Hyoyeon woke up early the next morning and immediately headed over to the Lees’ Residence to keep her promise to Donghae. He probably was still in bed suffering from a terrible hangover – that uncontrollable boy! But she adored him all the same.

It had been almost 10 years since they first met and she could honestly say that meeting him had changed her life. His friendship and pure heart had erased the pains of her harsh past and taught her to trust again – to believe in hope and new beginnings. Like his name, he really is like the sun in her life..

..and often, she tries to think of a way to repay him back, but she still hasn’t come up with something yet…

She was in front of their house now and even from outside she could see the curtains in the living room still drawn. Smiling, she took her copy of the key out and slipped inside.

“Boo!”

Hyoyeon almost jumped out of her skin; poised to let out a scream but a hand quickly covered it while another held her waist, holding her from falling.

“Works like a charm every time,” Donghae smiled against her ear.

Hyoyeon pulled his arm off with force, “YA! YOU REALLY WANT TO SEE ME TO DIE?”

*shhhhhh* He put a finger to her lips (‘bwahahaha I love skinship!’ Donghae was feeling twenty kinds of giddy) “Quiet! Appa’s still sleeping. Do you want to wake him up?”

Hyoyeon grabbed his arm and dragged him into the kitchen, “Is sajangnim* okay? He usually doesn’t sleep in this late!”

“I think his insides are finally catching on to the fact that he’s an old man, even though his face hasn’t” Donghae chuckled.

Hyoyeon’s palm smacked against his arm again, “Yah! Don’t say that about your dad!”

With a pouty face, Donghae nodded his head and rubbed his arm at the same time.

Hyoyeon’s expression softened immediately. “Hey don’t look at me like that. I know you were just kidding and I was too.” Ruffling his hair affectionately, she started moving around the kitchen in order to get the haejangguk* ready. “I’ll make you the best soup to make up for it, okay?”

Hyoyeon knew her way around the kitchen well. She often dropped by for dinners and ran errands for Mr. Lee when Donghae was there, and even when he wasn’t; since her aunt and uncle both worked at the hospital and rarely ever had normal hours. She had a cousin, Taeyeon, whom she was very close to – being of the same age – but Taeyeon and her best friend Sunny were both away in Busan for University. Her aunt and uncle had also insisted on sending her to school but Hyoyeon didn’t want to be a bigger burden than she already was. Plus, she wanted to go to a special University for Performing Arts – so she worked at the café six days a week –and had become a right hand woman of sorts to Mr. Lee.

Hyoyeon frowned as she tried to reach for a bowl. It was usually on the lower shelf but someone appeared to have moved it. So she jumped a few times; feeling too lazy to go to the living room to bring in a chair.

She heard muffled giggles behind her and then a second later, a longer arm reached high over her shoulder.

“Hey shorty!” Donghae’s boyish smile greeted but instead of helping her get the bowl, he just continued to stand there – hand poised over hers. She waited for him impatiently.. but when nothing happened, Hyoyeon simply elbowed his stomach lightly and went off in search of a chair.

“Aish” Donghae swore under his breath. That girl had a serious talent for ruining epic romantic moments. He had put those bowls on the high shelf for a reason – an idea he got from watching City Hunter a hundred times – but the clueless girl just HAD to get impatient.

Nothing seemed to work! All his confessions were taken as jokes – to be fair though, he did have a player’s reputation – but he had only started fooling around with other women to get his mind off her. And now those “activities” actually provided him with endless enjoyment but he would give everything up in a nano second if she would just accept him.

Lately he had been thinking that the only way to get her to wake up would be to kiss her but his father had convinced him to try one last thing.

*Flashback*

“Donghaeya you haven’t said a word since we left the restaurant, are you alright son?”

“Like you care” Donghae mumbled under his breath, face looking so down and depressed it made Mr. Lee’s fatherly instincts clang like fire station bells. He hastily placed a comforting arm on his shoulder, “Tell appa what the problem is.”

“You” came the grudging reply leaving the older Lee genuinely shocked.

“What have I done?”

“Do you….” Donghae turned away and his voice got softer, “Do you really think I’m not good enough for Hyoyeon?”

Realization dawned on Mr. Lee and he immediately turned to Donghae, “Ah so it’s about that! Don’t you know your old man any better? Of course I think my progeny is the greatest human to have ever graced the planet. You have my superior genes after all!” Donghae cracked a smile.

“I just think you should go about it a different way, Donghaeya. You know son.. women, they like to be romanced, to be persuaded, to be given time to realize their feelings on their own and not from your words but from the things you do. That way when they fall for you, it lasts a lifetime. Take your mother and me for example, just like you, I’d stand outside her college gates everyday telling her I’d never go away until she agreed to go out with me. And she did finally, but after that date she told me not to contact her again. I couldn’t understand why since I had constantly told her how I felt about her but I guess she didn’t take me seriously with my well known reputation. So I decided that I’d show her that I was in love with her for real.”

“How?”

“I stopped running after other women for fun and promised to wait for her while she went to the States to finish her degree. In the meantime, I finished business school and started helping out with the company. It got her to believe that I had matured and could be taken seriously. So when she came back, she told me how much she had missed me and we got married a week later.”

Donghae turned his father’s words around in his mind. They made sense… after all ever since he’d met Hyoyeon, he usually just acted like an attention craving child around her.. no wonder she didn’t take him seriously!

An idea began to form in his head.

“Thanks appa, you’re the best!”

“So are you, son. Now what do you say I sleep in tomorrow so that you and Hyoyeonnie can spend some time together in the morning? It will be a chance to show her the new you?” Mr. Lee’s eyes twinkled mischievously and Donghae tackled him with a hug.

“Forget about cooking right now, Hyo!” Donghae took her hand, “The banging and clanging of pots and pans are going to disturb appa. Let’s go to the market and get some groceries first!”

************************************************************************

The pair walked around the local farmer’s market still hand in hand. Hyoyeon was used to it. There wasn’t anything romantic about it – it just was comfortable.

As they perused the fresh produce and tried the tasty samples on display, they were greeted by happy faces at every turn.

“Donghae ya! Hyoyeonnie! Good Morning!”

“Hey Donghae? Are you alright? I thought you never got out of bed before noon.”

“Hyoyeonnie! I’ve saved some oranges for the marmalade you wanted to make. Don’t forget to take them when you’re leaving.”

“Donghaeya, it’s been a long time! You’re even more handsome than the last time I saw you.”

*Ouch* Donghae pouted as they turned the corner. The last stall ahjumma – Mrs. Hwang – had pinched his cheeks and now it was all red and angry looking.

Hyoyeon giggled, “ it up! She only did that because she thinks you’re cute. No woman can resist that adorable face – least of all 55 year old Mrs. Hwang.”

“Then are you not a woman?”

“Huh?”

“You seem to resist my adorable face,” he pointed out with a grin and laughing, Hyoyeon smacked his hand. “Hey! Let’s go try those spiced pumpkin cakes.”

As they sat down at a tiny table for two in front of the Bakery stall, Donghae continued to pester Hyoyeon.

“Ya! Do you think I’m cute or not?”

“You already know the answer.”

“I don’t silly woman. Why do you think I’m asking?”

“Because I enjoy seeing you pout?”

“Good morning my lovebirds! What can I get for you this fine day?” The grandma who ran the stall, along with her husband of 48 years, greeted them with a warm crinkly smile.

“Aniyo.. we are not…” Hyoyeon started to protest but Donghae silenced her with a light pinch on the arm. “They are delicate older people. You don’t want to disagree with them,” he whispered under his breath.

“We’ll have a big slice of pumpkin cake to share please.”

The grandma brought over the order and then sat down to join them.

Her eyes grew misty with fond memories, “Ah young love!”

“We are –“ He pinched her arm again.

“Yes, halmoni, Young love just like you and haraboji.”

“You know,” the older lady’s face suddenly looked 10 years younger as a playful smile appeared on her face – eyes twinkling like she was about to let them in on a secret treasure – “I always knew you two would get together. Ever since you showed up here nine years ago.”

“REALLY?” Donghae looked at her eagerly – happiness bursting in his heart. He often heard that from people and it never got old.

“The way your eyes look at her is exactly how my husband looks at me.”

Another young couple made their way towards the stall, “We’d like to order please.”

Making a little pouty face, the grandma stood up, “You two better be married the next time you come here. I am getting old so I don’t want to go to heaven before I see that!”

“Halmoniiiii!” Hyoyeon cried out but Donghae simply put his arm around Hyoyeon’s shoulders and gave the old lady a wink, “We will, halmoni. Don’t worry.”

notes:

* sajangnim = boss

haejangguk = kind of korean soup, good for hangovers

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I'm sorry for ignoring this story. not a good excuse but i will make it up to you by posting another chapter soon. this is unedited because i just finished writing and have to go somewhere but i will come back and edit and post more. thanks for reading/subscribing/and most of all commenting. happy holidays