It felt like a scene out of a drama. Never in your life would you have expected an event like this from Yongguk, especially when you’d been together (albeit on and off) for so long. You’d thought the both of you had reached a stage in your relationship where you were so comfortable with each other that such gestures were unnecessary, but seeing that he’d gone to so much effort still thrilled you. It had been such a long time since you’d celebrated anything together that you weren’t even sure how to react.

“You did all this?” you asked, awestruck as you twisted around to face him.

“I had the boys to help,” Yongguk admitted, smiling sheepishly at you. “They suggested all these, really. All I had was a letter.”

“You realize that I’m going to have to clean this up, right?” you pointed out, raising an eyebrow at him.

A look of alarm flashed across his face briefly. “Oh. Don’t worry, I’ll—”

You laughed, putting your arms around his neck and standing on your tiptoes to peck him on the lips. “I’m kidding. I really appreciate this. Thank you.” He smiled and you kissed him again, letting your lips linger against his a little longer this time. His arms slid up your back, holding you close to his body as you pulled away. “I’d be really happy with just a letter though.”

“This isn’t our style, is it?” he asked, laughing. “Do you like it?”

“It’s nice,” you said, smiling gratefully before nuzzling your face into his shirt. He’d been so busy lately that sleep was a luxury, but yet he’d spent all this time planning an event for you. Just that thought alone filled you with a feeling of immense bliss. “But I really don’t need all this. You just being here with me…” you trailed off, feeling overwhelmed all of a sudden, thinking of how much you’d both had to go through to reach the stage you were at. You tightened your grip around him without even realizing it. Romantic events meant nothing to you. You didn’t need all that to feel happy. All that mattered was that he was there, in the flesh, and he was yours. Just having his arms around you made you feel lucky. You tilted your head up to look at him sincerely. “I love you.”

Yongguk leaned in again for a kiss that left you feeling giddy before he released you and nudged you towards the dining table. “Shall we have dinner?”

“I heard the song. It’s good.”

“Is it?” you asked absently, playing with Yongguk’s hand. The two of you were lying side by side on the bed, too lazy to move after a heavy meal. “You had a part to play. You know Secret’s style better than I do.”

He smiled, but wisely decided not to gloat. “How are the other songs coming along? Do you need me to edit anything for you?”

“No, thanks. I don’t want my lyrics to be butchered by you again.”

Yongguk turned his face slightly towards you, presumably to check if you were seriously unhappy or just kidding. You turned to him, narrowing your eyes and pretending to be angry, but he wasn’t falling for it. He smiled again, clasping your hand firmly in his. “I know you’re a poet and it hurts your pride when I simplify everything, but I was just looking at things practically.” He chuckled. “Our roles are reversed, for the first time.”

“I am being paid to write for someone else,” you admitted begrudgingly. “It’s not really going to be my song, strictly speaking. And you’re my sunbaenim when we’re at work. I’ll respect your opinions.”

There was a brief moment of silence as Yongguk traced light circles on your palm with his thumb. You felt so relaxed you could have fallen asleep if he hadn’t spoken again. “You can write with me, you know? If you want.”

“Hmm?”

“I mean for BAP,” he said, tilting his head towards you. “You can work with me on our new songs. Co-write the lyrics.”

You laughed at the suggestion, knowing that he was a perfectionist and that it was difficult for him to willingly relinquish control of any part of his music, especially when you obviously weren’t at the same level that he was. “Don’t worry, oppa. I’m not really mad at you.”

“I’m serious,” he insisted. “I think your writing is more suited for BAP. Besides, I’d like to try working with you. I think our songs would be awesome.”

“I think our fights would be more awesome,” you pointed out, only half in jest. You’d been in the studio with him before, but only as a listener offering feedback. You’d never worked together on anything from scratch before. Both of you were serious about your work, and you knew he’d be just as defensive as you’d been if you tried to correct his lyrics. You couldn’t imagine the two of you working harmoniously together.

“Fighting is how we show our love, remember?” he joked, grinning at you. “We can write an angry song together. I’m sure it’d be full of firepower.”

“Along with blood, sweat and tears. Literally.”

Yongguk laughed as he pulled you towards him. “Ya, you’d go so far as to shed my blood?” You tried to dart out of his grip, but he subdued you easily, wrapping his arms around you and using one leg to pin your lower body down, both of you laughing till you were breathless. Even when you finally calmed down, he was still insistent on the topic. “I’ll speak to the songwriter hyungs and ask if you can work with us on the next album, okay?”

“We’ll see when the time comes,” you replied, non-committal. You relaxed, burying your face in his chest and inhaling his scent deeply. He smelled incredible, as usual. You didn’t have words to describe his scent, but it’d always made you feel a kind of warmth from deep within your heart. In your clingy teenage days, he used to pass you his sweatshirts so you could fall asleep pretending he was there beside you. No matter what he wore or how he changed his hairstyles, he always smelled the same. He’d even changed his cologne over the years, but the smell of his skin had stayed exactly the same. It intoxicated you. It was a one of a kind Bang Yong Guk scent that not even his twin had. You’d tested that theory out years ago. You giggled, remembering how you’d freaked Yongnam out by creeping around him, sniffing at him.

“What are you laughing about?”

“Just thinking about how little you’ve changed since we were kids.”

“Haven’t I changed?”

You shook your head. “Not that much.”

He laughed softly, one hand coming up to your hair. “Shall I read you my White Day confession?”

You looked up at him. “Are you going to?”

A shy smile spread across his face as he moved away from you, pulling a sheet of paper out of his jeans pocket and sitting upright on the bed. You sat before him, hugging a pillow upon which you rested your chin. He unfolded the piece of paper and opened his mouth to start reading, but his eyes caught sight of you looking expectantly at him, and he burst into awkward laughter. “Ya, don’t stare at me like that!”

You rolled your eyes at him. “Where do you want me to look then?”

“Look somewhere else,” he insisted, turning a little pink. His smile was so wide that you could see his gums. You knew him well enough to identify his embarrassed laugh, and you turned your head away from him. “Alright, I won’t look at you. Go on.”

“To: my beautiful girlfriend,” he read. From the corner of your eye, you saw him lift his head from the paper to check if you were looking at him. You kept your head turned away and he continued, satisfied. “It has been six years since I confessed to you for the very first time. It sounds like a long time, but we’ve regrettably spent a lot of this time apart. It took a lot of mistakes and a lot of diversions along the way, but I am now sure that my very first choice was the right one.”

You moved your head a little so you could peep at him, but he was now so engrossed in reading his letter that he didn’t notice. He still looked a little embarrassed, but you could now see the sincerity with which he was reading those words to you.

“I remember when I first met you. At first, you were my friend’s annoying little sister…”

“Ya! Annoying?” you interrupted, smacking his thigh.

“Let me finish!” Yongguk laughed, fending off your attack with an arm. “…Because he was always having to rush off to babysit you. I thought, since you were already seventeen, couldn’t you have taken care of yourself without having your brother run after you all the time? Himchan used to tell me that you’d lose track of time reading in the library, and that you’re scared of everything and didn’t even dare to cross busy roads by yourself.” You shot him another glare, which he pretended not to see. “So I assumed you were a nerdy and timid kid. But the first time I met you, I realized that he needed to protect you so much because you were so pretty.” He paused to smile at you. “Still are.”

“Still pretty or still nerdy and timid?” you asked, pouting.

“All three,” he replied with a laugh, patting your head teasingly before looking back at his letter. “From then on, I felt like I had to protect you too. After I got to know you, I found out that you were only frail on the surface. It was the first time I’d ever liked a girl, and I didn’t even know what to do other than admire you from afar, but you were brave enough to tell me that you liked me. I think that was the happiest moment in all eighteen years of my life then.”

You smiled at the memory. For months, he’d spent a lot of time hanging around you even when Himchan wasn’t around, and you were talking on the phone or chatting online with each other all the time. It was pretty obvious that both of you liked each other, but he just wouldn’t say it. It got to a point where your friends would keep asking you if he’d confessed already, until you finally lost patience and decided to do it instead. It’d happened when he was walking you home from school, and you’d been hinting at him the whole way. You’d reached the street before your house when you finally asked what you were to him, and he’d answered that you were a friend he cared a lot about. You’d huffily asked him to leave, and he’d really turned to go. Unable to wait for him to get his game together anymore, you’d pulled him back by his backpack and yelled at him, “Ya, Bang Yong Guk, you’re seriously a pabo! I like you! When are you going to ask me to be your girlfriend?” It was a funny story now, but you’d been really frustrated with him back then because he was painfully shy.

“These past years, you’ve given me many more happiest moments of my life. Of course, you’ve also given me many lowest moments that made me wonder if I was even still alive. Only you can bring me from one extreme to another because you’re just that important to me. Why I’m writing this is because we’re not perfect and we’re going to go through more challenges in our lives, but I want you to remember our happy times. Remember that we are two halves of a whole, like Aristophanes said. I probably don’t express this enough, but I love you. Happy White Day.”

You were tearing up, but you had to laugh at that last reference to Aristophanes, knowing that he’d remembered you making a passing comment about it and probably just looked it up before he started writing. You wiped your eyes as he put down his letter, flinging yourself towards him in a crushing hug. “You’re always making me laugh and cry at the same time,” you complained.

Yongguk chuckled as his hands came up to hold you. “It’s not my fault if everything makes you cry, right?”

You clung on to him tightly, feeling as though you might float away. “Thank you for everything, oppa.” You pulled back just a little to give him a long, sweet kiss. “I love you.”

Author's note: Part 30! I thought I'd be finished with this story by now, but somehow I've already planned out the next ten parts or so. Might or might not expand, depending on the songs coming out in the next album. There's too much fluffy sweetness going on right now, and I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with that heh...

Speaking of the next album... Have you guys caught 'Coffee Shop'? Kyaaaaaaaa~ how can these boys look any more perfect than they already did?! Jonguppie and Himchan had so much more airtime than they usually get, and Zelo's singing omgggg... I don't even want to talk about Daedae and how frickin' adorable he looked with that backpack because he's the biggest threat to my love for our leader Bbang. >.< These boys are going to kill me one day, I swear. LOVE the video, and it feels like a deceptively mellow prelude to the two other title songs. From some of the news I've read, they seem to have filmed something in Vegas at night, but I didn't see any of those scenes in 'Coffee Shop' so I'm assuming something epic for one of the two other title songs! Can't wait! I'm excited to start writing 'Coffee Shop' into the story too! I have a rough idea of how it's going to fit and because I'm so bad at keeping secrets, I'm gonna say that it's going to appear in the story really soon. ;)

On an unrelated sidenote, I'm excited because I'm going to see GD in concert (guest starring 2NE1) this Sunday! I've already caught Big Bang live twice, but GD doing a whole show by himself is sgidsighsdhahgisdhsdighsdihsgtoomuchawesomeness ^^

As usual, THANK YOU for subscribing and commenting, all my new and old readers! My heart does a little dance each time I log in and see "New story comments" keke. Love y'all!

xx.