10. The Red Bag

Eunji sighed in frustration.

Jaehwan looked up from the manga he was reading. He was snuggled into the beanbag on the floor behind her, and could not see her expression.

“What’s wrong?”

“Everything!” Eunji whined, flopping her head into her hands on her workstation. “It just doesn’t sound right!”

Jaehwan got up and walked over to Eunji, placing his hands on her shoulders. “Relax,” he told her assuringly. “There’s still time to work it out.”

Eunji lifted her head to turn and look at him. “The concert is a week away,” she pouted.

Jaehwan smiled at her as he massaged her shoulders, feeling Eunji relax under his skilled fingers. “It’s still possible,” he countered, as Eunji sat up and looked at her work again. “And I believe you can.” He placed a kiss on the top of her head.

“How can I help?”

-----

“I need to go shopping,” Eunji announced.

She had finally decided to call it a night, and Jaehwan was driving her back to her dorm with his compay car. Thankfully he did not have any schedules that day – only a flight out to Japan later that afternoon for a promotional show.

Jaehwan cocked an eyebrow at Eunji. “Now? At 3am?”

Eunji rolled her eyes. “No… I meant, in general. Tomorrow, the day after, whatever. As soon as possible,” she clarified.

“Okay…” Jaehwan let out slowly. “Do you need something?”

“Yes.”

There was a pause before Jaehwan glanced at her and chuckled. “Are you going to tell me what it is, or is this some kind of boyfriend test?”

“I need retail therapy.”

Now it was Jaehwan’s turn to roll his eyes.

“I’m feeling stressed!” Eunji whined. “Shopping makes me feel happy. It de-stresses me.”

“Okay, okay,” Jaehwan conceded, grinning. “So what kind of purchase will you need in order for this therapy to be successful?”

Eunji considered for a while. “A bag.”

“I see.”

There was another pause of silence before Eunji groaned. “But I don’t have time to do any retail therapy at all, with the way things are going with my concert music.”

Jaehwan chuckled again. “You’re being too hard on yourself, Eunji. Your music is perfect.”

Eunji sighed. “I just feel like I can do more, you know? It can always be better.”

“True. But not at the expense of your sanity and health right?”

“It’s my first solo concert,” Eunji pouted. “It has to be perfect!”

“Eunji…” Jaehwan sighed.

Eunji blushed as she glanced at him guiltily. “I’m pushing it too far again, am I?”

Jaehwan smiled. They have been having honest conversations about their responsibilities to their work and fans, and balancing that with other aspects of their lives – their relationship included. Jaehwan was glad that Eunji was opening up to having more non-work related activities and being able to stop and pull herself away from work when it got too overwhelming and consuming. It was not perfect – they still had their disagreements and differing opinions about what ‘balance’ is – but it was all work in progress.

He reached out to squeeze her hand. “Not yet, but close. I’m glad you’re getting more aware, though.”

Eunji smiled warmly back at him, and a comfortable silence settled over them.

“Oppa?” Eunji turned to look at Jaehwan.

“Mmhmm?” Jaehwan responded, not taking his eyes off the road.

“Oppa…” Eunji called again sweetly. “You’re going to Japan, right?”

“Yup, later today,” Jaehwan answered, before glancing at Eunji and noticing her batting her eyelids at him. He eyed her suspiciously. “Does this have something to do with your retail therapy thing?”

“No,” Eunji was offended. “I just wanted to ask if you could get those milk cheese biscuits from the airport when you come back.”

Jaehwan chuckled as he drew the car up to the back door of Eunji’s apartment. “Aren’t you supposed to be preparing for comeback? Are those allowed?” He teased.

Eunji pouted again. “Just one box won’t hurt. Just a tiny teeny box.”

Jaehwan laughed, and leaned over to kiss Eunji’s pouty lips. “You know that I will buy the moon for you if I could right?” He whispered.

Eunji smiled. “Does it come with the stars too?”

Jaehwan grinned before pulling her into another kiss.

-----

Knock knock

“I’ll get it! It’s Jaehwan-oppa,” Eunji called out to Naeun and Hayoung, who were watching television in the living room, as she rushed to the front door of her dorm. The two younger members chuckled to themselves. It was getting to be a common occurrence for Jaehwan to drop by the dorm every now and down. Not that they minded of course; he often came with goodies, boundless energy and laughs. It was really no wonder that only Eunji could keep up with him.

Jaehwan had sent Eunji a mysterious text to say he wanted to drop by for a while that night. It was the night before the opening night to Eunji’s solo concert, so Eunji guessed that he might be coming by to wish her luck.

“Annyeong, oppa… Oh!”

Eunji was surprised by the beautiful bouquet of flowers that Jaehwan had towards her, his face lit up with a big grin.

“Congratulations on your concert!” Jaehwan told Eunji, as he stepped into the dorm. He greeted Nauen and Hayoung politely as they came forward as well, drawn by the beautiful flowers and gushing over it.

“Wow, they’re so pretty!”

“Unnie, it’s your favourite flowers too! Oppa, you have done well,” Hayoung gave Jaehwan a thumbs up.

“Yeah oppa, you really know how to get on Eunji-unnie’s good side. Did you do something wrong?” Naeun teased.

Jaehwan grinned as Eunji blushed, shooing the young two members back to the living room and leading Jaehwan to her room for privacy.

“Kamsamida, thank you for the flowers,” Eunji told Jaehwan as she closed her bedroom door. “But it’s not my concert yet.”

Jaehwan shrugged. “I can’t send you flowers directly tomorrow without creating an uproar, so I thought I’ll personally deliver it to you today.”

Eunji gave him a wide smile. “That’s really very sweet, thank you.”

“I have a confession though,” Jaehwan continued. “It’s so pretty because I got the shopkeeper to arrange and decorate and wrap it nicely. But… I got you another present.” Jaehwan ped his backpack.

“Another present?”

Jaehwan nodded, almost proudly, as he pulled out a rectangular box from his bag. “This is all wrapped by me.”

The present was sloppily wrapped with multiple creases on the paper and tape stuck on its sides. “I can see that,” Eunji chuckled as she took the box from him.

“It’s so difficult to wrap a present,” Jaehwan pouted. “I think you need like 10 pairs of hands to get it perfect. Besides, it’s what’s inside that matters.”

Eunji grinned as she gave Jaehwan a peck on the cheek. “I know,” she whispered. “Thank you.”

“Open it!” Jaehwan told Eunji excitedly.

Eunji smiled at Jaehwan’s enthusiasm and did as she was told.

“You got me a bag?” She exclaimed.

“Do you like it?” Jaehwan asked, studying Eunji’s reactions anxiously.

Eunji nodded vigourously. She could not take her eyes off it. It was a bright red shoulder bag that was the perfect size – not too big to look bulky, yet not too small to be able to fit all her necessities. It was perfect.

“I love it,” she told Jaehwan finally. Jaehwan heaved a sigh of relief. “But how did you know…?”

Jaehwan blushed. “Actually, I didn’t know what to look for,” he admitted. “I never bought such… girl things before.”

Eunji’s eyebrows rose. “Really? Not even for your ex-girlfriend?”

Jaehwan frowned as he tried to recall. “No… we were only high school kids then. I think all I bought her were like cute notebooks and pens.”

Eunji chuckled. “So how did you end up with this?”

“I asked all the members to help me.” Jaehwan furrowed his eyebrows. “Which wasn’t too helpful in the end though. They all gave me different opinions based on their noonas. So in the end I went with Hakyeon-hyung’s suggestions, since I figured he knew you too, and was definitely more fashion-forward than me.”

Eunji smiled. “Well, I love it,” she declared, as she threw her arms around Jaehwan’s neck to hug him tightly. “Thank you so much, oppa.”

Jaehwan smiled against Eunji’s neck. “I figured that you would be too busy and stressed to do your retail therapy,” he told her. “I know getting a present doesn’t replace that, but at least you have something new to feel happy about.”

Eunji nodded. “I love you,” she whispered. “I love that you think about me and are always looking to make me happy.”

Jaehwan drew back to gaze into Eunji’s eyes, grinning. “That’s my life motto, didn’t you know? To make Eunji happy so that she will feel like the luckiest girl in the world.”

Eunji cupped Jaehwan’s face to pull him into a deep kiss.

“I am the luckiest girlfriend in the world.”

-----

Inspiration: Eunji carrying a new red bag and told fans that a friend bought it for her. 

AN: Sorry for the short chapter! Have been pretty busy the past couple of weeks. Hope this little inspiration based on Eunji's new red bag is still enjoyable.