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Summary: Four years and continents apart. What keeps Yi Jeong and Ga Eul's hope alive are the letters that they write to each other from time to time…

LOVE LETTER

XI

(II)

They were snuggled together in the warm dark. Ga Eul nestled her head on his shoulder; it reminded her a little of the cinema, except that this time, it wasn't an act for anyone, and Yi Jeong didn't have to pretend that he was pretending. She still had trouble believing that this was real, that she had just shared her first kiss with him.

Yi Jeong pulled her closer as he brushed his lips against her hair again, marvelling that she was in his arms. She was holding onto his other hand, her fingers gently tracing lines on his palm. It felt wonderful and truth be told, he was a little aroused and in the mood for more. But they had just shared their first kiss, and he didn't want to alarm Ga Eul yang and ruin the moment. There would be a proper time and place for turning fantasy into reality. He could think of a few options but his personal preference ran towards silk sheets in a room with a view that overlooked the vast blue ocean.

"What are you thinking about?"

Her question caught him off guard and for a moment, Yi Jeong wondered if she had read his thoughts. Knowing her, she wouldn't be able to look him in the eye if she knew what he had been thinking about. Deciding that ignorance was bliss for the moment, he chose the other thing that had crossed his mind not too long ago.

"That glass of water."

"Ah?"

He looked down at her and Ga Eul, even though she was wondering what on earth he was talking about, didn't fail to notice how serious he looked. "Do you remember dinner with my father?"

It wasn't a pleasant memory and even though she knew that it had been an act, it had been cruel nonetheless, and she would always remember it. Time would take the sting away but not the memory. "Why are you bringing this up now sunbae?" she asked, unable to conceal the slight undertone of reproach in her voice.

"In one of your last letters, you wondered why I came looking for you even though you'd already told me you had given up."

How could she forget? She had been so surprised that day, when she had turned around to find him still seated, smiling up at her as though it was perfectly normal for him to be there waiting for her.

"It hasn't been easy for us, not at all. Believe it or not, throwing that water was one of the best things you have ever done for me." Lifting her hand to his lips, he kissed it softly. "I'm sorry for putting you through that and I'm glad that you didn't let me get away with it. It helped bring me to my senses. That day at the Clay House, when I'd gone to see you, I…I'd already kind of made up my mind about you…about us."

"Sunbae…"

Yi Jeong gave a rueful smile. "I used to think I was so different from Jun Pyo where matters of the heart were concerned. He fell in love with Geum Jan Di when she kicked him and I think...it took that glass of water to make me realise that maybe, I should give us a chance."

Of course there had been the matter of Eun Jae. But there was no need to bring that up. What was important was that they had made it to the here and now. "In the end, I realised that my feelings hadn't changed, especially after all you had done for me. That was what I wanted to tell you at Namsan."

And she had walked away from him then. She had almost missed him again. Ga Eul laced her fingers with his and she felt his arm around her tighten in a secure embrace. "If I had known that dumping water on your head was that effective, I would have done it a lot sooner," she teased gently. "So sunbae, since we're talking about the past, when did you start to like me?"

Yi Jeong had thought about that many times before but he had never been able to quite put a finger on the exact moment. "I'm not sure. I guess you just grew on me."

Ga Eul wrinkled her nose. "You make me sound like a fungus."

He laughed. "If you want to put it that way. But I do know when I realised you might have gotten under my skin."

"Really? When was that?"

He looked at her, his head slightly tilted to the side. It was a memory that amused him now but back then… "We'd been playing billiards together when Jun Pyo received a call from Jan Di about a double date. I knew you had to be half of the other couple." And for one instant his buoyant mood had taken a nosedive and he had been jealous. He'd covered it well enough from the others but it had made him uncomfortable later to think about it. "The idea of you with another guy wasn't…pleasant."

He'd been jealous. And to think that he'd been the furthest thing from her mind at that time. How could she have known that days later, he would turn her world upside down?

"And since we're also on the subject of the letters, I'll have you know that I don't kiss girls out of gratitude." Sliding his fingers under her chin, he tilted her face up to his. "When I kiss you, it's because I want to," he murmured.

His voice sounded so deliciously husky that Ga Eul shivered. "And do you want to now?" she asked, her voice barely audible.

He hadn't planned on kissing her again but her question was an invitation that he couldn't resist. "Yes I do Ga Eul yang. Very much so." And then his mouth came down on hers, claiming her lips as he wrapped his hand in the silk of her hair.

She wondered if it would always be like this: whether there would always be this heady rush, whether the world would always seem to spin off kilter. Was this what the books meant about being swept off one's feet? Cocooned in the shadows and in his arms, time seemed to stand still.

Yi Jeong slanted his mouth over hers, desperately trying to gentle the kiss. Caught between the desire not to frighten her and his own raging desires, he was trying to remember to control himself when Ga Eul moaned softly against his lips and promptly destroyed that noble intention. "Ga Eul yang," he whispered her name in between kisses, all too keenly aware that her hands had slipped under his jacket and he could feel their warmth through his shirt, the slight edge of her nails as her hands dug into his skin when he brushed his tongue against her parted lips.

She couldn't know what she was doing to him. To be honest, he hadn't anticipated the effect she would have on him either. He had expected to be the one in control but she had completely ruined that, and now they were both slowly burning up with a fervour that he recognised yet found unfamiliar.

And then both their handphones started ringing.

Yi Jeong doubted that he would feel the same combination of gratitude and frustration ever again in his life as Ga Eul pulled away, breaking the kiss. She was panting and his own breathing sounded harsh to his ears. "W-we should see who that is," she muttered and turned away.

She was embarrassed, he realised, and felt more than a bit of smug masculine satisfaction to know that she had been as affected as he had been. Deciding that now was not a good time to tease her, he slipped his phone out of his pocket. It was Woo Bin.

"Yi Jeong ah?"

Yi Jeong grinned as he heard the caution in Woo Bin's voice. "You have the best and worst timing," he said, looking at Ga Eul who had walked over to the window.

"Huh? Oh, I see. Well my bro, I take it that things are going swimmingly well for you. Am I …err, interrupting something?"

Usually Woo Bin was a lot more direct than that but because Ga Eul was involved, he had resorted to euphemisms. "Get your mind out of the gutter," Yi Jeong chuckled, lowering his voice. "It's not what you think."

"Whew, that's a relief. Geum Jan Di won't kill me then. Just called to make sure everything was alright. I'm at Ji Hoo's place now. We'll wait for you here."

"I'll be there. And Woo Bin ah, thanks. For everything."

On the other end, Woo Bin smiled, knowing that Yi Jeong was apologising for flaring up at him the last time they had spoken. "Hey, we're F4. See you later bro."

Yi Jeong had just put his phone away when he realised that Ga Eul wasn't speaking on hers anymore. "That was Woo Bin. Ga Eul yang, who were you talking too?"

"My mother," she said, sounding slightly exasperated. "She got up and realised I had left the television and my room light on. Of course, she couldn't miss the fact that I wasn't in bed as I ought to have been."

She wasn't helping his overactive imagination by mentioning herself and a bed in the same sentence. "Is your mother angry?"

"Yes, but she'll be alright. I told her I had caught a midnight movie with Jan Di and that I was on my way home now. In fact, I told her I was ten minutes away."

Yi Jeong hadn't planned on sending her home that soon. Until Woo Bin's call the idea of saying good night to her hadn't even entered his mind. "I guess we had better get going then," he said reluctantly. He stood up and she came to him. It felt like the most natural thing in the world for them to leave the studio holding hands.

"Will you be alright?" he asked as they pulled up to her house. They had made it there in fifteen minutes, thanks to a couple of red lights.

"I'll be fine," Ga Eul assured him. "My mother's bark is worse than her bite. Good night sunbae." She unbuckled her seatbelt and started to get out, then hesitated. "What are you doing tomorrow?"

Yi Jeong knew what she was really asking. "I've got a couple of things to take care of. But I'll meet you at the shop tomorrow after your shift." Reaching over, he pulled her into a quick hug. "Good night Ga Eul yang." To his surprise, she kissed him quickly on the cheek and without looking back, hopped out of the car and scampered off.

Yi Jeong decided on a slow drive to Ji Hoo's house. Maybe by the time he got there, he would be able to stop smiling to himself each time he recalled her good night kiss. She really was adorable. And best of all, he was pretty sure that she was his.

***

A/N: Many thanks for all the reviews and kind comments. Hope you enjoy this too. ^_^