“If saying ‘sorry’ fixed everything, why are there laws and police?”

Clink.

The ice in my cup made clinking sounds as I swirled the straw around in the cold drink. I was waiting for an answer, even if I knew what it would be.

‘Then what do you want from me?’

“Then what do you want from me?”

Was it because I had known Kiseop so long, that he had become predictable? Sure, I wasn't right all the time, but I had a good share of A's when it came to guessing what my love would do.

No, Kiseop and I were just friends. But it didn't help the fact that I had fallen in love with this jerk of a person.

As much as I loved him, I could openly say he could be a pretty big jerk. 

And last week, Kiseop had crossed the line. 

I usually didn't care whether or not people remembered my birthday. It wasn't a big deal. But when they knew my birthday, remembered it, told me to meet them somewhere to celebrate, and then cancel because they didn't want to get out of bed; then I cared. And that was exactly what this boy sitting in front of me had done.

And now he was trying to apologize.

I rolled my shoulders slightly, trying to loosen the knots in my shoulders as I leaned back into my side of the booth. "What do you think you should do? You told me to meet you and I waited there for nearly half an hour, but you didn't want to get out of bed. What would compensate for that?"

Kiseop visibly flinched and something inside of me tightened. Guilt or satisfaction in making him flinch? Probably both. "I told you, I'm sorry - "

"If saying 'sorry' fixed everything, then - hm!" 

Now I say I wasn't right all the time, because Kiseop did things like this every now and then. As if standing me up wasn't surprising enough, the absolute last thing I'd expected him to do was stick a piece of his cookie in my mouth. 

Even though I absolutely adored french meringue, which he knew all too well, it was completely unfair to shut me up with a cookie. 

Even more unfair to use the element of surprise to his advantage and abruptly get out of his booth and slide in next to me. The seat sunk down next to me, making me rise a little in difference to his weight. But by then, the cookie had melted in my mouth and I opened my mouth to say something, only to have it stuffed with another cookie.

What in the world was Kiseop doing?

Then he reached around my body and pinned me against the booth, his hands moving around my face and his own face nearing - only to be out by a soft, but thick fabric over my eyes. "Kiseop!" I protested, trying to wriggle out of the blindfold he was wrapping around my head.

"Shh. You'll make the other customers stare." He murmured, his voice right next to my ear and his warm breath tickling my skin, sending tingles up and down my spine.

As mad as I was at Kiseop, I still loved him.

"Let them stare! This is kidnap!" I hissed rather loudly, beating at the chest now next to my arms after he picked me up, out of the booth. The slight bounce of me in his arms told me he was walking and as much as I wanted to protest, I wanted to fall even less and I wrapped my arms around his neck.

That move alone told everyone around us it wasn't kidnap. 

Kiseop chuckled, the vibration rumbling through the contact between our bodies. I felt him turn around and start to walk backwards, probably to open the doors.

Oh now really, what was he doing? It wasn't like him at all to be this spontaneous, even though I didn't exactly mind...

"Watch your head." He told me as I heard a few clicks before being set down on my feet. I instinctively reached out in two opposite directions, feeling for him and anything else I could hold onto.

I found rather cold metal under the hand that wasn't holding a chiseled cheek. Cold metal? Ah, his car... 

And even though I knew what he meant, I still scoffed and retorted. "How can I 'watch my head' when I can't see anything?"

"Stupid, you know what I mean."

Name calling won't get him anywhere if he's trying to soften me up.

But his gentle touches might be a rather helping factor... as he slightly pulled me backwards into him. Besides the sound of my heart beating fast in my chest, I could hear a small thunk sound and was suddenly lifted off my feet again. "Duck. And not the animal." His low voice told me and I willingly obliged, not wanting to be hit by the doorway, knowing it way too much to be rather painful. Smooth, cold leather slightly sank beneath me as he settled me into his passenger seat, leaning across my body to buckle my seatbelt. "Trust me, idiot. You'll like this."

Well, that didn't sound scary at all.

More thunking noises told me he'd closed my door and gotten into the driver's seat. Without my sight, I had to rely totally on my hearing, waiting for the jingling of his keys and the growling of his engine. And yeah, maybe his words were a little scary, but there was never a time Kiseop's voice didn't calm me at least a little bit. I wanted to hear his voice, and he seemed to know that. "Do you trust me?"

To trust or not to trust. The horrors of choosing the right answer in an unreadable situation.

"What kind of answer do you want?"

"What do you think? The truth, of course."

"That's a toughie." A low, teasing growl sounded next to me and I leaned back into my seat, slightly amused. "Yes, I trust you, you scary kidnapper. Where are we going?"

Another chuckle. This one accompanied by sudden accents of voices and instruments of my favorite band. "And ruin the point of a blindfold?"

I took that as a no.

Soft. "Soft." I murmured.

If not for the music and Kiseop's smooth singing - I begged him - the car ride would have been horribly quiet. As quiet as the place Kiseop carried me into, more jingling of keys and sounds of closing doors.

I smelled something sweet, like someone had been baking. Something musky, like Kiseop's scent. I felt cool air and heard just about nothing but our breathing and his footsteps.

I would never admit it to him, but I was a little scared and excited.

As the scent became less sweet and more like Kiseop, I was suddenly plopped down on something rather soft. 

Reaching around with my hands, I realized I was on a bed. 

And then it struck me. 

I was at Kiseop's house. In his room. On his bed.

"Don't be scared." Kiseop said quickly, seeing me open my mouth. I quickly shut it and placed my hands down on either side of me, gripping the bedsheets. I wasn't sure what made me more nervous. That Kiseop had taken me to his room, or that I was actually inside Kiseop's room.

I heard the shuffling of his footsteps, followed by a click. The shufflings grew quiet, and then loud again. When the footsteps stopped in front of me, I leaned back a little. When I felt his hands behind my head again, I closed my eyes shut, as if that would help at all with a blindfold on. But the blindfold was slipped off and I opened my eyes to see...nothing.

It was completely dark, pitch black. The only thing I could see was a little bit of light on Kiseop's nightstand from a single, skinny, candle. 

A candle?

"I didn't want my gift to be mixed in with the rest. I wanted us to have a separate celebration so you would remember this separately, as something between the two of us in joy of your birth those years ago, and not as a day your friends did something for you. I wanted this to be special." He told me through the darkness, the candle suddenly lifting off his nightstand in the grip of a slightly glowing hand. More candles then lit, until two small rows of fire on wax flickered over his nightstand. "Did I mean to stand you up? Yes. It made it easier to get you here. Did I mean to upset you? I was hoping your love for me would cover for any anger. Happy birthday, Love."

"You got that from a drama."

"Which you made me watch."

"Teddy bear cakes. How cute."

"You don't have to pretend."

I laughed and took the cakes from his hands, placing them back down on his nightstand as I wrapped my arms around his waist. "Thank you, Kiseop. I love it."

"Forgiven?"

"Duh."

"Good." 

I never got to reply. How can you reply, anyway, when you're busy finally kissing the man you love?

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