As soon as Shin Hye got through immigration and collected her bags, her phone began buzzing in her pocket. She didn’t need to check the caller ID to know who it was.

‘Yeoboseyo?’ She said as she placed the phone against her ear, ‘Did Jun Oppa give you the 4-1-1 again?’

Min Ho chuckled, in typical Shin Hye fashion, she had skipped the mushy greetings and gotten straight to the point, ‘Ani, I have sixth sense.’

Shin Hye scoffed in response, ‘Hul!’ Simultaneously, she bowed slightly and smiled politely to one of the airport staffs that had come to her to her van. ‘You tracked the flight?’

‘Yah! Give me credit when credits due!’

‘You tracked the flight, you tracked the flight like a stalker.’

‘Like a welcoming lover.’

The airport staff pulled the doors of the van open and Shin Hye bowed again in thanks as she quickly slid in. Jun Oppa was close behind with her bags, ‘It's your day off right? Aren’t you going to sleep?’ She asked in hushed tones as Jun Oppa and the airport staff loaded the bags into the van.

Instead of answering the question, Min Ho inquired on her whereabouts.

Shin Hye cranked her neck to see where Jun Oppa was, ‘Use your six sense,’ Manager Jun was thanking the airport staff, Mr Seo for all his help. ‘Where do you think I am?’

‘You’re in the van, on the way to see Lee Min Ho.’

‘Ha ha ha!’ Shin Hye laughed sarcastically, ‘Don’t you have an early filming tomorrow? Besides, after a 14 hour flight, I think I deserve to go home first.’ Manager Jun finally joined Shin Hye in the van as he closed the doors behind him. He tapped the driver’s shoulder to let him know it was safe to go as he leaned back in his seat. Shin Hye caught his eye and mouthed a silent word of thanks.

‘Min Ho?’ He mouthed back silently, his eyes crinkling at the sides. It was no secret that Jun Oppa had grown quite fond of Min Ho, and like Manager Han, he’d readily do anything in his power for him.

Shin Hye nodded her head.

Her attention returned to the phone conversation, ‘…tomorrow. It doesn’t matter! We haven’t seen each other in weeks! You can come here and freshen up, and rest! I have a bed!’

Shin Hye simply chuckled. She was tired and didn’t have the brainpower or the energy to produce a witty comeback.

‘Yah! Park Shin Hye! Is this funny to you?’

‘I think the loving namja chingu should let the tired yeoja chingu get some rest first.’ She missed him, and she so badly wanted to see him, but she knew of his busy schedule, and was also aware that today was one of his rare nights off. She wanted him to get some rest. She knew how imperative sleep was on days off for a continual good job. Plus, the more egocentric side of her simply wanted to go home, freshen up and dive into bed. Shin Hye lifted her free hand and checked the time, ‘If you sleep now, you’ll get a lovely 13 hours of rest.’

To the left of her, Manager Jun sniggered. He was amused by the tone in which Shin Hye was using on Lee Min Ho. It was that of a affectionate, but tired mother.

But it seemed like her words had fallen to deaf ears, ‘On a scale of 1 to 10, how tired are you? You slept on the plane. I know you did. You’re never awake for the full duration of a flight!’

He was right. She had slept on the plane. Out of the fourteen hours, she had slept for twelve, ‘8? I think it’s the jetlag, Oppa.’

‘They say to conquer jetlag, you should power through till it’s the normal bedtime for the country you’re currently in.’ His mother had told him that, ‘It’s only 1800 now. We, South Koreans do not sleep at 1800. Have you eaten?’

He was especially persistent today, for some reason, ‘Ne, I’ve eaten.’

‘Plane food isn’t considered eating.’

‘It is if you had to carve it up, put it in your mouth, chew, masticate it, swallow, and…digest it.’

The queerness of the conversation caught Jun Oppa’s attention as he swivelled his head to stare at her curiously. His face read, ‘Is this what young couples talk about these days?’

Shin Hye continued the bantering back and forth for the rest of trip as Jun Oppa fell asleep to the sound of it.

The van finally came to a complete stop in front of her place. The trip home was faster than she had anticipated. In hindsight, traffic was rather smooth all the way over. Jun Oppa slid the van door open and hopped out.

‘Are you home already?’ Min Ho asked disappointedly. His words had not swayed her one bit.

‘Ne. Traffic was smooth today.’ Shin Hye stepped out of the van and took her trolley bag from Manager Jun, ‘Oppa, jamkahnmahn.’ She muted her end of the phone.

‘Thank You, Oppa. I can bring this in myself. You go back and rest well.’

‘Arasso. Don’t worry about tomorrow, I’ve made sure it’s clear. Say hi to Min Ho-ssi for me!’ He squeezed her shoulder lightly as he hopped back into the van and swung the door shut behind him.

She watched the van pull away as she mused over Manager Jun’s words. Say Hi to Min Ho-ssi? Don’t worry about tomorrow? She couldn’t sworn there was something she was missing, she could hear it in his tone, but she wasn’t sure what.

You’re just tired. She reasoned as she unmuted the line and brought the phone back up to her ear as she dragged her bag along behind her.

‘Yeoboseyo? Are you still there?’

‘Ne. What happened?’

‘I was just saying goodbye to Jun Oppa. He told me to say Hi to you.’

‘Ah…did he?’

‘Beep, beep, beepbeep, beep,’ She fumbled with her key code a bit until the sound of success resounded in her ears. She pushed the door open and stepped in. Home sweet home.

Just as her hand was about to reach for the light switch, she felt a hand sneak around her waist and pull her in. Her alarm lasted for all but a split second because as soon as she leaned into the hard length of him, and as soon as the other hand found her nape, she knew who it was Him.

She hadn’t counted on him being here, but now that he was, she was overjoyed. She caught a whiff of his familiar scent, stealthy as any liqueur or drug, Lee Min Ho—his heat, his scent, his generosity, his loyalty, his devastating passion, entered her bloodstream. God, she had missed him.

In his hand, the lush, lithe give of her body just hardly brushing against his chest, the hum of that passion she kept so well, burned through him. God, he had missed her.

‘I’ve been wanting to do this all day.’ He murmured in welcome.

Then without warning, his mouth came crashing down upon hers, thoroughly kissing the living daylights out of her. It was a kiss that stole her breath away.

The darkness reminded her of the last time he had been here. A memory that included a certain loss of her sense of touch and sight.

Just as the kiss ended, his hand left her nape and reached out for the light switch and flicked it on. Light filled the room as he lifted his head from hers, smiling coyly, ‘Glad you were so stubborn.’

Shin Hye narrowed her eyes, she’d been played. That was why Jun Oppa had said what he said, the way he said it. ‘You could’ve just told me you were here! I was feeling so guilty the entire car trip back!’

‘Were you?’ He replied, undeniably pleased with himself. His gaze fell upon her swollen lips, evidence of how thoroughly he had kissed her. He was definitely pleased with himself.

‘Wipe that smirk off your face, Mr Lee.’ She had dropped her arms, which had weaved itself around his neck during the kiss so as to draw him closer, and placed her hands on her waist. Her left hand still clutching onto her hand phone.

He leaned back a little to see her more clearly, his hands still encircling her waist. The sharp, accusing look in her eyes, the slow rise and fall of her bosom, the rosy pink in her cheeks and the swollen pout of her lips only made him want her more. Temptation personified.

‘I missed you too, Cherry.’

‘Oh what the hell.’ Shin Hye tossed her phone onto the round side table by the entrance and launched herself into his arms once more, her lips seeking his.

~.~

‘I take it that you’re happy with my deception?’

‘Yes,’ She narrowed her eyes and looked at him pointedly, ‘But don’t make it a habit.’ It irritated her a little, just a little, that he was constantly letting himself into her house. Perhaps other girlfriends were okay with this, but until him, she had quite enjoyed the knowledge that home was her sanctuary.

Min Ho pouted slightly, ‘Arasso.’

Shin Hye sat up from her lying down position, and stared at him contemplatively for a bit.

‘What?’ Min Ho self-consciously brought his hand up, running it over his face, ‘Is there something on my face?’

Crossing her legs, ‘You have my door code.’

‘Ne.’

‘So why haven’t you given me yours?’

Her words took Min Ho aback. He hadn’t expected to hear that.

‘Isn’t it fair?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then why do you look so startled?’

‘It just seemed like you were accusing me of keeping you out.’ He caught a flicker of emotion in her eyes before she eluded his gaze, ‘I wasn’t, if that’s what you were thinking. It just never occurred to me, until now. Mianhae.’

In response, Shin Hye smiled back, ‘I probably shouldn’t have assumed anyway.’

‘Probably the jetlag talking.’ He joked. ‘Speaking of jetlag,’ He rose from the couch and pulled her with him, dragging her to the kitchen. ‘I’m going to have to heat these up again.’

Shin Hye hadn’t realized it, but when she saw the spicy rice cakes, sundae—a type of Korean sausage, japchae, and jjajangmyeon, she suddenly felt the hole in her belly. She wet her lips at the sight of some of her favourite Korean dishes.

‘If you’re anything like me, long trips make me miss our food the most.’ Min Ho said conversationally as he let her go of her hand and began picking up bowls of food and bringing it to the microwave.

Unable to wait for him to heat up each and every bowl, Shin Hye picked up a fork and poked it through a spicy rice cake, and stuffed it into . ‘Mmmmm!’ She hummed deep in .

‘Aisssh! Yah! Pig! Wait! You didn’t even want to eat ten minutes ago!’

Shin Hye smiled bashfully, unable to respond considering she had stuffed a relatively large piece of ddukbokkie into .

Min Ho smiled fondly at the hungry minx before him. He adored that nothing stopped her from enjoying her food. Nothing. Other celebrities starved, went on diets, but not Shin Hye. ‘I take it that you’re not too fussy about your foods temperature?’

Shin Hye gulped down the ddukbokkie, shaking her head, ‘I don’t like it when its too hot,’ She watched Min Ho take the first bowl out of the microwave, and put the second one in, ‘Then I’d have to wait for the food to cool down a little before eating.’ She picked up the remaining two bowls from the counter top and brought it to him, ‘Or I have to blow and that requires extra effort.’

Min Ho howled out loud at the absurdity of Shin Hye’s reasoning, ‘I never took you to be so lazy!’ Swiftly he leaned forward and planted an affectionate kiss on her lips before taking the second bowl out of the microwave. He his lips, tasting a slightly hint of spiciness from the ddukobokkie she had eaten earlier, ‘Tasty!’

Shin Hye grabbed the two reheated bowls from him, and moved back to the counter top, plopping herself onto one kitchen stool, ‘You didn’t make these.’ It was a statement.

‘My mom and Jun Kyung did.’

Shin Hye placed a mouthful of sundae into , ‘Please convey my thanks!’ She said, mouthful of flavour.

It was definitely a sight to see. Seeing Korea’s little princess stuffing her mouthful with all the heavenly, homemade delights. She hadn’t even bothered with the empty bowls he had set aside, instead, she dipped straight into the serving bowls. With the last bowl reheated, he brought it back to the counter and took his place on the second kitchen stool.

‘Yah! You didn’t even wait for me.’

Sheepishly, Shin Hye set the fork on the table, the very fork she had picked up and never put down since stuffing full of sunbae, ‘You eat. I’ll watch. Catch up.’

Grinning, he picked up the fork she had discarded and placed it back into her grasp, ‘Eat, eat. Seeing you eat makes me happy.’ Since she had stepped through that door, he had laughed more than he had in the past two weeks she had been gone. He sighed in happiness, overjoyed that she was finally back, he picked up his own fork and attacked the japchae.

They didn’t talk for a good long bit, content with eating in comfortable silence when Shin Hye finally began, ‘Do you want to talk?’

‘Mwo?’ His mouth packed full with half-chewed sundae.

‘About Us.’

Her eyebrows were raised slightly as if to say, ‘Have you forgotten?’ He had. Aside from laughing more than he’d ever had in the last two weeks, he had also momentarily forgotten about his concerns and worries, because having her here, holding her in his arms, kissing her, seemed to chase it all away. But he knew better, avoiding the topic wasn’t the way to go. Soon, one of them would be going for another extended trip, and when that time comes, it’d be best if they’d tackled the issues before them.

‘I think I was a bad place then,’ He said, swalling the sundae completely, ‘So it didn’t help when all these break-up news began popping up.’ He explained.

Shin Hye’s expression shifted from that of question to genuine concern, ‘Why were you in a bad place then?’

‘I was finding it hard to get into character…aside from being physically drained, I was experiencing mental and emotional fatigue as well.’ He in a large breath of air, ‘The feeling of unfulfillment can be so disconcerting.’

Shin Hye reached over and placed a hand over his free hand, squeezing it gently, ‘You should’ve told me this.’

‘I didn’t want to burden you on your New York trip.’

‘Keunde, it’s self-sacrificing behaviour like this that tear couples apart, isn’t it? I appreciate it, and thank you for thinking of me. But when I signed up to be in this relationship, I signed up for all of you; in your best and in your worst.’ She paused for awhile, considering her words, ‘The irony is that in your fear of us falling apart, you were pulling away from me.’

The truth in her words struck him. He hadn’t considered that.

‘Mianhae.’ He breathed, ‘I hadn’t considered that.’

Jokingly she responded, ‘It seems that not only women are irrational creatures.’ As her chuckle fell silent, she persisted, ‘I’m not blame free, though.’

The sombreness of her tone made his heart hammer in his chest.

‘While I was in New York, seeing all the happy, free couples, I felt jealous of them.’ There was a pained expression in her eyes, it was a mixture of guilt and melancholy, ‘I remember telling you that it didn’t matter, so long as I’m with you, I’ll be fine.’ She bit her lip, ‘But I just couldn’t help wishing for some normalcy in our relationship, to go outside hand-in-hand without bright lights blinding us…’ She stabbed at another ddukbokkie and stuffed it into .

He watched her chew with great deliberation as he let her words sink in. Normalcy. Her words rang in his head.

Even long after she had finished the ddukbokkie, they sat in silence. There was nothing more she had to say, and Min Ho just didn’t know what to say.

Finally, ‘I wouldn’t mind normalcy either.’ He said. It wasn’t a large concern for him, but there were some days when he too felt the urge to just grab her by the hand, and walk through a park. In him saying that, he had hoped that it’d wipe away the guilt she felt for feeling so. Letting her know that she wasn’t alone in feeling that way. ‘But if that never happens, I’m ok with it too. Because I’d rather bum around at home with you than lock hands with any other girl in public.’

Relief seem to wash over her when she looked back at him with overwhelming tenderness, ‘Saranghae.’

‘Nado Saranghae.’

‘Aren’t we hopeless? We haven’t even come to any great conclusion and we’re already sending I Love You’s back and forth.’ She quipped, releasing his hand and reaching past him for a tissue.

He smirked, ‘Hopeless maybe, hopelessly in love,’ mirroring her actions. He tossed the rolled up tissue aside, pulled a packet of mints from his pocket and offered it to her, ‘Mint?’

Unsuspectingly, she accepted it and tossed two into , swirling it around with her tongue. His grin only widened as he did the same. He got up, and pulled her along with him.

As they crossed the threshold from kitchen to living room, flustered Shin Hye exclaimed, ‘Yah! Where are we going? We haven’t cleaned up the dishes!’ Still he held her hand, crossing the living room in seconds, and down the hall.

He threw her bedroom door open, crossed the room, switched on her bedroom lamp and fell onto the bed, pulling her down with him.

Shin Hye landed a top of him, chest-to-chest.

‘You’re seriously incorrigible.’ She accused, trying to roll off him.

But his arms held her fast, ‘Over the phone you said you wanted to crawl into bed…well, here you are, in bed!’

She braced herself on either side of him and peered down at him, ‘You’re on the bed, I’m on top of you.’

Faking ignorance, he glanced down at their physical situation then back up at her, ‘Ah, yes, I stand corrected! My bad!’ Swiftly, he flipped them around such that he was on top of her and she on the bed, ‘There we go. Though, I kind of liked how we were earlier.’

A dash of red caught his eye and he glanced up. Shin Hye had tied Kim Bum’s present in a neat bow around her bedroom chair. He stared incredulously at how she had used it to adorn the chair, and then his thoughts went south; his mind recalling how the very same piece of red, which is currently wrapped around the beige futon was used on a certain girl—who lay beneath him now. He felt his body tighten as he glanced back down at her.

There was no mistaking what that look meant. Shin Hye had grown all too familiar with it now. Yet, she was no longer bashful about it. She wrapped her legs around his waist, resting the soles of her feet on his firm derriere, her arms pulling him closer.

When their lips were but inches apart, Min Ho whispered, ‘To what do I owe this pleasure?’ His gaze dropping down to her lips. He could smell the mint on her breath. Extra fresh.

‘Sometimes you talk too much.’ She lifted her head and pressed her lips to his, eye fluttering closed. The kiss started out slow, but it wasn’t long before he grabbed control and kicked it up a notch; flicking his tongue over mouth, her tongue darting out to find his, his tongue latching onto hers…A hand reached behind her nape, cradling her neck and further deepening the kiss, his signature move. His other hand moved down and sneaked underneath her red and black checked shirt, his warm hands began kneading her cool flesh. Min Ho released her lips abruptly, but before she could protest, his mouth latched onto her skin, leaving a kiss burning into her collarbone. Shin Hye let out a shaky breath of excitement as he continued kissing his way down her neck. Without stopping, he pulled her up into a sitting position and then sat behind her, his legs on either side of her. Gently he pushed her long tresses of hair aside and continued showering her neck with warm kisses.

His hands found the collar of her blouse and he slowly ed the top two, giving him just enough space to work with. When his mouth found her right earlobe, Shin Hye could all but shudder in pleasure as he nibbled ever so slightly. He switched over to the other side, repeating what he had done with the right.

Slowly, but surely, while tilting her body sideways and backwards, his lips brushed the top of her collarbone again, and then down again to the first bits of soft flesh. He flicked his tongue over the flesh, as he glanced up at her. Her eyes were shut, her breathing hitched, and her lips bitten.

Seeing her like so made him all the more tempted, and it took all his self-control to stop himself from rushing. ‘Patience,’ He chanted silently to himself as he continued on his journey of tasting her.

‘Oppa?’ She breathed dazedly, it was the first thing she had said since she kissed him first.

Please don’t tell me to stop. Please don’t tell me to stop. Please don’t tell me to stop. Without lifting his mouth from the top of her bosom, he murmured, ‘Mmmm?’

His tongue darted out again, he had reached the top of the next two buttons. He could see hints of blue and cloth that was concealing the lovely mounds of flesh he so badly wanted to devour.

‘I should shower.’

Min Ho stopped, ‘Now?’ His fingers tracing part of her fresh where he had kissed, ‘Wae?’

Timidly she said, ‘To be clean? To be fresh...?’

Min Ho looked at her, and he understood. To her rose-coloured face, he returned, ‘Later, you’re already Extra Fresh.'

And his fingers began ing the rest of…






























Author's Note:
It was a pretty slow start ey?
As for the ending, MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Because I haven't written for so long, I kind of forgotten how I had shaped M and S (character wise), 
and the little details I needed to remember.
& so I reread all previous 28 chapters to remind myself, when I really should have been studying. 
Ha ha ha ha ha. I'm such an idiot.


Sorry for the long wait! Hopefully the next won't be as long...but no promises~