𝓈𝒾𝓃𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 ─── ˢˡᵒʷ ᵘᵖᵈᵃᵗᵉˢ

⁰⁶. 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐬

In that moment, she truly believed that Sunoh would be able to fill the cracks in her broken heart with a glue that wouldn't put it back to how it was before, but would make it into something better and more beautiful than it had been before. Her heart would become something similar to pottery fixed by kintsugi, and that thought caused her happiness to spill over. She found herself not only smiling, but laughing too.

Sunoh's gaze snapped up to her immediately, his breath being taken away by her for the second time in the past five minutes. Her eyes formed crescent moons while dimples appeared on either side of her lips which were stretched into a smile, a joyful sound bubbling out of her and warming up the atmosphere around them. His heart fluttered at the sight.

"Thank you," Nari told him, her laughter dying down but a small smile remaining on her face. She looked up at him as she confessed, "You look beautiful too."

His face turned a darker shade of red at the compliment as he mumbled, "But I'm not as dressed up as you...I look so plain beside you."

"No," Nari shook her head, "You're beautiful. Who cares what you wear or how you do your hair? What's important is what's inside. And what's inside of you is beautiful, Sunoh, even if it's broken. You're beautiful."

Sunoh was so moved by her words that tears pooled in his eyes as a genuine smile spread on his face. He too hadn't smiled in the past month so it felt a little strange, but it was a nice strange. Sunoh liked this feeling—he liked the feeling he got whenever he was with Nari. The thought made him smile more.

He looked even more charming in that moment than in any other, and it was Nari's turn to feel her breath being taken away. His smile was just as beautiful as the rest of him, his cheeks rising and making his eyes curve slightly as smile lines appeared around his mouth. He was handsome usually, but his smile definitely made him much more attractive. Nari found herself wanting to keep his smile all to herself. 

If other girls catch sight of it, they will start showing an interest in him and then it probably won't be long until Sunoh leaves me just like Tae-joon had, she thought to herself as her smile faded away. After all, I'm nothing special—there are so many prettier and richer and just overall better girls out there. Tae-joon had realised that and that's why he left me...how long will it be until Sunoh realises it too?

Pulling herself out of her thoughts with a light shake of her head, Nari reached up to wipe his tears away gently as he continued to look fondly down at her. "I didn't mean to make you cry...I'm sorry."

Shaking his head, Sunoh replied, "It's okay—they're happy tears." He grabbed onto her hand and gave it a light squeeze as he said, "Thank you, Nari. For your words and—just—for everything. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Sunoh let go of her hand as he said, "Should we get going?"

Nari grabbed his hand again before he could hide it in his pocket and intertwined their fingers, chuckling at the way his eyes comically widened at her gesture. It was the first time that they were holding hands since they made their relationship official, both of them looking down at their interlocked fingers for a moment. Nari's much small hand was almost hidden from view by Sunoh's much larger one.

Tearing her gaze away from their hands, Nari began to pull Sunoh down the road while trying not to laugh at his still comically shocked expression, "Yeah—let's go."

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