"Do you need any more help with anything?", Jaehyun asked Mark. We'd been out for most of the afternoon grilling burgers for our "celebration barbecue" tonight, since we beat my dad and his allies.

"Nah", Mark replied, "I can finish up the grilling. You can do whatever you were planning to do with Hyuna"

"What were we gonna do, anyway?", I asked Jaehyun as I laced my fingers in his.

"I was just thinking to go on a walk or something", he said as we turned around and walked out of the backyard.

"Ok", I smiled. The emotions I was feeling at that moment felt so great, but so alien to me. I felt happy and there were no strings attached.

I started to swing Jaehyun's arm back and forth, and even skip a little.

"Well you look happy", Jaehyun smirked.

"That's 'cause I am", I said, "You should be, too, sir"

He looked back in front of him with a smile on his face, "I'm just as happy as you are"

"Good", I let go of his and and put my arm around him. He put his arm around me, too.

"This is nice isn't it?", I asked, "We're actually able to take a walk without worrying about someone killing us"

"Yeah", he took a deep breath, "Its not something I'm used to...but its nice, you're right"

"And all we had to do was get rid of dad...", I sighed.

Jaehyun stopped and looked at me.

I looked back at him, "What happened to my dad, anyway?", I asked.

"He's not dead or anything", Jaehyun said, "Yuta ended up running into him when we were there, so it sounds like he's in jail for a few years now"

"I guess that's not so bad", I started walking again and held Jaehyun's hand, "What about your dad?"

Jaehyun's face lost some expression, "I don't think he made it...", he said, "It sounds like Felix had to shoot him when he saw him in the building"

"Oh...", I looked at the ground. I didn't know how to react; I never knew if Jaehyun cared about his dad or not, because he never talked about it.

"You know", Jaehyun said a little quietly, "I really did love my dad. He was one of the main reasons why I didn't join NCT right away...But there's always a time in our lives where we have to leave what we think we love"

"Yeah...", I looked around me at the blue sky and the flowers, "Look where we are now..."

Jaehyun nodded. He ended up stopping to pick a flower from a plant that was next to the sidewalk.

"Why'd you do that?", I asked as I watched him stand up with the flower in his hand.

He just smirked and put it in my hair. "It makes you look cute", he laughed.

"Oh, well in that case", I picked a flower, "I'll put this in your hair, 'cause it makes you 'look cute'"

We stared at each other for a couple seconds and bursted out laughing.

"You dork", he held my hand again.

I put my head on his shoulder, "I really hope this doesn't end up changing"

"Well, everything's basically up to you now"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean", he sighed, "That you came to us in the beginning to hide from your dad, and now that your dad's not here, then your life is up to you now"

"Huh", I shrugged, "Well, do you think I'd just leave you guys after all that?"

"I dunno", he said, "You always wanted to be alone whenever we played together as kids, so I didn't know if you were still like that"

"Well, I personally wanna stay with you guys, but now that all our missions are technically over...There's no real reason for you guys to still be friends with me"

"Why would you say that?", he asked.

"Because", I said, "There's no way for us to set our friendship in stone"

"Well", Jaehyun looked at me, "There might be a way"

"Huh?"

He slid his hand in his pocket and pulled out a box.

He got down on one knee.

I cupped my hands over my mouth.

"HANSOL!", I heard Donghyuck yell behind me, "LOOK AT THIS!"

"Oi, Hyuck!", Felix walked out of the backyard, "What are you yellin' at-OH MY GOSH"

Jaehyun forced himself not to laugh as he opened the box.

"Look, you're my best friend", he smiled, "And I'd like it to be like that forever"

I nodded and held back my tears.

"So", he looked up at me, "Bu Hyuna, will you marry me?"

"Y-Yes", I held out my hand as he slipped the ring onto my small finger

"OH, NOW LOOK WHAT YOU DID", Donghyuck shouted, "JAEHYUN-HYUNG'S ALL SOFT NOW!"

I smiled and gave Jaehyun a big hug.

"I didn't think you'd-", I sniffled.

"-But I did", he picked me up and swung me around.

For the whole summer before this, I went through crazy experiences that I couldn't even imagine. I learned to trust people I didn't want to trust, and I learned to let go of the people I thought I needed. There was a time where it hurt a lot...but I still got my happily ever after.

"Love you, Jae", I smiled.

"Love you, too"