As I straighten up, my face is heated from the myriad of emotions I’m feeling and the boldness I didn’t know existed in me.  I look down at Hyung, who has his eyes closed again and is smiling in a way I’ve never seen before.  Not wanting to break the moment, I ask him to tell me more.

He clears his throat, but his voice is still higher and tighter than before.  He opens his eyes and gets up to sit beside me, holding my hand in his again.  “It was the same night you told that you liked me too.  I had gone to sleep so wildly happy that I think it finally unlocked some part of my brain connected to my heart.  I never felt that before because I had never allowed myself to hope for that kind of a perfect future.  I’d dreamt about you before, but never in a way that had confidence, surety to it.  This was different.  Amazing.  Almost unbelievable.  Awe-inspiring…. Am, am I scaring you?”

I look down at my lap.  He is stunning.  Again, I don’t have words to convey what I’m feeling, so I just look straight into his eyes and shake my head.  He could never scare me with speeches like that, if anything they are making me realize how strongly we both feel.  Careful first steps are hiding years of slow build up, and contrary to popular belief, I have a harder time expressing myself than he does. 

He must sense that I’m struggling, because he gets up, stretches and pulls me up with him.  “Come on, what should we do today?  Do you want to eat something, I’m starving.”

I follow behind him as he heads into his kitchen.  He hands me a stack of delivery menus before sticking his head into the refrigerator to rummage.  I adore that he gave me an out and didn’t expect me to say something equally mind blowing in response to his confession.  But, I don’t want to let myself off the hook so easily, he deserves to feel what I’m feeling too.

“Definitely, let’s eat, I’ll cook something.  I think we should stay in today, hyung.  It’ll be easier since I’m gonna sleep here tonight.  Have to give you another reason to wake up with a smile on your face.”

The fridge door is blocking all of him except his , but I hear his head hit the shelf at my words.  He backs up and looks at me with a dazed expression on his face that has nothing to do with the bump on his head. 

I smile and give him an out too by asking him what he wants to eat.  I get up to look at what he has in his cabinets, when I feel him behind me.  He turns me around and this time, he kisses me like before.  He rests his forehead against mine and when he talks, I can feel his breath just over my lips.

“I’ll sleep like a baby, Daesungah, if you’re beside me.  As long as you’re next to me, you don’t have to do anything else, you’ll always be my reason to wake up with a smile.”  He pauses.  “But, I wouldn’t mind another head message.”

I nod my head and kiss him again.  It’s amazing how quickly that feels like something normal – special, but like something I’ve done every day of my life.  I walk to the fridge and lean back to look at him.  We’re both grinning like fools, and I realize that this kind of peaceful exhilaration is exactly what he was dreaming about. 

I’m already looking forward to getting used to it.