new poster. hehe and damn, did i include a spoiler here? LOL. HAPPY READING! ^^

"Some people come into our lives,

leave footprints on our hearts,

and we are never the same."

C H A P T E R  N I N E

His smile. His scent. His feature. Him. I still remember everything about him,

and love every single of them. Nothing can change my feeling. I love him too

much that it hurts not being able to see him again, breathing together with him,

living with him like what we’d planned. And yet, I’m terrified. I’m terrified

I’ll forget his smile, his scent, his feature. I’m terrified I’ll forget everything

about him. I don’t think I will, but what if it happens? Someday?

       What do I do?

               When she had finished doing the dishes, she tried to dry her hands by wiping them with her t-shirt but that was when she realized she wasn’t wearing her oversized t-shirt. Instead, she’s just wearing a tank top because it’s ridiculously hot on that day. She reached for a kitchen towel and dried her hands and when she’s done with that, she walked towards the bedroom, but her track was stopped when he saw him leaning against the couch, focusing on the TV with no shirt on. She burrowed her eyebrows in curiosity, having no idea what he’s up to.

               “Taec,” she spoke.

               He jerked his gaze away from the screen and turned his face towards her direction and spoke,

               “What?”

               “What are you wearing?” she asked while crossing her arms against her chest.

               A confused look ghosted over his face and then he looked down to get what she meant by what he was wearing, and that was when a naughty smirk formed on his face. He looked up at her again, and lifted his hand, made a move with his finger in a way to ask her to come towards him.

               “What?” she asked while laughing, and did what he wanted. When she’s a step away from where he’s at, he pulled her down and settled her in a position where she’s sitting in between his legs and her back was leaned on his bare chest.

               “What are you doing?” she asked while biting her lips, in a way to refrain herself from giggling having his hands splayed against her stomach and soon trailed to the slope of her , cupped it with his big palm. She could feel butterflies started flying across her stomach with her hairs on the back of her hair stood.

               “Watching TV with you, of course,” he answered while still having the naughty smirk plastered on his face— giving her a massage on her .

               “My cute kitten,” he bit her earlobe when he felt her stir in awkwardness, probably because of her embarrassment. He settled his lips closer to her ear and whispered, “Well, I’m actually waiting for the water to fill in the tub so that we can take our bath.”

               She giggled and it changed into a loud laugh when he suddenly tickled on her waist. He kept on torturing her and she’s suffocating for air, and it was stopped when she bit his arm.

               “Ouch.”

               “Sorry. Hee I almost died. Huh.”

               “It’s okay. I like it anyway.”

               And they got back to the earlier position where she’s leaning against his chest and he twirled a strand of her hair around his index finger, while having his chin rested on top of her shoulder. Their cheeks hummed next to each other, they remained at the same position. Their eyes were glued on the screen of the TV but their minds were somewhere else. At that time, she’d realized a dot of small LED flashing before her.

               “What the hell are you doing? Recording?”

               “Yeah. I like it. I was trying to do a montage.”

               “What for?”

               “For fun. To replace my adult movies,” and he laughed.

               “Yaaaa.”

               “Just kidding. Haha. Don’t be so serious woman, seriously.”

               As soon as he had ended his lines, that’s when she felt like she’s in the air when he suddenly lifted her in the bridal way, with his strong arms. She was surprised and her arms immediately wrapped around his neck to prevent from falling (that’s what made her surprised in the first place) and her eyes bulging out.

               “I like that face,” he smiled and scrunched his face in pain when she hit him on the chest. He stared at her face in a playful manner and that’s when her heart almost jumped out from her chest when she felt him letting her fall from his arms. But of course, he caught it right away though, because his intention after all was just to play around not to cause her any pain. He let out a laugh after seeing how scared her face was which looked extremely funny to him. She couldn’t help but make a mad face while having adrenaline pumping throughout her body.

               “Put me down.”

               But instead, she felt her body being led towards their bedroom and later, they’re in the bathroom.

               “Yaa, what are you doing?”

               He took her towards the bath tub which now was filled with water, and stood across it, gave her his smile and he said,

               “Putting you down, of course, my princess.”

               And just like that, she’s drenched.

               “Ok Taecyeon!!”

               He laughed, so happy, and went out from the bathroom, leaving her in the bath tub alone.

               “YAAAA!!! OK TAECYEON!!”

               Then he appeared standing next to the door frame, and then he said, “Relax, wait a second. I’ll be joining you, for sure. Just need to get something to make it more fun.”

               And then he disappeared. She groaned in frustration and splashed the water hard, her attempt to release her anger. But she had had to admit anyway, it was fun. Later, she found herself smiling like a mad woman over something, alone.

               “Tadaaa!”

               By the time she looked up at him, he had thrown ice cubes into the bath tub. It felt ridiculously cold to her, but it was good enough for a hot and sunny day. She laughed in joyous and reached for an ice cube and traced it down her arm.

               “One— two—three!”

               Splashed!

               He jumped and the water was splashed everywhere. Both of them laughed together, as if it was their first time taking a bath. It took five minutes for the water to turn completely cold, and they started shivering.

               “This is insane,” she spoke.

               “I’m insanely in love with you.”

               “I know. Me too.”

               Both of them smiled at each other, and later brought their bodies closed, leaving no space between their bodies to fight against the coldness of the water. They remained wrapping their arms around each other in the bath tub as if there’s no option for them to get out from the bath tub and get warm.

               “Hey,” he spoke.

               “What?”

               “Let’s go for a vacation?”

               She nodded with a smile plastered on her face and that was when she realized the fact that it was her first time, taking a bath which had consumed an hour. Indeed, it was insane. But surprisingly they didn’t catch a cold that day.

               She was having no idea where he had taken her to. She had no idea. She couldn’t see anything. Nothing at all. Her eyes were blindfolded as he’d covered them using his big palms, and she could feel his sweat against her skin.

               Wet and warm.

               That’s how she felt. Her mind was flooded with so many thoughts and expectations. Did he bring her to the same place again? Was he trying to do something to her? etcetera. She muttered under her breath and scrunched her face in pain when she accidentally hit a rock. Then, that was it. She knew where they were as soon as the sound of water splashed hard against rock, they’re at the beach.

               “Taec, you can unveil now.”

               “Why? We’re not even there yet.”

               “You actually forgot to cover my ears. I can hear it, we’re at beach right?”

               He groaned in frustration and unveiled her eyes. Yeah, he hadn’t thought of that before. How silly. He said to himself and an annoyed look ghosted over his face. Seeing that, she couldn’t help but letting out a small laugh, refrained from producing loud laugh because she bet it’d evoke his anger. After she’s done with that, she slowly stepped backwards when he’s too contented at kicking the sand in frustration, and that’s when she jumped onto his back and wrapped her arms around his neck.

               “Wooww wow what are you doing?” he asked while trying to gain balance.

               “Oh, so this is how it feels like being tall. Get to see so many things up here.”

               “Yaaa, I’m not a tower.”

               “Okay, fine. Put me down.”

               And she felt her feet pressing against the Earth. She tucked a strand of her hair beneath her ear and closed her eyes, feeling the wind brushed against her face, wonderful. She dug a small hole using her toes, and intertwined her own fingers behind her back, trying to absorb the perfect moment.

               “Do you like it?”

               By the time she turned her face towards her direction, she could feel her body being drew closer towards his body. It was stopped when her back was leaned against his chest and her body was securely wrapped by his long arms.

               “I like it. Really much.”

               A smile was formed on his face and then he placed a peck on the crown of her head, light but it was a long one. He liked having the scent of her shampoo filled his nostrils— peach. He was never a fan of peach but somehow, he actually found it interesting that it could leave such an impact to his nose. It remained clinging to his nostrils for a moment before it completely vanished, but it was a crystal clear to him how it smelled like.

               She freed herself from his embrace and turned her body to the other round to face him, and did a hand gesture— asking him to bend and lean his body closer to her. So he did.

               “Te quiero.”

               After she was done whispering the words to him, which evaporated in the air in a quick manner but clung to his ear for the longest time ever, he drew his body back and stared at her face, with his eyebrows furrowed.

               Te quiero.

               It kept on lingering in his mind.

               “What the hell does that mean?” he asked.

               “I don’t know. Someone taught me that,” and then she stuck her tongue out and a big grin was plastered on her face.

               “Come on Shinah, what the hell does that mean?”

               “Figure out yourself.”

               Once more, she stuck her tongue out and started running away from him and felt how good it was having her feet thumped down the sand. Not too hard and yet not too soft. It was perfect. How she wished she could walk on beach for every single day. But she knew the best it was impossible. It took at least hours for the destination from Seoul to the nearest beach. When she was running, she felt like she was flying, the air lifted her up and the wind brushed against her face, how wonderful she felt at that time.

               She was too contented with how good she felt at that time, not realizing the fact that he was reaching for her right arm and spun her body to the other round to face him. But never did he know his action with a good attention could lead her to trip over her own foot and fell. But of course, they fell together.

               “Umph.”

               She blinked her eyes for a couple of times while breathing hard to cope with the pain and shock she faced just now, and that was when she realized she was lying on the sand while having him on top of her body. Her eyes bulged out in surprise, and truth to be told, even though she knew she should have felt happy having his body landing on top of her body, but it cost an unexplainable pain to her. There was no way she could cope with his weight pressing against her small body.

               “Ugh, Taec.”

               “Sorry.”

               He got up from her after realizing the position they had, but only left a little amount of space between their bodies, propped his elbows on her sides to keep his body balance, while his eyes were striking right onto her eyes.

               “Err, you’re not planning to get off me?” she asked while furrowing her eyebrows.

               “Te quiero. I like that.”

               “Haa?”

               “Just so you know,” he stopped and took his time to brush her bangs to the side, and he leaned in where his mouth was situated inches away from her ear, then he whispered,

               “I love you too.”

               Then his mouth took hers.

               Sweet and wet.

               That was her first time kissing on the beach, like she’d always wanted and felt so envious whenever she watched the scene in movies. At that time she finally knew how amazing it was.

               How passionate.

               How wonderful it actually was.

*     *     *     *

               Even though it’s about time for him to sleep, but he couldn’t. He’d tried so many times and even forced himself to do so, but the result’s still the same. He couldn’t. He couldn’t tear the scene of Shinah weeping in front of everyone in the podium, with her body shaking and from the distance she looked so fragile that even a touch could break her into pieces.

                When he felt her slipping her hand away from his and suddenly pulled her feet, he knew what was coming. And yet, he was incapable at holding her. Instead, he let her go, walked down the aisle as he knew, she deserved it.

               A sigh escaped from his mouth. He got out from the couch and walked towards the kitchen, slowly, avoiding from making any noise. But his track was stopped when he walked past the master bedroom. He leaned forward and placed his ear so close to the door, but he heard nothing. He assumed she’s sleeping and that’s when he found his courage to reach the door knob and turn it in a slow manner, until the door was widely opened and was welcomed by a figure.

               At that moment, he could tell his heart had stopped beating for awhile due to the shock he’d just faced. Nothing cross over his mind but a ghost when he saw a figure standing meters away from him in a wedding dress. But then he’d gotten back to his senses when he saw the figure turned her body to the other round and it’s actually Shinah. A relief sigh escaped from his mouth.

               But he couldn’t help but feeling broken apart when he saw how bad her face was due to crying too much. Her fair fell over her features and her face was red, with her eyes getting swollen and had ruined her pretty eyes— his favourite spot of hers. She was hiccupping with tears rolling down her tears like a waterfall.

               This was his second time seeing her weeping like this ever since her grandmother died when they were fourteen. At that time, he took fifteen minutes sharp to calm her down and make her stop crying because he’s innocent. But this time, he went stiff and didn’t move an inch because he had no idea what to do. He wondered whether he was legal to comfort her when it’s him who’d caused the person who she loved so much to die.

               She remained standing still and crying while looking at his face, even though the other part of her kept telling her to stop doing that because it’d do nothing but showing him how weak she actually was. She had cried half an hour already, but she couldn’t stop. It’s too much. She felt like these tears of hers resembled how big the effect was for losing him eternally from her life.

               “He’s gone,” she hiccupped.

               And that’s when his body worked on its own. His feet walked on their own towards her and his arms carefully pulled her into his embrace, rested his chin on top of her head and rubbed the back of her body. 

               “He’s gone.”

               He bit his lips, and tightened his arms around her small body— his mouth was numb to say words that could have the potential to soothe her. He slowly brought her to the bed and rested her body against the mattress and tucked her in who was still in the wedding dress. He stayed standing still watching her for awhile and then he turned his body to the other round to walk out from the room, but that’s when he found his hand was grabbed from behind. He slowly turned his head and it wasn’t a dream, like he thought. It was real. She did grab his hand from behind. Both of them stared at each other, no words came out from their mouths.

               “Stay. Don’t leave me.”

               That night, they spent a night together. She slept through the night weeping in her sleep while he stayed by her side and watched over her, sitting on the carpet and leaning against the counter table instead of lying next to her in the bed like what he’d done back then when her grandmother died.

*     *     *     *

               The first thing she saw was a blank white canvas. She closed her eyes for a moment and opened them again, and she felt terrible. Her head felt so heavy that she found it hard for her to get up. She rolled to the side and placed her hand against the wet spot. It was the spot left by her tears. Even she had cried in her sleep. She brushed her hand over her face and slowly got up and ended up in a sitting position. She ran her fingers through her hair and her action was stopped when she saw her reflection on the mirror across her.

               Holy god.

               That was her first time seeing how ugly she looked like by crying too much. She blinked her eyes for a couple of times to get used to how puffy and heavy her eyes felt at that time, and she heard a noise. She turned her head towards the direction where the sound came from, and then she remembered that she wasn’t alone in the bedroom.

               She saw his body lying on the floor, curled and he looked ridiculously like a caterpillar. It must have been tough for him to sleep through the night without a blanket nor a pillow to keep him comfortable.

               Stupid.

               She muttered under her breath and guilt immediately rushed over her body. She got off the bed and walked towards him and squatted, examining his sleeping face, how calm it looked like. At that time, she wondered what he’s dreaming. Was it her? Or was it someone else?

               She stood and reached for her quilt and blanketed it over his body, but she’s stopped when she saw him shifting and his eyes were opened.

               “Ohhh,” was the first word escaped from his mouth.

               He slowly got up from the sleeping position into a sitting position and stared straightly at her face. Seeing how puffy her eyes were, he could tell she’d been crying in her sleep. He was hesitating, whether he should say something that could soothe her or remain in silence. He had no idea what to do.

               She tucked a strand of her hair beneath her ear and stared at him, and that’s when she said,

               “Thank you.”

               And at that time, he swore he witnessed a light smile formed on her face. His chest became light, after almost twenty-four hours being heavy and painful feeling as if a knife had plunged right inside his chest because of the guilt and having to see the glooming face of hers and tears rolling down her cheeks.