They met on a Sunday.

Sunggyu had been wandering around the streets of downtown Seoul, as was his habit. It was one of those nights. He was getting lonely, growing agitated, wanting to do something…anything with someone else. But it was late. Plans had already been made without him. Those who didn’t have plans were already asleep. He was by himself for the night.

It’s just one night, he reassured himself as he walked down the street. He only had to get through this one night. He had plans for Monday, promised meetings with friends. He could wait until then, or at least that’s what he told himself.

He’d meant to stay in for the night and watch whatever was on the television, but his feet carried him outside without him even registering it. And now that he was outside, he had nowhere to go except….everywhere…anywhere with people.

He ended up at a park, lit just enough to watch people pass by, dark enough so that he didn’t get recognized. Although Sunggyu would be lying if he said that he didn’t want to be recognized as the celebrity that he was. But it could be problematic. There was already an article out about this strange habit. And he had no desire to see a follow-up piece titled, “Kim Sunggyu: Still Alone.”

“And weird,” he mumbled to himself under his breath, before raising his gaze to see that his usual spot in the park had been taken. A small woman was sitting on the bench, knees drawn to her chest and her dark eyes staring out blankly into the night. It would appear that she didn’t plan on going out either, or at least not for long. Her hair was thrown up into a careless bun. She was wearing what appeared to be pajama pants tucked into her boots. A small smile spread across Sunggyu’s face. He wasn’t the only weirdo out this night.

Then she sniffed loudly, pressing her cheek into her arm. After she had moved, Sunggyu could finally see it. Her eyes were red and shining. Her sleeves were wet. She had been crying. Sunggyu took a step closer to her and lowered his head. “Are you okay?” he asked.

The girl raised her head. And immediately tucked it back behind her knees. Her hands reached behind her to pull her hood over her head and face, muttering things in a foreign tongue all the while. Sunggyu stood there, frozen. He was unsure of what to do next. And as he was contemplating his next move, the girl raised her head just a fraction, just enough to see him. Then she threw her head back down and began to wail.

“Are you okay?” Sunggyu repeated as he took a step closer with his arms stretched out. Why were they stretched out? He didn’t know. He shook his head and put them back down. The girl was still crying loudly, and people were starting to look. “What happened?” Sunggyu tried again. He didn’t know how he could help. He also didn’t know how the situation got worse. “Did I say something wrong?” he asked, mostly to himself, but if he’d be more than happy if she could answer it.

“I’m fine,” she spoke out (finally) in a hoarse voice. She waved him off. “You can go…oppa.”

The last word just barely reached him. His feet were all ready to leave. But he stopped at that word. Oppa. Strangers rarely called him that unless they wanted something from him or…“Do you know me?” he pressed with a small grin.

The girl raised her head a bit higher. The hood still hung low, covering her face. “I’m a…” she paused to sniff loudly, holding herself back, “…fan.” She lifted her hands to wipe her face clean and dry. “Sunggyu oppa,” she spoke quietly and slightly muffled behind her hands. “Ah!” she suddenly yelled and hid her face again. “So embarrassing!”

Embarrassing for her? Yes, incredibly embarrassing. But for Sunggyu it was something else: recognition, acknowledgement. And all he truly wanted tonight was to be acknowledged by another human being, maybe even like this. So he slid next to her on the bench (which only made her curl up into a tighter ball). “Really?” he asked. And she nodded, or at least he thought she nodded. The hood shook a little. But she seemed to have calmed down, so he took the chance, “What’s your name?”

It worked. She raised her head again and finally put her knees down. But she still wouldn’t look straight at him as she answered, “Kat.”

“Cat?” he repeated a bit louder. “Goyang-i? Yaong?” That did the trick. She finally looked him in the eye, like he was half-insane.

But then a smile broke out onto her face as she clarified, “Kathrine. Kat for short.”

“Do Kats drink milk like a goyang-i?”

Now she stared at him as if he were totally insane.

He took her to a near by convenience store because there was nothing better than food to soothe a wounded soul, and he didn’t feel like eating alone. And so now, they were sitting at the countertop, facing the window, waiting for their ramyun to cook. He had gotten her milk as well, but something told him that she found it far less amusing than he did. And she was also preoccupied with dabbing her cheeks and eyes even though they’d been dry for a while. But in the light, he could tell just how hard she’d been crying. Her eyes were dry, yes, but also read and swollen. But that was okay. Crying people looked like that. And it wasn’t like he looked any better under the florescent lights. He hadn’t shaved in a while, nor had he washed his hair. He wasn’t in any state to be meeting with a fan. However, to him, for tonight, this wasn’t an idol meeting with a fan. This was a meeting of two lonely and lost people. One just happened to be famous. And the other had extraordinary taste in music (in Sunggyu’s opinion).

But Kat was still trying to fruitlessly wipe away any trace of crying from her face. “So embarrassing,” she mumbled for perhaps the hundredth time that night.

“Why were you out alone?” Sunggyu asked. Kat finally dropped the tissue and looked over at him. “It’s dangerous for a girl to be alone so late.”

“But you do it,” she objected and then immediately covered , as if she said something that she shouldn’t have.

“Huh?”

“I, uh,” she began stammering, but then the rest came out in a flood of words, “I read that you watch people when you’re lonely.”

“Ah right,” Sunggyu muttered, dropping his gaze to his lap. That article again. The one that he’d almost relived tonight. Why did he ever admit to doing that?

Kat continued, “I was missing my family. A lot. But it didn’t work. I didn’t feel better.”

“Why not?” Sunggyu asked. It never worked for him either, but maybe someone else could explain why better than he could (and maybe explain his compulsion to keep trying although it never worked).

Kat closed her eyes as she searched her mind’s eye for the answer. And then it came to her, “Because being around a lot of people makes you even more lonely because none of them know you.”

“But everybody knows me,” Sunggyu teased. “Even you.” He pointed over to her with his chopsticks.

“Hey!” Kat yelled as she tossed some of her tissues at him, the only ammunition that she had.

He then pointed at the tissues that he’d just barely dodged. “That’s gross.”

The mood for the both of them greatly improved that night. They both began very low and came out…well, okay. Sunggyu smiled as he walked back to his apartment from the shop. If someone had written an article about tonight, it would be titled, “Kim Sunggyu: Alone No Longer.”

It was a Monday when he realized that this could work.

Kat’s Korean wasn’t perfect. She was a Canadian who taught English to elementary school students. But it wasn’t like Sunggyu’s English was much better, in spite of having completed two world tours. And so they spoke in a smattering of English, Korean, and vague hand gestures (or emojis if they were messaging each other). It worked. But it worked like a junk car in comparison to a sports car. It could be better.

Because of the language barrier, the cultural barrier, and his career being the biggest barrier, Sunggyu had doubted how well and how far this relationship could last.

But that Monday, they went to the movies. She found their seats as he went to buy them snacks. When he came back, he handed her what he’d gotten. Kat immediately made a grab for the candy. “Oh, it’s my favorite!” she exclaimed as she opened it up and popped one into . “How did you know?”

Sunggyu shrugged. He didn’t know. He guessed. They had met often enough, and they had talked often enough that Sunggyu was starting to get a good grip on her character. And so his guesses now were, more or less, very very accurate.

However, his dream girl wasn’t the one that he could understand perfectly. His dream was to have a girl who understood him, because Sunggyu knew himself well enough to know that he had his own eccentricities and quirks. Things that he couldn’t explain. Things that he didn’t want to justify. Nor did he want to change himself (too much) to suit a girl’s needs. Kim Sunggyu, in his own mind, was fine just the way he was.

As his mind was whirling down this path, Kat reached over and took his hand. And just that, that small gesture, put Sunggyu at ease. All of the thoughts, all of the doubts had flittered away. She had known exactly what to do.

Not just now either. She’d always accepted his calls and answered his messages, knowing full well that he loathed being ignored and disregarded. She was also patient with him, like she was with her students (and Sunggyu was probably just as mature as some of them). Hell, she’d even accepted his invitation tonight to a late night showing of the latest alien movie although she was fighting to keep herself awake. But she was still there for him. And that was all Sunggyu could’ve ever wanted or asked for.

He kissed her for the first time on a Tuesday.

Sunggyu had been dragging his feet before, he will admit. They’d been immersed in their “Some” relationship for a bit too long, wavering between friends and lovers. And during all that time were countless opportunities to change just that.

To this day he regrets that one chance he had, when it was raining, the both of them were soaking wet, but Kat still looked beautiful, like a mermaid princess, or a wet cat. They were sharing an umbrella. They were so close. But Sunggyu had chickened out and wished her good night instead.

But this day was different because this time, he had planned on doing it. Because somehow, planning out a first kiss in excruciating detail made it all the less nerve-wrecking to him. Also the fact that this was his last chance before she left for Canada, that helped to light a fire under him.

Sunggyu chuckled to himself. It reminded him of his very first kiss, when crush had told him that she was transferring schools. Ah yes, that powerful first kiss that made his crush stay at his school. But now, there was nothing he could do about Kat going to Canada. She had to. But there was something that he could do about having her stay by his side.

And so, when he’d dropped her off at the airport and said his final goodbyes, Sunggyu leaned in and gave Kat the kiss that she’d been waiting (incredibly too long) for.

“Merry Christmas, Kat,” he wished her as he waved goodbye. He laughed as she was waving back, still slightly stunned that that just happened.

But she’d be back in Korea after the holidays, and she’d have her ‘revenge’ (as in hugging Sunggyu and refusing to let go and so he had to waddle around the baggage claim with Kat-sized luggage attached to him).

Revenge was sweet.

On a Wednesday, they had their first fight.

Kat had warned him on several occasions. She had a fiery temper that was famous in her family. Her other sisters had used it as a threat against her brother: “Don’t make me get Kat. She’ll be angry.” She had told them. Sunggyu knew. But why did he poke and prod her until he ended up with a slammed door in his face and curses at his back.

Maybe it was because Sunggyu hadn’t started this day in one of the best moods. It was something about work (it was always something about work). And one of the members (probably a combination of Woohyun and Sungyeol who knew how to rub their leader all of the wrong ways when they were determined enough) had ticked him off. Sunggyu couldn’t remember exactly what it was. But he could perfectly recall the anger and disappointment in Kat’s face when he brought up irrelevant things just to make her look bad. He hated that look. He hated to make her feel that way (and unfortunately, it wasn’t the last time he did either).

Maybe he wanted to make someone else as angry as he felt. Maybe he wanted to work out his frustrations and Kat was an easy target. Maybe. And maybe Sunggyu had officially screwed up things with her for good.

And he couldn’t have that ‘maybe’ become an actual possibility.

They made up that very day, much much later into the night, when Wednesday almost became Thursday.

Kat had told him not to call her, before slamming the door. So Sunggyu didn’t. A video message wasn’t a call. It was a message, and so completely within her stipulations. Also Sunggyu didn’t know what to say. He sang it instead. There was something that was much easier about singing his feelings rather than just saying it. Also a part of him knew that Kat would be more easily won over if he sang for her (he didn’t exploit her fan-side often, but now it was a necessity). After singing a few bars of The Answer, Sunggyu did some aegyo that now, looking back on, was rather embarrassing.

However, it was rewarding. Kat messaged him back, telling him that everything was okay and to go to bed. “I’ll see you for lunch,” was her last text. And that was all he needed to sleep soundly.

There was a Thursday that will always be precious treasure.

They had said “I love you” before to each other, but in English. Always in English. Like most things that he had done wrong in their relationship, it was just easier. But for him, it didn’t get easier than this: they were sitting at the café, and Kat was telling him stories about the students in her class. And then they fell into a comfortable silence as they both drank their coffee.

He finished first. And as he was watching her, the words fell from his lips, “Saranghamnida.”

It was different, saying it in his native tongue. It felt different too. The taste of those words were as warm as the coffee in his hands, but oh so much sweeter. Maybe it was too warm. His cheeks grew hotter as the once ‘comfortable’ silence between them grew longer and more awkward. And maybe Kat wouldn’t understand the difference. How much more he’d meant it, when he’d said it this way.

But she knew it was different. Kat smiled and put down her mug. “Why so formal?” she teased. She reached over and grabbed his hand. Everything became right again. “Saranghae.”

Those words were like music to his ears.

He made a mess out of her kitchen on a Friday.

For their anniversary, Sunggyu wanted to cook for her. He’d never done it before. And it was always just easier to buy food pre-made. But it was about time that he’d stop taking the easy way out in their relationship and start to put more effort into it, starting with this meal.

He urged Kat to sit back and to relax. He had everything covered. And all she had to do was to enjoy ‘the show.’ Which she did, immensely, because Kim Sunggyu was a bumbling novice when it came to cooking. And she found it adorable.

Eventually, Kat stepped in and helped to save Sunggyu and his fingers from himself. But that was after he’d managed to overcook the noodles and burned the meat. And so they ended up ordering take-out from their favorite place anyways. Yet Kat still had the memories of Sunggyu trying his best. And Sunggyu gained some experience from this utter failure so that he could cook her a proper meal the next time (with only slightly rubbery noodles).

Sunggyu’s real gift that anniversary was cleaning up the mess in the kitchen and buying her a new frying pan because he’d inexplicably ruined hers in a freak kitchen accident (which was the reason why Kat stepped in).

But Kat still kept the ruined frying pan. She’d cleaned it up and hung it as art in their kitchen.

Today was his favorite Saturday out of the countless ones that they spent with each other.

And with every step that Sunggyu took today, he was flooded with memories of all of those events that led him here. That lonely yet fateful Sunday when they’d met. That all-important Monday that helped to make up his mind. That precious Tuesday and Thursday when they’d taken a big leap in their relationship. That scary Wednesday that taught him a valuable lesson. And that disastrously special Friday exactly a year ago. All of those days lead up to this Saturday, to Sunggyu standing at the end of a long aisle, dressed in a tuxedo, watching Kat walk towards him in a white dress.

Today was their wedding day. After today, Sunggyu was going to spend every single one of his days with Kat for the rest of his life.

And he wouldn’t have it any other way.