!! Note: There is a part where the music is essential to the scene. If you wish to listen to it while reading, simply look out for this symbol ♪ (music is linked). If not, no worries go read ahead lol. I do not want to abruptly disrupt the reading in the middle with unrelated words warning you of such :)

2.5k

It was already late in the afternoon when they finished swimming; the sky already starting to darken. Unexpectedly, not a single rain dropped today. The sky was still overcast with clouds, but it was thin enough for some stars to peak through and shine – the moon an already hazy image that’s beginning to clear as time passes – as if making way for the special occasion.

After changing, Baekhyun is back out in the gardens. Choosing to sit on a bench overlooking the cityscape that just like the sky, is gradually lighting like stars on the ground. He was lost in thoughts, or rather, blank thoughts; merely basking in the serenity of his surroundings – too peaceful to cloud his mind with anything at the moment.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Chanyeol startles him for a bit, sitting down beside him but not quite close.

“It is… very pretty.”

For a while, it was silent. Once again, as their relationship has always been, familiar comfortable silence surrounds them, both watching the magical scenic view before them turn from dull to lively lights against the beginning of the night.

“My dad fell in love with this the moment he got a look at it. He bought it immediately after without second thoughts.” Chanyeol breaks the silence as he rests his elbows on his knees still looking out to the view. “We moved here back when I was in elementary, said he chose this place for it to be our family’s sanctuary – a place to shoo away busy reality for a moment and for the family to get closer.”

“Unfortunately… the opposite happened.”

Baekhyun turns to watch Chanyeol speak, hearing him sigh defeated sent some tingling pain in his chest – remembering the words he was once told months ago on his first visit to his penthouse.

“I’d rather live alone than live in a house that’s empty.”

“It was good at the beginning. But since then, the business began to grow bigger and started branching out internationally. They were both workaholics, so it was inevitable that one day they’d start choosing it over anything any day. Then again.. work has always been priority even before.”

“Is that why… you moved out?” Baekhyun asked, biting his lips not really knowing what to say.

“Yeah, one of it… at least.” Chanyeol scoots closer towards the other, holding one hand of Baekhyun’s to absently play with his fingers. “The mansion’s pretty, everything anyone could ask for. But it’s just that – a mansion, not a home.”

“At least with the penthouse, the smaller space makes up for it. Feels less… emptier.” He looks out to the city again; sighing as he tangled his fingers with Baekhyun’s who squeezed back in return.

“Is that why, you also chose the penthouse? For its view?”

“You could say that.” Chanyeol smiles at him, sending fluttering warmth to Baekhyun’s chest. “The closest I could get to bringing something from ‘home’…”

“Home…” Baekhyun says absently, a faraway look in his eyes that Chanyeol did not miss but decided to ignore for the time being.

Silence engulfs them once again, letting the cold but comfortable wind breeze through. Chanyeol watches as it gently flutters Baekhyun’s hair while he looked out at the city. Beautiful.

Before he breaks the silence once more, he leaves fleeting kisses to the back of Baekhyun’s hand still interlaced with his; cracking a quiet giggle from the other.

“Do you know why I gave you a Polaroid camera as a gift?”

Slightly caught off guard by the random question, Baekhyun tilts his head in wonder. “To take pictures… right?”

“Mmm~” Chanyeol hums as he nods. “Yes, but not quite.” and untangles their fingers and gives Baekhyun the Polaroid camera he apparently brought with him.

“You brought it!” Baekhyun squeaks in delight, taking hold of the camera with a grin.

“Why don’t you take pictures?” Chanyeol nods towards the cityscape, smiling as he does so when Baekhyun does just that.

As Baekhyun took a few pictures, flicking and waiting for a few seconds for the photos to clear, cutely and happily showing Chanyeol the result – he watched silently; happy that his gift brought a delightful smile to his lover.

The next picture he takes is that of Chanyeol’s who showed a faint smile that never fails to make Baekhyun’s heart skip a beat. Looking at the photo in his hand, he bites his lips to stifle a giggle – feeling all giddy of the lovely photo that permanently caught his lover’s eye smile on print.

Due to overwhelming giddy feels, Baekhyun, without a word, absently pulls Chanyeol close to him by the arm, resting his cheek against the other’s as he held out the camera to take a picture of them both. When the photo cleared, he was biting his lower lip to stifle his giggles again – utterly happy of the result: Baekhyun’s cute eye smile and Chanyeol’s lovely smile.

“Look~ Cute right?” Baekhyun shows the photo to Chanyeol whose smile widened at both the photo and his lover’s cute antic and his obvious happiness.

“Of course, it’s you and me after all.” Chanyeol’s heart flutters at Baekhyun’s ever lovely eye smile as he agreed, kissing his temple because he could not hold himself back.

The Polaroid camera was more than just a gadget Chanyeol gave as a gift. It was his silent telling that he wanted to make new, beautiful memories with the other. Memories that he’d like to have a permanent memento of. Memories that he hopes they would look back together with in the future. A wishful many, many years to come.. if not a forever.

As the night comes, the sky still overcast while the stars twinkle more clearly every now and then as they peak through the clouds from time to time. As the moon turns from a light hazy image to a more prominent shape of a glowing full moon, Chanyeol officially makes Baekhyun his.

“That’s actually only one of my gifts.” He tells Baekhyun, smiling at him as the other tilts his head in wonder.

“There’s something else I prepared.” Chanyeol takes out a fairly medium sized box. And in a slightly shaky manner, he hands it out to Baekhyun who silently took it, eyebrows furrowed in curiosity.

For the first time in a long time, his heart begins to pound almost as if it’ll burst out his chest any moment – nervous of what is to happen in the next coming minutes.

At first, Baekhyun simply looks at the box in his hands – curious and at the same time admiring its simplicity. It was a plain red box with a thin line of gold as its borders. Nothing seemed