Donghae smiled at me curiously, probably wondering what I meant. I smiled widely back and began leading him into the kitchen. The light in his eyes shone brightly when he saw all the efforts I had put into it all. It showed how much he appreciated it and that he was happy about it for sure. His mouth hung half open making him adorable till every last extent. I let him take it all in for a minute by just standing next to him and observe him enjoy the moment. I held his hand tightly in mine, waiting for his first words to leave his mouth. It took a while before he found the words again.

“I don’t know what to say,” he breathed out, feeling astonished. “I’m not sure I’m truly worth all of this,” he then said, turning his head to me.

“You are my prince,” I said. “I can assure you that you’re worth everything good that could ever happen to you. And more,” I told him. I saw the smile grow both humble and loving as Donghae’s eyes slowly filled up with tears. I was quick to wipe them away for him before I led him to the table and we both sat down.

“Thank you my princess,” Donghae said, taking my hand in his. He kissed it twice then let go to let me plate up the food for us. The dinner turned out exactly like I had planned. It was romantic, lovey dovey and perfect in all its might! Our eyes never broke their contact with each other. We finished dinner and then took dessert to the living room. I had made small cupcakes with lemon mousse on top. They were much appreciated to my own delight. After eating a few each I placed my head on Donghae’s shoulder, holding onto his hand tightly. Nothing could disturb this moment we had shared together. There only remained one last thing for me to do. Speak those three words I had such trouble uttering. Donghae had his head resting on mine. I was just about to say the words when I changed my mind.

“How are you right now?” I asked instead, lifting my head a little to see his face. First I needed to feel that he was ready to hear the words. Because if he wasn’t then things could take a turn for the worse which was something I wanted to avoid more than anything after this wonderful evening. Donghae took a deep breath, thinking about what to answer. He shook his head slightly.

“I don’t know princess,” he replied. I knew he was being honest about his answer. Donghae never lied to me. If he didn’t know how he felt, then he didn’t. “I think that I’m dreaming right now,” he said, titling his head down so that our faces were as close as they could be without actually touching one another.

“You’re not,” I whispered. I scanned his eyes for answers for my question. Was he ready?

“I hope not. Because if I am then I don’t ever want to wake up,” Donghae whispered back. He leaned in and our lips met in a passionate kiss. He pulled my waist closer to him, indicating for me to straddle him. I did. We held each other close through the kisses and broke apart to catch air. His eyes were almost glued to mine. Finally, I saw the light in his eyes, the fire. The thing I had longed for to see for so long. Nothing could stop the words now. They came rushing up from the bottom of my heart, up through my throat. They sprung over my tongue and left my mouth.

“I love you,” I said. No hesitations, no fears. I just spoke the three words freely. As if I’d said them many more times before. I waited a short second that went on forever in my mind, for Donghae’s reaction. I swallowed hard when he took longer than I had expected. The fear immediately came crawling up my spine, leaving ice on it. Tears crept out from my eyes, knowing that something was wrong. Donghae looked at me with his brown eyes, unreadable for once. Then I felt his hand press against my cold cheek and his thumb wiped away a tear.

“Why are you crying silly?” he wondered. I breathed out, letting more tears find their way out. Was he that clueless? I shut my eyes tight together, trying to push away the hurt he’d caused. I began trembling forcefully. I had no idea how long this torture had lasted. But it was for sure that Donghae didn’t have the same sense of time as I did, because he out of the blue chuckled. I shot my eyes open again, staring at him. I didn’t know whether to think he laughed because of me and if I in that case should be furious or if he laughed because of something entirely different that I apparently had missed.

“Why are you laughing?” I asked, feeling hurt spread in my veins. Didn’t he take this seriously at all? Had I mistaken when I thought that he always was sincere when it came to love in general? What had I missed here?! Donghae’s expression softened a bit, his smile returned to be gentle. That smile that made me feel like I was ten and he was my big brother or something in that lain which I hated. I stopped the tears from pouring out, now feeling cheated about this whole situation. What was wrong with him?!

“Because you are so adorable,” he replied in one breath. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. Was he playing with me?

“What are you talking about?” I asked, gritting my teeth a bit. Donghae let out a light chuckle again and bit his lips as if to tell me that I should know since it was so incredibly obvious.

“You started crying two seconds after having said those words my love,” he began, wiping the leftover tears. “You didn’t even give me the chance to say anything. How worried you were how I was going to react is what I love about you. You’re so innocent and so delicate, just like a flower. I promised you after our first date that I was going to make you mine. Don’t you remember that?” he asked. I nodded carefully, not sure about where this headed. “Then tell me my princess. If you remember that then how come you don’t seem to know that I’ve loved you from the first time I lay my eyes on you?” I froze. The ice down my back melted and the shock from what I’d just heard overwhelmed my body from top to bottom. There weren’t anything in Donghae’s eyes that helped me comprehend this. Had I really been so nervous that I lost all the control that I thought I had in a matter of seconds? Just because I was afraid? Maybe Donghae was more prepared to hear the words than I was to say them after all? Before I knew it I had smashed my lips onto Donghae’s, kissing him passionately with my arms wrapped around his neck. He happily responded my kiss by wrapping his arms around my waist, pressing my body to his own. When I broke the kiss I buried my face in his neck, inhaling his scent with each breath. Donghae’s hand ran over my hair, soon finding out how to play with it to calm me down. We sat like that for I don’t know how long and I won’t dare guessing on it either since Donghae already had proven that my sense of time wasn’t too good. At least not when I was around him… Donghae then released his tight grip a little, I sat up properly. His hands cupped my face causing them to heat up, he chuckled again. “I’m sorry I scared you princess,” he said. “But know that I love you more than anything else in this world. I’m not losing you no matter what. And then I don’t even mean like losing you in a crowd full of people,” he joked, I giggled. “Besides, it wouldn’t be possible for me to lose you,” Donghae continued, letting his hands travel down my neck to my shoulder and continue down my arms to find my hands, gripping them. “In my eyes you are constantly shining, stronger than diamonds and brighter than the stars. I love you so much Kayla. You’ll never know how much because it can’t be explained but it’s a lot, okay?” his charming way of oozing cheesiness only brought the widest smile out of me.

“I know how you feel… I love you that much too,” I replied. I rose from his lap. “I’ll be right back,” I informed, quickly skipping to my bag and taking out the box with the couple rings. Neatly wrapping around the little box was a silver ribbon where it said both our names, a detail I’d thought about in the last second. I went back to Donghae who stood up at the sight of me. I had my hands behind my back and he of course tried to see what I was holding.

“What’s that?” he wondered, curiosity in his eyes like a child getting a Christmas present earlier than he’d expected.

“Depends on what you want it to be,” I replied teasingly. I knew he wouldn’t understand one bit of what that meant. I brought out the box and saw how Donghae’s eyes widened. I laughed as he raised a confused eyebrow. I opened the box. His expression changed into his usual adorable lip biting, meaning he was happy down to the soul.

“Promising rings?” he questioned.

“If you want them to be that then yes,” I answered. “Otherwise they can just be couple rings,” I added but he shook his head, taking the box. He took out the rings and put the box on the table behind him. Then he gave me the bigger ring, his ring while he held mine.

“I, Lee Donghae,” he began. He looked up at me, smiling. “Promise that there won’t be a day that I won’t wear this ring. This ring to me representing the love that you, Kayla Thom- Your last name is so freaking hard to pronounce,” Donghae cut his speech to complain, making sure to chuckle afterwards. I chuckled too

“It’s Thompson,” I helped him.

“I know but anyway,” Donghae said, not wanting to try again, “this ring represents the love that you have for me Kayla,” he continued. “It’s something that I value more than anything else in my life. Furthermore I promise to always do my best to treat you the way you deserve. I want to be the reason you smile every day, the reason you laugh, the reason you feel happy, safe and sound. I love you Kayla. So much… I can’t live without you, hence to why I promise to always stay by your side,” he finished. He put the ring around my finger and kissed it. “Your turn my love,” he said, pecking my lips once and then straightening up again.

“Well after that I’m not sure how I’m going to do not ruin everything,” I joked, giggling nervously.

“Trust me. You can’t do wrong,” Donghae assured me. I took a deep breath, planning out what to say.

“I, Kayla Thompson, promise you, Lee Donghae, with this ring that I’ll remember to treasure each second I have with you. Every breath I take will have the essence of you in it, each heartbeat likewise. I promise that I will love you for as long as I shall live… And…” I paused for a second to change focus from the ring to the brown eyes. “I also promise to be by your side. I will wipe your tears when you cry, care for you when you’re sick and if I have to I’ll even sing for you when you’re too stressed to sleep. If you’re tense then I’ll massage you, if you’re lonely then I’ll hug you, if you’re sad then I’ll cheer you up. I love you too,” I finished and put on his ring on his finger. To my absolute delight it fit perfectly! I grabbed both his hands. “I really, from my heart and soul, love you Donghae”

“I love you more my princess,” he replied, stepping closer to me.

“Marry me!” a loud voice spoke, totally interrupting the moment. However I thought it was Donghae who’d said the words so my face turned into shocked.

“What?” I asked confused. His lips hadn’t moved but someone had said ‘marry me’.

“And you may now kiss the bride!” the loud voice spoke again. Both Donghae and I frowned, extremely confounded. Neither of us had said that either. I turned around while Donghae looked up and we both raised a suspicious eyebrow when Heechul, Kyuhyun, Hankyung and Eunhyuk came out from behind the wall. It was Heechul who had spoken; it showed on the smug grin he wore.

“Do I even want to know how you got in?” I asked in annoyed. Why the hell were they here now?! I looked at Donghae; he did not find it amusing whatsoever.

“You left the backdoor open,” Kyuhyun explained. I deadpanned. How could I have been so stupid?! “So when’s the baby due?” Kyuhyun continued. Both Donghae and I glared at him.

“Cut it out,” Hankyung said, slapping Kyuhyun’s head. He turned to us. “Sorry, I tried to keep them from walking in but it’s hard to control all three of them…” he apologised. Donghae and I nodded in agreement.

“Honestly guys, you talked like you were on your wedding,” Eunhyuk who had taken a cupcake said. I blushed, I reckon Donghae did too.

“Though if that’s how your wedding is going to be then you don’t have to invite me,” Kyuhyun grinned.

“Don’t worry, we weren’t planning on it either,” Donghae hissed at him, he wasn’t any happier than me about this surprise visit or rather intrusion.

“Although, it was a very cute confession,” Heechul chuckled, walking passed us he patted my head and then joined Eunhyuk on my couch, also grabbing a cupcake. Donghae eased up, sliding his arms around my waist.

“Yeah it was,” he agreed, kissing my cheek. I blushed even more now. Damn it…

“We’re so happy for you,” Hankyung cooed, clapping his hands in excitement. I smiled at him widely.

“Thanks Hannie,” I said.

“You’re still making this sound like you’re getting married!” Eunhyuk stated amused. “By the way these cupcakes are delicious,” he complimented.

“Thanks,” I said. After a while we were all sitting down around the living room table. Donghae, Hankyung and I sat on the floor while the others sat on my couch. Donghae put me between his legs, having his head on my shoulder and intertwined his fingers with mine in my lap. We talked for a good while. KyuHyuk told Donghae how they’d found out how we loved each other and a lot of other secrets as well. A few times I had to stop Donghae from flying across the table to attack them, as he prevented me from doing the same from time to time. When finally the guys decided to leave Donghae stayed with me. We contemplated whether to leave the dishes to the next morning or if it was better to have it done? We decided to leave it for now and head to bed. Donghae already had a few things at my place, in case he ever wanted to stay over. We brushed our teeth and went to the bedroom. Although my apartment is very small to its size I early made sure to have a large bed. It paid off a lot to be honest. I put on a long nightdress and crawled down in bed. Donghae began taking off his clothes slowly, eyeing his nightclothes that hung on the chair. “What’s wrong?” I asked him.

“I’m thinking,” he replied.

“About?” I asked again.

“I’m not putting that on,” he stated calmly. I got wide eyes. He took off his clothes down to his boxer, which he OF COURSE left on! Thank god for that… I couldn’t help but to eye his body as he sat on the edge of my bed.

“Are you sleeping in just b-boxers?” I stuttered the last word. He nodded simply to confirm my question. Then he brought a hand up to the edge of my sheets and pulled them down. I didn’t stop him nor did I have any idea what he was doing.

“Calm down princess,” Donghae said when he noticed my worry. “I’m not doing what you’re thinking nor am I planning on anything like that. What I do want is that you put on a top instead of that nightdress,” he told me. I stared at him.

“Why?”

“Because I want to feel your skin against mine,” he answered. He lay down next to me. “Please,” he added, feeling my insecurity. I bit my lip, giving it a thought. To Donghae’s surprise I stood up and did as he’d told me. After changing into a short top I lay down again with my back to him, allowing him to back hug me. “Thank you,” he breathed onto my skin as he snuggled his face into my neck. I turned off the lights.

“Good night my prince… I love you,” I whispered, smiling foolishly and closing my eyes. Donghae was right; the sensation of his skin caressing mine was incredible. Before, we had been fully clothed when sleeping together. I felt his steady, calm heartbeats in my back, feeling my own heart mimicking its pace.

“Sweet dreams my princess. I love you too,” Donghae whispered back, slipping one of his legs between mine. I rested my cheek to his hand. His strong arm was being hugged by me. The perfection of Donghae lying next me, just having whispered that he loved me, wearing a ring of promise that I’d given him was indescribable and left me nothing but eternal happiness, pure euphoria and a smile on my face as I drifted off to sleep. I barely had patience enough to wait until morning when I would see my prince’s face again and be able to tell him how much I loved him once more. That was indeed something he was going to hear a lot from now on…