"Saying sweet things like that isn't helping!!!" she giggle-sobs, because. Because. Being told that she's his top priority makes her want to cry more, not less.

Okay, well, so long as she's crying for a good reason rather than that fucking guy. He can handle that.

Yeah.

It doesn't take her too long to stop, though the first thing she looks at is his face instead of the sky.

...okay that's really flattering and is also making him blush again.

"H-hi," he says, which is approximately the dumbest possible thing he could say right now.

"Hi," she says, then she kisses him. Not a long kiss, just a gentle peck. To let him know that she cares. "What do you think, do my eyes look clear enough to properly take in the view?"

"...yeah."

Okay. Then - she'll look around, and see what kind of vista he's brought her to.

It's the Grand Canyon, in the United States.

It's the Grand Canyon at night, with no sun and no light pollution.

The moonlight lets her see her surroundings, and the sky is filled with stars.

It's a lovely and clear night, chilly though it is. There isn't a cloud in the sky, and they're far away from any lights that might disturb the view. It's gorgeous.

"Wow," she murmurs, staring up in wonder.

See, that was the reaction he wanted her to have immediately, rather than that fucking guy ruining it. But it's fine. He's fine. They're fine. Ha Si-yeon is dealing with it and he can actually just follow through on his promise to forget about it and focus on her.

He pulls away from the hug and takes her hand again. "I came here once to help with an S-rank that had been hiding for a long time," he says, rubbing circles on the back of her hand with his thumb. "And I never really got the opportunity," or had the willingness, "to come back and appreciate it without work hanging over my head. This is the first time."

"Really? I - guess it is a bit of an expense, isn't it," a frigid breeze whips past her dress and she lets out a snort, "and a little chilly, but." She leans into him and grins, then warms the air around them. "Funny thing, having you here makes it easier to keep us warm. Thank you for bringing me."

Honestly it had completely failed to occur to him that Hye-jin's dress was inappropriate for this weather, he had been too busy ogling her it is perfectly allowed for him to feel and express attraction for his arguably-girlfriend.

"I want to go more places with you. Make memories. Memories that aren't just dungeons. ...not that doing dungeons with you isn't, isn't fun or, I mean, you know what I mean. I want you to be in my life."

Giggle.

"Yeah. I - want you in my life, too. Even if all dungeons closed tomorrow and I were forced to boil water for my salary."

"...I had a thing I wanted to say and I'm not sure I'll remember it all but I don't want to just read from my notes, but—is it okay if I try?"

"Yeah. Though - honestly I - would also be fine if you read it from your notes, it's. Sweet to think that you put that much thought into this?"

Tae-gun nods but decides to not read them anyway. He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, then looks into her eyes. "I love you. You saved me from myself, and I, I hate being a story trope like this. I hate that I needed saving, and I hate that, that this, this maps so neatly to, to stupid romance stories. I love you. I think you're amazing. I love you for who you are, I want you to be the best you can be, I want you to be happy, and—you want me to be the best I can be, you want me to be happy, and you mean it, and, and you helped me get my friends back, and you helped me—have a life again. And I want to share that life with you." He stops as he realises what that sounded like, then stammers, "I, I'm not, like, proposing or anything," yet, "I mean, I just mean that I want to stay with you. But—if you ever want to leave—I don't—but if you—I just mean to—I'm bad at this." He definitely forgot how the rest of it went.

Another deep breath, then he continues. "I mean to say that I'm, I'm okay now. Or, not okay, not totally, but I'll, I'll live. I'm not gonna die anymore, I don't need saving or rescuing anymore. It's, you helped me get here. And I love you. And I want you to be with me if you like me, and not be with me if you don't, and not think about—about how I might self-destruct through backlash or neglect or anything like that. Because I'm okay now.

"So—what I mean is—do you want to date me? Officially, I mean."

Well now she's crying again. The good kind, though. Sniffle, sniffle.

"... Yeah," she agrees. "I - I think so? All of my doubts are like - I'm scared of losing what we have now, I'm scared of making the same mistake again, I'm scared of doing what's comfortable instead of what I want, but. I. Think I want you? Um. As I get to know the - the you that has a life and friends and, and taking me to the other side of the world for a date and. It's sweet. I like you, and I like this, and. ... Probably we've been basically dating for a while now, this is just a word, and I've been very silly?"

"I, I mean, we've been going at it in, in a weird order, right, I mean, we basically started living together out of necessity and we, um, we've been, you know, intimate and stuff, but this is our first real date, and, and we were first coworkers, and, um, what I mean is that I don't know what we've been doing but it's probably pretty close to dating but it had a lot of work in it and a lot of being cooped up in my silo and I want to do the other dating things with you, too, so. I guess it's. Not that different. But it's a bit different."

Giggle-sniffle.

"A bit. Um. Promise that things won't - I don't know, change from here, and you'll keep...?" she doesn't know how to finish this sentence, and isn't sure how to describe what she'd like him to keep doing. The words 'putting effort into her' seem so... pathetic.

"...I, if anything changes I, I hope it'll be for the better? Um, I mean. I don't know what—I'm not going to ask you to be my housewife if that's—"

Snort!

"I wasn't afraid of that, just, just - I - I don't know, there was a point where, in my last relationship, I - stopped being worth the effort. And asking for - anything like this - was basically weaponized against me, picked up by the media and turned into -" She shrugs, helplessly. 'Fire princess.' It doesn't sting as much anymore, especially with her having apparently ascended to the fire throne to become queen, which she finds pretty funny, but. ... It still stings a little. "- well. What happened. So. Um. Changes for the better are good, probably, just. I do still kind of want to keep things like - this? I like this."

He takes both her hands into his and lifts them to his lips to kiss her knuckles. "I like this, too. And I like you. I'm not going to—give up on you. On us. And if I do then—kick my ass to the curb because I suck. You deserve everything."

Giggle.

"Okay. Thank you." Sniffle. "You do too. If that wasn't clear. I'm sorry I'm a bit fucked up."

"...Hye-jin-ah I think I definitely win any kind of fucked upness competition, here."

.....

This earns more giggling.

"Okay, yes, and you also win the shittiest ex award, between the two of us, just. I guess what I mean is thank you."