What a Life

Chapter 9

All the members and their girlfriends sat in the living room as the managers went through everyone's phones. Chanyeol squeezed my hand as I sat nervously between him and Junmyeon. One of the managers signaled Junmyeon over and he turned to signal Baekhyun. The security grabbed Baek's girlfriend and escorted her out of the compound as she kicked and screamed. As Junmyeon scolded Baek, I turned back and looked at Chanyeol, whispering, "what do we do?"
"Don't worry about it..."
"But..."
"Don't worry about anything. Do you trust me?"
"Yes."

As the tour came to an end, we headed back to the airports to the same calm crowd of people. I walked ahead of Chanyeol with the other "staff" until I felt his hand grab mines. The crowd gasped and he waved at them as we reached the terminal. I looked back at him and my eyes bugged open, whisper softly, "babe, what are doing?"
"We're out and we're proud."
We both started to laugh at his comment as I held his hand tighter.

Once we were back in Korea, the crowd was worst than the first one we encountered. The boys made a barrier around me as the security guarded them. Girls started throwing anything they could at us and the flashes from the cameras felt worst this time. I felt the grip of his hand hold me tighter as we pressed through but the guilt in my stomach made me feel physically sick. I started to stumble and I felt him scoop me up, running with me in his arms until we got to the van.

Once we got home, He made me some hot tea and soup to calm me down. I had never felt so guilty about dating someone in my life. Though a part of me was relieved that we could be together in public now, a part of me was scared that people wouldn't give us our privacy.

I stayed home from work for that next week while Chanyeol had some promos to do for his cologne brand in Italy. We spoke everyday and I told him I was ready to leave the house. He advised me to stay home and just order delivery, but I was stubborn and went out anyways.

The wind was chilly as I walked to a nearby convenience store for some ramyeon, fried chicken and some snacks. As I started looking at all the options, I felt a finger poke me in the back, "excuse me?! Are you Chanyeol's girlfriend?!" I nodded and continued to try to shop, "oh unnieeeee where is he? Is he close? We should be friends!"
"He's out of town. Excuse me."
"Unnieee! Come back!"
I started to run out of the store and shook my head as I took the longest way possible home.

Once he returned home, I told him about the fan and he started to laugh, "I told you to stay home. See what happens when your stubborn."
"Why are they so obsessive?"
"Who knows but I need to talk to you about something really important."
"Go for it."
He took a deep breath and smiled at me as he moved closer to me on the couch, "I'm turning 29 this year..."
"Yes you're an old man..."
"Stop I'm trying to be serious."
"Ok I'm sorry go ahead."
He smiled at me before taking another deep breath, "ok so I wanted to tell you that I'm enlisting with Baek and Jongdae into the military next month."
"WHAT!"
"I know this is sudden but with the way my career is moving, I need to get this out of the way. It's only for a year and a half, so you'll be able to go home when you like and come back to spend time with me during the holidays..."
I stared at him and shook my head, "I don't want to go back and forth. I just want to be here with you."
"What about your family and friends?"
"They can visit me?"
"What about your job?"
"I can teach here. I just don't want to be away when your allowed to be here with me..."
"Then will you accept this?"
As he got down on one knee, a beautiful emerald was presented to me on a gold band. The accent diamonds around it were so clear and beautiful. I covered my face and started to shake as he asked me to marry him. I couldn't muster up words so I just took the ring and put it on. I couldn't stop kissing him and squeezing his neck with my embrace. After all we had been through, I knew I was strong enough to be his wife.