After leaving the store they headed down the escalator to where Luhan spotted a photo booth sitting in the hall. There was a loud snort from Namjoo before she began to turn.

“I thought you agreed!” he grabbed her arm.

“That!?” Namjoo pointed at the photo booth. “Only kids do that. No way am I going in there. And you didn’t say anything about that!”

“So you’d rather waste twenty bucks on real portraits? Is it even worth it?”

He watched Namjoo chew her lips then shake her head, “I’m not going in there.”

“It won’t even take five minutes,” he pulled her toward it.

A passing couple of friends looked at them as they passed by and Namjoo immediately swerved around.

“It’s embarrassing, I can’t,” she refused shaking her head.

“What’s the big deal?”

“It’s for kids!” Namjoo raised her voice as she turned to him frustrated about why he wasn’t getting it. “I haven’t been in one since…since junior high.”

Luhan stared at her as if in awe before twisting away with a laugh splurging through his lips. Namjoo’s stare turned into a frown.

“What are you laughing at?” she asked defensive.

“It’s amusing.”

Her right eye narrowed, “Amusing?”

Deciding to switch the subject he said, “For Mi Yun since we probably won’t make it back for her birthday.”

Mi Yun’s birthday was two weeks away and knowing that he was right Namjoo turned from him flustered. She seemed to clench her eyes as if to call on for some kind of strength. And he couldn’t forget that Namjoo’s birthday also coincided with Mi Yun’s. Namjoo’s birthday was a few days before, but after Mi Yun came they often celebrated their birthdays together.  

“Fine, lets go in the stupid booth,” she muttered.

He’d never been in a photo booth with Namjoo, not even when they dated. A bubbly screen of vibrant colors which made all up the various options to choose from popped up after pushing some coins into the slot.

“Which one should we pick?” he wondered.

Namjoo shot him a glance and asked contradictorily, “You’re asking me?” 

Randomly pressing a button he watched as a colorful border popped up and another screen of options popped up with various emoticons. As he browsed them he watched Namjoo turn to look around the booth through the screen.

“Ok, ok, it’s starting,” he called out.

She immediately turned to stare at herself through the screen and tried to adjust herself to properly show up in the picture. Slightly frustrated about how she couldn’t get herself situated he pulled her toward the camera.

“Come stand here,” he said.

Instead she quickly brushed him off and the sound of the camera went off. The screen had gone back to the start. Stepping out of the booth he grabbed the picture out of the slot outside and shoved it into her face.

“You frowned!”

Namjoo stared at the picture without emotion and turned away contorting her face up into complaint.

“Come on, lets do it again,” he told.

With crossed arms Namjoo watched him set everything back up.

“Ok, it’s ready,” he informed and grabbed her arm to pull her next to him.

He watched Namjoo roll her eyes before throwing her arms to her side and flashed a smile just as the camera went off. Namjoo turned away to flex her face and he glanced at her. A second later the sound of the camera went off and they both turned to look at the screen surprised only to see that they had two more pictures to take.

“What’s going on?” Namjoo questioned.

“I…I don’t know,” he quickly scanned the machine. “I thought we were only taking one.”

The camera went off again and he turned to look at the screen to find Namjoo staring into it blankly. Suddenly amused, he straightened up and threw his hand up to wave at the camera.

“They’re so ugly, I don’t want to see them,” Namjoo turned away when he held the pictures up for her to see.

“Why?” he wondered. “They’re not that bad. We just look a bit stupid.”

“That’s why I said we didn’t need to do it in the first place!”

Pressing his lips together cheerily he glanced at the pictures again. Namjoo’s character was perfectly portrayed; a smiling mother and a hardheaded woman.

That evening as he waited for Namjoo to finish washing up he sat against the headboard, a pillow propped up behind his back. The stars were dangling from the night sky like the quiet words hanging off his lips. Fragile words that if he said aloud could either break or make up for the quiet between them. These heavy thoughts would come to him like the clouds underneath the moon and disappear at the glow of dawn, and he wouldn’t feel like talking about it anymore when the next day began.

The simple gold ring that sat around his finger was a little cold. It was too new, too clean, and foreign against his skin. It didn’t hold the same kind of warmth as the ring he’d set away had. That ring that sat in the far corner of the drawer next to his bed, the silver one with little beads of diamonds. It was the ring Namjoo had slipped over his finger; the one embedded with their feelings, the one he’d worn throughout their marriage as they fought, kissed and made up. It was the ring he’d worn when they had Mi Yun. It was the ring he had when they started their family. And it had been with him when they ended their relationship.   

This gold ring couldn’t compare to it. It was cold against his skin.

The bathroom door clicked open and he watched Namjoo walk out. After setting her things down she turned toward the bed, but halted slightly when she saw that he was still up.

“You’re not asleep?” she asked without movement.

Luhan pressed his lips together as if to bundle up his thoughts and folded his fingers so that the gold ring was out of his sight.

“Do your parents know about you coming after me?” He was sure Namjoo would avoid directly answering him. 

Her eyes that had been on the ground turned to look up at him then slightly turning away she switched off the light before shuffling toward the bed.

“What makes you think I have to tell them everything?” Namjoo asked throwing off the blanket.

“They’re still your parents,” he said.

“As if I don’t know that.” Namjoo sat down with her back to him.

Luhan turned to look at her, “Your mom talked to me.”

She didn’t say anything.

“You shouldn’t have left Mi Yun.”

“Do you want to argue with me?” Namjoo turned around to face him, annoyance in her voice. “We went over this already.”

“She needs you, Namjoo, more than me.”

Namjoo let out a tiny gasp of anger, “Do you not know your daughter’s heart? She yearns for you, Luhan! You, who’s never there. You, who leaves a gap in her memory. You think she can forget that damn gap!? It’s not about who she needs more or who she wants, Luhan! How can you not understand that!? All she has is us and you’re willing to leave her just because I’m still here!?”

“I know,” he calmly answered and listened to her heave a loud pant as if the short term anger had tired her already.

“Then what the hell is with you saying that!?”

Their eyes met and the deep set brows on her face slowly lightened. Namjoo turned away and wiped her hand across her face. She slowly turned her side profile to him and stared at the bed sheets.

“I know,” Namjoo started as if exhausted, “my mother hates you; both my parents dislike you. You don’t need to listen to them. If she said anything to you, just let it go.”

Setting her legs up onto the bed she curled up and pulled the blanket over her with her back to him as usual. Luhan watched her for a long second and finally resituated his pillow before laying down.

“Namjoo, you’re doing a good job raising her.” Luhan said staring at her back.

He knew she was listening, but she didn’t say anything. Throughout their marriage Namjoo rarely slept with her back turned to him. It was still a thing he had to get used to. 

“Aren’t you uncomfortable like that?” he wondered.

A long moment of silence droned on.

“I hurt my left arm once,” Namjoo told, “and there was a period when Mi Yun wouldn’t sleep without a head rest. She wouldn’t sleep on the pillow either, so I had to lend her my arm. She slept with her head on my right arm for half a month. She was so light then, but I’d still wake up in the middle of the night feeling like I had no arm. And she kicks if she’s on my left.”

His lips craned upward as he let out a tiny laugh and he thought he could see her smiling from the other side too. They fell asleep just like that.

Dawn was breaking in through the windows and there were already people moving about for the day outside. There were footsteps both soft and loud with chatter and roaring cars. It was just about time that the stars retreat like the dreams that faded with it. The moon would let the sun rise up to the throne and life would resume where it left off the day before.

Namjoo was succumbing to her wake, but her eyes only opened when she felt something thud against the small of her back. Rising from the wake of her dreams she stared at the creamy white walls and twisted around to find Luhan’s forehead at her back. She watched him for a bit before sitting up. His head slid against the bed as she did so, but he didn’t look the least but uncomfortable.

Then reaching down she slipped her hand under his head so gently as if picking up a sleeping baby so that she wouldn’t wake him. Another hand went to his back before she slightly lugged his head to the pillow, his back straight against the bed. When those soft touches disappeared Luhan’s eyes slowly opened to look up at her.

From behind her he could see the ray of sunlight shooting into the room, swirls of dust spinning in its glow. It felt dreamy as their eyes locked and his heart seemed to freeze for a momentarily long time. That soft gaze of desire and growing emotion lit her eyes as the pull between them brought her closer bit by bit.

When she came closer he could feel her lifting a leg so she could climb over and sit on him. And when she leaned forward he felt their bellies touch; her torso slowly inclining to his. Namjoo’s lips parted and latched onto his. A sweet endearing sensation fluttered through him as the soft of her face touched his and she raised a hand up to cup his jawline.

He could hear her breathing into his mouth, her chest pouncing off his as she breathed, and the wetness of mixing into his. Luhan quickly clenched onto her shirt and felt her move her hips above him before tightening her knees around his waist. The momentum of her body made his blood rush and he quickly kissed her more, enveloping the lips he’d been thinking about the other night.

The room became vague as if some fog was eating it and he started seeing less of it. Confusion swept his brain as his mind called out for it to stop. Those kisses on his lips slowly melted away and he felt his heart drain.

“Luhan? Luhan,” a voice called out and then as the dream dissipated he felt someone shake him. “Luhan.”

His eyes sleepily opened and he shot up with a shout of surprise. Caught off guard Namjoo threw her hand back and clenched it into a light fist as she stared at him.

“Are you ok?” she asked, a light frown tightening her face. “Did you have a bad dream?”

Rapidly blinking his lids he looked around feeling flustered and a little embarrassed. Crossing his legs underneath the blanket he felt for the bed sheet letting the warmth of it touch his fingertips. It’d been a dream…it was just a dream.

“You were sleep talking.”

Luhan turned back to her with eyes wide repeating, “Sleep…sleep talking?”

Namjoo eyed him strangely and nodded. For a moment he wanted to throw a hand over his face and dig his way into the earth never to come back up.

“I…you didn’t hear what I said, did you?” he asked nervously.

“No, I couldn’t understand,” Namjoo blankly replied.

He heaved a deep sigh of relief grateful.

“Why? What were you dreaming about?”

“Nothing!” he immediately answered loudly and jumped off the bed.

Shutting the bathroom door after him he turned the faucet on and splashed cold water onto his face.

Wake up, he needed to wake up.

As the cold water dripped off his face he stared into the sink and placed a hand up to a side of his face. He couldn’t find any suitable reason for why he’d dreamt that.

When he walked out Namjoo was kneeling on the ground, half her body up on the bed. It looked like she was texting someone, but she immediately locked her phone upon noticing him and turned around. His eyes landed on the phone and he couldn’t help, but feel that she’d been talking with that person.

Shoving his thoughts away he walked toward the dresser in the room and pulled out a clean shirt.

“Lets drop off Mi Yun’s gift,” Luhan started just in case Namjoo had plans with that person and he could intervene.

“Alright.”

He paused and turned to look at Namjoo suspecting that she probably did have other plans. Turning away he shoved the drawer shut and as he slipped the clean shirt on Namjoo slipped into her shoes.

“Where are you going?”

With a turn of her head she looked at him, a small frown of resentment at his attitude crossing her face.

“I’m just putting my shoes on,” she stated, “what is with you?”

Luhan opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came.

“Goodness,” she muttered underneath her breath as she turned away.

He wanted to slap himself for being so agitated. What was wrong with him?