"Finally you ask," he said, laughing.

I saw no reason for him to be amused. "What?"

"It seems we have a misunderstanding to clear up. I admit it's partially my fault for not telling you, but..." He shrugged. "The topic never came up. Anyway, that night...the person you overheard me talking to was my mother."

His mother. As the fact processed in my brain, I was unsure of how to feel: annoyed at myself, for even being bothered; annoyed at him, for not telling me in the first place; or happy, because I had no reason to worry. I went with the second option. "So why didn't you tell me this?" I asked.

"You never asked," he replied calmly. Jongin had a point.

But still. "But--"

"Why, were you jealous?" he teased, leaning in closer so that his forehead rested lightly against mine. "You had no reason to be." He was so close, I could smell him. And despite the hike, he smelled good. I stared at his lips, right in front of my eyes, and had trouble coming up with a response.

"No..I.."

Jongin smiled and pulled back, patting my head. "Alright. Let's rest for a few more minutes, and head back. We don't want to stay here much longer, or we'll get roasted by the sun."

On our way back down, I kept looking at Jongin. This was ridiculous, I thought to myself. I was married to this guy. This perfect stranger. And yet, in barely a week, I had to admit that I was falling for him. And falling hard.

Suddenly I couldn't help my curiosity. "So why are you doing this?" I asked.

Jongin turned toward me, a half-smile on his face. "I thought we'd gone over this already. Hikes--"

"No, not that," I interrupted. "Why are you nice to me all of a sudden? As far as I remember, we weren't even on speaking terms a few days ago."

At least he looked bashful. "Well...I can't very well continue that for the rest of our lives, now can I?"

I simply raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, you're my wife," he continued. "And, you know, I should get to know you." He was quiet for a while, and I was afraid that that was all he was going to say. But he spoke up again. "Remember how I once told you that I don't hate you, just the situation? That was true. But I realized that instead of making us both miserable, it would be better to make the best of this situation. Besides," he added, looking over at me, "I found that I actually like being around you."

I could feel my face turning red, and I stared at the ground. Jongin laughed. "See, because of things like that. You're always blushing, no matter what I say. Why?"

"I don't know. Shut up," I muttered under my breath, not truly meaning it.

Jongin laughed again and reached out to take my hand. I looked up at him, surprised, to see the questioning look on his face. And then I realized: he was asking if holding hands was okay. I glanced down at our intertwined hands, and back up at him, then smiled. Of course it was okay.

Hands linked, we finally made it back to his car. I nearly collapsed in the seat, not fully aware of how tired I was until that moment. Jongin looked over at me. "Are you okay?" he asked, sounding concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry."

We sat in silence on the way back home. The wind blew against my face, and it felt extremely good. I kept thinking about the hike, over and over, and suddenly a sense of overwhelming glee filled me. So Jongin hadn't been dating when the wedding was announced. So I did have a chance after all.

Once home, courteous as ever, Jongin opened the door for me. I headed straight into the shower, feeling sticky and sweaty, and overall unclean. Jongin did the same. When I entered the kitchen, however, I found a note:

Dolunim and Agashi,

We have recently been informed that our services are unnecessary here. We will be stopping by once a week to clean the house, but otherwise, we will no longer stay here. We have enjoyed our stay, and hope you two the happiest future.

From,

Eun Hye

"Oppa," I called before I realized what I'd just called Jongin. I wanted to bury myself somewhere.

But Jongin walked into the kitchen, unfazed, though he did seem to have a smile on his face. "What?"

I handed over the note. "Huh," he said. Then he looked up. "Can you cook?"

"Umm...I can do the basics, yes." Though I'd had cooking classes forced upon me from my mother. Any girl needs to know how to cook and survive, she'd said.

"Great. Then we'll survive," he said simply, and sat down. Then Jongin looked up at me, a wicked grin on his face. "Though, what was that I heard you call me?"

"Nothing."

"No, no, I don't think that was it at all."

"Well then, I don't know what you're talking about." I headed toward the door, but in two long strides, Jongin stood between me and the exit.

"I'm sure you do," he said, and leaned down close to me. "I think I heard you call me 'oppa.' But we're not dating, we're married." Though his tone was serious, his eyes glittered. "You know what the proper term is, right?"

I rolled my eyes. "Jongin, we've been married for barely a week. I didn't even know you before. I don't think normal societal rules apply to us here. Yeobo," I added, just to please him.

He straightened up, looking thoughtful. "That's true. I guess you could just call me oppa then." Though he looked suspiciously deflated. I never would have thought that Jongin, capable of the coldness I'd encountered the first few days, had such beliefs concerning relationships. It was rather endearing.

Although all I wanted to do was look at him and smile all day, I had other things to do. "Alright then, oppa. We need to make some lunch. Can you cook?"

Jongin looked rather offended. "Of course I can cook! You think my parents would let me off the hook when--nevermind, yes, I can cook. What do you want me to do?"

It was truly a miracle that my parents had chosen such a decent guy for me. "It depends. What do you want to eat?"

"Anything. I'm just hungry."

"Alright then, let's make fried rice, since it's fast. I think we should have some leftover rice from yesterday, too..." I said, rummaging in the refrigerator. "Ah." I held up the container filled with rice. "This should be enough for both of us."

We worked together to prepare lunch as Jongin chopped up the ingredients, and I cooked them. I was rather proud of the heaping plate of fried rice once we'd finished. It was proof that we had worked together, side by side. It was proof that slowly but surely, Jongin and I were growing closer.

A/N: As always, sorry for not being able to update :(

(I actually should be doing homework and studying for a test, but I decided to write this instead...)

Anyway, I hope you liked this update, and have a good day (or night)! Don't forget to comment please! ^o^