Darting her eyes away for a brief second allowed her to recollect herself before turning for his reaction. Sungjae remained utterly still with nothing as so much of a change on his face. She didn’t know if he was shocked or not even touched by the news at all.  

“Is that so?” Sungjae managed a moment later then seemed to laugh as if some things suddenly made sense.

Namjoo forced a tiny smile onto her lips to save them from the awkward.

“I should probably go,” Namjoo broke off the short silence, “I’ll see you next time.”

He nodded without a word and she stepped toward the road for a cab before she was finally on her way back to the hotel. On the way back she wondered if anything would change the relationship between her and Sungjae. She still wanted a friend in Bangkok she could go to; she needed someone other than Luhan to turn to.

#####

Luhan eagerly watched the street for Namjoo’s return. He was heavily anticipating their date. Time with Namjoo was so precious. Any more time with her was more chance to stir up her heart and he still wanted to see her become hesitant and shy. They were sides of Namjoo he hadn’t seen and he was curious to uncover more.

His heart leapt when Namjoo stepped out of a cab at the side of the street. So she hadn’t come back with Sungjae. That was good, that was very good.

Excited he spun around darting for the door on his way out to meet her. Luhan was halfway down the stairs when he spotted Namjoo at the bottom of the staircase. When she ran into him a surprised gasp escaped her lips, but Luhan only smiled joyously at her reaction.

This was real, they were going on a date and he couldn’t hold himself back from realizing the truth of it. Luhan wanted to hand her flowers or hug her to express himself, but he only stared at her as if he’d never seen her before. He felt like such a naïve fool falling head over heels.

“I waited,” Luhan told as if asking her to be proud of the fact that he’d done so instead of going out after her.

“I know,” was her quiet reply.

Finally twisting her around he hurried her toward the doorway. They arrived at the coffee shop shortly after and sat down at a table near the back. The first few minutes of their time were spent browsing the menu. Luhan, who was unable to keep to himself, allowed his eyes to drift up every now and then to steal glances at his ex-wife. Namjoo’s perfectly still expression bemused him and he wanted to keep looking at her forever.

When Namjoo glanced up from the menu she was holding up to catch his glance he quickly turned away with a short laugh. His heart was beating rapidly fast at the sudden embarrassment of having been caught staring, yet he yearned for more. Namjoo often caught him staring during the first phase of their relationship that the repeat of the past brought him a nostalgia he wanted to embrace. Luhan had forgotten about how greedy he’d been in receiving her attention and he felt that Namjoo knew that as well.

“Have you decided on what to get?” Luhan asked.

“A normal sandwich sounds alright and some coffee.”

His face brightly lit up and he rose to his feet, “I’ll get that too then. I’ll be back, ok?”

#####

Namjoo watched Luhan start toward the counter before closing his menu and piled the menus together. She wondered if Luhan realized how obvious he was being. During the whole time they were supposedly glancing through the menus she knew he hadn’t been looking at the menu at all.

This date was much more exciting to him than her. Namjoo could see why Luhan was so happy about it. In a long year they hadn’t stepped out to see each other. Now that sparks were starting to fly again Luhan would start to ask for more.

During their relationship, including those 5 months they spent with each other before deciding on their sudden marriage, Luhan had been the one to initiate majority of their intimate acts. He liked showing affection, displaying it, and seeing her return it. Even in front of his parents he hugged her, kissed, and held her hand.

Those instances when his face lit up superbly once she reacted back always hit her heart. At such small things like a mere hug given to him would so easily cheer him up from a hard day. Namjoo found it hard to believe that Luhan was so easily pleased.

Namjoo wasn’t sure she wanted to return that affection now. Coming to terms with her ache was hard for her. It was ok to know that Luhan might still love her, but that didn’t alone count for all the pain inside her. Namjoo was disappointed, utterly disappointed and wounded. His love alone wouldn’t fix that hole in her heart.

Sometimes she wondered if they had eagerly married too naively. They’d only been seeing each other for 5 months before deciding to become husband and wife. Namjoo thought she was the one who’d been a fool enough to have decided that.

The one question that remained was: Was she willing to it another step forward with Luhan; to take his hand and bravely start again?

Before she could further weigh her decisions the sound of a hand knocking against the table woke her up. In front of her sat a man she didn’t recognize.

He shot her a long smile while she overlooked the hair he’d slicked back and the black jacket he was adorning. Then she slowly caught the two earrings on one of his ears. It hit her hard almost like a slap.

Of course, she knew him. She’d been talking to him, the owner of the night club, before Luhan dragged her away. How did he find her? What did he want?

“Hi,” he greeted raising a hand to wave at her. “You look familiar.”

She felt his eyes search her and felt scrutinized after his long stare over her body.

“Ah…the pretty chick at the club, right?” He asked, but she was pretty sure he knew that even before sitting down. These people were all apt at making a fool of others.

“What was it?” He slightly tilted his head for thought. “You had a question to ask, was that right?”

Namjoo stared at his long face and allowed a minute to elapse before asking, “Who are you?”

The man let out a laugh to mock her question, his eyes flocking away then back to her.

“My name, pretty, is Tin. I’m widely known around this area,” he raised his arms out as if to express his territory. “What about you? What’s your name?”

They were interrupted at the sound of a tray being set down on the table loudly. Twisting around she spotted Luhan and felt her heart jump. Tin’s eyes rose up to observe Luhan then to her with a crack of a smile on his lips.

“Looks like our time is up, I’ll see you again, pretty,” he said then got up to walk away.

Namjoo ended up pressing her lips together firmly somewhat nervously before turning to look at Luhan who was settling down into his seat beside her. It was intensely awkward when Luhan showed that he was angry, upset, or jealous. Calming him down then compared to coaxing him from a long hard, stressful day severely had its differences.

“Here,” Luhan placed her food in front of her, “I got you juice instead, you should cut back on the caffeine sometimes.”

Staring at her food in solemn silence still set anxiety on her nerves. As she remained still in her seat she caught Luhan taking a large bite out of his sandwich and chewed slowly. His long and slow movements told her he didn’t like seeing her talk to that man.

“Why aren’t you eating?” Luhan started.

“I…I am,” Namjoo reached for the sandwich, but once she took a small bite Luhan started with the next question.

“Who is he?”

The sandwich poked the back of as she forced herself to swallow. was a little dry.

“I don’t know,” she lied.

At this point, it probably didn’t matter even if Luhan knew who Tin was. He would probably become angry and they’d argue again if he discovered that Tin was the man who’d touched her in the club.

Namjoo was most afraid that he wouldn’t allow her out of the apartment. Luhan would use the excuses that her hand would disadvantage her in a fight, those men would do things to her, and he didn’t want her in danger.

“I,” Luhan began, “trust you, Namjoo. You know that, right?”

She turned to glance at him with a sharp sting inside. He shot her a smile and patted her shoulder.

“Eat,” he urged.

#####

When he arrived at the night club, he’d seen the man with Namjoo from afar. Any men he’d seen with Namjoo tended to stay in his memory for a long time. In the coffee shop he’d also seen that man from afar even if he didn’t recognize him upfront. From faraway, Luhan recognized that man.

Luhan wanted to believe he could trust in Namjoo’s decisions. She wasn’t silly and that made most of his worries. Namjoo wasn’t silly, she was capable and going out on her own made him angry. Because she felt like she could handle things on her own she felt like she didn’t need him. He wanted her to need him.

This time around, he decided to do the latter instead of confronting her. He wanted to see how Namjoo would act and what she would do once he was in pretension. Luhan wanted to believe Namjoo would come to him in her time of need and not do things alone.

She was still his very loveable wife, whether she was his ex or not.

They took a long walk on the street after leaving the coffee shop. Upon their arrival at a quiet park they called back home to finally hear their daughter’s happy greeting.

“Is there a speaker mode?” Luhan wondered.

“No, I don’t think so.”

“What phone doesn’t have one?” Snatching the phone from her he pressed a few buttons before finally putting the phone into speaker mode.

“Mommy!” Mi Yun’s voice echoed throughout the park. “Mommy!”

“See,” Luhan smiled and handed the phone back to Namjoo. Once she took it he grabbed her hand so that he could hold the phone as well.

“Daddy’s here too,” Luhan called out.

They listened to Mi Yun scream out indistinguishable gurgles and sounds that didn’t make sense excitedly. While Luhan laughed happily, Namjoo only managed a smile with a hand up to her lips as they listened to Mi Yun talk about what she’d been doing as of lately.

“Daddy, come home with Mommy,” Mi Yun spoke loudly, “I got bear, now two bear! Bear make bad thing go away, so Mommy and Daddy come home.”

Namjoo shot him a confused frown as his face broadened with a smile, “Ok, Daddy promise. Mi Yun be a good girl. We’ll come home soon.”

“Bye bye, Daddy,” was all they heard before the beeping of the phone sounded through the phone signaling that Mi Yun had hung up on them.

Luhan laughed at the realization, “Wow…she hung up.”

“She what?” Namjoo asked surprised snatching her hand out of his along with the phone.

Luhan watched her twist the phone over and over and repeatedly pressed the buttons before smiling softly at how much Namjoo missed their little girl, but refused to show it in front of him. Raising his hand up he placed it at the top of her head and watched her slowly stop fumbling with her phone. Assuming that Namjoo understood his intentions of comfort he slid his hand down to wrap around her shoulder.

“I miss her too,” Luhan said.

For a long time they sat like that.

When the late afternoon sun started to fall over them they headed back down the road. Along the way back he took her hand, entwining his hand through hers pulling her along. They stopped for ice cream and stood under the shade of a tree to finish them before they would start to melt due to the heat. Luhan even suggested a racing game to see who would finish eating their ice cream first. Namjoo refused, but he still did it anyway and ended up with a severe brain freeze.

Grabbing her hand again he hurried her along the streets feeling like a young couple at play. Pulling her over to a shop along the street he grabbed a farmer’s hat and fought to place it over her head when Namjoo deliriously refused to try it on.

“Ha!” He shouted in victory after managing to put it on her and let out a cheerful laugh.

“What the heck?!” Namjoo shouted and tried to pull it off, but Luhan was quick to press a hand on the hat to keep it on.

“Hmm…” he managed for a long half minute, “it doesn’t look good after all. I can’t tell if you’re the one degrading the hat or not.”

He felt her slap his shoulder before slamming the hat against his chest and walked out. Luhan hurriedly followed only to take her hand again.

That night while he waited for Namjoo to finish showering, he sat at the foot of the bed turning the ring on his finger over and over. Even if he had to go against all odds, he’d do whatever was required of him to have Namjoo back. He wanted to have his little family back into his life, hear Mi Yun talk to him, watch her grow, and become old with Namjoo.

They wre the very basic things he’d planned after marrying her. Luhan only remembered now the things he wanted with Namjoo. Every day’s little activity had to be done with her. While completing those tasks they’d find fun teasing and flirting with each other every now and then. The simple stabs of happiness he received from her had been buried for so long he’d forgotten how it was to be lost in love.

“Come here,” he gestured when Namjoo walked out of the bathroom.

Namjoo stood two steps in front of the bathroom glancing at him quietly as if measuring him out for any other motive he might have.

“We should change the bandage on your hand,” he explained.

With that he watched her walk over and sat down being cautious to leave a gap between them. Shifting on the bed to face her Luhan reached for her hand and unwrapped the bandage over her wound.

“Does it still hurt?”

“Not much.”

He glanced at her to make sure she was telling the truth.

“Really,” Namjoo insisted.

The cut was still wide and the blood had well dried off, but the skin tissue would take some more time to completely heal.

“Make sure to tell me if you need anything,” Luhan told. “Mi Yun wouldn’t be happy seeing her mom go back home without a hand.”

“Oh please…” Namjoo snorted.

Luhan looked up at her with a smile which withheld his laugh.

“I’ll make sure you go back in one piece,” he promised wrapping a new bandage around her hand. After he finished he gently pressed his thumb against the bandage and stood, “Go to bed first.”

#####

Namjoo was barely asleep when she felt Luhan climb onto the bed. When her eyes opened she saw Luhan laying on his side gazing at her delighted.

“Sorry, did I wake you?” He spoke quietly.

Namjoo began to turn her head away after the realization that she’d fallen asleep on her back.

“Namjoo,” Luhan quickly called out, “I’m…going to hug you.”

And just as said, he immediately wrapped his arm around her shifting so that he could be closer to her. The edges of his fingers dug themselves into her waist and his chin touched her shoulder. All of a sudden Namjoo was more awake than ever.

“Good night,” Luhan said and closed his eyes while hers remained open.

She lay there with her mind blank, yet it was also racing. It was rare to have a good day with Luhan. She’d let him hold her hand earlier, wasn’t that enough?

Namjoo wondered if he could feel her heart trembling or if he knew he was making her heart race at all. If he knew, was he doing it on purpose?

After so much clouded thoughts, Namjoo finally fell asleep and slightly woke up when Luhan moved. It was then that she realized had an arm wrapped around his back, her body curled into his. It amazed her that within her dream state she always ended up sleeping toward him. Had she gotten so used to him that her body felt inclined to be near him?

Drowsy with sleep she felt him dig his face into her neck hugging her tighter, a smile entrancing his lips. As her eyes clamped shut again she drew her arm further up his back slowly reminiscing the days they often hugged each other to sleep. 

***And in the midst of it all their worlds still heavily revolve around each other <3

***Just a reminder that I'm focusing on completing Blaze so updates for City Blues will slow down. The end of the semester is coming up so my workload is piling up severely and heavily! So be patient with me! Thank you!