Taking Haerin to Lake Atlas again has probably been one of the smartest decisions I’ve ever made. The idea itself got her excited like a kid. She didn’t go out much and whenever she did, it was for work. My Haerin didn’t do much for herself except get lost in her art room, but she didn’t go out to see the world. I offered, but the girl I married wanted things simple and that’s one of the things I love about her. She can take it up a notch, tour the damn world if she told me she wanted to, but my Haerin isn’t anywhere near extravagant. In fact, there are times she didn’t like it too much when I spent money on her, especially on her special day. She’s a sentimental person. If I had given her a rock for her birthday, she would’ve kept it because it was from me. That’s how she is. Whatever you give her, if she means a lot to you, she’d cherish it. And that belongs in my unending list of things to love about my wife.

I settle our suitcase and bag on the wooden floorboards of the house. It looks amazing as it did when we first visited—for our honeymoon. It was my dad’s lake house, he had been here one too many times. This is his go-to place when he wants to be away from wife no. whatever and this was his paradise. When I told him Haerin didn’t want us to fly to Europe or anywhere my dad recommended (because he went to a hundred honeymoons himself) he told me he knew a place and this was it—Lake Atlas. I had a look into it and decided to renovate the cabin while we were preparing for the wedding. It only took about three and a half months and the cabin looked stable, fine and damn expensive which was something I thought the woods wouldn’t make it look like because Haerin specifically said “please, nothing too extravagant”. Apparently, shiny wood floorboards and floor to ceiling glass windows overlooking the waterfalls and leather couches didn’t go unnoticed even with the small waterfall across us.

I watch Haerin as she stalks toward the glass wall overlooking the waterfall. I walk behind her smiling knowing that my wife can be at peace in here. The last time we were here, she didn’t want to go back to the city. She loved being around this kind of environment. Everything was peaceful and nothing in here could bother her.

“Sehun this is so lovely,” She turns with a smile on her face and I love knowing I put it there, “I love it here. Thank you,” She tells me as I wrap my arms around her and she places a soft kiss on my chest.

“I knew this place would relax you. I should’ve brought you here sooner,” I say and she just snuggles on my chest. I like it when she does this. I kiss her head and gently pull away, “Let’s go eat before we hike,”

She doesn’t hide the excitement in her eyes. I knew she’d love it. When we were here she was so hyped to hike. She didn’t even mind the walk. Haerin loved exploring the place with me. It was our little adventure.

I fix us up a big sandwich and I suddenly notice that she had possibly lost some weight over the three and a half days she had been gone. Haerin never finds it hard to lose or gain weight. She lost them in a snap and she gained them back in a blink. When she was working way too hard, she lost a lot of weight and I wasn’t too happy about it so I made sure she had eaten something at work and I cooked for her whenever she came home.

Haerin looks up at me after biting on her sandwich, “What?” She asks with a muffled voice and slowly chews her sandwich.

“You lost weight,” I try to hide the disappointment in my voice, but I can’t. I don’t bite on my sandwich and look at her while she looks at me with her big brown eyes, as if examining why I’m eyeing at her. Her weight loss, even though it wasn’t noticeable at first look, it’s a reminder that I didn’t take good care of her. I let her run off and be away from me for days, knowing she was at taking care of herself.

“Sehun, it’s okay. I’ll gain it back. I just didn’t have the energy to eat the last few days, but I’m fine now.” She tells me reassuringly and I believe her. But still, the sting in my chest doesn’t go away.

I push myself off the counter where I had been leaning and move to the fridge and take out anything I can work with. My wife isn’t just eating a damn sandwich, she’s going to eat a full meal and I’ll make sure she eats them well. I move around the kitchen and I can feel Haerin watch me move. She doesn’t usually see me around the kitchen because I’ve already finished up cooking when she went home after a long day at work and other times, we simply can’t have dinner together. But today, my wife is going to see me cook her proper food.

“What are you doing?” She asks behind me.

“Making you lunch—well, brunch.” I simply reply.

“But the sandwich is fine. You don’t have to do that,”

“Nope. You’re eating a proper meal before we hike. You’re not going to be walking and climbing without anything left to burn,” I say and I feel her arms wrap around my waist while I put oil on the pan.

Haerin chuckles and tilts her body sideways so that her head is on my right side while she watches me, “You sound like my dad,” It’s not difficult to tell she’s amused by this.

After cooking her a proper meal and made sure she ate everything I put on her plate, Haerin and I are off to go hiking. The island isn’t that big, it’s easy to find the glorious spots around here. We’ve done this before and I’m proud of myself for still remembering where to turn next. I have Haerin walking ahead of me and I instruct her where to make a turn or when to climb a rock further up. I’m glad I packed the right shoes because the last thing I want is for my wife to get blisters from all the hiking.

Haerin is all up for it. It’s really heartwarming to see her excited and all hyped up. It’s a pity I didn’t take her out of town as much and that we both didn’t have enough time to but that’s on my list. Now it’s a goal to take her out whenever I can, doesn’t matter where, doesn’t matter what for. She’s either working or locking herself up in our house and I want this—this excited, hyper and carefree Haerin—side of her. I want her happy.

“We’re here.” I tell her our first stop and I drop the jug and my glasses.

We stand on top of a small waterfall and Haerin looks up at the sky. She closes her eyes and inhale deeply. She loves this. Haerin is not a big nature girl but she sure knew how to appreciate everything that technology didn’t touch. I watch her as she lets out a loud sigh and she relaxes her body, her shoulders sagging a little. She turns to me with a grin, “Let’s swim!”

I only smile wide at her. Damn it feels good to see her excited like this. I can’t get enough of her happy, happy smile. I want to punch myself for not making her smile this much. I have that power. I had done this before. I’ve made her smile like this but I don’t know when or why I stopped. Maybe I’ve been so confident about my wife being the happy pill that she naturally is that’s why didn’t really do much. I feel like an . Get back on track, Sehun.

Haerin pulls her shirt off, revealing the bikini top she had on and it was in black and blue. Today, that piece of cloth isn’t my enemy. Nobody gets to see her in it so it doesn’t bother me. I’m crazy possessive over my wife. I hate it when guys gawk at her but I can’t put up a fight. Haerin herself was never aware she looks like a ing goddess. She dressed simply and didn’t do y on a daily basis. I don’t think she even meant to be y when we’re being intimate. My wife has this certain innocence to her. With one look anyone can be drawn to this kind of aura she has. Any guy within arms length would want to protect her until she moves like she doesn’t need anyone to guard her. I’m glad I don’t have to back off when this happens because I’m her husband. It’s kind of one of the things I should do—protect her.

“Are you going to keep your shirt on or what?” She chuckles as she slips her feet out of her shoes. I pull my shirt over my head and slip out of my shoes too. Haerin reaches her hand for me and I take it. I help her climb down the rock where we will jump from.

“Ready?” I ask as she grins and lets out a nervous breath. I feel her squeeze my hand and I can’t contain my laugh. Haerin being nervous and excited at the same time is an amusing view. She’s grinning like a winner with tomato red face but breathing like she has wolves in front of her. I hold her hand tightly, “On three, okay?”

“Okay.”

“1…2…3!” And we both jump.

We sink onto the cold water but Haerin’s hand is still in mine. When I swim back up, she follows and she wipes her face before opening her eyes. The moment I look into them, they’re twinkling. The gleam of excitement in her eyes is so obvious and she look more radiant when her smile touches her eyes. I love this. I love seeing her like this. I tuck some of her thick, wet locks behind her ear and she smiles up at me. I pull her waist and Haerin wraps her arms around my neck and she grins.

“Thank you.” She covers my mouth with hers and I let a hand touch her face while my other hand pulled her closer. I pry open with my wet muscle and she grants me access to explore . Heat’s building up between us and the cold water isn’t so cold anymore. It isn’t helping that she’s wearing that piece of cloth covering her s. It’s slowly becoming an enemy.

I stop kissing her and pull away and she looks at me with a confused expression across her face, “I’m not going to lie, your ing bikini is doing things to me