Thirty Five, Twenty Five or Seventy

“Are you admiring how pretty you look?” Donghae asked, wrapping his arms around his wife. Minah shook her head smiling at her husband. “I was just thinking” she said, putting her comb down. Taming her hair had always been an impossible task anyways. The two of them smiled at each other through their reflections in the mirror.

“Are the kids asleep?” she asked him. “Yeah. They nodded off in the middle of the story” he told her. “Just like always” she laughed. “Yes. You'd think they'd wait till the end at least!” he protested indignantly. “They've read all the books. They just like listening to your voice” Minah told him. “I think they inherited that from you” Donghae said playfully. Minah laughed at her husband, pulling away to get up and go to bed.

“What were you thinking about?” Donghae asked her as he helped pull away the covers and lay out the blanket. “Nothing really” Minah said. “Is everything okay?” Donghae asked worriedly as they lay down. “Yeah. I just… it's become really noticeable that I will be thirty five soon. I can feel the age settle in” she confessed. “I look older and so different from when I was twenty five. I found our wedding photos you know” she explained at his confused expression.

“So many years have gone by so quickly” she noted. “Time flies when you are having fun” Donghae told her. He put his hands around her and held her closer to him. “Time flies when you have hyper children who do not sit still. When I married you it was under the assumption that our kids will be peaceful” she said with a frown. “That would be impossible” he laughed.

“But that's what I was thinking about. I'm all old and wrinkly now. And I have stretch marks everywhere” she said with a frown. It happened during her second pregnancy. Her son had been a big baby and it had shown in the baby bump. “I still think you are beautiful you know” Donghae told her. “And thirty five isn't old. I'm forty one!” he exclaimed.

Minah buried her head in his chest. “It feels like we lost so many years all of a sudden” she said. “Time well spent. We made lots of memories” he put in. “And I wouldn't share it with anyone else.”

“Someone else would probably not get you lost on a road trip to Mokpo and ruin your proposal plans” Minah grumbled, embarrassed. “No they wouldn't. But how else would we have a starry night proposal? That garden by the hotel was so beautiful. And I got the joy of introducing you as my fiance when we did reach home” he said lovingly. “Even though your mother was skeptical about my blue coloured hair?” she asked him with an eyebrow raised. “If anything, it added to your beauty” he said.

“You are very cheesy. You are still very cheesy” Minah complained. “Only because I know you love it” he said cheekily. “A little” she admitted, giggling at their behaviour now. Some things hadn't changed since twenty five. Was it possible to love someone even more? A thirty five year old would have told the unsuspecting twenty five year old that it was. It was possible to love another person infinitely more and then go on to love your children, your pets, your simple apartment in the city that contained memories and so on. There was a whole world ahead of her that she hadn't known. Good times and bad times. Everything precious in hindsight.

“I love you. Thirty five or twenty five or seventy” Donghae declared. “That's awkward because my love for you reduces on a yearly basis at your birthday” Minah teased. Donghae protested at the injustice and she laughed, not even trying to console him. She kissed him on his cheeks and he frowned so she kissed him on his lips again. He grumbled before hugging her talking about troubles of loving wives too much and forgiving easily.

Some things stayed constant at twenty five and thirty five. Maybe even seventy.

Because I haven't written for Donghae and Minah in a while.