the night of the event the venue was packed, as hopefully expected by both parties, but they didn't think it would actually happen.
crowds were gathered around the pieces being showed, chatting about said pieces or making conversation amongst themselves. people were going around, taking pictures of the exhibit, of guests, or of the couple who had been working on this for months.
while it was only a showing of donghae's work, he had consulted taeyeon about helping him with the project and it turned out even better than what he had pictured thanks to her.
even with his photos being displayed the main piece was still hidden behind a velvet curtain, still in plain view of the crowds which made people anticipate its reveal even more than they already had.
music was playing lightly over the speakers, but donghae couldn't pinpoint what genre it was as he walked in between small groups of people, occasionally stopping to have a small conversation with someone about his exhibit.
since the doors were opened he had been pulled aside by many people, only catching small glimpses of his friends but had yet to see his girlfriend as they had arrived separately to the event.
he excused himself from what seemed like his millionth conversation that night and walked to the second floor that was being used that night as a sort of lounge. there he found most of his friends; leeteuk and heechul were present, along with shindong and siwon.
he saw seohyun walk across the room to greet ryeowook and tiffany before being joined by kyuhyun who had taken a break from the military to attend donghae's event in new york.
yet he couldn't seem to find taeyeon anywhere he looked. that is, until he felt small arms wrap around his waist from behind, and he immediately knew who was behind him.
"didn't think i'd find you here, you seemed busy downstairs.", she said while he was turning around to look at her.
"i was busy, but i haven't seen you since this morning and spending the entire night talking about the same thing over and over again without you isn't excatly ideal.", he replied while she moved her arms from his waist to rest on his shoulders while his hands come to hold her waist.
"so you'd drag me around with you? what a loving and caring boyfriend.", she rolled her eyes but let out a small laugh afterwards.
the two stayed like that for a few more seconds before taeyeon brought one of her hands to lightly play with his hair.
"so will you ever cut your hair soon?"
"no, i'm growing it out just like when i was in my 20s. why, you don't like it?"
"i like it, you look handsome. besides, it also makes it easier to pull w-"
"i hope you two keep it pg13 because it's a public event and i don't wanna know about your personal life.", as always heechul always had something to say, and it seemed to increase tenfold once the pair started dating.
taeyeon rolled her eyes at him and walked over to tiffany to talk to her before being pulled away by other people again.
he watched her smile and laugh from where he was standing and he was broken out of his trance when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"so when are you going to do it?", hyukjae looked at him expectantly, waiting for his reply.
"you need to calm down and wait a little bit hyukjae. besides it's not like it's you that's asking.", another presence popped up on the other side of him. yuri scolded hyukjae for his impatience before the three directed their attention to taeyeon.
