Forever | k.th.

3.

Things seemed better today.

Dinner last night was supposed to exceptional, and I thought it would be after I made love to her beforehand. Shae and I have never been out on a real date and last night, I arranged for us to have a private dinner in the hotel's garden.

I love making romantic gestures for her.

She smiled and showed me how much she appreciated it, but she seemed distracted as well. She was shy when we were being served and kept her head low when anyone would approach us, even our security.

Making love to her again before we went to sleep was hm, quiet to say the least. Shae is more expressive than me when it came to certain things, but last night, she was just as silent as she was before. Where is the woman that I love? What is going on with her?

She cuddled with me this morning and it felt nice.

It felt like her.

She was so warm and sweet. I kissed her so many times on her soft skin while telling her how much I loved her. She's been getting much better communicating in Korean. I smiled, seeing how well she spoke to the servers and I even noticed it in her writing. It doesn't surprise me, she's been working on it for a year, and she's grown so much.

I'm so proud to call her mine.

I offered for a walk around the park today. People are still scarce due to the state of the world, so there wasn't anyone around to bother us. I held her hand as we talked. She shared with me some details about her work and I shared some of mine with her. She was curious about our trip that was coming up and I told her it was set to air late summer. I want to be able to take a vacation with her and I told her this as well.

It made her smile.

My members ask me about Shae often and I told her this too. They care about her because I care about her. She doesn't have any family here, so they try to make her feel as much at home as they can. My parents do the same. I hope Shae understands how much the people around me adore her because they know I love her. I've been on calls with her family, and they are very nice. Shae has told me they asked about me frequently and that I should come to visit. I would really love to when the world is better.

As much as I enjoyed this time we shared, she's still so quiet.

It wasn't like an eternal silence, but small things made me wonder. Like a faint smile when I held her hand or even brought it to my lips for a kiss. She would stare, and the expression in her face fell short of any emotion except for one that seemed like she was curious. Why would she be? Is it still a shock to her when I treated her this way? I show my love for her every day, even when I'm not around. After a year, does she still not know my feelings for her?

Could this be what's bothering her?

After our walk, followed by lunch and later dinner, I had a surprise waiting for Shae. I took her to some of my favorite places around Seoul, quiet places that I could go and no one would bother me. Places where I could think when I needed a moment to myself. I've never shared these places with anyone, but it was only right that I shared it with her. One of my favorite places lately has been to see the water at night. Because of the way of the world, there haven't been many people out, and even now, it's very little. It was just safe enough where I could be out with no one to recognize me.

I wanted to share this with her.

It was thrilling to see how mesmerized Shae was, gazing at the beautiful lights on the water. After a while, that quietness would interrupt our happy moment and I worried again. I took her hand in mine and saw her eyes glistened in the light. Was she about to cry?

"Shae?" I hugged her closer to me and kissed her softly on her cheek.

"It's a really beautiful Taehyung. Thank you for bringing me here." She replied before I could even ask her what I wanted. Her response made me wonder something else instead.

"Have you never been here? Is there any place you haven't visited yet?"

Shae grinned. "There are lots of places I haven't been to. Mija was trying to show me some areas, but there were some we never got to. Don't know when we will." She shrugged.

Shae's tone was a little...hm, different when she mentioned Mija. There was always a smile when she talked of her friend, but the way she spoke her last statement alarmed me a bit.

Did something happen with them? Is this why she's so quiet?

"Why won't you?" The question came out before I could think properly.

Shae continued to stare out into the water until she lowered her head. "I'm getting a little hungry. Do you think we can get a late snack?" She mumbled.

Still hugging her close, I kissed her forehead and whispered to her. She smiled a little when I leaned away, but her eyes were still sad. No matter how much she wanted to hide it with her smile, traces of it lingered in her face. If she's pretending to be happy with me even when I know she's upset, I wish she would just tell me. I could keep working harder to apologize, but I want to hear her say it. I want her to tell me if I'm the reason she's quiet.

Gazing into her eyes, I hesitated, but I knew I needed to ask her. I needed to know.

"Shae..."

"Can we go now?" She asked.

I became a coward at that moment and held back my question. She was hungry and I wanted to feed her. Sweet as she is, Shae can be a little moody when she's hungry.

"Sure," I answered as I lead her back to our car.

Cupid 💘