The first time I saw him I never thought that I’d marry him. Yet here I am in my own house with Hansol Vernon Chwe. Every morning I would wake up right beside him and make him breakfast. Even though he is a better cook than me. I learnt cooking for his sake and still couldn’t beat him. I told him I’ll beat him one day and he laughed.

There are times when I wanted to curse at him. When he challenged me like that. In the end I did and he laughed and I cursed at him again and he laughed. Again. He never cursed me back though. Sometimes he did. But we’re good. No hard feelings for each other. We’re cool.

I was making seaweed soup that morning. I did everything that I learnt from my mom and the soup still didn’t satisfy me. Something was missing. I stood there staring back and forth at the soup and my cooking notebook.

I flinched when someone hugged me from the back. I relaxed when I heard his voice. He rested his chin on the top of my head as he said, “Good morning. You woke up early today. That is so not you,”

I elbowed him, “Shut up. I wake up early sometimes okay,”

He snorted, “Yeah right,”

“Now, will you go away because I need to cook,”

He smiled and gave a peck on my cheek before he walked away from the kitchen. I still get butterflies in my stomach when he does that though we’ve been married for five years.

Back to the soup. Finally I remembered what I forgot. Soy sauce. I put a tablespoon of soy sauce and tasted it. It tasted okay, not as tasty as mom’s soup. I turned around and found him and our four years old son in his arms. I smiled and set the tables. We sat and ate breakfast as usual but that day there were a lot of side dishes.

“What’s with the feast early in the morning?” he asked looking at me directly in the eyes. I had always loved him for that. His brown eyes are just so beautiful and fortunately our son inherited that.

I furrowed my eye brows, “You seriously don’t remember?”

“Oh my god… Am I forgetting your birthday? What’s the date today—“

“It’s not my birthday you idiot—“I glanced at our son. Luckily he was too distracted with his food to hear me.

I sighed, “I can’t believe I am cursing the birthday boy early in the morning,”

“Oh… Is it today?”

I shook my head and looked at him in disbelief, “Please eat a lot today, birthday boy. I woke up early this morning to prepare all of this,”

“Aw… Thank you, love,”

I smiled and continued eating as I feed our son and we chat during the whole meal. After the meal, I cleaned up the kitchen and went into the bedroom, leaving my son watching his favourite cartoon in the living room.

I sat at the corner of the bed, watching his every action. He raised an eyebrow as he buttoned up his dress shirt. He took a necktie and looked at me. I looked back at him, pretending to not know what were his intentions though I knew.

“What?”

“Suddenly my hands hurt I can’t tie it myself,” he stood in front of me as he reached out his hand to give the necktie to me. I got up and took it.

“Where does it hurt?” I grabbed his hands and squeezed it.

“Ow! Stop that!” he cried, “You knew me alright, yet you pretend to not know,”

I smiled as I tied his necktie step by step. Believe it or not, he taught me how to tie a necktie so that I could do it for him next time.

“How can you forget your own birthday seriously,” I looked up and he was already looking at me.

“I’m getting older,”

“Of course you are but you’re only 28 and you have a really bad memory,” I tidied his tie and helped him wore his coat.

“Thank you,” he looked at me in the eyes as he smiled sincerely at me.

“Okay. Now go to work, you’ll be late,”

We went out and our son followed us to the front door. He picked his son up and kissed all over his face. He hugged me tight and kissed my forehead. He put his son down and waved goodbye, “See you later,”

It was Saturday. And yes, Hansol went to work on a weekend day. He had always been hard working and sometimes I hate it. Because, I wanted to spend more time with him and our son. I tried to persuade him to not go to work and ended up hearing his nags. He said it was a very important meeting with his client from China. Why did the client even want a meeting on a weekend? God…

Anyways, he promised to be back early for his birthday party. I invited his friends over to our house for dinner. I went to buy the groceries and spent all day cooking. I was afraid that his friends wouldn’t like my cooking—though they knew well I can’t cook—so I tried really hard and called my mother a lot for advice.

That evening, his friends came one after another bringing foods and presents—mostly for our son. They opened up the presents for him and played along. They roamed back and forth from the kitchen to the living room setting up for the party.

Well, actually only a few were helping me out who were Junghan, Joshua, Mingyu and Jun. They have always helped me. Sometimes, we gossiped together—especially about Hansol. While the others… played games. Some were on the sofas, relaxing. The rest were playing Hansol’s video games. It had been a while that the house was full and lively. Though it might be tiring, I loved it.

“Why didn’t you guys bring your wives though?” I striked a conversation as I arranged the dishes on the table.

“You sure you could make food for like, I don’t know 24 people?” Joshua asked me back, his eyebrows raised.

“Its more than 24 if we bring our children too,” Jihoon corrected Joshua. He side eyed Seungcheol, “Please keep in mind that one of us have four children,”

Seungcheol didn’t hear him luckily if not he might headlock Jihoon for the whole evening. Chan interrupted, “Minus me, Soonyoung hyung and Seokmin hyung, the single guys,”

“When will you guys get married though? I thought everyone had their partner,”

“This end year I guess? I don’t know about other hyungs though. Might as well not get married forever,” he joked and ended up getting beaten by Soonyoung and Seokmin. I thought they were so immersed with the games but they heard Chan. I felt sorry for Chan. He shouldn’t have said that.

We waited for the birthday boy but there was no sign of him. No phone calls or messages from him. The food was getting cold. I sighed, feeling my head burning in anger. The others noticed my expressions.

“Is he still at work…?” Soonyoung carefully asked trying not to make me pissed. They were complaining about their hungry stomachs while waiting.

“Let’s eat first. You guys might die from starving. I’ll try to contact him again,” I got up and went into my room. Dialing his number over and over but he wouldn’t pick up. I messaged him and no reply from him.

“You promised to be back early,” I muttered under my breath. I gave up and went out. I was starving. You’re so dead meat the moment you get back, Hansol Vernon Chwe.

“Did he pick up his phone?” Junghan asked as I sat down joining them. I shook my head and stuffed myself with the food.

“How’s the food though guys?” I asked, anticipating their comments. They’ve always judged my cooking. And they were so honest, it hurts.

“A lot of improvement but not at my wife’s level yet,” Seungcheol said as he slurped the pasta into his mouth. The others scoffed at his wife-biased self.

I smiled, “Of course I can’t beat your wife. She’s my cooking teacher, duh,”

We chatted as we enjoy our food and sometimes I would glance at my phone, hoping for a phone call. But to no avail, not even a message was replied.

“Where’s the birthday boy? It’s 9 p.m. already. Is there any company that let their workers go back this late?” Seungkwan voiced out.

“Are you sure he went to work?” Joshua asked.

“I don’t know. He promised to be back early today,”

“What if something happened to him?” Minghao assumed and the air suddenly felt chilly for them especially me.

“Gosh Minghao, don’t think anything stupid. She’ll go crazy,” Mingyu rolled his eyes not noticing me glaring at him.

I started to worry and dialed his number many times. When I dialed his phone again, someone picked up, “Hello?”

“Hey, babe. I need help. I can’t drive,” it was his voice. You sighed in relief, then your anger riled up again.

“Where were you?! I called you many times you didn’t pick up! Your friends are waiting for you, you idiot!” At that time, I didn’t care about our guests. I was too angry and upset with him for breaking his promise. And I hate broken promises the most.

“I’m really sorry. Something came up,”

“What? Is it your work again?”

“No… I need you to come to the hospital right now,”

I stopped breathing. My heart was beating so fast that I could hear it in my ears. I went silent.

“Hello? Are you there?”

“Why… are you in the hospital?” I stuttered at my words and I couldn’t breathe properly.

“You’ll know why when you see me. It’s not that serious but I can’t drive—“ Hansol stopped at his words, hesitating. “Um… I don’t think you can drive because currently you are panicked and you might end up like me on the road. Pass the phone to any of my friends please,”

“What happened? I’ll pick you up!” I literally shouted at my phone and he hung up. He. Freaking. Hung. Up. My. Phone. Call.

Suddenly, someone’s phone rang. It was Seungkwan’s. He glanced at his phone and looked at me nervously. I was striding to him and Seokmin grabbed Seungkwan’s phone, sensing the dangerous situation from my phone call earlier.

He answered the phone as I tried to snatch the phone away but Junghan and Joshua both held my arms and stopped me from any violence. Seokmin was on the phone for a while and hung up.

Seokmin grabbed Seungkwan with him, “Please calm her down. We’ll go pick him up,” They left hurriedly and I fell on the floor. Others panicked and helped me up to sit on the sofa.

“Gosh, he’ll be fine. Don’t worry,” Jun shook his head when he saw me in despair. I refused to say anything and blanked out.

“She’s calming down guys. What a relief. I thought she might eat one of us,” Wonwoo whispered.

“I heard that clearly. And that ‘one of us’ might be you,” I glared at him and back to my blank state. Jihoon, Minghao and Chan put my son to sleep and others helped with the dishes. I couldn’t even stand properly to do anything.

The door bell rang and I quickly got up to open the door, expecting Hansol in front of the door. But it was a delivery man.

“Did you order chicken?” he held up the food with a smile on his face.

“No…”

“Oh the chicken’s here?” Mingyu came out to the front door and paid for the chicken. I went back into the house and sat on the same place.

“What the heck dude? You still hungry?” Wonwoo frowned and Jihoon coming back from the room looked at him in disbelief.

“They’re for my children, don’t judge me,”

Then, the front door opened. Seungkwan and Seokmin came in first alongside with Hansol at their back. I stood up and saw his arm, wrapped nicely in a cloth. There was a small stain of blood on it.

“I’m home,” Hansol smiled awkwardly at me. I frowned and approached him, still in shock. I carefully took his hand nearer to my face and observed it.

“Told you, it’s not that serious,”

“Is it broken?”

“Sort of,” He shrugged, “I’m fine it doesn’t hurt that much anymore. I was crossing the street and one of the stupid car hit me. Luckily I didn’t die,”

“Wow, Hansol what a relief huh?” Soonyoung laughed.

“I think I saw fire around her head,” Wonwoo whispered and of course everyone heard him.

“Are we witnessing a couple fight again today?” Seungkwan joked but the others glared at him except Minghao.

“Probably,” Minghao nodded.

I furrowed my eyebrows as I looked at Hansol in the eyes. He smiled at me and battered his eyelashes, “You okay?”

“I can’t believe you,” I muttered under my breath.

“What’s that, honey?”

“I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU ACTUALLY HURT YOURSELF, YOU IDIOT!” I screamed on the top of my lungs in anger and frustration. I was actually upset with myself. I called him idiot when I didn’t know he was hurt. I felt sorry about that and yet I called him idiot again. I was so angry that he didn’t tell me and make me worry for hours.

“I think we should go…” Soonyoung suggested and they nodded their heads.

“Thank you for the meal,” Minghao slightly touched her arm and flinched when I glared at him. He smiled forcefully and went beside Hansol, “Happy birthday, Hansol,” he wished him and walked away followed by other guests.

“Good luck, dude,” Seungcheol squeezed Hansol’s shoulder. Others pumped their fists up for him.

Hansol nodded, “I got this. Thank you guys for coming,”

They left and the tension in the air was slowly creeping out. Hansol smiled his sweetest smile ever at me, trying to make me feel better. But instead, I felt a lump in my throat and my eyes watered. The moment my tears flowed down my cheeks, I turned around and wiped them quickly but it kept falling down. I was so worried that he would leave me. Of course one of us will leave one day, but I was not ready for that yet. I love him and I want to spend my whole life with him as much as I could. I was so scared that he would leave me first. Just imagining that gave me shivers.

“Aw… Don’t cry. What does that make me?” Hansol approached me and turned me around. He whispered as he wiped away my tears, “I’m perfectly fine. I’m here alright? You don’t have to worry,”

I couldn’t say anything. I sobbed and didn’t care if I looked awful. I let it all out and cried. He wrapped me inside his embrace and patted my back. Assuring me that it was okay and he was fine. I was relieved at his touch, meaning that he’s still there with me and our son.

“You know, thanks to that stupid car, I can take a leave from work and spend more time with our little family,” he laughed. I lightly punched him in the stomach as he winced.

“Ow! I might end up in the hospital again because of you,”

I pouted and hugged him again, tightly, “Don’t you even dare leaving me again,”

He laughed and kissed my head, “I won’t,”

And Hansol spent a week getting help from her wife with everything because he broke his right arm. I fed him, washed his face, hair, brushed his teeth and helped him change his clothes. I swore it felt like I have another baby in the house—a really annoying baby. And he enjoyed seeing me suffer at his nonsense and ridiculous excuses of his handicapped arm.

“Maybe I should break my arm every once in a while,”

“Shut up, you idiot,”

I am so into Seventeen these days to the point that I wanted to cry in school because I wanted to watch their videos all over again. I became a Seventeen's trash real quick and I don't have friends to spazz with so any Seventeen fan can say hi to me. I don't bite :--)