Dongwoo and I spent a lot of time together, that much was obvious.

Every free moment he had, he was texting me or calling me. Every free day he had he was at my apartment, despite Sunggyu telling him to practice their dances; either that, or he was taking me out somewhere.

But despite this, we weren’t ‘official’. We didn’t hold hands because he “Didn’t want to send the wrong message.” He never kissed me, and we only hugged when he was leaving my apartment after hanging out with me for a few hours. We never did anything intimate, even though I made it obvious I wanted to.

I figured that Dongwoo would have liked me; I acted shamelessly silly with him, cooked for him, took care of him whenever he was with me, and we made each other laugh – a lot. I guessed that he didn’t like me in that way and went about our usual things whenever we were together, assuming that he was content with the two of us simply being friends.

Not to mention he was still waiting for Yeseul. With how he waited for her so intently, I figured that he had a thing for older women and wouldn’t be interested in me, even if he wasn’t waiting for her – seeing as I’m a little less than two years younger than him.

Nonetheless; Jang Dongwoo is an infectious presence to be around. His smile and laughter lit up my world and made me feel light as air, even when part of me wanted to be depressed.

But, Jang Dongwoo was also full of surprises…

-

“Hyesu-ah…” I made a whining noise and rolled onto my stomach in my bed, dragging my comforter with me, so that I could wrap it tightly around myself. “Hyesu-ah…” I felt light poking on my side and whined, wiggling in my cocoon of blankets. “Hyesu-ah…” the voice repeating my name became a little bit louder and I heard Dongwoo’s voice in my ear, his breath fanning across the side of my face.

“What?” I whined as he pulled the portion of my comforter closest to my face away.

“Hyesu-ah, it’s almost noon,” he chuckled, gently nudging my side.

“I woke up at eight,” I mumbled, squirming to release one of my arms from my self-inflicted prison of blankets so that I could swat his hand near my face away and grab my blanket, pulling it towards my face once more. “I did my morning routine – I still felt tired. I went back to bed,” I explained in my half-awake, half-asleep daze. “Dongwoo-oppa, I’ve pulled three all-nighters this past week, I’m tired. Let me sleep…” I whined. I heard him chuckle and felt the bed dip even closer to me, his arm snaking around me and wrapping tightly around my waist, despite the blankets between us. “What’re you doing?” I mumbled into my pillow, trying to sound nonchalant when my heart had actually started to beat faster, thudding almost painfully in my chest.

“Holding you,” he stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world – which is was – while tightening his arm around my waist and nuzzling his face into the back of my head that was exposed by all of my blankets.

“Why?” I asked, suddenly wide-awake and hyperaware of everything – of his breath on the back of my neck, the feeling of his lips brushing against my shoulder whenever he spoke, the strength of his arm wrapped around my waist, and his intoxicating smell that was slowly surrounding me. He was quiet for a few moments before he sighed, the warm puff of air on the back of my neck sending pleasurable chills down my spine. He let go of me and sat up, crawled over me (eliciting a small squeak from me), and flopped down on his side in front of me so that he could look into my eyes.

“I had a dream last night,” he told me, his voice soft. I recognized the look in his eyes and sighed, squirming in my blanket until I was able to shove it away and kick it to the end of the bed.

“About what?” I asked, lying down on my side so that we were face-to-face.

“Yeseul-noona was in it,” he murmured, averting his eyes to the space on my bed between us. “She was with someone else.” I watched him closely, listening intently to his story. “She was laughing at something he said, and then she saw me. She kept laughing though and looked back at him, as though she didn’t even see me.”

“Dongwoo-oppa…” I felt a pang of sadness at the lost look on his face, but then a light sparked in his eyes and his hands slid forward to grasp mine.

“But you were there, too,” he mumbled, staring at my hands clasped tightly between his. My heart was still beating fast, and now I felt heat rising to my cheeks when he smiled fondly and raised his eyes to look into mine. “You sat down next to me and hugged me. You didn’t say anything else; you were just there for me, comforting me with your presence. And then I looked up and met your eyes, like I am right now…” he moved one of his hands so that he could reach up and push my hair out of my face and over my shoulder, caressing my cheek while he did; I couldn’t keep my eyes from fluttering closed, savoring the feel of his hand my cheek. “And since I wasn’t blinded by Yeseul anymore, I was able to see you.” My eyes snapped open again and my breathing hitched as I looked into his eyes. “Hyesu-ah…” He breathed out my name and scooted closer until I could feel his breath against my lips. “Can I kiss you?” I couldn’t speak – my words were caught in my throat.

Instead, all I could do was nod.

That smile I fell in love with lit up his face and his arm slid around me, his eyes falling closed as his lips pressed lightly against mine. For what felt like the longest time we laid on my bed in each others’ embrace, sharing lingering, chaste kisses; after some time I started giggling and cuddled closer to him, sighing contentedly against his lips when his arm wrapped tighter around me.

“Hyesu-ah…” He murmured my name against my lips after some time.

“Hm?” I kissed his lips again, but only briefly; I opened my eyes to meet his gaze. A small, adoring smile turned up his lips as his hand started to gently rub my lower back.

“Will you be mine?”