Ji Yong had just wrapped one of my legs around his waist when he came to his senses.  He pushed himself away from me and staggered backwards.  He put his hands on his hips and looked down to his feet.  “I-I’m sorry, Rian.”  I touched my fingertips to my mouth.  “I don’t know what came over me.”

            “We were just…carried away by the excitement,” I stated.  “It’s ok.”

            He nodded, but his eyes were unfocused.  He wasn’t listening.  “Um, I should uh,” he shook his head and blinked rapidly, “I should go check on Chae Yoon.”

            Before I could say anything, he galloped up the stairs.

            A couple days later, Chae Yoon and I returned home from her swimming class.  Chae Yoon skipped into the apartment, holding her water wings rather than wearing them, and jumped out of her shoes, kicking them off to the side and hurried over to where Ji Yong and his friends were sitting in the living room.

            She climbed up onto the couch and sat between Ji Yong and Young Bae.  I smiled at the guys, but I couldn’t meet Seung Ri’s eyes.  “Daddy!” Chae Yoon began excitedly.  “Today, at swim class, I took off these!”  She held her water wings high in the air.

            “Did you sink?” Ji Yong asked her, voice laced with suspense.

            “No!” she exclaimed.  “I went like this.”  She dropped her water wings on the floor and started paddling her arms in the air as if she were doing the doggy paddle.

            “That’s great, Chae Yoon.  Isn’t that great, guys?”  Ji Yong leaned over and kissed the little girl on the cheek.

            The other four guys cheered loudly for Chae Yoon, who ate up the attention.  She pushed herself over and into Young Bae’s lap.  “Daddy, kiss Rine now, too.”

            “Chae Yoon!” I laughed, despite the rush of blood to my cheeks.

            Ji Yong was coughing out a laugh when Dae Sung teased, “Would you like us to close our eyes?”

            “She is your wife,” Young Bae added, balancing Chae Yoon on his knee.

            “Yeah,” Seung Ri spoke up.  “Kiss her.”

            The guys continued to laugh and tease Ji Yong until he got up and kissed me lightly on the mouth, but I couldn’t help feeling odd at Seung Ri’s words.  It made my stomach twist.  Ji Yong gave the others a smartass comment that made them crack up all over again as he sat back down.

            “Daddy, if I kiss Young Bae oppa, does that mean we’re married?” she asked as she slid out of his lap and stood next to where he sat.

            “You aren’t allowed to kiss boys…ever,” he answered, shooting Young Bae an evil glare.  Young Bae shrugged.

            “Do you want to marry Young Bae oppa?” I asked her, standing next to where Ji Yong was sitting.

            “No, I want to marry Seung Hyun oppa,” she replied, flitting over to where Seung Hyun was sitting in the recliner.  She climbed into his lap.  She looked up at him.  “I like his hair.  It changes color.”

            “Rejected hyung,” Dae Sung said, doubling over with laughter.

            “Hurry, Chae Yoon, kiss Seung Hyun oppa then,” Seung Ri said, holding back his own laughter at Ji Yong’s expression.

            Seung Hyun lowered his face and tapped his cheek with his index finger.  Chae Yoon left him a loud smacking kiss to his cheek.  The guys all cheered again.  Except Ji Yong.  “What the…Chae Yoon, go upstairs and stay in your room until you’re twenty,” he told her.  She hopped off Seung Hyun’s lap and rushed over to hide behind my legs.

            “Come on, Chae Yoon,” I said, laughing.  “Let’s go upstairs.  We’ll have a chat about boys.”  Ji Yong sprung out of his seat, but I stuck my tongue out at him and hurried upstairs with Chae Yoon.

            After Chae Yoon changed her clothes and was down for a nap, I went to my room.  I was checking my email when I felt someone watching me.  I looked to the doorway.

            “Seung Hyun,” I whispered.  I sat up and Seung Ri came into my room, standing in front of my bed.  “What are you doing here?”

            He shrugged and looked around my room.  “I wanted to see you.  Alone.  It’s been so long since I’ve seen you, without hyung,” he explained casually.  He shoved his hands into his pockets.  “How’s married life treating you?”

            I closed my laptop and sat at the edge of my bed.  “It’s nice.  How are you?”

            He nodded.  “Good, yeah.”  Our conversation came out awkward.  It wasn’t the same as before.  It felt forced.   “Well, I just wanted to say hi,” he mumbled after a minute.  “I’ll head back downstairs.”  He hesitated and then turned to leave.

            “Seung Hyun!” I called before I could control myself.  He stopped in my doorway and turned back to me.  I made my way over to stand in front of him.

            “Yeah?”

            “I just…”  …miss you so much it hurts.  “Never mind.”

            He smiled and I all but melted into the floor.  “Rian, there’s something that’s been bothering me.  It might be a little out of place now, but I really want to know.”

            “Ask me.”

            “Well, it’s just that…”  He paused and I could see how much it pained him to think of this.  “We were only together for a little while, but I really cared about you.  I loved being with you.  I loved…”  My heart stopped.  “Well, anyway, I’m not trying to start any trouble, but…did you care about me?  Even just a little bit?”  He wouldn’t look at me.  He was suddenly very fascinated with kicking at something I couldn’t see on the floor.

            “I still care very much about you,” I said in just above a whisper.  I crossed my arms behind my back to keep from touching him.

            He looked up, his brown eyes seared into mine.  “Now still?”  I nodded.  He scoffed bitterly.  “You care so much about me that you married one of my best friends.”

            He turned and headed down the stairs.  Not once looking back to see the tears fall from my eyes.

            At class the next night, I couldn’t concentrate on anything.  Alana was jabbering about something that I was sure had to do with the life she created for me and Ji Yong in her own head.  I couldn’t focus on my professor’s lecture.  I usually liked this class too, but her new assistant was boring and the more I got to know her, the more I didn’t like her.  When the professor gave her the opportunity to take over the class, she always sounded like she was talking down to us.  I wasn’t in the mood for anything that night.  Not even international culture and protocol, which was normally my favorite class.

            Once the professor dismissed us and the students hauled themselves out of the class, I took my time getting my stuff together.

            “Oh!” Alana sounded slinging her messenger bag over her shoulder.  “I can’t believe I almost forgot to tell you this.  Some guy called me this afternoon.  He said he was from the law office of some Jeon Soon Myun guy?  He started asking me all these questions about what I knew about you and Ji Yong.”

            I dropped the book I’d been trying to put back into my bag.

            “Who’s Kim Soo Young?” Alana asked.  “What’s going on, Rian?”

           I fell into my chair and blurted out the whole story about me and Ji Yong.  I didn’t tell her the truth.  I told her about how Ji Yong’s ex was trying to get custody of Chae Yoon.  I was almost out of breath when I finished.

            “Who fakes a marriage?  What is this girl, nuts?” Alana laughed.  I kept myself from cringing.  At least she still bought my story.

            “She must be,” I replied instead.  “So what did you tell the guy on the phone?”

            She scoffed and waved her hand in front of her face.  “I told him I don’t discuss my best friend’s personal relationships with a complete stranger.  He told me I had to talk to him.  I said, ‘oh no, you did not just try to tell me what to do.’  Then I told him to go to hell and I hung up.  If he calls again, should I tell him what I know about you guys?  Like how cute you are together and how awesome G Dragon, I mean Ji Yong, is?  And how much that little girl loves you?”  She gasped and grabbed my arms.  “Oh, my God!  Did I just mess things up for you by telling him to go to hell?”

            “No, no, it’s fine,” I assured her.  “I don’t know what Soo Young is looking for, but you didn’t do anything bad.”

            “Oh, good, but I’m sorry.  I won’t tell off any more people who call looking for information about you,” she promised.  I laughed.

            “Thanks, Alana.”

            That night, I was walking to the subway station with Alana when a man in a suit walked up to us.  “Rian Lanston?” he questioned in heavily accented English.

            Alana linked her arm with mine.  “Maybe, who are you?” she asked defensively.

            The man looked back and forth between us.  His eyes landed on me.  “I’m from Jeon Soon Myun’s law office.”  I rolled my eyes.

            “What do you want?” I asked, tapping my foot impatiently.

            “I only have a few questions,” he said, taking out a miniature recorder from his pocket.  It was so small, I thought it was a USB drive.

            I had to remind myself that laws were different here in Korea and this was probably perfectly acceptable here.  “What questions?” I asked suspiciously.

            “You are Kwon Chae Yoon’s nanny, aren’t you?”

            I narrowed my eyes at the man.  “I was, but now I’m Kwon Ji Yong’s wife.”  He wasn’t going to make me slip up.  “I still help him take care of Chae Yoon though.”

            “Oh?  Well, you are out right now, so who is with Chae Yoon?  Do you know?”

            I growled deep in my throat.  “I’m with her when Ji Yong works and he is with her when I go to class.”

            “What happens when you both want to go out?”

            “We don’t go anywhere without Chae Yoon,” I replied.  “She’s never alone.”

            The man smirked.  “You take a three year old to night clubs?”

            I clenched my jaw.  “Who said anything about night clubs?  Ji Yong and I are too old to be out partying.”

            “I see, well-”

            “That’s enough,” Alana cut in.  “I hope you’re getting paid for this after hour sneaking around you’re doing.”

            With that, she stopped off, dragging me along with her.

            Inside the subway station, she stopped stomping.  “Oh!  I’m sorry!  Was that bad?  I just didn’t like his tone or the way he was looking at you.  Like he was going to make up dirt on you,” she explained, eyes filled with worry.

            I laughed.  “No, Alana, it’s cool.  You were awesome.”

            We headed for the platform to wait for our train.  No way was I going to tell Ji Yong about this run in.  He’d have a heart attack.

            Ji Yong finally received the papers for the court date.  The custody hearing for Chae Yoon would be next month.  He also told me that people showed up at the recording studio when he was working with Seung Ri on recording some new songs for his new album to ask him questions.  They even asked Seung Ri about Ji Yong and me.  Soo Young’s lawyer wasn’t wasting any time spying on us.

            I caught two men following me one day when I was out with Chae Yoon.  When they finally approached me and said they were from a Jeon Soon Myun’s law office on behalf of a Kim Soo Young, I walked away.  I wasn’t talking to them out on the street and I would never speak to them in front of Chae Yoon like that.

            I was in such a deep sleep one night that I thought I was dreaming when I heard a voice frantically calling my name.  I groaned and rolled away from where I was being shaken.  “No,” I whined.  “Go away.”