Jin had warned me plenty. Gave me a rundown on how the next couple of months were going to look like for his availability. While he was gone on his concerts and promotion overseas, we continued with our relationship. He was adamant about allowing things to happen naturally between us, insisting we shouldn't force it. He made me promise if things became too difficult that I would tell him so. He didn't want to break up but didn't want me to feel pressured either.

Contrary to my original thoughts and hope that he would forget about me while he was gone, my heart fluttered almost every day because we were still in communication. He messaged me multiple times a day. Twice, his schedule was too intense and he didn't get back to me until almost two days later. Before he left, he made a promise to me in return: he would make sure not to go 48 hours without contacting me.

"You can't promise that," I had said to him after he said it.

We were sitting together in a corner during one of his breaks. Due to the amount of practice he had, I found myself going often to his company to visit him during those last two weeks before he left.

He took a sip of his drink. "Why not?"

"You've mentioned there are times you have 16-hour work days. You barely have time to shower and sleep. I don't want to be someone you have to bother contacting," I said honestly.

He looked taken aback by my response. "You're not a bother."

I had chosen the wrong words. I knew he liked talking to me just as much as I enjoyed his company. "That's not how I meant it. I meant you have enough to worry about. If you go several days or even a couple of weeks without contact, I'll understand," I said honestly. "It's more important you rest."

He took a pause, almost like he was considering my words. He quickly had a look of dislike written on his face. "I don't think I can go more than a day without talking to you now. There's no way I'll survive a week," he said, his eyes looking right at me.

We hadn't known each other for very long, but the look in his eyes told me he was being truthful. There was no cocky look at the moment, no flirtatious look he liked to give me to see me blush; it was all pure honesty.

And while my instincts wanted to trust him, my head intervened. I couldn't trust him because I didn't know him, know him.

When his flight took off, I prepared to never hear from him again. However, within not even two hours after takeoff, I was sent several messages from the air.

ME: Isn't this costing you an arm and a leg?

I felt guilty sending the message because I was contributing to the high bill.

SEOKJIN: Why do you think I'm stingy? I save my money and use it for when it matters.

The last four words of his message made me grin from ear to ear. I even did an embarrassing body wiggle, kicking my feet in pure joy.

It was quite embarrassing how many times I reread that line.

Sadly, my skepticism managed to catch up to me and I convinced myself his messages would start to lose momentum. However, it had been about two months since he left and he had yet to break his promise. And I felt myself believe he wouldn't break his promise. Felt myself let go of the skepticism. Felt myself feel a different type of hope...

In the two months he was gone, I couldn't remember all our conversations. Sometimes they were silly and goofy and lasted several hours. Others were deeper but were cut too short. He spoke about his thoughts and worries, allowing me to be an ear he was clearly in desperate need of. In return, I spoke about my fear of my mother's health. I never talked aloud about the subject, but Seokjin made it so easy for me to trust him.

There were thousands of kilometers between us, but it didn't matter. Often it didn't feel like we were on different continents. It always felt like he was right next to me. Untouchable, but within reach.

Sharing stories and worries and stresses brought us both to tears. And it seemed the more tears we shared with one another, the stronger our bond became. It baffled me to know months ago we didn't know each other. I had never heard of his name. Now, it was difficult to not think about him every moment of every day. And every time I thought of him, my entire being felt lighter. My mood was brighter. No one had ever thought of me as crabby or sad, but I certainly was never perky either. Loved ones were quick to point out my upbeat attitude. Called me out for always smiling and having a bounce in my step.

I should feel embarrassed by how I was changing, but Seokjin was just as bad. Several times he would do agyeo. Usually, the action made me cringe, but I couldn't help but find it adorable when he would do it. We were both getting too mushy and I was too far gone to care.

We were in a middle of a video chat when he had me grinning from ear to ear as he did it. He squinted his eyes and pushed his cheeks together, sending me a puckered kiss.

At that moment, a door opened somewhere behind him.

My giggling stopped as I watched to see who it was. All I could see were legs coming into the frame.

Jin, however, hadn't heard the door and continued his adorable demonstrations. His eyes were still closed, so he couldn't see me trying to signal him we were no longer alone.

The legs came closer, stopping directly next to Jin just as Jin finally opened his eyes.

Jin looked a little confused by my silence but was quickly aware of something physically next to him. He let out a noise as he jumped back in fear.

He clutched his chest and scolded the legs. "What kind of person sneaks up on someone like that?!"

A giggle came out of the person with the legs. "I didn't want to interrupt. Please continue, hyung."

"If you didn't want to interrupt, you should have stayed outside," Jin snapped.

"Is this something you do alone when no one is looking?" The voice asked, the giggle still present in his voice.

Jin glared up at his member.

The legs turned towards me. "Oh, you're on chat with someone. Why didn't you say something?"

Jin looked ready to roll his eyes.

The body crouched down and I could now clearly see the face of who the legs belonged to.

I waved. "Hi, Jiminah."

I was greeted with an adorably cute smile. "Hi, noona. How have you been? I miss you."

Before Jin flew out of Korea, I met every one of his members. While all of them had been polite and kind, Jimin and Taehyung had been the friendliest. Every time they saw me, they would go out of their way to greet and speak to me. And whenever they noticed Jin on a call with me, they liked to steal my attention. I picked up quickly that this was mostly to annoy Jin.

Jimin took the device from Jin and placed the camera lens right at his face and began to ask me questions.

I could hear Jin in the background, asking for his device back.

Jimin ignored him and kept me to himself. "Wow, noona. You look prettier than the last time I saw you."

I knew he was being flirty just to irritate Jin. I played along. "You look better looking yourself."

Jin's voice was getting louder in the background. "Jiminah!"

Jimin continued to ignore him. "We should go for drinks when we arrive. I know the perfect place." He gave a flirtatious smile.

"Ooooh, I like drinking. Do you want to meet me there or pick me up?" I asked, giving him a flirtatious look back.

"I'll pick you up. Make it a proper date."

Seeing a hand fly across the screen, I pushed down my laughter and continued the game. "I have the proper outfit, too."

Jimin placed his eye right on the lens as if he could use it to get a better view of me. "Describe the outfit to me," he said in a low and husky voice.

Slap!

"Ya!" came Jin's voice.

Suddenly, there was turbulence and I couldn't see anything clearly. I did, however, hear plenty of grunts and giggles.

"Give it!" Jin let out in-between a laugh.

Finally, there was stableness and I saw Jin's profile come to view.

"You're so strong, hyung," Jimin said teasingly. There was a hand that came into view and squeezed at Jin's arm.

Jin pushed him off.

Jimin let another giggle as he came back to the screen, his cute face smiling at me. "Goodbye, noona."

"Bye!" I waved.

Jin shoved him and Jimin seemed to finally leave the room.

Jin frowned into the lens. "I know you like them young, but there's an age line you shouldn't cross, noona," he chided.

He only called me that when he was being funny.

I narrowed my eyes at him.

We continued our chat until it was finally time for him to get some sleep.

He gave his farewell with a puckered kiss to the camera.

My heart hammered against my chest as my mouth began to hurt from all the smiling I was doing.

I couldn't wait for him to be back home.

About two weeks after Jin came back from overseas, he started to come over to my place quite a bit. Because the dorms were so chaotic and we never got full privacy at his company, I invited him over. He never declined.

Many times we found ourselves in one of two locations: the couch, making out, or in the kitchen, cooking.

We had several heated make-out sessions. It never got too intense, however. The most intense it got was some grinding, which was usually started by me. Seokjin was always a perfect gentleman and allowed me to set the pace.

Honestly, this only made me fall for him more.

He was currently over again and cooking something on my stove. He insisted on cooking rather than ordering something.

I had made an off comment earlier in the week about how I was craving one of his dishes, which is what he was making.

We both stood over the stove as he prepared everything. I helped a little, but he insisted on making it all himself.

A small smile tugged on the corner of his lips as he stirred the pot. He had worked for 10 hours today and had come straight from the company. After taking a quick shower, he went straight to cooking. His face was bare, no makeup on. His hair was free of product. The clothes on him were his own rather than what his stylist had put on him.

He never looked more beautiful.

He caught me looking. "What?" he asked, as his full lips puckered out.

"Nothing. I'm just appreciative," I said, feeling myself smile.

"I like cooking for you," he murmured, his focus back on stirring the vegetables.

Placing my head against his shoulder, I continued to observe him. We had gone maybe a total of 30 seconds without touching and here I was, pressing myself against him like some sort of gum.

Before I could worry about whether I was being too clingy, I felt his lips against the top of my head. "Because you smile when I do."

My cheeks grew warm and my smile became wider; I almost let out a giggle at how giddy I felt. Instinctively, I nuzzled closer to him.

Using his own head against mine, Jin pushed my forehead back. His hands were currently on the food, so he had to find other means to make me look up at him.

Puzzled by his actions, I looked up at him with a frown.

He let out a sigh of disappointment. "That's not a smile. Do I have to start stepping up my game?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Your game is fine," I informed him and I went back to watching the food since he was no longer keeping an eye on it.

"How come you're not smiling then?" He asked with a pout.

I really don't know why everything he said made me giggle. He wasn't even telling a joke, so how was he making me laugh so much? "Am I not allowed to not smile?"

"Of course you are, but if I'm around, why wouldn't you be smiling?"

Placing my hand on top of his, I physically prompted him to start stirring again. He got the hint and continued. "How did I end up with someone so full of himself?" I asked, teasingly, of course.

"Because I make you smile," he said easily.

I don't miss a beat. "Your food makes me smile."

He inhaled air, a sign of self-disappointment as he tilted his head to the side. "That's harsh."

I let out a giggle.

"So my food makes you smile. Then what makes you kiss me?" There was a grin on his face when he asked this, I was sure of it. And I knew what he was implying.

I wasn't going to give in so easily, though. "Your singing," I finally said.

He started to hum a song. It was the one I had mentioned once about it being my favorite.

The fact that he remembered made me press my body closer to his, my arms wrapping around his middle.

He turned off the stove; I could see the food was finally ready. I was sure he was going to start plating. However, his arms came around me as well, embracing me as he sang softly.

I looked up at him, his honeyed eyes staring down at me.

Maybe it was corny what he was doing and how I was reacting. I was positive the old me would have gagged at the now me. But I couldn't stop it. It was inevitable. I should have seen it coming months ago, but maybe I chose to ignore it.

My heart was hammering across my chest. The butterflies in my stomach went wild as Seokjin descended on me.

He took my bottom lip between his with some vigor. I met his kiss with the same amount of enthusiasm. Taking my face between his face, he pulled me closer. I went up to my toes, as I opened my mouth to him. His tongue ran over my top lip, sending shivers down my spine. My tongue slipped out and did the same, wanting him to feel the same.

After a long moment, we finally pulled back, needing air.

Jin's hand stayed on my face, stroking it gently.

I smiled up at him, feeling a sense of glee all over me.

His eyes were soft but intense as he looked down at me. And filled with something else I had never seen before.

Before I could ask him if something was wrong, he spoke.

"I love you," he breathed out, his eyes never leaving mine.

The words caught me off guard.

Other than my family, no one had ever said those words to me with conviction. My prior boyfriends had claimed to love me, but I never felt it.

With Seokjin, however... I didn't doubt he meant them.

And I hated him.

Hated him because I loved him back.

Fuck, I was screwed.