Author's Note:
It has been a while since I last updated this book. I have been focused on 'Wonders in You' over the past few weeks — so I apologize for that. Along with that, my school has been tough. I did not have the time to write out of leisure. As a matter of fact, I barely had time to even read the books that I had in my library.
Due to all these, I feel like my writing skills have become a bit rusty. This is the first ever scenario that I have written upon returning, so I am apologizing in advance if you would find it underwhelming.
By the way, you are of the same age as Haewon in this scenario.
_____
You have been a vlogger for a while now.
YouTube is your platform. You have gained about a million subscribers over the past three years that you were in it.
As it can be deduced with the label that you had, you were basically sharing about some personal aspects of your life — specifically, your school life, your travels, and your dates with Haewon. Sometimes, you would upload the challenge videos that you either have done by yourself or with your girlfriend.
You have been in a relationship with the leader of NMIXX for five years already. However, your relationship with her has only been acknowledged or known by the public a year ago — including your parents and Haewon's parents. It was through the video entitled: 'The Girlfriend Tag' which you uploaded on the first day of the Pride Month last year.
You met Haewon back in middle school. You were a transferee, and she was your seatmate in Mathematics class. The two of you did not come from the same class. She was from the section which was deemed to be the cream of the crop.
It just so happened that in the cluster grouping for the classes in Mathematics; you were assigned into the cluster where Haewon belonged. When you first met her, you had just been living in South Korea for a little over two months. You had acquaintances from the section that you were assigned into, but you did not have an established circle of friends.
You were having a hard time to blend in. You could say that it was the language barrier that caused you such a struggle. After all, you are a foreigner.
Although you have studied the language a bit prior to moving to South Korea, it is inevitable for you to have a difficulty — especially when you are communicating with natives who are really articulate when it comes to speaking it.
Haewon quickly caught on to your dilemma as a foreigner who was studying in an educational institution which is dominated by natives. So, she communicated to you in English and offered to help you in learning Korean.
That is where it all started.
You became friends with her. Then, the two of you considered yourselves to be the best of friends after six months of knowing each other.
As time went by though, you found yourself seeing her more than that. At first, you were in denial of it. Your parents were homophobic, so you had an internalized homophobia. Despite not feeling anything for your suitor that time, you agreed to be his girlfriend in an attempt to forget about whatever you were feeling for your best friend back then.
Clearly, it did not work. Both of you happened to be denying your attraction for a member of the same sex and attempting to get over that 'phase' as the two of you once referred to. Both of you failed miserably.
It was you who initiated the break-up.
Knowing you, Haewon thought that Sunoo had done something really bad for you to part ways with him. She was enraged with that thought. She was grumbling about how much of a douchebag your ex-boyfriend was, while she was comforting you.
Eventually, she slipped. She subconsciously pitched herself to you. You questioned her for it.
It did not take long for you to make her crack and confess her feelings for you.
With a smile from ear to ear, you told her that the feeling was mutual and that there is no need for her to hate on Sunoo.
It was true. Even though your relationship with Sunoo wasn't built on love, he was a really nice guy. He treated you well.
You told everything to Haewon — like how you knew that your relationship with the former would be disastrous because you weren't really feeling anything for him and it was actually the latter whom you admire, and how you came up with the decision to just end things because the two of you, especially Sunoo, could not bear in deceiving yourselves any longer.
That is how you ended up being a couple. Visibly, it wasn't a flowery path after you and Haewon took it to the next level because of your homophobic parents.
You had to keep your relationship a secret.
Although Haewon did not complain about it even once, you can feel that she was wanting to be able to take you on dates freely, without the need of fronting it to be a 'friendly' date. She was longing to be known as your significant other, not just as a good friend of yours.
It is completely reasonable for her to feel that way back then because you were already dating each other exclusively for four years already.
You knew to yourself that you could not hide forever. On top of that, Haewon does not deserve being concealed at all. This entire set-up is becoming suffocating for the both of you, so you decided to put an end on it.
When your parents have seen the video of you coming out as a homosexual and doing 'The Girlfriend Tag' with your girlfriend of four years that time, they did not take it well. You were kicked out of your family house in South Korea.
You have seen that coming.
You were ready for it.
You already had a place to move into. It was your shared apartment with Haewon.
The first time that you stepped into your shared home with Haewon after the chaos in the Y/L/N household, it felt bittersweet.
It was bitter because you lost your parents. After all, you love them amidst their irrational dislike in people who identified themselves to be homosexual. However, at the same time; it was sweet because you were finally free. You were free of the inhibitions of expressing your love for Haewon publicly and letting everyone know that she is yours.
You learned to live with the loss with the help of the unwavering support of your subscribers who would love to see more of you and Haewon.
_____
In your first video with Haewon which is 'The Girlfriend Tag' — you told your subscribers to drop challenges for couples that they would like you and your girlfriend to do. Among all of them, it is the 'Try Not to Kiss Challenge' that you have picked to do first.
You were genuinely curious on how it would turn out. Both of you do not like being deprived of the physical affection that you were expecting to receive from each other. But then, it is Haewon who gets sullen about it more often.
With this in mind, you have the feeling that Haewon was more likely to give in first because she was the one who is more into physical touch among the two of you. However, you also knew to yourself that you cannot underestimate her charm and competitiveness.
After all, your girl was naturally good at flirting.
On top of that, it seemed that she was taking this challenge seriously. She even suggested that the two of you should not share kisses until the time of the filming comes, so that there is an increased difficulty. You agreed to it.
Twelve hours have passed since then.
As of the moment, you were checking on your set-up while your girlfriend was sitting on the couch in your video studio at home and watching you.
"Everything is all good now, hon..." You mumbled, averting your gaze from the camera to Haewon.
"Are you ready?"
"Honestly, I should be the one asking you that, hon." She responded, meeting your gaze and wiggling her eyebrows.
You already parted your lips, ready to strike back. You did not have the chance to do so as you felt shivers down your spine and went speechless when she continued.
"Are you ready for me?" She husked, biting onto her lower lip. All the while, she was taking an abrupt look at you from head to toe. Shortly after, she was staring dreamingly into your eyes again.
Oh, she's starting to charm you.
It would be a lie if you would say that it didn't affect you because it made the temperature of your body rise up. For the obvious reasons, you had to restrict yourself from being visibly affected by it. You covered it up with a smirk and a croon.
"Am I really the one who had to prepare myself for this? I am already familiar with your tricks, hon."
You were walking towards her as you said those words. You stopped right in front of her, holding eye contact with her while reaching your hand out to touch her lips enticingly. You can feel her lips quiver underneath your touch.
Afterwards, you slightly bent to level your lips to her ear.
"Remember, I rarely take the initiative..." You paused, taking her earlobe between your lips and tugging onto it gently. You heard Haewon's breath hitch.
With a triumphant smirk now formed on your lips, you continued to whisper.
"Can you resist me?"
"You're unfair..." She groaned.
You faced her and feigned innocence with such an affiliative smile.
"How am I unfair when you were the one who started it?" You playfully questioned her, slightly tilting your head to the side.
You could see that Haewon was eyeing you with her mouth hung open out of amusement.
"Anyway, we better get started."
With that, you pressed the record button and sat down beside her. As usual, you started with your introduction. Then, you motioned Haewon to do likewise before you proceeded to tell about the challenge that you and your girlfriend would be doing for that video and explain the mechanics for it.
While you were at it, Haewon was looking at you endearingly and nodding along. You figured that out when you turned your head towards her direction as soon as you finished explaining and decided to ask her about her preferred number of rounds.
Haewon didn't catch on to your question as she was pretty much occupied with looking at your lips. You had to snap your fingers in front of her to get her attention on what you were saying.
She smiled sheepishly, clearing her throat and scratching the back of her neck before she uttered.
"Sorry. Can you repeat your question?"
So, you did. Meanwhile, Haewon kept silent for a moment, and she looked like she was thinking it through.
"How about we go for three rounds? With that, it is like... we would have an easy round, an average round, then a difficult round. For the first two rounds, the duration could be a minute, but for the last round; it should be around two or three minutes. Of course, the difficulty for the one who had to resist would increase over the rounds."
"That sounds good."
The two of you kept up with that. You played rock paper scissors to decide on who should go first. The loser would be the first one to resist for what seemed to be the 'easy' round.
Haewon ended up losing. Knowing that you somehow got her a bit more eager than you are, you smiled mischievously.
"It is just the first round. No touching yet, alright?"
You cocked an eyebrow.
"How is it going to work without touch?"
She just chuckled in response initially, then she went on placing her hands along the sides of your thighs. She leaned in, and you could just gulp.
"I knew what to do, so it isn't a problem that I would have to deal with." She spoke in a dangerously low voice, winking at you before she moved away.
"Argh, fine."
You went on trying to get her to kiss you. But then, she didn't give in. Actually, neither of you gave into the temptation for the two rounds that have passed.
You were starting to think of what could aid in stepping up the game for the last round.
"I came to think of it. If we wouldn't be involving anything else, we might end up having no winner even after the last round. We need something that could increase the drive, you know what I mean?"
"Uh-huh, what do you have in mind, hon?"
"If you haven't noticed, I bought a bottle of red wine earlier this day for this challenge. You would be good at drinking some before we get into the last round, wouldn't you? It is your day off tomorrow, right?"
"Yes, it is. I wouldn't mind."
"That is good to know. Apparently though, I would have to cut the part that we've discussed and consumed it. I will be right back."
You got up from the couch and walked towards the kitchen. As soon as you got there, you opened the wine bottle and filled about one-fourth of the wine glasses that you took out for you and Haewon to use.
Afterwards, you returned to the studio and handed one wine glass to your girlfriend. The two of you quickly drank from your respective wine glasses.
Once you were done, you set them aside and asked Haewon if she was ready to continue. She nodded in response. Following that, you went on saying that the two of you are now heading to the last round.
"Like in the past two rounds, I will be going first."
You faced Haewon, and you knew that she wouldn't last long with what you had planned to do — especially with what you were planning to do. You scooted closer to her. Not long after, you found yourself sitting comfortably on her lap.
You cupped her face with one hand, trailing kisses along her cheek while whispering words of affirmation.
Haewon closed her eyes, relishing the moment. She slightly turned her head to the opposite side from where you were kissing, so that she can provide you more access to her cheek. She could feel that fleeting feeling in her chest as her heart fluttered.
That didn't last for long. She shot her eyes open and looked at you when you began to rub her shoulder invitingly with your other hand. You could see how her pupils dilated and notice how her breathing changed.
You stopped from planting kisses on her cheek and leveled your face with hers. You rested your forehead against hers.
"Come on, hon, I would love to feel your lips against mine. I mean, I need them on me right now." You maintained eye contact with her as you stopped from rubbing her shoulder and bit onto your lower lip.
You touched her lips with your fingers.
"At this point, I seriously don't mind losing. This is like a win for me already."
Haewon took a hold of your wrist to move your hand off her way and she pressed her lips against you. The kiss started off to be soft yet sensual. You intended to quickly pull away as you were recording. But then, both of you also got lost in the kiss quickly.
The once soft and sensual kiss became a feverish and steamy make out. By now, you had your arms around her neck, while she had her hands on your thighs. One of them was actually making its way underneath your shirt.
As much as you would love to feel her there, you knew that you had to stop her before you completely melt into her touch. You grabbed her wrist.
It baffled her. So, she tugged onto your lower lip as she pulled away from the kiss. Then, she looked up to you with her eyebrows furrowed.
With you still catching your breath, you reminded her about what concerned you by glancing towards the camera. She followed whatever you looked onto briefly.
"Oh, a camera." She smirked.
"I completely forgot about that, but either way; it is no biggie. After all, no one would know. You would be the one who would be editing your video, wouldn't you? But if the memory was the one that really bothers you, why don't we just pause or end the recording here for the meantime?"