the sun's rose gold disk peeks through the horizon, painting the sky in ropes of pink, yellow and orange. the city is still fast asleep; everyone's immersed in last-minute dreams that will either put a big smile on their faces or keep them troubled for the rest of the day. for now, though, they are all hiding under their warm blankets with their alarms ticking to a stop.

in the empty streets of vienna, ella & heeseung are walking through their own dream with the widest grins on their youthful faces. the couple holds hands under ella's long sleeve, their fingers intertwined tightly in fear of the other slipping away earlier than supposed.

they won't let that happen.

"i've pulled all-nighters, but none of them was as worthy of my time as this one." ella says, her gaze fixated on the picturesque landscape before them ─ she always thought that nothing could top the early morning view from the window of her childhood room, but she's once again proven wrong. even mother nature wants to make those last few moments spent together are her most memorable ones.

heeseung hums, his thumb lovingly brushing against hers. "same here." there's a coming & going dull pain inside his chest that's making him take occasional deep breaths to calm his galloping heart down, while the back of his throat burns with a sob that he's trying hard to swallow back down.

she halts her steps; he does the same, a confused frown on his face. "thank you for asking me to come with you." she eventually says after a few beats of silence, leaning her head back to meet his eyes. "it's the best decision i could've ever made."

he chuckles, shaking his head with a smile and light patting his shoulder. "and i'd like to thank myself for not chickening out right the last second. i wouldn't have handled the regret."

she lets go of his hand & places both of hers on his waist, softly caressing his sides. he embraces her, bringing her closer to him and letting her chin rest on his chest, their gazes locking with each other's under the warm light of the rising sun.

the two bask in the early morning silence & the song of the mourning doves. a weak gust of air blows past them, and usually ella wouldn't mind, but heeseung's warmth is cozy and hard to resist. she nuzzles closer to him, her hands wrapping around him and pulling him flash against her. the guy smiles, his gentle hold around her body growing stronger as he hides his face on her hair and closes his eyes.

"ella." he calls.

she hums, sign that she's listening.

"thank you."

she chuckles. "for what?"

a fierce pain strikes his heart and a lump forms in his throat, making it hard for him to speak; it's like there's a rope tied on his larynx and the bind keeps getting tighter by the second.

"for giving me a reason to keep going."

her breath hitches, as if every ounce of air got punched out of her chest. a car honks somewhere in the distance, birds chirp above their heads, but the only sound she chooses to hear is the muffled beating of his heart, a sweet song that calms her down.

"and for listening to me." heeseung adds, his voice finally breaking. the ache in his throat is unbearable and causes his eyes to clench in pain, but at least the lump's gone. there are so many things he wants to say, so much gratitude he wants to express, but it all comes down to an embarrassingly simple 'thank you' ─ he wishes there was a better word to perfectly convey how thankful he feels right now. "no one's ever done that for me and it's... it's nice, you know? to have someone that's willing enough to listen to your story."

"that's the bare minimum, heeseung." she lifts her gaze, meeting his glossy eyes. "i wish i could give you more."

"you gave me enough." he whispers, placing a strand of her hair behind her ear with trembling fingers. "you gave me a lot more than anyone has ever done, and that's enough."

she purses her lips to hold back a sob, but it comes out either way. it's a quiet squeaky noise that makes heeseung's mouth break in a toothy grin & ella's eyes to push out the tears she's been holding for minutes now. "d'n laugh." she slurs on her words, feeling way too overwhelmed to speak properly or form a coherent sentence.

he chuckles and brings his hands up, cupping her cheeks. his rough fingers draw gentle strokes on her wet skin, before he lowers his head, tilting hers back. his lips latch on her forehead & stay there for three seconds, placing a peck as soft as a feather's touch. when he pulls away, ella can feel the spot he had just kissed burn, as if her body's trying to memorize the pattern of his lips and imprint the way they felt against her skin like an invisible yet permanent tattoo.

he looks into her watery eyes, tears gushing out of his. his breath hitches when he presses his mouth on hers, hot salty drops paving their ways down his cheeks & reaching his lips. the kiss starts tasting bittersweet and sorrowful, causing yet another wave of tears to escape both their eyes.

a kiss. ella used to think that it holds no intimacy, that it could either mean the world or nothing. her lips have kissed dozens of men, they've pecked dozens of cheeks and foreheads, but kissing someone never made her feel the way kissing heeseung makes her feel ─ so weak, so vulnerable, so soft and mushy.

a kiss can mean nothing or everything.

and this one means everything.

he attempts to pull away & it goes in vain. her eager hands grasp onto his biceps & pull him back, this time for a kiss like no other. she's determined to pour all sorts of emotions he's making her feel into it, hoping that it'll get the message through.

heeseung doesn't complain. his eyes clench due to the internal pain that makes his body and soul ache like never before, his hands hugging the woman impossibly closer to him, in fear of her slipping away ─ for a split moment, he considers the possibility of this being a dream, one that felt so real and would have him crying and hyperventilating the second he woke up, wanting nothing more but to go back to sleep and find himself in the same dream, only to fall into a deep, dark slumber.

if this is a dream, he hopes he never wakes up.

"god..." ella mumbles against his lips when they finally break apart, her hot breath fanning his chin. avoiding his gaze, she wraps her arms around his neck and holds onto him for dear life, refusing to pull away & be sucked in by the cruel reality of them having to part ways in ─ dear lord! ─ one hour and forty five minutes.

a window opens from the balcony above & a woman comes out, a dog's head peeking through the gaps on the railing and looking down at them. the woman holds a lit cigarette between her fingers that she momentarily rests on her chapped lips, her gaze fixated on the rising sun. it's a brand new day in vienna, which means routine; grab a coffee, smoke a cigarette, then off to work.

her dog lets out a bark and she looks down, ready to scold it for being loud. her gaze, however, lands on the pair hugging under her feet, their hands grasping on each other's clothes, as if pulling away would kill them. a smile makes its way on her lips, feeling happy that this kind of love still exists in her days; she would be surprised to know that the two have hardly known each other for a day.

"you're the best thing that's happened to me, ella." heeseung mumbles, voice getting muffled by her hair.

she chuckles. "nonsense."

she feels him shake his head. "trust me. i traveled around europe for a year in search of peace, but it took one night in vienna with you to find it."

"if that's not a blessing, then i don't know what it is."