"alexa, play do you love me by stephanie poetri"

PROLOGUE :

 2009 : WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME? 

hyerin had never seen this boy in her life. curiously, she tilted her head as she wiped the sweat from her brow with the towel he had handed her. she had just finished the deciding match against her rival high school's volleyball team. luckily for her and her team, they'd be heading to regionals and if they were lucky--nationals would come next. it'd be the first time in her three years of playing volleyball getting to the national tournament.

this was also a first. though hyerin was always told by her teammates that she was a charismatic captain, she always thought that it had a tendency to scare guys away more than attract them. so this was her first public confession. now that she thought about it, the freshman in front of her did look a little familiar. even with his head bowed, he towered over her a good amount. 

this must be jung wooseok. the only freshman that made it onto the varsity boy's volleyball team. her teammates had talked about him briefly before hyerin demanded they start practice.

the two of them must've been standing there in silence for at least a minute now, with how anxious wooseok looked. hyerin hung the towel around her neck, a hand reaching out to place on top of wooseok's bowed over head. he stiffened, and his lips parted to ask what she was doing, but only a loud sound of surprise left his lips as she started ruffling his hair aggressively.

"you have some nerve, huh?" she asked with a small smile, "asking out your upperclassman without ever talking to her? how about you try again in a few years?"

wooseok looked up with a childish pout, looking indignant. hyerin laughed, and held out her hand for him to shake.

"nice to meet you jung wooseok, i'm bae hyerin."

 2013 : DO YOU STILL LIKE ME? 

she asked this after four years of friendship, after he had followed her to the college of her dreams. they had grown closer each year, despite the two years when hyerin was in university and wooseok was still in high school. he was the first person she'd text when something good happen, and the first person she'd call when she was in tears. she was the person who yelled his name loudest at his volleyball games, and the one who comforted him when he lost important matches.

"yeah," he told her casually. "isn't it obvious?"

"so you're telling me it wasn't a high school crush then?"

wooseok rolled his eyes, setting his controller down as he looked over to where hyerin was sitting on the couch besides him. "i've had feelings for you for four years, noona, and you still think it's a high school crush?"

she hummed softly in thought, hiding her reddening cheeks behind her textbook. still, he managed to catch her flustered expression and grinned at her reaction.

"so will you go out with me now?"

"in your dreams, jung wooseok."

 2015 : I GUESS DREAMS REALLY DO COME TRUE. 

hyerin punched him weakly, cheeks pink as she dropped his drunk form on her apartment bed.

"i love you, noona," wooseok confessed in a slur. 

"you're going to forget in the morning," she rolled her eyes.

"no way," his large hand grabbed hers in his own, bringing her palm to his cheek. "i love you. i've loved you since i was 14 and i saw you make calls and cheer on your teammates even though it was going badly. i've loved you since you made the winning spike at that match back before you even met me."

"wooseok--" she tried to stop him.

"i love you, bae hyerin. you were beautiful then," his hand dropped hers and reached out to pull her down on top of him. she cursed his strength as he cuddled against her. "and you're beautiful now. will you go out with me now?"

"you're stupid," she murmured weakly, voice muffled as he hugged her to his chest. "go to sleep."

he asked for her decision the next morning when she brought him water for his hangover. she glanced anywhere in the room except for him before she murmured a quiet, "ok."

 2018 : WHEN'RE YOU PROPOSING? 

it's the question wooseok's friends and family have asked him for over a year now. the first few months they started asking, he insisted they were too young. but in the past couple of months, when hyerin's parents asked the same question, wooseok knew it was time to pop the question.

he just graduated from university a year ago and yet here he was, fiddling with a ring he spent many of his paychecks on. his heart was about to beat out of his chest as hyerin swirled the wine around her glass. they sat at a rooftop restaurant that wooseok had struggled to book amongst their always conflicting schedules. he told her it was to celebrate her hard work at her job, but his girlfriend had stared at him suspiciously.

hyerin had actually asked the same question a few months back, albeit playfully. she pointed at her empty ring finger while talking about how all her friends were getting engaged. each month, more wedding invitations flooded through the mail, and wooseok had to buy more suits to accomodate to the number of ceremonies he had to attend as hyerin's date.

"hyerin," he started nervously, though he was reluctant to have her tear her gaze away from the starry sky above them. he managed to reserve the entire rooftop level to themselves, knowing if there had been anyone here when he proposed hyerin would become as stiff as a board. 

he dropped to one knee in front of her, and though she pretended to look shocked, he couldn't help but laugh at how bad of an actor she really was. even if she put on a mask in front of others, he could always see right through her.

he proposed that night, and she said yes.

"alexa, play mango love by shawn wasabi"

EPILOGUE : 

 COMMUNICATION IS KEY 

well it's almost impossible for the couple to ever hide anything from each other. wooseok is very open about everything. he tells every detail about his days, from what his trouble student ate that day to the winning point his star player scored that night. hyerin, on the other hand, is a little less vocal. still, wooseok sees the slight changes in her expression that her friends and coworkers may not notice. plus, if wooseok ever asks, hyerin opens up to him in a heartbeat. communication, they've decided together, is very important to keeping their relationship together. neither of them keep secrets, and if hyerin is struggling to talk about her feelings or emotions, wooseok steps in to help her by bringing the topic up and gently suggesting she talk about it as much as she can.

 DAILY LIFE OF A MARRIED COUPLE 

wooseok starts his days earlier than hyerin--6:30am. which means he wakes up earlier than his wife. most days, he spends a few minutes in bed admiring her sleeping before getting out of bed. on rare days, hyerin will wake up with him to make the two of them breakfast that they can eat together. but normally, wooseok is in charge of breakfast and packing lunch before he heads out the door for work. hyerin starts work at 9am, so she usually wakes up around 8am when her husband has already hurried out the door.

from monday to fridays, they both work tirelessly. on occassion, hyerin will stop by the high school during her lunch break if their lunch times align. this has lead to many of wooseok's students teasing him for his very clear love for his wife. hyerin gets home around 6pm if she doesn't work overtime, and wooseok gets home around 7:30pm after volleyball practices end. some days, hyerin will go to the high school and watch their practices and give her own input. 

hyerin cooks dinner and waits for wooseok to come home before they eat. no matter what, if either of them have to stay later, they will send the other a text. communication is key, after all. they spend dinner talking about their day, and wooseok usually washes the dishes. they spend the rest of night playing video games in each other's presence, or cuddling up next to each other with a movie on in the background.

 WEEKENDS TOGETHER 

both hyerin and wooseok don't work saturdays and sundays, usually, unless wooseok needs to go in to do paperwork and hyerin is called in suddenly. so weekends, for them, are their days together. while wooseok loves to go out on dates, hyerin would prefer staying in and binge watching whatever netflix show they can find. as a result, they've decided to compromise and swap out what they're going to do each week. so if wooseok decided they should go to the bar to meet up with his college friends, hyerin can say that this week she wants to spend the day with wooseok baking a cake she saw on twitter. whatever they do, they usually spend it together. and if they make plans with other people, they always tell each other first.

 FIGHTS 

very rarely does the couple fight, but it isn't like they never do. normally, it's small things. like when wooseok doesn't put down the toilet seat for the fifth time that week, hyerin might blow a fuse and start scolding him. or if hyerin leaves the dishes in the sink for a bit too long, wooseok will complain. honestly, hyerin tries to stay calm and rational in their fights when wooseok is the one that becomes an emotional wreck. so most of their arguments are solved quickly with a, "let's calm down because we're fighting over something stupid". still, sometimes they're both being emotional, which usually leads to tears and anger. at the end of the day, wooseok is usually the first to apologize because he doesn't like to go to bed angry. 

 CONVERSATIONS, INTERACTIONS 

what are mature adult relationships like? hyerin would like to think that they have one. they each have their own lives--different careers, and separate friend groups--but they share their hobbies together, and free time is spent with each other. most of their days are spent with wooseok clinging onto hyerin like a puppy, cuddling up to her. everytime he sees her, he needs to have some type of physical affection with her, whether it be holding her hand or peppering kisses all over her face. their neighbors say the couple have been in their honeymoon phase for way too long, but honestly, hyerin isn't complaining. she loves receiving wooseok's affection since she doesn't normally initiate it unless she's feeling moody or upset.

it's true that wooseok is the more needy one in their relationship, but hyerin depends on her husband in the emotional sense. after a long day, she seeks him out to crawl into his open arms so she can grumble about her stupid coworkers, and wooseok can agree with her and on her coworker as well even though she knows she's wrong. he always manages to make her laugh, even when she feels like she can't even smile, and it's what made her fall in love with him in the first place. each day, the couple fall deeper and deeper in love with each other.

still, even though hyerin likes to think they're adults, wooseok likes to throw that childlike wonder into their relationship at times. like when hyerin suggests they bake a cake, he'll insist on smearing icing all over her cheeks so he can have an excuse to it off. or when hyerin is sitting on the couch on her phone, wooseok will pause whatever game he's playing just so he can tickle her sides. everyday with wooseok is something new, and he makes sure of it. 

since getting married, they've gotten busier. they haven't had time for their honeymoon yet, but even spending everyday at home is fun for them. but even after getting married, their relationship hasn't changed. if anything, the couple have gotten to know each other better, and love each other more each day.

COUPLE TRIVIA :
 ANNIVERSARY  they got married on july 21st, 2019.
 VOLLEYBALL  hyerin and wooseok still love the sport, so sometimes after wooseok's team finishes practicing, they'll hit the ball back and forth with each other.
 TEAM  hyerin treats the volleyball team like her sons (and the manager her daughter), so they look up to her. sometimes, they even urge her to join in on their practice matches once in a while.
 HONEYMOON  both of them want to go to tokyo for their honeymoon, but haven't had the time.
 WALLPAPER  hyerin's home screen is a picture of wooseok kissing her on the cheek at an amusement park around the time they first started dating. wooseok's lock screen is of a sleepy hyerin brushing her teeth (though hyerin has tried to change it multiple times by now).
 CHILDREN  hyerin wants two kids, a boy and a girl. wooseok wants five, three boys and two girls in alternating order. hyerin tells him that she'd kill him if he made her body go through that. still, they're trying to have their first kid in the next year or two.
 CUDDLING  wooseok is always big spoon. he will not accept being little spoon ever.
 PHONE  wooseok was saved as "wooseok" in her phone, while hyerin is saved as "love of my life" with six heart emojis. only recently did hyerin add a heart to wooseok's contact info.
 BOARD GAMES  on weekends, the couple enjoy playing card games and board games together. hyerin always wins, and wooseok always complains.
   wooseok's libido is very high, and though hyerin doesn't like to admit it (and probably never will verbally), she doesn't mind matching it.
 HEIGHT DIFFERENCE  wooseok is a whole foot taller than his wife, and uses it to his advantage. for example, he'll put spices on higher shelves and hide the stools so she has to call him over to grab it for her, and he'll demand a kiss in return.
 PLAYFUL  wooseok likes to set up specific situations just to tease hyerin. one day, she came home soaked from the rain and when she went to shower, he replaced her clothes with just a tshirt of his to see how flustered she would get. imagine his surprise when she came out in just a towel and ignored him while grabbing her clothes before retreating back into the bathroom. needless to say, wooseok does things like this quite often just to see his wife's reaction.
 FLOWERS  hyerin hates roses, so wooseok used to buy her lilacs (first love) for their dating anniversary. now, he buys her sunflowers (longevity, dedicated love).
 "MINE"  hyerin won't admit it, but she really enjoys when wooseok calls her his. 
 TATTOO  wooseok likes teasing hyerin by kissing the tattoo behind her ear when she leasts expects him to. she's sensitive there, so it's his trick to always get her to blush.
 PANDA  wooseok's first gift for her when they started dating was an excessively large panda he won on their first date at an amusement park. it's bigger than she is, but it sits in the corner of their bedroom by their cats' beds. when wooseok asked her to name it, she named it 'honey'.
 WORK-OUT  hyerin can credit her only source of exercise to wooseok forcing her to go to the gym with him once in a while. she's always reluctant, but they go twice a week now to keep them both in shape.
 SHARED SPACE  they moved in together in 2016 when they were still dating and when wooseok was still in college.
 JEALOUSY  hyerin's proud of how she looks, so she doesn't mind showing that off with make up and the clothes she wears. but wooseok sulks sometimes when he thinks her clothes become too revealing of her figure. he knows he doesn't have a right to tell her what to wear though, so he usually stays silent. still, hyerin notices and has learned to adapt to that by integrating his clothes into her wardrobe as well, which always has her husband smiling like a happy puppy.
 CHORES  hyerin usually does the cleaning and organizing, and wooseok enjoys doing the cooking at every opportunity he can. though they both hate taking out the trash, so they play rock paper scissors every night to decide who does it.
 PETTY  one of hyerin's favorite things to do when she's mad at wooseok (which is rare) is take his credit card and spend an excessive amount of money on groceries. the angrier she is at him, the more money she spends.
 GOODBYE KISS  hyerin usually likes to sleep in the morning as much as possible, so wooseok will kiss her forehead before he goes to work every morning. this normally wakes her up, but she never complains.
 DATE NIGHT  though they don't have a designated date night, hyerin's favorite type of date is going for a drive to the beach at night and listening to music while cuddling up to her husband. wooseok's is honestly anything that allows the two of them to play volleyball. he's a simple man when he gets to decide what they do for date night.
 EDEN HALL  maisie persuaded hyerin she should move into eden hall with her husband in 2019, a few months after they got married. with a good word from maisie, hyemi let the couple move in on october 12th, 2019.