Zico’s POV

Kasumi and I survived the night without doing anything we shouldn’t do. The moment my eyes opened the next morning, I grinned, seeing Kasumi’s sleeping face in front of mine. I leaned in and kissed her lips gently.

Kasumi’s eyes fluttered opened. She smiled sleepily at me and cupped my cheek. “Jiho Oppa, we didn’t do anything last night,” she said softly.

I nodded, moving closer until our bodies were pressed against each other. I could feel the warmness of her body. I smiled down at her, nuzzling her forehead with mine. “We didn’t,” I agreed. “Do you think we can keep this up again tonight?”

She nodded. “Neh.”

“Good,” I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her a kiss. “Come on,” I murmured after a minute or two, “why don’t you go and wash up first?”

“You’re only saying that because you want breakfast after you’ve bath,” Kasumi replied but she slid off the bed, showing herself in shorts and a baggy shirt. She took her towel. “I’ll bathe as fast as I can,” she said, disappearing behind the door.

I chuckled softly and slept for a few extra minutes, but then something strong and sweet — like strawberry — hit my nose and I knew that Kasumi was out. I looked up to see her in red skinny jeans and a white V-neck singlet. I passed her black leather jacket to her before I went to bathe as she walked out to make breakfast.

After breakfast, Kasumi went off for classes. I had no classes today so I decided I should hang out with Kyung and U-Kwon. I haven’t seen them in a week and I wondered what they were up to now.

We met up at the nearest café to all of our penthouses and ordered coffee. While waiting for our coffee to arrive, Kyung told us how he had found a girl.

“Let me guess,” U-Kwon said mockingly, “is it . . . Krystal?”

He blushed. “How the hell did you know that?” he wanted to know as U-Kwon and I howled with laughter, giving each other high-fives.

“Well, the two of you had always had an obvious thing for one another,” I replied. “Back in high school, the two of you were always so shy whenever you were around one another, and you’d always defend each other if someone teases the other person. Anyone who knew you would be an idiot not to have noticed.”

“But neither of them noticed it, what does that say?” U-Kwon cracked up, earning a glower from Kyung’s direction.

“Speaking of relationships, how are things going on between you and Kasumi?” Kyung asked me curiously. “I heard that she’s moved in with you.”

I glanced cautiously at U-Kwon, who smiled reassuringly. “Hey, I’m with Luna,” he replied. “I’m happy with her, like how you’re happy with Sumi.”

Kyung shook his head. “I still cannot believe that you and Luna are together. I mean, you guys hated each other in high school.”

“We are an odd pair,” he agreed. He turned back to me. “So?”

I shrugged, smiling. “Living with Sumi is great,” I told my friends happily. “We already know each other’s habits and attitudes that it works perfectly fine at home. We both take care of our own mess and well . . .”

“How do you put up with the paint fumes, though?” Kyung crinkled his nose. “I remembered her wall at the Kim’s residence was filled with her paintings. They must love her a lot to put up with the smell.”

“Oh, yea,” I remembered, “we actually didn’t agree on that because she’s still painting, of course, but she would sleep in the room after painting.”

“Isn’t that hazardous?” U-Kwon frowned.

I nodded. “That’s what we were fighting about,” I told him. “I disagreed with her sleeping in her room after she had painted, especially since she likes to paint at night, but she said she was used to the smell already.”

“Then how did you guys solve it out?” both Kyung and U-Kwon asked at the same time. They glanced at each other before glancing back toward me.

“We’re sleeping together in the same room now,” I replied.

Kyung raised an eyebrow. “Um, no offense, but . . . isn’t that going to be difficult for you to control yourself?” he asked. “I mean, I know sometimes at night you can’t control it when you guys had just started dating, but —”

U-Kwon burst into laughter as I blushed a deep shade of red. “How on earth did you know about my urges?” I demanded to know.

“I heard you, idiot.”

“Damn.” I was so embarrassed now. I cleared my throat. “It was hard, but I managed it. We cuddled with each other and slept in each other’s arms and that was about it. No , no , no touching. The only thing we did was kiss.”

“Wow, Woo Jiho had really changed,” Kyung remarked, smiling. “That’s good to know, you know. I’m happy that the both of you are happy. Maybe you guys will end up getting married and have many kids.”

U-Kwon was deep in thought. He gazed up, his eyes still glassy from whatever had occupied his mind. “You’d never picture Minhyuk hyung and Amber getting married, right?” he told us what he was thinking about.

“I want to marry Kasumi,” I confessed. “But the thing is, I think we’re still quite young to get married. I mean, we’re just in college.”

“Are you sure she’s the one for you?” U-Kwon asked.

I nodded certainly.

“I don’t know, you guys have been together for a very long time,” Kyung said. “If you really think she’s the one, jump for it.”

“You think so?”

He nodded. “Christmas is coming.”

I shot him a look. “Do you seriously expect me to propose to her that fast? That’s only, like, three months away!”

“Perfect timing to plan everything,” U-Kwon shrugged. “Honestly, I think maybe you should wait for her to turn twenty-three or something. Her parents, remember?”

I groaned. “Right. They might agree to me living with her because they trust me, but I don’t think they’d want their daughter to get married so young. I think her brother Myungsoo will kill me before I even propose.”

We changed the topic to our college and other activities, and also wondered how the other members of Block-B were.

Christmas was coming. Kasumi was really excited. Christmas was Kasumi’s favorite season of the whole year. Kasumi and I decided to do their Christmas shopping together for our friends and went to the mall. We searched through every shop lot in the mall until we were certain we had bought presents for everyone.

Then we decided to head down to the nearest café to grab a cup of hot coffe to warm themselves up. I was joking about how Kasumi hadn’t gotten me a present yet, but she told me she had already had gotten my present. I tried to weedle it out of her, wondering what she had gotten for me, but she refused to even spill a syllable.

After an hour chilling at the café, we got up and paid for their drinks. It was time to get home so Kasumi could make dinner for the both of us (which she refused to tell me what she was going to make for us either. I swear, she’s torturing me on purpose). Just as we had paid and started to make our way to the door, we paused and looked out of the window to see the skies turning to grey.

The first splat of rain hit the window of the café’s. The sky had darkened a steely grey. Streaks of lightning brightened it, only to be followed by thunder. We glanced at each other and realized neither of us had brought an umbrella out.

And the car was parked five minutes away from the café.

I laughed. “It’s a good thing that we had put all our stuff in our bag. The only thing we need to worry about is our clothes,” I pointed out.

Kasumi laughed as well. “Yeah, a little rain won’t hurt us,” she agreed and the two of us took the risk and went out to the pouring rain as people around them began to open up their umbr