Lost & Found

Chapter Twenty

Present Day
22-Years-Old

Yoongi stood up and stared at Aera. Neither of them moved. Eventually, however, Yoongi shakily pulled the ring from its box and held it up.

"May I?"

Aera smiled and held out her left hand. Yoongi slid the ring onto her finger. It was exactly her size. Of course it was; Yoongi knew everything about her.

"A, I..."

"Yeah?"

"I love you. And for the first time, I say that as more than just a friend."

Aera smiled. "I love you, too, Yoongs."

And Yoongi couldn't hold back any longer. He reached forward, placed both hands on her cheeks, then quickly placed his lips on hers. A small sound of surprise erupted from the back of Aera's throat, but she quickly melted into the kiss. Yoongi pulled back, but only for a moment. He began kissing her again and again. Short pecks to make up for all the years he hadn't. And then he was kissing her deeply. And Aera sighed.

When they finally broke apart, they looked at each other shyly.

"That, uh..." Aera stammered. "T-That was a lot better than our first kiss."

Yoongi chuckled. "I have to agree," he said softly.

"Mommy an' daddy are in yove?"

They both looked over to see Jungkook peeking around the corner at them.

"Yes, Jungkookie," Aera said, crouching down and holding her arms out to him. He quickly ran into them. "Yes, we are."

"Yay!"

Yoongi smiled. Aera looked up at him as she hugged Jungkook. "Yay," she said softly with her own smile.

-

The three of them had dinner, though Yoongi and Aera didn't eat much. They were both still shocked at what had happened. They were engaged. They'd never thought they'd be in this place. They'd fully convinced themselves they didn't love each other beyond friendship for fifteen years. And now all of that had changed.

They instead chose to watch Jungkook eat. He was hungry, as he was paying attention to nothing else other than his food. He devoured it quickly, then finally looked up at Aera as she asked, "Jungkook, did you have fun at the park today?"

Jungkook's brow furrowed. "Didn't go to the pawk. I hepped daddy!"

Aera looked over at Yoongi, who avoided her eyes.

"What do you mean, Jungkookie? How did you help?"

"We yooked at wings!"

Aera eyebrows rose. She looked at Yoongi again. "He...helped you pick out this ring?"

Yoongi shrugged, embarrassed. But Aera laughed softly. "Well, now I love it even more."

Yoongi finally met her eyes. He smiled. "That's also why I've been staying late at work. I wasn't actually working. I was looking for rings.

"You've been planning this for awhile, then?"

"Ever since that night," he replied, referencing when he'd picked her up at the bar. "But I didn't start seriously looking for rings until this past week. I found a few I thought you'd really like, but I wanted Jungkook to make the final decision. That's the one he chose."

Aera looked over at Jungkook again. "Thank you, Jungkookie! I love it."

Jungkook beamed at her. "Welcome!"