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Chapter 12: The Home Star –  July 14, 2019

A couple of weeks later, on a Sunday evening, Namjoon led Eunji out to the patio behind his parents’ house.  He had made sure that no one else was going to be home tonight.  They were completely alone.  He had taken her out for a lovely dinner earlier before bringing her back home with him. 

Now he looked up at the midnight sky.  It wasn’t as dark as it had been that night four years ago.  Tonight the moon was beaming down upon them.  Nearly full, its rays illuminated both them and the earth’s dark dome hanging over their heads.  Creating the perfect environment for his plans tonight.

He glanced down at Eunji before releasing her hand.  Then he reached up, grabbed the collar of his T-shirt, and pulled it up over his head before holding it out towards her. 

“Go change into my shirt,” he whispered huskily.  “I want to take you for a dip in the pool.  Under the stars.”

She smiled up at him, the light of that moon bouncing off her teeth.  “Oh, you do, do you?”  She glanced around.  “Are we alone tonight?” she whispered.

“Yes,” he breathed.

“Turn around, Joon, and close your eyes.”

She shivered in anticipation as he turned away from her.  She slipped out of her dress.  It was a simple silk sundress.  Nothing fancy.  But also not something she could swim in. 

She pulled his shirt over her head as his tantalizing aroma enveloped her.  Woodsy.  Clean.  Musky.  She would never tire of Joon’s unique scent.  She did, in fact, wish to spend the rest of her life wrapped in it.

As she glanced down, she discovered that his shirts still dwarfed her.  She grinned like a tiny girl who had just stolen a shirt from her appa’s closet.  But then she frowned.  She would never have dared to steal a shirt from her father. 

Her gaze wandered towards the man she was marrying.  He was an altogether different sort of man than her father.  A fact for which she was truly grateful.  She hadn’t had to steal Joon’s shirt.  He had given it to her.  That’s the kind of man he was.  A man who would give her the shirt off his back.  Just so she could go swimming with him under the moonlight. 

A wide smile instantly illuminated her face even more than those gentle moonbeams did as she whispered, “Okay, Joon.  You can turn around now.”

He spun around and opened his eyes.  Then he grinned at her, causing those darling dents in his cheeks to dance once more.  He then headed for the pool, and she joined him.  A moment later, she seated herself on the edge next to him. 

Eunji felt something stirring in the air between them.  That bright electricity that lit up her heart and made every cell of her body hyperaware of him.  It was still arcing between them.  She didn’t even have to look at him to feel it tonight.  But as her eyes met his, it exploded around them, and she felt drawn into him.   

She leaned towards him.  It was a warm night, so she was grateful for the cool water as she immersed her feet in it.  Her bare legs slid farther into the water’s depths.  She made a sound that attested to her delight in its temperature.

He turned to grin down at her, his dimples winking at her.  “Ready to go all in?” he breathed. 

Then he jumped in and pivoted to pull her in with him.  His arms snaked around her waist.  And he drew her towards him.  She fell forward, coming to land against the length of him.   

As he pulled her up tight against his chest, he marveled at how perfect she felt in his arms.  He gazed down into her eyes for a moment as that lightning raced between them.  He bent his head, resting his cheek against hers, and inhaled deeply before breathing on her.  She realized then that he still had the ability to rob her of breath. 

He drew back, and her heart began to pick up speed as his eyes once again locked with her own.  If the last time they had stood in this pool together her heart had been attempting to flee from him, tonight it was surely running towards him.  She was reveling in the feel of his arms around her.  She was also greatly anticipating his kiss.

He leaned closer to her, his face descending towards hers.  Tonight being an echo of four years ago, her awareness of him was sharpened by these electrifying moments under the twinkling stars.  And the bright moon.  Surrounded by a midnight world that still fascinated her when she was in Joon’s arms.

“Eunji,” he whispered.  “You are a stunning beauty.  By starlight.  In daylight.  It doesn’t matter.  No matter where you are, you shine like a brilliant star.”

A moment later, he murmured, “I did miss you, Eunji, when I was away at school.  I missed you more than you can fathom.”

As she had craved his kiss four years ago, she yearned for the simple touch of his lips against her own now.  He lowered his head until his breath flowed over her cheek.  His lips caressed her skin as they traveled towards her ear.  Then he opened his mouth and breathed on her.  Her stomach did a somersault. 

His breath stirred the hairs at her temple.  She could hear him breathing.  And feel it too in the rise and fall of his chest under her fingertips.  The pad of her thumb caressed the bare skin of that chest.   She could feel the rapid beat of his heart under her fingertips.  His lips traversed her cheek again, headed for her mouth this time.  He moved just a fraction to bring his lips to the very edge of her own. 

But then he raised his head to capture her eyes with his.  He was drawing the moment out, making her heart race with expectancy.  Then he bent towards her again and slid the tip of his nose down the bridge of hers.  Her eyes fluttered shut. 

She was delighting in his touch tonight.  Gone was the girl of four years ago.  The one who had been too timid to kiss him.  Though she had been burning to do just that. 

Tonight she wanted to taste those lips.  Even if they didn’t taste like cinnamon.  She lifted her face towards his and smiled with delight as, a moment later, he captured her lips with his own.  As his mouth moved gently over hers, she sighed with happiness.

He drew back slightly a moment later to gaze down at her.  “Can you see me well enough?” he murmured. 

He had left a tiny light shining near their edge of the pool. 

She nodded.  “Yes.”

“Eunji, you’re my home too.  And ever since my eomma died, you’ve been the light shining in my life.  I have always felt that as her light faded from my life, God provided me with another light.  The one I found in your eyes the day I met you.  At her funeral. 

“I know you were just a tiny child then, but you lit up my life from the very beginning.  Your gaze drew me in.  A few years later, I fell headlong in love with you.  I’ve never emerged from that descent.  I’m still freefalling into your eyes.  I don’t want to face the rest of my life without you.  I never want to return to that darkness.

“Eunji, will you marry me?”

She beamed up at him, the moonlight blending with the natural light of her countenance.  And shimmering off the light of her eyes.  “Yes, Joon!”

He reached towards the edge of the pool.  Her gaze followed his hand.  She gasped as she realized a tiny box was resting on the concrete.  He picked it up as he completely released her.  With both hands, he pried the box open to reveal the ring hiding inside. 

His elegant fingers grasped the ring and pulled it out.  He turned towards her.  She lifted her hand to allow him to slide the ring on her finger.  Then she gazed down at it in wonder.  She inhaled sharply.

“Joon!  It’s a star!” 

Under the faint light planted near the pool’s edge, the diamond star sparkled in the darkness surrounding them.

“Eunji, if I’m your star, then you are mine.  I wanted to give you a ring that would remind you that I will always be your light in the darkness.  Just as you have been mine.”