Chapter 1

The living room ceiling lights of a newly furnished apartment flickered on while Bom eagerly removed her shoes and tugged her luggage inside her home. In tiny quickened steps, she hurried into the master bedroom in bursts of giggles, throwing her purse and jacket onto the vanity chair. She then stretched her slender arms out and fell forward onto her bed, landing flat on her stomach and face. “Mmm... Smells like home, feels like home.” She spoke into the blanket and smiled.

“We are home,” A soothing deep voice projected from the doorway, followed by a chuckle. “Bommie, you're going to help with the unpacking, right? Even if we don't get through all of it tonight, I think we should at least do a load of laundry before we sleep so we'd have something clean to wear tomorrow morning.”

Popping her head up and twisting her body around, she looked at her husband intently and pouted. “Aigoo, Dong Youngbae, I hate doing the laundry...”

“I know, but we still have to do it.” Youngbae set down a suitcase on the ground next to their bed and began to take pieces of clothing out of it. After pulling out an armful of clothes, he couldn't believe how few compared to what's left inside the suitcase he had removed.

Bom climbed lazily to the side of the bed and peeked down at the opened luggage, widening her eyes in shock. “How much exactly did we buy?” She asked and reached down to pull up a random piece of clothing, examining it closely. “Don't you already have a T-shirt with a cross on the back?”

“Aniyo... (No...)” Youngbae looked up from the pile of dirty clothes he had in his arms and arched his brows at the sight of the familiar looking T-shirt.

An unconvinced Bom pushed herself off the soft mattress and walked up to the wall closet to the side of the room. With one mighty swing, she pulled opened both the closet doors and scrambled through the inside until she found what she was looking for. “You do have one! Look, a cross on the back!” She unfolded the shirt in her hands and dangled it in front of her abdomen so he could see the design clearly. “You bought two of the same shirt.”

At a loss for words, Youngbae could only pull down the tip of his cap and lower his head, making Bom grin devilishly at having pointed out his forgetfulness. Yet just as she turned around to tuck the shirt back into place, Youngbae spoke up in defense. “They're not exactly the same, one's black and one's white.” He kept his eyes on her back, anticipating for his wife to come back with some goofy comment that matched so well with her cute personality. However, nearly a minute had gone by without a single sound coming from Bom. “Bommie?”

Tossing the pile of clothes onto the floor, he walked up behind her and put his arms around her waist. With his chin rested on her shoulder, he asked quietly with concern, “What's wrong?”

“We don't have any room in our closet anymore.” She rolled her eyes back and forth, checking for any free space left that she may have missed. “Where are we going to put all the new clothes we bought from our honeymoon?” She wondered with her trademark blink.

“Good question,” He lifted his head up and scanned the interior of the closet before a solution entered his head. “I guess we'll just have to buy a new closet.”

Turning herself around in his embrace, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pecked him lightly on the lips. “Let me think where we can put it.” As Youngbae released her from his arms, she walked slowly around the room in deep thought, trying to imagine how the room would look with an added piece of furniture.

“Well, you are an interior designer so I'll trust your expert opinion.” He headed back to the heap of clothes on the hardwood floor and returned back to laundry duty.

“We can get one of those that have drawers on the bottom and put it right here,” Bom waved her arms in the air and mimed out the shape of a closet in the corner of the room. “You can have half of one of the drawers.”

Unsatisfied with her decision, he gathered one last pair of shorts in his arms and argued before heading for the washing machine. “That's not fair, I deserve at least three quarters of the closet space.”

“All you ever wear are T-shirts and jeans, you don't need that much room. I have dresses that need to be hung properly or else they'll get wrinkly.” She followed him out of the bedroom, picking up behind him a dirty sock that had fallen on the ground.

Together by the washing machine, they sorted the clothes according to color, making sure not to mix the dark colors with the whites. “How about we make a deal? If I do all the laundry from now on, you give me half the closet space and a section for my hats.”

To never have to do laundry again all for the price of less closet space, it was definitely the deal of a lifetime to Bom. “Deal!” She quickly decided, loving the way that her husband spoiled her. “Since you'll be in charge of laundry, then I'll be the main chef in the house. I'll cook you the most delicious foods in the world, but we have to eat out often too, okay?”

“Fine,” He replied with a laugh while reaching for the fabric softener from the cabinet next to the washing machine. “So I know you'll be cooking but who's going to wash the dishes?”

A brief moment of silence elapsed between them as neither truly wanted to take on the chore of having to do dishes every night. It wasn't until Youngbae started the washing machine that Bom came up with a silly question. “Do you think anyone gave us a coupon or discount card for a dishwasher as our wedding gift?”

They made way out to the living area once more and sat cuddled up on their white leather loveseat. Bom leaned her head on his shoulder while clinging her arms around his torso like a koala bear hugging tightly onto a tree. “Youngbae, are we missing something?”

“Hmm?” With his arm around her shoulder, he closed his eyes and relaxed into the chair. “The two suitcases full of clothes are in the bedroom and the one you carried with our wedding gifts and souvenirs is by the door.”

Skeptically, she raised her head and looked around the room with feelings of paranoia. “Wedding gift... Where's the wedding gift we received from your sister?” While she waited for a response from him, images of their plane ride flashed into Bom's head. Quickly, she realized that when they had been upgraded to business class, she had forgotten all about the box. “Youngbae...” Her voice trailed as she tried hard to think of a way to tell him of the missing gift without upsetting him. “I'm sorry, but I forgot to take the box with us...”

Closing her eyes, she held her breath, uncertain on how he would react to the news. Yet after a minute without receiving a response from him, she slowly turned her head in his direction. A soft smile formed on her face when she noticed that he had already fallen asleep, likely exhausted from their long flight. Gently, being careful not to wake him up, she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheeks. “Sweet dreams of me tonight.”
 

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“Oh hyung! What souvenir did you get me from the States?” A giddy Daseung barged into Seunghyun's room and jumped mischievously on his bed. When he noticed that Seunghyun paid no attention to him, he nosily poked his head forward to see what his friend was up to.

Tiny pieces of glass fragments scattered throughout the surface of Seunghyun's desk. With a bright table lamp illuminating the work area, Seunghyun focused hard on determining which piece would fit together and what the sculpture would look like had it not been broken.

“Did you break my souvenir?” Daesung asked jokingly and attempted to reach out for a piece of glass, only for Seunghyun to smack his hand away before he could even get close enough to touch the pieces.

“Don't touch, this isn't mine.” Seunghyun warned without turning to look at his younger friend.

Retrieving back to his former position, Daesung crossed his legs and slouched forward. “Oh, I know what this is. Seungri told me about it at the airport.” He recalled what the confident maknae had mentioned when Seunghyun ventured off with a box in hand. “Hyung, you don't even know who the girl is. What's the point of putting it back together?”

Though Seunghyun turned to face Daesung with the intent of giving out a full on elaborate answer, he didn't truly know himself.  Why was he going through all the trouble of fixing the broken object?  All he knew was that any time it came into view, thoughts of the girl would enter his mind.  There was a natural sense in him to want to repair the sculpture.  In order to avoid answering the question, Seunghyun decided to quickly change the topic instead. Or perhaps if he stared at Daesung long enough, he’d eventually feel uncomfortable and drop the subject altogether? “Didn't you say you and Seungri are awkward with each other? Since when did you two start making conversation while being alone?”

“Aigoo, why are you bringing this up?” Daesung diverged from his eye contact with Seunghyun and changed his tone quickly.

A relieved Seunghyun lowered his head and grinned.  Daesung’s reaction was exactly what he had hoped for.

“Hyori really wants me to get along with her family, so for her I'm trying really hard to not be so awkward with Seungri.” Daesung explained through uneasiness.

Amused, Seunghyun chuckled heartily at his friend’s willingness to change for the happiness of a woman. “Can't you just avoid having to meet up with Seungri? Why make yourself uncomfortable just because Hyori wants it?”

“Hyung, you don't understand. When you're in love, you'd do anything just to make the other person happy, even if something seems totally irrelevant or pointless.” Daesung explained and smiled at the thought of his girlfriend.  Just by the expression on his face, you could tell he was floating on cloud nine.

His words caused Seunghyun to freeze as he quickly looked down at the glass pieces on his desk. “Doing pointless things when you're in love?” How fitting of a situation it seemed to him. “But how could that be when I've only met her once... Twice including the time on the plane?”

Thankfully for Seunghyun, the topic of Hyori distracted Daesung so much he completely missed what Seunghyun was mumbling about. “And Hyori noona is so perfect.” Daesung continued, “If I don't work hard at being a good boyfriend, I'm worried another guy will capture her heart.  I mean she’s gorgeous, she’s spontaneous, she cooks and can take care of herself, and-”

“Okay, stop!” Putting down everything he held in his hands, Seunghyun twirled around in his chair and looked at his best friend seriously. “You don’t have to start listing everything you like about her.  I’ve heard it once, and that’s one time too many.  Don't worry about matching up to her, alright? Just the way you smile is enough to brighten anyone's day, and I'm sure Hyori feels the same way.”

Comforted, Daesung's face lit up as his small eyes took the shape of two thin lines. “Hyung, you always know what to say to cheer people up. Speaking of Hyori noona, I heard from Seungri that you like her. I mean, I know we're best friends and you'd never try to steal her away from me but...”

“Stop, Daesung, just stop!” Seunghyun put out a hand in front of his face to get him to quiet down before things got out of control. “Fine, I'll admit that when I first met your girlfriend, I thought she was really pretty.”

“She still is,” Daesung was quick to add, but closed his lips promptly when he noticed his friend hadn't quite finished.

“But don't worry, Hyori isn't my type.” He assured without elaboration.

Daesung couldn't help but wonder, “Then what is your type, hyung? Don't tell me it's the girl on the plane. Seungri told me she already has a boyfriend...”

Furrowing his brows, Seunghyun reached for his pillow at the top of his bed and eyed Daesung, “You know, I'm starting to feel that Seungri is your best friend more than I am.”

Threatened by the fluffy weapon in Seunghyun's hand, even if it was only a soft pillow, Daesung gradually scooted himself off the bed while keeping a bright and distracting smile on his face. “Of course not, hyung, but I heard that the noona on the plane is really pretty too, so it's normal to fall for her...”

“I didn't fall for her!” Seunghyun playfully smothered Daesung’s face with his pillow until the younger man surrendered and ran out of the room. “Go call your new best friend Seungri and chat, don't bother me, I have work to do.” With another chuckle, he closed his bedroom door to secure his privacy. Sitting back down on his rolling chair, he heaved a sigh and refuted his friend’s assumptions. “There is no way I could have fallen for that girl.”