The girl sitting four rows ahead of them aimed her camera again, trying to look non-conspicuous (and failing) as she attempted to snap a picture. It was her sixth try in less than twenty minutes and Wooyoung fought the urge to roll his eyes as he nudged Jieun, taking her attention away from the book she was reading.

“She’s at it again,” he murmured, giving a slight nod in the girl’s direction.

He tried to remember why he agreed to taking the train to Busan anyway. It was all Jieun’s insistence and he didn’t understand why she wanted to take public transportation so badly in the first place. The train wasn’t crowded, but the moment they’d stepped on together, the young girl four rows ahead of them hadn’t stopped trying to take pictures.

“Shouldn’t she be in school or something anyway?” Wooyoung asked, frowning.

Jieun let out a quiet chuckle as she closed her book, obviously taking their intrusion of privacy way better than he was. “We’ll be there soon,” she promised, reaching for Wooyoung’s hand.

Pouting, Wooyoung tangled their fingers together and sank down further in his seat, hopefully out of the girl’s sight and camera focus. Jieun just smiled at him and sank down too so their shoulders were touching. He couldn’t help returning her smile with one of his own and he leaned over to peck her nose.

“My mom is going to love you.”

A nervous look crossed Jieun’s face and she bit down on her bottom lip as she stared at him. “You think so?”

Laughing at her expression, Wooyoung nodded. “I know she will.”

After over a year and a half of dating, their parents had started dropping hints that it was way past time for Jieun to meet Wooyoung’s parents and for Wooyoung to meet Jieun’s. Each of them had open space in their schedules in early September and Jieun took advantage and bought them train tickets so they could head to Busan to meet Wooyoung’s parents first.

“Don’t be so nervous, alright?” he urged.

Jieun scoffed quietly and let her head drop back against her seat. “That’s easy for you to say. You’re their son and they already know you and love you. I’m just some strange girl you’re dating.”

Wooyoung chuckled. “First of all, jagi, you’re IU, definitely not some strange girl. They’ve heard of you and my mom likes your music. But beyond that, you’re my Jieunie. I’ve never introduced my parents to anyone before, so you’re obviously special. And my mom was convinced I was in love with you even before we were half way through with the first Dream High.”

“…and were you?” Jieun asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

“…does it matter?”

Jieun untangled their hands so she could swat at him, making Wooyoung laugh. “It’s not funny,” she said, pouting. “I just…I really want them to like me. Me. Not because I’m IU or because I’m your girlfriend; I want them to get to know me and like me for who I am. This whole trip…it’s one of the reasons I wanted to take the train and not take a private car or plane or something. I want it to be as authentic as possible. Just a girl meeting her boyfriend’s parents for the first time.”

Wooyoung immediately reached over and pulled Jieun under his arm so he could drop a kiss on her forehead. He smiled to himself, thinking about how much thought she had obviously put into this whole thing. And it only made him appreciate her even more. He couldn’t imagine his parents not loving this girl, because she really made it impossible not to.

“Jagi,” he started, resting his forehead against the soft skin of her temple. “You’re amazing.”

She let out a small, self-depreciating laugh, one that Wooyoung was too familiar with. “I’m really not.”

“You never believe me when I compliment you,” Wooyoung gently fussed, before pressing a quick kiss into her cheek. “You are amazing. And my parents are going to see it too.”

Jieun looked skeptical, the worry still visible in her dark eyes. And Wooyoung really wished that they weren’t stuck on the train, because he would have kissed the worry away and done anything to show her just how amazing he thought she was. How amazing he’d always thought she was. He’d been trying to convince her of her worth since that day in the alley after the Hallyu show nearly two years before. It killed him that she just didn’t get it. That she flat out refused to believe she was worthy of everything she had, from her career to her fans and even Wooyoung.

It seemed especially worse than usual since they’d gotten outed. Everyone seemed to have an opinion about their relationships and liked boldly asserting those opinions. Most of the fans were supportive, but each of them had definitely gained some anti’s. Jieun had taken the brunt of it, receiving letters from angry Hottests, telling her that she wasn’t pretty enough for Wooyoung and they didn’t know what he saw in her. Pissed, Wooyoung had immediately gone to his Me2Day to make a little public service announcement, letting these so called fans know that they were hurting someone he cared about and to stop, because their hateful words weren’t going to change his relationship status.

The letters stopped coming, but they apparently had some lingering effects that didn’t help Jieun’s already fragile self esteem. Wooyoung had done his best to try to prove to her that she deserved all the good in her life, especially him, but he’d learned that simply telling Jieun wasn’t enough. He wanted to show her. And not just with his kisses and occasional wandering hands, but show her by taking things a step further. It was a step that he thought that each of them wanted and had wanted for a while now. But the timing was never right.

Wooyoung figured that he was going to somehow make time. Because Jieun was worthy of love and he wanted her to believe that. And he knew that it was up to him to prove it to her in the best way possible.