[12/11/2012 3:26p]

Gary

Gary was on his way to the airport to pick up HaHa and Byul. They would be getting in around four, so knowing Seoul traffic he had to leave the house about two hours prior in order to get them in time. He was sure they’d be really excited to get home after the long flight from Vietnam. A honeymoon in a faraway land is amazing but there is nothing like home after a long journey. He had another twenty minutes before he would arrive at the airport which was perfect time management, if he had to say so himself; that means he would get to the airport for almost exactly four and by the time he got to the terminal for international flight pick-ups HaHa and Byul would be there. His fellow teammates on Running Man just always seemed to catch him when he was off his game; sleeping late and what not but right now he was perfect.

40 minutes later

Gary checked the time on his phone again. Where were HaHa and Byul, they should have been out here waiting for him by now. He had already circled the terminal twice; they were screwing with his time management. The crazy thing was he hated waiting, which was ironic seeing as he had been waiting on JiHyo for so long but she was the only one; as for everything else, he was super impatient. [Ha DongHoon, where the hell are you?] Gary was about to dial HaHa’s number again when he heard…

“Ya DongHoon, didn’t I tell you this would happen. Now we have to wait three days before we can get our bags.”

Gary knew that scream anywhere; Byul had a very unique voice and when she was screaming at HaHa it took on an even more unique pitch. Gary laughed to himself thinking about his two friends. Byul seemed so calm and demure in public life but it was HaHa that was able to bring out the much more aggressive side of her. They’d known each other long enough to know which buttons to press, and if you knew HaHa, you knew he pressed her buttons often and usually on purpose. But those two had such a strong foundation in friendship prior to marriage; Gary knew it was all out of love.

Gary put on his emergency lights, drove forward and parked so he could get Byul and HaHa’s attention.

“Byul my love, what has that bastard done this time?” Gary called out to her. She heard his voice and turned around with a large smile on her face to greet him. Gary gave her a big hug and grabbed her carry-on luggage. Byul replied with a laugh “oh nothing, other than working my last nerve” as she followed Gary to the car and got into the front seat. He placed her bags in the back seat and then went to greet HaHa as he started walking to the car. They shook hands and then gave each other a brotherly hug. “Good to see you bro, you look good” Gary said to him.

“Don’t I always” replied HaHa. [Cheeky bastard] Gary thought to himself.

HaHa got situated in the back and Gary got back into the driver’s seat. “So guys, how was the honeymoon?”

Byul replied “Gary it was amazing. Vietnam was so beautiful and the people were so nice.” But of course HaHa answered in normal Ha DongHoon fashion “Hyung, I don’t know what she’s talking about. She couldn’t keep her hands off me; she never let me leave the room.” Byul spun around in her seat so quickly to hit him “Yah Ha Donghoon, I can’t believe you said that.” HaHa could do nothing but laugh as he tried to fend off Byul’s attacks. Gary just smiled while glancing through the rearview mirror at his friends; he hoped they stayed like that a long time. They were adults but as adults we need to retain and maintain that childlike ability to play and keep fun in our relationships, otherwise things would become stale and suffocating. If he did get married, Gary would make sure that he and his wife would be able to smile and laugh together without burden.

Once Byul and HaHa had calmed down, Gary once again told them how beautiful the wedding was and of course how gorgeous Byul was as a bride.

“Hyung I think you especially enjoyed the reception more than the wedding; you and JiHyo seemed to be getting along well” said HaHa with a smirk. Byul chipped in with “yeah, you guys looked good dancing together.”

Hearing them say that made Gary think back to the night of the wedding. The wedding ceremony was full of laughs and smiles, as expected of HaHas planning. He was asking people for money, making jokes and listening to stories and well wishes from his friends and family alike. It was an enjoyable time for everyone. Since Baek Chang Ju Hyung-nim didn’t know HaHa and Byul that well and since he was a bit busy, he was unable to attend so Song JiHyo asked Gary to be her for the evening. No one would think anything weird about it, plus they had been getting along really well as of late. It almost felt like the old Monday Couple days which surprised him. He felt so nervous a couple months back after calling her in the middle of the night but JiHyo showed him no ill feelings, she actually seemed to get closer to him. So for the month and a half in between that phone call and the wedding they had been hanging out more often; lunches and texting, just like old friends. It felt good to him; he may not be reaching her heart but at least he felt like a part of her life right now. He knew that wouldn’t last always but it was enough for now. But he and JiHyo did have a great time at the wedding reception. She looked stunning as always in this emerald green peplum dress that went well with her skin, while Gary was in a dark grey suit with a cream dress shirt and an emerald green pocket square to match JiHyo’s dress. Gary was incredibly grateful to be her ; just for the evening he could treat her as though she was his, with no worry of making her uncomfortable or thinking about his actions around her boyfriend. They walked in and greeted people together, got to sit with each other and made inside jokes. He and JiHyo took pictures together with Byul and HaHa and whenever he had the chance Gary would her her arm in arm or hand in hand. He wanted to relish the moment where she was his just for the night. He took pleasure in hearing “how compatible you too look together”, “just get married already”, “Aigoo!! What a handsome couple”. Of course he just laughed it off but inside he was beaming. He and JiHyo were so used to it from prior and since Chang Ju and JiHyo had been a stable relationship for the last year, remarks such as those no longer made her uncomfortable. It was a great night for them but it was really about the bride and the groom. After everyone arrived at the venue for the reception, the MC of the wedding ceremony announced the wedded couple and asked everyone to be seated for their first dance.

HaHa and Byul’s first dance was of course unconventional.  The guests waited in anticipation as he and Byul stood in the middle of the floor. When everyone heard the music, every person broke out into a smile and applause.

“I wanna love you, and treat you right;

I wanna love you, every day and every night;

We’ll be together, with a roof right over our heads;

We’ll share the shelter of my single bed”

They danced to “Is this love” by Bob Marley. Seemed they had even choreographed their own dance for the occasion. It was really quite beautiful and romantic. By the middle of the song, they had invited everyone on to the floor to dance with them because they everyone to share in the happiness of this song. Gary had spent the time going over in his head whether he should ask JiHyo to dance or not; she was quite shy when it came to her dancing. She really only knew about 3 dances and “hot issue” was her go to dance. But when Gary heard part of the second verse… he said screw it and asked for her hand. She seemed nervous when he offered it but much to his surprise and happiness, she grabbed his hand.

“…So I throw my cards on the table!

I wanna love you- I wanna love and treat- love and treat you right;

I wanna love you, every day and every night;

We’ll be together, yeah!...”

He spent the next couple seconds helping her get adjusted to the beat. They moved together from side to side in step with the drums on the song. In a playful mode whenever Gary heard “is this love, is this love, is this love, is this love that I’m feeling” he would dance around JiHyo doing heartbeat moves to get her to smile. Of course she was smile and laugh at his teasing and silliness. As she got more and more comfortable with him, Gary taught her how to “dutty wind”. He taught her how to swirl her hips with the song. Jamaican music was about letting yourself be free. He wanted her to feel no embarrassment and to allow her body to move with the music naturally. He placed his hands lightly on her hips to guide her movement until she was able to do it without him. He just watched as her confidence grew the more she danced. They were able to move in sync, with her dutty winding in front of him; with her making the dance her own, smiling at him, turning in circles, just having a great time. He could see all the other guests smiling and enjoying themselves; this song really brought everyone together. He and JiHyo were so engrossed in the dancing they didn’t really even notice when the music changed.

“sha qi lai, bian zou bian chang

Kun qi lai, ni tang zai fu rong zhen shang

Shi jie bu zai, ni yi ran zai zhan tai

Zou le yi ran hui hui lai yang qi chen ai

Dou bian cheng yi zhong hei bai”

{When you're being silly, you sing while walking
When you're tired, you lie in Furong Town
The world is no longer, but you remain on the platform
Even after you've left, you'll still return
The rising dust has all turned black and white}

JiHyo seemed to recognize the song. She sang along to it as they started to move back towards their table, “ni shi wo ai de nu hai, zui ai de nu hai…This is one of my favorite songs by him”. “By who?” Gary asked. “Khalil Fong. It’s called Black and White.”Gary stopped her. “You can’t not dance to one of your favorite songs.” He again reached out for her hand and escorted her back onto the dance floor into a corner that was unoccupied. Dancing to a song like this was the perfect chance to have her in his arms. There were words he couldn’t speak aloud to JiHyo but he could let the song say things he couldn’t say. Just the feel of her in his arms made him want to stop trying so hard for just a minute. Gary just let some of his control slip away and let some his emotions just escape for a little while. It was too hard to pretend with her looking as beautiful as she did and feeling so right in his arms. From the feel of her skin under his touch, to the smell of almond and green tea in her hair to the natural electricity of attraction between them, it was almost too much. He had kept his feelings in for so long but he felt safe enough right now to let a fragment of what he felt for her to reach his eyes. He doubted she would notice but in this dance he would look at her the way his heart saw her. He felt completely safe until she met his eyes. She seemed to recognize something different in the way he was looking at her. In that moment staring at each other, time seemed to slow down. He could feel that energy subtly start to move around them; Gary hoped she didn’t feel it, hoped he hadn’t ruined everything by letting some of his control slip away. Surprisingly enough JiHyo didn’t pull away from him but retreated into her “mong” look telling him either she didn’t realize anything or was deep into her own thoughts but before Gary could say anything…HaHa cut in.

“Hyung, how can you not dance with my beautiful bride…hogging Mong Ji all to yourself.” HaHa stepped in between them and swept JiHyo into his arms as Gary moved to dance with Byul. He and Byul danced to “Snow Piano” by House Rulez, while HaHa and JiHyo danced together.

They spent the rest of the evening as though nothing happened. They took turns feeding cake to each other, purposefully missing at times to get icing on the other. Though they didn’t dance together again for the rest of the evening; he enjoyed himself tremendously and hoped he was a great to JiHyo; as far as he could tell she enjoyed herself.

Caught in his own thoughts, Gary hadn’t heard HaHa talking to him.

“Hyung did you hear what I said” asked HaHa as he poked Gary on the shoulder.

“Ah, what? No, no, what did you say?”

“I said what was going on with you and JiHyo at the reception? Byul and I saw you dancing and then all of a sudden it seemed like you stopped; it was like you guys were moving in slow motion” said HaHa.

“Yeah that’s why we came and cut in. We didn’t want everyone to start staring” added Byul.

“Really? I didn’t even know we stopped dancing. I don’t know what happened” answered Gary

“Yeah it was weird; you guys were just staring at each other” said HaHa

“Do you think anybody else noticed?”

Byul answered “I don’t think so. HaHa and I were dancing pretty close to you so that’s why we saw.”

“There’s nothing going on between you too right, Hyung?” HaHa asked Gary.

“Nah, Hyung, of course not. You know JiHyo was just in a Mong state out of nowhere. Nothing was going on.” At least Gary hoped no one else noticed what went on between them. He didn’t know what had happened, but he realized that he had almost ruined everything. He hadn’t seen anybody since the wedding but if the fates were with him no one would have noticed anything including JiHyo herself. He had learned his lesson; there were no chances he could take when it came to JiHyo; he didn’t trust himself around her.

Author's Note: Hey Guys sorry for taking so long to update, this week has been bananas. I hope you guys like this chapter. Also I'm very musically inclined so I will be using a lot of music in the story. I hope you guys can check out the songs I list in the sotry, I think it will really help you feel the vibe I was going for. They will be in many different languages, but even if you don't know the words I think you will get the feelings that are being shared through the music. Happy Reading and please leave comments!!! Great feedback truly does help me right better. Thanks for the support. Hwaiting!!!