It was the night before Soonyoung and his members would fly to Vancouver for their concert. Tessa played with her tiger pendant as she and Soonyoung walked into her family’s theater room.
He led her to the middle of the back row.
“Your house feels like a palace.” Soonyoung observed. “It’s so huge! I feel like I’d get lost in here if I wandered far away from you for some reason.”
Tessa smiled at Soonyoung. “Then don’t wander far away from me.”
Soonyoung scooped her up into a bridal carry and kissed her on the lips. “I don’t plan to.”
“Listen to that glib tongue.”
“Baby, you don’t understand how much having you in my life right now makes me so happy. I feel so fulfilled. I used to just watch you go in and out of practice room 3A. And now…”
“Now, you’re in my house.”
“If I didn’t see that necklace you’re wearing around your neck, I’d feel like your whole birthday dinner was a dream.”
“It’s not a dream, baby.” Tessa caressed his cheek. “You and I are really together.”
“Saranghae, baby.” (Love you, baby.)
“Nado Saranghae.” (I love you, too.)
“I’m going to miss you these next few months.” Soonyoung sighed.
Tessa looked straight into his eyes. “Baby, we agreed that work comes first. And you get to do something that you love. Not just dancing and singing but meeting CARATS all over the world.”
Soonyoung sat down and cradled Tessa on his lap. “You’re right. I just wish I could see you every day.”
“You’re not trading in something you love for another thing that you love, baby. In this day and age, distance means nothing. We can call each other any time of the day or night. Before you know it, the tour is going to be over. By then, I’ll bet that’s one more thing you’d be saddened about.”
Soonyoung sighed. “You’re right, of course. Then when the tour is over, I’d wonder when the next one comes along.”
Tessa chuckled. “You were born for the stage, baby. When you perform, it’s like the entire universe takes notice.”
“Does it really? You never noticed me before and I performed for you even from debut.” Soonyoung teased.
Tessa punched him on the arm, playfully. “I’m sorry, baby. Think of me as being locked in an insane asylum all those years. In my defense, though, I was never open to relationships in the past. My brothers were like twin towers just hiding me away from the world.”
“I know that is accurate. They would talk to me about seeing some random guy checking you out and well… let’s just say that it scared me into submission all those years.”
“Can I ask you a question, baby?”
Soonyoung nodded.
“Did you approach my brothers first before asking me?”
“For permission to court you? Yes! Oh, heck yes!” The performance leader exclaimed. “I did. It just felt like the right thing to do, you know?”
Tessa smiled. “How can I not fall in love with a man with manners?”
“You really feel that way, baby?”
“I do. You’ve been nothing but attentive to my needs all this time. Not just food, drink and stuff like that but the emotional needs as well. And that to me is more important.”
“You’re the only one for me, baby. I promise you that. I’ll spend every waking moment just trying to make you happy.
They stared into each other’s eyes and smiled shyly at such bold declarations this early on in the relationship.
However, Tessa understood that for Soonyoung, it was like the fulfillment of a dream. She felt slightly pressured by that thought but quickly pushed it out of her mind.
There was no room for doubt.
Soonyoung loved her.
Despite all those years waiting for her, he had not become obsessive. Instead, he patiently hoped for an opportunity to get to know the real her first before anything else. In her books, he did everything right.
Besides, in the off chance that she was blinded by whatever emotion she may have felt, her family loved him as well and they were pretty good judges of character.
To her, being with Soonyoung was exactly where she should be.
Suddenly, Pitbull’s Go Girl blasted through the silence. It seemed to come from Soonyoung.
“Whoops.” He quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. “It’s Mingyu.”
“Go ahead, baby. It might be important.” Tessa told him as she stood up and got off his lap. “I’ll go choose a movie for us to watch.”
Soonyoung nodded. “Yeoboseyo, Gyu?” (Hello, Gyu?)
Tessa spaced out their conversation and went through the list of movies that they could watch tonight. She would usually go with period dramas or with historical genres. But she wasn’t sure if that was something Soonyoung enjoyed. She thought about dance movies. Wouldn’t that be too cliché, though?
She realized that they had not had a conversation about his movie preferences yet. Maybe they should go with any of the Jurassic movies. He could get behind some of those.
“Baby?” Soonyoung appeared behind Tessa.
“Everything alright?” Tessa turned to look at him.
“I have to go back to the dorm. Our flight to Vancouver was pushed a few hours ahead.”
“Of course, baby. You need your rest. Can’t have a tired tiger from the get-go.”
“Thanks for being so understanding.”
Tessa smiled. “Not for anything, baby? But you waited long enough. I just want you to feel like you waited for the right person.”
It was Soonyoung’s turn to smile. “I don’t trust myself to say anything in response to that except that you are absolutely worth it. And don’t you doubt it for a second.”
Tessa scrunched her nose. “Did you bring anything with you? I don’t want you being in Vancouver then suddenly remember that some random Tiger plushie fell through the cracks in the theater room.”
Soonyoung had a wild look in his eye. “That’s not a bad suggestion. Would it make you fly all the way to Vancouver to return it to me?”
Tessa laughed. “Baby, don’t tempt me.”
“I do want to, actually.”
“We don’t control the foreign paparazzi and press, Kwon Soonyoung. Let’s not be the first SEVENTEEN couple to be exposed.”
“You’re assuming the other members are in a relationship.” Soonyoung pointed out.
“Are they not?”
“Nope.”
“So…”
“So, it’s not that we'd be the first SEVENTEEN couple to be exposed. It’s more like, we are the only SEVENTEEN couple that CAN get exposed. At least for now.”
“Do the other members not date?”
“They talk to women and stuff but we always wonder if they are attracted to the persona or the person, you know?”
“Gotcha.”
Pitbull’s Go Girl played again. “That’s probably Gyu. He should be outside.”
