“Dr. Lee Taemin, oh, please, have a seat.” The administrator, who was actually an old lady with a huge eyeglasses and grey hair, welcomes us as we are directed at her office by her secretary. “It’s nice to see you again after some time.”

“Aigoo, Heenam ahjumma, I told you to just call me by my usual name whenever I get here. It’s still awkward having you addressed me like that.”

“Why, you’re already a doctor. A very handsome and intelligent doctor.” The old lady looks at me, and she smiles gently. “I see you have a wonderful lady beside you. She’s quite familiar to me, have I seen you around, my dear?”

“I-“

“She knows one of your orphans here and she normally drops by to at least checks on her. I’m talking about Han Dannie.”

“Han Dannie.” She utters her name. “The beautiful little girl who recently lost her mom? I pity that child. She looks bright and witty, but her energy was lost due to what happened.”

“By the way, ahjumma…” Taemin holds my hand and intertwines our fingers together. “She’s my girlfriend.”

The woman appears to be smiling brightly as she looks at me. “Finally.” She sighs as if she is all relieved. “This means I can stop worrying about you as you always gets into issues with different women. Since you introduced her to me, I supposed she’s a serious deal.” She chuckles softly and it echoes inside her office.

Taemin only smiles. “We’re planning our marriage by the end of the year…” He announces which literally shocks the old woman. “But due to what happened to Dannie’s mother which made her become on orphan, we decided to marry much earlier to get Dannie. Ahjumma, can you help us adopt her?”

“I can help.” The ahjumma nods after sorting out the information Taemin gave her. “But you really need to get married first.”

“How about the six months rule, ahjumma? Does that mean we can only get Dannie after six months? We’re worried about her, and Rae In promised the girl’s mom to take care of her whatever happens, so we really feel the desperation to have Dannie.”

“You can get her as soon as you get married and then present to us the certification.” She smiles and pats Taemin’s shoulders. “This is the first time you expressed the need to adopt a child, and it makes me happy. I thought you are never going to feel the need of building a family because of what happened to you in the past.”

What the old woman said captures my attention. Something happened to Taemin in the past? What’s that? Taemin looks at me in discomfort. Maybe he doesn’t want to talk about it with me. After all, I’m still just a stranger.

But I am so intrigued to be honest. Taemin and the old woman look very close, as if they had known each other for so long.

“But it’s okay since you went to a good family, right? See? I was right to give you to them. Mr and Mrs Lee gave you all the things you needed and look at you now… a very successful doctor.” She smiles proudly whereas Taemin gives a not so comfortable smile. “My dear, you should take care of our Taemin so much. He may appear to be cool and manly, but my Taemin still has a vulnerable heart.” The old woman looks at me, and somehow, her words melt my heart.

Wait, was he an orphan? She gave him to a good family which provided him everything he has right now? That could only mean one thing… that he’s really once an…

“Ahjumma, stop it. I don’t want her to think I’m weak. What if she won’t depend on me anymore?”  He tries to change the topic but the old woman laughs.

“It’s okay.” I answer. Yes, I’m not thinking the right way again and just randomly gets into the conversation as if I’m a part of it. “I won’t mind taking care of you once in a while.”

“So sweet.” The ahjumma smiles at me and nods. “Now I know why he fell in love with you so hard. You could provide him a happier family.”

“Yes.” I smile genuinely though I can see beside me that he dislikes the way I talk politely to the old woman. Do I just happen to discover one of his secrets that he doesn’t like anyone to know? Hmm… but maybe this is not the right time to ask him about that.

“Okay, then…” The old woman smiles at both of us before continuing. “You see, I am not the only one who’s going to decide for the confirmation of the adoption, but I will do everything, to at least assure the both of you that the other officers will say yes.”

“Thank you very much, ahjumma.”

*** ***

As we walk outside the office, he is unusually silent. I thought he’d start blabbing about how he was able to really help me, but apparently, he starts acting the other way around … and I am just a bit hesitant to ask why he is like that.

“I won’t tell you anything.” He says while looking far away – not meeting my eyes. “My relationship with the ahjumma and this orphanage doesn’t concern you anymore.”

“I got it.” I say as quickly as possible. It’s obvious that he’s trying to hide something from me – and I’m guessing it’s a painful reality – maybe something in his past that he doesn’t want to share to anyone in his present life anymore.

I shrug my shoulders. True enough, I am not concern with any of his relationship to anyone but I’m more concern as to how I will be able to completely get Dannie. I am almost close to that except for one thing: Marriage.

“See you the day after tomorrow then?” He asks and I frown at him.

“The day after tomorrow? What are we-“

“We’re going to register our marriage.” Taemin says casually – as if he is just about to renew his driver’s license. Seriously, it somehow irritates me that he treats this thing as if it’s nothing – that marriage is not something to be serious about.

Like for real, we’re getting married. I am literally taking his name after me. He is going to be my husband and I am going to be his wife. We are going to live in the… wait. “Do we need to live in the same house?” I ask again not controlling my mouth. He looks at me for a while and then shakes his head.

“Except if it’s necessary then you need to go to my house.” He smirks. “I don’t think I can have you around me all the time.”

“Me neither.” I reply as quickly as possible – not wanting to lose to this stubborn doctor that is Lee Taemin.

The bickering between the two of us won’t stop if not only for Dannie who comes running towards us with anticipation on her face. “Auntie? When are you going to take me?”

I smile at her and knee down to reach her eyelevel. “Maybe in less than a week, auntie can already take you home.” Her expression brightens a bit more upon hearing the good news. Dannie’s angelic face always gives me such a good feeling and another thing, she’s a beautiful memory of her mother, and forever I’ll treasure the friendship I have with Dan Mi. She’s the nicest person I ever know, and if it happened that she had some relatives to take Dannie, I will still do as much as this for her daughter.

“After you and Dr. Lee get married?” She asks and so I voluntarily look up to meet Taemin’s eyes. Isn’t it obvious that I am really trying to get his help to answer that question?

We are getting married for the papers – but apart from that, there’s nothing more. Aish. This person shouldn’t have told Dannie about this marriage, then I won’t have to explain this thing to her. It’s probably even more convenient to tell her I got her by using some magic spells on the administrators.

“Dannie-ah…” Taemin kneels down beside me and pats Dannie’s head. “Do you know you look so thin? Once we get you out of here, I am going to teach you how to eat a lot and you are going to do some exercises with me. Do you like that?” Dannie nods and completely forgets her previous question. “Good. Then, while you’re staying here, you should go around and play with kids so you won’t get bored. Auntie and I will come back few days later to get you, okay?” Taemin’s smile is really wide and he seems so enthusiastic when talking to the child. Well? I think it’s the same tactic he uses to the girls he likes to lure to get them.

Wow, so jobs like this really work for players, huh?

He is in conversation with Dannie when someone walks in. He looks younger than him and he has an I.D. I’m guessing he’s a student doctor. He asks Taemin to go with him for a short meeting with the rest of them so he finally excuses himself and says goodbye to Dannie.

“And you. See you soon, babe.” He looks at me with a wink before leaving. Like duh.