Tomorrow

You have been the last dream of my soul

                                                                -      Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

“There were stars that night.”

The silence was sliced open as Jonghyun made his way towards Seungyeon. It was two in the morning, very dark outside except for the moonlight and the stars’ dotting the sky. There was a tranquil stillness at that time, no breeze, no rustling outside, no noise from distant cars. He loosens his tie and undoes the top two buttons of his shirt, feeling the weight of the world pooling at his feet. He had felt suffocated that night at the drama awards show. His girl was sitting two tables away directly in his line of sight (if he just slightly turned his head to the right), and he couldn’t even look at her. He felt people’s stares and their cameras pointed at him, burdening him and making his head heavy. It was the first time in three years that Jonghyun and Seungyeon were visibly in the same room together. Many people still wondered how their relationship was after their life as a virtual married couple had ended. In interviews they were curt and said they remained friends but the two of them had become more private and more protective about their relationship, seeming to the outside world that they were actually nothing more than acquaintances. Jonghyun slides up behind her, wraps his arms around her waist and buries his head in the crook of her neck, breathing in her scent and clearing away the clouds in his mind and the lines on his forehead. Seungyeon turns her head slightly and reaches up to caress the side of his face.

“What?”

He mumbles his reply into her neck and she lets out a breathy laugh from the ticklish sensation. She turns around in his arms fully to face him and her hands play with the hair on his nape. She can see that he’s changed back to happy Jonghyun. His face wasn’t so serious anymore.

“Tell me what you said, again?”

Jonghyun gives her a chaste kiss on the lips. He walks them away from the balcony and through the sliding glass doors into his apartment.

“I said, that there were stars on the night that we met.”

“Really?”

She tilts her head up slightly, thinking back to the night they met four years before. She was 22, barely out of college and starting out in the acting scene. She had no clue about love except for what happened in her fantasies and in her favorite movies. She definitely wasn’t expecting to meet a guy who had so many similarities to her and made her feel special and loved with every look, every word and every action that he does.

“Yeah. When we walked out of that aquarium, I looked up at the sky and there were stars. I remember thinking that they were shining especially bright that night.”

“Probably because it was the start of spring and the clouds were clearing away…”

Jonghyun shook his head adamantly. “Nope. I’m more than sure that it was because I met you. The world’s looked a little better and a little brighter ever since I met you.”

She rewards his cheesiness with a kiss on his cheek.

“Congratulations on winning best drama, Oppa…I couldn’t stand up and congratulate you at the awards, but I’m saying it now. I’m really proud of you.”

He gets lost in her eyes again. They were always shining with sincerity. He feels her words melt in his heart, but he remains in a contented daze just looking at her.

“Hmmm? Yeah…”

“You don’t seem so happy about it. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Right now, everything is perfect. You were beautiful tonight. I’m so lucky.”

She beams at him and gives him a tight hug. She can already read his mind. He was cranky because he wasn’t free to look at her. Even though she felt exactly the same way, over the years she’d mastered the art of admiring him from afar. She learned how to look at him without moving her head or her body position. Even though he had a polite smile on for the cameras, she could see that his jaw was set and he kept fidgeting with his tie. She rubs his shoulders and decides that a good sleep would make him feel better.

“Let’s go to bed?”

She laced her fingers with his and led him in the direction of his bedroom but he stayed where he was.

“I adore you, you know that?”

“I know. You tell me every day.”

Jonghyun frowns and Seungyeon becomes confused. He guides her to the sofa where he sits down and pulls her into his lap, resting his head on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry that I haven’t been able to show you that I adore you every single day.”

He punctuates the last three words with a kiss on her bare shoulder.

“Oppa, look around the apartment…”

He scans the room slowly. The white walls had gradually been filled with framed pictures, the coffee table had two books filled with their polaroid photos, there were at least three vases of flowers in the apartment, and he knew that he had drawers in his bedroom filled with some of her clothes and her gifts for him over the course of their relationship.

“You have shown me how much you love me and how much you adore me. You’ve written me songs that only I have ever heard. You’ve made me laugh and smile like no one ever has, and you made me a promise three years ago that I’m still holding on to and that you’ve never broken.”

Seungyeon picks up her clutch and opens it, revealing the love bracelet that Jongyun had given her after they wrapped and she was on her way to her manager’s van to be driven home.

“I promised you that you would be able to wear it in public, one day…”

He fastens it on her wrist, the memories of that night coming back to him. He feels regretful that she hasn’t been able to wear it like he had said.

“I wear it. Not where cameras can see, but I wear it. When I’m at home or I visit my parents or when I wear long sleeves. If it’s not on me, it’s with me.”

He pinches her left cheek lightly and her hair.

“Aigoo…”

“Oppa is always with me wherever I go”

Jonghyun and Seungyeon both admire the bracelet in its rightful place on her wrist. He breathes out a sigh of relief. He kisses her hand and their eyes meet.

“The night before our last filming, I couldn’t sleep. I just felt so lonely, and that feeling wasn’t going away like it usually did. I was counting the hours and I couldn’t stand it anymore. I had to do something because I couldn’t lose you. So I just went out and bought that bracelet and tried to come up with something to convince you to stay despite all of the hurdles and the hard times that we would have to go through. Thank you for making me complete...”

“It wasn’t that hard to convince me, was it? I told you that no matter what happened, we would be friends for the rest of our lives…”

“If you had said no, I would’ve chased you around until you’d hit me and tell me to stop.”

They both burst out laughing, suddenly remembering their little ‘what if’ scene in the tram after Jonghyun had met her father for the first time. She yawns in the midst of their laughter which stirs another round of laughing. When they’ve both calmed down, Seungyeon again tries to lead him to the bedroom to sleep. This time, Jonghyun complies.

“Seungyeon-ah, you have an interview tomorrow right?”

She sit down on the bed and begins to remove her earrings and get ready to take her make up off.

“Yeah, why?”

He sits down beside her on the bed and lifts her wrist where the bracelet was still on. Her eyes flash in recognition and she thinks that he’s reminding her to take it off, but when she reaches to unfasten it, he stops her.

“Wear it.”

Jonghyun has a glint in his eyes and a smirk playing on the corner of his mouth. Seungyeon is slightly stunned.

“Actually, I have the perfect accessory to go along with it…”

He opens the palm of his right hand to reveal a simple but beautiful ring.

“This ring has been in that drawer since the night I bought that bracelet. I think it’s time that it finally gets to see some sunlight and be where it belongs on your finger…”

Jonghyun gets down on one knee.

“Tomorrow is the day, Seungyeon-ah…So, will you marry me, again?”

And when tomorrow became today, Jonghyun and Seungyeon no longer had to hide. They were finally free to be as in love as they are.