Chapter One

He woke up first, which happened quite frequently. His drowsiness had not left him, yet his body was not allowing him to fall asleep again. So, now forced to be awake, he slowly sat up in the bed, his hands still leaning against the mattress to hold his weight. The sun was not yet up and it was rather dark in the room, as it usually was when he woke up. He felt the slight weight of an arm on his waist and he turned his head towards the owner.

He exhaled through his nose in a relaxing manner. His wife was beside him. He smiled. He liked the idea of their comfortable relationship and he adored the warmth her presence brought. He took a little while to observe her.

The soft white blanket of the bed covered her body, but he could see the straps of her light blue, almost white, undershirt. Underneath the blanket, he knew she was wearing her black shorts, the shorts he saw were too dang short for other men to see. He could recall seeing her first wear it, the way it showed her thighs. He could not remember when it happened, but when it did, she had promised him that he would be the only man to see that much of her legs and more. And he was the only man, as far as he knew. He trusted her deeply.

This was her usual sleep attire—a nice little undershirt with either pajama bottoms for cold weather or shorts for when it got hot. His sleeping clothes were actually quite similar. It was usually a white, black, or gray tank top with some shorts or sweatpants. The more comfortable, the better.

His eyes moved up to her face. He was familiar with her face the most and he was used to it due to his many drawn sketches and paintings he had made of her before. But he had not grown bored of it. She was his most common subject to draw, and most of them came from his memory of her. All of her facial features he had adored he could put down on paper or on a canvas. She had these kind eyes that showed him she cared. He loved to look at her chocolate brown eyes that, even when stern, always looked beautiful. Her cheeks were slightly round despite her slim figure. They were what made her seem so adorable to him. A small and cute nose was just above her lips, and he enjoyed the times they could just be lying down in bed and he would nuzzle his nose against hers. Then her luscious lips were next. How he loved to kiss them.

He took a mental picture of her still sleeping right next to him. It was still early in the morning, there was no need to make her wake up. Plus, there was something really beautiful about the way she looked while she was sleeping. Her messy hair, her light snore, there was some beauty and honesty in that.

Sooner or later, though, he’d have to get up and so would she. So his feet landed on the floor as he began to make his way through their small bedroom. He didn’t understand why he felt very comfortable in small spaces like that. Or at least sleeping in small rooms. While he still enjoyed being out in the open to bask in the scenery of wide open spaces, he found smaller rooms a bit more comfortable and perhaps a bit more personal. There was a different kind of feeling the small room gave. He was just glad that Seohyun, his wife, didn’t mind.

The room was big enough, however, to put their bed and their bed could fit two people. The space between the bed and the computer desk was not too far though. When you pulled out the chair, it was already touching the bed, since the screen faces that side of the room. A digital alarm was placed on the computer desk for the both of them to see. And right next to the desk was a bookshelf made of mahogany and it was full of art books, historical books, fictional books, and self-improvement books. Below it were  some drawers that they both agreed would be split equally among the two of them. Next to the bookshelves was a nice window to see the outside world from. From that side, you could see the sunset from the window and they both loved seeing the beautiful mixture of yellow, orange, and red.

There was a restroom to the left of the bookshelves. On the other side of the bed was a sliding door, which was the opening to the closet. Not so shockingly, a lot of the contents in the closet were Seohyun's. And there was a nightstand with a lamp on it right next to Seohyun's side of the bed. So the bedroom was small, but it fit all the things they had.

He exited their bedroom and leaned against the couch for a few seconds to get his head in “awake mode”. The couch was facing to the right direction when you left the bedroom. The TV was, of course, in front of the couch other than the coffee table. He could remember all of the countless memories he spent with her on the couch, some purely innocent and some sensually naughty. Near that spot was a sliding door covered up by yellow curtains. The sliding door led out to the balcony, where he could remember all the countless moments he spent just leaning against the railing with his wife, talking about random things.

When you enter their apartment, the first thing you’ll think is that it’s small. From the moment you walk in, the kitchen is to the left without any doorway. It’s just an open space with a stove, a little countertop, an oven, a dishwasher, other kitchen appliances. It was rather dirty and he knew he could never remember when he cleaned it last. And to the right was their dining area where a small dining table fit for four people could eat.

There was a room, however, that was slightly bigger than their own bedroom. It was the art room. Originally, his wife was thinking about making it the bedroom, but he then asked her if she would be okay with him making art in there instead.

He smiled a little. Seohyun was so accepting of him, so understanding. With his time problem, there wasn’t much he could see himself doing other than art.

That “time problem” was something he’d rather not think about. It was time to make breakfast for both him and his wife. Even though he specialized in visual arts, it didn’t mean he couldn’t participate in the culinary arts. The fridge was opened and the eggs from inside were pulled out. He prepared ingredients to make a meal for two. He made sure to get the rice cooked first. The eggs were cracked, then fried with salt. He decided he’d also get out the bacon. The food was done after just a little while. Before he could go back and wake his wife up, he headed towards the fridge with a marker. He looked for the most recent date that was not marked and he put a quick little red check there. This was something he did to keep himself on track everyday, what with his problem with time.

He almost did a double take. March 16th, a week away from this day, was circled and written there were the words “One Year Anniversary” with a cute little heart colored in. It was for sure Seohyun who did that.

"One year? Already?” he asked himself. Had it really been a year since they got married already? What a splendid year it has been, then. He couldn’t really decide in his head which memory the last year started with.

Was it the one where Changmin dropped the champagne on his jacket? No, that was New Year’s Eve when his wife wasn’t even around. He could remember that she wasn’t there. Was it the one where he had taken Seohyun out to some nice restaurant and they ate next to the nice windows? No, it couldn’t be that one either.

Well, whenever it started, it was probably amazing.

He figured he’d have to plan something. He knew that she’d be on a business trip the whole week and that she’d come back on the day before, or at least that was what she told him. I’ll get to that later, he thought. Right now, the food is getting cold.

He was off to the bedroom. She was so cute as she was sleeping. There truly was something beautiful about how messy she looked. By this point of the morning, the sun was beginning to rise and though you couldn't get a view of it from their bedroom window, you could the blue sky becoming lighter. And this was the signal to him that it was indeed time for him to wake her up.

Though it was still a bit dark, he could see the outline of her body through the blanket, even though he knew it from the very touch of her skin. He walked down at her side of the bed and bent down slowly.

"Honey."

She had a very light and cute snore. It was interesting how she got used to his loud snore, he knew how annoying it could be. But she found a way.

"Honey."

His voice was a little louder and she moved a small bit. He leaned in rubbed his nose against her neck. Her body jerked a bit and she slowly turned her head to meet his eyes. Her eyes were still halfway closed as he could see she was still sleepy.

"Stop," she mumbled, although smiling up at him softly.

"You need to wake up," he said with a grin. He nuzzled his nose against her neck once again and she moved.

She giggled. "No... I don't want to." She moved back to her sleeping position.

"Come on," he replied quickly as his hands landed on her waist and stomach, tickling her. She laughed, pleading her husband to stop between her giggles. He found himself on the bed as well and he held her by the hips lying down behind her when she went back to her sleeping position.

He kissed her neck before telling her quietly, "You have work."

"I know," she sighed. "I wish we could stay like this all day though."

"I know."

There was a small silence before she spoke again. "You're not going to get me up."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. You won't get me up. Not this time."

"Please?"

"You'd have to do something for me then."

"Oh?"

"Yes."

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "What would that be?"

She turned her head to see him from the corner of her eye. "Hmm... stop drawing me."

His laugh followed this question and he got up with eyes still on her. "I'd rather you stay in this bed forever, then."

They both laughed for a while as she was still lying down. "Kyuhyun, you really are something." She finally sat up. "Alright then. You made breakfast?" She could smell the food out in the living room. "Bacon and eggs?"

"Yeah."

Then they were up and about in the living room to eat. Right after eating, they cleaned up the table together and she headed off into the restroom to shower. Usually, he'd wash the dishes while she was showering, but instead he joined her in the bathroom. The sun was rising by the time their were finishes washing themselves and she was getting ready for work. It was the morning routine going just as it had gone for quite some time.

"You're leaving tomorrow then, right?" he asked her before she could finish packing her things in her purse for the day.

"Sadly," she answered, which was a confirmation. "But I will be back before the end of the week."

"Promise?" He sat against the back of the couch as she was putting together her things at the dining table. "I saw the calendar. It's a special day on the..."

"16th," she finished for him. "Of March."

"Right," he sighed, shaming himself mentally for forgetting it so quickly. "The 16th. It's a special day."

"I know," she told him while she zipped up her purse. She walked towards him and put her hand on his cheek. "And I will be here the day before. So don't worry about it." She leaned forward to kiss him as he did the same for her. "We'll talk more about it later, alright?"

"Alright."

With that, she left. All in the morning routine. She didn't always have to leave for a trip, but it happened every three to four months. During the times she left for a trip, which were usually one to two weeks long (three weeks maximum), he'd have to put up even more sticky notes than he usually did.

Because of his problem with tracing time, he normally put up sticky notes around the place to remind him of things he had to do and the due date for certain pieces. Sometimes, he even put important dates on the sticky notes just so he could prepare himself for those dates, one of those being Seohyun's birthday. When he didn't remember, she was the one who wrote the sticky notes or just wrote it down on the calendar. She truly was used to this lifestyle by now, but how she was able to do it, he could never find out. She really did think about him a lot and thought about how to make things easier on him.

She was always the one to remind him of things. He was so glad to have her in his life.

But whenever she had to leave, they had to plan out the sticky notes ahead of time. They even had to think where they could place them so that he would find it at the right moment. Yet she was so patient and understanding. And it was just one of the many things he loved so much about her.

His thoughts were broken when the phone rang. Its ring was coming from the art room and so, he headed there. Once he entered the room, he spotted the phone on the work desk in the corner. On this desk were papers and pencils, but also a few small sculptures he made out of clay and/or wood. The rest of the room was occupied by art supplies and one empty spot near the window for two chairs and an easel where the canvas or paper would be placed. Lots of his sketches were hung up on the walls, most of them were the art works he felt proud of. A good number of them was of Seohyun. The rest were other people he felt were important to him or places he didn't want to ever forget. On those papers, he had written the names of those memories, people, and locations. And when he couldn't remember what the name was, Seohyun was there to tell him.

On one of the walls, however, was a little art project of his. The basic concept was writing words which would be the names of events, people, places, all the things he wouldn't be able to remember but using those words as part of a bigger piece. It was still a work in progress. Currently, the only things on the wall were a bunch of sticky notes to remind him what words he was using and what could be painted in the end. His reason for the project was because although the room was decorated with his art on paper and canvas, Seohyun commented that that certain wall made the room bland. Kyuhyun wanted to decorate it for her.

The rest of the walls were heavily decorated with pieces of art. But there was one spot he held dear on one of the walls and that was near the window. When they had first moved in, the walls were a disgusting shade of green. They both agreed it needed to be repainted. Since Kyuhyun already had cans of paint and other painting supplies, they figured they'd do it themselves. While doing it, though, they accidentally got their hands on different color paints and he chased her around with his own painted hands.

She almost tripped and she put her hand on the wall to regain her balance. This left her hand mark with the color red on the wall. At first, she felt a little worried about it. But he only laughed and put his hand mark of blue right next to the mark she made. So ever since that day, their two hand marks stayed on the wall. And Seohyun even put the date it was made right under it in purple paint. He'd never forget that day.

He reached for the phone and answered it to find his best friend, Shim Changmin, on the line.

"Hey, Kyuhyun," his friend greeted. "How's it going?"

"Pretty good," he replied. "Did you know it's my one year anniversary with Seohyun next week?"

"Has it been a year already? That's fantastic! Congratulations, man."

"Thanks." He began to organize the sketches on his desk, or at least attempting to do so.

"Okay, so, I was hoping we could get to talking about your next art piece that we want to get in our museum here."

"Ah... is that it?"

"Yeah, I didn't call you to tell you I missed you."

"Rude."

"Just kidding, Kyuhyun. But, seriously, we do need to talk about it."

"Yeah, sure. We'll get to that."

"Awesome. Let's meet up tomorrow."

"I don't know about tomorrow. Seohyun's leaving for a business trip tomorrow and I'll pretty much be busy this whole week trying to think of a way to make our anniversary special."

"Well, I'll invite to lunch sometime this week, then. You need to get some food in you. So when that happens, I'll be just a phone call away. And I'll even pay for it."

"How desperate are you to get another art piece from me?"

"Can't a friend treat another friend while also discussing business?"

"I'm not exactly sure what to say about that."

He could hear Changmin's hearty laughter. "I'll call you, okay?"

"Sure thing." After saying their goodbyes, Kyuhyun hung up the phone and went out in the living room to place it in its normal spot.

Changmin was Kyuhyun's friend, a friend that had stuck by him for many years. He knew almost everything about Kyuhyun and he was even there to witness Kyuhyun's first attraction towards Seohyun when they first met. And he was there to encourage him and push him forward. He was there through thick and thin, and past all of the jokes and sarcasm their friendship was built on was a certain kind of caring you could only get from a friend like that.

The most recent topic of discussion, however, was getting Kyuhyun to create a new piece of art that Changmin could put in his family's museum. His father still ran it, but Changmin found himself doing a lot work and finding artists of different backgrounds to showcase their art. Through this, he could make income, but he had only given them one painting and that was about three years ago, thus the reason why Chamgin was urging him to make another piece.

Kyuhyun had another way of making income. He sold some of his small sculptures as center pieces and there were actually lots of buyers. Some of his clients, however, would hire him to do other things like sketch a portrait or paint a decoration for their home or create a piece of decoration for someone's wedding. He had met a lot of different people through his work. Some of them he did not like, others he got along with well. In a rare case, he stayed in contact with a client he had made a friendship with. The man's name was Lee Sungmin and he had wanted Kyuhyun to make something as a wedding gift for the soon-to-be-wife. They became pretty good friends and he even went to the wedding with Seohyun.

Changmin would always comment on his strange ways of working, but he'd always end it with a joke. Kyuhyun could never understand why people like Changmin and Seohyun decided to stay when others left him. It would be so much easier to leave him rather than going through the troubles of  having to help him multiple times. Such a depressing thought. But it was true. Some of his past friends had grown tired of his condition. Some relatives didn't even bother to give assistance. Past girlfriends left him when they couldn't handle it anymore, and that usually took just a few months.

But people like Seohyun and Changmin were different. Perhaps they thought he was worth all of the problems they would ever face.

A/N: So I spent a LOT of time editing this chapter, trying to make sure it's good and not a part of it is wasted. I hope I succeeded in all of your eyes (how many of you guys there are).

Also, this is what I meant by what Kyuhyun's "wall decoration project" would be.

It's going to be something like this. The words create the art. Wouldn't that be nice? :)

Please do leave some feedback and comments! Thanks for reading!