Much to your surprise, everyone got along pretty well with each other and the dinner was filled with lots of shared stories, laughter and other chatter as Leeteuk and Eunhyuk helped to set the mood of the party. You tried your best to cater to everyone’s tastes so you had everything from various types of cold salads and pizza to chicken and turkey.

While everyone was enjoying their food, you looked around the table and noticed that Junhyung was seated in between the Super Junior members and while Dongwoon was amongst Lee Joon and SHINee. You smiled to yourself, finding it strangely amusing how the person Junhyung chose to bring along was spending more time with Kibum instead of him.

When everyone was done with dinner and had adjourned to the living room, you unstrapped Minhyuk from his seat and passed him over to Soojin. “Go join the others. I’ll just clear up over here and join all of you in a bit.” You told her, nodding towards the others gathered in the living room.

She glanced over to the rest as she adjusted her hold on Minhyuk before turning back to you. “You sure? I don’t mind staying to help.” She offered, eyeing the stack of dishes that was piled in front of you.

You laughed, when you saw what she was looking at. “I’m sure. Don’t worry. I’ll be done with these before you know it.” You reassured, motioning for her to join the rest before you took the dishes back to the kitchen.

You let out a soft sigh as you set the dishes down in the sink and stared at it. On any other day, you would have gladly snatched up any offer to help with the dishes but here you were now, actually turning down Soojin’s help in favour of giving yourself more work to do. You never expected that you would have to resort to this just to put off talking to Kibum and Junhyung. It wasn’t like you were dreading it or anything; no, it was more of the uncertainty of how they would react that scared you.

You shook your head to clear your mind and glanced back down at the sink full of untouched dirty dishes before letting out another sigh and turning on the water.

The thing about doing the dishes is that it really didn’t require much brain power since it was such a monotonous task. In fact, you were so absorbed with doing the dishes that you didn’t notice that someone had entered the kitchen was pacing behind you. The person continued pacing for a few moments, pausing only once to shoot a confused look at your back before finally deciding to break the silence.

“Do you want some help?” A voice pierced through the calm silence that enveloped the kitchen and to say that you were surprised was a serious understatement.

You jumped, making a sound that came out sounding like something in between a squeak and a gasp. The plate that you had been holding slid back into the dirty foamy water as your grip on it slipped and your elbow reflexively jerked back, connecting with something warm and soft.

You snapped your head around and found Kibum doubled over just a few paces from you, clutching his stomach.

“Oh goodness, Kibum! Are you ok?” You asked worriedly, turning back to the sink to quickly wash the suds off your hands.

“I’m fine. I’m fine..“ He tried to reassure breathily while straightening up with a wince.

“Are you sure? You don’t sound fine to me.” You asked sceptically, stopping whatever you were doing.

“Yeah, really. I’m fine.” He reassured again, this time sounding a little more convincing. “Just a little winded. That’s all” He explained, waving it off when he saw a shadow of doubt still lingering in your eyes.

“Ok, but you really shouldn’t have snuck up on me like that.” You admonished lightly. “I could have ended up seriously hurting you.”

“I didn’t! I came in like 5 minutes ago and was here all along.” He protested. “And I’m fine, so don’t worry about it.”

“You were?” He nodded immediately in response to your question. “But I didn’t hear you. I mean I would have said something if I had heard you come in…” You reasoned.

“Well… I thought you were ignoring me…” He trailed off.

“What? Why?” Your eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.

“Because you’re upset that I’ve been avoiding you?” He hesitantly offered.

“Oh.” You uttered simply as you casually turned back towards the sink and continued washing the dishes.

“Oh? That’s it? So you’re really upset about that then?” He asked, coming to stand beside you.

You chose not to answer this time and just simply shook your head, keeping your eyes fixed on the bowl that you were holding.

“Why are you in here? Shouldn’t you be in the living room with the others?” You asked, choosing to break the awkward silence that followed when Kibum showed no sign of leaving.

“Actually… Jinki hyung threatened to give away all my clothes if I didn’t come in here and talk to you.” He admitted sheepishly.

You turned towards him, cocking your head to the side. “Maybe… maybe we should talk later? After I’m done with these?” You nodded your chin at the unwashed dishes that were still in the sink.

He shook his head. “Let’s just talk now.” He said before grabbing the dishtowel by the sink. “Here, I’ll dry while you wash.” He offered kindly. “We can talk while we work right?”

You nodded, seeing how you had no way out of it. You were chewing your lower lip nervously, wondering how and where to begin when Kibum suddenly cleared his throat.

“Umm, have you told Junhyung yet?” He started. You could tell that he was trying to sound casual but it came out sounding painfully awkward but you didn’t say anything about it because you knew that you wouldn’t have fared any better if you had started talking first.

“No. I was hoping that I’d get a chance to talk to him later in private.”

He nodded, humming in understanding. “So, I take it that you’ve made up your mind about the other matter as well?” He asked carefully, taking a cautious glance at you. “And?” He pressed when he saw you nod.

You took a deep breath in. “I’ve decided that I want you to remain as Minhyuk’s father.” You said as firmly as you could before adding in a quiet voice. “And…. I’ll be your girlfriend, if you still want me to.” You felt your face heat up the moment the words left your mouth, the sound of your heart beat in your ears drowning out all other sounds. You saw out of the corner of your eyes that Kibum had stopped moving, so you knew that he had heard you. You couldn’t help but feel flustered and immediately wanted to run away and hide.

He grabbed your wrist and pulled you back before you got a chance to take 2 steps away from him though, trapping you against the sink as he placed his hands on the counter on either side of you. “Can you say that again?” He asked with a serious expression but you could see that his eyes were playful.

“I want you to continue being Minhyuk’s father.” You offered in a playful voice and teasing smile, earning a frustrated groan from Kibum.

“No, after that.” He urged eagerly.

You couldn’t control the blush that coloured your cheeks yet again when you recalled the words that you had said. “You already heard it the first time.” You whined accusingly but was only met with Kibum’s eager expression as he looked expectantly at you.

“I’ll be your girlfriend.” You repeated really quickly before covering your face with both your hands in an attempt to hide your, by now, red face from him.

He chuckled and you heard the slight rustling of clothes before you felt fingers curl around your right wrist, gently pulling it away from your face. You kept your eyes shut and covered your face as best as you could with your other hand, still too embarrassed to look at Kibum. You only opened your eyes when you felt something cool get slipped onto your fourth finger. You peeked through the cracks between your fingers and saw the ring that you had worn around your neck for so many months, now around your finger. It felt familiar yet at the same time, different. You smiled as you admired the ring as if it was the very first time you saw it, running your thumb lightly over its surface.

You didn’t realize that you had unconsciously lowered your other hand until you felt warm fingertips brush lightly across your cheekbones. You looked up at Kibum only to find him smiling warmly, his gaze soft as he looked at you.

“What made you decide?” He asked quietly, not wanting to ruin the atmosphere by speaking any louder.

"Just the realization that there’s nothing wrong with loving both you and Junhyung at the same time." You said before realizing how wrong it sounded. "No no no! I didn't mean it like that.” You panicked, waving your hands in front of you as though you could cancel out what you had just said. “I meant that I realized that even though I still love Junhyung, he isn’t the one that I'm in love with. I only love him as a friend…” You offered quickly in explanation before looking down and adding with a mumble, “… and I'm going to stop now before I continue rambling and embarrassing myself."

Kibum placed his hand under your chin and gently tilted your head back up. Your gaze locked with his for a few moments before his eyes flicked downwards towards your lips before meeting your gaze once again. You stared up at him, lips parting slightly, unable to tear your gaze away from his. He swallowed nervously before leaning down slowly, only to stop when he was mere centimetres away, taking one last look at you before shutting his eyes slowly and causing you to close yours as well. He leaned down the rest of the way, pressing his slightly chapped lips against your smooth ones. It was soft and shy, almost like he was uncertain about kissing you, but it slowly became bolder as Kibum leaned down even more, pressing more firmly into the kiss, his hand moving from beneath your chin to behind your neck for support.  

You didn’t know how long the kiss lasted but it left the both of you breathless when you had finally pulled away, your lungs burning from the lack of oxygen. The kiss was careful and sweet, just lips rubbing against lips, but it still made your heart race and stole your breath away. The kitchen was filled with the soft sounds of the both of you panting for air, while your foreheads were pressed against each other.

Kibum caught his breath first and moved his hands to cup your face, thumbs lightly tracing your cheekbones. You took a few more breaths before opening your eyes and finding Kibum gazing at you with the softest expression on his face. Just like that, you felt your face heating up yet again.

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Hello my lovelies!!! I'm really really really sorry for vanishing into thin air for more than a month. Real life hasn't been too kind to me and I've been stuck trying to juggle everything and not fall flat on my face. I have been trying to write but most of the days, my brain is just too tired and refuses to coorperate with me.. which is why I haven't managed to update in the longest time! 

Anyhow, I managed to get a free day to myself today and was determined to update at least one chapter today but it turned out to be a really really long one so I chopped it into two ^_^ 

There is a 3rd part but I highly doubt that I'd be able to finish it before bed and update (it's quarter to 5 in the morning now *sobs*) so I'll just finish that up maybe tomorrow and post it up then. 

Hope all of you enjoy the update!!