From Past To Present, I Still Love You 59 Stay

"I mean if you want to, I can't stop you," she replied. Then she pointed her index finger at him. "But don't push yourself too much."

"I won't."

——-

Not realizing how fast time was passing by, the sky soon turned dark and the stars began to wake up from their slumber. When Yoona saw how late it was becoming, she lightly tapped on Minhyun shoulders.

"I think we should go now - you have work tomorrow and I have school."

Minhyun did not want to leave, but he knew where his priorities laid. He quickly stood up and dusted off the rocky bits off his suit. After he was finished, he offered Yoona a hand to head her stand up.

When she accepted, he gently pulled her up.

"Let's go."

Since they were quite far from the city they needed to leave earlier than they wished to. Both of them were adults who needed to tend their work tomorrow.

As they did not stray far from their original spot, they quickly walked to Minhyun's car before starting their long drive.

The area they were in was very unfamiliar to Minhyun. After all, he had been abroad for most of his life. Plus, he did not drive often as he had chauffeurs to do the job for him. Therefore, he spent a lot of time focusing on the gps to get on the main roads. About thirty minutes of silence past while he started the drive.

Once he cleared his confusion, Minhyun noticed that his companion was especially quiet. He decided to call out her name to see if anything was wrong. "Yoona?"

Since he was so focused on driving, he didn't realize that she was fast asleep. Her head rested against the cold window as her soft breathes echoed through the air.

He chuckled. How cute.

He didn't want to wake her up so he let her be.

They silently drove under the night sky for hours. Once in a while, Minhyun would glance over at Yoona to check if she was okay.

Finally, Minhyun stopped the car front of her apartment. They had finally arrived. For some reason, a sense of dread dawned upon him when he realized their time was over. Nonetheless he still had to wake her up to separate.

His eyes lingered on her face for a moment, before he gently shook her shoulder. "Wake up. We're here."

Yoona's eyes fluttered open. She stretched her arms out with a large yawn before rubbing her eyes. "Already?"

She turned to face the window to indeed find that she was back at home. When she looked down at her watch, she noticed that it twelve. They'd been driving for quite some time. She felt a bit apologetic towards Minhyun, since he had to stay awake during the whole ride.

Yoona let out another yawn, covering her mouth as it widened. "Sorry about sleeping. I didn't realize that I was napping the whole drive there."

"It's alright," Minhyun replied. He turned off the engine of the car. "You must've been tired."

She let out a teasing smile despite her half-closed eyes. "Was I? I think it was your comfy car seats that brought me to my slumber."

"Oh god."

His judgmental expression did not go unnoticed. She crossed her arms. Now she was fully awake. "Don't look at me that way. It's not my fault this single car seat costs more than my whole bed. It's very comfy and a great substitute."

Minhyun chuckled. "Do you want me to buy you a bed then?"

Yoona sent him a playful glare. "If you do, I will send it right back to you."

"I'll take my chances," he said. Of course, knowing what type of personality Yoona had, he wouldn't actually send her such an expensive present. She would immediately reject it. However, one of his plans was to ease her into being spoiled slowly. After all, how could he protect her if he couldn't buy her such precious gifts?

She stuck out her tongue. "Don't take your chance. I like my current bed a lot."

"More than my car seats?"

Yoona crossed her arms. Her eyes twinkled with amusement. "I choose to not answer your question."

"How childish," Minhyun replied.

She shook her head. "Choose what you want to believe. Either way, I am going to leave now to sleep on my wonderful bed."

Yoona quickly began to unbuckle her seat belt, enthusiastically leaving his car to go back to her apartment.

While she was busy getting ready to leave the car, she didn't notice the dark expression on Minhyun's face. Seeing Yoona so eager to leave arose a bitter feeling in Minhyun's heart. Did she want to leave him that much?

Instinctively he reached out for her wrist.

She did say to be honest right? Right now his heart was screaming for her not to leave. For some reason, there was something within him reluctant to let her go. He didn't know where it stemmed from. Why did they have such opposite emotions in regards to separation?

"Stay."

Hearing his low voice mutter that single powerful word made Yoona quickly turn her head around. She looked down at her wrist, where his large hand laid, before meeting his eyes. Surprised by the seriousness of his tone she let out an awkward laugh.

"Don't be clingy," she joked. "We can see each other whenever you want, plus your becoming my employer so it's all good."

So that was the reason to why she was eager. She knew that they would see each other in the future so she didn't worry. Of course, Minhyun knew as well but perhaps there was a small bit of insecurity within him from the day Yoona had left him as a child. That was traumatic.

After hearing her words, Minhyun let out a small smile. His heart had been reassured one last time.

Then he lightly pulled her wrist towards him, making her body lean forward, before letting her into his embrace. His arms were tight around her body, letting her feel all his warmth. At first her muscles were quite tense but they relaxed as time passed by.

The hug lingered for a few moments.

His face was in the crook of her neck and he let in a deep breath. "Okay."

Then he let go, leaving Yoona in a daze.

What kind of hug was that? It was very nice and she enjoyed it, but there was something emotional about their embrace on his end. She just couldn't pinpoint what.

When Yoona finally exited the car, she watched Minhyun drive away with a small smile on her face.

Well, despite her confusion there was one thing that she knew for sure. Hanging out with Minhyun was quite fun? Not quite what she expected.

Just like the old days.

Chapter end