UNDODGEDBULLET | four

Everything about their relationship is done backward, a total opposite from a conventional relationship. Most couples start by learning to know each other first, dating, saying their I-love-yous and so on; and only after that, they proceed to marriage (if they even get that far). The physical part of a relationship grows and progresses somewhere in between those stages depending on the couple’s readiness.

Sehun and Joohyun’s love story begins with marriage and then bam, everything else comes after that right at the same time. It's like going from zero to a hundred miles per hour in a blink of an eye. Every day becomes a new learning experience, a new game of exploration that is exhilarating and terrifying all at the same time.

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She learns that there’s no real privacy in marriage. He learns that he really enjoys pushing her boundaries.

Joohyun is used to being alone. It’s her nature as an introvert after growing up as an only child with two busy parents. Even though she’s made many friends along the way; she’s also perfectly fine being by herself, living in her head, having her own space. But then one day she said her vow at the altar to this handsome man with piercing eyes and suddenly everything becomes ‘them’ and not ‘her’ anymore.

“Are you hungry?” He whispers in her ear as they lay on the bed sated and exhausted on their first morning together as husband and wife.

She closes her eyes, still trying to catch her breath. She realizes that she is indeed starving. She was so nervous yesterday that she had barely eaten anything during their ceremony and reception. And then last night (and this morning) happened and now her energy has completely depleted. She totally blames him for the latter though.

“Gosh, yes, I’m starving. Can we go have breakfast now?”

She hears her stomach growls in agreement and they both burst into laughter at the perfect timing. She forces herself to get up, being careful to pull the bedsheet around her as he watches in amusement. It’s kind of funny to see how very self-conscious she still is after everything they’ve done together.

He lazily reaches out to pull her arm before he nods in the direction of the coffee table. “There baby, look. I brought breakfast up already.”

She almost squeals when she sees the bibimbap. That’s exactly what she wants to eat right now. She gives him a bright, sunny smile and eagerly jumps off the bed in her excitement. “Bibim-owhh!” She immediately winces out loud once her feet hit the floor. She catches the smirk on his face and gives him a glare. “Yaah, do you have to look so smug?”

He quickly changes his expression into a neutral one as he sits up before he gives her a shrug. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, baby.” He gives her an innocent look while he puts his shorts on. “Are you really okay? Do you want me to carry you there?”

She ignores her flushed cheeks and huffs as she pulls the bedsheet tighter around her. She's so not fooled by his innocent face. “I can manage just fine, thank you.”

Her stomach growls again and her attention quickly goes back to the delicious looking food waiting for her. She drags the bed sheet with her, taking care to be more careful with her movements but then after a few steps she realizes she really needs to go clean up first. The clean freak in her just can’t allow herself to enjoy food in this condition.

Brush teeth and shower first then.

He notices she’s heading towards another direction instead of the sofa. “Yaah, where are you going?”

She just waves him off as she heads toward the bathroom. “Go and eat first, Sehun-ah. I need to brush my teeth and shower first before I can eat.”

She gasps when she realizes he had jumped off the bed and is suddenly standing next to her. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going with you.” He says it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

She nearly chokes when she hears his reply. “I’m going to the bathroom!”

“So? I need to take a shower too. Let’s save water and do it together. Come on!” He puts his arm around her shoulders and nods toward the bathroom.

“T-that’s okay, I like showering by myself.” She stammers as she tries to push him away. Seriously it’s like pushing on a large boulder since he doesn’t even budge. She just wants a quick shower so she can go eat and she doubts anything would be quick when he’s involved. And what is this anyway? Can’t she go into a freaking bathroom in peace? “Yaah! Stop harassing your wife already! Go eat!”

“I’m not eating without you.” Unlike his, her petite figure moves immediately when he gives her a gentle push toward the bathroom. “Come on baby, do you know how many people in the world live without clean water? Think about them for a second. We all need to do our part to conserve water.”

She sighs as she finally relents and lets him guide her inside, giving up on having any resemblance to privacy at his relentless coaxing. “Ugh.... did you really just say that to me? So not only I married a byuntae, I’m married to a smartass byuntae.”

He laughs out loud at that. “Too late to run away now.”

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She learns that he is very close to his brother. He learns that she's clueless about how attractive she is. She also learns that he deeply, unselfishly loves her.

“Hi Hyung.”

“Sehunnie! Sorry, I’m with the band right now, we just had breakfast together.”

Sehun smiles as he adjusts the phone so Jongin can see Joohyun who’s sitting next to him. “That’s okay. I’m letting you talk to my wife since you’re so concern about her yesterday.”

Jongin laughs out loud as Joohyun smiles awkwardly at the man who was supposed to be her husband just a few weeks ago.

“Hi, Oppa.” She greets him with a small respectful bow but doesn’t know what else to say after that. She’s relieved that he looks genuinely happy and carefree now though, a stark contrast from the person she knew from before.

Jongin smiles back at her. “Hi there, ex-fiancé. I’m so sorry for being kind of a jerk for the past few months. I hope Sehunnie is treating you better than I did.”

She laughs out loud as Sehun glares at his brother. “Haish really, did you just call my wife that? Say ‘ex-fiance’ one more time and I swear I’ll tell Eomma to change your room into her personal Zoomba studio.”

Joohyun watches as the siblings interact with each other and marvels at the way they are able to exchange jokes like this. She’d never seen them this playful with each other in the months when she had been Jongin’s fiancé.

Jongin just raises his hand in surrender. “Sorry, sorry! It’s just a joke! Hey, by the way, when are you going to your honeymoon?”

“We're flying later today. Where’s Krystal Noona, Hyung? I want to introduce my wife to her.”

“She’s out this morning for a run at the park. I’m with the boys. Yaah, say hi Chanyeol, Baekhyun.”

“Hi, Sehun!” Both boys’ faces suddenly pop on the screen as they wave to their friend’s little brother.

“Ommo!” Chanyeol dramatically gasps out loud when he sees Joohyun. “Yaah Jongin, is this Bae Joohyun, your ex-fiance? Wow! Why didn’t you tell us she’s this gorgeous? I would’ve gladly switched place with you. Yaah, are you sure you want to stay married to that punk, Joohyun-Ssi?”

There’s practically smoke coming out of Sehun’s ears as his wife's face reddens in embarrassment. "That's it. I'm hanging up now."

 

He pretends to reach for the off button so they laughingly apologize to him, not at all bothered by his anger. Joohyun tries very hard to hold her giggles in as they continue trolling Sehun by blatantly flirting with her throughout the video call.

"Haish, finally." He sighs out loud when they say goodbye and hang up.

She just laughs at the sulky look on his face as she tries to smooth his furrowed brows with her fingers. “They’re just messing with you and you’re getting all worked up like this, haish.”

He quickly grabs her hand before she can pull it away and kisses her palm. “They might be teasing me but they’re right. You’re really too pretty for your own good.” He frowns as he looks at her. “Seulgi Noona told me once that men keep going to the café just to see you.”

She is a little incredulous at the accusing look on his face. What does he expect her to do, kick a customer out of her cafe because he says she's pretty? They probably think she would give them a discount if they throw some random compliments her way.“Haish, don’t listen to Seulgi. I have no idea what she’s been telling you but it’s definitely an exaggeration." Time to change the topic, "Oh! By the way, what were you doing following me that night? You know, after you met me at the parking lot like a creepy stalker? You think I didn’t recognize your car?”

He blinks at the unexpected change of subject. He didn't realize she'd spotted him that night. Well, to be honest, he had actually been secretly following her for weeks. He had missed her and he needed to make sure she would reach home safely after she closed her café during nighttime but there’s no way in hell he’s going to tell her that. He smiles and shakes his head before he pulls her to him, trying to get back to their previous topic. “Don't go changing the subject now. You have no idea how beautiful you are, do you?”

She blushes and ignores his words. “Yaah stop talking about that already. There's another thing I wanted to ask you anyway. How come you and your brother didn't seem to talk much whenever I saw you guys before? I didn’t realize you’re so close to each other.”

He smirks and lets her change the topic since she seems to grow uncomfortable everytime he talks about how pretty she is. “We are actually very close. When you guys got engaged…. I don’t know how it started but we suddenly grew apart.” His hand suddenly reaches up to palm her face so he can look into her eyes. “He’s right about one thing, he treated you like and I hated that. I kept bugging him about it, kept asking him to treat you better…and usually he just ignored me. Then one night, I guess he’d enough of my pestering. He yelled at me right in this room, asking why I cared so much about you. So I shouted right back, I told him it’s because I love you and that you deserve better.”

She watches him with wide eyes as she begins to understand what had happened between the two siblings. Is this why Jongin decided to run? Did he do that so Sehun can be with her? She gently touches the hand that is caressing her face. “Sehun-ah…. If Jongin had treated me well…. Or if Jongin had fallen in love with me,” She hears him take a deep breath but she still continues because she needs to know the truth, “It’s just an if but if that had happened, what would you have done?”

He stares at her, his eyes serious. “If you'd loved him and if he'd loved you…then I would be a good brother and stay away.”

She lets that fact sinks in. “But I thought you said you love me?”

He is quiet for a few seconds before he replies in a low voice. “I love you enough to want you to be happy…even if it’s not with me.”

She closes her eyes when he leans down and kisses her forehead, silently trying not to tear up at his words.

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She learns that girls flock to him like a magnet. She learns that she doesn’t like that at all. He learns that she makes the cutest frown when she's jealous.

“Yaah seriously,” Joohyun sighs under her breath, “I can do this myself you know.”

Sehun just smirks as he secures her safety belt for her. They’re finally inside the first class cabin, sitting down and getting ready for takeoff for their honeymoon trip to Bali. “You just have to get used to living like this, baby.”

She shakes her head in amusement. They’ve been married for barely three days and she knows she’s already way over her head. She looks away and spots a pretty flight attendant walking towards them. The attendant is looking at the passengers on her left and right as she moves forward, inspecting their seatbelts. Joohyun watches the moment the woman visibly does a double take when she sees Sehun. She narrows her eyes as the flight attendant begins to smooth down her already neat bun and short uniform before she starts to approach their row. Oh, she does not like the way this is going