Seunghyun can’t believe himself now. Yes, he did change a lot.

But now, he has gotten so unbelievable he wanted to smack himself.

He was buying rings. Couple rings.
He hated those.

Now, he’s buying them because he heard Tiffany admire Daesung and Rika’s.

. He cursed again.

Unbelievable.

He scanned the glass displays inside Tiffany & Co.’s Seoul boutique disguised with his favorite aviator Ray-bans.

The sales persons at the boutique were trying to act as professional as possible, that is, trying hard not to ask for an autograph, nor ask for a picture together with the handsome idol who was too obvious irked about buying a ring or rings (they were not sure). For about almost an hour now, he kept pacing back and forth, checking rings out without asking them for any assistance.

Until finally.

He approached one Tiffany & Co. staff, a senior one,  and asked, “Ajumma, can I please take a look at this?”

He pointed at a pair of rings, a Channel-set band ring with a full circle of baguette diamonds in platinum, 2.48 karats, worth USD24,000.

The staff took out the rings and showed it to him.

Seunghyun studied the rings for a while, although he looked quite decided, he showed a bit of apprehension.

He sighed loudly and said, “I’ll get them. My girlfriend’s ring size is 5 and mine’s 8.”

The ajumma staff finally couldn’t contain her emotions. She know she shouldn’t mind his business but she couldn’t understand why he was buying the rings alone.

“Aren’t you and your fiancée supposed to buy the rings together?” She asked. At the least the question wasn’t too blunt.

But Seunghyun was still dumbfounded by the question. “I’m sorry?”

“I do not understand you kids nowadays.” She shook her head in dismay. She still hasn’t figured out why Seunghyun was buying the rings without his fiancé.

Now Seunghyun thought he got what she meant, “Oh, it’s a surprise.”

“What!?!” She exclaimed, “You’re going to surprise her? Son, if you’re going to surprise your girlfriend, give her an engagement ring, not a wedding ring!”

So those are wedding rings he selected, not just plain couple rings.

Way to go, Choi Seunghyun.

Not only does his disguise isn’t working, he just created a scene for people to witness.

He smiled and said, “I’m still taking these, I think they’re the prettiest.”

“You want to marry her, don’t you?” the Ajumma smiled back. “Most of the customers who made the same mistake would choose another set of rings.”

Seunghyun paused. It was the first time someone asked him that question.

Would he like to marry Tiffany? He discussed having kids with her. They came up with list of names of their future kids already, it’s both saved on their mobile phones. Revised so many times and they have argued about it as well.

Marriage? Yes, they have talked about it.

Flashback

It all started when Tiffany attended a friend’s wedding. Seunghyun picked her up after the ceremony and she was telling him how the couple fought just right after they got wed.

The reason for the fight? The wife wanted to use her husband’s last name. Koreans do not do that. The husband felt like they’re going against tradition, and that they’re being unusual.

Tiffany was telling Seunghyun the story of how her friends almost called it off in front of the guests because of that “last name” issue during their wedding.

“We’re never going to have that kind of problem, right?” Seunghyun told her, smiling. He couldn’t look at her because he was driving.

“And how are you so certain?” Tiffany combed his hair with her fingers. (She loved doing that a lot.)

“Aren’t you American?” Seunghyun reminded her, “You’re just going to be Stephanie Choi, period.”

Damn. If he wasn’t just on the wheel, Tiffany would’ve grabbed him and kissed him passionately right there and then.

You wouldn’t blame why Erika Michibata, Park Bom, Kim Sera and millions of other girls why they would like to trade places with Tiffany Hwang right now and maybe for the rest of their lives.

Tiffany was lost for words for a period of time so she couldn’t respond.

“Stop the car.” Tiffany told him.

He looked at her, confused. “Why?”

“I said, stop the car.” She commanded.

Seunghyun got scared so he did. He wasn’t sure what exactly went wrong, if something did went wrong why Tiffany suddenly acted weird.

She unbuckled her seatbelt hastily,  almost rose from the passenger seat and grabbed Seunghyun’s face and kissed him passionately.

Seunghyun was surprised, but he did respond with heated kisses of his own.

They were catching their breaths when he asked, “What was that?”

“Damn you…” Tiffany said, panting. “I… I… I… was too touched…”

She was a bit shy to admit and because of that Tiffany blushed red. Seunghyun smiled at her and kissed her again.

“Yah, My mushroom’s getting all shy and all red.” Seunghyun teased. “We’re going out for almost two years already, Tiffany. I think about those things. And when I think about those things, I think about you…”

“Seunghyun…”

“Or rather…” Seunghyun corrected himself, “When I think about you, I think about those things.”

Tiffany couldn’t take that  one any longer. That one was too much handle. She got out of the car and walked away, with tears in her eyes and a big smile on her face.

Tiffany Choi.

Mrs. Choi Seunghyun.

Damn .

She’d give up being SNSD right here, right now.

“I’m walking home!” She waved at the laughing Seunghyun behind her.

Seunghyun ran after her, “Your home’s on the opposite side.”

They both laughed and Tiffany came back to the (still) laughing Seunghyun. Tiffany and Seunghyun both realized how crazy in love they have been with each other and how serious their relationship have become.

Almost two years and counting.

Two pregnancy scares.

Boom Shakalaka. Serious version.

Now, he was mistaken in buying wedding rings instead of just couple rings.

And no, he’s not exchanging them for something else.

End of Flashback

The Ajumma is waiting for him to answer.

“You want to marry her, Son?” She repeated while wrapping the rings.

Seunghyun smiled at the old lady and said, “I never thought I’d ever say yes, but I do. But not yet now.”

“She’s one lucky lady.” She said. “You’re a handsome boy.”

“Thank you, Ajumma.” Seunghyun thanked her, handing her his credit card.

Seunghyun paid for the rings and left. He drove off to a studio where Tiffany’s doing a photo shoot for Elle magazine.

Seunghyun lied that he received a call from his manager to go to that studio for a photo shoot. When he arrived at Hanna Studio, he apologized to everyone that he probably misunderstood his manager’s instructions. And perhaps it was another studio he was supposed to go. His acting included calling up his manager to ask where exactly was the right place. The poor manager couldn’t comprehend what Seunghyun was talking about. Seunghyun just talked and talked.

Sun Mi, Tiffany's Manager,  was eyeing him, thinking that he has gotten smarter these days or maybe, bolder is the more correct term.

Tiffany played along well. So when Seunghyun bowed and apologized to her for his intrusion, she just said it’s fine. She hadn’t seen him for three days and seeing him exert effort, may it be a crazy thing such as this for them to see each other, she didn’t care.

A little later, food (chicken, and different kinds of pasta) was delivered to the studio for the staff of Elle and for Tiffany and her handlers. It was from Seunghyun who supposedly still embarrassed for his little disturbance a while back.

Everyone found that so sweet of him. It wasn’t actually necessary. They were still reeling from his unannounced arrival – that alone was a pleasant surprise.

Tiffany, who just finished changing into her own clothes asked, “Does anyone know TOP-ssi’s number? We have to thank him.”

She saw her manager suppressing her laugh. She might be stopping herself for saying “Tiffany’s memorized TOP-ssi’s number! Don’t be fooled by her.”

“I’ll ask some friends.” Tiffany lied flatly.

After a minute, she was calling Seunghyun. He was still outside, a bit far from the studio, waiting for her.

“Seung--- TOP-ssi?” Tiffany said. “Hello?”

“Hey.”

“Thank you for the food you sent us.” She told him in behalf of the people in the studio.

“I missed you.” He answered.

This man, Tiffany thought. How many times can he make her go weak? Put her on the spot. Challenge her feelings?

“We appreciate it very much. But you didn’t have to really…” She continued.

“I love you, Tiffany.” Seunghyun said with his deep y voice. “Aren’t you done? I haven’t seen you for three days. Three long days…”

I miss you and I love you too, Tabi. But there are at least twenty pairs of eyes watching and twenty pairs of ears listening to me right now. Save that for later.

Sun Mi decided to in, “Buy him coffee Tiffany!!”

“I’ll buy you coffee, TOP-ssi.” She told him, as if just following what her manager told her told her to do. “Where are you?”

“I’m here waiting outside. Tell Sun-Mi Noona to drop you off at Apgujeong Sageori Station and I’ll be trailing you behind.”

Tiffany and her manager left not soon after. She transferred to Seunghyun’s car at Apgujeong Intersection and was so excited she left her bag at her manager’s car.

Seunghyun endlessly the entire night.

“Where are we going?” Tiffany asked.

“You want to drive around?” He asked her back, “I had no plans, and I just wanted to see you.”

“No, that’ll be tiring for you.” She told him. “Let’s do what normal couples do, Seunghyun.”

“We do what they do.” Seunghyun reminded her, then he got her hand and kissed it.

She smiled, “Not that. I meant that dates and all. Let’s hang out by the Han River. It’s already dark anyway. Let’s buy snacks on the way and let’s laze around there until we fall asleep. I heard couples do that a lot.”

“Do they kiss there too?” He asked innocently.

“Seunghyun!!”

“What?”

“I don’t know…” Tiffany was actually clueless. “ Maybe, we’ll find out.”

Tiffany and Seunghyun found a spot where there aren’t too many people. It’s true that there many couples there. It did hit them that indeed they aren’t a normal couple and at the same time, it occurred to them that ‘longing’ to be one.

Seunghyun lay down on the grass, his head on Tiffany’s lap. They brought food but forgot to buy mat.

“Hey, don’t fall asleep on me.” Tiffany pinched his perfect nose.

He laughed. “Of course not.” He leaned in a little towards her to give her a peck.

“I want to do this often.” He told her. “Be like them, be a normal couple like them.”

Seunghyun was referring to the couples they saw: Holding hands, hugging each other, kissing each other on public. He was jealous of them.

He didn’t like the couple shirts or the matching accessories and stuff but the idea that they could tell the world of their relationship and love to each other, that alone made Seunghyun envious.

He continued, “I wish we can do what they do.”

“Tabi…” Tiffany felt the same. “We’ll make do with what we have, alright? We can’t have it all.