Anxious.

So.

Anxious.

Not the bad anxious, the good anxious. The I'm-so-excited-I'm-about-to-crawl-out-of-my-skin anxious. I hadn't seen Ashely in a month and while I had been texting her, that never compared to seeing her beautiful face or hearing her precious voice. Being with her, in person, in the same room, laughing and talking, that was always infinitely better than a simple text. There was something magnetizing about her. I wanted nothing more than to be near her always. Even if she only wanted to be friends, being her friend was a dream come true.

Finally being back in Seoul I knew I would see her soon. My heart raced the closer it go to when I would see her again after what seemed like an eternity. I wanted her, I wanted to be here everything, I wanted to be her protector, her lover, her life. I would be lying if I didn't say that I was bound and determined to make her love me. My hope was after a month, maybe she will have realized that she needed me in her life as more than a friend. The text she sent me really helped to prove that to me. 

Hey Top! Mike and I can't wait till you are back here. We have some big news to tell you. See you soon. <3

A heart, it had a heart at the end, that had to mean something. 

"This has to mean something, right Jiyong?" I said, showing him the text as we waited for the car to pull around to pick us up. We'd landed about 10 minutes ago, the entire I walk I did nothing but stare at the text, trying to read into, decode it.

"Aye, hyung, I don't know, maybe. She's a girl, girls like being all cutesy and use things like hearts." He laughed.

"Jiyong, please. You are supposed to know these things, you are ladies man. I need to know what this means." I said, shoving my phone at him again.

"Hyung, I don't know. I don't know this girl, she could just like hearts or she could have something important to tell you. If I told you the latter and was wrong, you'd forever give me hell over it, so I am telling you, I don't know, because...I really don't know." He pushed the phone back at me.

"Some help you are." I scoffed as I got in my car. "Don't expect me to tell you what I find out then you ."

"I love you too hyung." Jiyong yelled as my driver began to speed away.

"Driver, I need to go straight to Itaweon, to the Little Shop of Pets. Please, please hurry." I was beside myself with feelings I hadn't felt in a long time. I was excited, anxious, happy, scared - a mixture that made me so nervous I thought I would jump out of my own skin. I wanted more than anything to hear her tell me that she had feelings, but also I knew I had to guard my heart. She'd made it pretty clear that we were only going to be friends. She'd never gotten much into her past, only a few times mentioning her father or her mother and sister. I never would push her to love me, even if I loved her so deeply. 

------

The driver pulled up in front of the shop, it was closed now, but Ashley had told me that she would be here waiting and to simply knock on the door and come in. I thanked the driver and got out of the car. My anxiousness shot up again as I stood there staring at the door. Why the hell was I so nervous anyway? It was just Ashley, for all I knew she was going to tell me that she bathed Mike or that she gotten a new shipment of snakes. What was it about this girl that got me feeling those butterflies that Jiyong told me you get when you were truly in love with someone? I slowly walked to the door, taking deep breath after deep breath, adjusting my black hoodie just a bit and then wringing my hands.  "Seunghyun, don't assume anything. Just be glad you are home now, able to see her face to face, and able to see Mike. That is all that matters. Time to knock ...1 - 2 - 3"  I knocked, hoping the little pep talk I had just given myself would work. After my third knock I saw Mike come running up to the door. I opened it and scooped him up in my arms stepping inside. While I had missed Ashley, I had also missed our baby, the dog that had brought her into my life. 

"Aigoo, Mike! How's my boy? Did you miss your appa? Was umma good to you? Oh my boy I missed you and your umma." I snuggled him in close to me, hugging him as he panted. I looked him over and as I did I noticed a little piece of paper tied to the back his hot pink collar. Kneeling down, I sat him on the floor and took the paper off, unfolding it and reading its contents. "Welcome Home Appa! Ashley has some big news, but before you go to her, please go to the spot where this all began, there you will find your next note on this fun little scavenger hunt." 

Smiling I headed over to the wall where the dogs were in their little homes. Ashley had to have meant to go to the window where we first found Mike. I kept the first note in my hand as I made my way across the room and to Mike's old home. It was still empty, awaiting a new dog that would eventually have it's new owner. Smiling I found the second note. I pulled it off the glass and opened it. "Seunghyun, can I call you that now? I am so glad you are back. Mike missed you something awful. I missed you too, so much. It was awful here without you to help get the product I needed off the high shelves. Sorry to make this a little game, but I had to do something special for you when you got back. Now, now you must go to the place in my store we had our first meal."

She. was. killing. me. I just wanted to see her, I wanted to know the big news, but being the good boy I was, I obeyed and headed back to the back where her break room was. I was surprised I had yet to see her, after all the store wasn't that large, but with the thought she had put into her game, I assumed she was well hidden, watching the whole thing, probably in her office, where the security cameras would have a clear shot of me, walking around like a lost love sick puppy, happily obeying the girl I loved and playing her little game. I found the third note on the table, with a cup of my favorite drink. "Seunghyun, you weren't supposed to fall in love with me. I told you not to, I told you we could only be friends. I know you fell in love with me, I feel it, I sense it. You said you would only be my friend, that was all we were supposed to be...but....TURN AROUND." I obeyed, turning around to find Ashely, standing behind me, holding several pieces of paper in front her, as if to give a speech without actually speaking. 

"We can't just be friends."

"Because." 

"Because."

"Somewhere along the line. You..."

"You made me..." 

"Want you."

"Seunghyun...."

"I realized while you were gone."

"That"

"I"

"Need"

"You"

"My heart was very loud telling me this."

"And I would be stupid"

"To not listen to my heart"

"When my heart tells me..."

"I love you."

"I"

"Ashley"

"Love" 

"You"

"Seunghyun."

"I love you!!!"

Ashley held up her last piece of paper, she held it up proud, tears falling down her beautiful face. "I love you...ok...I love you Seunghyun. I just...I...." she said trying to now vocalize it but really struggling to form a sentence. Smiling I walked up to her...

"I love you too." I said, wiping away the tears on her cheeks. And in the most dramatic fashion, taking her face in my hands and pulling her lips to mine, kissing her for the first time.