She sighed as she looked around the room and finally settled on the bags at her feet. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath: I'm going to have the strength to do it this time. It had to be over this time. She had tried to do this a couple times, but every time her boyfriend was able to talk her out of it. Not that she had told him directly that she was unhappy enough to leave their relationship, but he treated her so well that her resolve disappeared when they were together. He would probably be blindsided, but it had to be this way; she still loved him, but there were other problems to consider.

      Her eyes flew open when she heard someone unlock the front door. It was time. “Hey, babe...” she heard his voice say. When he got through the door and saw her standing there, they both stood looking at each other, his face twisted in confusion and her struggling to keep a straight face. His eyes glanced down to the bags at her feet and his eyes widened, “Don't.” he said simply.

      “Youngbae, I can't do this anymore.” she sighed. He advanced on her and she unconsciously flinched. She had to be firm. If he got her in his arms she wasn't sure that she could stay strong, as it was, she was starting to feel the sting of tears in her eyes, but she couldn't let him see it. His heart fell when he saw her reaction, and rather than wrap his arms around her like he wanted to, he opted to hold her hands and started to play with her fingers when she pulled them slowly away from his, “Don't, Youngbae. It's over. It has to be.”

      “Why does it have to be? I thought we were happy. I love you, babe. Please don't leave me. I'll do better.”

      She closed her eyes and put a hand up to her forehead. He wasn't going to make this easy, was he? Despite her best efforts to hide them, she could feel the tears bubbling to the surface and knew that she wouldn't be able to hold them back much longer. He watched in surprise as her face contorted in pain and she bit her lip; she didn't do this unless she was thinking too hard or was about to cry and both scenarios shocked him. If she had truly decided that she was going to leave, she wouldn't be doing this. Her eyes opened and looked up at him through her bangs with her head lowered, “Bae, this has nothing to do with you...I...was attacked again yesterday. You and I both know that it's not safe for me here. I have to go back home.”

     “Then I'll hire a bodyguard for you. Please don't do this.” he said, lifting her chin to look into his eyes, “Let me fix this.”

     “I don't know if this is fixable, Bae,” she whispered, pulling her hands away from him again and reached down to pick up the bags at her feet. With her hands occupied, he was able to do the one thing that she had hoped that wouldn't; in a matter of seconds of her straightening up, he had her in his arms. Youngbae had a way of always making her safe in his strong arms. She could already feel her resolve starting to waver and the tears couldn't be held back anymore. She dropped the bags with the intention of using her hands to push him off of her, but he was faster and instead took her arms and wrapped them around his waist, “what do you want me to do, Bae? Your fans hate me. I can't live like this.”

     “I love you and I know that you love me, we'll figure it out. I promise.”

      She took her hands off of his torso and pushed him back. He let her. Realizing that tears were running slowly down her face, she directed her eyes back to the floor, “Don't make promises you can't keep.”

      “I can't just let you leave,” he said twisting his head in an attempt to look into her eyes. When he saw the tears he took her face between his palms and tilted her head up, “You want to fly home? Fine. I'll follow you. Just don't say that this is over.”

       “No, Bae...” she started to protest, but he used the opportunity to pull her face closer to his and give her a deep kiss. Her body tensed up as she felt his soft lips on hers, but when one hand slipped behind her head and another wrapped around her waist, she melted into the kiss. He kissed her so thoroughly that she thought that she might faint and found her own arms wrapping around his neck for support. Only when the lack of oxygen became an issue, he pulled away from her and softly kissed the tears away from her face. She laughed softly at his sweetness and felt his lips turn into a smile as well, “I love you, Dong Youngbae.”

      “I love you, too, please don't ever leave me.”

      “I don't want to.”

      “Then don't.” he said taking her hands into his again. Like before, he played with her fingers and she just smiled back at him, “Babe?”

      “Yeah?”

     “I know that my fans don't accept my girlfriend, but do you think they'd accept my wife?”

      She tensed up again. Where was this coming from? He couldn't be...no, “I don't know, Youngbae, maybe when that time comes they will.”

      Her heart sunk when his knees hit the floor and he pulled something out of his pocket and held it up to her: a ring. A beautiful ring. Words stopped in and her hands flew up to her chest. He directed his eyes up to her, “I love you so much. Will you be mine forever?” She still couldn't form words, so she found herself sinking to her knees in front of him and wrapping her arms around him tightly. He took this as a yes and leaned her back on her heels so that he could slip the ring onto her finger before slipping his hand behind her head and pulled her back into a hug. They just sat like that on their knees for what seemed like a long time when his cell phone rang. They both jumped back as if they had never heard the sound before, but were so engrossed in their own world that everything seemed to stop. “It's not important, babe, I'll get it later,” he said taking the opportunity to sit down and pull her into his lap. With her back against his chest, he took her hand into his and admired the ring on her finger.

     “Bae?”

     “Hm?”

     “How long have you had this?”

      He smiled, “A while.”

      “Why today? We almost broke up today and ended up engaged instead.”

       His head dropped down onto her shoulder, “I was waiting for the perfect moment, but I realized that there's a such thing as waiting too long. I almost lost you today and I don't want to ever feel that way again. Please don't ever think that I don't love you; I'd never let you go without a fight.”

       She leaned over and turned her head to kiss him again, “I love you, Bae. You know that I still have to go home, right?” He looked at her in surprise and subconsciously wrapped his arms around her tighter; she laughed, “Bae, I have to show everyone this beautiful ring you gave me. I want everyone to know that I'm marrying the love of my life. He smiled so widely that his eyes nearly disappeared when his phone rang again, “Answer it,” she said crawling out of his lap and handing him his phone, “It's Jiyong.”

      “JIYONG!” Youngbae yelled into the phone, “I'M GETTING MARRIED!” He smiled widely again as he heard his best friend and his fiance laugh in surround sound.