“In case you didn't know
Baby I'm crazy 'bout you
And I would be lying if I said
That I could live this life without you
Even though I don't tell you all the time
You had my heart a long, long time ago
In case you didn't know.”
 

She was alone exploring the beautiful town of Melbourne with a song she heard in her husband’s car keeping her company. He had this song on repeat so much that it had gotten her addicted.

‘Done anything fun so far, love?’ A message came in and she cannot help but think of how she ended up exploring Melbourne all alone.

***

He had casually done it over lunch. Grabbing the bowl of fruit salad she had put together, he casually mentioned, “I’m going over to Melbourne for a month in two weeks time.”

She nodded in acknowledgement, all her polite smiles and appropriate gestures in place. She was trying to mask the little celebratory party happening in her, knowing that she will be alone for a month. He had been around too much that she was secretly wishing he would start to embark on one of his work tours again. She had just placed the rocket salad in when he nonchalantly said, “Come with me, will you?”
 

***

Whilst waiting for the walking tour to start in Federation Square, she crafted a response to his text. She typed, ‘Yeap, waiting for the walking tour to start.’

But then she remembered how he ditched her. They had both arrived in Melbourne on Sunday night due to his work schedule and since then, he was busy with work and left her alone to entertain herself for the rest of the day. Although it had only been her third day in Melbourne, she was exceptionally livid at him. He had promised her dinner yesterday night but cancelled at the last minute because there was a team dinner. Apparently, she was not invited so she ended up eating alone and went to bed feeling irritated.

“You should not have asked me to come with you if you are going to behave this way!” pouting madly, she erased the last seven words and changed the coma to a full stop. Sent she did that message.

The tour guide was introducing the Yarra River when another text came from him.

‘Dinner tonight at 6.30 p.m.? The team wants to meet you…’

‘Oh so now they want to meet me? They suddenly want to meet me after yesterday? Really, I could have waited one more year and it would not be a tad bit late at all.’ She decided to ignore his text message. So she stashed it in her handbag and pretended he never texted her.

When the tour ended, she decided she had made him wait long enough. However, when she saw his following text message, she does not know how to decide what she should be feeling.

‘I’ll pick you up at the hotel at six. I’ve decided on your behalf and accepted the dinner invitation.’

‘He has the gall to put a smiley face!’ was what she decided her reaction should be as she stashed her phone in her bag again, all the while trying to suppress the small smile forming on her lips.

***

The soft random rustling in the room stirred her awake. As she rubbed the sleep away from her eyes, she realized that he was back as soft cedar wood and peppermint scent wafted through the air. Her hands then quickly looked for her phone as she started panicking.

When she was assured that she had not overslept and the clock only read five, he waltzed in with a smile.

“I cited family emergency as an excuse to leave work early.” She shot him a look.

“Well, when my wife does not reply to my message, it is sort of an emergency.” He broke into a grin as she rolled her eyes.

“How are you today, love?” He sat on the edge of the bed.

She got up from bed and walked past him. “Fine.”

“You know, I read somewhere that fine doesn’t mean fine. The scale goes great, good, okay, not okay, I hate you, fine.”

She closed the bathroom door behind her as a response; an immense childish satisfaction filled her heart. It is fun, this whole payback thing.

***

They had walked to the restaurant at his suggestion. All the way there, he tried to make small talk with her but his effort was met with a one word answer. When she started having lively conversation with his team, he had deduced her mood was bad due to a bad case of being hangry -- hungry and hence angry. So he pierced a piece of fish with his fork and place it on her plate bravely. He tried hard to mask his sinking face when she returned the fish back to his plate, muttering something about how she does not feel like having fish today.

After bidding farewell to his team, they walked back to the hotel. He made several attempts to make her talk to him.

“What do you think about dinner today?”

“Fine.”

He tried again, “So, what were you up to today?”

“Nothing much.”

“How’s the weather?”

“Fine.”

He was not sure what to do next so he kept quiet after that as the both of them walked silently back to the hotel. When the hotel room door closes, he felt her rushing to the bedroom.

She felt him followed her in. A mischievous smile spread through her lips as she tried to keep a poker face. She quickly gathered her pajamas and as she walked past him, she heard him ask, “Are you mad at me?”

She closed the door and chuckled. Perhaps it was because he is always so gentle and accommodating that she wanted to push the boundary and see how far can she test his patience. She was sure he is not a saint and he will break at one point. She had forgotten about the saying, ‘Be careful what you wish for lest you get it.’

She had finished washing up after 30 minutes. She had only opened the door after putting on her best poker face. She was greeted with the scene of him pacing back and forth in front of the bed, his expression grim when their gaze met. All sorts of scenarios began playing in her mind as she tried to craft playful response for them. No amount of rehearsal would have prepared her for what comes next.

“Don’t ignore me,” his words paused together with his footsteps. “Please.”

She had not sense the heaviness of his words and so she lashed out, “Don’t ask me to come with you to Melbourne if you are going to ignore me. Speaking of which, why do you even need me here?”

“You are here because I am going to miss you if you are not.” By meeting her pretend rage with his sincere quietness, he rendered her speechless. As reiterated above, no amount of rehearsal would have prepared her for this so she kept quiet. He took it as her still being mad.

“I can get you a ticket out of here now if you want… just please, don’t ignore me.” His voice was heavy. She watched his expression morphed into something she had not seen on him before but one she recognized oh so well at the same time.

“…why?”

“It hurts.”

“Where?”

She watched as his right hand went straight to his left chest. “Here.”

His expression was the expression she used to have a year ago when everything felt—dead and sad. So she tried to change the subject, “Fat chance. I booked a tour to the 12 Apostles tomorrow so it will be pretty hard to get rid of me now.”

He still had not realized she was toying with him. “I’ll let you go if you ask me to.”

“I’ll consider your offer once I am back tomorrow.” She broke into a smile, “Geez, lighten up. I was just toying with you.”

“Huh?”

“Well, you deserve it a little since you ditched me.”

“You were pretending to be mad?” He was genuinely shocked.

“Who asked you to behave like a Saint?”

“Are you serious?” He advanced towards her, his eyes were that of a predator.

She was supposed to be scared of him. He is after all, undoubtedly a very healthy looking male. But she was not. She was far from afraid of him. It was perhaps because he had apologized to her that day Ha Seon conveniently left their bed and he ended up holding her in his arms and snuggled warmly against her. She had pretended to not know what he was talking about but he had openly admitted what happened and promised he would not repeat that act again, at least not without her permission. That is when she knew she could trust him, or at least she hoped her sixth sense is right.

Back to present time, she playfully dodged him and was almost headed towards the vanity table when he grabbed her arm. The surprise attack caused her to fumble and tumble down to the bed. He took the chance to tower over her as he started to climb into bed as well.

“You really think I am a Saint?” An evil glint was twinkling in his eyes.

Really, she should have been scared.

“Saint Unbelievable, which should have been your name, to be honest.” Her eyes were equally playful as her teasing voice. She lifted herself up a little as she backed up against the headrest.

The position she was in has enabled him to conveniently wedge his legs between hers. She was essentially trapped between him and the bed. She really should have been afraid.

“Let’s see if I am really a Saint.” The moment he finished his sentence, he rained a series of tickles on her waist and she burst out laughing her heart out. In between tickles, he told her he would stop if she apologized for ignoring him earlier. Feeling giddy when she should have been running away from him instead, she outright refused in between laughter. They have somehow managed to progress from an innocent position of him kneeling between her to him almost lying on top of her (he needed to intensify his attack and she was moving too much). He stopped when she finally admitted defeat by apologizing.

He had calmed down after a few seconds but she was still in a fit of laughter. She had forgotten when the last time she laughed her heart out like this was.

“There is another reason why I need you here with me.” He loved staring at her eyes right now. They were shining so bright and he had not seen it like this before.

“And what would that be?” 

“I would love to tell you but first,” he started her hair absent mindedly. “Can I kiss you?”

“You forgot ‘please’.” Her retort made him smile.

“Can I kiss you, please?” She nodded. She wanted to give him her hand again innocently, just like what she did previously when Ha Seon was around.

Between him her hair and their flirtatious tickling war a few moments ago, she should not have expected anything innocent to his question. But Chae Young being Chae Young, she thought she had calculated everything. Someone should have told her that Jung Jin Young is anything but innocent, despite what his dating history says.

So, in the end, her eyes widened when his lips met hers. His kiss was deep, yet gentle at the same time. Before she could react, he pulled back and stared into her eyes.

“Happy anniversary, dear.”

The way he had said ‘dear’ made her tingle and a strange feeling spread across her.

The way he had said ‘dear’ made her wonder if he had all along wanted her to pay attention to the lyrics of the song which he kept playing on repeat-- especially the last two lines of the chorus.

He tucked a stray hair behind her ear, his gaze never left hers. He wondered what she was thinking.

As she stared into his eyes, she heard the way he spoke of the word ‘dear’.

It was the way he hoped she had heard it.

Then the song started playing automatically in her head.

“In case you didn't know
Baby I'm crazy 'bout you
And I would be lying if I said
That I could live this life without you
Even though I don't tell you all the time
You had my heart a long, long time ago
In case you didn't know.”

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A/N: Hello! How have you guys been?? Good, I hope! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! In case you are wondering, the song is called, "In Case You Didn't Know" by Brett Young. :)