---

With his hand on your shoulder, he gently planted a kiss on your head.

It doesn’t matter how many million times he’s done this, the feeling of his lips brushing your skin was like a light breeze gingerly waking up those butterflies in your body. You closed your eyes as you savored the sensation.

“Are you going to kiss me like that too?” Halabeoji teased before tilting and shaking his head toward his grandson.

“Halabeoji, what have you taught me? ‘Ladies first!’” Jinyoung threw his hands in the air, then wrapping them around the elder, giving him the biggest kiss with a smack on the top of his balding head.

“Alright! Alright! Save all that for Nora!” Halabeoji waved Jinyoung away, “Now I have to clean my head from your slobber...” he grumbled.

“I’m just shining it for you.” Your boyfriend grinned walking backwards towards the door, facing you two, and all you could think about was how handsome he was.

“I’ll be back soon, babe.”

You smiled at him. Had he always been that handsome? No, He definitely gotten more handsome.

“...and keep the embarrassing stories to yourself OK old man?!” He pointed his finger accusingly to his grandfather.

“What? I would never tell her about that time you were with the clown wig-”

“HALABEOJI! I swear I will pick up the food and eat it all, right in front of you! You won’t even get a single crumb!” Jinyoung threatened.

Halabeoji gasped and covered his mouth, “Dementia must have caught up with me. I completely forgotten what I was saying. What wig?” he threw his hand up and played innocent.

You couldn’t help but laughed. Even though he was bounded to the bed, you loved that the old man’s humor hasn’t faltered.

After Jinyoung left, you grabbed Halabeoji’s blankets to flitter out some old air and dust before retucking it. He tried to reach for his water cup, but seemed to struggle,  so you grabbed it and handed it to him.

Your heart pricked as you watched him shakily lift the cup to his lips.

You tried to smile when he handed the cup back to you, but he must’ve sensed your worries.

“Don’t worry about me, I’m-”

“...Strong as an ox.” You nodded with every word as you both said it in unison.

“I guess I’m a broken record.” He laughed.

“Nora, give me your hand.” He requested as he opened up his aged palm.

The request made you nervous. You’ve seen the same  exact scene in movies to know that when someone’s sick in bed and asks for your hand; it’s always serious. Like they’re about to tell you the biggest secret that would change your entire world.

Dear god... you prayed that he wasn’t about to tell you that you were his long lost granddaughter or something; that would most definitely be awkward... with you dating Jinyoung and all.

You cough the thought away and placed your hands within his and gave it a light squeeze.

You looked at his tired eyes that were tinted yellow. You knew how much he probably missed his beloved bookstore, where any adventure was an arm's reach away or how much he missed the conversations with all different minds that trickled in and out that store. Your sympathy formed at the base of your throat at the thought of him now lying in that bed all day, probably too weak to read, and with just one nurse to talk to, whom you hoped at least fulfilled half his inquisitive mind.

“Thank you.” The sudden serious gratitude took you by surprise.

“Uhhh… I only handed you water, that’s not really anything to be thankful for, it wasn’t that heavy... but you’re welcome.” You laughed trying to lighten up the mood.

“No no, not that,” He chuckled, “Jinyoung. Thank you for what you’re doing for Jinyoung.”

You stared at him as if he must really have had dementia. If anything, Jinyoung was the one who should be thanked for all that he’s done for you.

“Halabeoji…” You gave him a confused smile, “I haven’t… really done anything for him to be thanked.”

He stared down at your hand as he began patting it.

“Jinyoung had always been an obedient kid. His older sister and brother both left the house at an early age to pursue their own dreams. Their parents were against it. They were so much against it, that they didn’t speak to each other for a few years. Jinyoung, at that time was so young, all he knew was that his parents were always sad and always fighting. So he took on the role himself of being the good child, because he simply wanted to see his parents happy again.”

Your mind flashed back to your own childhood of when your parents were always screaming and fighting. If there was anything you could’ve done to make them smile again at that time, without a doubt, you would’ve done the same.

“He did every single thing that his parents ever asked of him. He joined the soccer team, even though he wanted to join the basketball team with his friends. He took violin lessons, when he wanted to learn piano. He’s majoring in business, although his dream was to be an teacher. He did it all diligently without a word of complaint, but he also did it without a smile.”

Dream? He had a dream? You were a little disappointed that he never talked about his dreams with you. You thought back to when he talked about how his family pressured him to quit school, to get a job and get married. Only with the help of Halabeoji, he was able to do what he wanted to do. Was that why he never talked about it? Was it because of how he grew up? Was he just so use to not being able to express what he wanted? You wondered what was different than that made him spoke up that time?

“There are only two people that I’ve seen made Jinyoung smile.... genuinely smile.” He lips swooped up the same way his grandson’s did.

“Sarang and you.”

The information made you twinkle with pride, but at the same time it made you feel pressured. Were you ready for that pressure? You thought of your parents. Could you really do this? What if you were to leave one day, will you take away his smile, like the way your parents took away each others’?

“I see that he’s been standing up for himself and standing his ground. He’s not living for others anymore. He’s finally living for himself now, and he began to change after he met you. I know you’re a tough girl, but I also know his mother is no Mother Teresa…” He used a hand to cover his mouth to whisper as if there were others that could hear you two.

“...more like Mother Satan.” His chuckles turned into light coughs.

“But I know, if you stay by his side Nora, he will protect you. I also know you will protect him too. Together, you two could win any battle.”

It was as if he gave you answers to questions that you didn’t even know you needed answers to. There was a sense of lightness and reassurance in your mind.

“I swear whatever he said was a lie. There were no donkeys involved!” Jinyoung came in with bags of take-out food in hand.

You threw your head back and laughed at the ridiculous random outburst, “What?! Donkeys?! Ohhh, we’re so not leaving until you telling me about these Donkeys!”

“You didn’t tell her.... about….the... donkeys...”

When you turn back to look at Halabeoji, he shot you a wink.

You looked back at your boyfriend and noticed his forever infectious smile and the lines that laid with undying loyalty underneath his eyes.

Would you be able to be as loyal as those lines?

----

You were standing at a table tapping your fingers on a glass of champagne while you were lifelessly watching all the fancy schmancy people in the industry mingle with one another.

You have been to enough of these now, that they’re always repetitive. Conversations were always about superficial materials things like the rare sport cars that cost more than ten houses or diamonded-out stilettos that people would only wear once. You could never understand. All that money could be spent doing such greater things. Other conversations that filled the air were whispers of pointless celebrity gossip because having all that money simply didn’t keep them entertained enough, and there were also boring business talks. You were just not that interested enough in money to even try and follow those conversation.

You raised your glass to take a sip of the only exciting thing around, the dancing bubbles, when you felt a heated palm on the small of your back.

Seunghyun leaned down and his cheeks came into contact with yours, his lips barely grazing the tip of your ear.

He let out a pant that made your skin tingle a little.

“This suit is sticking to me because I can’t stop sweating.” He whispered then backed away and awkwardly jerked here and there as if he was a robot with glitches trying to unstick himself from his suit without making it to noticeable for others.

“You can’t stop sweating because you stuck yourself in that suit. Velvet? Really?.”

Even though it was Fall, the last couple of days had felt like mid-summer. You can see beads of sweat on his poor forehead. It was true what they said, beauty is pain. Although it was ridiculous to wear velvet in that weather, he did look dashing in it. You took a napkin and began dabbing his forehead