Sarang felt a little bit strange when she woke up. The place was very familiar of course, it was her room that she grew up and lived in for twenty one years before she left the house and moved in with Chanyeol. She felt sad because it had been a while since she woke up there, the nostalgia was too strong.

Chanyeol wasn’t next to her; she woke alone in bed just like she used to when she still lived there which made her miss those days even more. She missed the days when she woke up peacefully with no backaches caused by the uncomfortable couch, or strangers in the living room laughing at her, or just a man making it obvious to her that she is very unwelcomed and unwanted in his place.

Sarang closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. She didn’t want to cry yet she couldn’t prevent tears from forming and welling in her eyes. It wasn’t because of Chanyeol particularly, it was more that she just missed the older days and she wished they’d come back.

Two quick knocks were heard on the door before it opened and Sarang’s mother’s head popped in.

“You already woke up, sweetheart?” she smiled warmly and entered.

Sarang wiped her tears quickly as she sat up straighter.

“Good morning, mom” she greeted.

Her mother sat on bed too facing her daughter, “Your husband left earlier because he didn’t want to be late,” she said.

“Ah, is that so? It’s fine, I missed you and dad so I wanted to stay longer anyway.”

The woman studied her daughter’s face carefully before she gently held her hand and looked at her with worried eyes.

“Sarang-ah, were you crying?”

Sarang’s eyes widened a little then she quickly faked a smile, “No, mom, why would I?” she laughed, “I was just yawning that’s why my eyes are red.”

“You think I don’t know your eyes and voice? You think I can’t tell when you’re sad and when you’re not?”

Sarang let out a breath. “It’s really nothing, I just missed this place a little bit.”

“What about you and Chanyeol?”

“What about us?”

“Is he not being nice to you? Does he not treat you well?”

“He’s not that bad,” Sarang said, “I can’t expect him to be the nicest to me when he didn’t even know me at all, right? But sometimes, unexpectedly, he takes care of me” she half smiled remembering that he really was nice to her the day before.

“When Mr. Park offered to help your father with his business, his condition was to let you marry his son” her mother started. “Not because he was a bad person who just wanted to force things, but because he wanted to make sure a good woman could take care of his son, that’s exactly what he said.”

“Take care of him?”

Sarang was confused, why would it matter so much to find a ‘good woman’ for his son who is only twenty three years old. It’s not like he was missing the train. He was young and he still had a lot of time left to find a woman that would suit him.

“Hmm,” her mother nodded. “I, too, don’t know why he insisted so much that he chooses the right girl for his son, and I don’t know why he insisted that it was you either” she admitted. “But we wouldn’t blindly agree you know, not even for your father’s business because you come before everything,” she continued, “Your father knows them and they are good people, that’s why we agreed. He is a good boy I’m sure.”

“I know,” Sarang nodded, even though he was rude and mean sometimes she believed that deep inside he is a good man.

“Be patient with him, hmm? It will get better.”

“Alright, mom” she wholeheartedly agreed. Not only because her mother asked her to, but because she genuinely wanted to let things work out between them. She saw in him more than the cold image he tried to maintain and she really wanted to stick to him, she wanted to try her best with him.

***

After leaving the company, Chanyeol went to see his friends who gathered at Lay’s place since they hang out there a lot when they don’t have other plans. When he arrived Sehun and Baekhyun were already there drinking beer and talking about random stuff while on the other sofa Lay was lying down silently tapping on his phone.

“What’s up?” Baekhyun asked Chanyeol cheerfully. He had always been the loud and hyper one in their group. Chanyeol used to be too, but not anymore, whereas Sehun and Lay had always been calmer and quieter.

“Nothing much” he answered.

“Where were you yesterday?”

“Nowhere.”

“What do you mean nowhere?” Sehun asked, “We called you to go out but you wouldn’t pick up the phone.”

“Uh, yeah, I had something to do.”

“Something?” Baekhyun raised a brow confusedly, “What kind of—ah!” he suddenly smirked, “You were with your wife weren’t you?”

“Don’t call her that” he glared.

“Why?” Baekhyun didn’t stop smirking, “We all saw you carrying her home the other night.”

Chanyeol scoffed, “Listen, some random bastard wanted to touch her and she wasn’t in a good state to fight him so was I supposed to ignore it? Huh? Anyone would have done what I did so don’t overanalyze things.”

“Chill,” Sehun laughed, “There’s no need to get annoyed, I mean, you did jump off your seat to the other side of the nightclub like Tarzan when you saw someone’s hands on her but we’re not saying anything are we? Just chill!” He waved his hands in front of his chest.

Halfway his sentence both Baekhyun and Lay burst out laughing while Chanyeol just asked him to shut up because he wasn’t funny.

“But, Chanyeol-ah, why don’t you give her a chance?” Baekhyun asked in a more serious tone when he managed to stop laughing and Sehun nodded agreeing.

“She is really nice” he added to what Baekhyun said, “And she is pretty and kind, so if you like her—“

“I don’t like her, and there are many pretty girls in the world” he shrugged, “Does it mean I should love them all? Besides, you know very well that I don’t do love and relationships.”

“She already is your wife,” Lay dropped the phone aside and joined the conversation. “As Sehun said, she is pretty and nice, and it’s obvious that she’s trying and willing to let things work between you two, so don’t you think