Yongguk was woken up by the sound of doorbell. He wanted to ignore it because it’s Sunday. When else could he get a longer morning sleep like today. But he couldn’t return to his sleep when his phone kept ringing loudly. Forcing an eye open, he snatched it from the bedside table to look at the caller.

                He didn’t have time to think as he saw his mother’s name in it. His thumb naturally slid the screen to answer. “Mom?”

                “Wake up already! And open the door for me!” Mrs. Bang yelled through the phone and Yongguk flinched away from it. The doorbell was growing impatient that Yongguk scrambled up, jumping off the bed and stumbling here and there in his way to get the door. He managed to greet his mother with half opened eyes.

                “Mom, what’re you doing here?” He asked, still in his sleepy state.

                “To check on you, of course,” Mrs. Bang said irritatingly. She let herself into the house and could only sigh at the expected situation. It was a mess.

                Placing her bags on the shoe rack, she rolled up her sleeves before going to collect the scattered clothes in the living room. “Has it been two weeks? When will Daehyun come back?”

                Yongguk yawned, rubbing out the sleepiness from his eyes. His mother had been asking about that since the past week. “He will, but not anytime sooner,” He too joined in picking up the used clothes. “You don’t have to do this, mom.”

                 “Why?” Mrs. Bang went to stand in front of her son. “Are you two having a problem in your relationship?”

                Yongguk breathed out heavily as he took the bundle of clothes in his mother’s arms. “No need to worry about it, mom. We know what we’re doing,” He assured before going to the laundry room.

                After dumping the clothes into the washing machine, Yongguk just stayed there with hands resting on it as he staring into nothingness. His mind drifted to his wife, wondering how he was doing today. He thought about Daehyun each and every single day, when he woke up, when he’s showering, when he’s working, when he’s going to sleep. He became more and more gloomy day by day. Joonmyeon had always tried to cheer him up but nothing could make him smile again except Daehyun.

                Now that his mother was getting suspicious of them, he didn’t know if he could keep it a secret anymore. But he would try his best to not let them worry about anything.

                Yongguk went to find his mother. She was in the kitchen, arranging the dishes on the table. “Yongguk-ah, come. I brought lunch for you,” Mrs. Bang called her son to have a seat at the table.

                Yongguk just realized it was already noon and he didn’t protest. It’s been a while since he had eaten a proper meal. He was too lazy to cook for only one person so ramyun would forever be his choice. He began eating silently with his mother watching his every move across the table.

                “I know this is going to happen,” Mrs. Bang spoke up.

                “What?” Yongguk lifted his head with a questioning look.

                “You and Daehyun,” She paused until Yongguk prompted her to go on. “I’ve never thought things would come to this. I just thought that you look good with each other and got you married with him.”

                “So you chose him just because we look good together?”

                “No,” Mrs. Bang shook her head with a soft chuckle. “I chose Daehyun because when I look at him, I saw everything that you’d need. I thought both of you could be a great match and complete each other.”

                Unconsciously, Yongguk too was forming a smile listening to his mother because it’s so accurate. However, the smile slightly faltered after her next words.

                “But you know, people say that arranged marriages won’t last,” Mrs. Bang muttered, feeling dejected at the thought of his son’s marriage being a failure.

                Yongguk stared at his mother for a moment, pondering about his marriage with Daehyun. Maybe it could be classified as an arranged marriage but he also wanted to marry Daehyun of his own accord.

                “I guess it is. But not all of them,” He said before looking down to his meal. “Because I can’t live without Daehyun. I love him.”

                Mrs. Bang was relieved to hear that. She had succeeded to make her son forget his past love and fall in love again. She knew Daehyun wasn’t a bad choice. She just hoped that Daehyun could return the same amount of love to Yongguk and the same incident of her son with his ex-lover wouldn’t happen again.

♥♡♥♡♥

                Daehyun was sitting on the swing at his parents’ porch when he heard his mother called his name from inside. The older woman opened the door and found her son right away. Daehyun looked up from the phone in his hand, smiling at her as she approached him before sitting on the empty spot.

                “What are you doing?” She stole a look at the phone.

                Daehyun shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing, just, looking at these recipes on the internet.”

                Mrs. Jung nodded. Her eyes narrowed to read some parts of the texts. “Recipes using ramyun?”

                “Yeah. Yongguk loves ramyun too much, saying it’s a gift from god,” Daehyun laughed while shaking his head.

                Mrs. Jung was infected by her son’s laughter. But then, something crossed her mind. “Speaking of him, it’s been two weeks since you’ve been here. Don’t you have to go back to Seoul?”

                Daehyun was quite taken aback by his mother sudden question. He was fast to cover it with a thin smile, holding to his mother’s hands and making eye contact as he answered her. “I want to stay here a bit longer. I miss being here. I miss you and dad.”

                “But what about your husband and your study?” Mrs. Jung found that Daehyun was being weird. He always said he couldn’t visit her before this because he was busy with his study and taking care of his husband.

                “I postponed my study,” Daehyun retorted.

                “Just because of the miscarriage?” She was growing more confused. “And Yongguk?”

                Daehyun bit his lips, keeping his eyes downcast as he muttered a reply. “He’s doing fine without me…”

                Mrs. Jung sensed something was off. She actually did since the day Daehyun had arrived in Busan. “Is something wrong with your marriage? I thought you two get along well.”

                Daehyun’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “We do, but…it’s complicated,” He was expecting more questions coming from his mother but she didn’t say a thing. The hold in his hand tightened and when he turned to his mother, she was giving him a meaningful gaze. Daehyun was glad she could understand him.

                “Tell me mom, how do you and dad manage to stay together for more than twenty years?”

                “Well, it’s easy. When something’s broken, we fix it. When there’s a problem, we solve it,” Mrs. Jung easily blurted out with a wide smile. Daehyun pulled a smile too though he was grasping his mother’s words so he could try applying them into his situation.

                “Daehyun, do you love Yongguk?”

                Daehyun was caught off guard by that. He stared at his mother as his face began to redden. Her brows were raised, expecting an answer. So Daehyun had to shyly nod his head.

                “Then don’t worry. I know you and Yongguk can be like us or even more than that,” She patted his son’s rosy cheek. Daehyun giggled and deep in his heart, he was hoping for that too.

                Mrs. Jung heaved a sigh of relief before standing up. “I’m going to make lunch. You want to give me a hand?”

                “Sure. I’ll be there in a minute,” Daehyun watched his mother walked away. He got his phone back and started typing a text.

♥♡♥♡♥

                Right after sending his mother away, Yongguk returned to be alone in the quiet and empty house again. There was a feeling of incomplete because his other half was not here with him. Usually, at times during weekends like this, he would go out with Daehyun to everywhere they wanted to. If not, they would just cuddle in the living room while watching TV. Sometimes, Daehyun needed to finish his assignments and he would just sit there, staring at his gorgeous wife until he finished it. Well, he was hugging and kissing the younger at first so Daehyun told him to get away and stay put. Although it took hours, it’s worth it with the special treatment he received after that.

                He thought about Daehyun again. He always did. He initially believed that the longing for his wife would fade away with time. But damn, he was wrong. It only grew more and more. Rubbing his temple, he headed to his own old room, which had been his sleeping place for the time being. Since he got nothing to do, better use the time for a nice sleep.

                As soon as he entered the room, the sound of his ringing phone greeted his ears. He must have left it here since his mother’s visit. It was on the bed. Yongguk was about to take and answer it but the ringing stopped. It was a surprise to see the missed call was from Daehyun. They never called each other since they parted. But he was more surprise to know that there were six more of them, plus three text messages.

From : Jagi Hyunie

Did you have your lunch?

From : Jagi Hyunie

Are you still sleeping?

From : Jagi Hyunie

I’m sure you’re awake by now. Why didn’t you answer me?

                Yongguk ran his fingers through his hair, cursing under his breath. How could he forget? It was Daehyun’s routine to ask him about his meals everyday. He quickly dialed Daehyun’s number but the latter beat him to it.

               “Yongguk? What take you so long? I was about to call Minsoo to check on you,” Daehyun’s voice was anxious, mixing with a little relieved.

                As he was hearing his wife’s sweet voice again, Yongguk found his voice stuck in the throat. He forced himself to swallow that lump, not wanting Daehyun to wait for long. “Nothing… I was downstairs… I left my phone in the room…” His words came out one after another. It was hard for his brain to process them because he was finally talking to Daehyun after two weeks of texting.

                “You got me worried…” Yongguk could almost imagined Daehyun’s closed eyes while he calmed himself down. He purposely slowed down his breaths just to hear the other voice clearer. Just Daehyun’s voice, nothing else. “So have you eaten your lunch?”

                “I have… Mom cooked it for me…”

                “Really? That’s great…” Daehyun sounded awkward but Yongguk knew he had the beautiful smile on his face. “Did you take a shower everyday?”

                “Yeah…” Yongguk settled down on his bed, suddenly feeling all sort of emotions flowing throughout his body.

                “Have you been sleeping well?”

                “I do…” He lied.

                “Did you iron your shirt properly before going to work?”

                “Daehyun-ah…” Yongguk mumbled when it was becoming too much for him to bear.

                Daehyun paused for a moment, maybe stunned by his husband calling his name. “Did you shave?” His voice cracked.

                “Daehyun…” Yongguk shook his head. He really didn’t want to cry in front of Daehyun again. He didn’t want Daehyun to cry again.

                But Daehyun was the one to let out the first sob. “Did you…miss me…?”

                Yongguk shut his eyes, letting the tears to fall freely. “I miss you… I really miss you… I miss you so much,” His desperate cries matched with his wife on the line. “I don’t know what to do anymore. Everything seems still since you’re away. The police haven’t got any information. That woman is quietly hiding. It feels like the world has stopped and there’s only me breathing and missing you in every ing second,” He ranted in frustration. It feels like he had used those two weeks to keep all of the thoughts and feelings to himself and now, they burst out just like that.

                “Yongguk… Yongguk, I miss you too,” Daehyun tried to cool down his husband. “But I have to stay here until the case is done, remember?” He said reluctantly.

                Yongguk wouldn’t forget about that. He’s the one who said it. And he needed to keep his promise to show it to Daehyun. He pulled a deep breath, stopped the cries and wiped his tears. “You’re right… Until I come to take you back…”

                “Yeah…” Daehyun too had reduced his sobs. “Just come and take me back when everything is okay.”

                “Would you still love me by then?” Yongguk asked with a hint of joke in his seriousness.

                Daehyun chuckled through the phone and Yongguk never heard anything more beautiful than that. “Idiot,” Daehyun sniffed. “Of course I would.”

♥♡♥♡♥

To love someone is nothing,

to be loved by someone is something,

but to be loved by the one you love is everything.

So, here's another short chapter. It can be considered as a filler coz sh*t is going down after this ヽ(ﾟДﾟ)ﾉ

Thanks to all upvoters, subbies, commerters and readers! Love ya!! ♥♥♥