Pregnant?  Seriously?

Hanna’s head began to swirl as she marched through the marble corridors towards the elevators of YG.  Of all the mess that Mimi could have gotten herself into, being pregnant was the last thing Hanna would have expected out of her 24-year old cousin.  Being jobless and a college graduate drop-out didn’t help matters either.  God!  It wasn’t like they were stupid young teenagers from broken homes or had parents that didn’t give a damn about them because they were too busy working three jobs and struggling to make ends meet.  No! They were both from privileged, well-educated families, of good pedigree.  Which only meant one thing…

Mimi must have lost her DAMN mind!

She knew her uncle’s death would traumatize Amina.  Hell, she was only a niece and had suffered her share of sleepless nights and bouts of melancholy from time to time.  But at least she had work to keep her going and her parents to lean onto.  In the back of her mind, Hanna knew Amina probably had it ten times worse.  But to what extent?  She didn’t know.  Not that she didn’t try, mind you.  She called and pestered Jiyong more times than she could count for him to send her news of Amina.

Ahh... Jiyong!

That man drove her crazy!  If he wasn’t one of their important clients and if she wasn’t… well, half-smitten by him (yes, that’s all that she would admit to herself right now), she would have turned her anger on him instead.  She would have lashed out at him for not telling her what the whole meeting was about.  Maybe even pummeled him for keeping Mimi’s pregnancy a secret from her this entire time.  Neh, she would have done all of that because she was so angry! It would have given her a reason to blow off a little ual frustration by pouncing on him.  And then maybe later… she’d tear off his clothes and have her way with his fine . Aish!

But now here he was, following her down the hallway, with his trademark cocky grin.  And those devil-may-care eyes.  And with those kissable, pouty red lips.

She punched the elevator down button with the bottom of her fist.

“Noonaaa…”

She let out a frustrated sigh.  God, it irritated her the way he drew out the formality… Jiyong might as well call her an ajumma instead.  They were only – what?  A couple of weeks apart?  Give or take a few hours.  She mentally rolled her eyes and turned to face him.  They had already argued the whole way to the elevator about how she should calm down and that she was over-reacting.  What more was there else to say?

“Mwuh?”  She gave him the stank eye.

Much to her consternation, he grinned.  “Could you just sit on it for a couple of days before speaking to your parents about this whole incident?  At least give yourself time to reflect on it and maybe talk to Mimi again before you do?”

“Yongie, there’s nothing else to talk about.”  She watched as his smile grew bigger and wondered what the hell that was all about.  “Besides, you heard her.  She’s not going to listen to me.  She’s going to stay at Youngbae’s place and they’re going to play house and pretend that everything’s all fine, when it isn’t.”  The elevator door dinged.

He held the door open and ushered her through.

“They’re not even together!”  Hanna exclaimed.  “Mimi said so herself.  Why does she even need to stay there?”  She pushed the first floor button as soon as he stepped through.

“Look, that’s between them,” Jiyong replied simply.  “I just know they’re trying to work things out right now.”  He watched as Hanna raised an inquiring brow towards his direction.  “Things haven’t been so well between those two lately.”

She shot him an incredulous look.  “Could have fooled me.”

He had the grace to appear chagrined.  “I know.”  Jiyong half-smiled and looked off into the distance, stretching his hands high above his head.  Unknowingly, he lifted his t-shirt a little above his waist exposing his smooth trim torso, his tattoos peeking through.  He eyed her, mid-stretched, his lips curving invitingly.  “I guess some people just don’t know when to give in.”

Hanna felt her heart flutter, so caught up in his teasing gaze.  She would have responded with a smart remark, but felt suddenly dry.  She thanked her lucky stars when the elevator finally reached the first level.  Disregarding him completely, Hanna stepped into the hallway and proceeded towards the foyer.

“So you’ll wait?”

She turned around, nearly colliding into Jiyong, catching his eyes on some lower part of her body.  Did he just check out her ?  She narrowed her eyes on him.

“I’ll think about it,” Hanna stonily replied.

He bit back a smile and took a few steps back, his eyes full of y amusement.  He gave her his infamous ninety-degree bow and ran his gaze up and down the length of her body, mentally undressing her with his eyes.

She felt her cheeks burn up in flames.

“Kamsahamnida Hanna-sshi.”

For once in her life, Hanna was rendered speechless.  Irritated, she tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ears and slipped on her sunglasses.  Straightening her posture, Hanna stuck her nose up in the air as she walked out of the building and into the parking lot.  She could hear him chuckling quietly to himself and mentally groaned inside.  Why, oh why, of all people did she have to crush on him?

Youngbae glanced over at Amina.  She was nearly half asleep, barely holding her eyes open as he drove, the impish smile from earlier no longer on her face.  They had picked up lunch and were heading on their way towards the apartment.  During the drive, he had time to cool off his ardor while she… well, he could tell that she started becoming more and more quiet and nervous the closer they got home.  He smiled quietly to himself inside.

He pulled into the private garage and parked, cutting off the engine.  “Tired?” he glanced over at her.

“Hmm?”  She met his gaze and blushed a little, much to his amusement.  “Neh,” she nodded, the sleep clearing from her eyes.  She unhooked her seat belt and started reaching for the passenger door handle.

Youngbae watched as she slipped out of his car, the curve of her sweet bottom doing odd things to his libido. He shook his head to clear himself of any illicit thoughts and popped the glove compartment open, pulling out the present he intended to give to her the other night.  Tucking it inside his jacket pocket, Youngbae grabbed their food from the backseat and shut the driver door behind him, auto-locking his car with the push of his key.  

Amina stood waiting for him near the tailgate, her posture a mixture of reserved nonchalance.  When he came around, she gave him a questioning gaze, but didn’t say anything before she started to lead the way.

“Mwuh?” he asked, walking slightly behind her.

Amina shook her head, glancing back slightly.  “I know with your new album and all, that you’re probably really busy.  I could have just taken my lunch and saved you the trip.  You don’t have to take the food up.”  She punched the elevator button to go up.

He leaned back against the wall and glanced over at her, his eyes sweeping over her upturned face as she watched for the lift to reach their level.  “Who says I’m here for the food?”

She angled her head slightly towards his direction and gave him a lingering side glance, her eyes mimicking the hunger in his eyes.  Her lips curved slightly up into a sensuous smile before she looked away, ignoring him completely.

He felt his stomach muscles tighten.  Damn.  She was back to teasing him.  He swallowed hard, feeling like a little errant schoolboy, all over again.  He was better off when she was tired and sleepy.

The sound of Boss’s bark welcomed them as they shuffled inside the apartment.  Amina immediately headed towards the sound, dropping her satchel on the sectional and crouching down at Boss’s level to open the pen and let him out.  She spoke in low nonsensical tones, rubbing his shiny coat, as he shimmied his way into her lap.

“You’re going to spoil him,” Youngbae admonished, setting their food on the kitchen counter.  He came around the corner and took off his jacket, revealing a sleeveless white graphic tee against his black terry sweats.  He stood quietly off to the side, watching the pair.  “See?  He doesn’t even come to me anymore,” he crossed his arms over his chest and arrogantly jerked his head at her.

Amina scratched Boss behind the ears, enjoying the pleasure that shot to the pup’s face as his tongue lolled outside his mouth.  “You’re just jealous because he loves me more than you,” Amina quirked her eyebrow towards Youngbae, her smile victorious.

“Ani,” he protested ily, his mouth curving into a half-smile.  “I’m jealous because he’s getting more attention than me.”

She shot him a quick teasing glance before looking back down.

“Don’t you have to go brush your teeth or something?”

Amina grinned, eyeing him in disbelief.  She looked at the dog.  “Boss-ah.”  She narrowed her eyes and looked pointedly at Youngbae. “Bossy.”  He chucked quietly as she started to stand up.  She smiled. “Would you take him out for me then?”

“Neh.”

Amina watched as Youngbae grabbed the dog leash from the closet hook and grappled after a wiggly Boss who wouldn’t obey.  She stood by quietly, muffling her laughter, as Youngbae issued a series of commands that fell on deaf puppy ears while he struggled to tame the small animal whose bark was worse than his bite.  Finally, Youngbae got the leash hooked on Boss’s collar like nobody’s business and eyed Amina smugly.  He jerked his head towards the bathroom.

She threw her hands up in surrender.  “Alright,” Amina grinned.  “I’m going.”  She looked back to see Youngbae smiling at her, as he coerced Boss to follow him out with a bag of treats in hand.  She heard the door shut behind them and sighed quietly in relief. 

The that Youngbae had been giving off all afternoon was starting to make her uneasy.  Not because she didn’t want his advances… but because she wanted them too much.  They really needed to talk first or at least discuss mundane things – like the weather or politics.  It seemed like all they did was make-out or fight.  Their relationship, if you could even call it that, was so volatile.  When they had talked about taking things slow… she didn’t think it was going to be like this.

It didn’t help that she back relentlessly.  At first it was in jest – an easy banter between the two that felt natural and right.  But the longer they teased, the more serious it got.  And soon… she found herself teasing him back in self-defense.  They were so deep in the thick of it, that there was no other way to ward him off at that point without hurting his feelings.  It seemed to be the only thing that calmed him down… at least for a little while.  And then something would spark him off again and he’d come back at her full force.  There was only so much a person could take!  It made her tired just thinking about it.

When Amina came out of the bathroom several minutes later, her boys still weren’t back.  She went into the kitchen and started pulling out dinnerware and quickly piled a few items to her plate, leaving his conveniently available for him on the counter.  It was nearly half-past noon.  Because she went to bed late last night and woke up today earlier than usual, she could feel the need for an afternoon siesta coming sooner rather than later.

Rude as it was to begin without him, she couldn’t wait any longer.  Her eyelids felt heavy and she could sense her appetite waning with each passing second.  Standing there in the middle of the kitchen, Amina quickly shoved food inside , concentrating on chewing carefully lest she choke on something that might cause her to throw it all up later.  She finished within a few short minutes and went to the sink to discard the remains and wash up.

After re-brushing her teeth and changing into soft navy blue tank and white boy short bottoms, Amina crawled under the goose down covers and sighed in pleasure.  Within seconds, her body relaxed and her eyelids grew heavy as her mind drifted off to sleep.

Youngbae and Boss returned from their jaunt around the small local park and condo complex several minutes later.  He had missed spending time with his little furry best friend and took longer than he had originally planned.  He hoped she went ahead and ate without him.

The apartment was quiet when he opened the door.  He watched as Boss made no hesitation and headed straight towards the bedroom.  He took off his shoes and threw the leash on a side table nearby before followin