Continuation of Seulki and Hyungwon's talk
"I've missed you to, you know."
Seulki stared at Hyungwon with wide eyes. She was happy that he missed her too. Happy because maybe this meant there was still a chance. A chance for her to prove that she could be a better girlfriend and friend. A chance for them to work this out and start over.
"How have you been?" She asked quietly and Hyungwon shrugged. "The same, I think. Not really okay but not bad either. Just sort of going through the motions." She hummed, understanding what he meant.
"Is there still a chance?" She blurted out and Hyungwon smiled, leaning forward to take her hand in his. "There was never not a chance, love," he said gently. "I'm willing to go through this with you. But you have to be willing to."
Seulki nodded, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. "I know it's not going to be easy, like ever," she said, "We're idols and famous and it's not going to be like a normal relationship. But I'm willing to make it work, however we can. And be there more. Be more open."
"That's all I ask," he said, rubbing his thumb pad over her knuckles. "Starting over?" She asked, meeting his gaze and he nodded with a fond smile. "Starting over. Like we just met yesterday or something." She laughed at that and shook her head.
"I don't know if I could pretend that much. But if taking things slow is what you need, we can do that. I can do that." Hyungwon smiled again at her. "It's not just me though. There's two of us. I need to know what you want also."
She thought about it for a moment before answering. "I want to take things at a pace we both agree with. I also want us to move in together. Not right now," she quickly held her hands up. "But eventually. When we're both ready. When we're not so busy so that it will feel more like a home rather than just some place we sleep together."
Hyungwon nodded. "What about going public?" Seulki's breath hitched and she chewed the inside of her cheek. "It doesn't have to be right now," Hyungwon assured her. "But is that something you would want? Eventually?" She didn't hesitate to nod her head.
"Yes. I don't want us to be a secret. But I want you to be comfortable with that to. I think that's the biggest step besides moving in together or getting married," she teased and Hyungwon laughed. "I agree. But we already said this wasn't going to be a completely normal relationship." She smiled and nodded her head. "Right. Normal is boring anyways."
"Can you promise me one thing?" He asked and she nodded. "When things are going bad, whether it be with yourself, with us, with work, anything, talk to me? Let me be a pillar you can lean on. And of course, I will do my best to have you as my pillar of support too. But I really think that was where a lot of what we had fell apart. We were too independent."
Considering his words, Seulki nodded. She agreed with him. While Hyungwon was much more open than she ever was or has been, there were times where she knew she was hiding how stressed or tired he was about something from her. She would do it too and she knew he saw it, but neither of them had said anything.
"Our communication needs to be better," she stated and he nodded. "With each other and with ourselves. No idol persona when it's just us or when it's us talking. Just two normal people venting about their day or something." She nodded and honestly, she felt relived.
She wasn't sure why she always felt the need to play off as if everything was fine, even when she wasn't surrounded by cameras. It was just how she had always been and by the time she would notice she was doing it, it was usually to late. Either she was mid-breakdown or the other person had gotten tired of it and moved on. She wasn't going to let that happen anymore.
"I can do that. But if you notice that I'm holding back or if you feel like I am, call me out on it, yeah? Because sometimes I really just don't even notice I do it. It's like second nature." Hyungwon chuckled and ruffled her hair, kissing her forehead. "Of course. I'll call you out on everything."
She playfully rolled her eyes and pecked his lips. "C'mere," he said, leaning back and opening his arms. She wasted no time crawling into his lap and resting her back against his chest as his arms came around her and chin resting on her head. "I was going to say let's go get dinner, but I'm pretty sleepy," Hyungwon yawned. She chuckled, patting his arm. "You're always sleepy."
"Take a nap and we can get late night snacks later on." Hyungwon hummed and seemed happy by that idea. It didn't take long for her to hear soft snores coming from him and she closed her eyes, smile still wide on her face. This was her chance. The chance she had been hoping for.
She wasn't going to let it go to waste.
