“It's today.” she said.

Her worry crease made its presence known on her forehead. “Are you all packed?” she asked, knowing full well that he was since it had been her that had done most of the packing, after being less than impressed with his packing skills. He didn't really get what the big deal was, you just put all your stuff in the suitcase and closed. Problem solved. If you were unlucky and it didn't close, you just sat on it until it was squished enough to stop fighting the closing mechanism and zipped it right up. Yuna had other ideas. He wasn't one to object a hand when offered, so she ended up doing most of the packing. It was a good thing too since he had forgotten some key items like shaving cream, pyjamas and ear plugs. Where would he be without her.

He wasn't really used to sleeping in pyjamas, he preferred the boxers and only boxers approach, if that much, but she had reminded him that he would be sleeping in the same apartment as a complete stranger, a woman he had never before laid eyes on. It was only polite to cover himself up a little. It was cute how she said it, her nose all crinkly, her eyes betraying her mild demeanor, showing sparks of jealousy swooshing around.

Yunho got dressed with Yuna still in bed, watching his every movement. He couldn't believe this was their last moment alone together in three weeks. They were used to spending time apart regularly since they were both very busy people. Yuna spent half of her time abroad attending all kinds of skating championships, and the other half practicing on the skating rink. But this was different. It had always been because of work, but now he was going to spend their time apart with another woman. Not only that, he was going to live with that woman for three weeks. He knew Yuna trusted him, but one could never really know how far a person's trust reached until it was truly put to the test.

He had joined her on a couple of her skating trips, he loved to watch her skate. What an incredibly elegant creature. His creature. He zipped up his pants and instead of putting on his shirt, he crawled back into bed to give her one last kiss. Something to help them both survive the storm that was on the horizon and keep them focused on the target - to get home safe and sound, to be reunited stronger than ever.

As their lips unlocked, she squinted, sizing him up. “What if she is the most beautiful woman you have ever laid eyes on?” she proposed, watching his face carefully for signs of weakness. Yunho just shook his head, “Pfft!”. What a ridiculous question, it was not like he had chosen her at random. He didn't just date any old girl off the street, he had fallen for her partly because she was indeed one of the most gorgeous women he had ever seen.

“No I mean, not just regular beautiful, I mean like five time winner of the Miss Korea beauty pageant, two times Miss World kind of beautiful.” she explained, not happy with the lack of response before. It was so unlike her to be so insecure. She was a two time medal winner at the Olympics for Pete's sake, and she hadn't even batted an eye back then, acting like she owned the stage even before the music had started playing.

“Well.. then she would look amazing on my arm, don't you agree?” he teased, putting up his arm like he was leading the most beautiful woman in the world around. Everything went dark for a couple of seconds. “Ouch!” he complained. She had thrown her pillow right in his face. As a joke of course, but he could feel there was a little bite to it, an undercurrent of anxiousness. “It's only three weeks, I'll be back in no time.” he reassured her, trying to ease her worries as well as his own.

“But what if she's the funniest girl you've ever met? Or the smartest?” she continued, still not at ease. He sighed, giving up on keeping his cool since she was obviously in need of some serious reassurance. “Look, the test might be mandatory, but the decision is all mine. After these three weeks, I can choose whether I want to start something with her or not. So no matter how amazingly gorgeous, how mind-blowingly fun and how ridiculously awesome she is, I'm still going to pick you. You're my girl and there is no woman in the world that can ever replace you.” he told her honestly.

He wasn't about to throw away what they had together. They worked. There was no drama or unrealistic expectations. He was a busy guy, she was a busy girl and they both got that. The time they did spend together was all the more precious for it, and they still had that new couple excitement going on, even after years of dating. He would be crazy to give that up. Not to mention that she had helped him through some pretty rough times. Her house had often been the only roof he had had over his head. She wasn't only his girlfriend, she was his family.

“So don't you even think of replacing me, you hear!” he commanded, not being able to stop himself. He needed her to be here when he got back. He couldn't go through with this without knowing she would be there to greet him when he came back home. And he was coming back home. He wasn't about to trade her in for some strange woman he knew nothing about. Of that he was absolutely sure. Yet there was this uncomfortable ghost of a feeling bothering his gut. He had been trying to ignore it, but it was getting stronger as the time for his departure drew nearer.

He couldn't shut out the whisper in his head, that there must be a reason for this test to be mandatory. They would have never spent millions of tax payer's money and thousands of man hours to send the entire youth of the country to a useless blood test. Not to mention the week of work those with jobs had to miss, since they would be on lockdown for the first week together to get the chance to really get to know each other. It had to work, at least to some degree, else it was madness.

Of course even they said it wasn't 100% certain you would get the perfect match. And some would end up with no match at all since they didn't match people unless they had a score of 70% or higher. He had stayed up half the night, reading the introductory brochure since he couldn't sleep. He was hoping against hope he would be one of those people, a matchless outcast, since they were offered a do-over at the next testing, in three year's time. That was when Yuna would get tested. She was four years younger than him, and they only tested all the 20-22 year olds every three years, making it impossible for them to get tested together unless he 'failed' the test. He had spent the rest of the night thinking of ways to rig the test, a way to flunk it on purpose, but it wasn't like he could change the make up of his DNA overnight. There was nothing he could do. He felt so helpless.

It would be so much easier if she was going too. He was sure they would end up being matched together. Life was so unfair sometimes. He got that it would be impractical to test the whole nation on a regular basis, it opened the door for all kinds of disasters. Possibly pairing children and seniors together, or people that had already married their best match at the time could find an even better one the second time around, breaking up the marriage and thus defeating the whole purpose.

It was practical to limit the testing to young adults that were at the verge of starting their life for real, ready to make a family and a future together. But what about those that had already found their partners? That were already half way towards that future together? Of course he was free to reject whomever he ended up being paired with. But it wasn't himself he was worried about. It was her.

What would happen when she got drafted three years from now? What if she found a better match? It was unlikely and it hurt his pride to even consider it, but it was still a possibility. He could choose her over his best match, only to lose her to hers in three years, ending up hurt and alone. So alone. She would never leave him though, would she? Would she?

Ah, he hated feeling like this. Self doubt and insecurity wasn't his style, he had outlawed those kind of feelings many many years ago. He couldn't afford the luxury of indulging in that kind of thought. That was reserved for those who were well enough off to actually have the time to wallow in self pity for more than two seconds at a time. It was destructive and time consuming, and quite pointless if you thought about it. So he just didn't do it. Except for today. Today he couldn't help it, he had been ambushed. He was fighting a losing battle, but he would never surrender.

“But.. but.. the lie detector test.” she protested, a welcome distraction from his frustrating thoughts. “Even if you're determined to return to me, you might get a crush on her, you might fall in love with her, and you won't be able to hide it, not even from yourself. No matter how much you might want to. The lie detector will pick up on it and then it's game over.” she added worriedly, well aware that they were running out of time.

“Come on, who falls in love in three weeks?” he tried to make it sound like it was a ridiculous scenario, hiding the fact that he could see her point all too clearly.

“We did!!” she reminded him.

“We're different...”.