LO$ER=LO♡ER

Chapter 25

Back home, Amara sat on her couch in silence. She didn't even have the TV on. No music. Just pure silence. She was thinking about earlier, when she was talking to Jake.

Why did her heart rate speed up slightly? That hasn't happened in a while. Not for a long time. In the full year that she's known them, that's only ever occurred once.

Why did it happen today? Maybe it was nothing. Maybe it was just because she'd been crying and she was worked up a little. It was all of the stress she's been dealing with this past month. Desperate to convince herself of it being that and nothing else, she made herself believe it was just from the emotional stress she's going through.

A soft sigh left Amara's lips as she closed her eyes. She put her hand on her stomach, opening her eyes again. Now that she was at home and thinking clearly, she was feeling guilt from having thought about getting rid of it.

She felt a small sting of pain in her heart from it. She frowned and sighed again. She gently pressed her hand against her stomach.

"I'm sorry for thinking about doing that. I'm just under so much stress. What with me not even knowing who your daddy is, and with him leaving me to be alone," she said softly.

She lowered her eyes to her stomach. "I'm also really scared. What if I'm not a good mommy to you? What if I mess up? I have no idea what I'm doing," she mumbled, frowning some more.

After a moment passed, she took a deep breath and slowly let it out. The sound of her phone vibrating, brought her out of her thoughts. She reached over and picked it up, seeing she had a call.

It was Heeseung. His name appearing on her screen, she felt her heart beat quicken again. Like it did earlier with Jake. First him, now Heeseung. What was going on? It briefly made her feel dizzy. She shook it away and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Heeseung's voice filtered out from the phone.

"I'm a bit better, now. Thank you," Amara admitted,

"Is it alright if I come over? I got something for you," he said, a smile clear in his voice.

"I mean, sure. I don't see why not. What is it?" she wondered curiously.

"Now, now. I can't tell you that. It would ruin the surprise! I'll be over in 5 minutes!" Heeseung stated while laughing.

"What? Surprise? What are you--!"

The sound of the dial tone surprised her. She took her phone away from her ear, shocked. That was odd. Why couldn't he tell her what it was? She sighed and smiled, shaking her head. She hoped it wasn't anything expensive. She didn't like it when they spent a ton of money on her.

After a few minutes, there was knocking on her front door. Amara got up and opened the door, seeing the familiar figure of Heeseung outside. He gave her that beautiful smile of his. There it was again, her heart sped up. She smiled at him and closed the door once he'd come inside. She noticed the bag he was holding in his hand. She tried to sneakily look inside it.

"Yah, no peeking! What's the matter with you?" Heeseung said, quickly pulling the bag away from her sights.

Amara looked up at him and pouted.

"You're no fun. What is it?" she asked, trying to grab it.

Since he was much taller than her, all he had to do was hold it up higher in the air. She reached up and jumped up, trying to grab it. But, she failed every time. She was too short to reach that high. After her failed tries, she gave up and huffed out. She glared at him and walked into the living room.

Heeseung laughed softly and followed her, "Don't be so pouty. As much as I think it's cute, it isn't necessary. Not in this situation," he tells her, walking past her.

She stopped, surprised by his words. He thought her pouting was cute? He looked over his shoulder at her and gave her that side smirk of his. Amara watched as he put the bag on the coffee table.

"I guess you can open it," Heeseung shrugged as he sat on the couch.

When he said this, Amara smiled again. She ran over and picked it up. She opened it and reached in, taking out what had been inside. When she pulled it out, her smile faded. She stared at it, her happiness replaced with shock and confusion. It was a teddy bear, although that's not what surprised her.

It was the little box and note taped to the top. She looked at Heeseung, her confusion clear on her face.

"What is this?" she asked,

"Open it and you'll see. Read the note first," he said, smiling.

She put the bag on the floor and gently pulled the box off the teddy bear's paws. She peeled off the note and looked at Heeseung again. He gave her an encouraging nod. She hesitated a moment, before unfolding the paper and looking down at it.

        Amara,
           We're not sure how sudden this may be for you, as it was very sudden for us. You came into our lives at a time where we'd just debuted and we were nervous. You were there for our debut stage and through our first album promotions. You've been by our side every single day since then. The only times you weren't, is when you began dating TXT. That's when those days of you being with us, stopped. It happened so abruptly, that we were all surprised how hard it affected us. It hit all of us pretty differently, but affected us all the same. We admit that we all felt jealous when you began hanging out with them, and stopped being around us. We'd gotten so spoiled off of you being ours, that we weren't sure how to handle your lack of presence.
           We don't want you to feel as though we're pressuring you into anything you're not ready for. That's the last thing we'd want. We all know you're struggling right now. But, we're here for you. You were there for us when we needed it. Now, it's our turn to return the favor to you. This is our thank you for being such a positive influence to us. We hope that you will at least take time to think about it.
           Take all the time you need, don't rush yourself. Tell us when you're ready and when you know your answer.
            Enhypen.

Amara finished reading the note, still a bit confused. She looked to Heeseung, frowning in confusion.

"Open the box. You'll understand when you see," he tells her, giving her a soft smile.

She put the note on the table and looked down at the box. She gently pulled the lid off and looked inside. It wasn't until she'd opened it, that she did understand. Like he said.

Resting inside was a ring. It was silver band, with a simple yet delicate design. It was one ring, but it looked like it was two rings overlapping each other in a small crossover. The moment she saw it, her chest tightened. A lump rose in her throat. She sucked in a sharp breath. It didn't take a genius to figure out what it was.

The feeling of a presence next to her, made her look away from the ring. Amaea looked up, seeing Heeseung beside her. He took one of her hands in his, turning it over so she could see his hand. When she looked down, she saw a similar ring on his finger.

"You don't need to answer us right away. We want you to be happy, not stressed. So, don't feel like you need to rush into this," he tells her softly.

"Heeseung, I-"

"If you're worried about us not being sure how we feel, don't be. We've... Felt like this for a long time. It took us several months to figure it out, but we know," Heeseung spoke, his voice soft.

"We...?" Amara whispered, looking at him.

Heeseung looked down at her, putting his free hand on her face. He gently rubbed her cheek with his thumb.

"We love you. All of us do."