The...Middle (Part 1)

Sehun hugged the big white teddy bear in his arms really tightly as if his life depended on it; it was a stuffed animal which belonged to Suzy that Sehun once gave to her as a random gift without a solid reason. He secretly wanted only to see her pure smile that was sure addictive to Sehun, making the male crave for it everyday.

The teddy bear’s job was to give warmth to one of the two in the shared bedroom when Sehun or Suzy was apart from each other for many hours, too long for their taste, especially Sehun who hated being apart from Suzy all the time.

However, the warmth he always carved for was not enough from the teddy bear, but from Suzy who was warmer than the sun. He laid down on his comfortable bed, staring at nothing but a plain wall of his bedroom. His eyes were getting droopier from the lack of sleep.

When the sleepiness struck him, he unconsciously fluttered his eyes closed but a smiling Suzy interrupted his way to dreamland. He abruptly opened his eyes and his hand quickly swung a sharp slap on the cheeks.

No, he can’t fall asleep now. He had to wait first, no matter what. Sleepiness would come in second. He has to wait.

Sehun had to wait for Suzy to come back home.

Ever since that day of their encounter, Suzy had been living under the same roof, in the same apartment at Sehun’s place. Sehun requested her to stay with a pair of pleading eyes no one would even have the heart of rejection. As expected, Suzy who was honestly kind like an angel accepted his request.

With that, both of them made a promise.

Suzy must teach Sehun the beauty of life and the world and make him change his mind from committing suicide, protecting him with supporting words from everything that will lead him to leave this world, smiling at him every time as a signal it’s okay.

For both of them to be happy, that was what mattered. Suzy only wanted Sehun to be happy. She wanted him to forget his past and look up to his future while Sehun wanted Suzy to be by his side at all times. He didn’t want anyone to leave him anymore. Suzy was the only person left in the world he can trust and open up to.

If she leaves him, he will leave this world immediately. He wanted Suzy to be together with him forever until both of them would rest in peace.

They have to be together, no matter what.

And they created an internal promise.

But their relationship didn’t improved, not even a little and they both were still in the friendship zone which was a huge disappointment to Oh Sehun. Being in love with another person but that person couldn't even notice the slightest of his feelings.

That was the kind of love situation Sehun was trapped in. When he cuddled her every time they sleep at their shared bed, when he kissed her cheeks every time a fluffy feeling started to bloom in him and when the very first time he kissed her soft lips, she didn’t react or kiss back.

A heartbreak he did receive that day and it was incurable. A smile was the only thing she gave in return. Ever since their first kiss, they frequently exchanged kiss of the lips; when one leaves the other for a while, the other will asked a small peck or vice versa.

This was what both of them called, a good-bye kiss.

This kind of thing was normal. Normal for both Suzy and Sehun that is. Their way of expressing with each other like a normal couple do was only a lovely affection between their relationships as friends. You could say they were in a very odd relationship, other normal people didn’t even understand.

A majority of questions are bound to ask from Sehun. Is she happy that he kissed her until words and kissing back weren’t needed? Did she smile so innocently and entirely ignored the kiss, so she wanted their relationship to stay as it is?

Or does she have a deep secret that Sehun never knew?

However, the courage inside him didn’t really grow to meet up his expectations and disappointedly those questions are left unanswered, probably forever.

When Sehun felt like floating away, drugged with sleepiness; he would always try to avoid falling asleep before Suzy arrives. He used some methods to keep himself up at least conscious, any possible thing or action he can use from the bed or anything near it.

His legs gave up to walk and lost their energy quite early. Basically speaking, he was just lazy. He sometimes would slap his face, hard, straining himself from flying to a long rest or he could just imagine many unforgettable memories of Suzy in his head. That kind of method would be a great help.

Hundreds, thousands of imaginary photos passing by in his head and all became a big book of a memory album. They’ve created so many memories in such a short time. He always has a fluttering feeling in his body with sweet fluffy feels, though he stubbornly never admitted those feelings until now.

Sehun grabbed his phone from the night table and automatically checked the current time.

10: 23 PM

She was late. What was she doing? Today is a Sunday weekend, so no school and Sehun could doze off anywhere and anytime in the apartment. That was what he wanted to do for the whole day. For Suzy, his memories were still vague but he recalled that this morning, when he was still half-conscious with sleepiness.

A blurry smile appeared in his thoughts, the lips started to move, meaning Suzy must said something to him and she pecked his lips a good-bye before Sehun was absorbed back into his sleepiness.

Oh, what did she said to him this morning?

“S-h—ah. I’m g-i-- to th- h-s-i--- for –n ap-o-ne—nt. I might –e l---e, so do-‘- w--- for m-…"

Her sentence was mixed up in Sehun’s mind. What she said must surely be something common, so he ignored this feeling of uneasiness. However, that feeling kept coming back to him. He didn’t know why but it will probably involve with Suzy.
He wished she wasn’t involved in anything.

Please, not her. Anyone or himself but not her. Sehun sighed and let go of his breath for a sigh. He wrote a short message to the awfully late girl from his phone and tapped the send button.

From: SehetBubbleTea

To: MissSueweetie

Yah, where are you?

Come back home this instant or I won’t let you eat the chocolate cake we ordered yesterday!

Gosh, he sounded like a mother. Sehun placed his phone next to him on the bed, in case she will text him back; surely with some apology in mind. Sehun started to play with the teddy bear’s ribbon around its neck, an example of a person who doesn’t know what to do anymore.

Drip, drip, drop.

Upon hearing the sound, Sehun quickly flicked his gaze from the stuffed animal to the outside window above the bed’s headboard, wondering what kind of thing making that simplistic sound.

It’s raining…

He changed his gaze back to the teddy bear, next playing with its ear. Acting like the teddy bear was his only companion for now. The rain was normal to Oh Sehun, he couldn’t care less.

His roommate, the missing person in the room, was quite fond with the rain though Sehun never know why she got attracted to the rain at the first place. However, she did give some positive sentences about the rain. Suzy often said she would find peace under the rain or the times when she was upset, she would find comfort of droplets from the rain itself.

These small clues she gave to him, he would never understand the unbreakable connection between the rain and Suzy.
She was a weird person, no different with Sehun. They would be a great couple if that could happen. They would look good with each other. But can that be possible someday?

Drip, drip, drop.

11: 43 PM

That was what the time on his phone said. Sehun felt proud that he didn’t lose conscious for this long until now, no matter how many times his mind screamed ‘sleep’, his heart stands fully awake, waiting for his beloved Suzy to come back to their home sweet home. He checked his phone for the nth time tonight.

13 send messages

Suzy never replied.

A bubble of worries grew stronger than ever in him. His sleepiness slowly went away, concerns took its place. He was slightly impatient and irritated, thinking how come an 18 year old teenage girl left their home of safety to somewhere. Sehun didn’t even know.

His raging fingers typed in a full speed onto the device in his hands.

From: SehetBubbleTea

To: MissSueweetie

Why aren’t you replying to my messages?

Are you having fun drinking bubble tea without me!?

I won’t let you sleep in the bedroom tonight if you don’t come back home with a chocolate bubble tea as an apology!

With a too impact click on a button, he threw the phone at the edge of the bed, head fuming with anger.

Tch, I don’t care anymore. Just this once, I will sleep without Suzy. Just this one time.

Sehun shut his eyelids, the stuffed animal locked in his arms; he visioned it as Suzy but it doesn’t have enough warmth and comfort he really missed so much from Suzy herself.

The moment of sleepiness finally struck him, and he was on the way to a world of unconsciousness, wanting to have a dream about his beautiful Su-

Crack, crack, rumble.

His eyes shot open, the sleepiness he long wanted to sleep away were all gone. He trembled, tears welled up in his eyes too soon. A strong fear stung in him and his heart sank upon hearing the loud boom he despised so much since birth.

Thunder.

Crack, crack, rumble.

And a cried scream echoed through the empty apartment, the scream was coming from none other than Sehun. His fear with thunder was never forgotten.

Crack, crack, rumble.

Sehun hid himself under the sheets like a child who was hiding from his mother and lying on his stomach, closing his eyes tightly as he can. His face buried deeply onto a pillow, dampening wet with his tears of fear. Gritting his trembling teeth together, His body is still shaking uncontrollably as his palms covered both of his ears completely; no more wanting to hear the sounds of the angry thunder ever again.

He put up the courage to release his hands off his ear to search for his phone which he threw so angrily just an hour ago. His eyes are still closed maybe until the thunder will go away, so he needs to used one of his six senses to searched for his phone and finally found the electrical item that didn’t took long to find.

He raised his head from the already wet pillow and slowly fluttered his eyes open. The light from the device glared at him too brightly as he squinted his eyes to see the screen more clearly.

34 send messages

Suzy never replied.

Where was she? Why wasn’t she checking her messages?

12: 28 AM

Suzy was such an idiot. Who goes out at this late hour? Wait, it was him. Both he and Suzy first met in an earlier time than usual. So, no complaining was added to her as he was also one of those people who goes outside at this time of hour.

From: SehetBubbleTea

To: MissSueweetie

Please come home

Don’t leave me

I’m scared

Please be alright

Crack, crack, rumble.

Still in the same position and same situation, only the difference was, his state of mind was all messed up; he didn’t think about anything anymore. The weather showed no signs of changing anytime soon and Sehun was already a complete mess.
He hid under the covers; trembling in his place - not even a trail of his clothing and skin could be seen from outside as he completely sealed himself with those cozy sheets.

Tears already stopped, but still, the small sounds of his whimpering and hiccups never left the room. Maybe because his body didn’t provide enough tears for a long event of crying. His hands could’t reach his phone to message Suzy, his mental state came up to its high.

So much negative thoughts running through his head, all were pointed more to the awfully late Suzy and not to him.

What if she was kidnap?

Is she hurt?

Did she leave me and broke our promise?

Or did she-

Slam.
A strong slam of the door echoed in the bedroom, he didn’t bother to look up as the familiar figure ran to him and climbed onto the bed. His body ached with heavy fatigue, eyes droopy from lack of sleep and the dizziness he will never overcome hurt his head.

The covers from his head were removed, he still didn’t bother to look up and soft fingers caressed his locks, whispers of apologies flew into his ears.

“I won’t leave you.”

Those gentle fingers fixed Sehun’s messy bangs.

What both Suzy and Sehun never forgot was his grave fear of thunder.

And the fear of being left behind.

“Because I will alwa-“

That was the last cut sentence he heard before everything faded to pitch black, losing his consciousness and falling into a deep sleep with a warm embrace around his body. The last thing he felt before he lost consciousness was a tender and soft kiss on his lips.

Sehun knew Suzy would never leave him.

She would never leave him.

They would have a happy life together.

And that was what Sehun wished to happen.

“Eat it.”

A kind command repeated through his ears, too many times. However, the surprisingly stubborn Sehun swished his head to the side, rejecting the apologetic offer on what had been given to him.

“Please eat it.”

He swung his head to the other side again, acting like a childish boy in front of the public. A mother-like Suzy sighed, who was trying her best on giving him the best way to apologize; she was almost giving up with her best efforts.

“I hate you.”

The pouting teenage boy confessed half-heartedly. The girl didn’t react on what he just said to her; she was only holding a spoon of dessert in her hand and giving her best shot to give Sehun his sweet treat.

“Sehun, please.”

A small plead left her lips and those innocent and guilty eyes made Sehun’s heart and feelings drown and he didn’t know if he should forgive her, right now. However, Sehun still stood strong, ignoring those cute eye-smile and avoided her nice treatment very stubbornly.

She knows she’s at fault, that’s why Sehun is being stubborn and he don’t easily forgive anyone with a simple ‘I am sorry’ thing and their case is the worst of all when Sehun wants more than a sincere apology.

“Who leaves their cell phone at home and left me waiting and crying last night?”

Yes, what the straightforward boy said was all true. Last night, Suzy left her cell phone on the kitchen table and to make it worse, she even turned it off, saying that it will save energy. However, the poor little device was completely forgotten when she was in a hurry of going to an appointment in a busy hospital.

Another trait was added to her and that trait of her was obviously clumsiness.

They were inside a family café and sitting nearby a window on the 2nd floor. The business of the café was quite slow as their floor didn’t have any other customers. So the pair didn’t really hide their embarrassment and childish side (Sehun to be exact) out in the open.

Their table was filled with a variety of sweets and desserts, such as ice-cream, bubble tea, sweet cakes and etc. Suzy was giving her hardest effort to feed Sehun a chocolate chipped ice-cream which was a favourite from his dessert list but Sehun was really making her job in a difficult position.

He rejected every sincere offer of hers by childishly pouting and swinging his head from side to side. Every time the small spoon of his favourite ice-cream was slowly approaching his completely tight lips, he would be avoiding it at all cost.

“Let me cheer you up.”

She pleaded again with those apologetic eyes and pouted cutely and he couldn’t forgive himself on that day when he absently opened up his lips and gave in his strength to protect himself.

Suzy smiled proudly when Sehun unconsciously gave access for his mouth and she finally entered the spoon of chocolate chipped ice-cream into his mouth without any obstacles.

“How is it?”

The girl asked, eyes filled with anticipation from his answer. She scooped up a generous amount of the same kind dessert and automatically fed it to Sehun once more.

“Sweet.”
He answered with a simple word before another scoopful of the melting sweetness was stuffed into his mouth and he accepted the offer so easily with a tint of pink appearing on his cheeks.

“I’m glad."

She giggled softly; a sigh of relief escaped from her lips, thinking that she was already forgiven – at least a little. She then fed him another scoop of the ice-cream with an adoring smile as she kept staring at Sehun’s blushing face who unexpectedly avoided her eyes.

Her brown eyes removed their sight from the pinkish boy to the mysterious white shopping bag that was currently sitting next to her on the empty seat; none known the content inside other than the owner, Suzy herself. After a few seconds of staring at the ordinary bag, her smile grew wider and switched back her eye sight to the confusing Sehun, the one who secretly wanted to be fed by Suzy again.

“Can you do a tiny favour for me, Sehun?”

She asked, the wide smile still plastered to her knowing face and somehow, Sehun have a bad feeling about that bright grin. However, he responded unconsciously without knowing the consequences on what will happen to him later.

“What is it?”

Another scoop went through his mouth, still thinking on why his beloved Suzy was acting abnormal than the weird abnormal her that Sehun experienced all the time since their first encounter.

“You will find out later.”

She giggled cutely and Sehun suddenly felt his cheeks heating up, seeing this side of Suzy which he never got used to; it made his stomach tickle with butterflies.

“Huh?”

He tilted his head with confusion as another of the creamy dessert went into his mouth; the girl giggled again at Sehun’s lost expression. She sighed calmly and placed the spoon back into the bowl of the untouched melted chocolate chipped ice-cream.

Sehun whimpered inside, already thinking that the feeding treatment from Suzy was already over than he expected.

“But first, do you forgive me?”   

From seeing Sehun’s puppy face, anyone could tell he was craving for more of those cold sweetness from Suzy only. She loves how cute he was when he was showing that kind of expression. He actually wanted more from her but never asked for it; maybe he was holding up his manly pride.

“What?”

However, his face was quite obvious and everyone could even notice that he wanted Suzy to feed him more. He might be trying to be a powerful prince or only wanted his crush to give this kind couple interaction to him every day.
Nobody knew except for Sehun himself.

She then again held the spoon before scooping another amount of the boy’s favourite dessert.

“Do you forgive me now?”

She placed the melted ice-cream in front of Sehun’s pale lips, waiting for his answer before forwarding herself of giving him the treatment she knew he wanted to have from the moment she paused a moment ago.

“Alright, I forgive.”

And the melting cream entered his mouth again, Sehun smiled and Suzy followed soon after.

Both smiled like idiots in the middle of the day.

Both acted like kids in a calm family café.

Both acted like a fluffy couple with each other.

And that was what Sehun wished to happen.

“I won’t forgive you.”

Sehun confessed freely again with an embarrassed voice, hiding behind Suzy timidly with a plastic cup of chocolate bubble tea in one of his trembling hands. His face flushed bright red like a grown tomato.

“Don’t be so embarrassed, Sehunnie.”

She laughed brightly and Sehun immediately blushed more, if possible, when he heard his new nickname from Suzy which he wouldn’t mind. Suzy was also holding a cup of bubble tea but with a different kind flavour from her favourites, plain strawberry.

“What do you expect? We’re wearing kitty ears!”

He raised his voice a little at the ‘kitty ears’ part as above their heads there were matching white kitty ears headbands and Sehun was obviously embarrassed wearing it on the busy streets, in front of the public’s eyes. Suzy was the opposite though because she was always smiling and enjoying herself since they wore the ears of her favourite animal.

They were walking in front of rows of a variety of shop with Sehun wrapping his arms around Suzy’s arm, lowering his head and hiding himself behind Suzy as much as his can.

“I remember someone agreed and forgave me an hour ago.”

Suzy laughed, happy seeing the shy Oh Sehun as her eyes were searching for a certain shop she wanted to go in but Sehun was making it difficult as he was now hiding half of his face on her shoulder; his chin just resting on top of her blade shoulder.

“You should tell me first before forcing me to wear this embarrassing getup.”

He mumbled through the soft fabric (that kind of smells like strawberries, must be her daily perfume) of her clothes but Suzy didn’t reply as they had finally arrived in front of the shop; after so much walking, her feet halted to a stop. Sehun raised up his face to see clearer of the building and when Suzy nudged her shoulder at Sehun and he quickly furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion.

An accessory shop.

“Why are we here?”

Sehun let go of her arm and faced the grinning Suzy, expecting a solid answer from her. However, she never gave a response to him again but she just grabbed his wrist and dragged the blank boy into the shop.

The accessory shop was decorated with soft colours and the atmosphere was somehow cal  though he thinks this store is for girls as he saw many soft and natural pinks flashing through his eyes – many accessories and cute things were displayed and self-claimed manly boy like him doesn’t belong to this feminine shop.

He even had completely forgotten the fact that he was currently wearing those embarrassing cat ears as he took his very first step into the building.

“Let’s choose some items and a pair each.”

She said with an amaze smile, still holding Sehun’s wrist absently which the boy never reject this kind of skin to skin contact from Suzy. From the looks of it, it’s also her first time stepping into this kind of shop.

“Why?”

Both of them flicked their gazes from an item to another, scanning on what kind of items the small yet fluffy shop held. If Suzy wanted him to buy different kind accessories, he must choose wisely instead of wasting money like any other amateur teenagers would do.

“Because you said you want us to be a couple at least once.”

She giggled at his deadpan stare and Sehun flinched with a shock face, confused on why Suzy suddenly knew of one of his dream wishes with her.

“What? When did I sa-“

Sehun tried to ask but was disturbed by Suzy’s voice and knowing way of talk.

“In your sleep, you were sleep talking about wanting both of us being a couple and having couple items.”

“Wait, what?”

She smiled softly,, acting like what she just said was not committing a crime for bugging into people’s privacy. Well, Sehun took half the blame since he was the one who wanted Suzy to sleep with him every night. The boy could only shoot a blank stare to her and his brain was slowly processing on what she just told him.

He never knew he was a sleep talker until now and the first person to know his sleeping habit was not him, the owner of his body but Suzy - his roommate.

“I wanted to cheer you up and let’s just say this is a small apology gift from me. So choose anything you want. I will pay for everything.”

Without even waiting for a reply from the slow boy, she calmly toured around the area, still hand-in-hand with Sehun and after like a few minutes of discovering every item in store – she finally made a decision on their first couple item they were going to buy.

“I want this one.”

She pointed at a simple yet cute hairclip on one of the displays. The hairclip was coloured in soft pink with at the end of it decorated with a white glittered star. Without any hesitation, she immediately wore the hairclip onto her bangs and what Sehun saw in front of him was a beautiful little doll; he was amazed by how she matched with the hairclip when she was looking through her reflection through a display mirror.

After she finished fixing up her bangs, she then grabbed another almost matching hairclip but it had the colour of baby blue and at the end of it was decorated with the same coloured glitter but the difference was that it had the symbol of the crescent moon.

“Here, let me wear it for you.”

Sehun blankly nodded and crouched down his head a little to adjust their height and completely letting access for her to clip the accessory on his hair. She didn’t struggle so much putting on the hairclip, so Sehun’s face quickly directed to the same mirror Suzy had used before.

He turned his face left to right, getting used to see the new accessory on himself from different angles.

“I think it’s too girly on me.”

He mumbled to himself quietly still fixing his bangs to adjust a hairstyle suitable for him but his whisper was enough for Suzy to hear his childish complain.

“Because you’re blushing, right now. That’s why you look like that.”

She continued with her bright grin and Sehun’s face completely flushed with red as he saw her bright face. He was glad that there were no customers here. If they were, he would be embarrassed when strangers saw him wearing kitty ears and girlish accessories out in the open and his man pride wouldn’t let him do that.

“Now, it’s your turn to choose.”

She changed the subject and Sehun scanned from every display and finally one looked attractive in his eyes at a slightly tall shelf. He picked up the plain accessory from one of the shelves and held it up in the air in front of his curious gaze; Suzy also tilted her head - seeing Sehun’s odd choice of their 2nd couple item.

“Couple necklace?”

She questioned with a curious voice, her lips slightly apart as both of them kept staring at the necklace. The necklace had a half of a heart shape and if you looked more closely, the broken heart can be connected with a half of a heart from another necklace; a matching pair.

As expected, a couple item.

“Y-Yeah.”

He stuttered and was shy of his chosen item; he searched the other half of his necklace and he smiled slightly when he found it, automatically giving it to Suzy. Her amusing smile never left her face since they stepped their first foot in here and it was almost scary to Sehun.

“Nice choice. I never knew you have great taste for something romantic like picking couple items, Sehunnie.”

Suzy pointed out and giggled as she received the necklace from Sehun’s hand whilst wearing it for herself. Well, Sehun wanted to wear it for her but the moment passed as he was too late to do so, he could only pout which the girl noticed, though she only ignored his cute acts.

“S-Shut up.”

The pinkish Sehun also wore the love necklace and both tried to connect their broken hearts. What surprised them was their half hearts were fit and connected together, the broken pieces were bonded as a whole; as a full heart.
Both smiled happily with each other.

Both of them were really having fun like a real loving couple.

“Should I really wear this?”

Sehun asked from inside one of the dressing rooms, hesitated to ask that kind of question.

“You’re the one who wanted to buy couple tee. What’s wrong it?”

Suzy asked him back with an amused tone from the other dressing room next to Sehun’s. After like picking up four couple items from the shop, his next choice was a pair of couple tee. Without sparing his much time to think through, he immediately chose a pair and now the both of them are currently trying to wear their suitable tee.

Sehun really regretted of choosing their tee because he thought it wouldn't match with his style.

“I don’t know, I think it’s-”

There was a short pause before he continued.

“-very feminine.”

Sehun mumbled the last part. He was sure Suzy will look good in it and she was always more important than himself, so he didn’t care if his shirt made him look girlish. What mattered was for Suzy to enjoy today.

“Nonsense, I know you look great, Sehunnie.”

Suzy reassured him calmly from the other side.

“But…”

He hesitated to wear his shirt from the moment he entered the dressing room. However, he also created a decision to wear it anyway because he knew how happy Suzy was right now and he wanted to keep it that way until the end of the day.

If possible, forever.

“Are you done?”

Suzy questioned again, voice filled with anticipation and how excited she was until she wore it up so quickly before Sehun did.

“Y-Yeah.”

He stammered again, finally completing his task of wearing a single tee.

“Okay, on the count of 3, we come out at the same time.”

She suddenly added like they were playing in a game. If they were, Sehun would lose by default though he never talked back or argued with her by the slight addition. He just let Suzy do whatever she wanted, just for today.

“1, 2, 3.”

They both counted down and came out from their dressing room at the same time. What came first into their minds was to check out if their partner suited in the couple tee.

Sehun scanned Suzy from head to toe and as expected as always, Suzy looked cute in; He knew that everyone would also think the shirt she was currently wearing matched her. Her short sleeve shirts was coloured with light pink and a picture of a cute smiling white anime cat was on the middle of the shirt.

While Sehun was wearing the same coloured shirt but he had a black cat with a sleepy face printed on it.

“You look girly in it.”

She kind of threw a compliment and Sehun grumbled and unknowingly pouted. Yes, Sehun picked these cute couple tee because he remembered Suzy once explained that she used to volunteer to work in an animal shelter. After a few years of working in there, her bonds with animals were very strong, especially with cats and kittens.

Her relationship with the friendly creatures of nature already reached a higher level than her relationship with Sehun’s.
That was what the boy thought. He also knew how the expression of the cats in the shirts matched with the expression of the person who was wearing it.

“Sorry, sorry. You look adorable in it.”

She apologized sincerely and continued. For now, they only bought hairclips, necklaces, matching phone cases and couple tees. They didn’t have anything particular to buy anymore, so Suzy told him to wait outside the store while she went to the cashier and pay for their items which they already wore.

Obedient as he was, Sehun nodded and almost exit the store but on the way there, a particular item caught his picky attention. He slowly changed his direction and went in front of one of the displays. His hand picked up the item, adding with a matching pair. The price of the item wasn’t that cheap and wasn’t that expensive either, it was just right for Sehun.

Couple rings.

He held up the pair of rings to look at them from a clearer view. One of them was carved beautifully with ‘Love’ and the other one carved with the same carve writing, ‘Forever’. Sehun thought these words are cheesy for his taste. However, he also wanted to try wearing couple rings because he never thought that Suzy could be his girlfriend in his extremely boring life.

His lips curved into a timid smile and he then walked back to the cashier confidently, placing the pair of rings on top of the counter and sliding in front of Suzy as she was giving the cashier her money.

Suzy tilted her head and spotted the addition item next to Sehun’s hand, she knitted her eyebrows together confusingly.

“Huh? Sehunnie, why did you buy these?”

She asked the boy but her question was completely ignored by him.

“ajumeoni, how much is all of it?”

He faced the forty year old like woman, using his original plain face as he took out his not so fancy wallet.

“But Se-“

Suzy tried to protest when he suddenly cut in line and took out his wallet; her words were stopped by a finger on her lips which obviously belonged to Sehun.

“Hush.”

He silenced the girl, trying to act cool in front of her though the girl only kept knitting her eyebrows together and kept throwing confused looks to the odd changing of Oh Sehun.

“I will pay for everything.”

His finger retreated from Suzy’s lips and the girl only turned into a stone by his sudden change of act. The total cost of their bought items came out and Sehun paid for all of their chosen couple items.

“How lovely. You kids look like a couple.”

The old woman cooed after giving them the receipt, an adoring smile plastered on face. Sehun quickly blushed by the compliment and Suzy put up a smile and kindly replied to her nice words.

“Thank you, ajumeoni.”

She bowed politely before dragging Sehun out of the store, holding the precious rings in his hands.

“Why did you buy the rings anyway?”

She asked, still confused as before with her arms crossed on her chest, wanting a good explanation to the now timid boy.

“Well, because usually people wear rings to show others that they are a couple.”

He said embarrassingly. Sehun removed his gaze from the girl’s and his eyes looked everywhere around him but Suzy. He then gave one of rings written with ‘Love’ to her and she was about to take it from him but Sehun suddenly beat her to it.

“Here, let me.”

With a little bit of manly courage, he held her hand carefully, not wanting to break her soft and fragile flesh.

“How romantic of you, Oh Sehun.”

She laughed and the ring slided into her finger so easily, a pair of pink appearing on his cheeks; his eyes kept staring into the ring he wore for her. After a long pause, Sehun hesitantly looked up to face Suzy, swallowing up a small lump from his throat.

Nervous sweat quickly formed on his forehead.

The time is now, Sehun.

“I love you, Bae Suzy.”

He confessed fully with a hint of shyness in his tone. Sehun held his head down, scared by Suzy's upcoimg reply. Wishing she will give him at least a positive respond. Silent lingered their air, the girl blankly stared at Sehun's nervous eyes before Suzy only smiled happily and tiptoed to his height, giving him a small peck on his lips. After the small kiss and a long stare deep within each other eyes, both of them burst into laughter.

“You looked stupid, Sehunnie.”

“You too, Suzy.”

The both kept on laughing their lungs out until their act caught many curious attentions from the public but both of them were in their own world, ignoring those confused gazes and loud whispers from the streets.

This was what Sehun wanted in his life for a long time.

A long as Suzy was beside him and both he and she are happy together.

He only needed to see Suzy smiling; that was enough for him to keep on living in this cruel world and keep on living like a normal human being.

But Suzy never confessed back the magic words, ‘I love you’ to him.

I don’t think this is no longer a one-shot, my readers. Okay, let’s just wait how this story progress and just hope it will not be long than ten chapters.  And ‘The Middle’ chapter may be divided to two or three chapters depend on the length of words. So, again, please don’t be anticipating anything on the next update.

My fluff writing is getting a bit rusty. Please comment if you have something to say about this chapter. I love reading your comments! I got some inspiration from listening to ‘Superfantastic’ by Pepperstones and watching a random Running Man couple (6 SNSD members as the guests) episode. I really love this song. Try to listen to it for once, maybe?

Other than that, Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you had a wonderful 2014 and let’s create more memories in 2015. <3

XOXO, Papuru