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Seungkwan is upset. S3 are in Jeju right now for the schedule and he's not in the right mood for a performance. Elkie called him last night and told him about her vacation in Hong Kong for three months. And that she's leaving next week. He's just frustrated. They haven't even had their first real date yet cuz of their busy schedules and now she's already gonna be away. It makes him mad at himself. He should've spent more time with her. Even though he spent most of his free time calling her or visiting her café, it doesn't feel enough now. If only he knew this would happen, he could've utilized more of his time for her.

Jeonghan and Soonyoung can clearly see his mood. It's a rare sight. And they think it's something very serious for him. They'll let him be for tonight. But if it goes on, they'll surely do something about it.

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"Where's Elkie?" Dongho just notices.

SMDJ is doing their afternoon practice for the day.

"She went to Jeju," Minhyun shares.

"What's she doing there?" Dongho is just amazed.

"Trying to get married," Jonghyun jokes laughing.

"What?" Dongho can't really take the joke. "And where's Seunghee?"

"Maybe she'll tag along, who knows?" Jonghyun adds.

Seunghee then comes inside the room, "How can I fly to the airport in just a split second? I was here practicing with you, you don't make any sense, Jonghyun-ie."

"Come on, the girl has a boyfriend. Maybe she went there for him," Jonghyun intervenes.

"I'm just curious. Can't I be curious? She's our sponsor!" Dongho defends.

"Hey, don't tell me you got crush on Elkie now?" Minhyun jokes.

"What?! Leave me out of that delusion Minhyun. I'm warning you," Dongho tells him off.

"Whoa! Why so serious? He's just speculating and here you are on defense mode," Jonghyun laughs at him, "You're being obvious."

"Really?" Seunghee interjects.

"No!!" Dongho hardly rejects. "Don't you even-" he says pointing his index finger at Jonghyun with a mad but playful look.

"You like Elkie! Why don't you admit it? You told me she's pretty before," Jonghyun says but starts walking out of the room that instant.

And in no time, Dongho is running after him outside the restaurant.

Seunghee and Minhyun just laugh at how childish those two are right now. It's amusing to see them like this once in a while.

"Dongho really can't take jokes," Seunghee comments with a laugh.

"Yeah, he never changes," Minhyun agrees.

"But maybe I thought I saw him blushing. Does he really like Elkie?"

Minhyun shrugs, "Who knows?"

They're the only ones in the room but it doesn't feel bad anymore. Seunghee has adjusted again being with him alone. Since he has not brought up his feelings for a while now, she's starting to feel safe with him again. As for Minhyun, he's calm. But he's looking at her when she isn't watching. His feelings never faded. It's still there and he's still hoping that one day, she'll choose him.

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It's the after party of the event. Their doing socials and the S3 members are just enjoying their time getting to know more people and having more contacts in the industry.

Seungkwan is usually very lively and very warm to other guests and sponsors but tonight, he's a little aloof. He's not smiling like he used to, he's not telling jokes, he's not being comic. He's simply sitting at one seat and whenever someone approaches him, he welcomes them, but once they go, he's back to his spot and just drinks his glass of wine.

Jeonghan and Soonyoung are concerned. S3 is not S3 without Seungkwan. And him acting like this is not really professional. But they can't blame him if he's going through something he doesn't want them to know. They let him be, but if it turns out worse later, they'll need to push him out it.

Seungkwan now watches the crowd from the balcony. They're on VIP grounds and it's convenient. Not much people really go up there. Unauthorized persons are off limits. Until he hears someone calling him.

"Seungkwan-ah!!"

It's a girl's voice and it sounds really familiar. He can clearly hear it within this rowdy crowd, it's a miracle. He searches for where the sound comes from and eventually sees a girl waving at him with a smile. Are his eyes tricking him? Is that Elkie on the crowd just below him?

"Seungkwan-ah!" Elkie waves at him from the crowd.

Seungkwan is dumbfounded to see his girlfriend, who told her she's leaving, amongst the crowd in Jeju. Wasn't she in Seoul earlier?

"What?..." he murmurs.

He still doesn't believe his eyes until she walks up the balcony, with a VIP pass around her neck and she's one step away from his face. He's stunned. And he's supposed to be angry. But with her flashing her sweetest smile at him, he just loses all his temper.

"What are you doing here? Are you alone?" he worries about her well-being.

"Yeah, I came to see you. I don't want to waste today without talking to you," she sincerely tells him.

"You shouldn't have gone here. I was planning to pay you a visit later."

"I couldn't wait for that. I need to be with you. Right now."

It just pinches his heart with every word she says. She's the sweetest girl in the world. But his heart is still breaking right now. She's leaving him and that's really tearing him apart.

He pauses for a moment looking at her then, "Come with me," he tells her as he walks away.

She's clueless but she follows him as he walks backstage where there are less people and less music. Jeonghan and Soonyoung just turn to each other watching him pass them by, and they are surprised to see Elkie following him, who hasn't really seen them. From then, they instantly knew the couple has to be alone for a while.

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Seungkwan brings Elkie to a nearby vacant area. It's a garden, filled with cultivated and wild flowers. It looks dreamy and quixotic and Elkie is mesmerized by the surroundings. But Seungkwan is not really there to romanticize, he's there only to talk to her about her arranged trip.

"This place is amazing Seungkwan-ah," she utters.

"Elkie-ya, why don't we just talk about it now?" he's seriously staring at her.

It's not the usual Seungkwan so she feels a little uneasy. She came here with the thought that he's gonna cheer her up. That he's gonna be excited for her trip. Like he usually does. But he's different. He's not smiling at all. And it seems like he's not going to tonight.

"I've been meaning to tell you sooner but I didn't want us to get fixated on it too much. It'll only complicate things. I didn't want us to be stressed about it. So I only told you yesterday," she explains.

"For how long have you known?"

"For two months."

"So you were dealing with it all by yourself all along. How selfish."

"I was being selfish! I just didn't want you to be sad cuz it's a matter I can't control."

"You said it, it can't be controlled but then you had it circling in your head for two months, bearing all the burden alone. I don't want that?"

His voice is already a pitch higher than usual and she's dismayed about what's happening. "Are we fighting?"

"We're not," he says with a stern face.

"But we are!" she's starting to sound hysterical.

He feels guilty that she's upset right now. But he has the right to feel hurt too. She just hid from him a very important matter. But then, he can't even bear seeing her like this. All he wants is to see her smile. If she's not happy, then all the blame's on him.

"Alright, I'm sorry. Maybe I am overreacting. But I'm just upset that I'm the last to know. Please don't ever do this again in future," he tells her humbly.

"Then I won't forgive you until you kiss me," she blurts out suddenly.

"What?" his eyes widen at the shock.

Did he hear it right? Did she just say the word kiss? But it's still ringing in his ears. He did hear it right.

"I said, kiss me," she repeats and it's all very clear to him now.

Right then, Elkie closes her eyes and waits. While staring at her, Seungkwan is shaking, it's his first kiss. He never thought it'd be this soon. As he shoves his head at Elkie's, he can feel his heart thundering. It's almost as if his chest might break open. He closes his eyes and is awaiting to reach her lips when it suddenly bumps his lightly on its own. He's surprised as he opens his eyes wide. Elkie is smiling infront him and she just kissed him herself.

"You were moving too slowly it made me excited," she utters happily, with not even a tint of embarrassment on her face.

Meanwhile Seungkwan is blushing profusely. His whole face is burning as he touches his lips with his fingers. He just can't believe she did that on her own.

"What?" she giggles at his reaction. "You're too cute right now Seungkwan-ah."

"You just kissed me," he utters.

"Yes, we're supposed to aren't we?"

"But it's supposed to be me. I should be the one to initiate. I can't believe you just did that."

"So you don't like it?"

All her smiles are fading now that he feels a little awkward about it, "No! I love it! It's just that, I was surprised. I never thought you'd surprise me like that."

She's still frowning on his side now that it makes him feel bad.

"Hey... come here."

He pulls her close to him holding her shoulders. He's still a little nervous about touching her, but he doesn't want to make her think that he's not into her like how she is with him. But before he could start, she begins whining about it.

"What's so wrong with me kissing you? We can do these things. I can hug you, I can touch you, I can kiss you! Because I'm your girlfriend. And besides, I'm leaving next week and we haven't even had anything intimate aside from hugging and holding hands. It's not fair Seungkwan-ah. I want skin ship with you. I want it because I love you," she's being childish and he thought he was the one.

He sighs before telling her his side of the story, "I'm happy. I really am. But we-" he needs to rephrase his words. She's probably just touching the skin ship idea on the outside and not the deeper, more mature side of it. He may be the clown, he may be humorous, but he's still a man. And having a girlfriend like her is testing his faith in humanity. "We're still young, Elkie-ya. I love you too, yes I do, but I think we'll have to take this one step at a time. There's really no need to rush."

"We rushed into this relationship though," she's being straight to the point.

"Well, you have a point there but can you just let me handle all those things? I mean, I'm the guy here and I really want to take care of you. I just really want to treasure you. I don't want to do you any harm in any kind of form. I really want to treat you like a princess. I just really want that kind of relationship between us right now."

He's really laying all his heart on the line and she can see through him. He's always been serious with her. From the start, she thought he was just infatuated with her. And to be honest, up until now, she's still doubting his love. And that is actually why she's trying all kinds of ways to test him. But right now, all she can see is pure and unwinding love. They may be young, but when it's real, it cannot be masked.

It brings her to tears as she looks up to him and he quickly catches it.

"Hey, hey, hey, why are you crying?"
"I'm sorry."

"Why are you saying sorry?"

"I was being mean to you."

"What? What do you mean?"

"Seungkwan-ah..." she feels devastated. "All this time I wasn't being completely honest with you."

He looks at her attentively, taking in every word she has to say.

"It was all a trick. I was always testing you. I was always judging how you would react from things I thought would put you in difficult states. I was still in doubt that maybe you don't really feel that strong for me. That you only treat me as a fling. Someone you only want to waste time with. I was... Tricking you into thinking I've already fallen madly in love with you."

It shocks him. "So you're not in love with me?" Of all the things she said, it's the only thing that matters. It's okay with him if she still finds him lacking or untruthful, but finding out that she's only faking it takes a toll on his humanity.

"I was. I was trying hard to... Not fall in love with you. But the more I test you, the more interested I become of you. And I couldn't help believing that you're really someone I'm bound to. That even if you don't really love me, I will still continue to fall in love with you no matter how hard I resist. Cuz you're someone I can never find again..."

This time her tears are falling nonstop and he softly wipes those tears away with a gentle smile.

Then she continues, "Cuz you're one in a million Boo Seungkwan. And I truly won't last a day without you. I really love you now. No more pretense. I'm truly in love with you."

He caresses her face with an endearing smile. It almost shattered him a while ago, but now, as he looks at her, he's appeased. She's crying for him cuz of so much love. It's the second most special feeling in the world for him.

She feels free now that she has told him everything before leaving. She hopes this will not damage their relationship at any cost. "I hope you're not mad at me," she says.

"How can I be mad at you? I'm even mad at myself for not noticing. That you were trying so hard to make this relationship work. I was so blinded by my own goals and didn't recognize your sincere feelings at all. I should be the one to say sorry," he replies.

He pulls her close and wraps her in a tight embrace. He leans on her hair for a moment and tells her, "I have always adored you since high school and you have no idea how happy I was when you accepted me. And now, I'm probably the most fortunate guy in the world for having you as my girlfriend. I love you more Elkie-ya."

She feels warm in his arms that it stops her tears from falling. She feels protected and loved like never before and it feels great. On the other hand, he's savoring it. He hasn't held her like this before and he's glad he can hold her in his arms tonight.

After the heartfelt confessions, Elkie then returns to her jovial self. This time, she's the realest version of herself she can ever be.

"So you'll kiss me now?" she smiles widely at him.

Seungkwan just sighs and smiles to himself. "As you wish."

He cups her chin, now more stable, shoves his face without procrastinating, and lays his lips on hers. It's a magical moment for them. Finally, the stars are falling where they should as they shine brightly all around them.

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TO BE CONTINUED...

Published: 12/01/17