Happiness would always be our choice. It's not just the mere result of anything. Because nothing will make us happy not unless we choose to be happy.

And from this point on, for now I will choose to be happy, because I realized that the present is what's most important to me.

"You do realize that you can get sick for staying too long under the rain hm?" I scolded Kai as I was drying his hair with a towel as we sat on the couch in the living room, after changing into dry clothes—him in Minhyuk's, but he only chuckled like he didn't even care how I was being oh so nagging at the moment.

I furrowed my eyebrows at him and threw him a questioning look as I crossed my arms to look intimidating enough for him to take me seriously, but Kai only placed a throw pillow on my lap and laid back on the couch comfortably, his head resting on the pillow. I looked down at him and I felt extremely flustered as I found him staring intently at me with a sheepish smile etched on his lips.

"You're very pretty even when you're getting mad at me, did you know that?" He told me as he caressed the side of my face, making the creases on my forehead fade. And then interlacing his hand with mine before placing it on his chest.

I looked away as embarrassment filled me and as my cheeks flushed at the unexpected compliment. "I-I... don't know what you are even talking about..." I uttered out with a small voice as I tried to pull my hand away from his grip. But said boy only held my hand tighter, and pressed the back of it against his lips gently as he closed his eyes. The kiss lingering on my skin at every second, filling me withe enough warmth and reassurance of his love.

"Even your hand, or just your hair. To me they are all so pretty just like their owner." He told me as he placed our hands back on his chest. 

I smiled at his words. For never had someone else made those things sound as endearing as him to me. 

"Do you... do you perhaps say that to every girl you meet in the street cause—" I was planning to actually just a little, but Kai had beaten me to it with a quick kiss on my lips. I was too surprised to even react properly that all I could do when he pulled away was to stare at him as he grinned at me mischievously.

"I see." He uttered out with playfulness in his tone as he eyed me, "now I know how I can stop you from arguing every time you would attempt to do so." He tapped his index on his lips and grinned as soon as he noticed my eyes widen in shock.

"No, really. I'm just kidding! But I can be like that if you want me to." He teases me as he taps the tip of my nose, but I only let my eyes blink at him and find myself gulp at his unusual playfulness.

He heaved another grin before sinking back on the couch, his head on the pillow, his hand grasping mine fittingly while placing it on his chest contently, his eyes were closed as a smug smile graced his lips. He looked so heavenly beautiful even if his hair was already sticking on his forehead, a few strands almost covering the lids of his eyes. I wondered how would my fingers feel through his hair, that I just unconsciously ran my fingers on his wet yet still soft locks. It was just a slight contact, playing with his strands and combing it gently to the side, yet I felt already contented. Maybe due to the fact that it earned me a sweet smile from him.

"Where did you go today while wearing that peach dress before?" He asked me with a calm tone, still with his eyes closed. 

I contemplated whether I should tell him about my meeting with Baekhyun, whether I should be honest with this, but then the possibility of him reacting in a not-so-nice way worried me. I just couldn't afford for him to get mad at me nor at Baekhyun, when all we did was meet and fix things.

"Com'on, tell me something." He uttered out still with a calm voice as his chest rises and falls evenly, "I'm not as narrow minded like the guy I was to you before, and not as ty as the Kai before so tell me."

He sounded so sincere despite sounding too harsh on himself that I unconsciously nodded at him as I softly snickered to avoid him from shifting on the couch in suspicion that I was only making fun of him. "Am I really hearing that from you?" I teasingly asked him.

He opened an eye at me and raised a brow, "Really." He tells me with a smirk, but I only pouted at him, that he really shifted on his side and sat up. "Okay. I could have left out the fact that I'm still impatient, but that's it. My temperament's quite a catch too, but how can I even get mad at you?" He grinned widely at me before pouting himself when I only stared at him.

"Won't you get mad if I say that I met up with Baekhyun before going to you?" I asked him with a monotonous voice that trailed off to a small voice in the end.

His lips pressed into a thin line after hearing me out, and he stared for quite some time at me before looking down and heaving a sigh. "Okay, that's really something." He admitted, seemingly looking so crestfallenly defeated before finally sinking back on his old position from before wordlessly. He closed his eyes and placed his arm over them, without saying anything, that a deafening silence engulfed us for a while before I decided to break the ice.

"We met to fix things." I started,"...and to sum it up, Baekhyun cleared the misunderstandings between us and..." I trailed off as I couldn't get out the right words to say.

"And?" He suddenly asked, making me realize that he was being attentive with my story more than I expected him to.

I smiled and honestly told him, "He asked me if I could give him another chance bec—"

"What did you tell him?" He asked inquisitively, cutting me off, albeit that he wasn't changing his position nor looked like he was irritated.

"Hmmm, well..." I said while tapping on my chin with my free hand, "to make it short I told him how I wanted to finally let him go." 

I sighed as I remembered how Baekhyun and I cried over our parting. It seems as though we were just so in love with each other yesterday, the second both broken, and just before this we had our final words said to find closure for whatever we had in the past; in which he remained in love with me, and I was the one who fell out of love for him, and found a greater love. I had hurt someone that will always have a piece of my heart, and I'm worried that I'd hurt him no less in the future. Albeit he told me how we will be okay, still the fact that he'd hurt remains. I had been there, and the time we were not together perhaps he was too, and now despite our chances to get back to each other's arms, I chose to break his heart in exchange for my own happiness.

Was I being selfish? 

Still, I think, it's better to slap him with the truth than make him hope for something that won't be. Us. Baekhyun & I, had existed 'in the past'. Once. But before I even know it, after so many struggles; loving him, being hurt—that vicious cycle of love, I ended up moving forward, towards something unknown, yet I was so sure that I won't be doing that with him. Maybe, his light had helped me go through the darkness, but the one that pulled me out from it, was the one I chose to love in the present.

Kai was once a stranger to me, as I was to him before we even became enemies. He had hurt me in many ways, did unimaginable things. Bad things I wouldn't want to probably dig deeper into. But as much as he had sinned, he was sorry. And he always showed how sincerely sorry he was. He tried making it up to me even if he didn't tell me even for once in words that he was trying. Showing me that he regretted everything he did and did things that I never expected him to do made me think that he wasn't just the bad boy who bullied me. He came to my house, always inviting himself in, and that made me grow comfortable with him around. He ate the lunch my mom made like a happy child, and that made me think he has a small child in him after all, like most of us. He held my hand and saved myself from lonely bus rides before we were even in good as friends status. He barged into most events in my life, and he was there watching me attentively. He kept on saving me all the time. and that made me want to always anticipate for the rain I had hated. And out of all the so many yet limited reasons I have to admire him, it was how he never failed to make me feel so special and loved that I probably began unconditionally loving him, unknowingly. 

He's prickly, arrogant, conceited, sharp-tongued—name it! But deep under that superficial skin he had as a front, he was this broken boy who just needs someone to piece him back together, just like how I am the broken girl who chose to fit the fragmented pieces of her heart in his to make him whole. Just to see the once perfect pretender, become beautifully, flawlessly imperfect in front of me. No walls separating us. No masks hiding our true selves. Just us being us to others, but most especially to either of us who are trying to mend each other's souls.

"And you have worn that dress only to meet him?" I had my eyebrows scrunched at him when I heard him say that. Gosh. Why is he even asking that? 

Noticing my beffudlement, Kai sat up again and faced me. His eyebrows were furrowed furiously in the same manner as mine and he had his arms folded on his chest. "Did you wear that peach dress for him?" He asked pressingly with a tinge of irritation in his voice.

I mimicked his position and tried to look as intimidating as he was. "Is that what you were worrying for?" I asked him, raising a brow at him.

He scratched the back of his head and sighed. "Hmmm."

"Are you being serious? Not going to ask me anything more about what happened?" I asked him curiously, while suppressing a grin.

He shook his head and rubbed his nape. "Well, you'd tell me more about it if you want to, right? And as for now, knowing the fact that I matter more than him to you is enough already." He told me shyly. The way he said it, I was somewhat relieved and surprised that he actually accepted and understood the situation so easily.

"And what about the dress?" I asked him inquisitively, making him duck his head low.

"Well..." He trailed off not knowing what to say. "I just want to know the reason why you were in a dress..."

"Ah." I answered with a playful tone, seemingly knowing where he's coming from. "that dress?" He bobbed his head at me.

"I just felt like wearing it. Why?" I told him honestly, though partly still concealing the truth behind it.

"Really?" He asked, his eyes rounding like a puppy's. "You didn't wear it for any other reason?"

I started chuckling when I saw the slight disappointment in his face. He looked so cute like that, that I wasn't able to stop myself from ruffling his hair. "Well, I was planning on searching for you and showing it off." I told him honestly and rolled my eyes at him.

At the mention of it, his eyes brightended and turned to little crescents. "I see. I see. So, my girl dressed up for me?" He asked with excitement in his tone.

"Partly." I told him and shrugged, before standing up from the couch and sauntering towards the kitchen.

"What partly are you even saying? Are you mocking me? Hey! Where are you going?" He asked me as he was trailing behind me.

"Cooking lunch here." I told him while waving a spatula as I had set up the pan on the stove.

"Eh? What are you cooking for us?!" He asked me with extreme enthusiasm as he stood next to me.

"Hmm, anything you want?" I asked him invitingly as I peered at him, but incidentally focused on the bruises on his face and frowned.

"Can you cook chicken for me?!" He asked happily and I bobbed my head to answer him while putting oil on the pan. It sizzled the minute it touched the hot pan.

"Will you get the chicken from the fridge, then?" I asked him, and he sauntered going to the fridge next to the sink without any word.