It started as light pitter patter of rain that you didn’t notice until you went out to your mailbox to get the mail. It was barely cloudy, the clouds that were there weren’t dark, you suspected it would be a light shower and nothing more. You were wrong. Half an hour later the rain started to come down harder. You still weren’t worried about it but you your teeth in frustration. You had been planning to have a meal outside in the backyard in the nice weather with your boyfriend HanGeng. He had finally found time to spend with you. His schedules had been taking up all his time, only texting was allowed. He looked worn and broken down.

“Hangeng, I don’t think we’re going to be able to eat outside.” you said coming into the kitchen. The aroma’s had been making you hungry long before it was time to eat.

“I think you just may be right.” just then a large bolt of lightening streaked across the sky and the thunder was so loud it made you jump and shriek. Your heart pounded in your chest. Hangeng looked at you concerned.

“Are you alright? It was just thunder.” Just thunder he says! 

“I nearly had a heart attack.” you admitted while trying to breathe normally. 

“Well at least we’ll still get to-” no sooner had he tried to finish the sentence than the lights went out. The lightening flashed and the thunder rolled and it very really sounded like it was right above your house. 

“Get to eat? Doesn’t look like it now. I have candles around here somewhere. Flashlights too. You might want to take that pot off the burner and turn it off.” you mentioned as you held your hands out in front of you and tried to see with what little light was coming in from outside. 

The whole house was pitch dark which didn’t make a whole lot of sense. It was the middle of summer and it shouldn’t have been anywhere near dark out yet. But the storm clouds above your city were now pitch black and very angry looking. You opened the closet door and felt around until you felt the large industrial flash light you bought the last time the power went out. You had stumbled around your apartment and broken a toe on a box you hadn’t remembered being there. You swore never again. 

You went into your room to look for the flowery box you kept under your bed. You had a “thing” for scented candles and usually kept a pretty decent supply around for all times of the year. No time like the present situation to use them. You gathered up a few spice candles that you thought would go well with the food smells and headed back to the kitchen. 

Hangeng was sitting in a chair part of the way slid out from the table and smiled when you came back. 

“Well, I have an idea.” you said smiling. 20 minutes later, with a table cloth spread out on the living room’s wood floor, couch pillows thrown around, your candles in a jar lit, and the food put down, you both ate in the dark.

It was a very romantic setting. No tv, no phones, no distractions. Just the two of you. It had been a long time since you could remember feeling so happy around him. Naturally you were always happy to see him, but either your phone would go off, or his phone would go off, or you would eat with the tv on, and there was never a time where you actually looked at each other while eating. You couldn’t go out very many places because he was well known being in Super Junior, and his hangul was always a bit lacking when it came to being confronted. He got nervous and the more nervous he got, the less hangul he remembered until he resorted to pleading with people in mandarin. You’d only seen it happen once. 

“This is a quiet change.” you commented between bites of his fried rice. He smiled and nodded.

“Yes, it’s very nice. I miss days like this, where it’s just the two of us.” he looked at you, in no particular way but you blushed under his stare. “Why are you looking like that? Have I said something wrong?” he asked lowering his bowl.

“No, no it was nothing you said.” you mumbled. 

“Then what is it, why did you look away from me like that?” he insisted. 

“You… you’re.. handsome.” you managed and blushed further. He blinked at you.

“I’m handsome?” he repeated. You nodded. “Why would that make you look like that?” 

“Because, sometimes I forget just how good looking you are, and then you look at me with this sort of stare you get, and it.. gives me butterflies sometimes.” you blushed redder for admitting all of this but it was easier to tell him than it had any other boyfriend you’d had. 

“You mean like the ones you give me when you smile? Or when you brush your hair out of your face, or when you hold my hand?” he asked also blushing a little but with a smile non the less. 

“Really? I give you butterflies?” you asked with wonder in your eyes. He laughed his unique laugh at the adorable look on your face.

“Of course you do. You’re a gorgeous woman, I have always thought so. That’s why I was so surprised when you agreed to go out with me.” he admitted. You looked shocked. 

“But you.. you’re great! Why wouldn’t I want to go out with you?” you couldn’t believe what you were hearing.

“I don’t feel so great a lot of the time. My members have all be very good to me, especially SiWon-ah and of course HeeChul even though most wouldn’t believe it. But my reception and how I could only appear on certain shows and things like that when I first got here made me upset. But I just kept going because my career was important to me.” You looked understandingly at him. You moved your dishes away from you and scooted closer to him. 

“Well I think you’re a fantastic person and I’m glad you’re here with me.” you said with a confident smile and laid your cheek on his shoulder. He flinched slightly and breathed out. 

“There are those butterflies..” he muttered looking down at you. “You really are so beautiful.” he said to the top of your head and kissed your forehead.

You smiled and looked up at him. The smile faded away with the look in his eyes as he looked at you. He inched his face closer to yours. Before you could connect the lights came back on, the tv, the ac unit, and all made noise that caused you both to jump and laugh. You looked blushingly at him out of the corner of your eye. He cleared his throat and looked away. You piled up the dishes onto the tray and took them into the kitchen. You didn’t see Hangeng sitting on the floor still talking to himself. He got a determined look on his face, and getting up turned the tv off, and the light in the living room. He turned the hallway light off, and kept making his way to the kitchen. He watched you for a minute, your tee shirt lightly wet from the soapy water. The clouds outside were clearing and the setting sun sent rays of golden light into the window you were standing next to. 

He turned the kitchen light off and came in. You looked up when the light went off.

“Not again. But it stopped storming out.” you peered through the window wiping your hands on the back of your jean shorts.

He came up behind you and turned the water off. You looked at him, and saw the look his sculpted face held before the lights came back on had returned. He tenderly rested his hands on your shoulders turning you to completely face him. Your hands fell to your sides and your whole body went sort of limp. He kissed your forehead again. You could feel the warmth of his soft lips. You caught the corner of your bottom lip in your teeth not knowing what to do. Part of you wanted to turn bright red and run away, the other part wanted to stay and see what would happen. 

Once his lips left your forehead you looked up again and tried to formulate a sentence but it just wasn’t happening. His lips came down to silence you. Your first kiss had been awkward and felt a bit forced. Having HeeChul there elbowing him in the ribs to kiss you probably hadn’t helped any. But this felt natural. It felt like it was supposed to happen the way it was happening. His lips enveloped yours taking away all ability to think straight. When you started to kiss back, something you hadn’t done the first time, you heard something between a moan and a sigh come from him. You weren’t sure if you had done something wrong or not until his hands were on either side of your face. He slanted his mouth to the side to deepen the kiss, every swipe, every motion, were urging you, encouraging you to kiss him in return. 

Your hands reached out for something to grab onto and they fell to his chest. You took handfuls of his shirt which caused him to moan softly and pull out of the kiss. He was breathing shallow and looked at you. You looked back at him and caught the edge of your lip between your teeth again. You knew from that moment, you never wanted to be with anyone else for the rest of your life.