A loud thumping beat woke me up, and I sat up and looked around. My arm felt as if it were on fire. A long leg was sticking out next to me. 

"Hello?" I asked, blinking to get my contacts back in place. 

"Oh it's me! Kalea!" 

"Oh hi! How are you? Did Xander ask you on a date?" 

"Xander likes me?!" she asked happily.

"Heck yeah! But... I never said that."

"haha ok. What happened to your arm? And why is Eli so protective of you?"

"I fell and broke it so bad that the bone ripped my skin and you can't tell anyone... but we're dating." 

"Oh wow!" she said. "That's so cute! I knew something was going on between you two. Anyway that's gross how you broke your arm." 

"Yeah. I know. But wanna come with me to get some medicine?" I said before standing up. 

"Oh sure!" she said before she got up and walked to their dressing rooms with me. I climbed over all their stuff and went digging through Eli's bag. I came across a bottle of some pain killers. They were shelf brand medicine. 

I shurgged and shook one out of the bottle. I slipped it in my pocket and went over to the food table. An array of yummy food was lain out in front of us. Fried Chicken, cakes, fruit, kimchi, gimbap, and to my absolute happiness, a steaming bowl of BiBim-Bap was sitting in front of me. A small note was next to it. 

    Dear Eun-Mi,

                  I really hope you feel better, I won't be able to help you a tad more until I get off stage, but I had someone make this for you and I made such you got extra sauce. 사랑해!.

                                        Love Eli! 

I smiled at the note and showed it to Kalea. 

"Aww that's sooo cute! But what does that Korean mean?" 

"Oh it means I love you." I said before stirring in my sauce and grabbing my chopsticks. 

"Awww he loves you?!"

"Well we haven't said it yet, and I think he just meant it as "I love ya you good friend of mine." Not super serious. We've only been dating like 4 weeks."  I said before eating a bit. The spicness danced in my mouth. I smiled and ate a little more. 

"Can I try some? I've never had Korean food." 

"Yeah, but mine is really really spicy."  I said before getting a spoon and scooping up a little for her to try.

"Oh dear." she said before taking the spoon and eating it. Her face turned bright red and she grabbed a cup of water and downed it. 

The boys and Micha suddenly came back into room, to see a red Kalea and an amused me. 

"What did you do to her?" Xander asked before walking over to her. 

"She tried my BiBim-Bap" I said calmly before taken a big bite. 

Everyone nodded and made and 'ohhhhh' noise. "Yeah, her food is always really really spicy," Eli said before walking over to me. 

"Okay, concert is over and the fan meet starts in about 30 min." Micha said before turning to a stage hand. They started talking about something and she followed him out the room. 

Eli picked up my bowl in one hand and grabbed my good arm with the other. I was so confused that I just kinda followed him with a strange look on my face. He put my bowl on a table next to the couch and then sat down. He settled me on his lap and then kissed my cheek. 

"Did you take the medicine yet?" he whispered before nuzzling my neck, like a puppy. 

"You're sweaty" I complained. 

"I love you too. Now eat and take your medicine." He said before slouching down a bit. I slid down a little more and was actually curled into him a bit. I finished my food and pulled the medicine out my pocket. 

"Xander, Toss a water bottle this way please!" I asked nicely. 

"How about I walk it to you because your arm is encased in plaster?" he said before handing Eli the bottle. 

"I can feed and water myself!" I yelled.

"Are you a plant now?" Eli asked before opening up the bottle. "They can do that ya know!" 

"You know that hole in your face that sounds come out of?'

"Yeah," he said while laughing.

"Shut it." 

"Nope," he said before kissing my cheek again. He grabbed the pill from me and pushed it into my mouth, he held out the water bottle for me. I grabbed it and swallowed the medicine. 

'I know it'll make your arm feel better cuz when I broke my hand some doctor suggested buying this at the store and it worked really well. You'll feel better in about 5 to 6 minutes. I promise" he said before wrapping his arms around my waist. Micha walked back in the room and told the boys to get up and head to the fan meet. 

"But, I don't wanna move. I won't really get a chance to spend time with her after tonight. We have 3 straight concerts and fan meets." Eli complained. 

"I guess you can miss one fan meet. Only one!" She yelled as she walked out and slammed the door.

Eli moved me to the couch and raced to go lock the door. "No, I have you all to myself!" he said before moving me to the side. He stood up and lifted me until I was standing on his feet. "Would you like to dance?" he asked in a really bad British accent.

I laughed and nodded. He pulled me into him, made sure my injured arm was tucked into him and started humming a song in my ear. I leaned my head into his chest and smiled as I listened to his heart beat. He whirled us around and I felt my hair whipping out behind me. 

I clung to him with my good arm and laughed. He slowed us down and we rocked back and forth a little more. "Imani." Eli said, his voice a tad deeper than usual.

I looked up, "Yeah?" 

We made eye contact, and I felt everything else fall away. At that moment the only thing in the world was the two of us. His brown eyes and my dark hazel ones seeing only each other. He moved in closer to me and kissed me gently. It was the sweetest kiss we had ever shared. Who cares that we were in a dimly lighted dressing room that smelled like boys and burning flatirons? Who cared that we were proably standing on one of the members pants? We were together and we weren't planning on letting each other go.

He picked me up and moved us to the couch. Never once making the kiss more passionate, or make it seem like he wanted more than just that kiss. He just continued to kiss me gently, me sitting on his lap.

I pulled away to breathe and he leaned his forehead into mine, I closed my eyes and breathed in the scent of him. He took a deep breath and started talking.

"I - I think that I might be falling in love with you." he said softly. "I've only known you for a freaking month and a few days, but you've invaded my heart like no girl has ever done. Every night when I get ready for bed, I thank God for you. I honestly can't stand to be away from you. I would walk the world to find some rare thing if it meant that I would see your beautiful smile again. I was thinking, the other day about how different this summer would've been without you. And I realized that I didn't even want to imagine you out of my life. I don't think I'm falling for you. I think I fell." 

I opened my eyes and looked at him. His eyes were b with tears and passion and his face just told of the sincerity of his heart. 

I blinked and felt the tears falling from my eyes. "Eli, I-"

"No, I'm not done yet." he said before giving me a peck. "I told you all of that because I needed to be honest with you. I won't lie. I've imagined us married. A house full of happy kids and a dog and the whole deal. But I knew that you would be extremely different from me once we were married."

"What are you talking about babe?" I asked, wiping away his few tears.  

"I love you and this is weird, but I'm actually really sad that you won't be my... everything."

"You're not a . Are you?" I asked quietly.

He shook his head and leaned his head back down. I leaned down next to him and touched foreheads with him again. 

"Tell me what happened." I said, trying to absorb it all.

"I was dating this girl. Her name was Kate and I had basically grown up with her. I considered her my best friend. We started dating when we were 15. A year later I was in China, but we were still pretty strong. She came to visit me. I took her all around the city I was in and she had real Chinese food and we had a great time. The last night of her visit she came to my room to watch a movie with me. We were gonna watch 'Titanic', its actually one of my favorite movies and she though Leonardo was cute. So it all worked out."

He took a breath and I kissed his cheek. 

"About an hour in, she just leaned over and kissed me. Not like a cute kiss but a kiss filled with passion. Next thing I knew, we were both in just our underwear staring at each other. She nodded and we had . Afterwards, she left. She looked so happy and she was smiling and telling me that we'd be together forever and all this stuff that only sounds right after you give yourself to someone like that. I let her out and went to my shower and cried. I actually cried. A 16 year old boy. I felt so awful. I mean, yeah I loved her, but that's no excuse. And since I love you more than anything I've even known on this Earth, I felt that I should be honest with you." 

I sighed and closed my eyes, "This is alot to take in Eli. I mean, you really love me and you're admitting that you're upset I won't be your first." 

"I know but I couldn't imagine you ever being my wife without knowing that you would not be my first." he said before wiping away tears I didn't know had started to fall. "I'm so sorry, you forgive me right?"

I climbed off his lap and stood in the center of the room and I just looked at him. The boy who had been my strong point for a month had broken down and he was relying on me for strength. "I forgive you." I said before going to sit back down next to him.

"You just showed me what love really is. You were the person I looked to for strength for this past month, you were always there for me even when I felt that I had no one but God and yes He is enough, but there are times when a hug can make it all so much better." I grabbed his hand and rubbed it a bit. "And now it's my turn. You just told me a dirty secret. This isn't a strong point in your life right now, but I'm strong right now. I'm holding your hand to not only confort you but to help you rise up. So I'm going to hug you and tell you its okay."

I stood up and offered him my good arm. He grabbed it and I pulled him up. I wrapped my arm around his middle and hugged him tightly. He returned the sentiment and we just stood there. 

"I didn't mean to make you take my place." he said softly in my ear. 

"Hmm?" I said. 

His voice still soft, he said, 'I'm a man, you shouldn't have to pull me up."

"Yes, but men fall and if he is lucky enough, he has a women right behind him to help him back up. We need each other. okay?"

He leaned back and cracked a grin. "Yes ma'am." I giggled and hugged him tigher.

The door whipped over, and I jumped. Eli held me a little tighter and played with my hair a bit, as if he didn't hear the door.

"What are you guys doing?" DongHo asked. 

"We had to have a talk." Eli said. "And we are dating, I can't hug my girl?" 

"Nope!" DongHo said before smiling cutely. Eli let go of me and slowly spun me around, so that my back was facing him. He gave me a back hug and simply stayed there. The members were talking about the fan meet and Xander and Kalea were in their own little world. Kevin glanced over and noticed us but didnt say anything. 

He packed up his things and kept glancing at us, because we had yet to move.

--------------------------------_______________________------------------------------------

In the bus on the way back to the hotel, I sat next to Eli, near the front. Suddenly Kevin popped up in front of me. 

"You guys are getting really serious." he said.

"Yeah," Eli said. "I guess we are."

"I saw the back hug, and I was shocked. I mean... you guys have only known each other a month. I'm not trying to break you up but isn't that kinda fast?" 

"No," I said. "A relationship could take days or years to grow strong. But once it is, it's gonna take a lot to break it." 

Kevin nodded and smiled, then he got up and went back to his seat. 

ELI POV

The ride went by pretty fast and we were at the hotel in no time. Imani and I walked up together and went in my room. The pots and pans were still on the floor and the TV was still on, playing one of the later episodes of Real School. 

She went to go sit on the couch and I picked up the pots and pans. I went to go sit next to her and was shocked when she laid her head in my lap. 

She laid on her back and looked up at me. "Turn off the TV." I did as she asked and suddenly the room was pitch black.

"Do you really think you loved her?" she said with a dry and sad voice. 

"Well if the feeling I have for you is real love... then no I didn't actually love her."

"How many times have you done it?" she said, her voice wavering.

"Only once." 

A few seconds passed before I realized why she wanted the lights off. I could feel her tears seeping through my jeans. "Hey babe, sit up." She did as I asked, and I pulled her into me. 

"I love you." she said softly. 

"What?!" I said, grabbing her shoulders and leaning her back from me. I searched hard in the dark for her eyes and once I found them I just stared at them. "You love me back?"

"Yeah, I do. That is why I'm so emotinal. You weren't really into your first time and that makes me sad. But I also know that next time, you will be." she said before she leaned back into me. I wrapped my arms around her and put my head on hers. I picked her up and laid her on my bed and spooned her. I wrapped both arms around her and just breathed her in. She soon fell asleep and I just stared at her, her outline under my blanket, the way she felt pressed against me. I memorizied it all. 

After a few minutes passed, I smiled. A huge smile because after what I told her today.

She loved me back.