June 6th, 2014

Seul-ki was still laughing, while sniffing, unable to stop the leaks from pouring out of her eyes. Sunggyu's hands were still on her cheeks, softly wiping them away, with a warm smile on his face. Their eyes were still locked together, and she noticed his red eyes and the hints of his tears which made her heart hurt a little. So, she looked down at the rim of his shirt's collar and bit her bottom lip, tasting the traces of peppermint from his lips.

"But... Sunggyu-sshi..."

"What is it?"

"We're married. How... do we get married again?"

Sunggyu immediately furrowed and shut his eyes tightly as if it was paining him or something. He tapped her cheeks lightly with both of his hands, startling her and pulled them away. "Aish, Lee Seul-ki sure knows how to ruin a good moment."

"What..." she pouted and sniffed, looking at him with dissatisfaction.

"Then why did you agree so fast?" he asked, crossing his arms across his chest, looking at her judgingly. He watched her face becoming redder as she sniffed again.

"Because..." she bit her lip again, and looked at him with hesitation. She never got the chance to answer him when Sunggyu suddenly grabbed her shoulders and turned her around so that she was facing the kitchen counter again. She almost yelped when she felt him against her back and she felt his heat and his arms were wrapping her chest again. "Sunggyu-sshi..."

"Cook that. I want to see how it's done," he said, putting his chin on her shoulder and the hair on the back of her neck stood up when she felt his breathing near his ear. Her heart was beating violently inside, and she was sure Sunggyu could even feel them.

"Even if we are not arranged to marry, I want us to end like this. I want to end up liking you, and holding you like this after I've asked for your hand in marriage. Because I want to marry Lee Seul-ki no matter what. And I'll live for a thousand years to stay by her side," he said, in a low, deep voice near her ear. His embrace tightened a little, making Seul-ki choked a little.

"Thank you..." she said, and cried a little again.

"Don't cry. It's a happy occasion," he said, kissing her cheek from the side, making her laughed.

Seul-ki pursed her lips and sniffed, and tried to finish making the batter for the jeon in silence, and when she was moving to the side to grab the salt, Sunggyu followed her movement. It felt like he was stuck to her, except that his arms were still attached to her front torso, and he was pouting and looking at what she was doing like it was no big deal.

"Sunggyu-sshi..."

"What?"

"It's... a little hard to move..."

Sunggyu moved his arms up to her neck playfully. "How about now?"

"Sunggyu-sshi!" she cried, embarrassed, and put up a miserable face.

He laughed and moved his arms down to her belly which immediately felt hollow, and made her felt really nervous. Seeing how her ears had turned red, he smiled and put his chin on her shoulder again, which he kissed first. She hung her face low, not wanting him to notice how red her face was. When she started cooking the jeon, spreading the batter in the pan, Sunggyu suddenly rolled his chin on her shoulder, making her yelped.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" he asked, turning his face to hers but he was still holding on to her.

"It hurts!" she cried, turning her face as well.

"What does?" he asked, surprised, and laughed when Seul-ki rubbed her chin to show that his stubble was prickling her. "Why, you don't like it?" he asked, and started rasping her shoulder again. When she made noises to make him stop, he laughed hard and kissed her cheek."I want to go and get it shaved, but I don't feel like letting you go right now. What should I do?"

Seul-ki pouted miserably before saying, "I'll... do it later for Sunggyu-sshi."

"You will?" he asked, amused. She nodded shyly and turned her face to him again for a glance. "But what if you cut me again?" Her face changed immediately as she looked away in distraught, which made Sunggyu panicky. "Well, I even cut myself sometimes when I do it, so it's okay for Seul-ki to cut me. She might be better than me. Well, she ties neckties better than I do," he said, putting an indifferent face, and pretending not to notice when she was eyeing him with the end of her eye. "Do you want to do it or not?" he asked loudly, and started rolling his chin on her shoulder again, making her yelped before they laughed out loud, and Sunggyu's embrace was getting tighter as he pulled her into his chest and then she was tilting her head to look at him from the side, and Sunggyu studied her imploring eyes, and without much hesitation, he kissed her lips from the side. She closed her eyes, as he did, and he could feel the tip of her tongue in between her parted lips and thought that it was the perfect chance to get a little deeper when he smelt something was burning.

He quickly pulled away and shouted. "It's burning! The jeon is burning!" He was all flustered as Seul-ki turned off the gas in flash and picked up the pan and threw it into the sink. Then, they were inhaling the smell of burnt Jeon and she turned to him and smiled awkwardly. "Aish! No more kissing in the kitchen, it's dangerous!"

"Who was kissing who..." she muttered, and went on trying to scrap off the jeon off the pan which she did without much effort. Then, she washed it and was on her away to cook another.

"Yah, I heard that," he said, monotonously. He stepped up to her back again, and embraced her from behind again. "But hugging is allowed." Seul-ki turned her face to narrow her eyes at him, which amused him. "Why? You don't want?" he asked, and when he was about to pull away his hands, she grabbed them, and went stiff, holding her breath. They were motionless for a moment and Sunggyu finally smiled and wrapped her belly, and put his prickly chin on her shoulder again.

They sat at the table once she had finished cooking, without a word as Seul-ki watched anxiously as Sunggyu was taking a bite of the jeon. She watched his lips moving, munching the food, and his uninterested face and felt even more anxious. Suddenly, his lips moved to form a smile, and he immediately lowered his face to look at his plate. His smile faded into something dreamier and he cupped his mouth and went on staring at his unfinished jeon. Seul-ki too, was only looking at his plate, feeling poignant.

"Even if the batter is still the same... it will taste different when it's cooked by you after all," he said, and smiled widely that his eyes went really thin but his voice cracked at the end of his sentence. Seul-ki felt her eyes filling up with tears again, so she didn't dare look up. "I'll eat it well."

They ate in silence, with only the sound of the cutlery and the occasional sniffing but it wasn't all that bad. Once they had finished eating, Sunggyu stood up and took the dishes from both their sides. Seul-ki stood up as well and watched him without a word. Once he had taken them all to the kitchen and put them into the sink, he began washing them, and when he felt her face snuggling into his back, he smiled pensively. Her hands were clasped at the front of his abdomen, just below his chest and he felt his back was getting wet.

"Are you taking revenge for earlier?" She shook her head lightly. "What's wrong, then?"

"I'm sorry..." she said, hiccupping, "I shouldn't have... ran away and made Sunggyu-sshi worry. I'm sorry... I didn't listen to you. I'm sorry.... for not keeping my promise. I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

"It's not your fault, Seul-ki-ah. It's mine." She shook her head again, strongly this time.

"It's mine," she said, sniffing. "I am so selfish... I only think about myself. I didn't care about what Sunggyu-sshi has to say..."

"We both are at fault," he said, turning off the tap and held Seul-ki's arm with his. "I'm sorry too, Seul-ki." He peeled her hands off slowly and turned himself to face her. She was still crying, and it made him smiled sadly. "Seul-ki, about that night... I didn't... I didn't kiss her. I was also surprised when she did that..." He paused to look at her face, which was unsmiling, but her eyes were kind. "I'm sorry that you have to see that..."

"I know," she said, smiling kindly. "I know. I trust Sunggyu-sshi."

"Seul-ki..." he smiled as well, though weakly, "And I've said some really hurtful things to you. I didn't mean those... I never thought of you that way... I was just too angry, and foolish and felt like hurting you because..."

"Sunggyu-sshi was hurt because of me. It was only fair," she shrugged, smiling feebly. "Because I didn't realise that I was disregarding Sunggyu-sshi's feelings by protecting Myungsoo," her face hardened. "Sunggyu-sshi knows that there's nothing between me and Myungsoo, right? He is my best friend, a brother, and probably someone who knows me too well. I grew up with him, but I am married to you, not him. And I only like Sunggyu-sshi... not him."

"I know," he replied, patting her head. "Although I don't really like him, I know well how it is between the two of you. I guess... I was just jealous."

Seul-ki widened her eyes, "Jealous?"

He cleared his throat and quickly changed the topic, "I think someone said she wanted to shave my face." She pouted, and rubbed her nose. He laughed weakly. "I'm sorry I am always making you cry... I really don't like seeing you cry... But it's my fault."

"That's because I'm a crybaby," she said, immediately rubbing her face with her sleeve and sniffed, and looked up again, for his approval. He laughed again and patted her head.

"That's it." Then, he kissed her again, and she could feel him smiling into her lips and it made her smiled as well.

Sunggyu was sitting in the living room, crossed legs with his heart pumping fast. He kept on breathing through his mouth, and looking up the ceiling and then at his shave kit. When Seul-ki appeared from the kitchen with her red cheeks and shy smile, holding a basin of water, he straightened his back and watched her sat down. She bit her lip and picked up a towel and blinked at him with eager eyes. His stomach churned as he saw the same look she had when she was cutting his fringe before.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked, hesitantly. Her face changed, as if she was going to cry again. "Aish... Okay, fine, fine. Just, be careful with the blade," he said, eyeing the razor nervously. She smiled again, and then she was just looking at him, with the same smile on her face, though it was more like she was looking lost. Sunggyu cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable, "Well?"

She gulped and soaked the tower into the warm water and shook it a few times to cool it, and put it on her own face first to make sure that it wasn't too hot. When she stretched her hand to reach his face, he almost jerked back, but managed to restrain himself from doing so by stiffing himself up. The warm towel touched his face, and she was looking worried, but her hand was busy tapping his face, at where his stubbles and whiskers were. Then, she wrapped half of his face with the towel, startling him.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Uh... I read that you need to do it to soften the whiskers..."

"What?" he asked, loudly, through the towel, but his eyes were severely narrowed. "Where did you read that? And when?" She only looked elsewhere, and began pretending to busy herself with his facial wash and everything, and he smiled playfully. "Apart from tying neckties, is shaving your husband one of your dreams when you get married too?"

Seul-ki blushed terribly and looked up to glare at him, but it was just too embarrassing to look at him, so she quickly squeezed the facial wash and lathered it, and then she took off the towel from his face. Her hand was just lingering in the air for a few seconds, and Sunggyu was looking at her while she took a deep breath. She gulped with difficulties.

"Can... Sunggyu-sshi... lie on my lap?" she asked, quietly.

Sunggyu thought he must be hearing things, so he widened his eyes and leaned forward. "What?"

"Lie... on my lap," she repeated, with her face red.

Sunggyu blinked multiple times but he wasn't moving. Seul-ki shifted her position so she was sitting seiza and her hands were up in the air, still full of lather. Sunggyu turned around, feeling like his heart was going to kill him, and slowly, leaned backward till his head touched her lap and then he was looking up at Seul-ki who was looking awkward. He considered getting up but her hands were already on his face, lathering his face however she wanted.

They were only silent, but Sunggyu was only looking at her, with his strange expression and Seul-ki thought maybe she was making a mistake after all. Her heart wasn't helping and her hands were going cold, so she grabbed a warm towel and started to wipe away all the foams from his face, gently. Then, she took the shaving cream and began lathering it all over his stubbles, with upmost concentration. Sunggyu thought he missed that look on her face so much that he felt a little choked. It made him smiled, and Seul-ki who felt it under her fingers as his face moved, looked at him strangely.

"Seul-ki."

"U-um?"

"Is this the first time you shave someone?"

She pursed her lips and gulped, and then she nodded vigorously. "Yes."

Sunggyu closed his eyes, still smiling. "I'm very happy, then."