He noticed her happy mood when he heard her humming to the radio in the car. She obviously looked lots happier than these past days. He glanced at her from the side of his eyes and couldn’t stop the smile on his face when he saw her nodding to the music rhythm and mouthing to the lyrics. He thought that she was so cute at that moment.

“Are you that happy we’re going to have a date at this hour?” he started the conversation while still keeping his eyes at the road. He somehow drove his car too carefully since he was taking along a pregnant woman, his pregnant wife.

“I am. I finally got to take fresh air outside our house, oppayah,” she pouted at him. “I feel like being grounded as you never let me go outside.”

“I’m not grounding you, jagiyah. I’m just worrying you and our baby, that’s all.”

“You worried too much, oppa. And it even worsened because I have nothing to do at home since you did all the chores and even called for a maid when you’re not home,” she looked at him, totally distracted from the song she was humming to.

“I don’t want you to be tired. You’re pregnant and I don’t want something bad happen to you.”

“But just a little work won’t make me that tired though,” she kept protesting him. “You really are overprotective, oppa.”

He stiffened as he lost for word.  Being called ‘overprotective’ somehow made him felt offended. How come she wasn’t being thankful and didn’t accept that all of his deed was for her goodness, but she rather called him ‘overprotective’. It was just minutes before he started this conversation for good, but end up to be a quarrel which confused him so much.

“Aren’t you getting tired of me?” she asked him as he didn’t give any response to her last complain. He glanced again at her and sighed. He was obviously upset by her words, but he didn’t want to light a bigger fire in their quarrel thus he decided to keep silent. After all, this minor bickering they had was up to nothing thus he just wanted to shrug it off.

Eunji bit her lower lip. Actually, she was worried by his silence. His silence always meant for many things, and she bet that he must be upset at her, very upset.
“Are you mad at me, oppa?” she asked boldly, eyes goggled at him, and the man just thinned his lips while his eyes kept busy looking at the road didn’t really answer her. “You must be angry at me,” she mumbled and diverted her eyes from him to her lap, now fiddling with her hands like a child, letting him driving in peace.

Noticing her silence, it was his turn to feel bad at her. But honestly, why did they do this kind of childish quarrel? Why was he feel offended just by her tantrum when it was clearly because of her hormonal raging?

One of his hands reached at her while another one still on the wheel. He squeezed her hands gently then clasped it with hers. “Don’t you like it when I’m being protective on you?”

She bit her lips again while now she was fiddling with his finger intertwined with hers. “I like it, but don’t be too over…,” she whispered in almost inaudible voice.

Another sigh from his side. It was a red light thus he could turn his full attention at her. “Don’t you understand that I did that for your sake?”

“I know.”

“So?”

“Are you mad at me?”

“Are you testing me right now?”

“I’m not.”

“So why do you ask?”

“You seem sulking and keep silent when I call you ‘overprotective’.”

“I just don’t want to fight a pregnant woman.”

“You always make my pregnancy as your excuse, oppa.”

“I do. And I will keep being overprotective just like what you said rather than risking you and the baby,” he tried hard to keep his voice low.

“Are you going to abandon me once I delivered the baby?”

“I—what?”

“If I’m not pregnant, are you going to stop all of your affection on me?” her whisper kept getting lower but he could still clearly hear her.

And after her beating around the bush, he finally understood what she was leading at: her insecurities. Woman, tch.

“Is that what you’re actually worrying at?” he softened.

“….”

He realized now that his wife must be feeling weird for all of his sudden attention after their big fight months ago. He admitted that he has never been this caring before. They married by force, knowing nothing about each other, being stranger despite their married status, and he was just too ignorant on her before. But now that he has grown his feeling toward her and tried to change for better, she worried that he wouldn’t be long last for treating her this good.

He sighed again for the umpteenth time. Part of him felt guilty by her accuses, yet another part of him thought that his wife is just too funny for having that kind of thought. Her being upset and worrying over him were always been the cutest part of her to him.

“Jagiyah…,” he squeezed her small hand still intertwined with his carefully.

“Hm?”

“Should I handcuff you next time then?” a playful smirk plastered on his face, and her eyes widened and her jaw dropped shockingly by his joke. He giggled looking at her precious expression.

“Hell. No.”

“Why not? Thus, I can keep you to be always by my side, can’t I?”

“But—that’s crazy…. How can—”

Her words just stopped when she felt his lips once again melt with hers that night. She didn’t notice when Kim Sunggyu did unbuckle his seatbelt or when he started leaning over to her side. All she could feel now was his soft touch over her lips and his feeling he delivered by the kiss. She was loved, he made her to be sure about that. She kissed him back, telling him that their feelings were mutual and that she was sorry for worrying unnecessary thing.

But their valuable moment didn’t last too long when they were honked by the car behind, telling them that the traffic light has changed to green. They giggled when pulling out and started to drift back to reality. Yet he didn’t take off his hand from her and kept driving with one hand intertwined with her until they car reached familiar road near their high school building.

They started smiling, remembering their youth time back then. He then parked the car on the road side in front of their school, and that was when he noticed that the ahjumma’s spot across the road was still opened. But he felt something odd because the shop seemed bigger than before, and too many people came on and went out from the patbingsoo shop in this kind of hour.

“Oppa, is that really ahjumma’s patbingsoo shop?” Eunji seemed noticing its oddness too.

“Don’t know. Let me see, you stay here,” he unbuckled his seat belt and slid out from his car. And when he saw her following him outside, he could only clicked his tongue but circled his arm around her protectively until they stopped in front of that certain spot and read the signboard in front of the shop: SUSHI BAR.

He noticed her obvious heartbreak in her eyes, and his heart felt a pang by the sight. He could feel her disappointment of her unfulfilled craving. They eyed another building around them but still no sight of that ahjumma’s patbingsoo shop. Sunggyu dared to get into the sushi bar to ask the owner of the shop about the patbingsoo shop that was here in formerly. Eunji followed him and listened well when the sushi bar owner told them that that patbingsoo shop has moved since a year ago.

“Let’s back home,” her voice cracked, she was about to cry right at the moment.

“Don’t you want to eat patbingsoo?”

“But that ahjumma is gone,” she pouted.

“We can buy it from another shop.”

“No, I only want that ahjumma,” her eyes started to be watery.

“Jagiyah…,” he reached out to wipe something he thought as her tear from her cheek, but she just slapped his hand away and stormed out of the bar to get back to their car, leaving him behind.

She has already been in the car, sniffled her cry silently. He climbed in minutes later after she managed to wipe her tears away from her face. Actually she was ashamed because of her whining over her craving that couldn’t be true thus she tried to avoid his gaze at her.

“Jagiyah, let’s buy patbingsoo from another shop, okay?” he tried to convince her.

“But I want ahjumma’s banana patbingsoo…,” she bawled stubbornly.

He sighed, again. Then he reached out to ruffle her bang briefly before back to turn on the wheel and driving in silent. Eunji was too drowned into her disappointment and he didn’t dare to ask her anything, he was just too afraid of starting another bickering with his sensitive pregnant wife.

It was been some while before he stopped and asked her to climb out the car to follow him somewhere.

“But it’s not our apartment?” she looked outside the window at an unfamil