Confident || Changbin

Together

"I love you, Changbin."

Changbin's eyes are possibly the biggest I've ever seen them. He looks at me with his mouth slightly open, bewildered.

"You did not just say that to me..." He says as his eyes dance over my face, not knowing where to land. My heart drops. Oh, no.

"Wha—why?" I stammer.

"Because I was going to say it first!" His lips curl into a grin and he scrunches his nose in the most adorable way.

"Really? Why didn't you?!" My voice teeters on defensive, not fully convinced he's being sincere.

He pulls his phone out of his pocket to find what he wants to show me. He opens his wallet app and shows me what looks like two tickets.

"I booked us a private reservation to the art museum. This weekend." He's still smiling but somehow his face falls the slightest bit and I can sense his disappointment. "I was trying to make it special!"

Suddenly I feel bad for taking his moment. "Binnie....."

He grabs my hands at once. "Don't even worry about it. We'll still go and have a great time."

"Okay." I say softly, realizing that I still haven't heard the words back.

"Sage." He's smiling again and he squeezes my hands gently. He looks at me with an expression that's warm enough to tell me that what he's about to say is the truth. "I love you too."

I realize that before this moment, I was only half alive and now the electricity of his words have resuscitated me. The nervousness I used to feel when looking into his dark eyes has been replaced with comfort and familiarity. This is my person. We belong to each other. I can see the blank canvas of our lives and I know that we can paint it however we want.

With an overwhelming sense of elation, I throw my arms around him and we spend the rest of the evening tangled up in each other.

* * *

The next day I'm in the salon with Heather and the members from Itzy, preparing for a photo shoot. There's the usual tension between Heather and I. The kind of tension where I know she doesn't like me, but I keep to myself just to get the job done. Luckily, there are only five girls in Itzy, so their looks don't usually take very long.

I have Yeji in my chair and we're making small talk about their upcoming shoot. I'm applying eyeshadow to her sharp, cat-like eyes when the door to the salon opens and JYP walks in. We all greet him with a bow and he seems to be in good spirits. Hopefully that means good news.

"Good morning, ladies." He speaks to the entire room, and then gets straight to the point. "Heather, Sage?"

Heather and I step away from the girls and walk closer to where he stands.

"I'll make this quick." He starts. "It's nothing serious, of course, but we do need to work quickly."

Heather and I glance at each other, for once sharing the same thought.

"Surely you both know about the mini fansign tour Stray Kids will be participating in next week?"

I nod, fully aware that it will be the first time since I moved here that Changbin and I will be apart for more than a couple of days.

"Well, the company has decided that we will be sending one of you two along with the group. We would rather have similar, cohesive looks done by one of our artists instead of outsourcing someone new from each country."

But which one of us gets to go?

JYP answers my thought. "I'd like for you two to discuss this between yourselves and then let me know which of you will be going on the trip. Let me know by this evening, so that we may start working on your registration and travel documents."