Miss No Label

   C H A P T E R   N I N E   

POV:

         That night, Lay and I ended up cuddling on his bed - or our bed, as he insisted it was. His arm was around my waist, trapping me close to him that I could already feel his every breath and see his brown eyes up close. I could not help but freeze for the first few moments, but eventually ended up tracing his stunning face with my fingers. I flinched as I reached his lips as they formed into a curve - a smile. There was no other intimacy more than that. That was what I was thankful of Lay - he respected me and knew his boundaries.

        "You adore me that much, Krystal?" He teasingly asked with his adorably annoying smirk. 

        I smiled. "Not really. You're not my type, as a matter of fact." I teased back.

       "What did you say?" His eyebrows furrowed. "I think I heard you wrong."

        "I said..." I replied. "You are not my type, Lay."

        He let out a scoff and caressed my cheeks, sending chills down my spine. "I don't think so. If I was not your type, then why are you on our very bed right now?" He calmly argued with an emphasis on the collective pronoun I cannot comprehend for ourselves. "I don't remember forcing you to hold me the way you do right now. Did I?" He said playfully.

       "It's because I'm a crazy woman." I remarked, making him chuckle.

       "I agree to that." He nodded.

        "I blame you for that." I said, accusing him of the crime I blame him for. Since I knew him, I forgot about the Soojung back then. Maybe that was what my mother tells of love, and that thought brings fear to me. Love need not exist between the unlabeled 'us'.

        Lay kissed my forehead. "It's an honor to cause your insanity." He said. "I blame you for mine as well, to be honest." His hoarse voice echoed in my ear like some old familiar song I once forgot.

       "How many were there before me?" I suddenly asked, causing his moon-shaped eyes and vague smile to drop. I was definite that I sounded as serious as I was supposed to be. I felt the need to know.

        His eyebrows furrowed once again and his eyes seemed confused. "What do you mean?"

        "How many were there before me?" I repeated. "The unlabeled women in your life, Lay."

        It took him a while to reply, yet I waited. He my hair then my back, in hope of making me disregard me question, but I did not. "Is it too confidential?" I questioned.

         "No." He shook his head. "It's not that it's confidential from you, but I just don't see any reason why we have to talk about it." He testified, still calmly like he usually was.

        "I was just curious." I said, as soft as a whisper. "I just thought I should know." I decided to let it off, not wanting another bickering arguement with Lay, especially on serene evening as such. "It's okay. You don't need to answer that."

       "None." He suddenly uttered after a deep breath. "There was none."

       "So I was the first to be unlabeled?" I said, not knowing if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

       "Mmm." He affirmed. 

       "Was there someone who got a label?" I asked again, hoping for another honest reply.

       "Yes." He said, unable to look at me in the eyes and continuously playing with the strands of my hair. "There was one."

       Ouch. I did not see that coming. I denied the sudden unfamiliar feeling that struck me, but I was sure it was pain. "Can you tell me the story, then? Maybe as a bedtime story or such." I said. I mentally cursed myself for bringing in torture on myself.

        "Do you really want to know?" He asked. I nodded in reply. "Okay. I'll grant that for you tonight, Krystal, but promise me one thing."

        "What is it?" 

       "This must not affect us." He firmly said, with the last word in emphasis, sending chills on me.

       "I promise." I swore. 

       "She was just like you, Krystal." He began. "She was younger than I was, just like you. She had long black hair, icy arrogant personality, trust issues and struggles. Just like you." More pain dominated me. Did that mean Lay made a move on me just because I resembled his first one? I thought. I wanted him to stop right then and there, but something stopped me from doing so. "We were a labeled couple for almost a year. She was dominant. She wanted me to follow her wherever she went, making me feel like my label to her was a trophy. In junior year, she rebelled against her parents. I asked her why but she refused to tell me. She told me to runaway with her and abandon our families - that is something I could not do. So she left me after that day, just like that. The next thing I knew, she was just fooling me around. She two-timed on me." He paused. "That was our story."

       "Do you still miss her?" I asked.

       Lay shook his head. "No." He kissed my forehead again. "Because I have you."

       "Do you see her in me, Lay?" I asked again.

       "I know what you're thinking, Krystal." He replied. "It's not what you think it is. When I saw you being stepped on on that bus stop, I knew you were not like her. You're very different from her. Do you know what makes you different?"

       "No." I replied. "I don't know."

       "A lot." He replied. "And there's one thing specific I can tell you."

       "And what is that?" I anticipated for his answer.

         "I liked her." He began. "But as for you... I love you." He pecked on my lips and stared at me in the eye. There I was, frozen and in deep shock. "I love you, Krystal." He repeated as a cue for a deeper kiss to the point that I could not help but kiss back. That was all it takes. Right at that very moment, I risked my fear and trust issues. All for Lay.

       "Do you have a reply for that, Krystal?" He asked with a smirk as we broke away from the kiss.

       "Isn't it obvious?" I remarked, slapping his arm playfully as I blushed. "I love you too."

author's note:

HOW IS IT ?

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