My eyes shot open. The fear racing in my heart made my body jump up with a small scream for help. Where was I? This was not home. My head lashed around this way and that, taking in my surroundings. Something touched my shoulder and I whipped around to see what it was.

Wu Fan.

He was standing over me, I had reached the end of our bed. His eyes were troubled and I could hear myself letting out small gasps. My eyes were sore and my hands began to wipe away the moistness from my cheeks.

“It's okay Minseok. It was just a dream.” he reassured and I realized it was his hand that had touched me, was touching me. It was slowly making its way up and down my arm in a comforting manner.

“Wu Fan?” I asked. He nodded and sat down next to me. I knew where I was then, as he sat down and looked at me with a careful expression. I was in his home...our home. He was my husband, and he was a good man. I had promised to always stay by his side.

“Here.” he put a tall glass of water in my face. I quickly grabbed a pillow from behind me and clutched it closely before taking the offered water and chugging it down. Wu Fan waited until I was done. I thanked him, and of course he told me not to worry about it because it was what a good husband should do. Take care of his spouse.

“You should take a shower, freshen up.” Wu Fan directed long after I had calmed down. I slowly rose out of the bed and made my way to the bathroom. I noticed that there was no morning light coming in, no sun peeking out from the mountains. The world was a dark blue, a chill spreading itself through out the air. It must've been early still.

When I was done showering I got ready and went in to the dining room. I surprised to find just Wu Fan and Yixing in the room. Yixing was at the stove cooking eggs and what looked to be sausage, while Wu Fan was at the sink filling up a teapot with water. The sky was still not lit with any sunlight, it was a light gray-blue. It was still very early in the morning I realized. The thought made me stretch out my muscles and yawn. When I did Wu Fan instantly turned around and looked at me.

“Tired?” he asked the obvious, but I rubbed my eyes and nodded anyways. I made to sit down at the table and rested my head on its surface.

“I'll have some food ready in a second Minseok, don't fall asleep.” Yixing warned from the stove. I hummed back but kept my head where it was and wrapped my arms around my head. I heard Wu Fan walk over to sit next to me, and he placed a hand on my upper back.

“Are you feeling better?” he whispered. I sat up and nodded with sleepy eyes. The shower had washed away the sweat and grime from the hot night air, but it hadn't done well in waking me up.

“Tired.” I mumbled as I ran my fingers through my hair.

“You can go back to sleep if you want.” he suggested, but I shook my head. I was already awake and once I was up that was it.

“Do you want some tea?” he tried, and I nodded. He got up and went to prepare a cup for me. I sat back and watched the two men working diligently and quietly. Yixing was standing at the stove with one hand on his hip and the other with a black spatula at the ready. They were both dressed and ready to work; their loosely fitted jeans were paired with tight muscle tanks and their work boots were tied up and splotched with dried mud and looked out-worn.

Wu Fan brought me back a cup of hot tea and also the sugar pot, the honey jar, and a lemon with a knife. I smiled at his effort, and put a spoonful of sugar in to my drink, along with a gallop of honey and a quick squeeze of the lemon. As I waited for it to cool down I leaned back in to my chair, sleep still making my head heavy.

“You kept tossing around in your sleep. Its no wonder why your tired.” he informed me. Well that made sense. I gently massaged my temples and tried to become more awake than I was. I felt him staring at me again. He continued to stare as I finally sipped a bit of my tea and burnt the tip of my tongue. He continued staring after Yixing had served me a bowl of mixed rice, eggs, and cut up sausage. He finally sighed heavily and leaned in to speak in a hushed voice to me.

“Can I ask you a favor?” he inquired. I looked up at him, he was extremely nervous. But his eyes were staring at me with such a strong feel of purpose that I could only nod dumbly. He his lips quickly before speaking in a slow and low tone.

“Can I hold you?”

My heart thudded to a halt.

What had he just asked me?

“What?” I checked again. He took a breath, the initial shock of asking the question seemed to have passed. He his lips again.

“Can I hold you Minseok?” he tried again. My mouth was hanging open, I could feel the small chill of the air making my tongue dry. He wanted to...hold me? Why?

I wasn't exactly opposed to it, as I continued to stare at him with a moronic expression. But I wasn't jumping in to his grasp either. Was it not just last night I had asked him to give me time? Was this his way of giving me time? My heart was going a little sporadic after completely stopping. God it was pulsing in my ears, could he hear that?

“Yes.” I heard myself answer. My stomach acid boiled as he actually scooted his chair closer to me, our knees touched and I swore I felt a wave of heat wash over me. I remembered how my little brother used to come in the morning and sit close to me, just so he could purposefully lean most of his body weight on to me. I tried to mimic this, I shifted so that my back was turned to Wu Fan and I leaned back. His chest hit my back and his one of his arms came around over my shoulder and landed in the middle of my own chest. His other hand slid under my arm and across my stomach. I placed my hands over his, and tried my best to relax in to his hold. It was a very intimate position, considering I had technically only known him for about four days. But the more I sat with him like that, the more comfortable I grew. He too relaxed and his arms became more natural and not to robotically placed. I scooted my bottom back to lean more of my weight on to him later in the morning, and I even leaned my head back against his neck. He happily pushed back with his chin in my hair.

This felt...right. In a very scary way, my mind was telling me this was not the way to take my time. But my body was comfortable, I liked the way he smelled and the way he felt around me. It felt right. So I discretely laced my fingers with his and enjoyed his warmth.

“Well good morning to you!” a cheerful croaky voice rang out. Jongdae smiled as he entered in to the dining room and went to pour himself a cup of coffee. He continued to smile as he cooed at Yixing about how great a cook he was and how much he loved the man, and could he get two extra eggs? Yixing laughed and swatted the smiling fool away. Jongdae joined us at the table with his great big grin still in place.

“So I guess this means you guys tied the knot huh?” Jongdae wiggle his eyebrows at us. I stared confused at him. Apparently so did Wu Fan, because the smiling man's face dropped and he rolled his eyes at us.

“You know! Tied the knot, gotten busy, fooled around, sealed the deal?” he tried. We stared.

“Did you guys have ?!” he yelled. I felt Wu Fan tense beneath me and I jumped slightly at his words. The blush on my face was making me feel hot.

“What the hell are you talking about Jong? That's none of your business anyways!” Wu Fan pointed out. I noticed how tight his hand was around mine then. I nodded in agreement with him.

“Oh, so you haven't then.” Jongdae sounded disappointed. Yixing just then placed a full plate of Jongdae's breakfast in front of him. The nosy man took a break from his investigating and began gobbling down what was in front of him.

“How would you know if they have or not based on their answer?” Yixing shook his head and sipped his tea. Jongdae said something loudly, but it was all muffled by the food in his mouth. I snickered at him with his puffed cheeks and the eggs bits flying from his mouth. He swallowed and spoke again,

“Trust me, when they have and we ask, we'll know.” he shrugged and left it at that. After awhile Luhan came trudging in. He didn't greet anyone, he only went to the counter and began to make himself some tea. While his tea was settling he splashed cold water on his face, after that he seemed more lively. I was slowly learning everyone's morning routines. Kris and Yixing were up the earliest, they seemed to be morning people. While Jongdae wasn't too bad, but still needed his food and coffee to begin waking up. It was Luhan who was the zombie, his eyes looked bloodshot and his skin pale. But it seemed his tea was the gift of life, because suddenly his cheeks had a rosy tint and his eyes sparkled.

“Oh, you two became close...” Luhan commented on me and Wu Fan's stance. I was become more relaxed in to his embrace. I shifted a bit, and his body automatically shifted with me.

“I'm not allowed to be close to my husband?” Wu Fan challenged.

“Nope. Minseok's too good for you.” Jongdae teased. I almost missed the flying rice that hit Jongdae in the face.

It finally came time for them to head out to work.

“Tomorrow is Saturday, I still have to work for the first half of the day. But after that I'm free and also all day Sunday. We can do whatever you want.” Wu Fan idly held my hands as he stood in the doorway. He had such long fingers they wrapped completely around my own set of fingers.

“Um...I'll have to think about it.” I answered honestly. I wasn't sure what there was to do around here.

“That's fine. There's a lot to do around here, fishing, swimming, hiking, we can go to the main market for the day...I know a part of the island that has an abundance of Plumeria growing...or we can just...relax.” Wu Fan suggested like he'd read my mind. I nodded at his options and told him I'd decide while he was away. And I would have lunch ready when they came back.

Right before he left, he pulled both of my hands up to his face. I choked a little bit on my own saliva as he quickly kissed both my hands.

“I'm going to make you happy. I promise.” he said as he looked me dead in the eyes. I was far too shocked to say anything. I kind of nodded and made some sort of noise that made him smile. He ran off to catch up with the others.

The day was easy, like it had been before.

And it stayed like that for over four months.

I had almost lost count of my days there. But things got better. Things got easier. And I began to see Wu Fan in a new light. I began to fall for him. It started with admiration, how understanding he was, how he treated me so well and tried his best to make me feel at home. The admiration was matched with respect. I watched him when he was hard at work, how he would always lend his help where it was needed. That respect changed in the smallest crush. I hadn't crushed on someone since my grade school days. But there I was, staring at him and blushing when he touched me. I was falling for him. Slowly but surely I was falling in love with my husband.

~ ~ ~

“Here.” he walked in one day, putting a small brown paper package in my hand. I looked up in surprise. He and his friends had been away for two days delivering their harvest to the shores for money. And I had been so busy preparing food for their return I hadn't noticed that the black horse was back on it's post and the dining room door had opened. There he stood, hair lightly matted from the rain and a pleasant look on his face. I opened it slowly and then gasped in shock. I looked up to him confused, because how could he remember that I'd been admiring that sweater in the window almost three weeks ago? But he had, and there it was in my hands, dark navy blue and just as soft as I'd imagined.

“You're welcome.” he smiled, and gently patted my shoulder before telling me he was going to shower and lay down for awhile. My heart thumped quietly and my cheeks blossomed pink as I held the sweater tighter to me.

~ ~ ~

I squeaked in shock as I was easily lifted and thrown on to Wu Fan's back. It was an extremely hot Saturday and we were returning from the market with the groceries. I was already feeling guitly that he'd insisted on carrying all the bags. And now he had somehow managed to put me on his back to carry me the rest of the way home. It was boiling hot, so hot I could see the heat rising from the ground. But he told me to be quiet, he wanted to carry me and that was that.

“How could I not carry you, your face looks like an over steamed bun about to pass out.” he mumbled. I heard him, and I smiled lovingly at his ear in front of my face. I stopped complaining and loosely wrapped my arms around his shoulders.

~ ~ ~

I woke up gasping for air, my body frozen in fear. Another dream that had scared me and made me wish I was home. I quickly wiped away the small tears that formed and tried to quiet myself down. I could calm myself down now with little effort, taking deep and steady breaths and relaxing my nerves. I moved to try and get out of bed before Wu Fan came in to check on me, but I found I couldn't exaclty move. There was something heavy on my waist and legs keeping my body in place. I felt warm air brush my neck and I tensed at the thought of what was making me stay still. I cranked my neck to peer over my shoulder. Sure enough Wu Fan's face was nestled up against the back of my shoulders. His long arm was draped over my midsection, his longer leg was anchored across my hips and legs. I moved to try and get out of bed, but his body grunted and pulled me tighter against him.

Well since he was asleep and probably wouldn't notice...

I quickly turned my body over, fighting against his restrains until they loosened and flipped over so that I was facing him. As I moved his lower arm automatically stretched out to pillow my head and I snuggled to be under his chin. His body welcomed my new position, his legs and arms squeezing me closer to him. The small amount of glee I felt kept me awake for a little bit, before I relaxed in to his warmth and fell back asleep.

~ ~ ~

“Are you trying to buy my affection?” I asked with an upped brow. He smiled at me widely, not answering and continuing to offer the beautiful bouquet in his hand. A breath-taking assortment of light pink and white Plumeria flowers wrapped in a navy blue ribbon was pushed in to my face. He had little to no shame written all over his face. I sighed over dramatically and snatched the flowers, inhaling their heavenly scent. I heard him laughing and glared up at him.

“This doesn't mean you're forgiven.” I warned.

“Yes it does.” he teased. I pouted and shook my head.

“That was a crime Wu Fan, a crime against me.” I said in a somber time. He rolled his eyes and muttered that it wasn't a big deal. I gasped in shock and dismay.

“Not a big deal? You at the whole pumpkin pie! How could you?!” I yelled at him, trying my hardest not to smile.

“Minseok, I bought you two more pies. Calm down.” he growled. I stared at him confused. He motioned toward the refrigerator, I quickly sped over and checked inside. Sure enough on the second shelf to wrapped pies were stacked on top one another.

“Ah! You're the best!” I squealed. He laughed at me and patted my shoulder with care and ruffled my hair before complaining that I didn't accept his flowers nicely but the pies instead.

“Doesn't matter, my affection has been bought.” I shrugged. He playfully hit my head and scolded me, but he smiled at me too. After he left to go check on his friends I put the flowers in a pot of water, inhaling their scent and clipping one to put behind my ear.

He didn't stop staring at me that night.

~ ~ ~

I was happy to find that Jongdae's theory had been correct.

At first it had been the same episode every morning, I'd wake up thinking I was home and then cry because I wasn't. Wu Fan would come in with water and I would snuggle my pillow until I felt better. He would sit with me and listen to me blubber about my family and my home.

He made it routine to go with me to the market every Saturday. We would go and buy food and little things like clothes and small home décor I wanted. He always bought me a Plumeria bouquet, which quickly became my absolute favorite flower in the whole universe. Along with that he bought me Plumeria lotion, body wash, even a chapstick. He made it a habit to also buy me a pumpkin pie if I ever seemed extra sad or grumpy, we would share it later when the trio had gone to bed out on the porch in the candlelight.

On Sundays he would do whatever I wanted to. Some days it was swimming in the river, others it was picking Plumeria flowers to put in our house. One time he let me make him a crown of flowers which he wore proudly the whole day despite his friend's teasing.

The trio also made my stay easier. They were very open and honest, very kind very much like Wu Fan was. If Wu Fan and I didn't have plans for our Sunday, they would march in with exciting things like hiking to the mountain top in search of lizard catching, or playing in the mudflats.

I became close with Jongdae very fast, it helped that he had experienced what I had, and he liked to hear about where I lived in our homeland. We exchanged stories of life in Korea, he was able to talk different dialects that I also could.

Luhan became a very good friend also. He was very chipper all the time. He always wore a smile on his face, minus when he first woke up, and he cooed at me like I was a small child. He was playful, but understood when I needed space. He was definitely the perfect combination of Jongdae and Yixing.

Yixing kept away from me for awhile, he was cautious about approaching me. And for a few days I had wondered if he didn't like me. But that assumption was terribly wrong I found out, when I realized he was only nervous and didn't know if I wanted him to approach me. I made an effort, and I found he was an avid listener and story teller. He knew every type of folk tale and was great at telling them.

Wu Fan eventually showed me what was behind that door that I had tried to look in to.

It was a separate room, it had a wide desk, a hammock pinned in the corner, and a comfy chair as well.

“This is your private space. You can come here and escape here if you ever need to.” he'd said. I was thankful for that room. It was all mine, and I felt more at peace. Whenever they were all away in the fields I would go in to that room and talk out loud, like praying to my family. I wished them well, I told them about my new life, I told them I missed them. It was very soothing for my soul.

After a month of living there I learned the basic outline of the land we lived on. I knew what was left of the river, and what was right. I knew how to get around the fields and up in to the mountains.

Luhan showed me the most magical meadow of Plumeria, and the next Sunday I forced Wu Fan to spend hours with me in there. Afterward the trio and I found a tree with long and steady branches, so we tied a thick rope to it and played in the river all day.

I found myself smiling uncontrollably again, I laughed harder with excitement and joy.

I became happy where I was, I grew in to it. I called it home, these were my friends, and this was my husband. I had a happy life.

So as I grew happier, my dreams began to fade away.

Eventually I began to wake up earlier than Wu Fan, I would tear up the slightest bit, and then I would move on with the day.

And one day, I can't remember when, but one day I didn't need to cry at all.

One morning I woke up and I knew where I was, because there was no dream to confuse me. I knew I was married to a very beautiful man whom I had grown to respect and admire in every way, because I was beginning to fall for him. He was handsome and strong. He was a hard worker and a selfless person. He cared so much for me, even when he had just met me.

It was one morning specifically when I woke up, I looked over to see him fast asleep, and I found myself staring at him and admiring him. I gently ran my finger over his sharp eyebrows, his perfect nose, his round lips, and through his soft hair. He had taken such great care of me it warmed my heart.

“I think I'm falling in love with you.” I whispered to him. I thought he was asleep. I squeaked loudly as his arm extended and pulled my body close to him and he hugged me.

“Good to hear, it took you long enough.” he sighed and I felt his breath on my neck. I laughed lightly. He was becoming more touchy-feely the longer I was here.

It had started with me leaning on him during meals, then he would awkwardly place his arm around me. Eventually I gave in, knowing this would make us closer faster, and I initiated us holding hands. And from there it spiraled out of control. I never denied his hugs or stiffened at his touch anymore. He took that as his signal to cuddle me whenever there was time.

We touched quite a bit actually. But that was it so far. The only times he had kissed me was at our 20 second wedding, and the time he had kissed my hands. Other than that it was bear hugs and hand molesting as I called it.

“Don't get your hopes up.” I tried to push him away, but he held me tighter. I gave in and wrapped my arms around his back.

“Are you happy yet?” he asked me. My heart strings were tugged lightly. I pulled back gently to look at him. He had such beautiful eyes.

“I am.” I said. The affection in his eyes almost suffocated me. I wanted to hide my face in embarrassment, but he held it in his hands suddenly. And I had no where to run to.

“I love you.” he whispered. His eyes always looking in to mine.

“Wu Fan, I'm still—“ I began, but he shook his head.

“I know. I heard you before. You're falling, and that’s okay. I'll be right here to catch you when you land Minseok.” he vowed. Why did he have to be like that?

“Stop being a cheesy husband and go work.” I pouted and tried to hid my blush in his chest. He only laughed at me and said, 'Fine, I'll leave you here.' and began to get out of bed.

I could have stayed in and slept. But he knew I wouldn't. I got up and changed before following him out to the dining room. He probably knew it, but I secretly liked leaning in to him in the mornings.

I walked in to the room and saw him already seated in his spot with his cup of coffee. He smiled at me,

“Come here.” and I practically skipped over to him. My back crashing in to his chest. A satisfied sigh escaped me as his arms wrapped around my middle and I felt his cheek resting in my hair.

“I'm happy with you Wu Fan.” I mumbled, I knew he heard it because he nuzzled my hair slightly and hummed in response. I relaxed all the way, watching as the trio slowly made their way in and began their morning routines.

I thought that I was happy with this life, and things couldn't get any better.

I was wrong.

I thought nothing could ruin this perfect harmony and happy life I had mysteriously found.

I was very wrong.