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The words spill from her mouth slowly, hesitantly, as if they could inflict damage to him. Maybe they do, he visibly flinches back when he hears them.
“I love you…”
Her voice is smooth as silk, her lips are curled into a nervous pout, and her cheeks are stained the most adorable of red. It’s then that Saeran realizes he may not be good enough to hear those words from her. Him, with the unnatural eyes that could never seem to rest in one place long enough. Him, with his lanky body and barely passable knowledge of programming. He was the one she loved. The one that made her heart flutter, her cheeks redden, her smile brighten. All he could do was flinch away helplessly, because certainly he didn’t deserve that sort of love. He feels tears sting his eyes, staring at her in disbelief. She’s lying to him, she must be. She wants something from him, that’s the only reason anyone would ever tell him such sweet words. He’s trying to narrow his eyes at her, tell her it’s pointless to say this because he won’t fall for her trickery. But his heart kept pounding against his ribcage, screaming that he was more than willing to believe her confession, even if she was using it against him.
She’s taking a step towards him, and another and another, until her hand is caressing his cheek and he’s forced to look into her eyes. She’s smiling; he wonders why her hesitation seems to have disappeared. She looks so confident in her words, so happy. “Saeran, I really do love you. Please, don’t cry.”
His face flushes a new shade of red as he realizes he’d been crying, but he doesn’t move away from her loving gaze. He’s drawn to it, as if the danger he felt in his heart was something alluring. “Why do you keep saying that?” He asks finally, and he’s not glaring at her, he’s just curious. He just wants to know what it is she has to gain from her sweet lies. “Why do you keep telling me these things? What is it you want from me?” His voice was gentle, wavering as he accused her of telling falsities. Her look wavers, the look of beautiful confidence falling to a look of gentleness. Her smile stays, it’s so warm and inviting and it makes him want to stare forever.
“I’d never lie to you. I never have, and I never will,” She says as her hand trails up from his cheek to brush his banngs aside, pushing it past his ear. “I do love you. I don’t expect anything from you in return, not even to say those words back. I just want you to know, that even if you think the world is against you, I’ll always be by your side. I’ll always have your best interest.”
He isn’t sure what to think, it’s like his brain has short-circuited. He stares at her trying to process what she says, feeling more warm tears spill onto his cheeks. He hears her as she sighs carefully before she wraps her arms around him, pulling him into a warm embrace. Her delicate fingers trace patterns through is tacky jacket and her chin rests on his shoulder. He waits a long time before responding to her, his arms acting of their own accord and wrapping her waist. His face is pressed to the fabric of her sweater, he notes that she’s wearing a sweet scented perfume.
“Saeran~” She says his name like it’s a blessing, not a curse, and a soft kiss is pressed to the fabric of his shoulder. He hugs her tighter, closer, and he feels a sob bubbling past his lips. She sways with him slowly, her touches still slow and warming as she murmurs his name softly. Why was it so calming? Why was he so perceptive to her?
He finally stops her with an abrupt statement, it comes out almost garbled. “I love you…!!!” He chokes out, his heart pounding and his mind as determined as it could be. He knows that he doesn’t want anyone else by his side beside her, doesn’t need anyone else’s touches besides her, doesn’t want anything or anyone besides her. He loves her, and he was willing to trust her confessions for him because he hoped that’s what love meant. It meant trust and faith and affection and things he’d never felt for such a long time that she was able to show him. He loved her, he was certain he loved her with his whole heart, and she loved him too.