I slowly wake up, opening my eyes. The warmth from the rays of the sun that caressed the edge of my nose, the soft feeling from the mattress against my back and the warmth of the sheets lathering my bare skin felt comfortable enough to not stand, I yawned and stretched my legs. 'When was the last time I comfortably slept on this bed anyway?' The slight chill that crept to my feet left me snuggling comfortably on the sheets; I softly groaned, rolling over, burying my face to my pillows. 'This is too good.' I caught a whiff of the lavender scent from the humidifier and smiled.

I rolled over, facing front opening my lids slowly, feeling the bed beside me expecting someone to be there but ... 'there was no one.'

I sat up and panned my tired eyes inside the room. 'Was it all...?' I cupped my head, gently shaking my head and I took a deep breath immediately exhaling; the fleeting feeling of pain in my lower half should be a testament that it was not. 'But the fact that he was not here... it probably was?' I sighed, softly massaging my aching head.

The memories I had were too vivid: the heat from his body and his scent ... they seemed real – too real to be a dream. Deep inside, I'm just wishing it was not. Although it was probably because I long for him too much to know. I sighed and hanged my head, looking at the window just beside the bed.

I grabbed a shirt from the table beside the bed, wearing it before abruptly standing ... only to fall back, my knees shaking. 'Fuck.' I cursed to myself, blowing out air from my lips.

The attention that I lost was brought back by a creak from the front door. I turned to my bedroom door when I heard a thud followed by a hum echoing throughout the empty hallways. A familiar hum resonated in my ear, sending bolts of electricity through my spine, knitting a sense of melancholy to my gut. I clutched my chest, taking a few deep breathes. P'Bright.

"Oh! You're up?" I immediately wiped my tears off my eyes, looking at him going straight to the rack, leaving his jacket. "And I even planned to be back before you woke up." he took a few steps to my direction, smiling. He pulled off the sleeves of his black sweatshirt - that was probably in the clothes pile in the room - and kneeled before me.

"Are you ready?" he whispered on my ear; his arms on my back and on my legs. 'Don't tell me?'"One, two..." he took a deep breath before lifting me up. "Three..."

I let out a weird tone, my arms automatically wrapping around his nape. "What the fuck." I groaned, beaming at him as if telling him to: put me down. "P', I can walk."

"Yeah. I can see that." he grinned and remarked in a sarcastic tone. "Last night was so intense." he said, inching his face closer "There's no way you'd be okay after."

'Yeah, it was not some kind of vivid hallucination after all.'

"W...wha -!" I quickly averted my gaze off, my arms slowly folding to retreating to my side. I felt my cheeks burn, "I...I'm not some girl, P'!"

He broke out a chuckle, as it slowly turned into roars of laughter. "I know. I didn't say anything about you being one." he said in between his loud, sexy laughs, "I'm saying that ..." he stopped and stared at my eye before smiling,

"You don't have to do everything on your own again."
"I'm here so you can relax and count on me once more."

My heart thumped wildly in my chest, erasing the thoughts I had in my mind, leaving me speechless. I looked away and just left everything to whatever he wanted to do. I can never win against him anyway.

The trip from the bedroom up to the living room should not be longer that two-minutes, but this one seemed to be the longest. Everything was in slow-motion; I felt like every second ... every minute ... was stretched out to an hour. The arms that were holding my body, his heat, his smile and his gaze: they were too hot, I'm afraid that if I get any closer, I'd burn. But just like that fly my curiosity seemed to best my reason. I can't help but get drawn to him.

"You like what you see?" his lips formed into slight smirk, as he slowly turned to my direction, his eyes meeting mine. "It's all yours anyway, no need to stare that much."

I rolled my eyes; the magical feeling instantly faded into the air. "You really have a knack at destroying the mood." I reached for his head and landed a soft slap on his forehead, "Saraleo!"

He settled me down on the couch in the living room and stood in front of me, bashfully scratching his nape, a smile never leaving his face. "Sorry." he said.

I immediately grabbed a cushion and hugged it tight, my chin leaning over it. "I...It's fine." I whispered under my breath.

He walked back to the kitchen, leaving me in the living room alone, giving me time to think about things.

I took a deep breath, putting back the cushion in the sofa before panning my eyes in the room. That was the only time I realized that the living was sparkling clean, not only the living area. Whoa. I cocked my head before subtly shaking it afterwards. Clean freaks are scary. I said the memory of the room before it was cleaned coming in my head.

"Here" I turned to him shyly scratching his cheeks before looking back to the box he just placed on the table.

"What's.... what's this?" he sat beside me and looked around, scratching his nape before chuckling to himself.

"My family you see..." he looked at my side, "...is nothing but girls and they love sweets."

"I guess it's largely by their influence that I became a patissier..." he said, "When they smile and tell me 'ah, it's good', I get all embarrassed..." he turned to my side, "... but that makes me incredibly happy." he smiled, his eyes turning into rainbow-shaped, "... like a kid."

I nodded, smiling painfully. "You're very close... aren't you?"

He nodded, "Well, they're usually just annoying though." he chuckled, his hand slipping on his pant pockets, "...and..." he held my hand, pulling me close. He opened my eyes, stretching my fingers up, "...the same way, when you smile and everytime you tell me my cakes tastes good, it makes me INCREDIBLY happy." he said, emphasizing incredibly on his words.

"So..."

He pulled out a ring from his hand,

"Will you keep smiling by my side? Hmm?"

He said, putting the ring on my ring-finger.

I sighed in relief,  tears falling down one after another while smiling.

"Yes."

P'Bright smiled and sighed out of relief, leaning back to the couch, fist raised up. "Next time I'll have to introduce you to my family." he said, "Though they already probably knew you." he chuckled.

I smiled. Yeah, they already do. But they knew me as someone akin to a friend.

"And got to greet your family too, of course."

I felt my heart thump before sinking down. A soft pulsing on my head, as the smile on my lips turned into a frown. "... meeting my family..." I gazed at the floor, smiling painfully. "would surely be impossible."

🐺🐰🐺🐰

BRIGHT'S POV

"... meeting my family..." I turned to Win, his voice trembling and his tone slowly shifting to a fragile one. It was sad. "...would surely be impossible."

I felt my heart sank, regret flowing up to my head. I didn't know anything about this...

He forced a smile, turning to my face. His eyes spoke nothing but sadness that the smile he wore on his face was too painful to see. I don't want him to smile like that again. "Because they told me 'you're disowned' and kicked me out."

I nodded and averted my eyes, 'So that's why he said: I don't want you to lose having a family...' I let out a sigh.

I was too conceited. I thought I know everything about Win, but when it all comes down to it ... I can't even find the answers myself. I can't even protect him and be by his side when he's hurt and alone.

I smiled, 'I still have a long way to go. And I have larger shoes to fill.'

I reached out to the box in front of us, "But... hey, Win..." I said looking back at him, "There may be more hardships in the future... But let's work hard together to be happy." I opened the box, revealing one whole strawberry shortcake, a note written in all capital letters on a choco-bar on top of the cake: I LOVE YOU

"Don't say sad things like: a lone piece of cake is enough." I looked at him and smiled at his astonishment, "'Cause there's plenty of happiness ahead of us." I opened my arms for him that he gladly came jumping to.

Because for sure....

...If you're with me and I'm with you

It will definitely go well.

🐺🐰🐺🐰

Please share your thoughts

(a/n #1: What do you think of this chapter?)

(a/n #2: The previous chapter never really had good reviews. Well, to those who wanted +19, I hope you trip for not commenting or what; no just kidding it was fine. I made that smut for fun and I was planning to post it either way. I was really thinking of deleting it though because I thought it was bad. But yea, ended up keeping it.)

(a/n #3: Please do wait for the announcement that will come after a few days. Don't forget to leave out comments for me to read.)