"Okay, I have to tell you something important." Hoseok said walking alongside her.
"I told Jin about my father... My biological father."
"Oh?" Kira asked, not knowing what to say. "How did he take it?"

"Pretty good, actually. He said he wants to meet him soon."

"That's great!"

"I know. I am so relieved. It was so hard keeping anything from him. Turns out a couple of beers and a long night's talk was all I wanted to pour everything out."

"I'm glad you did." Kira grinned.

They were walking through what Kira believed to be, her ancestral home. The wooden floorboards groaned as they took a turn to one of the many narrow hallways. The house was so old that the archaeology department had restricted it from being modified or used. Now, it just stood tall and lonely, serving as a private museum. The doors to the huge estate opened only once a year for their annual family get-together.

Kira could never figure out why so many rooms were crammed together in a single hallway. It took a while for Kira to realise that Hoseok was no longer by her side. She looked around puzzled and even tried calling out his name but there was still no sign of him.

Without warning, Kira was suddenly pulled into the adjacent room. She felt herself come in contact with a man and she assumed it to be Hobi. Her lack of surprise was soon counter-balanced as a familiar pair of hazel brown eyes twinkled before her. She was completely taken off guard and stood transfixed.

Taehyung was clearly enjoying her reaction. He smirked mischievously. "Surprise?"

"How did you-?" Kira suddenly seemed at loss of words.

"Jin and Hoseok are my best buddies now." He grinned.

"Eh?"

"Yeah, well last two weeks, I had fun with them. They told me a lot about you by the way." Kira scowled, last thing she wanted was more of her embarrassing stories exposed. "And they helped, well, sneaking me in here. I wanted to see you as soon as possible."

Kira got on her tiptoes and kissed him. She had missed him long enough. It was all good and she felt content just looking at him. That was until he took out his phone; holding out a rather 'wild' picture of her. "Hey, I've a question. What exactly is happening here?"

On her birthday, despite her deafening protests, Jimin had insisted they go out for a drink. He tricked her into getting drunk all the while remaining sober himself. She had woken up next morning to find evidences of her doing stuff she never wanted to think about.

Kira slightly turned red. "Well... about that... Jimin was there with me and..."

"I'd like to see you try and get out this." She could visibly see the smirk he was trying hard to hide.

"Wait a minute." Kira cut in abruptly. "It was my birthday and you didn't even call. Come to think of it, you didn't call at all in these past weeks, even when the guys did."

"Uhh" Taehyung seemed at loss of words and resorted to a sheepish smile. "Call it even?"

"Okay" Shrugged Kira and smiled as he leaned down to kiss her. They didn't know how long they stood enjoying each other's company until Hoseok knocked on the door.

"Time's up. Your dad is asking for you."

"Ten whole minutes." Taehyung said checking his watch. "That's more than what we expected." He said, smiling at Hoseok.

"Would have been more if it weren't for Aunt Youngsoo asking for her favourite niece."

"Nooo she's here too?! Why can't I just stay with him?" Kira said, childishly clinging onto his shirt.

"I'll come with you. It'll be fun meeting your parents!"

"On second thoughts, Aunt Youngsoo might not be a bad idea." Kira said abruptly letting go off the shirt.

It hadn't been much into the function when she got a text from Taehyung.

T: I miss you.
M: It's only been two minutes since I last saw you, Tae.
T: That doesn't mean I can't miss you.
M: I guess you have a point.
T: Jin told me you won't be getting back until two weeks and that's a little too long to wait. Don't you think?
M: Well, there might be a way to get that settled but...
T: oh and Jin told me to tell you he's fine with some "SOP" if it's only for tonight.
M: Jin approved?! I can spend the evening with you.
T: Uhh... Okay?
M: "SOP" is short for "Sneak Out Plan". It was our code word back when we used to do it during highschool so that my parents didn't know.
T: Smooth. Not nerdy at all. God save me.

***

Kira stood on the balcony of her room, looking down on the rope ladder that hung quietly from the rail. Committing to being with her parents completely was one of their policy when she visited. With her being stuck at work most of the time, it was only fair and Kira liked sticking to that policy. The only reason she agreed to go out this one time was because she knew that her parents would be totally spent from hosting the function. She was affirmative that they'd spend the rest of the night sleeping rather than engaging in further family activities. Thus, rendering her guilty-less.
She had a long coat wrapped around her and she felt unusually flushed.

To begin with, the whole night had been a window to the past. Right from having a well thought out plan to having a secret discussion in Hoseok's room to rummaging out their old ladder from the hidden rack, it had been like revisiting their old life. To top it off, she was dressed in the way she used to in college.

Having packed for a relaxing trip, she had not brought along anything that was not a casual attire. Jin had dismissed her off from wearing a comfortable outfit and had insisted that she brushed out her old red dress. The red dress was the trademark 'hot date' dress that Jin had picked out for her long ago. Kira herself being a complete ignorant in fashion, had succumbed to his manipulations.

She waited for a signal as she tightened the coat around her, she wanted to cover the dress as much as possible. Hoseok gave her the signal and she let herself down the ladder as Jin held it from above. This was one of the advantages of having mastered the art of flexibility while maintaining strength. The moment her feet touched the ground, she signalled to Jin and he retracted the swinging ladder back.

She walked cautiously, moving faster as the glint of her father's old Chevrolet faded along with the thick walls. She climbed over the back-gate and heaved a sigh of relief as Taehyung stood watching her with amusement.

"Go! Hurry!" Kira urged as she got into the car. Taehyung swiftly got in and silently revved up the engine. " You've a lot to explain." He chuckled.

The sneaking out strategy was infamously conceived during their high-school years. Kira's parents were pretty strict when it came to their dating life, not that they had much of it. The three had unanimously agreed that this side of their lives were to be shared only between them; but between them, there was absolutely no secret.

Jin, Kira and Hoseok all had separate bedrooms in the upper floor. But the upper floor was structured like a living room with three separate rooms. Kira's was the only room that had a balcony and it was built facing away from the main entrance, making it a perfect sneak out spot.

If more than one person had to sneak out, they evaluated the cases with rational reasonings like; who was more likely to score, who has had the saddest month or who had better chances of having more dates. If nothing came through, they resorted to rock, paper and scissors.

Taehyung had planned a long romantic night. This, he informed was his way of making up for her forgotten birthday. It didn't matter to him that it was two weeks late, he acted as if it was actually her birthday. They parked in front of a classy restaurant.

Kira was very self-conscious of taking off her coat. The dress hugged her body and was a little tighter than she remembered it to be. It was hot red and flaunted her body with its smooth fabric.

"Whoa." Said Taehyung, gaping at her. "What say we skip dinner and move directly on to dessert?" Kira felt herself flush and replied by merely glaring at him. "That just makes you even more attractive."

"Minjee, why bother wearing it if you're not comfortable?"

"Well, I wanted to put some effort and Jin wouldn't let me without it." She mumbled.

"Then don't beat yourself up. You look pretty, you always do. And you're with me. If anyone makes you uncomfortable, I'll see to it that their eyes are gouged out."

"Whoa, that won't be necessary." Kira chuckled and felt more at ease.

"If it helps, I'll be sure to rip it off tonight." His trademark smirk willed her cheeks blush deeply.

They finished off their dinner and went to the docks. Kira's hometown was situated by the coast of the Yellow Sea and earned most of its living from seafood business. Every week, there was a special cruise that booked out specifically for couples. It was an overused trump card taken by the highschoolers and Kira had been on it enough to know all about it.

She didn't want to dishearten him by bringing that up especially when he made efforts for her. They were the first to arrive and sat by the edges, waiting for it to fill up. To her surprise, it took off after few minutes, void of any other passengers.

"I rented it out for the night. I know you don't approve when I do stuff like that but I really didn't want anyone crowding us on our one year anniversary." Taehyung smiled.

Kira was taken aback. With all the hassle, she had quite honestly forgotten about it. In her defence, she didn't really know when it had exactly started. The first few months of their relationship was too vague to be real.

"Since neither of us know the actual date, I'm officially declaring today to be it."

She had no idea what to say and she did the most simplest thing she could think of; she hugged him tight. "I love you." She felt like she didn't say it enough.

Silent hum of the cruise, salty scent of the sea, the gentle cold breeze, and their affectionate hearts kept them wrapped in each other's warmth.

***

Kira stood staring out of the window. Her mind was preoccupied with thoughts and her eyes wandered to the neverending game of the sea and the sand. The world was getting ready for a new day and the sun shyly peeked from the far end of the horizon.

"Up so early?" Taehyung asked, engulfing her with a blanket back hug. He softly kissed her bare shoulder and followed her gaze out into the sea.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

He nodded his head in reply. He kissed her shoulder once again. "Penny for your thoughts?" He asked, his voice deeper in the morning.

Kira breathed deeply. "I was just thinking how quickly an year passed. One year ago, I was convinced that I would stay alone for a long time. I was still getting used to being absolutely independent; and still getting over the fact that life was not always fair. Now an year later, I'm happily in love with someone I never thought I'd be with and I'm being deceived to think that I'm given justice."

"Mhm.. and?"

Kira sighed. "And I'm terrified that something will take you away from me too. And I don't think I have the strength to face that. I don't want that to happen."

Taehyung's breath hit the nape of Kira's neck. Every word he uttered reverberated through her body. "Minjee, I can't say much about what will happen. Everything works in a mysterious way that we're yet to comprehend. But we are given an opportunity to live. We have the present with us, it's in our very hands. We can make the best out of what we have now. Live and love like there's no tomorrow. That's what separates us from everything else: our passion to make the best of today so that even if we hurt tomorrow, we get to look back on the days without regret."

Kira turned around, her body close to his. She looked into his eyes and saw herself smiling back in reflection. Pause. Click. She thought to herself. She wanted this image right here ebbed in her mind no matter where life lead her. He tucked a stand of hair behind her ear and touched his forehead to hers. Pause. Click. She thought again.

A/N: I'll be ending the book soon but my writer's block (stoopid ass) won't let me know how. Welp, I'm screwed. Have a good day, y'all!