I listened to by on repeat when I was editing this chapter. I'm going to miss them so much when Hakyeon enlists ;_;

♣ ♣ ♣

The first thing I sense when I feel myself waking up is the smile on my lips as the memories of last night starts playing in my head like a lovely melody. My heart continues to flutter as I feel a warm body next to mine, embracing me and their breath tickling the skin on my neck. I fight the urge to squeal to myself, which is weird because we've woken up like this almost every night. In other words; I should be used to these morning cuddles with Tae at this point -- but this felt for some reason like the first time I ever woke up in his arms. But deciding to quickly ignore my brain for now, I sigh softly as I cuddle closer into him, allowing my hand to find his and hold it gently.

After a while, I can feel his hand twitching slightly in mine, meaning that he too is slowly starting to wake up. Eventually, his grip around me tightens, and soon after I feel his lips leaving soft kisses on my shoulder.

"Good morning, girlfriend," he mumbles softly against my skin with an utterly lovely, raspy morning voice.

Good lord. I can definitely get used to hearing that every morning.

Resisting the urge to squeal in happiness, with great difficulty, I allow my smile to widen as I chuckle lightly. "Good morning, boyfriend," I murmur, feeling my heart beating excitedly against my chest out of joy. He squeezes me gently, burying his face into my neck in the most lovable way.

"Damn," he sighs lightly. "I should've asked you to be my girlfriend a long time ago if I had known how good it feels to hear you say that."

I chuckle at that. "You like it when I call you boyfriend?"

"Mhmm," he murmurs with yet another sigh. "I really, really like it."

"You sure took your time with that," I say sarcastically, making him whine cutely.

"I'm sorry, I really am," he breathes, lacing his fingers between mine before squeezing my hand gently. "You have no idea how scared I was last night. I seriously thought I lost you.."

"It was so hard for me to do that. But I was actually surprised that you refused to let me leave."

"For one second I was going to. But you saw how that went," he says, chuckling against my neck. "I realized that I will never find anyone like you, and I'd be the idiot of the century if I let you go without telling you how I feel. I'm still an idiot for not telling you sooner.."

"I'm glad you did," I say truthfully, turning around to face him. His eyes glows up in an instant, sparkling with affection as they look into mine. "But you should've told me sooner, though."

He kisses my lips at that, just a light, quick kiss before he retracts to look at me with innocent eyes.

"I'm sorry," he whispers, feeling his arms pulling me into his chest in a tight embrace. I smile to myself, snaking my arms around his back to hug him, listening to each soothing beat of his heart.

And we just hug each other like this for a while in silence, enjoying each other's warmth.

A thought lingers in my mind meanwhile, wondering how long he's had these feelings for me. The curiosity got the better of me, so I eventually break the silence by asking, "When did you realize that you liked me?"

He chuckles before letting out a thoughtful sigh. "I'm actually not sure. But you caught my interest pretty quickly. All I knew back then was that I wanted you to myself for some reason. I hated when you talked to the other guys," he says, laughing a bit at himself. "I realized though that I was in love with you that time I was sick and you took care of me."

"Really? Why then?"

"When I woke up with you in my arms, that's when I knew. I don't know how to explain it, I just felt it," he says with an utterly gentle voice. He then draws his body away from me slightly, eyes finding mine before he grins amusingly. "What about you then?"

"I actually hated you at first, if you didn't notice," I laugh, shaking my head at the memories. "I thought you were the biggest douche I've ever met."

"Seriously?" he whines. "What made you think that?"

"Well first, you were rude to me when I asked you about the way to the classroom. Then Areum told me you were the number one fuckboy in the school so my opinion of you got even lower. And you only proved it that time at detention, so I promised myself to stay away from you. But you were damn impossible to stay away from. You were everywhere I went!"

He laughs before saying, "You were actually interesting just because you didn't throw yourself at me. It was fun chasing you. I wanted to see how long it would take until I could make you give in. I never thought I would actually end up falling for you instead."

I smile at that. "Remember that time when we got lost in the forest?" When he nods, I continue, "I think I fell for you after that. I hated myself so much," I admit with a chuckle.

"I was that bad, huh?"

"What was I supposed to think when I had only known you for like two weeks at that time? But you proved to me that you weren't like that." I pause for a moment to give him an assuring smile, which makes his tense features relax. "You turned out to be a softie," I tease with a grin.

"Only for you, though," he insists after rolling his eyes. But then a genuine smile tugs on his lips, his hand searching for mine, tracing lines over my palm with the tip of his index finger when he finds it. "I'm glad you changed your mind about me. I can't deny that I was fucked up, and being a total dickhead once. There was just something with you that I..." he begins but trails off, remaining silent as he searches for the right words to say. "You made me want to change who I was. I didn't care about anything before. But then you came along... And suddenly, all I wanted was to make you happy."

And suddenly I'm feeling like crying out of happiness yet again.

I smile widely, my heart jumping in joy and stomach tingling with ecstatic butterflies.

"There it is," he almost whispers, watching me with adoration glistening in his eyes. "That's the smile I fell in love with."

I squeal to myself as I hide my face behind my hands in embarrassment. "Tae I'm not used to hearing you say those things! It feels like you're just playing right now."

"But I'm not!" he whines, placing his hands over mine to force me to reveal my glossy eyes. "I told you that you mean everything to me. And I meant every word I said last night."

I smile warmly as I look into his eyes, feeling every cell in my body buzzing with affection thinking about his small confessions this morning. So he did hate seeing me talking to the other guys? Jimin's observations were correct, obviously.

Thank you, Jimin.

"You should thank Jimin," I tell him. Confusion flashes across his eyes at my sudden statement, making his eyebrows furrow.

"Should I thank him for trying to steal you from me?" he asks sarcastically, making me roll my eyes at him.

"Jimin never liked me like that. He made you think that he liked me so you would get jealous."

"Seriously? Why would he do that?"

"Because you wouldn't had realized that you liked me otherwise. Tell me, would you ever tell me everything you said last night if Jimin hadn't acted up like he did?" I ask him, watching him warily.

"I would! ... some day," he says, sighing before plopping down with his back flat on the bed. "But he really stomped on my nerves. I can't believe that little shit did it on purpose."

I lay on my side, watching him as I let my fingers trail random patterns on his chest.

"Were you really that jealous?" I wonder, genuinely curious to hear his side of this story. I know Jimin's told me a lot of times he's noticed Tae's jealousy, only I'm the one that apparently never noticed.

"Are you kidding me? I wanted to rip Jimin's head off that time we met in that restaurant," he mutters, voice dark and dripping with irritation. I throw my head back as I laugh loudly at the memories.

"That time Jimin and I pretended to date? You actually believed us?" I exclaim in awe, watching him with wide eyes. "Wait, so that's why you were so rude to me when we texted?"

"To my defense, it was the first time I ever felt that jealous. He crossed the line when he hugged you. And calling you babe was uncalled for."

"You're adorable," I coo while reaching over to pinch his cheek. "I still can't believe you took my number from Jimin's phone. You could've just asked for it yourself, you know."

"I was so pissed that he got your number before I did," he admits, voice muffled since his head is now buried in my neck in shame. "I legit thought that he had a thing for you, and I was scared that you'd end up falling for him instead." His arms snake around my waist after that, pulling me into him in a tight hug. "I'm glad you put up with me even though I acted like a dick sometimes."

I can't help but smile at his cuteness, feeling sorry for him even though he didn't have any reason to be self conscious. But at least he's aware of his weird mood-swings.

"At one point, I tried to convince myself that I was interested in Jimin. But he never made my heart race like you do," I confess gently. His head suddenly perks up, eyebrows curled up in a worried manner.

"Really? You liked Jimin?" he whines, betrayal written all over his features. I laugh at how utterly adorable he is, how he doesn't hide his vulnerability.

"Not even nearly as much as I liked you back then," I assure him -- and that's the truth. "I don't know what it was with you, but my heart refused to give up on you."

"Well, you stole mine so it's only fair."

I chuckle at that, resisting the urge to roll my eyes at his cheesy comment. Then I let out a sigh, shaking my head slightly before saying, "I can't believe how childish we both were. We refused to believe that we fell for each other."

Tae chuckles beside me as he stretches his hand out towards me, lacing his fingers with mine. "I'm happy we accepted it in the end. You know that bracelet I gave you the night of the fireworks? That was a subtle way for me to tell you that I wanted to be with you. I thought you would figure it out eventually, but I guess I wasn't clear enough."

"Really?" I breathe in surprise, then laughing at myself. Of course he did, why didn't I realize that then? "I just thought you wanted me to fall for you even more. I was just too dumb to get that you had genuine feelings for me."

"I'll be more straightforward from now on," he murmurs, placing a soft, lingering kiss on my cheek. "It feels good to hear you say that you liked me all this time, too."

We embrace each other after that, his lips leaving featherly kisses over my forehead, down to my cheek. Meanwhile, I allow my eyelids to close, my hand caressing his back as I enjoy this very moment. After everything we've been through to get here, I can look back and be thankful for it. Our bond feels so strong just because we've struggled to open up and face our doubts.

I'm finally at peace with myself. I feel deep within me that I did the right choice.

"Thank you," I almost whisper after a moment of comfortable silence. "Thank you for telling me about your mom. I know it must be hard for you to open up about it."

I feel his arms tense at that, slightly pulling me closer into his chest in the process. No words leave his lips, but I didn't expect him to say anything, anyway. Even though he's mute, I can somehow feel that he's thankful.

"How about some breakfast?" I suggest energetically, feeling that I was ready to start this day and treat him to a delicious first breakfast as an official couple -- at last.

His mood changes immediately, face glowing up as he smiles brightly towards me. And that smile is all it takes for my nerves to dance in affection.

"I have to shower first though."

"Well, you can do that while I prepare breakfast," I say. Though, instead of getting up, he smirks unexpectedly at me -- and a playful smirk at that.

"I've got a better idea.."

And out of nowhere, he throws the duvet off causing cold air to hit my bare skin. My hands launch to my private places to hide them, making Taehyung giggle like a frickin' immature teenager.

"Tae!" I exclaim, only to squeal in surprise as I feel my body being hauled up from the bed. "What are you doing?!"

"How about a round two?" he suggests with a mischievous smirk. I look at him weirdly, only to realize a split second after what he meant with that.

He didn't wait for my answer, though, since he already decided to carry me bridal-style out of the room and into the bathroom with him.

♣

I smile at the screen, but my heart is picking up its pace as I press on Areum's contact and open the chat.

My phone slides back into my pocket while I let out a heavy sigh, feeling my nerves getting worked up as I step out of the car and glance upon the unfamiliar surroundings.

Café Rose and Mrs. Choi -- that's all I have after Googling like a legit stalker and searching until page 20 for anything related to women with their last name 'Kim'. And just before I decided to give up, I stumbled upon a five year old article about a café owned by a lady named Mrs. Choi. Apparently, the café had received major praise for their cupcakes from their locals and, thus the paper had decided to interview the owner and the mastermind pastry chef behind the "magic cupcakes" as quoted by one of their loyal customers. However, during the interview Mrs. Choi stated that the pastry chef Mrs. Kim wished to not be interviewed, but informed them that she was indeed honored that so many enjoyed her creations.

I instantly knew that it had to be her. Why wouldn't someone want to be in the news when someone praises their skill unless they wouldn't want to be found? Which would be quite ironic if it now appears to be her if I now even manage to find her. I know Tae said that she had great cooking skills, but since he always crave something muffin-related; I'm sure that she used to bake for them as well.

It's a stretch. A very, very big stretch -- but that's all I could find.

And here I am at last.

However, when I arrive to the address where the café supposedly should be located at, I'm not met with the same facade as the one I saw on the picture from the interview. I triple-check the address on Google maps, but it doesn't show that I'm on the wrong street. Glancing on the sign, it reads 'Café Violet'.

My stomach sinks just a little as I get a bad feeling about this. Though, I don't lose hope just yet. Perhaps they just changed names and had really bad fantasy?

I take a deep, calming breath. Then I finally push open the door.

The lovely scent of freshly baked bread and confectioner's sugar flows through my nose, tingling my senses as I inhale deeply once more to savor this moment. Well, it smells really good so I guess I can't be that lost.

"Welcome! How may I help you?" Asks a petite female behind the endless rows of pastries and other delicious-looking creations.

"Hello, actually I wanted to ask if this is the café that are known for their cupcakes," I ask with a smile.

"Oh, you're talking about Mrs. Choi? I'm sorry but she passed away last year.. The current owner bought it, but none of the previous employees work here anymore."

My heart sinks heavily, the little hope I had completely blown away. As my shoulders slump, I resist the urge to curse to myself. Despite feeling that I have let Tae down, I try to keep my head high and not give up just yet. She might work somewhere else in this town.

"Oh, I'm really sorry to hear that. Is there any chance that you know where Mrs. Kim is?"

"I'm sorry, we're not allowed to share such information," she replies with a concerned frown.

"I understand, it's okay. I'm sorry for disturbing," I excuse with a short bow.

"Have a nice day, miss," she chirps with a smile. I return the smile before exiting the café with a slight pout on my lips.

Don't lose hope yet. There are still 19 cafés to inspect in this city, she must be here somewhere.

With a deep breath and newfound determination, I head to the next café on my list and commence my long search for Mrs. Kim.

♣

"N-no I'm sorry, I don't know," says the young girl behind the counter with a slight stutter.