We visited almost every shop in the city. Hayul wanted to make sure she entered every single one of them before going to the next one.
Around 1 pm, we had lunch, Korean BBQ this time.
After eating and talking for at least two more hours, we went to take a walk to the park, still hand in hand. I think this is the happiest I've seen her since I met her, and it made me happy.
"There's two more surprises for today before heading back."
"Really? What is it?"
"Why do you keep asking? I said s u r p r i s e"
"I'm just anxious about it, that's all!" She laughed.
We walked around the park; ran into a few cute dogs, so she had to pet all of them, of course.
"You two make such a cute couple!" One of the ladies with the dogs said as she walked away from us, making us look at each other and just giggle.
"Come" I held her hand once again and dragged her with me to across the street.
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see"
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I had previously spent at least one hour looking for a good café on my phone, until I found one, and it looked very pretty; so, I decided to take her there before having dinner with the boys.
We entered and picked a table near the window. She was very silent, but as soon as we sat down, she let out a big smile.
"You remembered"
"I did"
"I can't believe you even thought of this"
"Are you kidding? How could you come to visit the city without having your cliché movie girl experience?"
"So what? Are you going to stare at me while I sip my coffee looking through the window?"
"Gladly"
"Tch...You're so out of this world..." She whispered.
"What?"
"Thank you for this awesome day." She held my hand.
And so, adorably, she lived the cliché movie moment. She ordered coffee and enjoyed it while admiring every single thing and detail she saw from the window; cars, people, dogs.
But, the most beautiful matter of the evening was just across from me, and Hayul couldn't possibly see it, but I surely couldn't stop looking at it; Her. W
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"So, last surprise before going back!" We got out of the cafe and headed to a bus stop. The dorm was a 15-minute ride away, Chan had already messaged me asking if we were on our way.
"You're full of surprises today" She chuckled.
We got on the bus and Hayul feel asleep more than once. Even though she seemed full of energy, I guess it had drained almost completely out of her. There's just dinner left luckily, so she just has to sit down and eat.
"Wake up, we're here" I whispered, caressing her cheek; she opened her eyes and lifted her head from my shoulder.
"Did I sleep for long?"
"Nope... but you snored"
"I don't snore"
"How would you know if you're asleep?"
"I-..." She thought about it, I let out a smile before standing up and nodding at her to do the same.
"I don't snore" she continued once we got off.
"Fine, you don't. But you drool" I teased, as we walked towards the dorms.
"I do not drool. You drool."
"I don't- how would you know? Have you seen me sleeping?"
"I- uh no"
"...okay" I laughed. She rolled her eyes and kept walking alongside. 5 minutes later, we finally arrived to the dorm's building; we entered and took the elevator.
"Is this the last surprise?" She asked.
"that's right. Well... it's like... 7 surprises in one"
"7? Woah. What is it?"
"That again? I'm not telling you." The elevator door opened, we walked out and a few doors to the left, until we arrived to the last door of the floor.
Hayul had curious eyes the entire time, she checked out every detail of the building.
Before knocking on the door, I turned back to her.
"So... welcome"
"To... your house?" She shrugged.
"My second home"
"Your second home?"
"Mhm. You're gonna love it, I'm sure." I smiled. I wanted to make it as mysterious as possible, so she wouldn't know she was going to meet them.
"I think they're outside!"
"Shhh! Changbin! Lower your voice!"
"Are they kissing?"
"Leebit!"
"Remember, don't say anything embarrassing!"
I sighed closing my eyes, kissing my perfect plan goodbye as their voices gave me away. It didn't take long until Hayul realized where she was.
"Oh my god. I'm not ready" She shook her head.
"You'll love them, I promise. They're noisy, but awesome." I smiled, she trusted my words and smiled too. I turned around and knocked, the door opened, but only one face was showing.
I laughed internally at the image of them running away and acting chill.
"Hyunjinie!"
"Hi, hyung!" I hugged Chan. He immediately tilted his head towards Hayul, who was hilariously silent.
"This is Hayul"
"Hello! I'm Chan!"
"N-nice to meet you. I'm Hayul"
"I've heard wonders of you since he left! It's nice to finally meet you!"
Why would he give me away like that...
Chan welcomed us in, returning to the kitchen to keep preparing dinner.
"Since you left huh?" She elbowed me from behind.
"Shh let's not talk about it" I avoided the question.
In the living room, the rest of the boys were watching some series and playing on their phones. I cleared my throat so they could stop pretending and come greet us.
"Hi guys"
"Hyunjin-ah! It's been a while!" Minho came towards us, pausing the drama they were watching.
"I'm Minho! It's nice to meet you!" He talked to Hayul, she bowed and introduced herself to him.
"So, these are my brothers. Minho, Changbin, Felix, Jisung, Seungmin and Jeongin. Oh, and Chan back in the kitchen!"
"Noona, are you Hyune's girlfriend?"
"Don't ask that! It's awkward!" Seungmin covered Jeongin's mouth, embarrased.
"We're sorry, we're awkward most of the time, but don't mind us! Feel like at home!" Felix bowed and shook her hand. Hayul widened her eyes as she heard his voice.
"He has a very deep voice" She whispered.
"I know, I know" I chuckled.
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"And so, I got eliminated but they couldn't live without me so they called me back!"
"Hey, we didn't call! It was JYP!" "You're forgetting about me!" "Ahhh you're so full of yourself!" Whines followed after Minho's story about how we got together.
"What's your favorite song from Stray Kids?" Jeongin asked.
"I'm sorry... I haven't heard your songs" She lowered her head with an apologetic smile.
"You haven't showed her anything about us?!" They all whined.
"It's a long story, but I couldn't tell her at first who I was! So no, I didn't."
"We don't have computers there, I didn't even have a phone, so I couldn't listen to you guys. But I promise I'll do now that I have a phone!" She laughed, the boys thanked her and continued talking.
After a while, I went to help Chan. Hayul had become comfortable with them pretty quickly, and I could tell the boys really liked her too. She didn't even need me to be sitting with her anymore.
"Need help?"
"Just to set the table" Chan said. "Come taste this".
"It's delicious!"
"Thank you! I lost a bet to Minho so I had to make dinner."
"Thank you Chanie. I know you're always working hard and you barely come to the dorm, so this means a lot to me."
"You mean a lot to me; you know I'd do anything for any of you guys."
"We know... thank you."
"You know, it's the happiest I've seen you since you left."
"Really?"
"Can't you tell yourself?"
"I do, actually. When I got there, I felt horrible with myself, like a punishment. But I'm grateful I met her, despite everything that's going on. She helped me feeling better almost since day one."
"She's cute. Take good care of her, I'm sure she's very nice people too."
"She is" I smiled, hearing her already fighting with Changbin in the background.
"You'll have to keep her a secret from the public for a long time, you know that, right?"
"I know"
"You can tell the company, not right now, but soon. But you'll need to wait at least a year if you want to... you know, go public. I mean I don't know if you're already dating or what but-"
"I know Chanie. We aren't like officially dating, but we are aware of each other's feelings, so that's it for now at least. Maybe some time ahead we can be official, I don't know."
"You don't know because...?"
"I don't know if she'll agree to have like a... long distance thing. I'll have to talk to her about it later."
"You should, Hyune. It's not long before you have to come back. Don't wait until last minute to tell her."
"I know, I know."
"Let's get that table ready!" Chan patted my head and focused back again on cooking.
"Hyunjin! Hayul doesn't like cats so I don't like her anymore!"
"That's not what I said, don't believe him!"
"She doesn't like my cats!"
"I literally said they looked cute!"
"But you don't love them!"
"I don't even know them!"
"You don't have to! Look at them! Love my children!"
"Hey, stop fighting!
They're already behaving like besties, what a mess.
We all sat down to have dinner. It was the first time since I left that I sat with them all together, and I enjoyed it so so much.
For a moment, I felt like nothing bad had happened, but quickly remembered the situation. However, I didn't let it take away the smile from me.
Chanie's cooking was delicious, the boys really treated Hayul nicely; I knew they liked her, and she liked them too.
We all talked about everything. The boys asked her about life over the country side, her mom's paintings and our work with the elders.
Hayul said Mr. Kim and Changbin are so grumpy they'd like each other very much, and I couldn't agree more.
They made Hayul watch some videos of us, I felt really embarrassed to see her watching my performances, but she was having a great time.
They would tease me from time to time, and tease her for being with me. They even played individual fancams and made her say what was her favorite expression of me.
"So, who's your favorite member?" Jisung asked her; I was going to cut him off, but was cut off by her instead.
"Felix!"
Whines rumbled all over the dorm again.
"Why?" "I thought we were friends!" "It should be me!"
I chuckled.
"Hyunjin is jealous" Seungmin pointed at me.
"I'm not" I scoffed.
"You are! You wanted to be her favorite member!"
"She can have whoever as her favorite!" I laughed.
But I was a bit jealous indeed. Don't tell them.
After dinner, I showed Hayul the view from the balcony and my room. I must admit Jeongin did a great job cleaning around and make it look decent. I managed to steal a kiss or two from her without them noticing.
It was getting late now, and we had to go take our bus back. Hayul thanked everybody for the evening and the food, as well as for all the laughs they shared. They promised to go visit her some time, she said she'd happily receive them.
"See you in a while, Hyunjinie" The boys said their goodbyes.
"See you guys later! I hope you do great on the show."
"Everything we accomplish is for you, mate" Chanie said, warming my heart.
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We walked back to the bus stop and took the bus back to the station. We barely got on time, the bus was already there and ready to leave.
I guess there was one thing she didn't like about the city, and that's traffic. I don't blame her, no one likes that.
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Almost three hours later, we finally arrived back to the cabins. The bus stopped almost in front of the main gate, so we didn't have to walk that much.
Hayul slept all the way back, she was truly tired. I heard her back at the dorm saying her feet were killing her, so I offered a piggy back ride, which se cutely agreed.
We entered her cabin and I put her down on the couch carefully. I kissed her forehead and said good night, as she was almost sleep, but she quickly grabbed my hand, making me turn around to face her.
"You think I'm gonna let you go without thanking you for today?"
"You can thank me tomorrow" I smiled "Rest for now, you're tired."
"No" She pulled me to sit beside her. She rested her head on my chest, I hugged her.
"I don't think I can put to words how thankful I am for today, Hyunjin"
"It's fine, you don't-" I was interrupted by a sweet kiss. My heart once again melted away. I pushed her hair behind her ears and kissed her back, she placed her hand on my cheek.
"Thank you for thinking about me like this. Thank you for taking me to the city and for introducing me to your family. I don't know what did I do to meet you, but I'm so grateful." She smiled.
"I'm grateful I met you, too" Our foreheads touched. "All those times you said you wanted to make me smile, you did it."
"What?" She chuckled.
"Your sticky-notes"
"Oh my god... you read those? That's so embarrassing"
"It's so cute."
"At least you saw them after you knew how I felt."
"It doesn't matter when." I laughed. "Thank you for making me smile during my toughest moments."
She looked at me, her eyes are beautiful. "You're a great person, Hyunjin. You deserve happiness."
Again, I couldn't find words.
Kisses were my only way of communication.