49. The Games We Play

Seohyun noticed how his face contorted as if he was in pain. The worry grew on her until she could no longer stop herself. Careful not to squish her baby between them, Seohyun crawled to his side and gently shook him, “Oppa…”

He groaned but didn’t move and she took a deep breath before shaking him a little harder this time, “Oppa, wake up…”

Yonghwa jerked, his eyes flew open and squinted once he saw her stooping down on him. He grumbled something unintelligible then rubbed his palms on his face.

“Are you okay?” Seohyun straightened kneeling beside him.

“Uh-huh,” Yonghwa nodded almost confused until he started to get up making sure that the sheets covered his lower body.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” She insisted moving a little to give way for him while he stood.

Yonghwa faced away from her adjusting his shirt, “Yeah… I was just— did I wake you?” He managed to ask noticing that she too stood and walked towards the other end of the room.

“I fed Euna,” she poured a glass of water from the pitcher she kept in the room every night. Walking back to him, she handed him the glass, “Bad dream?”

He frowned as remnants of that dream came to him and when he noticed the worry that reflected in her eyes he shook his head ignoring the question then asked instead, “What time is it?”

“Past two…” she frowned when he couldn’t seem to look at her straight in the eye, “Are you sure you’re okay? You seemed shaken.”

Shaken would be an understatement. He was not only shaken, he was also very much aroused by that ‘bad dream’ as she put it and having to continue this conversation with her heavy-lidded eyes was so much of a torture. He turned away again pretending to put the glass on the bedside table wheen in fact, he was trying hide the bulge on his sweatpants. “Yeah, uhm, go back to sleep…”

Seohyun watched him walk away and disappeared in the adjacent room. She sat by the edge of the bed sighing to herself hoping that he was as okay as he claimed. The sweats on his face and the way he tried to avoid her made her worry. Indeed it was a bad dream and whatever it was, she was sure that it was about her. She could only wonder what it was about since asking him would be useless.

She brushed the strands of hair that dropped on the side of her face. Seohyun wanted to make him feel better.

Yonghwa put both hands on the wall as the water sluiced through his ness. He was still panting from the release he just had and hoped that she had gone back to sleep. The last time he had a dream like that was when he was still deeply strung out of that woman in Japan. The thought made him jerk up letting the rush of water wash his face, possibly the image of that woman he put in there. He shouldn’t really feel guilty about this dream since, at the end, it was Seohyun he was making love to but it was worse in a different level. He sighed hoping that time had passed since he came here and he wouldn’t have to deal with her especially since his arousal had abated.

But ‘hope’ was not on his side when he found Seohyun sitting on his side of the bed looking up to him when he emerged back in the room. She smiled at him and he mentally growled noticing that Euna was pushed a little towards her side of the bed.

“You had a bad dream…”

She spoke softly when he just stood there probably looking confused when in truth he was praying that his subdued excitement wouldn’t return, at least not too soon. “What do you have in mind, Seohyun-ssi?” He drawled hoping it would scare her but she only smiled, pulled her feet up on the bed and scooted back.

“Come back to bed,” she softly patted the space she created for him.

At last, he frowned at her but those smile told him she was not unnerved at all so he spoke in an admonishing tone, “This is not a good idea…”

Seohyun couldn’t help but giggle at that. She should have felt insulted but it was rather amusing to see him deny them of this situation. She shook her head then laid down on the bed facing him, “Come here, Oppa. I won’t try anything funny…”

He found himself laughing at that. It felt like the tables have turned. He could only shake his head knowing she was determined to have this. With that, he slid on the bed and just to probably rattle her a bit, he laid on his side facing her but Seohyun only looked at him with those y sleepy eyes of hers.

For a moment, they just stared into each other’s’ eyes as if testing who would break the contact first. But Yonghwa frowned when she cupped a hand on his jaw and shifted forward. As sudden as her movements were, Seohyun’s lips brushed to his that he couldn’t even react.

But before his mind could return back to normal, she turned away and faced Euna. Yonghwa laughed quietly, his eyes trained on the slope of her waist. Carefully, he moved closer and put a hand on her hip, when Seohyun didn’t move, he slipped his arm down her stomach until his palm rested on her warmth. He was not kidding when he said that this isn’t a good idea since he knew his body—his frustrated body and with the dream that he just had, he was quite sure the gun would be aiming for something.

Swallowing, he realized how disgusting his thoughts were, well, not disgusting but—

He sighed then jerked when Seohyun’s arm moved and her hand patted his hip. Yonghwa groaned when she sneakered.

“Go to sleep, oppa… stop thinking.”

He grinned, “And what do you think I’m thinking?”

“We both know what you’re thinking. Go to sleep. Besides, Christmas is almost here,” Seohyun spoke sleepily.

It only made him frown. Obviously, she was not sleep-talking. “What does that supposed to mean, Seohyun-ssi?” Yonghwa gently cajoled her to turn but the muscles on her stomach tightened, a sign that she was fighting him off so he grumbled a little louder, “Ya…”

She only giggled then replied in a much softer voice, “When we were young and wanted something from our parents, my mother would always say that… ‘Besides, Christmas is almost here’…”

Yonghwa was quiet for a moment, not because he didn’t understand—on the contrary, he understood very well what she meant. But then again, he smiled and raised a little with his elbow plopped on his side, “But Seohyun-ssi, Christmas is months away…”

He watched that smile on her lips while her eyes remained closed.

This silly woman.

But then, she her lips and sighed before speaking, “I was not talking about that Christmas Christmas… but your Christmas…”

Yonghwa found himself chuckling out loud that Euna jerked. Mumbling an apology, he watched Seohyun gently rubbing the baby’s chest and this time too she opened her eyes. Satisfied with her answer, Yonghwa decided that his next move was definitely necessary for this moment. Carefully, he kissed her cheek and noticed how she seemed to have been frozen still.

He grinned moving away from her face but spoke, “That, Seohyun-ssi, seals the deal…”

~~~~

Hyeonji frowned at the documents in her hand then looked up to see her sister-in-law pacing about almost absentmindedly. Eunsuk called her the night before and asked if they could talk to which she initially set the time around noon. However, the younger woman said that she could no longer wait and it made Hyeonji realize the enormity of what she was going to say.

And this time, seeing the papers and photographs spread on her desk, she realized that it was indeed enormous. “Sit down, Eunsuk, you’re making me dizzy…” she finally said but softly that the woman only sighed and took the seat across her.

“Unnie, the two confide to you more,” Eunsuk started with a rather sullen tone, “Do they know the plan?”

Heyonji tapped the pencil she was holding. The two obviously didn’t, given the situation. If her sister-in-law was astounded by the surprising twist, what could be said about her own feelings right now? She sighed and shook her head, “As far as I know they don’t know about it…”

“But, does my son know about her background? Her parents?” E