Chapter Text
you really should focus on the trees.
you had begged jaehyun for the past few days to drive the two of you along a particularly woody road, just so you could watch the beautiful colors of fall.
and here you are. but despite the brilliant scarlet, golden yellow, and glowing orange calling to you like a fading light from among the trees, your eyes always seem to fall back onto him.
you finally decide to turn your body fully to the left, in a way admitting defeat. no matter how limited the time you had to view nature’s autumn showcase, you know that you prefer the sight of a focused, driving jaehyun much more.
you lift your right hand, tracing the side profile of his face slowly in the air. your heart warms while your finger swoops down his nose, and your lips mirror the smile on his pout as he realizes where your attention has landed.
“what are you doing?”
“looking at you.” you reply cheekily.
he chuckles, taking a quick second to glance back at you. you must be staring pretty hard, given by how quickly his ears and cheeks flush pink. he coughs softly to hide his embarrassment,
“you said you wanted to see the trees…”
“yeah, but i realized what good would that do when you’re right here? i feel so lucky to have this view alone. i could survive another year of waiting to see all these leaves die again if that means i get another five minutes of watching you.”
he playfully groans out your name, “you’re not being fair.”
“hmm, how so?”
“you’re being so cheesy that it makes me want to look at you, but i have to keep my eyes on the road.”
you laugh loudly at that. noticing how the road is mostly empty now, jaehyun decides to take his right hand off the steering wheel, stretching it out for you to take. you follow his cue, grabbing onto his hand with both of yours.
you compare hand sizes at first, smiling when the way your fingertips dance makes him ticklish. then you inspect it for a bit, hoping that each line on his palm adds more happiness and years to spend with you. finally, you flip it over gently and observe the back. it’s veiny and shows proof of all the hard work he puts into absolutely anything and everything that he commits himself to.
you look up and your view is once again filled with the person this hand belongs to, with the person whom your heart belongs to.
jaehyun is silent, but his dimples speak more than words. his happiness rivals the sun at this point, and its warmth is enough to fight the breeze flowing in through the slightly open windows. his eyebrows are more relaxed now, soothed by your loving attention. your eyes never leave his face as you take his hand again and bring it up to your lips, kissing the back of it ever so softly.
“i love you.”
he returns the sentiment, taking your hand interlocked with his and kissing the back of it as well, “i love you.”
your heart feels like it could leap out of your chest. it is filled with so much mirth in the moment that you don’t know how you could ever be happier than this. jaehyun is the love of your life.
with your connected hands on the center console, you focus again on the contrast between him and the surrounding scenery.
dressed in green corduroy, he sticks out like a sore thumb when surrounded by the passing oaks and maples. but in a way, it assures you that he is your constant, your person.
in a field of continuous deciduous, he is your evergreen.