He was the one who wanted to get wasted tonight in the karaoke bar, but he was sipping the soju between two to three songs.  So-eun was on her third glass, though, and getting more and more animated with her singing.

She was earsplittingly out of tune but she didn’t care.  She was on her feet, swaying a little, and Jae-rim subtly steadied her by the hand.  She laughed—with shallow glee, he noticed—while he gave her a faint smile in return.  He pulled her gently to sit down with him and she helplessly followed, her body slumping on his side. 

“Next song?”  She looked at him expectantly, her eyes glazed over. 

Jae-rim shook his head, that discerning simper still on his face.  

She shrugged and reached for her drink, finishing it in one gulp.  It was a rare sight for him to encounter a petite and delicate creature like his pretend wife to be able to hold her liquor, but she was indeed a little more than tipsy.  He scratched his head, now slightly uneasy, as So-eun sniffed and leaned her weary head on his shoulder.

“I know!  Let’s get another round of drinks!”  She suggested gaily, but Jae-rim squeezed her hands before she got hold of the menu again. 

So-eun burst out giggling.  “What’s the matter, oppa?  Are you drunk?”  She gazed incredulously at his half-consumed bottle. 

“A little,” he whispered, tucking her hair behind her ears.  “Want to get coffee?  Since you paid for dinner, I’m buying this time.”

Her baby smile widened, her big brown eyes crinkling at the corners.  “Ga-ja!”  (Let’s go!)

He pinched her right cheek in affection and linked her arm to his as they stood up to go pay at the cashier.  So-eun grinned at the lady minding the register as Jae-rim settled the bill. 

“This is my husband,” she proudly told the cashier in English, though her words sounded slightly slurred. 

The woman nodded kindly.  “That’s right.  I see you two on TV.  You’re both very sweet to each other.”

So-eun surveyed the immediate area and frowned.  It was turning midnight that Thursday and yet there were no cameras.  “I wonder if this karaoke date will be on the news this time…”

“Uh… kamsa-hamnida,” Jae-rim thanked the cashier softly and led So-eun to the elevator.

At the coffee shop, So-eun was sitting up a little straighter.  Her eyes were improving, turning a little clearer.  Jae-rim sat opposite her, giving her one iced coffee. 

She handed him one of the straws, smiling as she removed the plastic covering for him and remembering to leave a couple of inches from the top. 

Jae-rim grinned, extremely pleased.  “You’re learning, jagi.”

“Well, I have the best teacher,” So-eun complimented in all sincerity, grinning back at him.

“Feel better?”  He sipped his coffee, his stare gradually softening from teasing to wistful.

So-eun nodded, lowering her gaze.  It didn’t prevent him from seeing that she was tearing up. 

His eyes were still on her, though, as if to hold her without using his hands or his arms.  It was like basking under the warm summer sun, even when winter wasn’t quite over yet. 

She sampled her coffee then, idly drifting into her own musings.  She was grateful that he chose to believe her about the whole misconstrued rumor.   While he did admit to being a little jealous, and she could see that he was, his kindness towards her always prevailed and she couldn’t ask for more.

She did have a life outside this virtual marriage bubble.  She had friends with whom she could hang out on her free time, especially now that Jae-rim was busy.  So when the comments flooded in, and as Jae-rim had pointed out, "which were turning her to powder" (from the extreme bashing), the first and foremost thing that came to her mind was how the rumors would hurt her husband.  

And she would never ever hurt Jae-rim intentionally.

She hoped he knew that by now. 

A warm tear fell on her cheek, which was caught by his thumb.

He reached out and cupped the side of her face. 

She looked into his eyes, swallowing, as more tears fell from her own.  She could only see understanding, sympathy and even love.

So-eun didn’t want to decipher if it was romantic love or more of the general kind.   All she knew was that she felt safe and comforted because of it.  “Gomawo, oppa, for being here for me.”

“Where else would your husband be?” Jae-rim joked, brushing her tears away. 

“I’ve already taken so much of your time,” she whispered sadly, feeling guilty.  “You have an early shoot for your drama tomorrow, right?”

He sighed heavily, hoisting his chair so he could be next to her.  “Come here.”

The next thing she knew, she was in his embrace. 

So-eun wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her cheek on his shoulder.  She closed her eyes while he her hair, almost in a mesmeric, leisurely rhythm that could lull her to sleep in no time. 

She vaguely recalled telling him that she didn’t like her head being touched months ago because it messed up her hair.  Still, he’d kept doing it, perhaps as an excuse to get close to her.  It had become a signature Jae-rim-ssi skinship style.  When had she started looking forward to it?  That didn’t matter now, though.  The gesture assured her that his heart wouldn’t change.

“I told you before.  24 hours is not enough when I’m with you,” she heard him say softly, while still continuing to caress her hair.  “What in the world would make you think in the slightest that this is a burden for me?”

She slowly lifted her head, looking at him. 

“I know I express it in countless cheesy, weird ways and maybe I enjoy nothing more than to make your fingers curl and see you all flustered because you’re so cute that way, but I know how I feel about you…” Jae-rim told her earnestly.  “Fate brought you to me, and it’s not just because we were randomly thrown in a variety show together.” 

So-eun’s lower lip trembled, incredibly touched by his words.  On the first broadcast, she’d said that she wanted to meet someone who could be like a best friend, who she would be compatible with in every way.   The more she’d spent time with this oddball namja, with single eyelids, broad shoulders, a great smile trained by smile braces and a seriously attractive Adam’s apple—a cat lover, to boot—the more she realized Song Jae-rim could be the man she had been dreaming of, as he had proven again and again. 

When he surprised her with the Solim couple rings and couple bracelets.  The skull now brought an immediate smile on her face as it reminded her of his sweet intention behind the otherwise unseemly charm.

When he carried the heavy bridal gifts all the way to their WGM home on his back, and how so much thought and care had been invested in every little souvenir he had brought back from his overseas trips for her.

When he continued to lose the bets on purpose and wrote that embarrassingly heartwarming poem that coincided with granting her wish for him to dance on their wedding ceremony.

Especially when he sang to her, nursing a cold and all, equipped with pictures ala-Love, Actually at the amphitheater in Pamukkale, and declaring that he liked her up in the air balloon and then turning impossibly crimson in the face.

And so many, many others that she cherished so:  the diary he had maintained consisting of their memories so far, wrestling on the bed on their last night in Turkey, cooking kim-chi stew for him and failing in epic proportions and then redeeming herself by bringing kim-chi from home and whipping it up for him again, making the couple shirts together and him catching the sleeve on hers with his teeth so that it was taut before she cut it off, trying on bridal gowns and his priceless reaction when he saw her in one for the first time…

“I guess what I’m saying is… ”  Jae-rim chuckled, his cheeks and ears suddenly reddening.  “I can wait, So-eunnie.”  His smile slightly faded, turning just a little serious.  “And I will wait, as long as you want me to.”  Then that derpy, cheeky grin was back.  “50 years or more.”

“Jinjja?” So-eun kidded lightly, as he wiped the last of her tears.

Jae-rim definitively nodded, and placed her left palm on his hard chest.  “Isn’t this the heart that loves you?”

She had to laugh, as he had stuck one of those hearts from their wedding reception on the diary just as she had on the very same spot where her left hand was right now.

“I see that baby smile again, finally.”

When So-eun looked up, Jae-rim was smiling back at her.

A few minutes later, after making sure that she was really, truly okay, he drove her to the hospital.  All he could hear was his accelerating heartbeat at the thought of meeting her family.  He had talked to her mother before, over the phone, and he had stuttered through the entire conversation as if his brain was detached from his body.  He had agonized for days as to what impression he could have possibly left on his mother-in-law.  

Her dongseang could also be inside the room.

Then he swallowed.  

And... her father.  

Perhaps So-eun felt his anxiety as she enclosed his hand in hers.  Her touch thankfully calmed him down, albeit just a little.   

She tried to slide the door open as soundlessly as possible.  It was about two in the morning, hadn't realized that she would be returning so late.

Jae-rim peeked inside the dim room, seeing that her mother, father and younger sister were all asleep.  “I’ll come back another day,” he whispered. 

So-eun nodded, exiting the room quietly with him.  Once outside, she turned and gave him a hug.  “Drive safe.”

“You should get some rest.”  He kissed the top of her head, as it had come quite natural for him to do so.  “What food would your mother like?  I'll buy that for her when I visit.  Maybe fruit?”

“You decide.  Omma will really appreciate it when you come by.”  She playfully swung his hand from side to side.  “But only when you're free, okay?  Don't overexert yourself.”

He crossed his heart and gave her the signal for Scout's Honor.

She laughed happily.  Unbeknownst to her, it had become one of his favorite sounds in the world.

She smiled one last time and reluctantly waved at him, slipping back inside to join her family.

When he returned to his car, he could still smell her—that feminine fragrance she always wore now, her counterpart of their couple perfume that she had bought.  It hadn’t even been five minutes since they had been apart, and yet this deep longing had already overcome him, as if an ingrained part of him had been taken away.

It greatly reminded him of a quote he’d read once.   In French, one didn’t really say “I miss you” to someone.  Tu me manques literally meant “You are missing from me.”

Exactly.

That was how he felt right this moment… that empty space beside him that he didn’t know needed to be filled until he met her.

In all honesty, he was drawn to the obvious.  He couldn’t thank the WGM gods enough for pairing him with such a pretty, y, sassy and cute yeoja in the form of Kim So-eun.  However, she had shown her strength today, which only magnified his growing admiration for her, in that emergency meeting at the MBC office.  Most people wouldn’t be able to withhold their emotions for that long—in front of cameras—when going through another adversity, of the personal sort, of their own. 

He was glad that she was able to let him in, somehow, to allow him to help her in his own little way.  If it meant being a shoulder to cry on, a place to ride out the storm, then that was good enough for him.   

Upon arriving home, he washed up and crawled into bed with Olla and Leon cuddling up to him.   He absentmindedly their fur while he reached for his phone to set the alarm as he needed to wake up in four hours for call time. 

The wallpaper on his screen flashed.  It was one of his photos together with So-eun, joining him on the photo shoot, with one of his arms around her shoulders and her fingers intertwined with his.  It was during the time he gave her the extreme job of becoming Kim Manager for a day.  

He certainly enjoyed that.

His lips cracked into a grin as he stared at the picture, comfortably leaning his back on a pillow.

Her lovely, lovely, lovely smile.  It was one of the first things he noticed about her and had fallen hopelessly in love at first sight with… after the blind dark room date, that is.

He didn’t believe he would ever tire of seeing it.

I like seeing you smile, that’s why I do these things, he had once told her.  I feel like I have a purpose in the world.

And he meant every word. 

Olla meowed and yawned, which inadvertently infected Jae-rim too.

He squeezed Olla to him, while Leon settled by his feet, and closed his eyes. 

Just then, his phone vibrated, indicating that a message had been received.

Jae-rim’s eyes blinked open, squinting at the illuminated glare of his phone.

JAGIYA

Are you home now?

Jae-rim chuckled, propping himself on his elbows to reply to her.

So-eun had stepped out to the balcony of her mother’s hospital room to text him.  He messaged her back almost immediately.

OLLA APPA

Yes, my queen.  ^_^  How come you’re still awake?

JAGIYA

I should ask you that question.

OLLA APPA

No, I was sleeping.  Your message woke me up.

JAGIYA

Mian-hae!  Okay, sweet dreams!

OLLA APPA

You’ll be in them.

JAGIYA

Byuntae.

And Jae-rim burst out laughing.

~~ T H E   E N D ~~