Hyukjae was able to calm down quite a bit once they were already in the air and have now completely detached himself from Donghae after a few minutes of flying. The two of them looked away from each other awkwardly, not quite sure how to move forward from what just happened. Hyukjae, seated next to a window, took the opportunity to distract himself from Donghae by leaning forward and admiring the view. 

Donghae, very discreetly dared to peak at Hyukjae from the side when he heard a very audible "Woah" come out of his mouth. A small smile played on his lips when Hyukjae's obvious admiration of the scenery was displayed clearly on his face. It was so genuine and innocent that Donghae wondered how he would react when he sees a real breathtaking one, like when he seas the Pacific Ocean when he brings him to Hawaii or the ice caps when they go to Switzerland. 

'Woah.' 

Donghae halted his train of thought right there and shook his head side to side physically to shake those ideas out of his head. He was getting way too ahead of himself. He only has Hyukjae to himself for a year. There's no need to think that far. 

"Sir?" Donghae looked up to see the stewardess was carrying a wireless phone in her hand. "Madam Lee is on the line for you."

Donghae sighed and took the phone from her. "Hello?"

Hyukjae looked away from the window towards Donghae when he heard the latter's voice. A curious expression displayed on his face as he listened in on what he could hear from his side.

"Yes, Umma...What do you mean? You called me on the plane...I know...What?! No!...Absolutely not-...Umma, that's unreasonable...I don't know! I'm not flying the plane...Fine...Fine...Alright! I got it. I'll tell him...Yeah....Yeah..Okay, bye." 

Donghae hung up the phone with an annoyed huff before handing it back to the stewardess. 

"Is everything okay?" Hyukjae asked him. 

"Yeah," Donghae sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes together. "It's just my mother...again."

"What happened? Did we forget something?"

"No, we didn't." Donghae answered him and tried very hard to not show how annoyed he was feeling. "She's just- She's just being so...ugh!" 

Donghae obviously failed and it worried Hyukjae a little. "What's going on?"

"She insists on doing this stupid tradition thing so when we land we have to meet my grandparents."

"You-Your grandparents?"

"Yeah." Donghae rubbed the bridge of his nose, a little exasperated. "Grandma...well, let's just say Grandma's way too meticulous for my liking. Even Appa still gets a little fidgety around her at times."

"Is she that scary?"

"Only when she wants to be. Which is always."

A sense of dread fell on Hyukjae as he imagined meeting Donghae's grandmother. If the korean dramas he's seen were anything to go by, then maybe this was that nightmare thing that all those female leads always dread of meeting. If that wasn't enough, the plane then flew sideways, getting ready to land, but the move itself flipped Hyukjae's stomach upside down. He gasped and both hands automatically went on both sides of his seat. His right hand going over Donghae's left as he closed his eyes tight, thinking that the plane was about to crash and burn to the ground. 

Donghae, on the other hand, was not worried about the plane crashing, but more on the hand that was holding his left and practically burning it with his touch. He gulped not understanding why such a simple touch was affecting him so much. His eyes looked at Hyukjae, and let out a short chortle seeing him breathing so heavily. Donghae's hands moved on its own, flipping itself over so that he could hold Hyukjae's hand properly himself and grasped it real tight. 

Hyukjae felt the firm grip on his hand and quickly looked to see Donghae smiling at him. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to enjoy the view too much as the plane touched the ground and then he was lightly shaken on his seat by the bumpy landing. His eyes closed shut once again as he waited for their eventual crash. Ten seconds later and everything stopped. 

Hyukjae was still breathing quite heavily and shaking a little in his seat. It wasn't until he heard Donghae laughing did he dare to open one eye and saw that everything was fine and nothing was out of place. 

"I think you're cutting the blood flow of my hand."

Hyukjae furrowed his brows a little in confusion but then when he saw what Donghae was looking at, he gasped and pulled his hand away from Donghae, obviously embarrassed at what he just did. Donghae just laughed at his reaction as he stretched his fingers out trying to get the blood circulation in it back to normal. Hyukjae was holding onto his own hand tight, completely mortified that he had just held Donghae's hand without even thinking about it. 

The door of the plane opened and before Donghae or Hyukjae could revel on their small moment together, Sehyun had walked in the plane and announced her presence quite loudly. 

"Oh, finally! You two are here!" She completely bypassed Donghae and pulled Hyukjae in for a hug as though she hadn't just seen him that morning. Sehyun beamed quite brightly at Hyukjae as she hooked her arms around his and pulled him along out the plane. Donghae was left to gape after her as the stewardess grabbed their belongings and carried it after them. 

"Umma!" Donghae yelled over the loud engine but Sehyun just kept walking down the stairs of the plane with Hyukjae trudging along helplessly. He took a second to look back at Donghae for some help but when she pulled on his arm another time, he tripped over his own feet and ended up stumbling forward and looking quite awkward in front of, what looked to be, half a dozen of men in suits. 

"I hope you don't mind riding with me, dear." Sehyun told Hyukjae with a smile. One of the men in suits opened the back door of the first car for her and Hyukjae to ride while Donghae walked behind them completely annoyed. "Donghae will be riding with his father to prepare for your rituals."

Hyukjae gulped, at a complete loss on what to do. "I'm-I'm sorry, what?"

"Umma," Donghae huffed and tried to grab Hyukjae's arm to pull him back from her but she was much quicker and ushered the other in inside the car. As soon as Hyukjae was in the back seat, the suited man closed the door which left Sehyun and Donghae to talk face to face, her smile changing into quite a serious one that perfectly matched Donghae's vexed face. 

"Now, Lee Donghae, I know you don't want to do this, but it is tradition to pay your respects to your grandparents."

"It's a stupid tradition." Donghae muttered. "Grandma doesn't even like me, so why would she want to see us?"

"It'd be worse if you don't show."

"Can't we just skip the whole thing? The wedding's gonna be in a couple of weeks."

"Exactly why this needs to be done now." Sehyun grabbed Donghae's arm and walked him towards the other car as she continued to explain. "Now, son, I'm not doing this to torture you but your grandmother and grandfather expects you to ask for their blessing along with our ancestral blessings. The sooner you get this done, the smoother your marriage will be."

Donghae may have whined a little and possibly threw a little tantrum with his body, but Hyukjae couldn't be sure due to the tinted windows. He tried to squint his eyes and peered a little closer to the windown in order to get a clearer view of what they were doing, but then Sehyun pulled Donghae in for a hug before the other entered the back seat of the other car. Hyukjae pulled back a little frightened as it dawned on him that he was about to spend some alone time with Donghae's mother. He saw her coming closer to the car so he adjusted the way he sat so his posture looked good, and gave her an awkward smile to welcome her after one of the suited men opened the door for her. She entered the car with her usual warm hearted smile and Hyukjae could literally feel the beads of sweat falling down his nape despite the cold airconditioning in the car. 

"So, Hyukjae dear,"  she looked at him giddily as they pulled out of the airport. "How was your flight?"

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Hyukjae could honestly say that the 30 minute drive from the airport to the lakehouse was one of the most intense and awkward car rides of his life. Sehyun was so nice and excited about their upcoming wedding and he felt guilty that he just couldn't find it in himself to match her excitedness. He tried to laugh and respond as much as he could but she was saying things like, "Please don't leave my son despite his cold demeanor at times. He's just been alone for such a long time that he has a hard time showing his feelings," and "I can already see the change in Donghae's attitude. I'm so glad he met you," and the worse one of them all was, "I can't wait to see you two up at your wedding. You two look so perfect together, I just know it's going to be the most amazing wedding ever!" that he didn't really know what to say, so he just smiled and nodded his head. 

Once they did arrive at the lakehouse, Hyukjae was in awe at how modern looking it looked despite its obvious traditional design. The car pulled up on a very wide roundabout garden that had a three-tier fountain in the middle. Hyukjae tried not to admire the centerpiece too much and turned his gaze towards the front view as they pulled to the front of the house. 

Three women in maid uniforms came walking down to greet them at the bottom of the steps as the suited man who was sitting in front opened the door for them. Sehyun got out of the car and spoke to the house workers while Hyukjae slowly got out of the car, a little self-conscious as he tried to think on how he should conduct himself. The first thing he did was bow respectfully towards the houseworkers who kept their heads low and bowed back at him. 

"Hyukjae, dear," Sehyun called looking back to him as she walked up the stairs to the main house. "Let's go and meet them inside."

"Y-Yes, Mrs- I-I mean, Um-Umma." Hyukjae fumbled on his words and gave one last quick awkward bow to the helpers who bowed back at him as he ran up the stairs to catch up with Sehyun. He should have known what to expect inside the house after seeing the white marble stairs and floor of the front house, and the intricate design of wood carvings of the roof, but entering the main house still made him feel so small. The house was hug