THIRTY FIVE

(Seorin's POV)

3 years later...

  "Miss Park?" the young intern pushed the door of my office open.

  "Yes, come in," I looked up from my work and smiled.

  The girl came forward with a folder. "I was told to get these project for the next half year approved by you."

  "Just leave them on that desk please," I told her "Oh, and can you please take this to Miss A-yeong?" I held out a file.

  "Miss A-yeong said she had an urgent business to care of and left early today," the intern said. 

  "Oh," I frowned.

  "Shall I leave the file in her office?"

  "Oh there's no need," I said "I'll give it to her myself later. Thank you."

  The intern bowed and left the office. I smiled after her, remembering how I had started at Cosmic as an intern all those years ago. How time flies...

  I turned back to my work. A few minutes later, my phone started ringing. I looked at the caller ID and smiled. It was Sehun.

  "Hey," I said, answering the call.

  "Hi," Sehun replied. His voice sounded weird. "Um.. can you come to the dorm real quick?"

  "The dorm? Right now?" I frowned "But I don't get off work till another hour or so."

  There was silence at the other end for a moment and when Sehun spoke again, his voice was hoarse. "I don't feel very good Seorin. My whole body hurts and I have trouble breathing. I-" He dissolved into a fit of coughing.

  "Sehun! Are you ok?" I asked worriedly "Are the others home? Where's Suho?"

  "I'm alone at home. The other's are still at practice," he replied in a raspy voice. "Can you come please? I think I'm dying..."

  "Yah! Don't say that!" I cried "I'm coming. Hold on." I ended the call and grabbed my bag, before rushing out of my office. I made it to my car in record time and was soon speeding towards the Exo dorm.

  I came to the dorm, jumped out of the car and ran up the front steps. The door was unlocked and I pushed it open to find the entire house in darkness.

  "Sehun?" I called, feeling around for the light switch. I found it, and flipped it on. Nothing happened. I frowned and tried the switch again. Still nothing happened. I made my way through the dark hallway and into the living room.

  "Sehun?" I called again but there was no answer. I tried to switch on the living room lights but the room remained pitch black. Maybe there's a power interruption? But the other houses have electricity. What's going on?

  "Sehun?!" I shouted, but there still wasn't any answer. My heart started pounding as I tried not to panic. "Hello???!! Guys??!! Suho??"  I felt around in the dark and slowly made my way to the middle of the room, straining my ears for any sound.

  "Sehun, you're scaring me," I said "This isn't funny. Where are you? Se-"

  The furthest wall of the living room suddenly lit up with brilliant lights. I whirled towards it in surprise. The entire wall was strung with fairy lights, and hung in between them were what I thought were pieces of paper. It was when I came nearer that I realized that they were in fact photos of me and Sehun-  about two dozen of them hung amid the sparkling lights. 

  What in the world??  I fingered the photos in bewilderment. Some of the pictures weren't even ones we had taken and I realized that they must have been taken by the Exo members without our knowledge. There were pictures of us laughing, holding hands and even one of us kissing. There's seriously no privacy with these idiots... I thought with a laugh. But what is all this about? I'm pretty sure it's not our anniversary or anything.

  I was still studying the pictures when suddenly, music started playing. I turned around in surprise and saw Sehun and the other Exo members walking towards me with huge smiles on their faces. Before I could even comprehend what was happening, they started singing.

  I listened, feeling overcome with with a variety of emotions. Their voices were so beautiful, I felt like crying. And not to mention the way Sehun was looking into my eyes throughout the whole song, like he meant every single word of the song for me.

https://youtu.be/wUguw6cJkjU

  The song ended and I came out of my daze, suddenly noticing that the Exo members weren't the only people present. Ji Hun and A-yeong was standing beside them, grinning from ear to ear.

  "What's going on?" I asked with a nervous laugh, feeling very confused. Sehun stepped forward and took my hands into his. Even after dating him for 3 years, he still managed to make my heart start beating like crazy.

  "Seorin," he said, looking into my eyes. His dark eyes reflected the fairy lights and sparkled like a starry sky "When we first met, you threw up all over me. And to be honest, I didn't like you at all-"

  "Sehun!" Suho chided.

  "But," Sehun continued with a smile "Fate works in weird ways. Before I knew what was happening, I was falling for you in ways I didn't know was possible. You were that piece of my life that I didn't know was missing. You became a part of me that I couldn't live without. They say that you can only fall in love with someone once, but you'd come and smile at me and I'd fall for you over and over again. And I don't mind it. I can fall in love with you till the end of the world and I would never grow tired of loving you."

  He stopped and cupped my face gently with one hand. I smiled and tried to blink away my tears as he continued.

  "The past three years I've spent with you have been the best years of my life. You make everything a thousand times better and beautiful. Just holding your hand, or hearing you call my name, makes me feel like the luckiest person on the earth. Sometimes I wonder what I had done to deserve such an angel like you. All I know is that I'm so so lucky to have you in my life and that loving you is the best decision I've ever made."

  Sehun stepped back and pulled something out of his pocket, while I stood there with my heart trying to burst out of my chest. He gave me a shy smile, and before I knew what was happening, he was down on his knees.

  "So..." he said, looking up at me and opening the small velvet box to reveal a beautiful, silver ring. "Seorin, would you like to share the rest of your life with me? Will you marry me?"

  OH MY GOD!!! HE'S PROPOSING TO ME!!! There was an intense silence as everyone waited for my answer with bated breath. Thoughts were whirling around my head at a thousand miles per hour as I stood there trying remember how to form words.

  "Seorin?" Sehun prompted nervously "Um... I don't really know what I'm supposed to do if you say 'no', so could you save us both the trouble and say 'yes'? Please?"

  I laughed and nodded shyly, "Yes. Yes I'll marry you."

  The entire room erupted into an explosion of cheers as Sehun got up and took my hand. He slid the beautiful ring onto my finger where it glittered like a thousand stars. I bit my lip, trying very hard to stop my tears. Sehun saw it and pulled me into a hug.

  "I love you," he whispered, stroking my hair softly.

  "I love you too."

  We pulled apart and people started coming up to congratulate us.

  "I'm so happy for you!!!" A-yeong squealed as she hugged me with enough force to crack my ribs. "And the proposal was so cute!!" she said to Sehun, who smiled bashfully.

  "I'm going to have a tough time trying to top that," Baekhyun joked, putting an arm around A-yeong. 

  She laughed. "Well, you'd better have something cuter up your sleeve Mr. Byun Baekhyun."

  I smiled as the two of them walked away hand in hand, laughing. Someone tapped on my shoulder and I turned to around to face Ji Hun.

  "Hey. Congratulations!" he said warmly.

  "Thanks," I smiled "I guess you knew about it all along?"

  "Of course I did. It was my idea to have Sehun pretend he was sick so you'd come rushing here," he said proudly. Then he and Sehun shared a high five.

  "Yah! Do you know how worried I was?" I glared at the two of them "I thought you were dying."

  "But it worked, didn't it? You got here in like 5 minutes! That's got to be a world record or something!" Sehun said with a laugh and fist bumped Ji Hun.

  "I think I liked it better when you two argued all the time," I grumbled, but I couldn't help laughing. Ji Hun shrugged good naturedly and went away to get some food and we were approached by Suho. 

  "Congratulations!" he said, giving me a hug. Then he hugged Sehun, his eyes filling with tears when he pulled back. "I'm so proud of you, Sehunnie." he said, his voice cracking.

  "Hyung, are you crying?" Sehun asked in alarm.

  "N-no," Suho shook his head, blinking away fresh tears . "It's just that you're so grown up. It feels like yesterday when you were 18 and we've just debuted. And now- now you're 26 and you're getting married... Pretty soon you'll get your own place and will leave the dorm-' his voice cracked. "I'm sorry I'm being such a wuss."

  "It's ok hyung," Sehun said, hugging his leader tightly. "Stop crying now, or you're going to make me cry too."

  "Aww. Don't worry Suho," I consoled, knowing just how much he loved his youngest member. "I promise I will look after Sehun well and keep him away from trouble."

  Suho pulled himself together and gave me a smile. "I know you will," he said. "You two are meant for each other and I wish both of you all the happiness in the world." He then patted Sehun on the shoulder and walked towards the others.

  By then, they had set up a table with food and drink and Chanyeol and Ji Hun were managing the music. The sofas had been pushed out of the way, leaving the floor clear and some of the Exo members were dancing like idiots, making me smile.

  I watched them for a while and then turned around to face the wall behind me. Though the lights of the room had been turned on, the fairy lights were still sparkling like a million stars. I stood studying the photos hung in between the dazzling strands of light and I felt Sehun slip his hand into mine.

  "You look beautiful in every one of them," he said, eyes fixed on the pictures.

  "Well, you look pretty handsome too," I replied with a laugh.

  "I agree," Sehun grinned "We look pretty good together." I smiled and leaned my head on his shoulder, sighing in content.

  We stood like that, hand in hand, studying the pictures for a long time and I suddenly realized that they weren't just photos. They were memories, each and every one of them. And there were a lot of them, each one linking to another, until they became more than just a memory. They became a story. Our story. But it was a story that wasn't yet finished. In fact, it was only just beginning.

THE END