✓ LOVE TRIAL | HEESEUNG

47 - Marry You Twice

Heeseung's POV

Y/N is back home. After the sleepless nights with her by my side, she's finally back home, where she belongs. It feels as though the world had regained its vibrant colors, and the weight of my worries lifted from my weary shoulders.

Holding her in my arms, I can feel the gentle rise and fall of her breath, the steady rhythm that assures me she is indeed real and not a figment of my imagination. The scent of her hair, the familiar touch of her hand on my cheek, it all makes me feel as if all the pieces of my scattered world had finally found their rightful place. And I'm complete.

We spent the whole morning making love. I'd call it fucking but it'd sound crude and devoid of everything we felt in those intimate moments. I kissed her waist and traced my fingertips along the curve of her spine, savoring the goosebumps that appeared in response to my touch. I made sure she knew how devoted I was to her, how her presence in my life had turned me into a better version of myself, how deeply I cared for her, and how I would do anything to protect and cherish her.

She stirs in my arms and I close my eyes, pretending to still be asleep. I feel her fingers gently trace circles on my chest as she whispers, "I know you're awake."

With a playful smile, I finally surrender and open my eyes, meeting her gaze as she looks at me with eyes full of affection. "Can't you ever let me have a moment of rest?"

She leans in, her lips brushing against mine in a soft, lingering kiss. "Rest can wait. I missed you."

"You're going to make me fall in love with you all over again," I whisper, closing my eyes as I smile. I'm happy, knowing that she's safe and sound in my arms. "I missed you too." Kissing her forehead, she chuckles and holds my fingers, interlacing them with hers.

"You met him, right?" I can tell from her voice that she's hesitant, and I know very well who she's talking about. I wonder how she's feeling about her father suddenly appearing in her life, but from the fact that she doesn't call him by his title, I can tell that she doesn't accept him.

"Yes, I met him," I reply softly, giving her the space to continue the conversation at her own pace.

She exhales softly, her fingers tracing patterns on the back of my hand. "It's complicated, you know?" I can only imagine her pain. After all these years of living with the knowledge that her father died before she was even born, she'd long accepted that reality. Having him walk into her life so abruptly must be overwhelming. "I don't think I want to meet him."

I bring her closer, wrapping my arms around her protectively. "You don't have to do anything you're not ready for. If you don't want to meet him, I'll make sure he never gets the chance to catch a glimpse of you."

She buries her face in the crook of my neck and whispers, her voice muffled against my skin. "What if he insists on meeting me? What if he sends someone else to be my friend?" I hear her let out a mock gasp but I know that her concerns are genuine and valid.

"I don't think he'll do anything." I press a kiss to her forehead before she looks up and raises her eyebrow. "I just gave him a little warning, you know. He needs to understand that you have a husband that will do whatever it takes to protect you." She just looks at me for a moment, her gaze softening and I gently stroke her cheek. It's in these quiet moments, where words are unnecessary, that our love speaks its loudest.

"I'm afraid that if I look like him, I'll start to see glimpses of him in myself. I'm afraid he has the same eyes, the same nose, the same smile... I'll start hating myself if I ever meet him. I don't want to be reminded of a person who wasn't there for me."

I hold her tightly, my heart aching for the pain she carries. "I promise he's nothing like you. You're beautiful, inside and out, and everything about you is just irreplaceable. He doesn't have your beautiful brown eyes, your gorgeous nose, or your bright smile. He's not worthy of even being compared to you."

"What did I do to deserve someone like you?" Y/N whispers and I gently brush a strand of hair away from her face. How do I tell her that I'm the one who feels undeserving of her? That I'm grateful every day to have someone as amazing as her in my life?

"You didn't have to do anything. You being you is enough, and that's everything to me." I kiss her forehead again and intertwine our fingers, the little void inside my heart filling with warmth as I hold her hand. "I choose you because I love you, unconditionally. Because you bring joy and happiness into my life in ways I never thought possible. You're the most incredible person I have ever known."

"I love you." She kisses me, and I melt in the sweetness of her love. "And I'm really sorry about what I said the other day. Your eyes don't scare me, they're the most mesmerizing pair of eyes I've ever seen. I was just very mad and I said things out of frustration that I didn't mean."

"I didn't really take those words to heart. But what really hurt me was the fact that you needed to take off your ring. It broke my heart to know that you felt the need to remove something that symbolizes our commitment. It made me realize how deeply hurt you were at that moment, and I never want to be the cause of such pain for you."

Y/N looks at me for a moment before she pulls away and stands up, reaching for her bag. My heart skips a beat, worried that I might have said something wrong. But she takes out a small velvet box and returns to sit beside me, placing it in my hands. It's the same box I gave her and when I open it, there's the ring that had once graced her finger. "I'm sorry, I should have never taken off this ring. It's beautiful and I love it, I just didn't feel like wearing it when I was angry and hurt. But now, I want you to place it back on my finger, where it belongs."

I take the ring from the box and take her hand in mine. "Baek Y/N, would you accept this ring and marry me for the second time?" I smile when she chuckles, surprised yet delighted by my unexpected question.

"Yes, a thousand times yes." She nods and I pause, faking a moment of hesitation.

"You just missed the chance to tell me that you like shiny things but you'd marry me with paper rings. I can't believe you." Y/N bursts into laughter as she hits my arm, something that she always does when she finds something amusing. I know she'd marry me with a paper ring or even no ring at all, so I gently slip the ring back onto her fingers. It fits perfectly like it was always meant to be there. Like it always will be.

"Now I'm yours again." She says, her eyes sparkling with love. "And you're mine."

I bring her hand to my lips, pressing a gentle kiss on her knuckles. "I've always been yours, Y/N."