“Do you remem—“

A pause.

“Do I remember what?”

She shook her head and closed her eyes. “No, nothing. Nevermind.”

A small grin tugged at the side of his lips, and he gently squeezed their intertwined hands. “What were you going to say?”

Taeyeon refused to open her eyes, but Leeteuk saw her closed eyelids flutter slightly as a smile graced her lips. “It’s nothing, really.”

The smile on her face begged to differ, and Leeteuk knew that all too well. “Come on, now. Tell me what you were going to say.”

She bit her lip. “That I love you?”

He laughed and put an arm around her shoulders to pull her closer. She settled her head on his chest as his chin found a spot to rest on her head. “Besides that.”

Taeyeon opened her eyes at last, but kept her gaze away from his face. “I’m cold?”

With another chuckle and a grin, Leeteuk pulled their blanket up to cover her shoulders. “Now you can tell me what I’m supposed to remember.”

Resistance was futile, and Taeyeon knew that well. She tilted her head up to look at him and shrugged. “I was just thinking.”

“About?”

“Things I used to do.” When he only raised his eyebrows in question, she turned her gaze back down and smiled. “People I used to talk to.”

“You know the feeling,” she continued, “that you get when something even remotely major happens in your life—the feeling that makes you want to tell someone, or many someones, about what had happened?” He nodded. “I don’t have a lot of friends. When I wanted to tell someone a story, there were only a few people I could ever speak to. Some, I went to out of desperation for a listening ear and a dry shoulder. Others were the first ones my mind went to when I wanted to talk. I’d go to them first, because they were the ones I wanted to know about me.”

There was a slight pause as Taeyeon thought. Leeteuk began her back, and she happily made herself more comfortable in his arms.

“There was one person in particular that I always wanted to tell first. Even if I didn’t always say things to him because I was embarrassed by them, or because he was busy, or for any other reason, I always wanted to tell him about what was going on in my life. I wanted to talk to him. I wanted him to know more about me—to walk an inch in my shoes and understand me.

Whether my story was sad or happy, absurd or meaningless, I always wanted to tell him. And sure enough, when I needed him there, he was there for me. He would sit and hear what I had to say. But not only did he hear what I said, he really listened to me. Sure enough, there were times when he didn’t care, and times when my talking only seemed to bother him. But every tug on my heartstrings sang his name, and I drawn to talk to him.”

Silence fell.

“What about now?”

“Now?” Taeyeon ‘hm’ed. “Now, I still want to tell him everything. I want for everything in the palms of my hands to be in his. I want to express my world in words and write them all, speak them all, show them all to him.” She sighed wistfully. “I want to give him my heart.”

Leeteuk bit his lip and tightened his grip on Taeyeon. “Your heart is mine.” He said, unable to keep from coating his words with jealousy.

“I know.”

Another pause.

“Have you told him about us?”

Taeyeon laughed. “I wanted to, so much, believe me. But it would’ve been a bit weird to say it. I didn’t want to make things seem strange by telling him about that—and no matter how much I wanted to tell him everything about it,” she closed her eyes, “about us, I just couldn’t.”

He reached over her shoulder and picked up her phone. Gently tapping the side of her head with her phone, he grimaced as he whispered into her hair. “Tell him now.”

“Now?”

“Now.”

With a sigh, Taeyeon took her phone from him and dialed a few numbers before stopping and tilting her head once more to face Leeteuk. “Leeteuk?”

“Yeah?”

“I need to tell you something.”

He sighed. “What is it?”

She put a hand on his cheek and leaned up to press a kiss to his lips. “I’ve been wanting to tell you this for a while now, but I started seeing the most amazing guy. He’s sweet, funny, caring—and all those other cliché adjectives, but he’s also insecure and honest to a point. He makes my heart beat like no other guy does, and no matter how close he is to me sometimes, I still get the fluttering in my stomach that tells me how much I anticipate being near him. He’s a lunatic, insane, and anything but perfect; he’s more than I could ever ask for.

He’s you.”

Taeyeon placed her head back on his chest, smiling even as she closed her eyes. “There. Now, I’ve told him. I feel loads better, thanks.”

Leeteuk gaped at her, not sure whether to start laughing or hit himself in the face for not realizing what she’d been implying. “This child…”

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