It had been around 30 minutes since the both of them woke up - but neither Sunggyu nor Seul-ki wanted to really release one another. Sunggyu was caressing her bump from behind under the blanket, snuggling his face at the crook of her neck. Seul-ki was closing her eyes, listening to his breathing and occasionally gripping his hand on her tummy. She finally grasped it firmly and brought it to her lips where she kissed his knuckles. He smiled and kissed her neck.

                "We should probably get up now," she said quietly.

                "Hmm. Probably," he replied, as he kissed her hair next.

                "Eomeonim is probably expecting us to arrive soon..."

                "Hmm. Probably."

                "...I bet they cooked a lot of food for us."

                "Probably."

                Seul-ki pouted and turned her face, just to receive a peck from Sunggyu who grinned after pulling away. She wanted to frown but couldn't help but to smile as well. Her hand was feeling his fingers as she studied his lips from the side. She parted her lips and he leaned closer in understanding and they shared a slow, passionate kiss that caused her to get breathless after a moment. Both smiled as they stared into each other's eyes.

                "Will you miss me?"

                "Probably."

                "Yah."

                She laughed softly and bit her lip before pecking his lips again. Then her smile faded a little as she looked to the front again and began playing with his fingers. "Of course I'll miss dangshin... Although it's only for like three months and we can see each other on the weekends, it's not going to be the same. I'm too used of waking up like this..." She said, smiling sadly to herself.

                "I'll miss you more you know. At least you'll have eomma, ahbuji and halmeoni at home," he sighed after taking a deep breath. "I have to go home to an empty house for three months..." He began making whining noises, which made her laughed again. "Yah, you think it's funny?" Instead of answering, she was only laughing. He pouted and sniffled, "Maybe we should ask eomeonim and halmeoni to stay here instead..."

                "What about abeonim then?"

                "He can take care of himself. He's not a baby."

                "Dangshin is not a baby, too," she said softly, patting his hand. "And even if I have everyone by my side at the countryside, it won't be the same as having dangshin with me. But if dangshin doesn't want me to stay there..."

                "No," he shook his head and sniffled again. "I want you to be taken care of properly. I can't work thinking you're all alone at home, you know. And after you've given birth, you will have to take care of the things you eat and everything and eomma said you shouldn't be doing hard work. Knowing you, you probably won't listen to her if she's not around to nag you."

                Seul-ki laughed again. "Am I that stubborn?"

                "You're my thug wife. Of course you are."

                "Then Kim Sunggyu married a thug."

                "Seems like I did. And that thug turns out to be a beautiful lady." Her face burned a little at his words and she was munching her lips while intertwining their fingers together. They spent some minutes of being quiet as both were thinking about how to spend their time apart. Seul-ki got a little emotional and began to tear up a little. She tried to hide it but Sunggyu seemed like he knew when he tightened his embrace. "It'll be okay."

                "Hmm."

                "Should we get up now?" She shook her head slowly and pinched the end of his fingers gently. "You want to stay like this a while longer?"

                "...Closer."

                Sunggyu's lips curved into a dreamy smile and slowly, he pulled his hand from Seul-ki's and brought it below her bump. His fingers danced there for a moment before he cupped her intimately and rubbed her slowly. "Like this?"

                "Closer..." Her voice was hushed and she closed her eyes, feeling her senses awakening as he spread her a little and circled her slowly. Her breathing became laboured when she felt his hardness against her back. A soft moan escaped her lips when he rubbed faster and before she could come, he lifted her thigh and gently entered her. "Hnn..."

                "Does it hurt?"

                "No... But gently, please."

                Moving his hips carefully, Sunggyu cupped her face from the side and kissed her deeply. His fingers were fondling her , which had grown at least a cup bigger. He knew how conscious she was about the size of her buds and the surrounding areolas. Her stretch marks were also a big concern to her but each time he would assure her that she looked as beautiful as ever. He said the marks were only a map of their journey. Seul-ki said he was really getting cheesy day by day, with a happy smile.

              Slowly, he pulled her torso so she was leaning towards him and lowered his head so he could on her hardened .  She whimpered and shuddered, groping his hair and watching him ling her. The sight of his calm face somehow caused her breathing to heighten. Down below, he was circling his hips faster. Her moans were getting louder after a while and Sunggyu didn't restrain himself when he came inside her after a moment has passed. His fingers were rubbing her vigorously as he did and she came with a stifled moan when she buried her face into the pillow under her. While they were catching their breaths, she suddenly whimpered and furrowed hard while her bump.

                "Another hick?"

                She nodded.  Without words, he pulled out and turned her over so she was facing him. He caressed her cheek with a soft smile before moving down and faced her bump, which he kissed multiple times and all around. Seul-ki was always saying how she felt like her bump was going to explode because of the size and caused people to stare, causing her to feel a little discomfit. Sunggyu on the other hand, while agreeing that her bump was enormous, said that it was amazing since she was carrying two persons inside her. This is more amazing than Woohyun lifting weights, he would say. His words never failed to make her laugh and it was all that she needed. And also moments like this when he comforted their babies by gently her tummy and giving it a lot of kisses. It worked like charm every time.

                "So they're coming out soon..."

                "Um."

                "But Seul-ki, are you sure about natural birth?" he asked, looking up at her. He couldn't help but to be worried since he knew the risk of carrying and delivering twins. He didn't want to be thinking too much but he didn't want her to undergo unnecessary pain and discomfort more than what she had been facing for all the months she'd been carrying their babies. She rarely complained but he always caught her stretching and massaging her back a lot after minutes of standing or sitting. Although he did give her a massage every night, he'd still think they didn't really help with anything. There were times when her feet swelled up after standing while cooking. And if it wasn't because of her unable to finish cooking, she wouldn't even tell him what was going on. Her back was also giving her a hard time and at night she barely slept after having nightmares and endless hicks.

                The only time she really cried was when the babies were kicking her bladder that she had to keep going to the toilet and just as she thought they had stopped, they gave strong kicks to her ribs. Sunggyu was relieved to find that they didn't break her ribs but comforting her that evening was the hardest thing he'd done for quite a long time.

                She nodded and his hand that was on her bump. "Eomma gave birth to me naturally as well. I know the risks but the boys are mostly in head down position ever since I entered my third trimester, so it'd be okay. Don't worry, dangshin. I can do this..."

                Sunggyu's face turned a little serious. "But if baby 2 comes out late, I'm going to ask them to do a C-Section, okay?"

                "Yes, dangshin..." she said in defeat and sighed with a gentle smile. He sat up slowly and inched closer to her face to meet her lips.

                "I guess... This would be last time of us being together for now."

                Seul-ki who noticed the sadness in his voice and tone, caressed his cheek tenderly. "Well, dangshin isn't sending me to your parents' house if not for me to heal quickly and properly, right?"

                He laughed and tapped her nose. "Please heal quickly so I can be inside you again."

                Although embarrassed, she sniffled and nodded. "Well... I think we need to get ready now. Help me up?" Sunggyu's smile widened as he helped her and she quickly wrapped her body with the blanket and looked at him sheepishly. "I'll shower first..."

                "Not together?"

                "But then it'll take a longer time..." she said, munching her words and looking sideways.

                "I promise; it'll be shower only. Come, come," he said dismissively, helping her off the bed. Seul-ki wasn't really convinced but she followed him nevertheless. "You won't need the blanket. He unwrapped her from the blanket, which caused her to really blush so she quickly but not so quickly walked to the bathroom, led by Sunggyu who was hiding a sly smile.

                They took more time as always obviously.

                Once they have finally set out for the drive to the countryside, Seul-ki took a long moment of just standing in the hallway and staring around the house. Sunggyu who even without having to look at her face, knew how she was feeling, came up behind her and kissed her shoulder. "We'll be home soon, oh?"

                In the car, they were only sitting in silence initially; thinking. Sunggyu especially was thinking how he'd suffer without her since he was no longer used to sleeping alone. He wouldn't have any good cooking to come home to as well. The most important thing was he couldn't see her smile. Even if they could easily make video calls, he knew it wasn't going to be the same. He was already itching to touch her.

                Sunggyu's emotions were clearly reflected on his face and he had wanted to whine when Seul-ki suddenly screamed. He turned abruptly in panic but still remembered to pull over slowly, "Wae? Wae? Wae? Are you giving birth?? Babies are coming out?"

                "Dangshin!!!" she shrieked and faced him with her eyes wide and watery.

                "Wae?? What is it? Are you hurt anywhere??"

                "Yunjae!!"

                He blinked rapidly. "What?"

                "Yunho and Jaejoong met today!!!" she said, excitedly and loudly with tears coming down her face as she put up her phone to show him the picture of Jaejoong and Yunho talking. "They met at the army event and they made a performance and Yunho was clapping his hands to Jaejoong's singing and Jaejoong was originally wearing his blue jacket but suddenly it was gone and suddenly Yunho was carrying a blue jacket in his arm and then Yunho was talking to Jaejoong's sister and her daughter and Jaejoong was talking to Yunho's appa and there's a video of Yunho grasping Jaejoong's arm as he was leaving and Jaejoong was looking at him longingly-" She gasped suddenly, causing her to get a little breathless with more tears streaming down her face.

                "Breathe, Lee Seul-ki, breathe," he said, gripping her shoulders. She nodded and gulped to clear the block in . "I can't tell whether you are happy or you're sad..."

                "They finally met again..." she said, wiping her tears, "Of course I'm happy! I'm super happy! The babies are happy too that they are kicking me a lot..." She cried louder and miserably. Sunggyu immediately her bump to soothe her and the babies with a huge frown on his face. "I'm sorry..."

                He gave her a weak smile. "It's fine. They finally met again. That's a good thing, right?"

                "Yeah, seems like October is a blessed month for me!" she said, beaming through her tears and then started showing him more videos and photos. Sunggyu was still frowning but he really couldn't help but to listen and eventually smiled when she kept on grinning at him. When she had finally finished spazzing, she sniffled. "Am I being noisy?"

                "You're not," he said, laughing a little. "But I do feel a bit jealous that you're talking so happily about them. Do you talk this excitedly about me to people as well?"

                Seul-ki blinked rapidly before her cheeks turned a little pink and nodded sheepishly. "Of course I do... You're my husband anyway," she sniffled again and looked up and down and munched her words.

                "Oh? You do? What do you tell people?" he asked, interestedly.

                "It's a secret."

                "Eyyyyy.  Is it rated?"

                "Of course not!" she shrieked and Sunggyu burst out laughing. She bit her lip and looked sideways in embarrassment. Then she faked some coughs and mumbled, "Well, maybe I told one or two that you're good in bed..."

                . "Not as good as yeobo." Her face scrunched up in shyness when he saw Sunggyu smiling till his eyes disappeared.

                "Ahh~ I'm happy to hear that yeobo spazzes about me," he said, patting her head but then he frowned and put up his index finger. "But stop spazzing for now okay? Pay full attention to Kim Sunggyu for today, oh? I'm handsome too and I'm a cool guy and only I own Lee Seul-ki. Understood?"

                She pouted but her lips were curving up. "Understood, Kim Sunggyu-sshi."

                "Ah, you owe me one activity now."

                "What! I was only mentioning your name! I didn't mean anything! Sunggyu-sshi said my name too!"

                "Oh, I owe you one for that. That makes it three activities then~" Sunggyu laughed and patted her head and with Seul-ki frowning miserably, he began driving again and headed towards the countryside. While driving, he hoped that somehow it'd take longer to reach there as he didn't want to send her away. Seul-ki slept throughout the rest of journey however, much to his dismay.

                And once they had reached the countryside, she literally became his parents' as they quickly took her inside and left Sunggyu to carry the luggage and bags all by himself. He shouted yah yah a few times but everyone just dismissed him. Complaining and nagging to himself, he dragged the luggage inside and narrowed his eyes at his parents that were all over Seul-ki as always in the living room.

                "Ah, Sunggyu, just put the bags inside the room downstairs. Since Seul-ki can't climb stairs with her bump, she'll have to sleep in halmeoni's room," his mother said.

                "What?" Sunggyu cried, widening his eyes. "What about me then?"

                "Well, your room is upstairs..."

                "But I want to sleep with my wife! How could you separate a married couple! This is nonsense!"

                His father and mother looked at one another. His mother was the one who spoke, with a little pout, "It's not as if you can do anything for a few months..."

                "I'm not-" He blinked rapidly, mostly in embarrassment because Seul-ki was blushing so badly and sending him signs to stop arguing. "I can at least... hold her or something, right? It's not like she'll be totally off-limit, right? Ahbuji? You understand right?"

                Mr. Kim blinked rapidly and cleared his throat. "Adeul, you need to learn self-control."

                "Y-yah!" Sunggyu shouted, but everyone quickly dispersed, giving excuses that they needed to do something like cooking and gardening. Seul-ki who was still shy decided to follow Mr. Kim to the porch to look at the flowers patch that he had been tending to. Only Halmeoni who had been watching quietly, smiled and approached Sunggyu who looked like his spirit had flown out of him.

                "I'll sleep in your room, so you can sleep with Seul-ki," she said, patting his arm.

                "But halmeoni has to climb the stairs then..."

                "My knees are doing better now! It's a good exercise for me. Besides you're only here during weekends. So don't worry about me. You should spend as much time with Seul-ki."

                Sunggyu jutted out his bottom lip and looked at halmeoni with glassy eyes. "Only halmeoni understands my feelings! I love you halmeoni!" That was what he thought before Halmeoni put on a stern face.

                "But Sunggyu-ah, you know you shouldn't do anything after she's given birth, right? She needs to have proper rest. I won't forgive you if you hurt Seul-ki. Oh?"

                So, Sunggyu was then sulking during dinner that he was only pouting throughout it. He even slouched on the sofa afterwards when they were having tea, pretending to watch the television. Seul-ki on the other hand was talking happily to her in-laws and halmeoni about her pregnancy journey, narrating to them in details about her pregnancy classes etc.

                "Dangshin even went to the classes with me so they were very helpful," she said, smiling widely. "At home, if I was lazy, dangshin would tell me to exercise and even initiate it first to encourage me." Sunggyu who was listening sniffled and looked at her with the end of his eyes. His heart was however, swelling up in childish proud and he was almost couldn't hide his smile, "And dangshin has been cooking for me for about a month now!"

               "My son, cooking?" His father asked, surprised.

                "Um! They're very yummy!" she said, smiling like a child.

               "Why is ahbuji so surprised?" Sunggyu asked, narrowing his eyes.

               "No, it's just that..." He looked at Seul-ki and leaned closer. "You're just saying it right? His cooking is actually bad, right?"

                "Yah! I heard that!"

                "Why are you calling your father yah? Uh? This rascal!" Mr. Kim replied, hitting Sunggyu with the magazine that he rolled up so effortlessly. "Aish!"

                Seul-ki laughed a little but quickly spoke, "No, it's really good! Besides, I've been troubling dangshin with irrelevant requests and he really made an effort in making them. So... they're really good."

                "Heard that?" Sunggyu said, smugly and quickly dodged when his father wanted to hit him again by standing up. He then grabbed Seul-ki's hand and announced loudly. "My wife needs some rest. So we'll go to sleep now. Good night, eomma. I love you. Halmeoni too," he said, smiling wide until his eyes disappeared. "Ahbuji, you should learn to cook for eomma too."

                "Yah!" Mr. Kim began, but Seul-ki stood up and got between them while biting her lip. Mr. Kim was a little stunned but he pulled away and sighed when he saw the same expression that Seul-ki wore when she was little when she was protecting herself; except that this time, he was protecting his son. His heart was filled with warmth and he smiled in defeat.

                 Halmeoni's room and bed were a little smaller than his but it somehow made things more intimate for them. So they were cuddling on bed with Sunggyu endlessly smiling as he remembered how she complimented him in front of his parents. He thought of bragging but then noticed her eyelids were dropping.

                Tired?" he asked, peeking at her face. Seul-ki only nodded and closed her eyes. He smiled and kissed her temple before pulling up the blanket up to her neck and tucked her in. He didn't lie down but kept on patting her arm and her hair. After a while, she seemed to have fallen asleep so he stopped and lied down on his back, looking up at the dark ceiling, feeling a little lonely. He had been thinking of spending the night talking to her but the bump must have been taking a toll on her after a long journey. He eyed her sleeping face dreamily and was a little surprised when Seul-ki suddenly got up and turned to look at him with rather sleepy eyes. "What's wrong, yeobo?"

                Seul-ki who looked like she was dreaming reached for his face and his cheek gently. Sunggyu watched her questioningly, wondering if she was awake or still asleep. Then she shifted her position and lied down on his tummy facing him. He blinked rapidly and watched her poking his stomach with her index finger shyly and sleepily.

                "I want to look at Sunggyu-sshi..." He smiled, covered her with the blanket and played with her hair. Seul-ki was still poking his tummy with her eyes casted down. "You said you want to look at me. Look at me then."

                Slowly, she looked up and blushed a little. "I can see Sunggyu-sshi's nostrils."

                He laughed out loud. "What should I do then? Cover them up? How do I breathe then?" He said, faking a pout.

                "I'll give Sunggyu-sshi CPR." It made him laughed a bit more, which caused her to smile. He her forehead and looked at her dreamily. As if by agreement, they didn't say anything for a long moment and were just staring at one another meaningfully.

                "Dangshin..." She called, with her eyes closing.

                "Yes?"

                Her hand went up to his lips which she slowly. "Dangshin's lips are dry... Remember to apply lip balm, okay...? It's going to get cold soon... Please dress warmly and don't forget to turn on the heater. And don't forget to eat. I've written the recipes in the notebook so make sure you cook and eat, oh...?"

                "Yes, yeobo," he said, laughing softly.

                "Make sure you do your laundry.... Or else you won't have underwear to wear."

                "I'll wear yeobo's."

                "They won't fit..." she said, poking his chest.

                "I think your grandma would fit just fine."

                Seul-ki opened her eyes and glared at him but quickly closed them again. "Please take care of yourself, oh, dangshin...? Or else I'll stay at home with you."

                "If you worry about me, yeobo, I won't be able to take care of myself because I'm worried about you. So don't, and just rest well, okay?" Her eyes slid open momentarily when she smiled at him. Sunggyu her hair and soon she fell asleep.  "I love you, Lee Seul-ki."

                "I love dangshin too..." came her soft reply, which surprised him pleasantly. Sunggyu knew how his back was going to ache the next day if he remained in the same sleeping position but it didn't matter - her smile will heal all.

           151005

                It was quite a warm day for October. Sunggyu woke up from his sleep after a short yet peaceful sleep and the first thing he saw was her sleeping face. It didn't make sense how he never got tired of staring at her- at how her lips would be slightly parted and how her lashes would appear graceful, contrasted by her fair skin. With her face off-guard, she'd always look a child to him. Therefore, Sunggyu would always wait for her to wake up first - so that she wouldn't open her eyes and find that she was alone. If anything, he wanted to protect her from sadness and loneliness. So, he waited and after a moment, she stirred and opened her eyes slowly.

                Her eyes went up to his and she smiled sleepily. "Good morning, dangshin."

                "Good morning, yeobo," he answered, caressing her cheek. "Today we're going to meet our children."