My alarm clock rang again the following morning, much to my despair.

“Ugh, how do you stop that thing?” Yunho grumbled sleepily, turning on his side of the bed.
“Mollayo,” I mumbled back.

Who knew we were both heavy sleepers?

“For God’s sakes. It’s only seven thirty in the morning!” Yunho exclaimed.

My eyes shot up. “BWOH?!?!”

I bolted up the bed. “I’M GONNA BE LATE!!!”

Yunho’s eyes shot up and he bolted up the bed too. “Holy ! So am I!”

We both had a race towards the bathroom, in which I won and got ready.

After quickly gulping down some breakfast, we bolted out the door.

I ran to my Honda and he ran to his Toyota (which was supposed to be mine) and sped out of the parking lot, off to our offices.

“Late again,” Junsu and Boa said together as I breathlessly rushed into my private office. Yes, those two always hang around there when boredom strikes.

I looked at my watch. It said 7:59.

“No, I’m not!” I said to them, showing them my wrist. “I’m a minute early!”

They pointed to the clock on the wall simultaneously. 8:01.

I hung my head.

This .

There was a sudden knock on my door.

“Hey SeulGi,” greeted my co-worker/ personal assistant, Lee JunKi.

I smiled and greeted him back.

He walked over and handed me some files. “These are the reports you asked for yesterday.”

I took the files and placed them on my table and sat at the seat by my desk. “Thanks. What else have you got for me?”

“Well…” he began, taking out the PDA the company gave him. “Mrs. Lee called today, she said that she has to cancel your appointment next week.”

I nodded my head. “Okay, tell her to call to let me know when she’s available.”

JunKi nodded and tapped on his PDA. “You also have a meeting with some representatives from Jung Enterprise to discuss some “Extremely Confidential and Important” matters,” he said. “Well, at least that’s exactly how they called it.”

I thought deeply. What would be so extremely important that they had to call a meeting for whatever it is?

“Oh, and a lot of messages came by for you this morning, saying congratulations,” JunKi added. “I didn’t know you where engaged! So, who’s the lucky guy?”

Boa and Junsu covered their mouths to hide their laughter, but they were visibly cackling anyway.

JunKi turned around and saw them.

“Oh, hi Junsu! Hi, Boa!” he said.

Junsu waved back, still laughing and Boa stopped her laughter and said a small “Hi,” her cheeks turning bright red.

Now it was my turn to stifle a giggle. Boa always had the biggest crush on JunKi ever since I can remember. The fact could be pretty obvious at times, but JunKi was so dense, he’s never even realized it.

JunKi turned back to me and said, “Well, that’s probably it… I’ll be at my desk if you need anything.”

And with one final wave of goodbye, he exited my office.

“Isn’t he just great?” Boa said dreamily, watching his retreating figure.

Junsu rolled his eyes. “I don’t get it. Why don’t you girls just go out there and tell the people you love that you love them straight in the face? Why do we men have to do all the work?”

Boa and I looked at him with ‘What-the-hell” expressions on our faces.

Junsu looked back at us. “What?”

I sighed. Men can be so clueless at times.

Trust me. I live with one.

With another heaving sigh, I stood up and made my way to the conference room for my ‘Extremely Important’ meeting.

…
“WHAT. THE. FU-”

“Bae SeulGi, watch your language!” my mother said, as I caught sight of the conference room.

This was the really confidential and important matter I had to attend to??

DRESS FITTING?!?!?!?!?

All over the room, there were racks and racks of white dresses, black dresses, multi-colored dresses, heck, there was even a rainbow colored dress!!!

Yeap, all seven colors…

Okay, back to the story.

“Umma!!!” I whined like a kid. “This is what you called me for?!?!?!”

“YES!” Mrs. Jung said, suddenly popping out from behind a rack of dresses.

I jumped in surprise. “Mrs. Jung? You’re the Jung Enterprise representative?!?!”

“Neh!” she answered. “And don’t call me Mrs. Jung! From now on, it’s shieomeoni! Araso?”

I gulped and my face turned a bright shade of red. You know what, make it maroon. That’s how I looked like.

I mean, c’mon! I haven’t even married the guy and his mom already wants me to call her ‘mother in-law’!

What’s up with that?

I smiled a fake one. “Araso… shieomeoni.”

Oh God, I think I’m gonna faint.

…


After the dress fitting (I ended up with an overly-puffy dress… think Cinderella wannabe.), I went straight to my office and locked the door.

The answering machine beeped and JunKi’s voice erupted from the speaker.

“SeulGi, the boss wants you in his office.”

And by boss, he meant my dad.

I entered my father’s office and found him reading some documents, sitting on his desk chair.

“Ah, SeulGi,” he said as a greeting.

“You called for me?” I asked.

Appa nodded and gestured to the seat in front of his desk.

Mr. Bae rested his elbows on his desk and rested his chin on his hands.

“So…” he began.
“So?” I asked.

“You’re getting married…” he stated.
As if I didn’t know that.

“Yes,” I said. “Yes I am.”

Married my .

“So, anyways, the reason I brought you here is that I have something to tell you.”
“Which is…” God, I hate suspense.

“You’ve been granted a leave until your wedding day,” he told me.
“WHAT?!?!?!” I yelled, standing up.

Appa sighed and rubbed his temples. “I know, I know…but you deserve some time off, sweetie! It’s your big day! You should just go out there and enjoy the sweet time you have!”

I narrowed my eyes. “Did Umma put you up to this?”
Appa had a look of pure shock on his face. “How could you think like that about your mother, Bae SeulGi?”

I continued to stare at him with my narrowed eyes.

“Okay, maybe she did give me the idea,” my father admitted.
“Hah! I knew it!” I said.
“But I agreed to it wholeheartedly!” he countered back. “Now, go pack your things and I don’t want to see you working here until after your honeymoon!”

Wait, there’s a HONEYMOON???

…
I sighed exasperatedly as I took out my keys to open my apartment door. Yunho should still be working by now. The day ends at 8 pm anyway.

But lo and behold, I saw him sitting on my couch.

“What are you doing here?” I asked him, bewildered.
“I was given a leave by my dad. Told me not to come back until after the honeymoon! I didn’t even know there was a honeymoon!! Are they trying to kill us or something?!?!”

I sighed and sat next to him (what? That was the only place I could sit on! I used to live alone, remember?)

“Hey, we can cook up our plan now!” I said, perking up.
Yunho’s eyes grew wide with enthusiasm. “Yeah!!! Operation Disgust the Parents will be officially in action!!!”

“Operation Disgust the Parents?” I repeated.

He gave me a sheepish smile. “Heh.”

I brushed it away and we began to cook up or scheme.

“So what are the things your mom doesn’t like?” I asked Yunho, taking a notepad and pen.
Yunho ticked a list off his fingers. “Well, she doesn’t like people who talk bad about French food, girls who whine, and girls that are really mushy.”

I listed each of the points down.

“Okay, what about your mom?” he asked me, while taking a notepad and pen for himself.
“My umma doesn’t like people being late, short tempered men, and the one thing she hates the most is messy eaters.”

Yunho nodded as he furiously jotted down everything I said.

“How about the dads?” he asked me.
I smiled mischievously. “We’ll save that for some other time. Right now, we’ll concentrate on the women.

…

The next day, we were invited by Mrs. Jung to a fancy French restaurant downtown. It was the perfect place to put our plan in action.

They told us to meet them as seven sharp.

We left the house the 7:30 and we arrived at the restaurant and 7:45.

“Sorry we’re late,” I said. “Yunho was the one who drove the car.”

We snuck a glance at my mother, and sure enough, she was looking at Yunho with flared nostrils.

Hah!

We took our seats and chatted for a while

“So, how are you kids coping up with living together?” my appa asked.

I gave him a fake beam. “It’s wonderful, appa! I think you made the right decision, choosing Yunho for me!” I said, looking at Yunho, with loving (fake) eyes.

Yunho looked right back into them and took my hand in his. “That was the best decision you ever made.”

I swear, we could win an award for best actor and actress.

“Aww…” all the parents cooed together. Yes, even the dads.

The waiter came and gave us some menus.

I looked at the menu and cringed my face. “Eww… I hate French food.”

From the corner of my eye, I saw Mrs. Jung stiffen. She cleared . “Why do you hate French food, my dear?”

I looked at her with a calm façade. “Who wouldn’t hate it? I mean c’mon! the French people are weird for even thinking that this stuff is edible! I mean, what the hell is caviar?? Fish eggs? That’s disgusting! And don’t even let me get started on the snails!”

And for a final flourish, I turned to Yunho. “Don’t you agree with me, sweetie?”

Yunho nodded his head vigorously. “Of course I do! I used to love French food, but you’ve opened my eyes to how disgusting it is!”

Hah, Mrs. Jung’s body was really rigid this time.

I settled on some kind of mashed potatoes and Yunho ordered some kind of beef stake [a/n: sorry, I have no idea what other kinds French food there are, cuz French food was the first thing to pop up in my head… sorry!].

Our food came a while later and Yunho ate like a pig. He wasn’t chewing his food properly and there were traces of sauce all over his mouth area.

“Delicious,”’ he said with a full mouth, making some bits of food fly out of his mouth.

My mother looked at him in disgust while I hid a laugh.

“Hey Yunho, try this out,” I said, taking some mashed potatoes with the spoon I used and put it up to his mouth.

“Aaah…” he said, opening his mouth, as I fed him.

Mrs. Jung rolled her eyes. I wonder why she doesn’t like mushy people?

Just as Yunho was about to get back to his food, I made my last move.

“Yunho…” I whined, pulling on his coat. “Why aren’t you feeding meee????”

Yunho chuckled but fed me anyway. I smiled cheekily.

Mrs. Jung looked like she was about to explode.

Yunho suddenly choked on something, and I had to help him by punching his chest.

When he was better, he called the waiter over and shouted at him.

“WHAT KIND OF STUPID RESTAURANT IS THIS?!?!?! ARE YOU TRYING TO FREAKING KILL PEOPLE?!?!? YOU SHOULD WATCH HOW YOU MAKE YOUR STEAKS NEXT TIME!!!”

The shaking waiter apologized and went to the kitchen immediately.

We looked at my mother and sure enough, there was an angry spark in her eyes.

I gave Yunho a high-five under the table.

After eating dinner, we left for home, bidding our fathers goodbye, the normal way.

But with the mothers, it was different.

Mrs. Jung was as stiff as a pole when I hugged her goodbye, and my umma had a look of discomfort on her face when Yunho hugged her goodbye.

We walked away to the car, hand in hand, just take our mothers off the edge.

As soon as we were in the car, we started arguing.

“That was the most disgusting spoon of mashed potatoes I’ve ever tasted!” Yunho exclaimed.
“Well, you’re steak wasn’t any better!” retorted.
“And what’s up with the whole ‘sweetie’ thing?!?! Are you trying to kill me with your mushiness?”
“Hey, I am so not mushy, and you were the one who was all sweet , taking my hand an everything!”

We both looked down at our hands, and realized that they were still intertwined.

We immediately let go.

And both of our faces were a brilliant shade of red.

There was a moment of awkward silence, until Yunho cleared his throat.

“Uh… I should start the car now,” he said.
I nodded shakily. “Y-yeah… you do that.”

And rest of the trip home was spent in silence.