love songs
Gido (Prayer)
GDYB - Jiyong/Youngbae.
part one of five
THANK YOU TO oxygenlove FOR BETA’ING THIS FOR ME. IWUBYOU<3MEOW.
You anxiously knocked on his door, and fidgeted as you waited for him to answer. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, he finally opened the door, and your heart clenched tightly. Did he get more beautiful since the last time you saw him? In your mind, most likely.
He smiled when he saw you, and you started to blush. No, no, no! Now is not the time to blush, now is not the time to seem weak.
“Ji-Jiyongah,” you stutter. Great, you’re weak.
He smiled, making your clenched heart do back flips, and stepped aside to let you in.
There’s no going back now. You would just have to dive in, headfirst, and tell him. You just prayed that everything would turn out okay.
Your heart flutters slightly as you open the door to a small jewelry boutique, and walk into the air-conditioned shop. The salesman looks up and greets you kindly with a smile, and then returns to looking at some kind of records on the counter.
You walk to the counter, and softly clear your throat, “Um, excuse me, sir. I got a phone call saying my order is ready to be picked up?”
“Your name, please.”
“Dong Youngbae, it’s an engagement ring.”
“Ah! Yes, yes. Just one second sir,” and he reaches underneath the counter to retrieve a small black box. “Here, take a look at it and make sure everything is in order.”
You gingerly open the daunting case, and look at the ring inside. Your eyes soften as you gaze at the small ring. “It’s perfect,” you whisper.
You thank the man as you put the small black box in your pocket and walk out of the boutique. Once outside, you glance at your watch. 1:43. Your heart flutters again as you realize that you need to hurry to his apartment if you want everything to be perfect. You pray that nothing will go wrong today.
“I’m going to ask him to marry me,” you said simply.
“Hyung, are you sure? You’re both so young, what if you get second thoughts?” your long time friend had asked you.
“Kang Daesung, I am not going to get cold feet. I love Jiyong, I love him with all my heart. I can’t imagine being with anyone else,” you told him. You meant every word of it too.
“Well...” he hesitantly began, “If you’re really sure about it, then I guess...Go for it?”
“That’s the plan, Daedae!” you winked at him, and gave him the thumbs up.
A lazy hand traces your face, brushing along your jaw line and stopping at your lips.
“What are you thinking about? You seem so out of it,” he mumbles.
You smile underneath his fingertips, gently kissing them. “I’m thinking about how much I love you, Jiyongah,” and your swiftly grab his hand and lightly kiss his palm.
He takes his hand away from your lips and playfully hits your head. “You are too mushy sometimes, you know that?” he softly asks, his eyes twinkling.
“Only because I love you so much,” you retort, grabbing his hand once again so that he won’t be able to hit you.
“Or because you’re a hopeless romantic,” he grins and leans in to place a short kiss on your lips.
“So what if I am?” you grin and give him a light kiss. You look at your watch, it is already 6:58. “Shit,” you mumble. You have to leave now if you want to get there in time.
“What is it, babe?”
“Nothing, come on. Get up, I have a surprise for you,” you grin, “But you have to put this on first.” And you pull out a blindfold from your back pocket. Your grin widens at the skeptical look that he gives you before you cover his eyes with the cloth.
You lead him blindfolded down the hall, out of the apartment, and then down the street. All the while, checking to make sure he isn’t peeking.
“Youngbae! Can’t you just let me see where we’re going?” he sighs, making a pout.
You quietly laugh at his childlikeness, and continue to lead him down the street. “Stop complaining Ji, we’re almost there anyways.”
“ Why do I even have to wear a blindfold? You know I hate surprises.”
“I think we both know that’s a lie, Ji. You just hate not knowing.”
He scoffs and then remains silent for the remaining minutes until you reach your destination. You stop, and take off his blindfold, allowing him to gaze around and register his surroundings.
“Youngbaeah, where-“
You gently raise a finger to his lips, “Shh, just look around. Doesn’t this place seem familiar to you?” You had led him to the park near your apartment. It was just an ordinary park, but to you it has a special meaning.
You were young then, only sixteen years old.
You loved going to the nearby park to get away from everything. It was so peaceful to be able to sit underneath the cherry trees and just do nothing.
But on that one day, when you got to your favorite bench underneath the largest cherry tree, you were slightly aggravated to find another boy sitting there. That was supposed to be your spot, and no one else’s.
You walked up to the other boy, fully intending to tell him to beat it, but stopped in your tracks when you saw how sad the other boy looked. You could see tear stains running down his puffy cheeks.
He noticed you approaching, and quickly used his sleeve to wipe away evidence of his earlier tears. He watched you wearily as you gingerly sat on the opposite end of the bench.
“Are you okay?” you hesitantly asked.
“Yeah...I’m fine,” and he looked away from you and up to the sky. “Or, at least, I will be,” he says, more to himself than to you.
He turned his gaze back to you, “Do you want to be friends?”
You were slightly taken back by his bluntness. You hadn’t known him for more than two minutes, and he was asking you to be friends. What is this, kindergarten?
“S-sure,” was that your voice that just said that? You don’t remember making a conscious decision to answer him.
But when you saw the smile that spread across his face when you answered him, you knew you did the right thing.
You watch his face as he looks around him. You see his eyes suddenly light up as he spots a certain bench under a certain large cherry tree.
“Bae... Th-this is where we first met, isn’t?” he softly asks you, still gazing at the bench.
You simply nod your head and take his hand, leading him to the bench. You sit on the edge, while he leans back, surveying the surrounding park.
“Mmm, I haven’t been here in a while. We should come here more often,” he dreamily says.
You simply hum an agreement, and trace patterns on his hand with your thumb. You’re trying to calm your anxious nerves.
“Is something wrong, Bae? Why’d you bring me here blindfolded if we were just going to sit here?” he laughs slightly. But then stops once he sees that you’re not laughing along with him.
You take a deep breath, and start.
“Jiyongah, you know I love you, right?”
“Y-yeah, I know. I love you too,” you could see a little spark of worry mixed with fear in his eyes.
“You know that I would never purposely hurt you, right?”
“Y-yeah,” his voice was softer.
You reach into your pocket, and swiftly check to make sure that the small black box is still there, and then kneel in front of him, taking his hands in yours.
“You know I don’t want anyone else, right?”
“Th-that’s what you’ve told me,” and you see that fear and worry morph into confusion in his eyes.
“Will you marry me, Kwon Jiyong?”
And you watch as that confusion leaves, and is slowly replaced by another emotion. Anger. He slaps you.
“Dong Youngbae! You fucking made it sound like you were cheating on me, or, or going to fucking break up with me or-wait...” his voice lowers, “Did you seriously just ask me to marry you?”
You take one hand and gingerly rub your face where he slapped you. “Is that a ‘no’ then?” and with your other hand, you reach in your pocket and pull out the small black box. You see his eyes widen at the sight of the box, and then soften as his gaze shifts to your face.
“You’re serious,” it’s more of a question than a statement.
“Of course I am, Ji. I love you. You’re the only one I want to spend my whole life with.”
He gently pulls your hand away from your face, and caresses the cheek that he slapped. “I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t know you were serious. I thought you were joking at first,” he softly apologizes.
“Why would I joke about something like marriage? You know I’m the hopeless romantic, you should have believed me,” he laughs. “Now, will you answer my question?” You pause and take a deep breath, “Will you marry me, Kwon Jiyong?”
The same smile you remember seeing when you first met him slowly spreads across his face.
“Yes” he whispers, before pulling your face to his and gently placing his lips upon yours.