May  31, 2013

Sunggyu woke up with a groan and took about 10 seconds before he realised he was on the mattress. He jumped and looked around but he found out that he was alone in the room. He kicked the pillow near his leg and groaned again.

Didn't he get married, he asked himself and spent another 5 minutes just tossing and turning and kicking everything that was on the floor. Then he got up, looked for the bathroom, washed his face and started to look for his wife.

His wife, yeah, right.

He looked everywhere and when he found her, she was in the outdoor kitchen, laughing sweetly to the jokes that the older women were making. Seul-ki was still dressed in traditional han-bok, a plainer one and put her hair in a neat braid. She was washing the rice, with her sleeves pulled up and the sight was really making Sunggyu rather stunned for a moment as she looked rather... wife-like. Seul-ki noticed him immediately and smiled at him timidly and nodded a little. He nodded back, scratching his head.

"You're finally up." His aunt commented. "Did you sleep well?"

"I did." He said, looking at Seul-ki who was tossing the water out of the big pot. "Do you need any help?" He asked this more to Seul-ki who didn't look at him at all. He made a face to himself.

"Just go and get yourself cleaned up for the feast." His aunt replied and shoved him away.

"Don't overwork my wife!" He said and left before Seul-ki could say a thing, her face flushing. The older women were laughing and patting Seul-ki's back repeatedly and she laughed awkwardly along. She smiled to herself and shrugged, remembering Sunggyu's words from the night before.

After a big feast for the family and much introduction of Sunggyu's family member to her, Sunggyu and Seul-ki were already prepared to leave. Though traditionally they had to spend a few days at that house before going to Sunggyu's house, Sunggyu said they had to leave sooner since he had to start working again. People were grunting but they couldn't really say anything as his parents too didn't seem to be minding it.

Outside the house, Halmeoni hugged Seul-ki for a long time and she shed some tears, making Seul-ki teary as well. She couldn't bring herself to say anything so she hugged Seul-ki again, patting her back with everyone watching. Myungsoo and Yu-rim left as well, saying goodbye after Seul-ki smiled sadly at Yu-rim's swollen eyes from crying. Myungsoo squeezed her hand, just for a split second and went away. Dongwoo came around and he was smiling from ear to ear, hugging Sunggyu and patted his back. Seul-ki watched timidly, recognizing Dongwoo as the person who came on Sunggyu's behalf to send gift to the her house a week before. She nodded her head and Dongwoo nodded back.

"Yo, sis-in-law!" He said, with a sweet smile and put up a hand. Seul-ki put up a hand in return and smiled awkwardly. Then they got into the car, said goodbye to everyone and Dongwoo drove them to Seoul, which took a few hours of driving.

"How is it, getting married?" Dongwoo began, checking out Seul-ki who was fast asleep at the back seat.

Sunggyu thought a bit for a while. "I feel normal."

"Normal?" Dongwoo laughed, but kept it low to not wake Seul-ki up. "What do you mean normal?"

"I feel normal. What else should I feel?" Sunggyu said, not knowing what to actually answer.

"You should be happy."

"I am happy!" He said, as if he was angry.

"Why are you mad?"

"I'm not mad. I'm happy!" He said, a bit loud.

Seul-ki woke up startled at his loud voice, a bit dizzy and sat up straight. She was still drowsy and looked outside the window, found out that they were nearing Seoul and felt overwhelmed again. How was Halmeoni doing? Will she be okay? Will she be lonely? Seul-ki couldn't stop her tears but she quickly wiped them, and Dongwoo who could see it through the rear mirror elbowed Sunggyu. Sunggyu only frowned and he elbowed his again.

"Ah, wae!" He wailed.

Dongwoo only replied with his raised eyebrow and his lips pushed together to point at Seul-ki. Sunggyu frowned before he looked over his shoulder and saw Seul-ki looking gloomily outside the window.

"Yah." He began and Seul-ki, a bit surprised, looked at him. "You're okay?"

She nodded silently and Sunggyu turned to the front again, sighing after Dongwoo made a face. Seul-ki smiled to herself, with her hand fiddling the handkerchief that Halmeoni had given to her as a gift. It was a white handkerchief made of satin with a red iris embroided beautifully at a corner. Halmeoni had gotten it from her mother-in-law on her wedding day and she then passed it on to Seul-ki who was reluctant to take it from her but Halmeoni insisted on it.

"It suits you more. Iris means wisdom, just like your name." She said, shoving the handkerchief into Seul-ki's lap. "And it brings more meaning like hope and faith."

"Always keep the faith! Hope to the end!" She said, excitedly and Halmeoni hit her thigh, making her moaned in surprised.

"No more Kim Jaejoong! You're going to be someone's wife!" She said, but Seul-ki only made a face.

Seul-ki laughed to herself, looking at the building that started to appear around her. It wasn't at the heart of Seoul but rather a bit outside of the city but it still looked well-developed. After Dongwoo had parked his car at the underground parking lot, they began to unload their stuff out of the trunk. When Seul-ki wanted to bring out her stuff, Dongwoo took them from her.

"I can carry them myself." She said, still timid. Seul-ki was really not good with strangers ever since she was little, keeping only Yu-rim and Myungsoo as her friends. Dongwoo said not to mind it and walked ahead of them, carrying all of Seul-ki's stuff.

"You can help with mine." Sunggyu said, bluntly and Seul-ki turned to him, shocked and a bit confused but he maintained a straight face. "I'm just joking." He said and walked away.

Seul-ki sighed, not knowing which one was the real Sunggyu; the one who comforted her last night or the one who had just asked her to carry his bag. Nevertheless, she had to accept that either one, he was her husband. She trailed behind them, carrying a small bag with her red bag pack on her back. They rode the elevator and Seul-ki was counting the floors in silence as none of them were saying anything.

Sunggyu and Dongwoo were still walking ahead of her as they strolled along the corridor and they stopped at a door where Dongwoo himself punched in the passcode. Seul-ki only watched and followed them in, taking off her shoes at the entrance and went inside.

A man's house.

That was the first impression that she got when she entered it. It smelled like a man's house too, with everything just stacked on one another. It was a bit like Myungsoo's room which Seul-ki thought to be a bit tidier. She was just standing at the middle of the living room, studying around the house and Dongwoo was quick to say goodbye. She thanked him and watched Sunggyu walked him to the door.

Seul-ki looked around the house; there was a big television stuck to the wall with a mini shelf under it. There were a lot of CDs, and some books too, and when she looked closely and they were jumbled up together. She took a look at the sofa which looked rather neat but not to her liking as it was white and Seul-ki was allergic to white but she didn't know that Sunggyu liked the colour so much.

Sunggyu appeared behind her and cleared his throat. "I didn't get to clean up..."

She turned to him and he went on talking, "That's the main bedroom where I sleep... Well, where we will be sleeping." She made a face and Sunggyu was just staring at her, not knowing what it meant. He looked to the door next to it. "That's just a room where I keep all my books. And the third room is just a store."

Seul-ki opened the door of the second room, shocked to find out how messy it was and closed it again before Sunggyu got the chance to say anything.

"So..." Sunggyu said, scratching his head. "Why don't we... sit down first?"

Seul-ki sat down when he did and he was still looking as if he was trying to find the right word. Seul-ki said nothing as she waited for him to speak. He looked at her, as if trying to find words from her face.

"Do you mind sleeping with me?"

Seul-ki furrowed and threw a disapproval look at him.

"I mean, sleeping on the same bed in the same room." He quickly added, trying to keep a calm face. "Like last night."

Seul-ki had thought about this. Surely, they were husband and wife but Seul-ki was the least ready to actually live this way. "I... am your wife," Her voice was hushed and she looked unconvinced herself. "So... it's okay."

"Well." He sat up straight. "Okay then. Um..."

Awkward...

"I think I'll go out and go buy um, some grocery." Sunggyu said, getting up hastily.

"Should I go with you?" Seul-ki asked, looking up at him. Sunggyu panicked for a bit and shook his head.

"Nah, it's okay. You just stay home and rest. Yeah. I'll just go."

"Okay..." Seul-ki watched him scrambled to the front door and when he was gone, she sighed and looked around her again. She had to remind herself that this was her house and she was going to live there, perhaps for the rest of her live.

Guess I'll have to make myself at home, she said to herself and she went into the main bedroom, to find it rather neat though it still smelt like a man's room. She wanted to change into something more comfortable but felt so wrong doing so in a man's room so she changed in the bathroom instead. In her sport attire of plain white t-shirt and a pair of long pants, she went to the kitchen and was horrified at how everything was in a mess.

Scratching her head, Seul-ki started scrubbing the kitchen. She threw away food that looked like it was left for months in the fridge and took out some cups and plates she found in the cabinet that she thought she could use. She washed everything from the kitchen counter to the rack below the sink and felt like dying when she was cleaning the refrigerator. Sunggyu came home when she was emptying a container of biscuits and he looked stunned and a bit embarrassed of seeing her in his kitchen.

"You're home." She said, smiling at him, with a tired voice.

"I'm... home?" Sunggyu felt so weird having someone saying that to him since he was used to living alone in the city without anyone greeting him when he arrived at home. He put down the plastic bags he was carrying on the kitchen counter. "What are you doing?"

"Um, cleaning." Seul-ki watched his face, somehow afraid that he was perhaps angry that she meddled with his place.

"You've work hard." He said, smiling awkwardly and he began to take out the stuff he bought from the supermarket. "I wasn't sure of what to buy so I just bought everything."

Seul-ki inched in closer to him, looking at what was inside the plastic bag. While there were too many canned foods, he had also bought too much sugar and cookies. She decided not to say anything as she took the canned foods. "I'll put them away."

"Oh, okay."

"Sunggyu-sshi can go ahead and take a rest." She said, opening the cabinet that she had cleaned thoroughly and began arranging everything like she did at home. Sunggyu went out of the kitchen after watching her for a few seconds and sat in the living room where he noticed how his CDs and books were all messed up. He dusted them and took everything in his arms and dumped them in the second room, proud to see the rack under the TV was then clean.

He went into his room and took off the old sheets and changed them with fresh ones that his mother had sent him a week before. He cleaned up his dressing table and arranged everything neatly, mentally scolding himself why didn't he do everything sooner.

Seul-ki finished putting away everything and decided to continue on with cooking dinner. Sunggyu had bought some meat so she decided to cook some bibimbop and soon the smell lured Sunggyu into the kitchen. He watched quietly at her stirring the rice and it was making Seul-ki uncomfortable though she said nothing and went on doing her work. When she turned off the gas, she turned to him and blinked a few times before getting out the plates and set them on the table. Sunggyu helped with the glasses and took out a bottle of plain water and sat at the table. Seul-ki brought the food to the table and sat down opposite of him.

Sunggyu took his spoon but Seul-ki clasped her hands first to say some prayers and with the spoon between his fingers, he followed suit but he was just watching her. When she was finished with her prayers, she smiled shyly to her food.

"I hope it tastes okay..."

Su