The sunlight entered the room, and the curtains did nothing to block it making Baekhyun scowl and open his eyes to glare at the window. He made a note to himself to buy new curtains. Preferably black ones to completely block out the sunlight from his eyes.

Sighing, he sat up rubbing his eyes and yawning. Then he noticed the absence of long and muscular arms around his waist. Thinking back, he didn’t feel the usual warmth he always felt every morning. Frowning, he looked down to see that his boyfriend isn’t there beside him in bed.

He and his boyfriend, Chanyeol, have been living together for four years now. And ever since then he’d always wake up with his tall boyfriend wrapped around him. Baekhyun likes to classify him as a hugger when he sleeps. He doesn’t know what he is classified as, but Chanyeol tells him that he’s a talker and that he won’t shut up even when he’s asleep. Baek just huffs in response whenever Chanyeol tells him that and sulk. The taller male would then attack him with tickles making Baek laugh and smile that cute rectangle-shaped smile of his.

Chanyeol loved that smile.

Baekhyun stared at the empty space next to him with a bitter feeling in his chest. This has been going for two weeks now, and Baek hated it. He often wonders where Chanyeol is, or why he’s always up so early in the morning. Whenever he confronts Chanyeol about it, he would just laugh and shrug it off blaming his work and changing the subject. Baek would always let it drop even though he knew Chanyeol doesn’t need to go this early to work.

You see, Chanyeol is a video game artist, and his work pays handsomely. He’s always been so artistic. Baekhyun noticed that about him the first time they met since his white shirt was covered in doodles of superheroes and random things. Chanyeol was really creative. But he’s responsible for the game’s visuals and character creation all of which he can do here in their apartment. Also, his work doesn’t require him to be this early, and he only had to go there for a few hours and leave whenever he pleased as long as he got the work done.

Baekhyun can’t shake the feeling that Chanyeol was lying to him, but he tried not to think too much about it because he trusts his boyfriend. He just hopes that his trust isn’t misplaced.

He finally got up and decided to take a long relaxing shower to rid his mind of Chanyeol’s weird behavior. After he was done, he wore his grey sweatpants and Chanyeol’s shirt which was very loose on him. He loves wearing the other’s clothes.

When he walked into their living room, he found another thing that confused him. There on the coffee table was Baekhyun’s book and some papers under it. He looked at the drawings smiling and hanged them on their huge bulletin board that Chanyeol used to gather his ideas.

Yes, Baekhyun was a successful mystery and crime writer and Chanyeol often read his books and drew the characters as Baekhyun described them in his books. He always told Chanyeol that he didn’t really HAVE to read all of his books, but he does anyway and it makes Baek’s heart flutter. Whenever Chanyeol did those small things that meant a lot to Baekhyun – even though he doesn’t show it – all his doubts about the taller male disappear.

It’s just that the way Chanyeol acts confuses him.

A week later Chanyeol was sitting on the couch in their living room with an empty paper on his lap and a pencil rolling in his mouth. A movie was playing in front of him and he kept glancing at it to get some inspiration, an idea, anything!

He just didn’t know what to do with this character he was supposed to be drawing.

“What’s the matter, Yeol?” He heard his smaller boyfriend ask tilting his head looking at him looking at Chanyeol with concern. Chanyeol had the sudden urge to just throw the paper away and grab his boyfriend and kiss him. His boyfriend was too cute, but he wasn’t aware of it or of what his cuteness does to Chanyeol. “Nothing. I’m just… Out of ideas.” Chanyeol admitted looking at the paper again. This made Baekhyun even more concerned since Chanyeol is almost never out of ideas. Something was definitely wrong with his boyfriend and he’s not telling him what.

He didn’t know that Chanyeol had so many thoughts and none of them were related to character creation. He’s been making a lot of characters lately and taking extra load of work because he needed the extra cash and the distraction. He wanted to tell Baek what it is, but he was just too nervous around Baekhyun lately to do so.

So he decided to tell him another way.

“Hey, Baek.”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s play a game.”

He smiled when his boyfriend’s face lit up. If there’s something that Byun Baekhyun loved, it is games. “Ok, what is it? What are the rules?” The shorter male said instantly jumping on the couch beside Chanyeol. The taller smiled and explained the rules pecking Baekhyun's lips each time he nodded excitedly. It was endearing how excited his boyfriend got.

Chanyeol was supposed to tell or ask Baekhyun something each day for a week without saying anything and using objects and surroundings to express what he wanted. Baek loved the idea of the game and agreed immediately and made himself comfortable next to Chanyeol hugging the taller male’s arm. He missed him. “So about the Character. . .” Baek trailed off.

Chanyeol looked at the empty paper then back at Baekhyun who was smiling while biting his lower lip tempting Chanyeol. “What Character?” Chanyeol said throwing the paper away and grabbing his boyfriend's head connecting their lips kissing his shorter boyfriend vigorously. Baekhyun moaned wrapping his arms around his boyfriend’s neck. Because damn, the way Chanyeol kisses him with his tongue is sinful.

It didn’t take Baekhyun long to drag the taller male to their bedroom.

The next morning Baekhyun woke up, but with no Chanyeol. He resisted the urge to scream in frustration because he hated waking up alone. Scowling, he kicked the covers away and made his way to the kitchen to make breakfast. And as usual, he opened the fridge to take out his apple juice. He always drank apple juice in the morning instead of coffee.

What he found inside made him smile.

There next to his apple juice were two tickets for a movie. The Avengers to be exact. He and Chanyeol are crazy about The Avengers. They just loved them, and right now it’s obvious what Chanyeol was asking. It was a date to the movies!

Giggling, he took the tickets and texted Chanyeol his answer.

Of course, he said yes.

“So, ready to go?” Chanyeol said resting his head on Baekhyun’s shoulder. Baekhyun turned his head slightly and smiled nodding. He was writing a chapter before Chanyeol came. So he saved the file and closed his laptop and stood on the tip of his toes to kiss his tall boyfriend. “Let’s go.” He said smiling the rectangle smile that made Chanyeol go crazy.

They went to the movie and bought one box of large popcorn smiling each time whenever their hands touched without moving their eyes from the screen.

“I want to be Iron man when I grow up.” Baekhyun said making Chanyeol chuckle. “You’re already grown up, Baek.” Baekhyun rolled his eyes smiling nonetheless. He snatched the popcorn bag all to himself and moved the box away whenever Chanyeol reached for some popcorn.

“Hey!”

“What?” Baekhyun asked innocently as if he didn’t just do that on purpose. Chanyeol shook his head smiling at his boyfriend. “Oh, nothing.” He said looking back at the screen. Baekhyun shrugged and returned his attention to the movie screen. He forgot that his boyfriend had long limbs that he could use for his advantage.

Baekhyun felt someone tap on his right shoulder so he ly to find nobody. Chanyeol took advantage of this and snatched the box from his boyfriend’s hands and smacked Baekhyun’s head in the process.

Baekhyun glared at Chanyeol who wiggled his eyebrows at him and took a handful of popcorn in his mouth to annoy Baekhyun even more. The shorter male huffed and crossed his arm. “Whatever, I don’t want popcorn anyway.” He mumbled.

Chanyeol sniggered and ruffled his boyfriend’s head. He, however, didn’t notice the smile Baekhyun was trying to hide. It was like they were repeating their first date all over again and it made Baekhyun feel tingly all over.

The next day, Baekhyun didn’t find anything at first. He looked around the apartment but found nothing. Scowling he sat down and decided to start writing. He his laptop only to see his desktop background changed. He could tell that it was Chanyeol’s drawing, but this time it was a digital drawing.

And it was of his own book’s characters cleaning a window. At first, he laughed because the drawing was so funny and Chanyeol got his character’s personalities spot on. He got the clumsy detective right, and the scowling old lady, and the way his main character was struggling with the bucket of water trying to lift it. He had this scene in his book, and it was when they discovered a clue in one of the windows.

This lit a light bulb in Baek’s head and he hurried to the nearest window. He found nothing. So he went to the other, but still no luck. However, the third time is a charm and when he walked to the third window and opened the curtains. He found nothing on the window but when he looked down he saw it.

Their apartment had a flower shop under it, and right now the flowers were arranged differently this time. They spelled ‘I ♥ U’

Baekhyun covered his mouth with his hand feeling his face heat up all of the sudden. He will not admit that he ran to the couch and covered his face with the cushion. He will never admit that his face was beet red. And he will never even admit that he squealed like a girl.

Only Chanyeol was capable on making him act like that.

Today it wasn’t a question. It was something that Chanyeol wanted to remind Baekhyun of.

That Chanyeol loves him.

Baekhyun did not text Chanyeol this time. He wanted to, but he felt so shy and happy and unable to express what he was feeling with words. So he sat in front of his laptop and put his phone next to him and decided to give Chanyeol his response when he cools off.

However, every time he reached for his phone and went to Chanyeol’s name his face would go red and he would just cover his face failing to write anything. So when Chanyeol finally walked in their apartment and asked if Baekhyun figured out what Chanyeol wanted to tell him, Baek ran up to him and gave him the tightest hug he had ever had. “I love you too!” Baekhyun said burying his face in his boyfriend’s chest.

Chanyeol smiled lovingly and kissed Baekhyun’s head.

The next day Chanyeol asked him for a date to the park by putting origami trees all around the living room, and he also hinted that it had something to do with his name making it easier for Baekhyun to figure it out.

Park Chanyeol is so silly sometimes. Baekhyun loved silly.

The day after that he found arrows pointing out of the door. Confused, he followed only for them to lead him to the street with an arrow pointing to his left.

He was surprised when each time he passed someone, they gave him a flower and gave him a compliment smiling and waving goodbye. He got a total of nine flowers. The last flower, which was a red rose, and the tenth was given to him by none other than his boyfriend who kissed him passionately after that.

Baekhyun loved the game they were playing more than any game he played.

The next two days were the same and just as sweet.

However, when the seventh day came he found nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

And Chanyeol was missing this morning too. There were no silly hints, no flowers and no waking up to the warmth of his boyfriend's hold in the morning. It was like everything became perfect only to crash down all over again. Did Chanyeol forget that today is the last day of the game and that he was supposed to put a hint somewhere?

It can’t be.

He just needed to look harder.

So he went back to their shared room and lifted up the covers, the pillows and looked under the bed.

Nothing.

After that he went looking in every drawer in the room and between their clothes and shoes. When he found nothing he went to the living room searching every inch of it. Still he didn’t find anything.

He was about to go look in the kitchen, but he heard a knock on the door. Groaning in frustration, he opened the door only to find his best friend Kyungsoo standing there looking irritated. “Uh, come in.” Baekhyun said stepping aside to let his friend in. Kyungsoo was familiar with their place so he walked in and made his way inside and threw himself on the couch.

“What’s the matter?” Baekhyun asked walking to the kitchen still focused on looking for the hints but he was still giving his attention to his friend.

“Kai is paying more attention to the puppy I gave him than to me.” Kyungsoo exclaimed angrily making Baekhyun chuckle. “You’re jealous of a puppy?” Baek teased opened one of the cupboards. Kyungsoo rolled his eyes shaking his head. “No, it’s just. . . I want some of the attention too, you know?” he groaned sinking in the couch.

Baekhyun laughed peeking inside the microwave. “He’ll get tired of the puppy soon.”

“It has been a month, Baekhyun. A month!” Kyngsoo exclaimed again then he frowned when he saw his friend acting strange. “What are you looking for?” He asked forgetting all about Kai and his puppy. Baekhyun stopped searching and sighed explaining the whole game to Kyungsoo while flailing his hands. When he was done he dropped himself next to his friend on the couch giving up.

He found nothing in the kitchen. Nothing, nothing, nothing!

When he looked up to ask what his friend’s opinion was, Kyungsoo only stared at him like he was the stupidest person on earth. “Do you seriously not see it?” Kyungsoo said blinking with his stoic face that he wears more often than not. Baekhyun shook his hand and looked at his friend confused. “See what?”

Kyungsoo only sighed and told him that he should find it on his own.

They hung out for a while, and eventually Kyungsoo left leaving a frustrated Baekhyun behind. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Baekhyun decided to just take out the whole bucket of chocolate ice cream and eat the whole thing to forget all this because no matter where he looked, he found nothing.

He opened the freezer to see that even the freezer had nothing. There was no ice cream and he felt so angry at the world right now he just slammed the freezer’s door shut, and right at that moment Chanyeol walked in.

“I’ve found nothing.” Baekhyun said immediately not bothering to hide the disappointment in his voice. “Nothing?” Chanyeol asked raising his eyebrow. Baekhyun forced himself to overlook how hot he looked doing that and saying that with that deep voice of his. He really wants to find out where the last hint is.

“Nothing, Chanyeol, Nothing.” Baekhyun huffed glaring at the ground.

Chanyeol just chuckled at that and shook his head. “Do you know how dense you are? I put that hint from day one.”

Baekhyun frowned at that looking puzzled and he had suddenly the urge to scream. He searched everywhere in the house from the first day of the game, and if he didn’t find it then how did Chanyeol expect him to find it now?

“How can I be dense? I searched everywhere, Yeol. EVERYWHERE!”

“Not everywhere.” Chanyeol smiled finding the angry look on his boyfriend’s face to be amusing.

Baekhyun let out a frustrated sound and stomped his food using his right hand to cover his face and the other hand to rest it on the fridge’s door. “Whatever it is just tell me alrea-” Baekhyun said turning his head and caught a glimpse of it.

Then he choked.

He felt like an idiot for not noticing it. It has been there for a week and he just overlooked it even though it’s the most obvious one of them all. How could he not notice it?

He knew that right now he was shaking as he brought his hand closer to him not bothering to stop the tears from falling. Right there on his left hand there was a ring on his ring finger.

Chanyeol slowly took his left hand and kneeled down on one knee. “So what’s your answer this time, will you marry me?”

Baekhyun couldn’t think and he couldn’t form a single word because he was sobbing and choking on his own words so he just nodded vigorously and got down to kiss his now, fiancé.

His fiancé.

When he pulled away Chanyeol smiled wiping away his tears with his thumb. “Will you?” He asked even though Baekhyun made the answer clear.

“Yes!” Baekhyun said smiling and looking happy despite his tears and buried his face in Chanyeol’s neck. “Yes, yes, yes!” he cried again because he was just too happy.

Park Baekhyun does have a ring to it after all.