Kyuhyun toyed with the keys on his chatelaine, the metal shone boldly in the sunshine. He smiled, it is a really lovely gift, but he is still unsure about what it truly meant. It made him happy, but is Siwon happy that he chose to wear them?

He sighed, if only he could be more like Ryeowook? Although Siwon had not expressed the same wish, Kyuhyun suspects that Siwon would be happier, less moody if his new wife is the happier and kinder and more devoted version of his first wife. Kyuhyun pouts sadly, for the first time in his young life he wished that he could embroider or paint or sing, even if his skills are mediocre, Kyuhyun is sure Siwon would feel less inferior in the company of others.

Kyuhyun sighed again softly. Reviewing all he had done for his new home, he realised that he is no more than an efficient housekeeper after all.

What now? He decided that he shall go into the garden and clip some roses for the dining room. If he did it gracefully and inefficiently, Siwon will not remind him that he needs to act like a duchess surely?

The garden is in total dismay! The grounds are extensive but mostly neglected. The patches outside the old duchess’ windows are properly groomed and that’s it.

A stroll around the house gave Kyuhyun plenty of ideas for his future projects, all the while he had to resist the urge to start weeding himself. His willpower shattered at last when he came to the kitchen garden where the herbs and vegetables are all neatly in rows but the fruit trees are so badly in need of care that there will be no significant harvest this year. In fact, birds are eating up the last of the raspberries.

The birds squawked angrily at him when he shooed them away from the berry bushes before picking up his garden shears to harvest whatever he could from the overgrown tangles for the next hour.

“What are you doing?” Siwon’s voice startled him. That is also the precise moment that Kyuhyun realised that his fingers are stained, his clothes are torn and the tip of his nose is sunburnt. He groaned inwardly, he has proven once again to his husband that he is not the kind of companion the duke had hoped to marry.

If only he had to chance to sneak back to his room to wash his hands and mend his clothes and powder his nose.

“Well?” Siwon is blocking his way.

“N-nothing.” Kyuhyun mutters hastily while trying in vain to navigate around his husband.

Siwon moved swiftly to block him further, glanced down at the basket in his hand and moved to pluck a berry from the top of the pile. “Looks like someone was busy working in the garden.”

“Har-hardly.” Kyuhyun stutters in trepidation. “There were some berries left on the bushes and it seems a shame to leave them for the birds. There’s probably enough to make some preserves or puddings.”

“So you decided to gather them yourself?”

“It was no trouble.” Kyuhyun’s voice failed miserably.

“You couldn’t send a footman or the cook to do it?”

Kyuhyun’s head snapped up and his eyes shone with defiance. “I happen to like berries.”

Siwon snatched another one from the basket. “I do too. So tell me, my dear, how do they taste?”

“Like berries, of course.” Kyuhyun attempts weakly.

“But are they sweet? Or tart? Past their prime maybe?”

“I haven’t had the…time to try one.” Kyuhyun admitted meekly.

“You picked them because you liked them but yet it never occurred to you to pop one into your mouth for a taste while gathering them?”

Memories of his childhood flooded the younger. He was taught from a young age never to eat what he can pick and bring home so the whole family will not go hungry. And when he became older, he learnt never to take what wasn’t his. A vision of a smiling face pressing close to him in a strange corridor made him tremble. Of course, rich men have no problem taking what is not theirs.

“No, I did not.” He concedes then raises his eyes to meet Siwon’s gaze.

“What am I to do with you?” Siwon asks softly in amusement. Putting a hand on the other’s shoulder, he backed the younger against the wall.

The cold wall brought back frightening memories and Kyuhyun shudders helplessly. He remembered the revolting whisperings, and the taste of strawberries.

“Close your eyes, my dear. Don’t be alarmed.”

Kyuhyun close his eyes tightly, his body tensed while waiting for the hand on his body. Instead he felt the lightest pressure of a finger tracing the tight line of his closed lips.

“Open.” Siwon whispers.

He felt again the light touches on his lips, a on his chin, as he struggled to unclench his jaw. The fingertip dipped into his mouth and touched his tongue lightly. “Taste it.” Siwon’s voice beckons softly again.

He tastes a hint of sweet raspberry juice on the tip of his tongue. Before he could stop himself, he the finger as it slipped away. “Again.” Siwon said again, this time pushing a berry between his lips. Kyuhyun began nibbling eagerly at the fruit, unaware that Siwon had let his finger lingered in his mouth.

“This is what you’re missing. Pleasures all around you for you to partake. Yet all I can get you to do is work.” Siwon whispers close to the boy’s ear.

Siwon presses another berry on Kyuhyun’s lips, noting how the boy’s luscious lips are made more succulent by the tint of the berry juice. Kyuhyun reached for the proffered fruit hungrily and when his teeth grazed Siwon’s fingers, the older gasped in surprise.

Before Kyuhyun could open his eyes, Siwon had slipped his other arm around his waist and pulled him close, startling the boy who dropped the basket. Kyuhyun’s eyes snapped open and he saw smashed berries staining the front of his husband’s white linen shirt.

Old memories and new desires swirled giddily in his head as he pushed his husband away. “What a mess! You must change out of the shirt quickly and give it to your valet before the juice ruins it!”

A look from Siwon’s darker than usual onyx eyes stopped all the fidgeting, bustling and frantic blabbering. Kyuhyun stopped, cringing desperately as he anticipates Siwon to start yelling again.

Instead Siwon laughed.

It was a sound Kyuhyun had never heard from him before. Too shocked to move, he stood wide-eyed and stock-still when Siwon cup his face with juice-stained hands, pulling him close and kissing his lips fast and hard. Siwon’s tongue darted expertly between his shocked open lips. Then to prove his point further, the laughing duke grabbed a handful of berries and smashed them against his ruined shirt front.

“Very sweet, my dear. Well worth the cost of a shirt.” Siwon remarked light-heartedly and ambled away still chuckling.

Sweet? The berries or the kiss?  

@

Kyuhyun fidgeted restlessly on the divan trying very hard not to show what he is feeling. This is a typical night at home with his husband, the first of many to come so he has to learn to enjoy it.

Home.

This is my home now. Kyuhyun told himself and he finds his heart aching at the thought. What used to be home to him, where his father and Victoria were, is starting to blur in his memory. He still recalled the happiness, he still remembers his father and Victoria of course, yet he struggles not to forget whilst adjusting to what he has now.

The room was cleaned and aired and is now rather comfortable and pleasant. It is warm, peaceful, spacious and adorned with the sound of rain outside the windows, oddly comforting. Kyuhyun smiled a little when he recalls how he no longer needs to rush about emptying pans of water catching drips from holes in the roof. And he is no longer sitting in a draught every time the weather turns merciless.

Truth to be, he is feeling a little perturbed of not feeling tired from the earlier activities during the day. He is just not ready for bed yet. His blood is still buzzing from the kiss, but Siwon had reverted back to his quiet self all through the evening and dinner.

Kyuhyun can’t help wondering if his husband had regretted acting so frivolously and guilt that echoed from the dark portrait gallery had held him captive again. So when Siwon invited him to spend the evening with him in the drawing room, he had jumped at the opportunity to relieve some of the man’s self-imposed grief.

Left to his own devices once they settled down in the quiet room, Kyuhyun chose to flip through a book he has no interest in. Over the top of the book, he studied Siwon. The man is immersed in a book of his choice, looking up and staring at the fire briefly before sighing and turning a page.

From the corner of his eyes, Kyuhyun viewed the piano. He wonders if Ryeowook entertained Siwon with his singing in the evenings such as this. Siwon did not mention anything like that, nor did he insist that his new wife picked up this new hobby. Kyuhyun is most grateful; he cannot imagine serenading his husband with “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” or Do-Re-Mi night after night, those being the only two songs he could really play.

Kyuhyun glanced at the empty chair by the fireplace and imagined Ryeowook sitting there surrounded by silks and threads and linen, sewing and embroidering while the glow from the fire played with his soft blonde hair. Kyuhyun is sure Ryeowook was as beautiful as he is talented.

But he doesn’t want another Ryeowook! Kyuhyun reminds himself. The vision of Ryeowook he is constantly bothered with was created by Jumyuk and the damn artist who painted his portrait. Siwon had described his late wife as a shrew.

Kyuhyun looked down at his hands and flexed his own slender fingers. He is pretty sure if he tries harder, he can manage fancy needlework too. But his fingers had known nothing else but hard labor. He can mend fallen buttons and burst seams, and make sturdy garments. It’s always about necessity, never about comfort and certainly pays no sense of accomplishment.

He rose from his seat as quietly as he could so he would not disturb Siwon and made his way to the windows. Forlornly he watched the rain splatter against the glass panes while absently fondling a chess piece from the set on the table next to him.

“Are you feeling tired, Kyuhyun?”

He turned with a soft startled gasp, his fingers tightly gripping the chest piece to his chest.

Siwon had put down his book and is watching him. “You seem edgy, and I heard you sighing. If you are feeling tired, you need not wait up with me.”

Kyuhyun worriedly searched for signs of anger or displeasure on Siwon’s face as he hurries back to his seat. “I’m sorry, I did not mean to disturb you. I’m not tired, not at all. I’m fine. Thank you.” He knows he is blabbering soon enough and he snaps shut his mouth to stop.

He dips his head and saw the chess piece still in his hand. He cursed inwardly at it because now he has to make his way across the room to the window again to return it to the set.

“You like the chess set? Hand-carved, a family heirloom.” Siwon remarked lightly and Kyuhyun wonder if that means he should return it quickly then. “I can teach you how to play….if you like?”

“I…..already know how.” Kyuhyun blurt out before he could stop himself. Immediately he felt guilty for ruining the fun for Siwon. He should had just feigned ignorance so his husband could have an entertained evening demonstrating his superiority.

But Kyuhyun did not want to add on to his already