ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗬-𝗙𝗢𝗨𝗥
─◌✰್ 𝗂𝗇
❝𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲.❞

laska's pre-note —
while there is no actual smut in this chapter, it does get a bit... steamy (ie. grinding, mentions of arousal, pantie ripping hahah). So if you're not comfortable with that, proceed with past the 🤍 with caution! 😁 if you do like a few steamy moments, then... you'll love this!

For a few minutes, you sat alone. For the first time that night, you had a real chance to look at the restaurant. It was a mix of formal and fun, a rustic, forest theme. There was art of pine trees on the walls, and all the tables were made of dark, rough wood. Every bottle of wine was woodsy or smoky, with a nod to the nature that surrounded the building. You weren't really a fan of an outdoorsy style house, but with the sounds of birds chirping and a bubbling brook playing faintly through the speakers, it was sort of calming. You closed your eyes for a few seconds, thinking about what the hell you were about to do.

It was crazy, even by your standards.

Suddenly, you heard an ear splitting crash come from outside, followed by crackling and popping, and a strong smell of smoke.

What had Minho just done to get Soyeon out of the restaurant and away from you?

Clearly, and predictably, it worked, because Soyeon jumped up from her spot next to the cameramen, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"What the fuck was that?" she exclaimed, glaring condemnation at the cameramen sitting next to her.

Both of them shrugged. One of them raised their hands over their head in surrender. The other nudged him in the side, and he snapped his arms back at his sides.

You swallowed a laugh. What was up with them?

"Wait here, keep filming," she ordered, before racing out of the room at top speed, heels clacking on the marble floor.

You glanced over at the cameramen, who both just grinned carelessly at each other. You made eye contact with the cute young one, the one who Minho said was staring at you earlier. Right when you caught his gaze, his cheeks reddened, and he laser-focused back on the cameras, desperately avoiding you.

Dang, maybe Minho was right. But you would not let him know that.

But it might work to your advantage right now. Because if you were good at one thing, it was flirting. Especially with awkward, nervous guys. Just like with Min-Jun back home. You smiled at the thought. How long ago that felt. Looking back on it, Minho was clearly jealous of Min-Jun's crush on you. That was kind of cute, now that you'd gotten past all your anger.

Or had you?

When you had been sitting under the pine trees together earlier today, you had avoided talking to him about Alaska. What he'd said about you, back in high school. How she'd even asked him about you, and he'd said he had no feelings for you. Of course you knew he hadn't reciprocated your feelings back then. If you were being honest, you still hadn't fully processed how badly that had hurt you. But... that didn't matter now that he'd finally come around, right?

You shoved those self-deprecating thoughts from your mind. Who cared about the past? What did matter was that he wanted you. And you wanted him. But in order to get him, you had a job to do.

You sauntered over to the two men, drink in hand, making sure to add a bit of extra hip movement to your walk. It felt over-the-top and a bit tacky, but it always did the trick.

"Hey boys, what's up?" you asked, beaming at them and batting your eyes. Both of them grinned back, shooting each other cocky looks as if you weren't standing right in front of them. Men. You barely stopped yourself from wrinkling your nose.

"Nothing, Your Highness." The young one's eyes crinkled as he smiled, setting his camera down in front of him.

"Shouldn't you be sitting at the table, waiting for your husband?" the other one asked, brow arched. But he wore a smug look behind that judgemental expression that told you he was just testing you, to see if you were a rule follower or not.

Clearly, he didn't know you very well.

You glanced over at the empty table, and back at them. "I don't see any reason for me to be over there, do you?" you swirled the contents of your glass around a few times. Try to distract them just enough, Tessa. You thought to yourself.

You took a few steps towards them, biting your bottom lip as you zeroed in on the cute younger one. "What's your name?" you asked, as if you were genuinely interested.

He straightened up, a hand nervously raking through his gorgeous hair. "Ah, I'm Kim Taehyung, Your Highness!" he said hurriedly, bowing his head. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Tae here has a bit of a crush on you, Your Highness," the other cameraman smirked at you. "Forgive him for being a loser."

You laughed at the man's intrusive confession. "Oh no, I don't mind at all." You moved so close to Taehyung that your breath moved the wavy bangs that sat across his forehead. "I like a guy who knows what he wants."

Taehyung looked like he was about to implode on the spot, as his cheeks turned maroon, and he began messing with the lens on his camera, trying and failing to act casual.

As you moved closer, you "accidentally" let your hand slip, and your entire drink spilled all over Taehyung... and his camera.

"Oh my gosh!" you gasped, stepping back and dabbing futilely at the front of his jacket. "I am such an idiot, I'm always so clumsy!" You were in fact not clumsy at all, but he didn't need to know that.

"No, it's okay!" Taehyung jumped up, scrambling to grab some napkins off the table in front of him. "Don't worry about it, Your Highness, Kaito and I will deal with this! Please, go sit down! The server will pour you another drink!"

"Please tell Soyeon it was all my fault!" You brushed a hand against Taehyung's arm, and he flushed again, fingers fumbling as he tried to wipe off his camera. "I have to use the ladies room, but I will be right back. So sorry!"

Job done, you hustled out of the main dining area, past the bathrooms, and through the back door. Checking your phone, you saw that you were almost exactly on time. How had that only been ten minutes? Hoping that Taehyung wouldn't get in too much trouble for your antics, you shoved the door open and stepped outside into the crisp evening air.

🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍

Minho stood near a small copse of trees, an expectant grin on his face. "So?" he called. "How did it go?"

You smiled demurely as you approached. "Just as you said it would, of course. They think I'm in the bathroom. Oh, and Kim Taehyung is obsessed with me."

Minho's eyes narrowed at your words. "I told you." He opened his arms to you. "Now you better get over here so I can claim what's mine."

You rolled your eyes, accepting his embrace anyway. "When will you get it through your thick skull that I'm no one's? And how did you get Soyeon away? I heard a bang, and it still smells like smoke. Did you do something illegal?"

He chuckled, his hands coming to rest on your waist. "When will you just admit that you are mine? You've been mine since the fucking day we met. And... you don't need to know what happened."

"Tell me!" you laughed, grabbing his hands.

"I'll give you a hint: fireworks," he smirked.

"You are so evil!" you groaned, shaking your head, before reaching up and pressing a quick kiss to his lips.

When you tried to step back and break away from him, his grip tightened around you, pulling you closer and deepening the kiss. Capturing your bottom lip between his teeth, he pushed you back against the tree behind you, exploring your mouth hungrily.

Powerless to stop his advances - and honestly not wanting to - you reciprocated, one hand tangling in his hair, the other fisting his suit jacket.

"Now that the cameras are gone..." he murmured against you. "What are your thoughts on having some fun?"

"I already told you, I would like nothing more," you breathed back, your hands hurriedly moving to unbutton his white shirt and tug off his coat.

"That's what I wanted to hear." He grinned against your lips, as he gently guided the two of you onto the ground. He placed his jacket underneath you so you weren't lying directly in the dirt. You thought it was strangely endearing, seeing as he was about to do something much less pure to you.

You wrapped your legs around his waist, pulling him down so he was on top of you. God, how long had you been waiting just for this man to notice you, and now you were here? It still didn't feel real.

"You are absolutely fucking beautiful," he growled hoarsely, yanking the bottom of your dress up and staring in appreciation at what he saw.

"You're not bad looking yourself." Your lips curled up into a smile, as you finished your work at unbuttoning his shirt. You sat there beneath him, admiring the smooth, toned planes of muscle peeking out of his shirt. So this was man you'd been in love since... forever. He did not disappoint.

Minho shifted on top of you, and you could feel his arousal pressing against the outside of your panties. You closed your eyes, trying not to moan out loud. From what you could feel, he was huge, and he wasn't even fully hard yet.

"How excited are you, Minho?" you giggled quietly against him, your mouth against his ear as he started kissing your neck.

He groaned in response, starting to grind himself against you desperately. "I don't think you need me to answer that, do you Princess?" he grunted, his voice hoarse with need.

"Well, I'm not stopping you." You moved your hips against his in response, and he hissed at the sensation.

"You are a devil in bed, aren't you?" he chuckled, fingers pressing against your clothed clit, causing you to keen beneath his touch. Then, in one swift motion, he yanked the fabric off your body, leaving them in a torn, mangled pile next to you.

"Minho, why?" You rolled your eyes playfully at him. "You owe me a new pair."

"Whatever it takes to get you like this." He pressed one more kiss to your throat, before taking in the sight before him. "You are beautiful," he repeated once more, and you felt yourself flushing at his reverence. "It makes me want to savor you." he paused, staring down at you with a look of veiled hesitancy.

You missed his nervous expression, as your eyes were closed in anticipation, your body pulsing with need.

"You can do whatever you want with me, Minho," you sighed, not soaking in his words.

He stopped, and before you fully understood what he was doing, he was pulling the skirt of your dress back down around your hips, and helping you sit up.

"What are you doing, Minho?" You frowned at him as he grabbed your hands, pulling you back onto his lap, just like earlier that day. "You got me all hot and bothered, and now you're... cock blocking me?!"

He laughed, shaking his head. "Only you would say something as insane as that in a moment like this. No, I just... realized I want to take this slow. With you. You're right, I was moving too fast. I don't want to have sex with you in the middle of the woods, on our first date, with you on top of my jacket, sneaking around like you're a secret. We're married. We should be able to make our first time perfect, more meaningful than this. Don't you think?"

You paused thoughtfully. "I think it's sweet that you think I deserve that much," you began, sliding your arms around his neck and kissing him lightly as you thought about his proposition. "If you want to wait, then I want to wait too."

He nodded fervently. "I don't want you to think I don't want this, because I do. I mean, you felt how much I want it. But I want you in my bed, with candles and roses, stupid romantic shit. I don't want you getting twigs and leaves all over your ass, or that stupid Taehyung to appear out of nowhere and catch us."

You laughed. "What, you wouldn't want him to join in?" you teased, and he glowered at you, his lip curling at the thought.

"Okay, that's not funny," he grumbled. "Like I said, I am not sharing you, ever. It took me damn long enough to come to my senses and take you, I'm not letting some chump try and steal you away."

You laughed quietly at his words, unable to think of anything to say in response. Just, "yeah, you got that right."

The two of you headed back to the restaurant. You certainly felt a little extra... breezy down there. Oh yeah, Minho would definitely be owing you, big time.

But despite not getting exactly what you'd expected tonight, you climbed into bed feeling even more fulfilled than if you had gotten what you'd asked for. Knowing that Minho cared so much about you and your relationship that he would rather wait meant more to you than you anticipated. You weren't sure if he was the kind of guy to have one-night stands (and the mere thought made you want to punch something), you knew his patience meant a lot. More than he'd probably ever know.

So yeah, maybe this whole marriage thing would work out after all.

———————————

Minho wandered into the lounge, just to spend some time alone before he went to bed. He assumed Hyunjin and Seungmin were still awake, even now, and he didn't want to deal with them just yet. And besides, he didn't want them making fun of how fucking stupid he looked, with that giddy smile plastered on his face. He would pretend he had his shit together, thank you very much. Well, most of the time anyway.

He just wanted to cool off from the smoldering heat that was tonight. Something about you just got him... hot. Honestly, it wasn't just one thing. It was everything. And even though it was only your first date, it had been perfect.

After coming back from your... soirée, you'd had a wonderful evening filled with eating, drinking, and constant laughing. There were always many laughs with you.

Especially when he realized that you were sitting there with no panties on. He couldn't stop laughing at you after that, to the point that you had to threaten to stab him in the hand with your fork.

And now? He just wanted some time by himself to process all the very strong, very positive emotions racing through him.

But when he opened the lounge door, he quickly realized he would not be getting any alone time.

Because the room was already occupied.

Yeonjun sat on the couch, legs crossed, as if he had been expecting Minho to walk in.

"Hello Minho," he said smoothly.

As Minho shut the door behind him, he instantly felt trapped.

"Would now be a good time to have that talk I had mentioned earlier?"

laska's note —
OOOOOH! that was kind of a wild chapter, hehe. i do wanna know... are you guys comfortable with full-on smut in this (or any) books? i only want to write what everyone is comfortable with, so please tell me in the comments!

and next, did y'all forget about yeonjun wanting to talk to minho?? what do you think he wants to say?? it's finally happeningggg 👀👀 there's some big plot twists coming, so if you think things have been wild thus far, you're not ready 😏

𝖭𝖤𝖷𝖳 𝖴𝖯：
𝟯𝟱 - 𝘁𝗵𝗲
┊ ⇄ ◁◁ II ▷▷ ↻ ┊