The golden hour cast soft shadows across your room, painting everything in a warm, amber glow. The soft hum of your ceiling fan blended with the distant sounds of summer—the occasional chirp of birds, the whisper of leaves, and somewhere, someone playing an old love song on the radio. Your heart was pacing, not racing. It didn’t feel frantic; it felt... full.

You sat on your bed, phone pressed to your ear, fingers subconsciously tracing the silver band on your ring finger. The engagement ring he gave you on October 17, 2023 still felt like a whisper of that surreal day. The day your lives changed—not by choice at first, but by fate.

The phone crackled for a second before his deep, velvety voice came through, laced with gentle affection."Hey, love... how are you feeling knowing it’s just one day left?"

His tone held the kind of excitement he rarely showed so openly. It was warm, almost boyish, and yet filled with the depth of a man who had waited far too long. You closed your eyes and smiled, a slow breath escaping your lips."I don’t know if I want to cry or dance, Taehyung... it feels unreal."

There was a pause—one of those beautiful, comfortable silences where hearts speak louder than words."You know,"he began again, his voice softer this time,"it’s been a dream for me. This moment. The last day... and tomorrow, I’ll be with you. My love. Forever."

Your breath hitched. Taehyung had always been composed, poetic in silence, but rarely direct like this. It was his way—quiet glances, soft gestures, midnight messages, and calls that lingered long after they ended. The word “love” had been unspoken between you two. Not because it wasn’t there—but because it was too sacred to be said too soon.

Now he had said it—twice. You pressed your fingers to your lips, your voice a whisper,"You’ve never said it like that before..."

You heard his faint laugh, the one that rumbled in his chest and tugged at your soul."Yeah... I know. I think I was afraid. That if I said it out loud, it would make the distance feel more painful.""But now? I want to say it. Loud. Clear. Over and over again."

You didn’t realize you were crying until a tear slipped onto your hand."I missed you, Taehyung. I missed you more than I thought was humanly possible."

"And I missed you even when I didn’t know how to say it,"he replied gently."Every morning I woke up thinking of your voice. Every night, I imagined your fingers laced with mine.""I remember that day... October 17th. I didn’t even know you. And yet, something in me just... trusted you.""And when I left on December 11, I didn’t say it, but I already knew—"He paused, breath catching."I was already in love with you."

You felt your entire being still. He said it.

Not like a confession.Not like a surprise.But like a truth that had always existed between you two, unspoken yet deeply known.

The room around you felt too small for all the feelings swirling inside.

"Tae..."you whispered.

"Hmm?"

"I fell in love with you too... quietly, completely, hopelessly. Somewhere between your handwritten letters, and the way you said my name like it was poetry."

He exhaled shakily, and you could picture it—his fingers brushing through his military-cropped hair, his lashes lowered, lips curved in that small, crooked smile he only wore when his heart was full."You know what I want tomorrow?"he asked."What?""I want to come home. And not just to a place. But to you. I want to take your hand and start again. Not as strangers in an arranged fate. But as soulmates... in a chosen forever."

Your tears fell freely now, but they weren’t sad. They were heavy with joy, with waiting, with the silent ache of days counted on calendars and memories folded into letters."Then come home to me, Taehyung," you said, voice trembling with love. "Come home, and don’t ever leave again."

He chuckled through his own emotions, and said the words that had been waiting two years to be said:"I love you. I loved you through time, through distance, and I’ll love you every single day after tomorrow. I’m yours.""And I’m yours,"you whispered, gripping the phone tighter."Always."

The call didn’t end with a goodbye.

It ended with promises wrapped in silence. A silence so full of love, it could’ve filled the whole sky.