‘But I’ll claim it some other time.’ He finally continued, breath ragged. Unlike his fictional counterpart, he understood that engaging in a steamy make-out session was perhaps a little too fast for them. Min Ho knew that timing was everything. He’d do this right this time, if not for himself, for the innocent creature sitting before him.

The change in his game plan evoked a look of confusion on her face. Her all too lovely face.

Min Ho gave her a once over; the grey flannel top was stretched thin against her skin, outlining the contours of her maidenly form. Since the top was a tad bit low, he could see glimpses of her soft, creamy, white…He could see the slow rise and falls of her chest. Further down, he could see the tiny racing pulse on her porcelain white wrist. Her long, snowmen clad flannel bottoms had ridden up to mid-calf due to the way she sat; a toned leg tucked under the other. Her ankles…

He felt something forming at the base of his throat.

Min Ho felt like he was transported to the Victorian times…where just the sight of a ladies ankle drove the male race, to put it nicely, wild.

He knew she wanted it as much as he wanted it. That made it all the more tempting, but he didn’t trust himself to stop when things got too hot. There was no way he’d be able to stop, not with the things he wanted to do to her. He couldn’t fault her for being so darn innocent, so tantalizing, and it was no secret that men are more primal than women…Right?

He’d just have to live off the memory of their first two proper kisses. To the silent room he spoke again, ‘I got you a present.’

They were still inches apart though. To put some distance between them, at least for now, Shin Hye grabbed his wine glass from his hand, and placed it on the coffee table for a refill, ‘Really? When did you have the time?’

‘It’s not something I can hand to you though.’

‘Mwo?’ She had finished refilling his glass, and was now refilling her own.

‘Do you want to guess?’

She straightened herself, two glasses of wine in hand, ‘I’m not great at guessing games though.’ She passed his glass back to him, ‘But I’ll give it a try.’

‘Twenty questions,’ He lifted the glass to his lips, sipping his wine this time, ‘Go!’

‘Is it big?’

‘Could be.’

‘Edible?’

‘No.’

‘Have I mentioned wanting it before?’

‘Possible.’

‘Is it a thing?’

‘Could be.’

‘Yah! Why are your answers all so iffy?’

‘That’s five, and I don’t know. Probably because the gift is “neither here nor there”.’

‘That question shouldn’t be counted!’

‘It was a question!’

‘Aisssh!’ She took a sip from her glass, ‘Can I hold it?’

‘No.’

‘It’s not edible…I can’t hold it…It can be big…’ Shin Hye mused out loud, taking another sip of wine, ‘Is it a cloud?’ Her eyes turning into half saucers.

‘Yah! Where am I going to get a cloud for you from?’

‘I take that as a, No.’ She began drumming her fingers on her knee, ‘Did you pay for it?’

‘You could say so.’

‘Eh? What could you have possibly stolen?’

‘Yah!’

‘Opaaaaaa, can I give up?’

‘You’re down to ten questions!’

Her eyes danced, as she asked her next few questions, ‘Can I give up? Can I give up? Can I give up? Can I give up? Can I give up? Can I give up? Can I give up? Can I give up? Can I give up? Can I give up?’

‘Aisssh! You know, perhaps you don’t actually at this game. Perhaps YOU JUST GIVE UP BEFORE YOU EVEN GET TO THE NINETEENTH QUESTION!’ Min Ho blamed, wagging a pointed finger at her.

‘Valid argument.’ Shin Hye responded, offering him a dignified nod. ‘But you can’t tell me you got me a present then ask me to embark on the world’s longest game to find out what it is!’

Min Ho chuckled, ‘Fair enough.’

When he made no move to actually tell her what the present was, she gave his shoulder a little poke, ‘Well? Are you going to give me this pseudo present?’

‘I was giving you a last chance to guess.’ He bent forward a little and pulled a tiny card out of his back pocket, ‘Judging by your response, you’re not even going to try.’

Her face lit up, she loved presents. While she felt a tad bit guilty for not having gotten Min Ho anything yet, she couldn’t help feeling excited about receiving hers.

‘Getting you a present required more brain power I’ve ever needed to use in awhile…I asked myself, what to give a girl who has everything? I mean, she has the good looks, the great body…’ His last words bringing a slight flush to her cheeks, ‘Amazing talents, a successful career, a great family, two very adorable dogs, and the handsomest boyfr—’

‘Hey, hey, let’s not get too carried away.’ She offered a wink, ‘Probably should’ve stopped at the two adorable dogs.’

‘Aisssh! We’re going to have to learn from this book I wrote, “How to Treat Your Boyfriend Properly” soon. Here I am giving you a prese—’

‘Ah, ah, arasso.’

He handed her the card, looking at her expectantly, ‘It’s not something you can hold, nor keep. But a little birdie told me that what I did, will probably still make your day.’

The card had a Sahara dessert basking in the glorious golden glow of the evening sun on the cover. In the foreground was a silhouette of a family of elephants. She flipped open the card, and gasped.

The card read:

Thank You for your generous love gift. Your help will help clothe and feed many children this joyous holiday.

Happy Holidays!

With heartfelt thanks,

Hunger Zero

Shin Hye’s finger traced the words; a tear fell and landed on the neatly handwritten card.

Seeing that, Min Ho gently lifted her chin, feeling slightly worried, ‘Crying again?’ His hands cupped her face, ‘Please don’t. I know you have a heart for Africa, I know how much you love this organization…so I thoug—’

Shaking her head, she finally let her glistening eyes reach his, ‘You thought perfect.’ She let the card fall to her lap as her two hands reached to hold his larger hands. ‘I Love You.’

His nervous expression was gradually replaced by a slow grin, ‘Took you long enough.’ He released her face, and pulled her into a warm embrace.

‘I’m sorry I didn’t get you anything.’

‘You just did.’

Suddenly, she pulled herself out of the hug, and jumped up. Before Min Ho could pull her back down, she had managed to hop past his long, outstretched legs and disappeared into the dark shadows of the hallway. Seconds later, she bounded out, cell phone in hand.

‘This better be good.’ He muttered under his breath. He was enjoying that hug, her body pressed tightly against his.

In his face, she shoved her brightly lit phone. She looked proud of herself. So he peered at the screen: The Package 6♥

‘I don’t get it. But at least I’m not Kim Tan anymore!’

She sat back down next to him, dropping her phone next to Bongji, ‘Handsome, Financially Stable, Morally Outstanding, Excellent in Character, Loved, and Incorrigible.’

Min Ho tilted his head back and roared with laughter. When he finally settled down, he looked at her thoughtfully. He has laughed so much these past four weeks, and Shin Hye was responsible for ninety-five percent of the time. He couldn’t imagine what it’d be like four months from now.

He reached out and brushed a finger across her lips. He really wanted to kiss her so badly. The atmosphere of the room was screaming for them to. Externally, he looked calm and collected, cool, unaffected. His eyes and breath steady, his hand warm. Internally, he was all twisted…at this very moment; he was torn between feeling contended, joyous just being here with his girl, and feeling absolutely tortured.

‘Shin Hye-ah…’ His finger pulling her bottom lip down, ‘I won’t lie. I want to kiss you.’

His hand slowly slid down her chin, tracing the edges of her collarbone. He felt her shudder underneath his touch.

Her eyes looked at him, steady and unwavering. Her sudden boldness made the warmness in his stomach spread like wildfire. Shin Hye-ah…you’re tearing what’s remaining of my self-control at the seams.

Suddenly her eyes flickered from quiet confidence to regretfulness, but she assertively slid to the other end of the couch, picking up the two dogs in the process, and placing them each on either of her laps, ‘But we better not.’

Min Ho nodded. Disappointed…Relieved. Wanting...Denying. Lustful…Guilty.

She could see it on his face. Wanting to comfort him, Shin Hye blurted, ‘I’ve been thinking about it too. We can feel guilty together?’

His eyes shot up, his hands running down his face. His throaty voice spoke,  ‘Shin Hye-ah, that doesn’t help…’

‘Ah…’

‘We could do something else…’

‘Yah! Andwe! You promised!’ Her face aghast.

His eyes looked bewilderedly at her for a second, then understanding struck him, ‘Ani! Ani! Yah! Aisssh! What do you think I am?’

She furrowed her eyebrows, and tilted her head, ‘A man?’

‘Yah! I meant lets do something else to distract us! Watch a show. Cook. Play a game! Honestly, I think you’re more of a byeontae than I am!’

‘He he he, ani, just that…my dad told me that when I’m alone with a man, I must be wary, because they can be quite…uh…libidin—‘ She caught herself just as she was about to finish the word.

Too late. A square cushion came flying towards her, hitting Shin Hye smack in the face before it fell onto of the two sleeping dogs. Bongji and Norri woke up, shooting accusing canine eyes at Min Ho.

The two dogs hopped off her lap as she exclaimed, ‘YAH! OPPA! Did you have to do that?’

He shrugged, flashing her a bedazzling smile, ‘Pillow fight?’ She puffed, and rose to her feet. His head followed her movements as he called out, ‘Yah! Where are you going? Are you sulking? I only threw a pillow…once!’

With her back facing him, she bent to open a wall cabinet, and rummaged through it. With the exception of the firelight, and a dimly lit lamp, the room was too dark and he couldn’t decipher what exactly she was doing, ‘Are you going to kill me?’

Her heard her drop something on the cold marble floor as a shrill sound filled the room, ‘I’m sorry. I won’t throw pillows at you anymore!’ Still she didn’t respond, and he was much to comfortable on the futon to get up, ‘Jagi-yah~ You’re scaring me~ I have a weak heart.’ He heard her soft giggles, ‘Shin hye-ah~!’

Finally, he heard the cabinet door close, and she padded her way back to him. Her hands carried a large, chunky, square, wooden board.

‘Yah! Are you going to throw that at me?!’ He began rising to his feet, hands shielding his face, ‘I threw a pillow!! Why do you want to knock me unconscious?!’ His steps retreating to stand behind the adjoining couch that he threw his windbreaker earlier, ‘Just so you know, vengeance isn’t sweet! Especially if it involves injuring a Hallyu star!’ All this while, Shin Hye simply smiled, a look of amusement plastered on her face, ‘Hul! You hid this side of you until you had me in the palm of your hands, didn’t you?’

‘Let’s play chess.’

His hands dropped to his sides. He blinked once, twice, and then thrice. ‘You did that on purpose…!’

‘You jumped to conclusions! I simply let your mind run wild a little longer.’ She nonchalantly sat back down, leaning towards the table. She flipped the wooden block over, and he could see the black and white checks of the chessboard.

‘Aissssh!’ He dragged his feet back to the couch she sat on, but remained standing, hands on his hips as he watched her slide the cover of the wooden block open, ‘I’m surprised you have a chess set.’

To the chessboard, she explained, her hands busily setting up the pieces, ‘My dad and I play chess whenever he comes over. He gave me this set.’ When she placed the last black Pawn in place, she looked up at him, ‘You do play right?’

Finally sitting back down, ‘I do. But it’s been awhile since I last played.’

‘Well, let’s see where you stand.’ She picked up her wine glass, and took a sip, ‘Black or white?’

‘Black.’

‘Do you need a handicap?’

‘Aisssh! Let’s just play! Don’t get too complacent lady.’

With a teasing grin, Shin Hye suggested, ‘Loser cooks and cleans.’

He looked back up at her, eyes daring, ‘On top of that, if I win, you let me stay the night. If you win, I’ll cook, clean, and go home, sad.’

She stuck her hand out, ‘Deal! Shake on it. Three games.’

~.~

With his King cornered by her Knight, Bishop, and Castle, it was a definite checkmate.

‘Aissssh!’ He stared at the chessboard in disbelief; he was this close to at least securing a draw. He used to play with his father as a teen, and after a few years of intense playing, had reached a rather good level such that he’d be able to beat his father in at least three games out of five.

He had drawn one game, and lost two with Shin Hye.

‘Those three games has me famished!’ She leaned back and rubbed her tummy, ‘What’s on the menu?’ Her face sporting a very satisfied grin. She picked up her phone and quickly snapped a picture of his still disbelieving face.

The camera flash alerted him, and he hurriedly tried to grab the phone out her hands. Agilely, she managed to dodge him, and made a run for the entryway, quickly shoving her phone into the pocket of her flannel pants.

He was hot on her heels, managing to grab her in three large steps. Shin Hye twisted and turned in his arms, causing their legs to get caught in each other. With his right leg hooked on her left, the pair of them came crashing down, his body rolling with her flailing one, and finally coming out on top.

Her giggles, his laughter gradually subsided, and suddenly, they were all too aware of their close proximity. The weight of him pressed her down into the cold hard floor, his harder, more muscular body stretched across her smaller, softer body. They were mated from shoulder to knee, Min Ho between her legs…the duo gulped in unison.

This "sticky situation" seemed to breakthrough Min Ho’s final resolve as he began bending his head, lips parted…Shin Hye’s own resolve fell apart at the seams when she felt her hands encircling his firm waist, pulling him closer towards her.

Zzzzzt! Zzzzzt! The vibration of Shin Hye’s phone stilled him, Zzzzt! Zzzzzt! The vibrating object was the only thing that separated his right thigh from fully joining her left.

Under a cursed breath, he peeled himself off her body, and stood. Stretching his hand to pull her up.

With slight breathlessness, Shin Hye uttered her thanks as she stood. Min Ho nodded, shoved his hands into his pockets, and the ball of his feet. Heading towards the kitchen.

She could hear opening and closings of her kitchen cabinets. She yanked the cursed cell phone out of her pocket. She steadied her breathing as she slid the screen to unlock her phone:

Omma: Merry Christmas, my darling daughter! Appa and I just came back from the most wonderful couple massage. We miss you, and wish you were here! Try and have some fun too!

Quickly, she typed a reply, clicked the cool, silver button on top of the phone, and slid the cursed phone back into her pocket. Smoothening her hair, she made her way to the kitchen, picking up the empty wine glasses, and a half-filled wine bottle along the way.

On the kitchen counter he had placed two medium sized bowls on the counter and by the stove, she saw water being boiled in a pot. His head was stuck inside her dry stores cabinet, his fine derriere sticking out.

She looked at it appreciatively, placing the wine glasses and the wine bottle softly on the kitchen’s bar top.

To notify him of her presence, she spoke first, eyes still admiring how the jeans fit him so snugly, so perfectly, ‘That was my Omma.’

Min Ho popped his head out, catching her wandering eyes, ‘Oi, I’m up here.’ He teased.

She quickly looked away, heat rising to her face, ‘Ah…she was wishing me a Merry Christmas.’

The cabinet door slammed shut, in his hands Min Ho held two packets of spicy instant ramen. ‘You’re cooking…instant noodles?’ Shin Hye asked incredulously to the namja standing before her, peeling open a ramen packet.

‘I don’t really know how to cook.’

‘Yah! Shouldn’t you have mentioned that earlier?’

‘I didn’t think I’d lose.’

‘Aissssh!’ Shin Hye pouted, plopped down on the bar stool and folded her arms, ‘Men!’

‘Besides, you didn’t mention what I had to cook. One still needs to cook instant noodles.’

Shin Hye rolled her eyes, but smiled to show him she was tickled by his reasoning.

With the water boiling, he emptied the contents of both the ramen packets into the pot, and picked up a wooden ladle to stir the contents. ‘There’s hot water and heat involved, there’s a pot involved…’ He lifted the ladle to taste the soup, ‘There’s mixing involved, and there’s chemical changes taking place!’ Next to the stove sat two large eggs. He cracked them into the pot and stirred all contents one last time, and then knocked the sides of the pot with the ladle.

With the electric stove switched off, he lifted the pot and placed it on a cooling mat. Min Ho pulled open a drawer, and lifted two pairs of chopsticks and two soupspoons, shoving the drawer shut with his hips. Into the two medium sized bowls he began portioning the hot, fragrant noodles.

‘Voilà! Min Ho’s ramen noodles!’ He proclaimed. He handed her a pair of chopsticks and a soupspoon, ‘Bon appétit, mon petit chéri!’ He said, attempting a French accent. It was cringe worthy.

‘Stick to Korean, Oppa.’ She quipped, she pulled the bowl closer to her and let the fragrant smell of the noodles waft up to her nose, ‘I’m going to regret this tomorrow when I look like a balloon.’

He plopped down onto the bar stool next to her, ‘We’ll look like balloons together.’

~.~
 

Their Christmas supper conversation was fun and light-hearted. To Shin Hye, it felt like they’d been pals for years.

She lifted the wine glass to her lips, and took a sip. ‘Ack! Spicy ramen and wine do not go!’

Unbelieving, Min Ho took a sip out of his glass, then set it back down on the table immediately, ‘Okay, you’re right.’

After the last drop of spicy soup was finished, Shin Hye her lips in contentment, ‘I haven’t had instant noodles in ages! I’ve forgotten how tasty it actually is.’

Like a proud schoolboy, Min Ho smirked, ‘You’re welcome.’
 

They adjourned back to the living room when all the dishes were done. Feeling useless while watching him, she had decided to chip in and help, drying what he had washed, like an old married couple.

Min Ho stopped by one shelf, and peered at the photographs neatly lined up and placed in pretty frames. Even though the lighting was dim, his eyes caught hold onto a particular one, an all too familiar face had his arm slung around a younger looking Shin Hye, sporting a boyish hairdo. The guy was looking at Shin Hye with a private smile playing on his lips, while Shin Hye eyed the camera, her laughter caught on film.

Shin Hye noticed Min Ho looking at that particular shot, ‘Ah…that was after our last day of You’re Beautiful shooting. Hong Star took this picture. We were laughing about how at some angles, I actually look manlier than Geun Suk Oppa.’  

‘Were you guys close?’

‘We kind of still are...’ Her eyes shifted a little, but she answered honestly.

He nodded, straightening, shifting the conversation away from the discomfort of the current one, ‘Y’know, when we filmed the CF in 2009 together…I actually had developed some…fondness for you.’

Shin Hye stared up at him, ‘Chincha? I thought you saw me as a dongsaeng. It never showed.’

Min Ho teeheed in slight embarrassment, ‘Good actor, eh?’

‘I was in awe of you then, Boys Over Flowers being such a hit.’

‘Have you ever realized that we could have been co-stars for BOF if you hadn’t turned down the part of Jan Di?’

Shin Hye thoughtfully considered it for awhile, then playfully teased, ‘But then, we wouldn’t have ended up together!’

‘Wae-yo?!’

‘Well for one, I was too young then to take any romantic possibilities seriously, and secondly, to be very honest, I wasn’t a fan of your BOF…hair. I can’t speak for the rest of the female population, but to me, I thought it looked like a birds nest.’ She bit her lip from laughing, Min Ho’s face dumbfounded face was a strong rival to his angrier, purple-face.

‘It was Jun Pyo’s signature!’

‘Arasso, arasso, his signature.’

Her feet absentmindedly kicked one of Norri’s toy bones, and she swiftly bent down to pick it up. When she rose back up to her full height, she could feel that the atmosphere had shifted again.

His eyes were aimed somewhere lower. She followed his line of vision and finally saw where it fell. She quickly yanked her top up. Her doing so earned her an accusing but thwarted look from this namja.

She threw him a scolding look, ‘I wasn’t expecting company when I wore this! Besides, this is for sleep! Sleep!’ She looked at her watch, ‘Omo! It’s so late!’ She stalked over to the couch, picked up his windbreaker, and handed it to him.

Without giving him a chance, she pushed him towards the entryway, ‘We both need some sleep.’

Shin Hye moves her Bishop to C6, eating Min Ho’s Pawn.

‘It’s late! It’s cold! Can’t I stay?’ His eyes pleading.

Min Ho moves his knight to C6, eating Shin Hye’s Bishop.

‘Nuh-uh. A deal’s a deal. I won, you lost. Go home.’ She picked up his New Balance sneakers and pressed it towards him, ‘Wear it in here or outside, your choice.’

Shin Hye moves her pawn to H4, eating Min Ho’s Castle.

He sighed and snatched the sneakers from her, threw it on the floor, and pushed his feet in. ‘This is what I get after being such a great boyfriend.’ He mumbled under his breath, loud enough for his girlfriend to hear.

Min Ho moves his Bishop to A7.

‘And she’s very thankful. Take a taxi back.’

Shin Hye moves her King to D1.

Suddenly realizing, Min Ho exclaimed, a little too excitedly, ‘Omo! I can’t go back! I drank too much!’

Min Ho moved a Pawn one step forward.

‘You drank four glasses. Take a cab.’

Shin Hye eats Min Ho’s remaining castle.

‘Ani-ya! I don’t take cabs. I can’t. Shin Hye-ah, Jebal!’

Min Ho moves his Queen diagonally forward by 4 spaces to D4.

How do you fight a grown man? A grown man who had four glasses to drink, begging you to let him stay? A grown man who has perfected the puppy dog look?

Checkmate.

‘Aisssh! Fine. You sleep on the couch.’

























Author's Note:
Heh, please don't kill me. 
I know it was heading a direction in the last chapter...

I thought it'd be nice to tap in on the fact that they're very [physically] attracted to each other 
as well as emotionally attached, but are still too early in the relationship for things to totally heat up(?).
This being S's first serious relationship, and M knowing that, he's probably thinking he shouldn't "scare" her.
What's Shin Hye thinking? Hmm, well... ;)

&&Happy Valentine's Day :)