A/N: Yep, totally meant to use a Woogyu photo, bit of a spoiler.

Knock, knock.

“Oh! Maeri…and Woohyun! Quick, come inside or you’ll catch a cold,” a woman in her fifties answered the door.

“Mom!” Maeri whined as she stepped inside her house. “It’s just barely fall.”

Maeri’s mother brought in her daughter for a hug. “I know, but it gets chilly at night,” she said in a gentle tone that only a mother can. Then she pulled out of the hug and picked up Maeri’s hands to hold. Her eyes widened. Maeri felt her mother feel out her ring finger curiously. Her mother immediately brought her daughter’s hand to her face and saw it, the ring. “OOOOOOH MY GOODNESS! HONEY! GET IN HERE!” she shouted to her husband and started to jump up and down in excitement. Then she turned to Woohyun in anticipation. He giggled and brought up his hand to show his matching ring. Maeri’s mother immediately attacked him with a hug, which he graciously accepted. “I knew it! I knew it!” Maeri’s mom kept repeating as tears were streaming down her face. Then she pulled out of the hug and stared at him with a frenzied expression. “I have to go get your parents!” she exclaimed as she darted out of the house and across the street.

Woohyun laughed as he put his arm around Maeri’s shoulders. “I think that they’re excited,” he remarked.

“That’s an understatement,” she responded.

Then an older, slightly grumpy looking man rounded the corner. “What’s all the fuss? Where’s your mother?” he grumbled as he took a swig from the glass of beer he was holding.

“Oh Ahjussi! Hello!” Woohyun greeted warmly. “Ahjumma’s at my parents’ house telling them that we’re engaged,” he plainly stated, lifting up his hand and Maeri’s to show off their rings.

“Oh,” Maeri’s father remarked. Then realization finally hit him, and his glass hit the floor. His grumpy face softened into  a warm expression. He walked over to the couple and brought them into a bear hug. “I’m going to find your mother,” he said after pulling out from the hug, and he slowly walked out the door.

Woohyun and Maeri were now left alone, still standing in at the threshold. Maeri turned to her now fiancée. “Um. Should we go over there too?” she asked.

“I don’t know.”

Then a young boy walked down from the stairs and saw them standing in the doorway. “Noona, what’s going on? I heard Mom spazzing out,” he said. Then he noticed that Woohyun was there. “Oh, hyung! What are you doing here?” he asked immediately running over to Woohyun’s side.

Woohyun patted his head. “Hey, Jonghyun! Your parents are telling mine that we’re getting married,” he said.

Jonghyun opened his eyes wide in shock. “Her!” he exclaimed as he pointed at his sister. “Why? You deserve so much better.”

Maeri pouted and stomped her foot. “Shouldn’t it be the other way around? We’re blood related!” she complained.

“Yea, but he’s my brother from another mother,” her brother retorted, stretching out his hand for a high five.

“That’s right!” Woohyun said, returning his high five. Then he turned to Maeri. “You can’t beat that.”

Maeri was about to say something in response, but then she felt a push from behind. “What are you two still doing in the doorway?! Let’s all go sit down,” her mother (having returned with Woohyun’s parents) chided, leading Woohyun and Maeri into the kitchen.

But Maeri didn’t make it too far. She was almost immediately pulled into a hug by Woohyun’s mother who was crying uncontrollably. “I’m…so…happy!” she managed to get out between sobs. “You’re…my…daughter!”

Maeri hugged her back tightly, rubbing her back. “I’m happy too,” she said gently. Then she pulled out to wipe her tears. “Why are you crying? You’re happy!” she joked.

“I…was…waiting for so long!” Woohyun’s mother responded, regaining her composure. Then a huge smile swept across her tearstained face. “Now I can have more grandchildren, and I know that your parents have been waiting for their first,” she said as she left Maeri and walked into the kitchen.

Maeri just stood there for awhile. “But…we just got engaged,” she mumbled.

“Honey! What are you doing? Come inside! We’re celebrating!” Woohyun called to her, snapping her out of her funk.

Maeri shook her head, regaining her sense of reality. “Coming, sweetie!” she responded.

When she entered the kitchen, she saw everybody crowding around the kitchen table, which was suddenly laden with miscellaneous snacks gathered from both houses. She slid into a seat next to Woohyun. He was grinning from ear to ear, being the happiest he’d felt for a long time. He turned to his father and apologized,  “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you first.”

His father just waved him off. “Don’t worry about it, son. I’m just glad to hear it.”

“Tell us how it happened,” Maeri’s mother urged.

“How I proposed?” Woohyun asked. She nodded. He looked down at the table, slightly embarrassed. “There’s not much to tell. It kinda just happened spur of the moment.” He quickly told them about the park bench and the ice cream; then he quickly made a joke of how she was the best birthday gift he’d ever gotten, which had gotten good reactions from his audience. His mom looked as if she was about to cry again, and his father tried hard to maintain his stiff lip.

Then his mother scrunched her face. “I always thought you were going to do some grand, romantic gesture with balloons and flowers,” she said dreamily. Woohyun blushed. His mother knew him so well, even how he had wanted to propose. Then she broke out into a laugh, “But I watch too many dramas. This is probably how couples do it nowadays, especially if they’ve known each other as long as you have.”

Maeri squeezed Woohyun’s hand. “I thought it was perfect,” she said to him in a loud whisper. Then to everyone else, “I don’t like big events like that anyway. It draws too much attention.”

“Well,” her mother started. “I hope you don’t mind big gifts.”

“Hm? What do you mean ‘gift’?” Maeri asked. “You didn’t need to get us anything.”

“Sh!” Woohyun said to her. “What did you get us?” he asked. Maeri punched him in the thigh under the table for his lack of tact. But he didn’t care; he was getting a gift.

“Can you get it?” Maeri’s mother asked her husband. Maeri’s dad nodded wordlessly and left the table. Her mother turned her attention to the couple, as did the rest of the table, apparently Maeri and Woohyun were the only two who weren’t in on the secret (well, Jonghyun wasn’t either, but he was too busy stuffing his face with food to care). “Well, we had this for a while, thinking that this would happen sooner. But I guess we got ahead of ourselves and that Woohyun was just dragging his feet. No, I don’t really mean that, Woohyun. I was just kidding. Anyway, where was I? Oh right, so we were thinking of subletting it. We could’ve made some extra money. That would’ve been nice…”

“Mom, what are you trying to say?” Maeri interrupted. “You didn’t…”

Then her father came in with a large grin across his face, grabbed Woohyun’s hand, and placed something in it. Woohyun looked at it, a key. “What’s this for?” he asked with a slight laugh.

“Your apartment,” her father responded. Then he slapped Woohyun on the back. “Take good care of her, son.”

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

And so Woohyun and Maeri began to prepare for their move into the new apartment almost immediately. When Maeri’s mother said that they had it for awhile, she wasn’t lying. Both sets of parents had bought the apartment 3 years ago, when Woohyun had told them that he had a big surprise for Maeri (which just ended up being concert tickets for her favorite idol band). So for the next 3 years, they had furnished it with some odd and end furniture bought from sales and taken from neighbors who were more than willing to get rid of some of their old furniture. This meant that the apartment was move-in ready, which their parents were pressuring them to move in as soon as possible. “The sooner the better!” Maeri’s parents must’ve wanted grandkids badly.

Eventually Woohyun told Dongwoo about his new living arrangements, but he had a difficult time bringing the topic up to Dongwoo. He felt like he was hanging his roommate out to dry. “Dongwoo-ah, I’m sorry,” Woohyun began as he was pulling out his suitcase from his closet. Dongwoo, who’d been helping him pack, was folding his clothes. “I’ll pay for my share of the rent until you find a new roommate,” he offered.

Dongwoo smiled as he began to put the folded clothes into the suitcase. “Don’t worry about it,” he responded.

“You can’t be making that much money as an oriental doctor to afford this place by yourself,” Woohyun retorted. “Just let me pay. It’ll make me feel better.”

“Actually…” he began slowly. “I already found someone else.”

“What?!” Woohyun said in mock shock, throwing down his clothes. “You’re replacing me already?!”

Dongwoo picked up the clothes that he threw down and dusted them off. “You know I can’t replace you,” he responded honestly, refolding the clothes.

“Who is it? Who’s the new man?” Woohyun asked in jest. “I bet he’s not as handsome as I am.”

“He might be prettier,” Dongwoo quickly responded, but as soon as he saw his friend’s face fall, Dongwoo ran over to hug him. “I’m kidding. I’m kidding.”

“You better be,” Woohyun said peeling Dongwoo off of him. “But seriously, who is it?”

“A friend from high school is moving here. I’ve been trying to help him find an apartment, but nothing was open. Well nothing good anyway. So this was perfect,” Dongwoo answered, mostly focusing on folding Woohyun’s clothes.

Woohyun pouted. “I’m glad that I worked out so well for you.”

Dongwoo laughed out of nervousness. “Don’t give me that! You’re moving in with your fiancée!”

Woohyun smiled to himself. His and Maeri’s relationship was traveling at break neck speed, but he was more excited than nervous. After all, they knew everything about each other. Why would they need to waste time dating?  And soon, they’ll be living together. And stemming from that notion, his mind began to whir with all sorts of devious thoughts. He couldn’t help but to let out a erted little chuckle.

Dongwoo threw a t-shirt at his face, snapping him back into reality. “Yah! Why am I the only one packing?” he demanded.

“Sorry,” Woohyun quickly apologized and returned to packing.

“Hey!” Dongwoo called out. Woohyun looked over to see him holding up a cheetah print t-shirt. “Are you really going to bring this? You don’t want to give it away?”

Woohyun tore it away from him. “Psh! Throw it away? This is cool! Right?” he defended, holding the t-shirt up to himself. Dongwoo just shook his head. “Your shirt has wings on it. You have no idea what cool is.”

Finally after days of fitful sleep, Maeri finally slept soundly (which was surprising because last night her father basically handed her over to Woohyun and washed his hands of her). It was good that she’d gotten rest, because once again she and Sungjong woke up early to finish appraising Sungkyu’s estate. This time, she let Sungjong sleep on their way up (she began to fear the kid. He had 10 more questions left, and she wasn’t about to remind him). Even Sungkyu looked well rested; he was smiling more when he welcomed them inside and showed them the rest of the furniture that needed appraising.

After finishing with the jewelry box, she was taking pictures of the larger pieces of furniture, making sure to capture every single detail and mark that would help in their assessment. The last piece was a beautiful table made of teak. She had taken a picture of the table from almost every angle, but there was just one more thing she need. So she crawled underneath the table with her camera and laid on her back.

“What are you doing under there?” she heard a voice ask with a chuckle. She looked to her side to see a pair of dress shoes too expensive for Sungjong to own.

Maeri laughed. “This must look weird. Huh, Sungkyu-ssi?”

He crouched down so that he could see her face to face. He smiled. “What are you looking for?” he asked curiously.

“Come join me,” Maeri politely commanded, scooting over slightly. She patted the ground next to her, coaxing him. Reluctantly, he came down and laid by her side. She smiled and pointed to the bottom of the table. “I got curious about the bottom of the table. I wanted to check out the joints and such. Also sometimes carpenters put their mark on it like a painter signs his paintings.”

Sungkyu nodded knowingly, “Like art.”

Maeri shook her head. “Not like art. Furniture is art. Just because we use it does it make it any less of a work of art,” she passionately defended. She looked over to see him thinking about something, chewing on his lower lip. She hadn’t meant to offend him, but she couldn’t help but to defend her interests.

“You said you wanted to hear some stories about the pieces right?” Sungkyu asked, interrupting her worries.

“Yes, please,” she said encouragingly.

Sungkyu touched the bottom of the table. “I don’t know who made it, but this table has been here as long as the house has. We used to have every meal here as a family, growing up. Even my father did as a kid, and his father too. There was a lot of good conversations that happened here. I even  had my first drink with my father at this table. I remember, he told me that I finally became a man. And do you see this?” he pointed over to a crack in one of the legs. “I did that, when I was fooling around with noona. She accidentally knocked me into the table, and I chipped a tooth.”

“Really? Which one?” Maeri asked.

In response, Sungkyu widely opened his mouth and pointed to one of his canines. “ ‘Is un,” he managed to say with an open mouth. Maeri looked at it closely, but couldn’t find the chip in his tooth. Then he closed it. “I had it fixed, so you can’t really see it,” he said normally. He began to twiddle his thumbs. “I don’t know if that kind of story would help you sell it…”

Maei shook her head. “No, it’s perfect,” she interrupted.

Then another pair of feet appeared by their sides. A few seconds later Sungjong crouched down and looked at them curiously. They both let out an awkward laugh. Sungjong decided to pretend that it was normal to see two 30 year-olds laying under an antique table and just simply stated, “Noona, I’m done here. Are you close to being finished?”

Maeri rolled out from under the table and quickly stood up. “Just finished,” she announced. Sungkyu had followed her from under the table. She turned to him and said, “Well, Sungkyu-ssi, I guess we’re done here. We will keep you up to date about the appraisals, and we’ll be auctioning at the end of the month. You are more than welcome to come.”

Woohyun was packing up his final things into the trunk of his SUV, but there was still one more thing he had to do, say goodbye to Dongwoo. He knew that this wouldn’t be the end of their friendship (in fact they already made plans to have dinner with each other the next night), but it was the end of their relationship as roommates, a very special and close kind of friendship. They had seen each other in their boxers, stuff their faces with the weirdest combination of food, and go without showering for too long. They had seen each other at their worst and their best. But they didn’t judge each other for it; they loved each other like brothers, unconditionally.

All endings are sad; even if there is a happy new beginning looming over the horizon, it’s still hard to say goodbye, especially to things you really liked and enjoyed.

Dongwoo was already on the verge of tears, and Woohyun already knew how to push him over the edge. He bought his friend a gift. After packing up the car, he grabbed the gift from the back seat and walked back up to the apartment.

“Are you going to look around one last time?” Dongwoo asked with a sniff. “Make sure you don’t forget anything.”

“Dongwoo-ah,” Woohyun called out, and his roommate looked up at him with shining eyes. Woohyun, who  was hiding the gift behind his back, brought it from its hiding spot and placed it in Dongwoo’s hands. “So you won’t miss me.” Dongwoo looked down at his hands to see a little red betta fish, swimmingly around quickly in its bowl. “His name is Little Woohyun.”

Dongwoo laughed and tears began to fall from his eyes.  Woohyun quickly took the fish from his hands because Dongwoo began to intentionally splash the water everywhere in his giggle/crying spasm. “Thank you,” he finally managed to spit out. “But nothing will be able to replace you.”

“Not even your new roommate?” Woohyun asked apprehensively. He wasn’t normally the jealous type, but Woohyun was a bit unnerved by how quickly Dongwoo had found a new roommate, a new replacement.

Dongwoo shook his head,  smiling through his tears. “No,” he responded. Then his laughing was renewed again. “I don’t even know why I’m crying! This is a happy occasion. You’re getting married.” Woohyun brought him into a hug as he was ranting, and Dongwoo hugged him back tightly.

“Oh!” Woohyun suddenly gasped, pulling out of the hug. Dongwoo sniffed in surprise. “I did forget something.”

“What?” Dongwoo asked, wiping his eyes.

Woohyun smiled and exclaimed, “You!” Then he threw Dongwoo on his back, raced out to his car, and threw his friend in the trunk of his car, cramming him in with the rest of his belongings. He shut the trunk door, with his friend protesting. While Dongwoo was beating on the trunk door to let him out, Woohyun’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He looked at the caller id; it was Maeri. He quickly answered it as he was leaning on the trunk door, feeling Dongwoo knock on the glass window behind him. “Oh, how’s my wife-y doing?”

“Sweetie, I’m going to be a bit late tonight,” Maeri answered with a sad sigh.

Woohyun stood up straight and pouted. “Why? But it’s our first night!” he complained.

“I know it’s just that my client asked for a favor…” she began to explain.

He interrupted, “Can’t you say no?” But he already knew the answer. Maeri took her job seriously, almost too seriously, willing to bend over backwards at any of her clients’ requests. She had not changed from the teacher’s pet attitude that she used to have in high school.

“He asked me to take him to his parents’ graves because he doesn’t have a car, and he won’t be able to visit them for awhile. I can’t say no to that. They just died!” she passionately explained in a hurried whisper, fearing that her client would overhear.

Woohyun smiled and chuckled, “Aigoo! My baby has a weak heart.”

He could sense Maeri pouting on the other side of the line as she retorted, “Hey! I thought we agreed on not calling each other ‘baby’.”

“Okay,” he said cutely, but then a mischievous smile appeared across his face. “I’ll let you go, but you have to do one thing for me.”

“Sure. What is it?” she asked apprehensively.

“Gimme a kiss.”

He was met with a few seconds of shocked silence, until he finally heard Maeri’s voice again, “Now?”

“Eung!” he answered while nodding enthusiastically (although she wouldn’t be able to see it).

He could envision Maeri inspecting her surroundings, looking to see if anybody was about to come. Then he heard a quiet and quick, “Chu!”

“Aw!” he exclaimed,  his heart immediately feeling warm by the sound.  “Again! One more!” he begged.

“Getting greedy, eh?” Maeri asked with a laugh.  “Fine. Chu! Chu! Chu! Chu! Chu! Is that enough?”

“Nope!” Woohyun answered. “More! More!”

But he was just pushing his luck, she just responded with, “You’re crazy.” Then after a slight pause and a sigh she said, “I got to go. I’ll pick up some jajangmyun on my way home, okay?”

“Okay see you soon,” Woohyun said. He expected to hear a click, or some sign that she had hung up, but he could still hear her breathing on into the mouthpiece. It sounded as if she was trying to say something. Woohyun chuckled and asked, “Why didn’t you hang up, Honey?”

“Where’s my kiss?” she asked quietly.

“Haha. Was that what you were waiting for?”  Woohyun laughed. He hadn’t expected her to be so needy for affection; he liked it. “See you at home, Honey. Chu!” he sent her off, fulfilling her request.

“Bye!” she said happily and hang up the phone.

Maeri was smiling broadly as she put the phone back into her coat pocket. “ I see that you said yes to your hypothetical proposal,” a voice said, causing her to jump. It was Sungjong.

Maeri tried to play it off coolly and opened the car door. “Just get in the car,” she commanded. Sungjong followed her orders, and slid into the backseat. “Where’s Sungkyu-ssi?” she asked.

“I’m here,” Sungkyu called out as he was scurrying (A/N: he never really seems to run, just scurry) over to the car, with flowers in his hand. “Sorry to keep you waiting, and thanks for doing this,” he said when he finally reached the car.

 “I’d be heartless if I said no,” Maeri said as she got into the driver’s seat. Sungkyu slid into the passenger’s seat. “So where is…the place? “ Maeri asked him, purposefully avoiding to use any morbid words. He still looked so distraught, and she didn’t want to add to his sadness.

“It’s about a 15 minute drive,” he answered, staring down at his flowers. “I’ll tell you how to get there.”

The ride to the cemetery was eerily silent, with the exception of the directions that Sungkyu would give from time to time. Maeri wanted to offer him some words of solace, but she wasn’t able to think of anything. Her tongue felt heavy in , unable to move. Even Sungjong who was normally talkative was in the back fiddling with the camera cases, pretending to be busy.

Once they arrived, Sungkyu nodded and muttered words of thanks before getting out of the car. Sungjong automatically leaned forward as soon as he left. “What do we do now? How long is this going to take? Why did you agree to do this?”

Maeri put her chin onto the steering wheel. “I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know!” she mumbled. Why did she always do this? Why did she always say yes? All she wanted to do right now was to go home, to Woohyun, and eat. She was starving, and Woohyun (even though she promised to bring food home) was probably cooking something  right now. She her lips in anticipation.

“Oh!” Sungjong said in surprise, looking out the window.  “He’s still there. Why don’t you think he left yet?” he asked pointing to Sungkyu who was standing in front of the entrance, his feet cemented into the ground. Maeri automatically unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the car door. “Oh, where are you going?” Sungjong asked.

“He doesn’t want to go alone,” she said as she got out. Then she felt something wet hit the back of her neck. She reached back inside to grab her umbrella. “And now it’s raining.” She looked over to the intern before shutting the door. “We’ll be back soon.”

Maeri opened the umbrella, took in a deep breath, and walked over to Sungkyu. He seemed startled to see her appear all of the sudden by his side. She laughed a little and shook the umbrella gently. “It’s raining,” she said.

“Oh, thank you,” he said, getting in under the umbrella with her.

He tried to take it from her, but she wouldn’t let him and shook her head. “I’m coming with you,” she explained. “You seem to not want to be alone right now.”

“You don’t have to,” he responded, looking down at the ground. “I can do this by myself.”

“And that’s why you haven’t moved from this spot in five minutes,” Maeri joked.

Sungkyu looked up and laughed sadly. “Right,” he admitted.

Maeri then the umbrella into his hands, making Sungkyu confused. “I’m still coming with you, but hold this. You’re too tall, and my arms too small. You hold it, unless you want me to keep hitting you in the head,” she explained. Sungkyu smiled and took hold of the umbrella and handed her the flowers to hold, which she willingly accepted. “Well, lead the way,” she urged.

Once they reached his parents’ graves, Maeri couldn’t help but to hold her breath. Her father once told her not to breath when in a cemetery because the spirits would get jealous of her ability to breathe, to live (although now she understands that it was probably a ploy to get her to stop yelling inappropriately at her grandfather’s funeral). Even after all these years, it was still a reflex. Her cheeks were puffed, holding in her breath. Sungkyu poked at her cheek, startling her. “Sorry,” he apologized, looking embarrassed. “Were you holding your breath?”

Maeri nodded. “Old habit, I guess,” she said. “So the ghosts won’t steal my breath or my life.”

Sungkyu chuckled, “You’re weird.”

“You just noticed?” she joked.

He took the flowers from her and took a step towards his parents’ graves, laying side-by-side. “You don’t need to worry,” he said as he laid the flowers next to the pictures of his parents. “My parents wouldn’t kill you, even as ghosts. They were good people.”

Maeri walked next to him, following the coverage of the umbrella. She looked at the pictures. “They look very kind,” she remarked. “You look just like your mom, except your eyes. They’re your dad’s.”

Sungkyu pouted. Maeri wonder if she said too much or something wrong. “I look like a woman?” he asked.

Maeri laughed, relieved. “If it makes you feel any better, people always say that I look exactly like my dad,” she offered.

Sungkyu nodded. “It does a little,” he admitted. Then he turned to Maeri. “Do you mind turning around or covering your ears? There’s a few things that I want to say.”

“Consider it done,” she said, giving him a thumbs up. She turned his back towards him, placed her fingers into her ears, and began humming a random song that just popped into her head. She did this until she hummed the entire song, then she turned to look at Sungkyu out of the corner of her eye. He was wiping his nose, and tears were streaming down his cheeks. He caught her glance, and she turned back around and started humming more loudly.

She felt a hand on her shoulder; she turned around to see Sungkyu, pulling her fingers out of her ears. “I’m done here. We can leave now,” he said quietly.

“Do you mind if I say something?” Maeri asked. Sungkyu was surprised but nodded. Maeri turned towards the graves and smiled towards the pictures. “Sungkyu-ssi’s mom and dad, I don’t know your son very well. Heck, we just met yesterday. But he seems like a good kid, a very good kid. And he loves you a lot. You did a good job,” she said, trying to offer Sungkyu comfort. She heard him sniff behind her. She slowly turned around to see his expression, he was smiling.

“Thank you…for everything,” he said. “Are you ready to go?”

“Sweetie, I’m home!” Maeri called as she walked into the apartment and took off her shoes. She didn’t hear anything in response. “Sweetie?” she called again and walked around the corner. “Where are you? I have food…” Her voice dropped. She couldn’t find Woohyun anywhere,  and worst of all, there was no scent of his cooking, which she was looking forward to it (he cooked so rarely for her). No on second thought, the worst was not being welcomed by his warm smile. Her day had been slightly depressing (going to the graves with Sungkyu) and tiring (the wait at the restaurant was long, being forced to stand for almost an hour). His smile always energized her; she needed it. With a loud sigh she sunk down onto their sofa, slouching in disappointment. Where was he?

“Boo!” Woohyun shouted from behind the sofa (he was hiding back there ever since he heard her key click in the lock). Maeri jumped up and slapped him in the face, thinking he was some sort of intruder. This wasn’t how he thought his little surprise would pan out (expecting a hug instead of a slap), but he should’ve known what would happen. Sometimes she was afraid of her own shadow like a little groundhog. He rubbed his now red cheek and pouted. “What took you so long?”

Maeri looked down, embarrassed of her reflex. “Sorry. There were some things I needed to drop off at the shop, and then the restaurant took forever,” she apologized. Then she gently patted his red cheek, her eyes filled with regret. “Sorry. Let’s eat!” she urged placing the bags on the table.

Woohyun vaulted over the sofa and grabbed the bag of food, pulling out the two servings of jajangmyun.  His stomach felt as if it was about to cave. He could’ve eaten something without Maeri, but it didn’t feel right. The first meal in the apartment should be eaten together, not some hastily made ramyun. , scarfed down in 30 seconds. He looked over at Maeri who was stuffing her face with noodles, the black bean sauce already dripping down her chin. She eats like a monster. He laughed and grabbed some napkins, dabbing her chin. “Right! Eat up! Because the faster we eat, the faster we can go to bed,” he said with a wink and then proceeded to stuff as many noodles as he could in his mouth.

“Move over! I hafta spit!” Woohyun complained and nudged Maeri out of the way. She stumbled a bit and glared at him. They were getting ready for bed, brushing their teeth, crammed into the small bathroom. Their elbows were knocking into each other with each . Woohyun ignored Maeri’s glare and just spat into the sink. Then he took a swig of water and gargled.

Maeri now pushed him out of the way and spat into the sink, causing him to choke a little and some of the water splashed out of his mouth. It was his turn to glare. “Are we going to be fighting over the sink every night?” she asked, wiping the foam from .

Woohyun shrugged and spat again. “Look! Minty fresh!” he exclaimed as he blew air into her face.

“Yah!” she scrunched her face and pushed him away. “What are you…” she started but then she opened her eyes and realized that he wasn’t in the bathroom anymore. After looking for him, she found him in their bed already, snuggling under the sheets. How did he get there so fast? And just one bed…our bed.

Woohyun looked over and patted the spot next to him. “What are you waiting for, honey?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows. He saw Maeri wavering at the threshold of the bathroom. He laughed. “I don’t bite, and it’s not like we’ve never shared a bed before.”

Maeri raised her eyebrows and leaned on the door’s frame. “It was a tent, and we had separated sleeping bags.  And your parents were watching us like hawks,” she argued.

Woohyun looked around comically. “They’re not here now,” he said and patted the spot next to him again. He saw Maeri flinch at his innuendo. He knew fully well how shy this girl was, and they went from being friends straight to being engaged without even really dating. Her hesitation was understandable, but Woohyun couldn’t help but to feel a little hurt. Didn’t she want this? He propped a pillow and sat up. “Maeri, I was joking,” he said, and he could already see Maeri’s tensed shoulders relax. “We haven’t really kissed yet. Do you think that I’m really going to pounce on you the moment you get in this bed? Do you really think that I’m that kind of guy?”

Maeri blushed and looked away. “Of course not,” she finally spoke. Then she left the bathroom and started to make her way towards the bed. “It’s just that…I’m scared, not of you but of, well, everything else.” She cautiously sat on the bed, her shoulders brushing up against his. Good, Woohyun thought, she’s not trying to stay away as far as she can. Maeri spoke again, “This is just all so new. And new stuff…is scary. Change is scary.”

Woohyun carefully placed an arm around her shoulders. “And that’s why you love old, dusty furniture,” he joked. Maeri giggled a little, already feeling more comfortable. He placed her head on his shoulder. “New things can be good too.”

“This is nice,” Maeri replied with a smile as she snuggled against Woohyun’s neck. Then she frowned. “But there’s just one thing…”

“What?”

“Why are your feet so damn cold? Did you soak them in ice?” Maeri asked scooting her lower half further away from his feet, bring her knees up.

Woohyun laughed. “I can’t help it,” he whined, pretending to be offended. Then he let go of her and shoved her away. “Why is your body so hot? It’s like I’m holding a furnace.”

Maeri smiled and her finger before pressing it on her skin, making a hissing noise. “I’m sorry that I’m too hot for you to handle,” she retorted.

“I can cool you down,” Woohyun said and attacked her side with his icy feet.

She automatically batted them away. “Yah! Are you trying to freeze me to death?”

“Maybe.” They fought like this for a while. Woohyun kept pressing his feet on every inch of Maeri’s exposed skin, including her neck and face. And she would respond by trying to pin him down to make him stop. Eventually Maeri had managed to get him in a headlock. “Truce. Truce!” Woohyun begged, hitting her arms.

Maeri let him go and crawled over to her side of the bed, reveling in her victory. “Teaches you not to mess with me,” she said lying down. She turned over on her side to look at Woohyun. “Goodnight, sweetie! Sweet dreams!” she bid him before closing her eyes.

Woohyun laid down next to her, facing her. “Hey, honey,” he said softly. She didn’t budge, but he knew that he could hear her. No one fell asleep that fast. “Yah! Maeri!” he said a bit louder. Still no response, so he blew at her face.

Her eyes automatically opened and shot him an annoyed glance. “What?” she growled.

Woohyun conjured up the cutest smile he possibly could and begged. “Can you be the big spoon, and I’ll be the little spoon?” Maeri just stared at him blankly. “No one else would let me. Guys always have to be the big spoon. It’s ist!” Maeri scoffed at him  and flipped onto her other side. Woohyun poked her in the back multiple times. “Please, honey. Pretty please!”

Maeri turned around with an unreadable expression. “Fine,” she finally granted and her face warmed up. “But on one condition.” Woohyun nodded. “You have to wear socks.”

Maeri rolled her neck and stretched her arm. “I can see why girls don’t like being the big spoon. My arm is still sore,” she complained.

Woohyun smiled. “I liked it. Slept like a baby.” He touched her arms. “Your arms are so soft, like a pillow.”

Maeri pushed him away and frowned. She flexed her muscles a little bit. They’re not fat. There’s muscle. She looked over at Woohyun and pointed at him. “We’re switching positions tonight,” she stated. Woohyun frowned and was about to argue, but someone interrupted.

“Oh! !” a woman said, coming from the back room of the auction house, where they stored the furniture. She walked up to Maeri and whispered lowly so Woohyun wouldn’t hear, “Had a wild night last night, huh? He looks like he would be fun.” The woman carefully scanned Woohyun’s body with lusty eyes.

Maeri pushed the woman away. “Yah! Shin Sora! Be professional, won’t you!” Woohyun laughed. If he wasn’t mistaken, Maeri was actually protecting him. “Is it ready?” she asked Sora.

“Yep! Just finished processing it. It’s all yours,” Sora said handing over receipts to her co-worker. “Congrats!”

Maeri smiled, her heart thumping with excitement. It was hers. It was a very expensive impulse buy, but it was hers. She grabbed Woohyun’s arm. “Come on, sweetie. Let’s load it into the car,” she said as she led him into the back room. “This is it!” she exclaimed when they approached their new addition to their apartment.

 Woohyun crouched down, inspecting it. He turned back to her and raised his eyebrow. “This is it?” he asked. “It looks…dingy. And it’s broken,” he declared, pointing at the crack on the leg.

Maeri rolled her eyes. “It’s an antique. It’s supposed to look like this.” She gently touched the table and grinned. “Plus look at the workmanship. It’s a beautiful piece of wood.” Woohyun snorted and broke out into a laugh. Maeri softly hit him in the head with her fist. “Aigoo! Get your mind out of the gutter.”

Woohyun wouldn’t stop. “It’s funny to see you so excited over…wood,” he said with a naughty giggle. Maeri frowned and bit her lip. “Why did you buy this? We already have a table.”

Maeri was speechless; she had no legitimate answer. She ran her fingers over the smooth, dark surface of the teak table. She had fallen in love with it (if you can have those feelings for furniture) the moment she saw it in Sungkyu’s home, especially since it was attached to such tender memories (maybe her and Woohyun will make happy memories here too). Also, her boss Debah said that it was too plain to draw any more money over the asking price in an auction; Maeri convinced her to let her buy it, forgoing the auction. Now it was hers…well, theirs. She looked over to Woohyun and smiled. “But it’s pretty,” she cooed. Then she patted him on the shoulder. “Come on. Let’s get it into your car.”

They lugged the table with difficulty out of the back room, making sure not to bump into any of the other antiques in there. Once they got out, they ran into Sora. “Oh, are you going to help us?” Maeri asked.

Sora’s eyes were fastened onto Woohyun. She bit her lip. “Nope, I’d rather watch.”

“YAH!”

Maeri opened the apartment door and was greeted by Sungjong’s friendly face.  “Welcome to our apartment! Come in!” She welcomed the intern. Woohyun and she were having a house-warming party, which she thought was going to be a small gathering of friends. She had forgotten that Woohyun’s circle of friends was as large as the circumference of the earth. Maeri had to invite everybody she knew, just to compete with Woohyun’s mob friends.

Sungjong walked in and inspected his surroundings. “Interesting decor,” he commented. Maeri blushed. She had crammed the few antiques and belongings she had, but her home was still overwhelmed by the hodge-podge decor their parents had accumulated for them. It was an odd mix.

“Sora and the others are over there,” Maeri said, changing the subject and pointing to their fellow coworkers in a corner.

Sungjong shook his head. “I’m avoiding Sora-ssi ever since she ‘unintentionally’ grabbed my the other day.”

Maeri nodded knowingly and patted him on the head. “Good plan. She’s lucky that she hasn’t been accused of harassment yet.” Then she saw someone approaching her cautiously out of the corner of her eye. “Oh! Hoya, have you met Sungjong? He works with me.”

Hoya and Sungjong exchanged pleasantries. He then began to give nervous glances to Maeri. “Um,” he finally started. “Woohyun said that you would introduce me to some of your single friends.”

“He did?” Maeri asked. He didn’t tell her about it earlier, but she wasn’t surprised. “Sure! Any of my friends would be happy to meet you.” Then she turned to Sungjong, “I would offer…”

Sungjong put up a hand to stop her. “I’m not interested in ahjummahs. Besides, with this face, I do well on my own,” he said with a bright smile before taking his leave.

“Woah! Where does he get that confidence?’ Hoya asked.

Maeri scoffed. “Over-confidence,” she corrected him. “Come on, let’s get you a lady,” she said as she hooked her arm through his and led him to the small corner of her friends, approaching a small gaggle of women.  “But honestly, your options are limited,” she began. “There’s my college friend, Jimin, over there,” she said, pointing over to a petite woman with her back facing towards them. “She has a great personality and is hilarious!” she vouched.

Hoya looked hopeful, until the woman turned around and showed her face. He grimaced. “She looks worst than Oh Nami,” he commented.

Maeri patted his arm. “Yea, didn’t think you’d be interested. There’s a reason why women around their 30s are still single,” she admitted. She then scanned the room searching for the rest of her single friends. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “There’s my friend, Sora, who’s going through a divorce right now.”

“Where is she?” Hoya asked. Maeri pointed over to her coworker dressed in a white dress and who happened to be sweetly laughing at the comment some had just told her. She looked all too innocent.

“Introduce me to her,” Hoya commanded politely.

Maeri bit her lip, wondering if she should subject sweet, slightly shy Hoya to such an…animal. “But she’s not exactly single right now, and there’s a reason why she’s getting a divorce …” she tried to change his mind.

Hoya interrupted, “Please.” He gave her a rather desperate expression. And this guy swears he can’t do aegyo.

“Fine,” she acquiesced. She pulled him over to her friend. “Sora!” she called. “This is my friend, Hoya. He’s a physical education teacher at a high school around here.” Hoya waved politely at Sora, but Maeri could tell that her friend was crestfallen at the mention of Hoya’s profession. Maeri smiled and knew how to counter it. “Whoa, Hoya!” she said in shock and squeezed his bicep. “Have you been working out more? You’re guns are so big!” Maeri exclaimed. She could see her friend’s eyes widen in anticipation.

Hoya flexed them, while casting shy glances over towards Sora. “Yea, I’ve been working on them. I’m trying to be a fitness trainer.”

Sora’s eyes were fixed on his arm. “You don’t say?” she asked in a sensual voice. Maeri rolled her eyes. “Can I touch them?” Sora asked. Hoya cautiously nodded as the woman immediately latched her hand to his upper arm. Maeri took that as her cue to leave. Maybe Sora’s extreme forwardness would help Hoya to break out of his shell. Not bad, Maeri, not bad. Maybe you should make a career in this.

She  felt an tug on her arm, and she turned around to see Dongwoo and Woohyun. “Oh, Sweetie! Dongwoo! What’s up?”

“I’m good,” Dongwoo answered with a smile, but it was obvious that he approached her with a hidden agenda. “Look, I saw what you did for Hoya, and…”

Maeri giggled, “What am I a pimp?”

“I was thinking more of a wing-woman,” Woohyun said with a chuckle as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

Maeri nudged Dongwoo in the side. “Why? Do you see someone you like?” she teased.

“No, no!” he immediately denied, waving her off. “It’s for my new roommate.”

“No way! He’s here?” Maeri said in shock and began to scan the room for him, curious to see who Woohyun’s replacement was. She could see Woohyun pouting from the corner of her eye.

Dongwoo explained, “Yea, I dragged him here. He doesn’t know anybody else besides me in the area, and he hasn’t been having a good time with things lately, so maybe…”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Maeri said with a wink. “So where is the lucky guy?”

“He’s the weirdo over by the table,” Woohyun sneered and pointed. Maeri looked over at the direction he was pointing, and sure enough, there was a peculiar man who was  lifting the tablecloth off of the teak table (which they were using to hold the snacks) and looking at its legs. Woohyun leaned in to whisper in Maeri’s ear, “Set him up with your Sistar 29 friend. I don’t like him…trying to steal Dongwoo from me.” His eyes were sending daggers into the man’s back.

“Yah! Jimin has a lovely personality!” she whispered back. “Any guy would be lucky to have her.”

Woohyun nodded knowingly, having heard this several times from Maeri. He patted Dongwoo on the back. “Come on, let’s go, and let my lady do her thing,” he said. Before he dragged his friend back into the thick of the party, he squeezed Maeri and whispered, “Sistar 29.”

Maeri rolled her eyes before taking up the mission and walked up next to the strange man ogling at her table. “Soo,” she began. “I’m supposed to set you up.” Not the greatest introduction, but it got straight to the point.

“Huh?” the man asked as he turned to her. His eyes widened. “Maeri-ssi?!”

“Sungkyu-ssi, you’re Dongwoo’s new roommate?!” Maeri asked, completely shocked. She was pretty sure that her jaw had unhinged. She could not believe her eyes. And he apparently couldn’t either, looking as equally surprised as she was.

“Uh? Yea,” he sputtered, still unable to regain his footing. He cocked his head to the side. “How do you know him?”

Maeri nodded. “Yes, through Woohyun.” She grabbed some chips and stuffed them in . She wasn’t hungry, but all of the sudden she had this nervous energy, her hands becoming restless; they had to do something.

“Who’s that?” Sungkyu asked also nibbling on the chips.

Maeri leaned in and joked, “You’re kinda in his home right now.”

“Oh,” Sungkyu nodded. Then he knocked on the table. “That explains this. Did you sell him my table?”

Maeri blushed and tucked a piece of hair behind her ears. She didn’t exactly sell it, in fact Sora was the one who collected the commission. But she thought it would be weird to admit that she was the one to buy it. Instead she avoided giving a direct answer, “Like I said, people like pieces with a story.” Sungkyu smiled and gathered a few more chips into his hand. “So do you want me to set you up with one of my friends?” Maeri asked, remembering the reason why she approached him in the first place, and changing the subject. “They’re very nice.”

“Nice?” Sungkyu repeated with a smile. Right most people would praise their friends’ beauty to allure men, but I didn’t. Oops. Then he interrupted her thoughts with a wave of his hands. “It’s okay. You don’t have to,” he replied. Then there was a short pause as he inspected the chips in his hand. “Actually, I already have my eye on someone else,” he said with a shy glance.

Maeri leaned in, being filled with curiosity. “Really? Who?”

Sungkyu put a finger to his lips. “It’s a secret.” Maeri stood back up and pouted, and he laughed a little. “So how do you know Woohyun?” he asked.

As if on cue, Woohyun walked up to her and planted a peck on her cheek. “Honey! I missed you.”

Maeri blushed while smiling brightly. “It’s only been a few minutes,” she said in a low voice.

Woohyun shrugged and turned his attention towards his new rival. “Gyu-ah!” he called to him warmly. Sungkyu was taken slightly aback by his friendliness. Maeri mouthed to Sungkyu ‘Woohyun,’ introducing her fiancé to him because he forgot to do it himself. “Did my wife-y introduce you to any of her hot friends?”

“Wife-y?” Sungkyu choked on his chips.

Maeri’s blush deepened, becoming as red as a strawberry. “Not technically. We’re engaged,” she answered, holding up hand with the engagement ring. Realization slowly crept over Sungkyu, and he nodded in acceptance, eating some more chips. Maeri patted Woohyun on his chest. “Sweetie, do you remember the client I told you about last week?” she asked him.

“The one that ruined  our first night,” he clarified. Sungkyu started choking again.

Maeri covered her fiancé’s mouth. “Shut up!” she warned before removing her hand. Then she gestured to Sungkyu. “Anyway, this is him.”

“No way! Gyu-ah, is that true?!” Woohyun exclaimed.

“Uh yea,” Sungkyu replied, finding his voice again.

Woohyun chuckled. “Small world.” Then his eyes twinkled, a brilliant idea was dawning in his mind. “Oh, you should do noraebang with us later! Dongwoo says that you can sing.”

“You can?!” Maeri asked .

Sungkyu looked down at his feet. “It’s been a while,” he admitted.

Woohyun laughed and pointed at Maeri. “You’ll still be better than her,” he teased.

“Hey!” Maeri began, but then she hung her head. “Yea, it’s true.”

Then someone coming in through the door caught Woohyun’s eyes. “Oh! It’s Sungyeol!” he exclaimed. He gave Maeri a final squeeze and turned towards Sungkyu. “See you later tonight, Gyu-ah!” Then he left, bounding towards his tall coworker.

Maeri and Sungkyu were left awkwardly standing next to each other. Both of them refusing to look at each other; the silence grew heavy. Maeri was about to grab another chip to munch on, but her hand was met with nothing but the bowl’s smooth bottom. “Oh! We’re out!” she exclaimed. “I better get some more.” Finally, an escape! Maeri grabbed the empty bowl and made her way to the kitchen. But her perfect plan for an escape had one flaw, Sungkyu was still able to follow her, which he did.

“So,” he started, breaking the silence. “how long have you been engaged?”

Maeri grabbed a bag of chips from the cupboard and thought for a few seconds. “About a week…Actually, I said yes the day we met,” she said, giving him a time-marker.

His eyes widened. “Really?” Then he put his hands in his pockets and leaned back. “So when you asked about soul mates…you were talking about him?”

Maeri began to pour the chips in the bowl, but missed slightly. She laughed nervously as she picked up the fallen chips and put them in . After chewing and swallowing (giving her time to think), she finally answered, “I guess.” To be honest, she couldn’t remember why. It was just a question weighing on her mind.

“You guess?” Sungkyu repeated skeptically.

Woohyun then poked his head through the entryway. “Honey, come here!” He beckoned Maeri. “I want to show you off to Sungyeol.” Maeri blushed, causing Woohyun to smile more widely. He liked making her blush.

“Coming, sweetie!” she said handing the chip bowl over to Sungkyu. “I’ll see you later.” Then she saw someone out of the corner of her eye. Maeri grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into the kitchen. “Oh, Jimin-ie! Have you met Kim Sungkyu?”

Jimin strutted over to Sungkyu and playfully touched him on the shoulder. “Mister Kim, you’re cute!” she announced in what she deemed to be a y voice. Maeri laughed as she scurried out of the kitchen. Her friend was a little bit too much like Oh Nami.

“Mae-Maeri-ss!” Sungkyu desperately called after her, but he was already in the clutches of her friend. And she wouldn’t let go.

Maeri spotted Woohyun chatting with Sungyeol and his wife. She walked up to them and grabbed Woohyun by his hand. He smiled and squeezed it tightly. “Maeri-ah! Congrats!” Sungyeol said excitedly.

“Congrats to you too! Woohyun told me about your baby,” she responded.

Sungyeol brought his wife in closer to his side, and his hand flew to her growing baby bump. “I did that! That’s my baby! I put it in there!” He was barely able to control his excitement.

Woohyun laughed. “Still excited, huh?”

Sungyeol nodded enthusiastically. “I have 3 books about pregnancy already. It’s really a beautiful process,” he finished smiling warmly to his wife.

His wife nodded in agreement to him, and then she leaned over and whispered to Maeri, “He has no idea what’s going to happen. He doesn’t read past the first chapter.” Then she leaned back and extended her hand. “I’m Soyeon,” she introduced herself. Maeri took her hand and shook it warmly.

“Sungyeol-ah, we should all go out on a date,” Woohyun proposed.

Sungyeol practically jumped. “Soyeon-ah and I always wanted to go on couple dates, but people always said no. I don’t know why,” he said looking at his wife. She shrugged.

“It’d be a lot of fun,” Soyeon urged.

Then Sungyeol looked at his watch and gasped. “We better get home. Pregnant ladies need their sleep!” he exclaimed.

“But we’re having so much fun,” Soyeon said with a yawn and leaned her head on her husband’s shoulder. “We’re making friends…” she said drowsily. Then she practically passed out onto his shoulder.

Woohyun and Maeri looked at him curiously. Sungyeol gave a nervous laugh. “She’s like this every night. 10 o’clock, and she’s out like a light. Pregnancy is weird.” He looked at her drooling on his shoulder. “Good thing she’s cute when she sleeps.” Then he waved as he dragged his unconscious wife out of the apartment.

“Aw! They’re cute,” Maeri said still waving goodbye.

“Yea, but we’re cuter,” Woohyun retorted.

At the end of the night, the only ones who were up for noraebang were Woohyun, Maeri, Dongwoo, and Sungkyu, who had no choice in the matter. He was sitting in the corner, watching the rest of them excitedly pick out a set list for the evening. Woohyun looked over at him curiously. He was well aware of Sungkyu’s current situation, being recently orphaned, selling his childhood home, but did the guy have to be so gloomy? This was supposed to be a celebration of his and Maeri’s new life, but Sungkyu was being a wet blanket, smoldering the fun out of the evening with his…wetness (?). “Gyu-ah!” he called out. “Do you want to pick out a song?”

“I’m good,” Sungkyu responded, sipping on his drink.

Woohyun whispered to Maeri and Dongwoo, “What’s his problem?”

Dongwoo shrugged, focused on finding the perfect song. “He’s just being stubborn,” he deduced. “He gets like this sometimes, especially when he’s tired.”

Maeri picked up her drink and stood up. “I’ll go talk to him,” she commented. Then she slightly stumbled (she’d been drinking) over to the gloomy man in corner. She sat down next to him. “Sungkyu-ah! Let’s drop the formalities!”

Sungkyu cradled his drink and smiled. “Okay Maeri.”

“We’re going to be good friends. I can feel it,” she confessed.

“Really? How so?”

Maeri shrugged. “I don't know. I just feel it here,” she said pointing towards her heart. “Or here,” she pointed to her head. “Or here. Hehehe” she giggled, pointing to her stomach.

“Someone’s had a little bit too much to drink,” he joked.

Maeri nudged him. “Someone hasn’t had enough,” she remarked about his grave demeanor. She then grabbed his drink and poured some of hers into it. “One shot!” she commanded. But he just brushed her off with a laugh. She then the cup into his face. “One shot!” she commanded with more force.

“Okay! Okay!” he gave in, taking the drink. Then he slowly gulped it down and grimaced once he was done. “Aah! That’s strong. What was that?” he asked, smacking his lips, trying to rid the taste from his mouth.

“Whiskey,” she said with a giggle, continuing to sip her drink.

Sungkyu frowned. “How can you drink that?”

Maeri was about to answer but Dongwoo interrupted her. “Gyu-ah! You’re singing whether you want to or not! I want to hear your pretty voice! It’s been too long.” His roommate ended with some whining and cute wiggling.

Sungkyu looked down at his drink before responding. “Sure,” he finally gave in. “But I got to go to the bathroom first.” Then he stood up and scurried out of the booth.

Woohyun turned to Dongwoo. “He is going to come back, right?” he asked. Dongwoo denied it but Woohyun wasn’t convinced. To be honest, Woohyun wouldn’t be surprised if Sungkyu just went home. Woohyun tried hard to be friendly to him, even calling him by the same nickname Dongwoo did, but Sungkyu just had this barrier against him. As if Sungkyu hated him from the moment the met. He didn’t even give me a chance. Woohyun wasn’t used to people who didn’t fall for his charm. I’m lovable, damn it! Gyu, you will like me. Just wait and see. “I have to go to the bathroom too,” Woohyun lied as he left the booth to follow his target.

But as Woohyun entered into the hallways and heard a peculiar sound. What is it? Howling? ? No. It actually sounds like…his thoughts were interrupted when he rounded the corner and found the source. “Gyu-ah…are you practicing?” Woohyun asked with a chuckle, staring at the man warming up his vocal chords.

Sungkyu immediately shut his mouth tightly and turned to Woohyun completely embarrassed. “Well, uh, it’s been a while, and Dongwoo built me up to be this great singer,” he defended, his eyes fixated on the ground. He’s really that self-conscious? Noraebang is all about letting go, and he is taking it so seriously. It reminded Woohyun a bit of Maeri, who was always concerned with what others thought of her. In fact, every time they went to noraebang, she practically has a cup of alcohol surgically attached to her hand, giving her a bit of liquid courage. Maybe I misjudged him.

Woohyun put his arm around Sungkyu’s shoulders. “I won’t tell anybody. You’re secret is safe with me,” he reassured him, leading him back into the booth. “Besides, like I said before, you’ll be better than Maeri.” The he opened the door, revealing Dongwoo and Maeri rapping to a hip-hop song. Well, Dongwoo was rapping. Maeri on the other hand was bouncing around, shouting nonsensical words into the microphone. Sungkyu mouth dropped at the sight. Woohyun laughed. It was like he was watching a famous rapstar and next to him, a little baby babbling to his song. “That’s my baby! Go honey!” he cheered her on. Encouraged by his words, Maeri started to perform her own version of the robot. Dongwoo joined her in her frantic dance. At the end of the song he took the “battery” from her back, and she “shut down,” waving goodbye to Woohyun.

“Woah! I think you got better!” Dongwoo praised Maeri.

Maeri “rebooted” and laughed. “Well, I couldn’t really get any worse.” Then she walked over to sit down on the couch.

Woohyun pushed Sungkyu into the middle and handed him a microphone. “We’re next,” he stated.

“This should be good! Both of you can sing very well,” Dongwoo commented as he sat down next to Maeri. Both of them were on the edges of their seats in anticipation.

Sungkyu looked over to Woohyun and asked, “You sing?”

Woohyun smiled as he punched in a number into the machine; he had the number committed to memory because he sang it so often, The Day the Sun Rises. “Eung. Are you ready?” he asked Sungkyu. He nodded. Then Woohyun turned to his audience. “Are you ready?” he shouted.

“YEA!” Dongwoo and Maeri cheered. “WOOOOO!”

“Let’s go!” he shouted as the song began. He was singing his heart out, but he realized that he could only hear his voice. He turned to see that his duet partner was staring at him in a daze, with his mouth slightly opened in shock. At a break in the song, Woohyun covered his mike and whispered to Sungkyu, “Am I really that good?”

Sungkyu shook his head, snapping out of the daze.  “You’re not that good,” he teased. “I’m better.” Then he joined in the song, with a voice that surprised Woohyun, causing him to temporarily forget that he was supposed to be singing. Then he joined in, harmonizing with his new partner.

Maeri was looking at the two, utterly speechless. She was always a big fan of Woohyun’s voice; it being the main reason she would agree to going to noraebang. His voice was strong and smooth, like dark chocolate. But Sungkyu’s voice was a bit more abrasive, especially in comparison to Woohyun’s comforting voice, but it was just as alluring. The two of them together was like mixing an acid and a base. They complimented each other, naturally.

“Woah! They’re good together.” Dongwoo said in awe, voicing Maeri’s thoughts.

Once the song ended, Woohyun turned to Sungkyu and said with a big smile, “Gyu-ah, I think we found our song.” And he patted his new duet partner on the back.

Sungkyu nodded. “Yea, we weren’t half-bad.”

Dongwoo laughed, “Don’t sell yourself short. That was amazing!” Then he pulled Maeri up from her chair, spilling a little bit of her drink. “But I think it’s time that you guys do your song.”

Woohyun pulled Maeri over to his side and pushed Sungkyu down next to Dongwoo. “Sungkyu-ah, you’re in for a treat. Be prepared for the best show you’ll ever see.”

Maeri giggled as she picked up a microphone. “Are you sure that we want to subject him to this? It might scare him off.”

Sungkyu leaned near Dongwoo and whispered, “What’s going on?”

Dongwoo laughed in anticipation for what was about to happen. “They’ve been singing this song every time we’ve gone out for noraebang for as long as I’ve known them. And they got it down! There’s ad-libs and a dance. Even a lift!”

“Woohyun lifts Maeri?” Sungkyu asked lifting his eyebrows.

“No she lifts him,” Dongwoo answered quickly. “You’ve never seen anything like it.”

Sungkyu glanced over to the couple. Maeri was stretching her limbs with a serious expression on her face, and Woohyun was helping her, making sure that she was loose. Maeri caught his glance and smiled. “Sungkyu-ah, are you ready for this?”

“Can’t wait,” he responded happily.

Woohyun and Maeri then got into position, posing in such a way that they looked like reflections of each other. “Let’s do this!”