When Baekhyun next opened his eyes, all he could see was black, metallic walls. He rubbed his hands briskly over his face and focussed his eyes to see that he was . . . in a stall? Looking down, he saw a toilet between his legs. He stood up hastily and threw the stall door open. Seeing himself in the mirror, he screamed and stumbled backwards in surprise.

    “Hey, man! Hurry up!” Baekhyun swung his head towards the bathroom door to see Chanyeol standing in it and staring at him with an impatient look. “Look at the time. We've gotta go now before the VIP section fills up.”

    In a daze, Baekhyun looked at his watch. 7:47 p.m., and a little number in a box read '9'. Not believing what he was seeing, he patted his pockets, feeling for his phone. When he pulled device out, it was an older model iPhone that he had broken years ago. Fear and confusion coursed through him as he hesitantly pressed the button to turn the screen on. 9/3/2024 it read.

    “Are you okay? I didn't think you drank that much, but you look pretty out of it,” Chanyeol remarked. “If you don't feel well, we—yah!”

    Baekhyun ran past him to get back into the party. His eyes quickly scanned the occupants before his eyes landed on his wife. She looked exactly as he had remembered her. Taeyeon was talking to Hyoyeon and Tiffany, laughing and smiling at something he couldn't hear. She looked happy . . . until his eyes caught her. Taeyeon broke the eye contact to gaze at her feet and Baekhyun felt his heart break. He knew what he had to do, though.

    Walking slowly towards her, Baekhyun placed his hand on the small of her back and whispered in her ear, “Happy birthday, baby.”

    “Thank you,” Taeyeon responded, still not looking at him.

    “Are you ready to go? We have some celebrating to do.”

    She turned to look at him curiously, not sure where his sudden enthusiasm at spending time with her was coming from. But when he smiled at her charmingly and held his hand out, she took it and followed him out of the building, waving to friends as she went. In the parking garage, Baekhyun held the car door open for her, but stopped her in time to place a soft kiss on her lips. He fastened her seatbelt for her and stole another kiss before closing the door and jogging around to the drivers seat.

    “So, do you want to go out to eat? Or I can make you something at home. Oh, I guess we could order in, if you like. Anything you want, it's yours,” he told her in a rushed manner. Baekhyun could feel her looking at him suspiciously, but smiled at her anyway.

    “Can we get takeout from that Italian place nearby?” Taeyeon asked shyly.

    “Of course,” Baekhyun said with a wink before pulling off.

    In the restaurant, they sat at the bar and ordered drinks while they waited on the food. Baekhyun kept her hand in his the entire time and asked her question after question, just so he could hear her voice. He loved his wife, and he hadn't realized how much he missed talking to her. He hadn't realized how much he missed the sound of her laugh. Her real laugh, not the one she had adopted for variety shows and fan meetings.

    Baekhyun paid for the food and carried it out to the car. He drove home quickly so the food wouldn't get cold, his hand wrapped around his wife's the whole time. At home, he stilled her from getting out of the car so that he could open the door for her. And the door to the house. “Go have a seat in the front. I'll grab plates.”

    Taeyeon eyed him curiously, but went into the front room anyway to clear off the coffee table. She placed pillows on the floor for them to sit on and picked at her nails nervously. It wasn't that Baekhyun was mean to her that caused her to be wary of his behavior, but he was distant. Not to mention that he was tipsy when he had gone into the bathroom, but stone sober when he came out. He even called her 'baby'. It made her uneasy.

    “Here you go, hon. I have you an extra manicotti, I know how much you like it,” he said as he sat down beside her. Baekhyun laid a napkin in her lap and proceeded to cut her food for her. When he completed the task, he tweaked her nose and handed the fork to her. “Do you want to watch a movie or see what's on TV tonight?”

    “Just the TV will be fine,” she said softly, unable to shake the feeling of apprehension. Is he sick?, she wondered? Is he going to ask for a divorce and wants to let me down gently? Whatever his motives, he's acting guilty as hell. What has he done?

    “Here's the remote, baby. Anything you want to watch is fine with me. Is the food okay?”

    Taeyeon sniffed the food on her fork discretely, wondering if he had poisoned it. He did take it away . . . her conscience whispered to her. He was looking at her so expectantly that it made her nervous. For her own safety, she smiled at him and held the fork out to him. “Sometimes they make it too salty. Try it first?”

    “You're silly,” Baekhyun said with a small laugh before eating the proffered food. As he chewed, he bobbed his head. “It's delicious. Not too salty at all.”

    Convinced that the food was okay, Taeyeon picked up another portion of food and put it in . She hummed in satisfaction at all the flavors. While she chewed, Baekhyun kissed her cheek again and the TV. A gag show was on and she listened to Baekhyun chuckle along with the audience. When he had eaten his fill, he leaned against the couch and slung his arm over her shoulder, pulling her to cuddle into his side. It was too much for her.

    “Enough!” she yelled as she stood to put space between them. Baekhyun rushed to turn the TV off and asked her what was wrong. “No, what is wrong with you? Why are you being so . . . nice?”

    “Have I not been nice to you?” he asked quietly with his head tilted to the side. “I'm sorry, Taeng.”

    “Are you cheating on me?”

    “What? No!”

    “Have you started to doing drugs?”

    “No!” he exclaimed as he stood up as well.

    “Then what have you done!? You're acting guilty! What are you guilty of?!”

    “I'm guilty of ignoring you!” he yelled at her. He took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair. “I'm guilty of working too hard. I'm guilty of missing meals with you. I'm guilty of spending too much time with my friends. I'm guilty of not being as attentive and loving as I said I would be when we married.” As he finished speaking, he stood before her and gripped her shoulders gently. “I've been a bad husband to you. I'm sorry, chagiyah.”

    Tears sparkled on her cheeks and Baekhyun wiped them with his thumbs. He pulled her in for a hug, rubbing her back comfortingly and telling over and over how sorry he was. She cried into his shoulder for a few moments before hugging him hard in return. Taeyeon clung to him, enjoying the smell of his cologne and the feel of him in her arms after so long.

    After a time, he pulled back and kissed her lips sweetly. “I love you, honey. I'll do better with showing you from now on.”

    “I love you, too,” Taeyeon whispered to him with a tearful smile on her face. She kissed him this time, passionately and slowly. She could feel his hands moving down her back before resting on the top of her backside. The kiss continued and she felt him move against her suggestively.

    “Baby, I—”

    “Take me to bed,” she whispered against his mouth. Baekhyun looked in her eyes to see them partially closed but full of emotion. He placed his hands on the backs of her thighs and hoisted her up so she could wrap her legs around his waist.

    They kissed on the way to their bedroom. Baekhyun kicked the door open in his haste to get his wife . The two undressed each other impatiently, unable to keep their hands and lips away for more than a moment. Passion and love swirled through them as they made love that night. All throughout, 'I love you' was whispered back and forth between kisses. As Baekhyun moved within his wife, he vowed to himself that he would never take her for granted again.

    When the couple reached their peaks, one after another, they held onto one another tightly. Baekhyun kept his arm around her as he kissed her bare shoulder and rubbed slow circles on her hip.

    “Thank you, Baekhyun,” she spoke into the skin of his neck. “This has been the best gift you could have given me. I was so worried about us. I thought you . . . I thought you had gotten bored with me.”

    “No, no, no,” Baekhyun said urgently. He tipped his wife's chin up so that he could look in her eyes. “It wasn’t anything that you did. I was being an idiot. You married an idiot.”

    “Yeah, I knew you were stupid when I married you,” she said jokingly. “But I did it anyway and I don't regret it.”

    “I don't, either. Thank you for marrying this idiot.” Baekhyun kissed her sweetly and tucked her into his side. “Now go to sleep, birthday girl.”

    Taeyeon chuckled and kissed his neck before snuggling closer to him. “Love you.”

    “Me, too.”

* / * / *

I was wrong. There will be one more chapter because this one ran long once I started typing. I was having fun   ;-)