Heechul walked into the kitchen and started to make that morning's coffee. It wasn't too hard to find all of the things needed to make the desired drink. Hankyung had the coffee and filters sitting next to the coffee maker. It took her a moment to realize that a genuine smile had spread across her face. (Thank goodness her back was to the door.) The muscles in her cheeks were cramping up due to the rare expression. This was possibly the first time in a long while since she has been this genuinely happy about anything. She immediately wiped it off of her face though. She had a reputation to protect after all. 

Hankyung stood up and folded the blankets, putting them back into the airing closet. He walked over to the door, peeking into the kitchen as he passed it to see Heechul watching the coffee maker as if it were going to explode at any moment, and picked up the mail from the floor below the mail slot. Bill. Bill. Bill. Junk. Bill. He froze at the final envelope.

He wasn't sure how long he stood there but it must have been a while because Heechul's voice coming from the living room was what brought him out of his stupor. He put the white envelope in the middle of the stack and turned around, receiving the mug Heechul handed him. 

"You alright?" she asked, watching his face carefully. He smiled.

"Of course. A lot of bills." He flashed the stack in front of Heechul's face then walked off to the kitchen to put them on the table, taking his seat across from the woman who was now officially living with him.

"So what are your plans for today?" he asked. Heechul bit her bottom lip in thought.

"I guess I'll go to the grocery store. You're short on food." she smirked, referring to the empty cabinets surrounding them. How the man survived, she did not know. But then again, he was a chef. Maybe he just typically ate at work. "Then I may go to the bookstore. I got a check from my publisher yesterday and I need a new book." 

Hankyung nodded, taking a sip of his coffee. He winced. It was a bit strong. How the woman could drink that strong of a drink was beyond him. But oh well. He would just have to get used to it. He took a piece of toast from the middle of the table and started eating. 

"Well since you're going to be living here now, why don't you go ahead and start looking for some furniture. Make the place as homey as you'd like." Hankyung offered, regretting the statement almost immediately when he saw the expression that crossed Heechul's face. 

"Sounds good." She grinned. Hankyung tried not to imagine the bank statements. 

The next couple of weeks went the same way. Heechul had eventually turned the apartment into something a little more feminine than the original bachelor pad she had moved into. The guest bedroom was now somewhat of a study where she would keep all of her books and her writing materials. Hankyung did the cooking every night when they didn't order take-out. There was a sense of routine to everything. That was something both Heechul and Hankyung appreciated. 

The loud buzzing of the alarm clock brought Hankyung down to earth from his dreamland that morning. 

"Alright, alright. I'm up." He said, hitting the inanimate object to stop the incessant beeping. He sat up and stretched the kinks out of his back and neck before getting out of bed. 

"Remind me to burn that thing." Heechul mumbled into her pillow. Hankyung stifled a laugh when the radio went off as the second alarm and Heechul sat up, looking ready to kill. She glared at the man over her shoulder through a mess of what was now dark red hair. (She had gotten bored with the light brown and decided she needed a bit of color in her life... or in this case her hair.) 

"Just because you have to go to a boring day job doesn't mean I have to get up." 

Hankyung shut off the radio, now fully awake, and tried not to laugh at the sight of his girlfriend retreating under the now free covers as he walked into the bathroom to get ready for the day. When he finally emerged, Heechul was no longer in bed. He found her in the kitchen placing two cups of coffee and a plate of toast on the table. He walked up and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, planting a quick kiss on the back of her neck.

"Good morning." he said.

"Yeah. Yeah. Eat your breakfast." she said, motioning to the table. Hankyung happily obliged and took his spot, grabbing a piece of toast as he did. 

"Any big plans for work today?" Heechul asked, throwing a few things in the sink, mentally promising that she'd clean them later.

"Nothing really. We've got a couple of parties booked for today but that's about it." he answered, washing down the dry toast with his coffee. "When's your next deadline?" He asked, trying to change the subject. 

"Do you even need to ask?" Heechul answered as she sipped her coffee and spread a copious amount of Nutella on a piece of toast. It was true. Hankyung didn't need to ask. He knew her schedule as well as she knew his. The only thing was, he was never sure how the woman got her work done on time. But, then again, that was one of the many mysteries about Heechul that made Hankyung fall so madly in love with her.

After the couple had eaten, Hankyung grabbed a few last minute things from their room for work. When he walked back out of the room, he spent a moment watching Heechul who was sitting on the couch, her laptop on her lap typing away, occasionally running a hand through her hair. He smiled before walking up behind her and leaning in to kiss her on the cheek. She turned her head slightly towards him to allow the kiss, not taking her eyes off of the screen. 

"I'll see you this afternoon." He said. Heechul nodded and settled back into her writing. 

When Hankyung finally came home that afternoon, his heart was racing. He walked into the apartment and saw little to no changes to the interior. Heechul was no longer on the couch where he had left her that morning. He walked back into the guest-room-turned-Heechul's-study, seeing the light glowing down the hall. Multiple bookshelves leaned against the walls reaching from the ceiling to the floor. Each shelf held a neat array of book spines organized according to genre and author. Even more books sat piled on the ground around the shelves. A particularly neat stack served as a makeshift table next to a bright red worn loveseat that Heechul was currently curled up in, a impossibly thick hardback resting on the black throw that was draped over her knees. Her new cat he had gotten her as a birthday present lay curled up by her side.

"Have you eaten?" Hankyung asked, his heart slowing now. She gave a mumbled 'hm' that Hankyung determined to be a negative. He walked over to her and stood behind her. He noticed her shifting her shoulders unconsciously. "You really need to learn not to sit like this for too long. You're going to ruin your back." It was a weak attempt at scolding the woman. Hankyung knew nothing would get across to her. He had already tried. Now he was just preaching to the choir. He settled for helping her get the kinks out of her shoulders. 

"I don't realize I'm doing it." Heechul answered, her head lolling back and eyes closing as she felt the tension leave her body, Hankyung's hands working miracles on her neck and shoulders. He leaned down and kiss her forehead.

She was safe. No. There was no way he was going to let her know about the phone call or the letter. They had just gotten out of that life. They weren't going back in. Not now. Not ever. Or at least that's what Hankyung hoped.