I woke up to the bright rays of light passing through my windows in my bedroom. It felt warm and cozy, even though the air around was already colder than usual—probably because it’s already October.  Two months closer to winter.

It’s sort of unusual for me to be to awake in this kind of weather, were people usually just want to sleep in the whole day in their comfy beds. But I have a good reason why—it’s because Jongin brought me back home last night, apparently surprising my parents and siblings, and he stayed with me until late at night—catching up with me and spending the time just idly snuggling in bed while exchanging stories. It may seem lame… but to someone in love like me, the little things that we do, for me, are the most special.

He apparently went home last night. But that was because I begged him to go back home even if he was asking mom to just let him stay. It was me. Well, it’s not that I just pushed him away again, it’s just that I find it still a bit awkward how clingy he can get. Not that I’m not used to it. I was just flustered about it since Minhyuk kept teasing us about how touchy we already got and stuff.

I got down from bed, all smiles as I approach the wide window that I only have in my room at home. The view of the Kim residence has always been what disturbs my line of sight whenever I look outside from here, but even if I’ve seen it a million times by now, I still don’t get tired admiring it. It’s just that, I find the structure a beautiful piece of art and the people living in it reminds me of another family. I mean, a second family, since they, along with mine, both acknowledged my relationship with Jongin well. And as Ha In & Jae In said last night when we dropped by before going home, ‘I am their dad’s favorite girl’, that I couldn’t be any more satisfied at how close I am to them already.

When he brought me home my family literally jumped on me as they were surprised and ecstatic to see me. It was a first to see them act like that around me that I was too happy to even complain about how my mom and dad strangled me with their hugs. We caught up with the things we missed about each other and spent time lounging in the living room like old times, only that they have another son to be spending the day like that with—Jongin. It's quite intriguing how he managed to get closer to my family like that, were mom favored him more than me like the usual, with dad engaging into comfortable talks with him unlike before, with Mimi being more casual to him, and with Minhyuk asking him to rounds of video games, since my brother only plays with me before. It was really weird to see Jongin that close to them that I felt like he was more of their child and sibling than me. Oh, and should I confess that I somehow envied him because of that? Because he managed to gain their trust for over a month, while I spent almost 18 years just to fix my relationship with them. What sort of sorcery could that boy have used on them? I seriously need that.

“Is he actually awake already?” I asked myself as I stared more intently at the house across. “Should I visit them and wake him up again?” I know Jongin’s not a morning person on weekends but won’t going make me look too desperate and clingy?

“So, I guess I just have to wait for him.” I sighed as I decided to just stop my urge to come to him. I still need to act like a decent girl. Being in love doesn’t really help with me being impulsive at times. But then why am I starting to care?

 Kim Nana, you better just be yourself. Jongin will love you for you.

Right. I guess my inner will did a good job reminding me that. I’m just going to ring their door bell and wake him up. I’ll just act as comfortably as I can. I will—

“Oh, wait… now my phone’s suddenly ringing.” I sauntered to the bedside table and grabbed my phone that was displaying Luhan’s name on the screen.

‘Nana!’ He shrieked from the other end whilst chuckling.

“Oh, Lu!” I grinned, returning him the greeting.

Suddenly there were other voices in the background seemingly wanting to snatch the phone from a reluctant Luhan. ‘Hey, It’s me!’ Someone, whom I assume as Xiumin, chirped as he successfully managed to get ahold of the phone even though the other boy was cursing at him.

“Oh, yeah? What’s up Xiumin-ah?” I asked, awkwardly, as I tried to strike a conversation in the midst of their ruckus at the other end.

'Ah! Xiumin-ah give me back my phone!' I heard Luhan holler at the other end.

'Can't! I'm still talking to her.' Xiumin spats back, making Luhan pour out a train of profanities at him.

Another round of rustles was heard and someone cleared his throat to speak, ‘Well, sorry about them. They were just really excited to come down to your house.’ It was Yixing.

I nodded my head in understanding and smiled sheepishly to myself when I heard that from him. “It’s fine.”

‘Anyway,’ He uttered out again, ‘Is it okay for us to come at 10?’ He asked inquisitively, the others saying to some of them to listen close to our conversation—that’s quite weird, but I just concluded that they were just really excited to meet me, or my family, or Jongin.

I bobbed my head unconsciously even though he couldn’t see it. “Of course! I’ll message Sehun for them to come at the same time as you.” He chuckled, hearing me say that brightly.

‘Okay. I hope we won’t be crowding your house, considering that they are 7 and we are too.’ He chuckled heartily at the other end.

“Mmmm.” I mumbled, “The house is not that big but we can fit in. There’s a lot of space so don’t worry. And I’m sure you guys will get along.” I assured him.

Our little conversation got cut when Mimi barged in my room without even knocking and told me how breakfast was already served at the table and mom was asking for me. I followed after her happily, skipping on the stairs as I go down and greet my parents with a warm hug.

“I missed you guys so much.” I mused as I hugged mom and dad with either of my arms looped around them.

They returned the hug, with mom caressing my hair and dad patting my back. “We missed you too.” They said sweetly.

I was more than ecstatic to finally be home with what I consider the ‘best family’ on earth now. They may not have been the best for me before, I doubted their love for me, I hated them at some point, and envied my siblings, but now all I just think is that my family is something I can never exchange for anything else. Because other than God, and Jongin, they matter the most to me.

They pulled away from me and smiled sweetly at me as they gave me a caring gaze. Mom surely looked different in my eyes now—from the mother who never cared for me, to the mother who finally expressed openly how she truly cares. And dad… well, it still feels like he’s the parent I favored more than my mom. He and I exchanged knowing glances before we stifled a laugh that made mom look at us incredulously and shook her head to us before going back to the kitchen.

“I know I’m still your favorite.” Dad mused out with a cheeky grin etched on his lips.

“Why are you always so full of yourself, appa?” I chuckled heartily as I saw him pout cutely, which is rare. Since the old man just always typically pulls off a straight face.

He ruffled my hair and gave my forehead a sweet kiss before sauntering to the dining area where my two siblings were already eating at. I tore my gaze away from them and eyed mom who was in the kitchen still preparing something. Her back was faced to me, but I still can’t help but admire how diligent she works in the kitchen like a perfect housewife. How I wish I can be like her one day—a perfect wife for—oh what am I even doing planning ahead of me?

I shook my thoughts away and aimed for mom’s attention, “Mom! I’m just going to check on Jongin!” I shouted from where I was.

She looked back in my direction, momentarily letting her eyes grew bigger as she realized something. “Oh good! The boy told me last night that he’s going to eat breakfast with us! So, hurry and get him! Make sure to tell his mother and father first!” She informed me quickly before returning to her work.

“I’ll be off for a bit!” I informed everyone and rushed towards the front door.

I was so damn excited to come to the Kim Residence and fetch Jongin that I practically hopped out of  our gate, about to sprint, when a hand yanked me back. I was in panic, my heart was racing like crazy as my back made contact with someone’s chest. The person’s breath tickled my skin as it brushed through my hair. I was brave enough to turn my head around, but the stranger s his arm around my waist and hugged me tight, chin on my shoulder, and the familiar bouquet of blue on his other hand caught my eye. I was shocked.

“Good morning, my princess.” A soft kiss was placed on my cheek quickly. But instead of casually responding with a greeting, I turned my head to the side to look at him. Wanting to confirm my hunch. He grinned at me as he saw me look stunned in his presence.

“Y-you’re the one sending those forget-me-nots?!” I asked as my eyes searched his. His own eyes turned into happy crescents and I already knew why.

“Of course. Who else do you think would do that?” He grinned widely at me as he asked me the obvious.

"I see." I breathed out in content, and smiled at him.

"Well," He shortly glanced at me and then looked away like a shy boy, "did you like them?"

I grinned sheepishly as I snatched the bouquet he brought for me from his hand and smelt them. "Of course. I really liked them even if I wasn't sure they were from you. But now that I know that those were all really from you, I feel very touched." He heaved a boyish grin when he heard me say that, and I ruffled his hair as I gratefully smiled at him.

"I'm glad to know that." He mused out as he smiled and muttered something to himself before sighing in relief.

"But..." I tapped on my bottom lip as I narrowed my eyes at him, "how did you even know where to send them and where did you manage to get these flowers?" I asked him curiously.

His eyes grew wider as he shifted his gaze to me, probably a bit taken aback by how straightforward my questions were. He opened his mouth a couple of times to answer but he was too shy to even say something properly. "Well... I have my ways you know." He just blurted out, still concealing the interesting details from me.

"Did you pe—" I was about to press more questions on him but he didn’t even give me the opportunity to do so as he interrupted me with a stupid comment.

"Did you know that you still look beautiful with your bed hair?" He muttered softly, making me consciously fix my hair as I furrowed my brows at him furiously in utter exasperation for him even pointing that out as if he was mocking me, but his hand stopped me from doing so whilst chuckling in amusement at my reaction.

"I was just kidding. Why are you even too conscious with how you look when I already saw you at your best and worst?" He mused out as he pressed his forehead against mine. I slapped his chest at the undertone mockery he had there and frowned.

"I hate you." I huffed.

He chuckled again, quite amused that he managed to annoy me. "Com'on pretty, don't you mean that you love me so much?" He teased as he nuzzled his nose to mine.

I pulled my face away from his but he stubbornly kept on nuzzling his nose to mine until I finally cracked a smile and gave in to his cute acts. "You're lucky that I love you. Or else I wouldn't even forgive you." I narrowed my eyes at him but he still managed to sheepishly smile at me.

"I know." He beamed, before placing a soft kiss on my forehead that stayed there for long.

The mood was so perfect that I unconsciously had a sheepish smile on my lips as I cherished the touch of his lips on my skin. They were so warm that I tried my best not to ruin our moment together. But then loud voices started to resound in the empty street. The smile I had cracked faded as I felt his lips detach from my skin due to the noise that managed to ruin everything. Oh so great.

Who are these people who had just jinx our sweet moment a while ago?

"Oh shut up!"

"Hide! Hide! We're getting too obvious!"

Jongin and I exchanged looks before trailing our eyes to the direction of the voices. My gaze trained to where a black van was parked in front of a neighboring house by the distance, and to my utter surprise I wasn’t even shocked that there was an obvious bunch of people who failed to hide themselves behind it from us. I recognized immediately who they were but I can’t just help but scoff when I realized how they just ‘spied’ on us.

My face instantly flushed when I realized it too after a brief moment how they probably saw us being all sweet with each other, mindlessly saying sweet nothings at the side of the street, and in front of our house. Perfect. Just perfect. I looked back at Jongin and I felt quite sorry for him when I noticed his ears were in a shade of red as he blinked his eyes at the scene.

We’ve just been snooped around and we were like a deer caught in the headlights as we gawked at them, dumbfounded. This is so unbelievable.

"Aren't those people our friends?" He asked with a small voice as we watched the others squabble behind the van.

I bobbed my head to answer him. "But why are they spying on us like this?" I scrunched my nose in distaste. I don’t wanna know about that.

"I