Why me? >Woosan<

epilogue 🔞

"Where are we going, San?" I asked, trying to peek around him as we walked, our hands laced together. The evening sun stretched long shadows across the pavement.

"It's a secret," he said with a mischievous smile. This was our seventh real date, no hiding, no running, and it was his turn to plan it.

"Come on. Tell me." I gave him my best pout.

"Nope." He popped the "p" and swung our arms playfully between us.

"You're no fun."

"But you love me anyway."

"Yes, I do," I said, pretending to sound irritated but already grinning.

I stopped in my tracks when I realized where he'd led me. The bold letters above the door read TATTOO STUDIO.

"You've always talked about how you wanted a tattoo," he said, eyes sparkling. "So... here we are."

"Are you serious?" My mouth fell open.

"Yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I thought we could do it together."

"Like... a couple tattoo?" I asked.

"If you want to," he said quickly. "We don't have to if..."

"San, this is awesome! Let's do it!" I almost shouted, bouncing on my toes.

His whole face softened with relief before he took my hand and led me inside.

Three and a half hours later we walked back out into the cool night air, the smell of ink and antiseptic still clinging to our skin.
On my thigh: Amicus ad aras, the same words now etched on his.

"I love this," I said, leaning up to kiss him. "You can't get rid of me now."

"I wasn't planning to," he murmured against my lips.

We wandered to the park afterward, the city glowing around us, and ended up at the little café that had become our place. Somehow we'd managed to keep it off the radar, the staff respectful of our privacy, the quiet corner table always waiting for us.

San toyed with his spoon, pushing at the last crumbs of cheesecake. "We'll be leaving soon," he said finally, voice low. "A whole year. It's... a long time."

I reached across the table and covered his hand with mine. "It's gonna be okay. You know I'll be waiting for you."

"I know." He squeezed my fingers. "But it's still hard, you know? What if..."

"San," I cut him off gently. "It's just a year. We've survived worse. Last time, everything was against us, misunderstandings, silence, and we still ended up here, together. Didn't we?"

His shoulders eased a little. "We're gonna talk every day."

"Yes," I said. "And we'll FaceTime each other."

"I'll miss you," he whispered, thumb brushing the edge of my palm.

"I'll miss you too."

We sat there for a while longer, our coffee cooling, the world moving on around us. It was hard, pretending the goodbye ahead wouldn't hurt. But this time, we weren't just hoping. We were choosing, each other, every day, no matter the distance.

San pov

I woke up to Wooyoung snuggled into my neck, soft snores leaving his mouth. It was nice to be able to wake up like this at the dorms. To be with each other so openly.

The press had quickly caught on to our relationship and so had the fans. We hadn't been hiding it so it was bound to happen sooner or later.
There had been many different reactions but most fans were supportive. The press not so much. It had been tough in the beginning mostly for Wooyoung who wasn't used to the attention. But after a few weeks we weren't the hottest news anymore and the press moved on to something new.