stern look at her playful answer but she just grinned cutely. How unfair. She could just look cute like that, and he could never continue to scold her.

“It’s not that far from the dorm,” she reasoned, “Plus, if I ever get into trouble, I’ll just scream your name and you’ll come running for me and save me. You would do that, would you?”

“Well, who knows...” Adam replied playfully. Hyosung pouted immediately, she even gave him a light punch on his arm.

“Geez, why did I even come here?” She scrunched up her nose and got up, walking towards the lake. She hopped onto the raised step which framed the lake according it’s shape and hummed softly to herself as she gingerly walked along the step.

Adam who had been watching her this whole time decided that he got up and followed her along when she looked back at him and smiled prettily. He kept the small birthday gift for her in his jacket before he left his previous spot. Hyosung was walking along the step around the lake while Adam followed closely behind her on the paved ground. Hyosung standing on the step caused her height to be even with Adam’s, even though technically he still stood taller than her by a few centimeters.

“Adam, aren’t you tired?” Hyosung suddenly asked.

“I am.”

“Am I troubling you? Do you want to go home already?”

“I need the fresh air.” I want to be with you. “I can’t really sleep at times like this anyway.” I can stay awake as long as you're around.

“That’s great, because I want to be with you for a little longer. I think it has been a while since we had a nice chat.  Since you start working on B.A.P’s album, I think?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, yeah! I covered an English song on a live talk show last week. Did you watch it? It was not bad, huh?” Hyosung smiled, proud of herself.

Adam had a grim look on his face as he nodded, “Well, you could work a bit more on the pronunciation,”

The previous smile quickly replaced by a pout. “You really don’t lie,” she mumbled under her breath, but Adam could hear her in the silent night.

Adam chuckled. “Stop sulking. I have a gift for you.” He said and then pulled out the box he had been fiddling with before from his jacket, and then handed it to her.

“Happy birthday,” he said. His voice quiet and calm, just like the cold breeze that was blowing over the lake.

Hyosung stared at the box with a twinkle of curiosity mixed with overwhelming feeling of tender emotions in her eyes. A smile shadowed over her lips as she carefully received the box in her fingers. She let the box rested there as she looked into Adam’s eyes.

“W... What is it?”

“Have a look,” he urged her, nodding his chin towards the box.

Hyosung loosened the white ribbon over the small box, and then lifted the lid open. An audible gasp softly escaped her lips as she stared at the platinum necklace lying still against the dark velvet. She looked at him again in disbelief.

“It’s a shooting star,” Adam explained, “Didn’t you say you were named after a shooting star the night before you were born?”

Hyosung looked at the necklace again, taking in its details this time. The pendant was made of thin line of white gold forming a wide ring, with a single circle shaped diamond adorning the top of the ring. Underneath the layered pendant were thin strips of white gold, embellished with tiny diamonds at each of its tips of varying length, imitating the tail of a shooting star.

“Do you like it?” Adam asked.

“It’s... It’s gorgeous, but... I can’t accept something this special,” she looked at him with a frown, seriously contemplating whether it was the right thing to accept the gift.

Adam took the necklace out of the box, “A special girl can only deserves a special gift,” he said and then leaned closely to her to put on the necklace on her, causing her heart to skip a beat at the sudden close approximity between them. He pulled back when he was done, gently pulling her long hair over the necklace and caressed them gently as he put them back in place. Adam paused whatever he was doing when he sensed the sudden change in her expression.

She was forcing a smile on her face, but she seemed so solemn all of a sudden.

“How unfair,” She said while appreciating the pendant that was resting on her chest now.

“Everytime you did something like this, I just helplessly fall deeper for you,” she confessed, leaving Adam stunned at the sudden heartfelt confession. Her sad eyes pierced straight into the window of his soul, unknowingly causing his heartrate to increase drastically.

Hyosung quickly cut off her gaze from him and stared at her feet, smiling sheepishly, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t bring that up anymore.”

“You should be sorry,” Adam replied, causing her head to shot up. His voice cold and sharp; the thing that she was most afraid of. She wasn’t afraid of him getting angry, but she was afraid if he would hate her for still harboring feelings for him after all these times.

“Because,” Adam continued, “When you stand there, looking like a lost, sad little puppy, do you know how hard it is for me to not kiss you?”

Hyosung’s eyes widened. She continued to stare at him in confusion as he returned her gaze with his painful looking ones. They stayed that way for a while, just looking into each other’s eyes, trying to read each other’s minds silently before Adam spoke again.

“Hyosung, you...” he said softly as he brought his warm fingers to her cheek, gently caressing it as he slowly leaned closer to her, “You’re too perfect,”  

He just moved closer and closer until their lips met, causing her to freeze from her head to toe when in reality she felt like her heart was about to jump out of her chest. When she closed her eyes, his lips pressed harder against hers and moved in gentle caresses, sending magical, tingling senses down her arms and stirred the butterflies in her stomach.

She gradually opened her eyes, feeling like she had just woke up from a dream, a fairytale-like dream to be exact and found her prince staring back at her with those tender, lovely eyes.

Is that a confession?

Is that an answer to her feelings?

Is he returning her feelings?

Or is that just a spur of the moment thing?

“What... does that mean?” Were all that managed to escape her lips instead of the many jumbled up words and confusion in her head.

“What does that mean?” Adam repeated her question, adding a bitter chuckle at the end. “That means you’re driving me crazy. That means you’re amazing, and gorgeous, and perfect. When you smile, I feel like kissing you, but when you frown, I just want to kiss you more... But I held back everytime and remind myself that I’ll never deserve a girl like you. So I beg you, just please, stop making my heart feel like it’s going to burst anytime,”

Adam slowly dropped his hand from her cheek, but she caught it in her hand. Hyosung frantically shook her head, denying his last request.

“But Adam, you, you’re perfect for me. I can’t think of anyone else. You always listen to me, you drink cold beers with me, and... you keep all the notes I gave you. See? You’re perfect, perfect for me.”

Adam heaved a heavy sigh. Closing his eyes, he leaned his forehead on hers. Maybe, he thought, rather than treating her like a temptation he should avoid, he should treat her like a gift sent from above.

“Oh, god...” he whispered. This time, Hyosung took the initiative; she cupped his face with both of her small hands, just to stare at and appreciate his handsome features before snaking her arms around his neck and pressed her lips on his. He automatically wrapped her small body with his strong arms, pulling her closer to him and held her tightly as if he had just realized that instead of pushing her away, he should just held her, as tight as he could and never let go again.

Hyosung finally pulled back to catch her breath, so Adam took the chance to ask her.

“How did you know I keep all your notes?”

“I looked through your drawers that one time when I came to your place.” She grinned.

Adam grinned back at her, “I should never let you come to my place again,” he said playfully.

“We’ll see. You might want to take that back,” Hyosung said and then continued to shower him with more kisses, kisses she had kept for him for months.

It's finally over :') I've grown to love this couple myself, I'm going to miss them. Thank you for reading, everyone!