He stood there, watching her, with a funny expression on his face. His hands were shoved deep in his pockets, and he rocked back on the balls of his feet. Never had Minhee seen Chanyeol look so insecure.

            “What?” She patted her hair self-consciously. “Do I have a booger on my face or something?”

            “No, it’s nothing,” Chanyeol was chewing nervously on his lip.

            “If you say so,” Minhee turned back to the television.

            “I love you,” he said it quick, as though if he didn’t get the words off his tongue quickly, they would burn him.

            The three words were heavy like rocks, and they fell from Chanyeol’s mouth onto the carpet in front of a stunned Minhee, who stared down at them as though she wasn’t sure what they were. There was a moment where both people in the room seemed to panic; Chanyeol looked as though he were about to vomit, and Minhee seemed completely dumbfounded.

            “Like I said,” he muttered, standing up quickly and grabbing his coat. “Forget it.”

            Did she love Chanyeol, too? The boy who always managed to make her blush all different shades of red, the boy who made Minhee go crazy thinking about him, the boy who pretended to be a grown up, but was secretly a dreamer at heart- he loved her. He had awful smelling feet, his hair was very overgrown at the moment (the caveman refused to cut it), and his self-satisfied smirk was enough to make her want to throw something.

Yes. Without question she loved him.

Minhee could only gape as Chanyeol practically sprinted out the door towards his car, but as soon as the door closed, it was as though someone had thrown cold water over her.  Throwing open the door as quickly as she could without bothering to change out of her balloon pajamas and fluffy socks, Minhee flew down the stairs after him.

            “Chanyeol, wait!” She yelled down the stairwell desperately. “Hold on a second!”

            “No, just forget I said anything,” came a reply, and a frustrated Chanyeol leaned over the railing three flights down to look up at her. His cheeks were a flaming red. “Never mind.”

            “I love you, too!” Minhee called down in irritation. “You surprised me.”

            “Wait,” Chanyeol seemed completely shocked. “Wait, really?”

            Laughing, Minhee started down the steps towards him as he headed up. They met halfway, and Chanyeol’s arms caught her around the waist. They were warm and felt like home. Minhee smiled as she brought her face close to his. Both of them were grinning too hard to kiss each other, but just standing like this with Chanyeol was the best feeling in the world.

            “Yes, really. I love you.”

            Of course the lift would be out of service at such a moment. The buttons were flashing an obnoxious blank red square, indicating that the lift was not moving between floors. Hence, so began Minhee’s march of death up enough stairs to make her ankles hurt before taking a single step. Cursing, she sat down on the fifth flight, taking off one shoe with much difficulty and giving up on the second. She leaned back on her elbows in exhaustion, feeling the sweat prickle in her armpits and in between her s.

Outside the café, their conversation on the phone had been very brief, but Minhee understood what was communicated between the lines in his slow breathing when she had answered the call, in the way he paused before each sentence, in how she could practically see him shifting from foot to foot the way he did when he was especially nervous.

            “Where can I see you?” Was all he asked.

            “At mine,” Minhee closed her eyes under the awning she was standing beneath, not bothering to hide her grin. Her stomach swooped low.

            “Ok. I’ll be there.”

            She had run straight home, even in her non-sensible shoes. Chanyeol was meeting her any minute, and with how things were going, she was not going to make it. The mental image of his smile as he leaned towards her in the elevator made her stomach swoop low; she needed to see him. Apologies, angry accusations, and  months' worth of little talks clung thick to the tip of her tongue.

             Huffing in irritation, Minhee checked her phone to see if there were any new notifications. There were none.

            “I guess we really came full circle, didn’t we?” A voice from behind the girl sprawled out on the staircase nearly caused her to jump out of her skin. A thoroughly drenched Park Chanyeol was breathlessly propped against the railing. He was just as out of breath as Minhee. “Your ridiculous lift is broken.”

            “I noticed,” Minhee rubbed her ankle sourly. “You scared the life out of me.”

            “I thought you weren’t going to call,” Chanyeol sat down next to her, keeping his distance, as though scared Minhee would tell him to leave. “I’m glad you did, though.”

            “I broke up with Minho,” Minhee blurted. “Or, well, we kind of broke up with each other.”

            Much to Minhee’s slight irritation, Chanyeol did not seem half as surprised as she thought he would be. Instead, he didn’t look away from her eyes, staying exactly where he was, so perfectly still it was as though someone had pressed pause. Slowly, he nodded his head.

            “And?” The whisper from his lips was so faint she almost missed it. It was heavy with hurt, with confusion, with hope. “And?”

            “I love you,” Minhee said simply. “I broke up with Minho because I have always loved you.”

            “And?” Chanyeol had closed his eyes, looking like he was ready to cry. “What is that supposed to mean?”

            “I thought I could force my heart, but I was wrong,” Minhee felt herself choking up, as well. The words were coming faster. “I say I love you, and I mean it. I love you and I want to be with you.”

            “And everything you said to me in the elevator? You said you had always loved me. Did you mean that? Even after we broke up?”

            “Chanyeol,” Minhee felt her voice fill with hurt. All the memories of their relationship before they broke up came hurtling back to her at a million miles an hour. “I meant it. Every word.”

            “Then that’s all I need,” Chanyeol turned his head to push his mouth to hers, but it was Minhee’s turn to flinch backwards.        

            “You destroyed me when you ended things with me like that,” she pushed against his chest. “Why?”

            Chanyeol leaned back in shock as though he had been slapped. “What?”

            “Why did you break up with me, !”

            “It was like you became a different person,” Chanyeol apologetically looked away, picking at his cuticles to avoid Minhee’s glare. “I felt like I was dating a ghost. The Minhee who was happy and smiling and always so carefree became this angry supermodel who was just so unapproachable. I didn’t know how to talk to you, and you never reached out.”

            Minhee felt like she had been punched in the gut. “You blew me off. You never introduced me to your friends even though they were your whole world! It felt like you were taking your phone on dates, sometimes, instead of me. And you’re saying I never tried to reach out? I tried every single day, but you never looked up from your phone long enough to notice.”

            “I was on my phone because it wasn’t like we had anything to say to each other, anyway.”

            “So it just happened, then?” Minhee whispered, sudden doubt about her certainty towards Chanyeol creeping into her heart. “We just became strangers overnight? News flash, that doesn’t just happen.”

            “We grew up,” Chanyeol’s eyes were misting. “People change.”

            “That never changed how I felt about you. How I feel. But I don’t want to have to break up with you like that ever again.”

             "I promise," his eyes were round and shone with emotion. 

             Minhee swallowed the lump in . "How can I be sure? How do we know that it won't happen again?"

             "Let's make a promise," Chanyeol shifted so he could look at her evenly. "To talk to one another. No matter what."

             Minhee nodded and looked up timidly. "I'm afraid."

             "Just believe in me. Us. We can start over and take this one step at a time."

             Determination flared in Minhee's gut. She lost him once, and she wasn't about to let it happen again.

            "Deal."

            “I love you,” Chanyeol whispered, and that was all Minhee needed to hear.

            Like a bullet from a gun, she had thrown herself in his arms, and they held each other like they were drowning. Here, with her heart pressed next to his, Minhee felt at home.

            “Would you wait for me?” Minhee’s voice was small. She realized with chagrin that her mascara was definitely not waterproof, and without a doubt, it was smeared all over her face. “I don’t want you to leave.”

            “Of course,” came his reply. “As long as it takes.”

           "Okay," Minhee whispered.

             "But don't take too long."

            A knock sounded at Minhee’s door not three minutes after she had closed it. In confusion, Minhee peeked her head out to see who it was. Park Chanyeol was standing in her doorframe, a determined expression on his face. Breathless, panting as though he had just run a marathon (obviously he spent too much time lifting and kissing his biceps than doing cardio), Chanyeol gripped the doorframe. Her heart ached at the sight of him.

            “On second thought,” he said. “I think taking some time is bull. I love you, and you love me, and for now, that’s all I care about. Who knows where we will be in a year, in a week? Let's just go for it and take life as it comes. I'm all in. Minhee, can I kiss you?”

            Letting out a sigh of relief as she let herself go, Minhee let her door fall open and stepped confidently to stand in from of him. “I hate that you think you would have to ask, doofus.”

            And so he did. Even though Minhee knew that the pair of them had much to fix, that in no way was everything perfect, that they could very well break up again in the future, their love was beautiful, and she loved Chanyeol. He was a self-assured jerk who often times re-wore clothes he left on the floor of his room and machine dried his delicates, but Minhee wouldn’t change a thing. Except maybe his haircut.

             "Chanyeol?" Minhee murmured against his skin. "I'm all in, too."

            The next chapter of their relationship was beginning.