“I like the crib right there, by the window.”

 

Hyunjoong heaved the thirty by fifty four inch wooden crib to where Somin had instructed him. He had moved the crib almost a million times trying to satisfy Somin’s wants.

 

“Yes, I like it there. That’s perfect!”

 

Hyunjoong watched Somin take the baby mobile from the floor and begin hanging it up above the crib. Hyunjoong stepped in to help her. Once they finished, they both took a step back to admire their work.

 

In the past two weeks, it took one whole week to get the baby room painted into a pale yellow that they both agreed on. Painters had to be hired because the fumes were bad for Somin and Hyunjoong wasn’t the type to be aimlessly painting a room. He had no art skills for that. After it had dried and was ready to be furnished, Somin quickly put Hyunjoong to work. He began assembling the baby crib they had bought at the mall together. With Somin’s (nagging) help, in just two days with work and all, they had finished the baby crib successfully. It was only one of the many things they needed to get done for the baby room.

 

“We can buy the changing table another time. I want shelves installed on this side of the room so that I can fill it with books. Isn’t that a good idea?” asked Somin.

 

Hyunjoong nodded. “You love to read. Do you want me to put the rocking chair in the office up here?”

 

Somin shrugged. “We’ll see. Maybe I’ll just buy a new one.” Somin looked at Hyunjoong. “Do you have the pictures that we ordered from the camera? I bought all the frames we need the other day.”

 

He nodded. “Their downstairs in the living room, want to help me put them in?”

 

Somin smiled enthusiastically. “I want to see the pictures too!”

 

They made their way downstairs and into the living room. Hyunjoong took the bag from the local drugstore and shook the bag in front of Somin’s face. She eagerly held her hand out to take the bag from him.

 

As he sat down beside her, he watched her empty the contents of the bag and spread it around the table. Hyunjoong spotted frames underneath the coffee table and lifted them out.

 

Somin began to laugh out loud. “What is this?! From the beach?” She showed Hyunjoong the picture. It was of her with sand all over her after they had made the sand castle together. “Look at this one!” It was of Somin flailing around at the beach from happiness. “Why is it that you take the most unflattering pictures of me?!”

 

Hyunjoong held up a blow up version of the two of them when they wore the couple shirts from the baby store together. “Look this one is nice.”

 

Somin held up the frame that would fit into it. “Here put it in.”

 

A few minutes later, Hyunjoong hung the large frame over their T.V. with Somin’s guidance. He turned back to Somin who gave him a thumbs up as she stuffed pictures into medium sized frames.

 

Two weeks ago, Somin had enthused to him that it was time to personally decorate the house. When they had first moved in, the house was already furnished for them. Nothing of their own, well except for personal belongs, were theirs. It didn’t have evidence of them living together. So, they took up the project of decorating the house their way.

 

Somin put her hands on her hips with a satisfied smile. “It’s perfect. You’re being so obedient today Hyunjoong.”

 

He got down from the little ladder stool and put his arm around her. “I’m twenty four years old, I’m too old to be obedient. I should be rebellious and out partying with girls and drinking.” He felt her slap him hard on the arm. He did a fake ‘ouch’ face while rubbing his arm.

 

“I’m twenty one years old. I should be the one partying and drinking. Not you. You’re too old for that.”

 

“Old?!”

 

She began lightly touching his face. “Look at all these wrinkles…tsk tsk! And these under eye circles!”

 

Hyunjoong lightly pushed her hands away. “I’ve been working at the hotel for long hours that’s all.”

 

“You need to come home earlier.”

 

“Why? Do you miss me?” teased Hyunjoong.

 

“No!” exclaimed Somin. “It’s just that you’ll end up looking like a panda. You’re not far from it.”

 

“Hey!”

 

She laughed at him as she retreated towards the kitchen. “I’ll make you lunch before I leave. Is a

sandwich okay?”

 

“Why? Where are you going?” asked Hyunjoong as he followed her.

 

“I’m having lunch with Yoomi,” She replied.

 

“Why?!” whined Hyunjoong. “I asked for the day off today just for you!"

 

“Oh stop it,” laughed Somin. “I’ll be back in an hour or so. Besides I haven’t seen Yoomi in a long time.”

 

“What are you talking about?! You just saw her last week!”

 

“That’s a long time for me!”

 

“Fine, fine,” said Hyunjoong pouting. “Leave me alone here.”

 

“Done!” Somin placed the sandwich neatly on a plate. She turned to Hyunjoong and gave him a quick peck on the lips. “Be good and eat the sandwich.”

 

Hyunjoong pulled her closer to him. “How about you tell Yoomi you accidentally forgot and juts cuddle with me in bed.”

 

“As tempting as that sounds, I can’t.” She let go of his hands. “I promised her this last week.”

 

She moved aside and began putting on her shoes.

 

“Wait, are you going to walk there?”

 

“Nope! Yoomi’s been waiting for me for ten minutes. I’ll be back in an hour! Bye!”

 

Hyunjoong watched her close the door. He waited to hear the car speed off before taking a seat on the kitchen stool and eating his sandwich.

 

As Hyunjoong ate, he reached into his pocket and produced a small box from it. He placed it across from him and smiled at his simplicity. “Today is the day.”

 

Switch~...//...//...

 

“I’d like fettuccini and a cup of green tea please.” Somin handed the menu back to the waiter.

 

He turned to Yoomi and asked her what she’d like.

 

“Baked ziti,” Yoomi replied. “And a glass of lemonade please.”

 

The waiter bowed to the two of them and left.

 

Yoomi picked up her glass of water and sipped. “How’s the home front?”

 

Somin laughed. “The home front? It’s fine.”

 

“Are you two loving it up over there?”

 

“Loving it up? You have too much free time on your hands don’t you?”

 

Yoomi sadly nodded. “The guy that replaced you barely talks to me. All I do is either run off copies or answer the calls on the phone. It’s so boring that I’ve started reading fan fiction during work!”

 

“You really are hopeless without me,” teased Somin.

 

A few minutes later, their order arrived. They began to eat deliciously. The restaurant that they were having lunch at was a Korean-Italian restaurant. If you wanted good ole traditional Korean food, it could be found on the other side of the menu while the other had Italian dishes. Somin liked this place especially not just because of food but for comfort.

 

Suddenly Yoomi’s phone went off. She scrambled around in her bag and took out her cell phone. “Hello? Hey!”

 

Somin stared at her with curious eyes as she took a bite of her fettuccini.

 

“I’m busy right now. Is tonight okay?” Yoomi smiled. “Okay, see you.”

 

Yoomi hung up the phone and attempted to put her phone away slyly.

 

“Who was that?” asked Somin giving Yoomi a ‘don’t think you’re going to get away from this’ look.

 

Yoomi looked down at her plate, avoiding her gaze. She swirled the baked ziti with her fork. “No one,”

 

“No one? Then you wouldn’t mind if I borrowed your phone—“

 

“No!” Yoomi looked up at Somin, her cheeks tinted with natural blush.

 

“Come on Yoomi,” said Somin. “We’ve never kept secrets from each other.”

 

She sighed. “Fine, I met a guy—“

 

“A guy!” squealed Somin. “Who?!”

 

“Well I mean I wouldn’t have met him if it weren’t for you and Hyunjoong.”

 

Practically jumping out of her seat, Somin excitedly said, “Don’t tell wait! Is it Han Jinho?!”

 

Yoomi nodded.

 

Somin squealed louder. All eyes in the restaurant were turned towards her but she didn’t care. “I knew

it!”

 

“Shhhhh!” Yoomi gave her a look. “People are staring!”

 

“When he smiled at you the first time we met I knew he liked you!” screamed Somin, oblivious to

everyone around her. “When did this start?!”

 

“A couple of weeks ago. He asked me out for coffee and yeah…”

 

“I’m so happy for you! Oh Yoomi, it’s been a while since you’ve had a boyfriend.”

 

“Hey!”

 

Somin rolled her eyes playfully. “You know what I mean.”

 

Yoomi laughed. “We just started into something, it’s no big deal Somin.”

 

Somin shook her head. “Everything’s a big deal.”

 

They laughed and went on eating their food. They caught up and Somin kept badgering Yoomi with questions. Everything was turning out for the both of them. Somin hoped it would stay that way.

...........................................

 

“Jinho works at the Daejo Hotels. He’s the head manager in the management department. I heard that there’s some sort of vacation offered to all the employees. It’s at JejuIsland. Are you going?”

 

Somin shrugged. “Are you?”

 

“Well, he invited me. So I said yes.”

 

“You do realize it’s a couples retreat.”

 

“It’s a couples retreat?!” squeaked Yoomi as she slapped her hand on her forehead.

 

Somin chuckled as she made a circular motion with her finger in the air towards Yoomi. “He’s got you wrapped baby.”

 

“Shut up!” Yoomi turned a corner and arrived outside of Somin’s house. She turned to Somin once the car pulled to a stop. “Look, you have to come then if it’s a couples retreat. Its next weekend, please come!”

 

“Look, I’ll ask Hyunjoong about it but I’ve never heard him talk to me about it. His dad mentioned it at dinner a couple of nights ago. So, I don’t know.”

 

“Somin! Please!”

 

“I’ll ask Yoomi, but I don’t promise anything.” Somin opened the car door and began to step out.

 

“Call me tonight okay? If he says yes!” called out Yoomi.

 

“Okay! Bye!”

 

Somin waited for Yoomi to leave before she began to head into the house. Somin opened the door to a quiet space. She figured he must be asleep. As she got closer into the living room, she surprisingly found him wide awake on the sofa eating chips. Somin leaned against the wall with her arms crossed. “Well it looks like you’ve been productive for the past hour.”

 

From the sound of her voice, he jumped up from his position and faced her. “You’re back.”

 

Somin looked around her. He had finished placing the picture frames around the room. It looked better. “I see you finished.”

 

“Yeah, it didn’t take a while. Then I got bored.” He got up from the couch and walked towards her. “How was lunch with Yoomi?”

 

“It was good. Guess what? Her and Jinho are sort of dating.”

 

“What does sort of dating mean?” laughed Hyunjoong.

 

“Like…they’re seeing each other but it’s not official.” She reached towards his shirt and dusted off the chip crumbs. “Don’t tell me you got crumbs on the floor. Then you’ll have to vacuum the living room again.”

 

“I didn’t, I promise.”

 

“Okay…” Somin smiled at him. “I’ll take your word for it.” She strode past him and opened her office door. “I’m going to read for a bit.”

 

“Can I use your laptop? I just want to check up on some things,” said Hyunjoong.

 

“Sure,”

 

Somin entered her office first as Hyunjoong trailed behind her. Somin looked down at the books that were sprawled on the little table in the sitting area. She decided to pick up Relax, You’re Pregnant since it was the only unopened book. She heard Hyunjoong typing away on her laptop. She settled into the couch. Somin flipped to the last bookmarked page and began to read.

 

“Yoomi asked us if we were going to JejuIslandnext weekend,” said Somin without glancing up from the page. “Jinho invited her to go along with him.”

 

“Jeju Island?” questioned Hyunjoong. “What’s going on in JejuIsland?”

 

“The couples retreat your dad mentioned to us at family dinner. Yoomi wants to know if we’re going.”

 

“Do you want to go?”

 

Somin shrugged. “I don’t know. Do you want to go?”

 

“It’s up to you. I usually don’t go to those type of things. It’s not my style.”

 

Somin looked up from her book with an amused expression. “Then what exactly is your style Kim Hyunjoong?”

 

He looked at her with a smirk. “I don’t know. It’s just that I’ve never been to a couples retreat, so I wouldn’t know what to do there.”

 

She scoffed. “We hand out at the resort, relax, and have a good time! What wouldn’t you know how to do?”

 

He chuckled. “So I guess that means we’re going.”

 

“Well…” said Somin looking back down at her book. “Yoomi really wants me to come…”

 

“Alright, alright. I get it. We’re going. I’ll set up what we’ll need tomorrow. Just go back to reading your book.”

 

“Okay, okay,” said Somin biting back a smile.

 

The office turned quiet as Somin and Hyunjoong did their own thing. Somin was getting really into the book when suddenly on page 116, it was folded in half. Curious she opened the flap to find a yellow post it note folded in half stuck on the page. She laid the book on her lap and took off the sticky note. Somin opened it and found the four most shocking words written on it.

 

“Will you marry me?”

 

Somin looked up, her eyes wide open from shock, as she found Hyunjoong down on one knee in front of her holding a ring in his hand. 

 

“You’re serious?” she whispered.

 

He nodded at her smiling. “Remember when I wore the couple shirts we got at the store and you said if I wore it for a whole day you’d do what I want. I won that bet because I wore that shirt the whole day. So what I want and what you’ll promise me is to marry me. So, Jung Somin will you please marry me?”

 

Without hesitation Somin said, “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

 

Hyunjoong gleefully slid the engagement ring on her ring finger. Somin stood up with Hyunjoong admiring the simple diamond ring that adorned her hand.

 

She looked up at him. “Are you sure you want to marry me?”

 

Hyunjoong chuckled. “Of course I do.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

Hyunjoong pulled her into his arms. “I’ve never been so sure in my life.”

 

Somin kissed Hyunjoong on the lips as small tears fell from her eyes. “You’re crazy.”

 

“I know.” Hyunjoong admitted as hugged her. “We just need Hyunjoong junior to pop out and we’ll be complete.”

 

Somin pulled away from Hyunjoong laughed. “Wait a minute, Hyunjoong junior?”

 

“Yeah, why not?”

 

“Okay, no. Definitely not. We’re not naming him or HER Hyunjoong junior.”

 

He ignored her as he put his arm around her shoulders. “Yes we are. Come on, let’s go make a phone call to our parents.”

 

Somin groaned as they went to the kitchen to use the home phone. “We won’t hear the end of this from our mothers.”

 

Hyunjoong laughed, squeezing her shoulders. “You know it.”

 

 

 

Note* Hi everyone! Hope you like it so far. Just a little side note for you guys. It is the year 2006 right now. It will jump to 2011 soon. I used their ages that they are now for 2006 because it just wouldn't make sense if Somin was fifteen and pregnant (well it could but it just wouldn't) It would be way too young if I really kept to the accuracy. Also, if a reader can guess what the significance of page 116 is I'll update two chapters at the same time. Hint: Date. Please comment and spread the love of P&L to others! Thanks subbies for being patient and with me so far. I know I am slow and take a while but I honestly am picky about the outlines, process, and developement of the story that I can't stand mistakes. Well except for spelling and grammatical errors here and there. Much love to everyone ~ sarangstoryxx