Sarang… Hey Sarang… wake up…

The deep voice called her name a couple of times. She wasn’t aware of anything around her but it was ringing in her head now. Slowly, she opened one eye while squeezed the other shut since the daylight was blinding.

“What is it?” she mumbled, already closing her eye again willing to fall back to sleep. The warmness and fluffiness of the sheets were too good to be abandoned. She wanted to stay engulfed in there.

“Wake up.”

“Let me sleep” she hummed before stirring to the other side trying to avoid the noise.

Chanyeol sighed. He already figured she’s a heavy sleeper but damn he never knew her sleep was that heavy.

“Are you on sleeping pills or something?” he complained, “It’s past eleven” he said but it was as if he was talking to a wall.

“Do you even know how much I contemplated until I finally got the courage to start this day?” he grumbled to himself. “Do you even remember what we’re doing today?” he shot a huge pillow at her. He expected she’d be excited to be his ‘real’ wife for a day.

“Yah!” she yelled as she finally sat down, “Alright I’m up! Happy?” she frowned.

“Yes” Chanyeol laughed.

He sat down facing her; her eyes were half closed and her hair was messier than ever. Without fighting the urge, he gently combed her hair with his fingers realizing that although it looked like a disaster the strands slipped like silk between his fingers.

“Don’t go back to sleep, hmm?”

Sarang was completely lost. Was it a dream? Or was it real? She wasn’t sure but she was definitely feeling her heartbeats thumping in her chest.

She was always like that during the first few minutes after she woke up: lost and confused.

“You mean I’m awake now… right?”

Chanyeol laughed out loud at how extra she was.

“You’re awake” he confirmed, “I’ll go make us coffee so get up I’ll wait for you in the kitchen.”

Sarang waited till Chanyeol’s figure disappeared outside the bedroom door so she could bang her head twice and just when she did, it was as if she knocked reality down her brain.

 You can’t reject me.

With that particular memory, her eyes widened at the realization.

“He’s really doing it?!!!” she half yelled half whispered, “Like for real?!”

She jumped out of bed and rushed to the bathroom not caring about the unpleasant coldness her feet picked from the floor. First comes first, she had to at least wash her face and brush her teeth if he was going to move close to her face again just like he did earlier.

After finishing quickly, Sarang went to the kitchen where Chanyeol said he’d be waiting.

“Good morning” she greeted.

Chanyeol who was standing by the counter looked over his shoulder. She was now standing by the doorframe, her hair neatly combed and her face glowing.

He smiled, “You’re finally up and sane,” he turned to her and offered a mug of coffee.

“I tend to be amnesic the first few minutes after waking up” she admitted embarrassedly.

 “I figured” he laughed.

Only after Chanyeol sat down Sarang saw the top of his head clearly.

“What’s that?” she pointed at his hair confused.

“Uh- I accidentally knocked the flour jar from up there. I managed to catch it before it fell but some flour had already fallen on me.”

By the time he finished explaining Sarang was already laughing so hard at how clumsy he sounded although it’s always him who accused her of being clumsy.

“Yah stop laughing it was an accident.”

“No but this ash gray color suits you!” she laughed, “Really, you’re going to be one handsome grandpa.”

“So you do admit that I’m handsome” he smirked.

“Eyy I already admitted it last night, hubby is the most handsome man” she proudly announced. “Hey, by the way, are we really doing the dare thing?” she asked, “…the date?”

Chanyeol who successfully suppressed a smile tried to act cool about it.

“Rules are rules, okay? I have to” he said, “Why? You don’t want to go?”

“Tshh rules are rules” she repeated what he said with a giddy smile. “Where are we going?”

He thought for a minute. When he asked his sister last night she said it all depended on what Sarang prefers but that he didn’t know. He figured she’d be bored if they went to watch a movie since she’s more of an active and talkative person, although it would have been easier for him since it meant less talking.

But the dare said he had to act like a real loving husband so he had to stick to that.

“Listen carefully,” he started, “You must take a good advantage of today. Today you’re the lucky one, because I am giving you unlimited options. You can choose whatever you want to do and I’ll do it.”

~

It was lunch time when the two were finally ready to go out, but neither of them was hungry since they had a late breakfast thanks to Sarang’s messed up waking up schedule.

Sarang wore a long red coat over her clothes and she insisted that Chanyeol wears red too because they were a couple for the whole day. Without having much of an option he did wear a red sweater but above it he wore a black coat.

“So where are we going?” he asked as he started the engine and drove into the main road.

“Will start with the N Seoul Tower” she decided.

Sarang had a mini list of a few places she wanted to go to with Chanyeol. It wasn’t for the place itself, it was just that she wanted to go there with him in particular and this day might be her only chance if he still insisted on keeping the distance between the two of them after it.

The drive there wasn’t long and it passed by even quicker since the two were talking about random stuff the whole way, of course when Sarang wasn’t singing along to every song that came on the radio.

Sarang inhaled the fresh air in, then slowly let it out. The top of the tower was the most amazing place, especially with the overall view of the city and the Han River.

“So beautiful” she said, “Right?”

Chanyeol nodded enjoying the fresh air and the pleasing sight.

 “How come you chose this place?”

“Should I really say it?” she laughed.

Chanyeol looked at her expectedly.

“The last time I came here I was with Jongin and Yoonseul, and it seemed like everyone else came with their partners too” she started. “Everyone was hugging, gazing at each other’s eyes with so much love, kissing, and you know, doing all those romantic things while I never came here with a partner” she laughed shyly because she thought she sounded stupid and childish.

“Why are you looking at me like this?” She avoided his eyes, “You said I should take advantage of this day.”

“You should” he spoke calmly, as if he wasn’t completely taken away by the way she struggled to move her hair off her face but constantly failed because the air was unstoppably blowing.

“Then should we lock a padlock together?” she suggested with sparkling eyes. She couldn’t help it, she always wanted to lock a padlock as a symbol of love and to her, Chanyeol was the right one. He might not love her but her heart already belonged to him.

“Alright, let’s hang one.”

As soon as he agreed, Sarang held onto his arm happily and walked together with him to the fence where an unbelievable number of padlocks were hanging.

“Woah this is so incredible” she squealed as she took out her phone and started taking photos of the fence.

Chanyeol involuntarily smiled when he saw how happy she looked when they hanged the padlock. It was seriously such a simple thing yet it made her glow with happiness and it was somehow satisfying.

“Why haven’t you came with a partner before?” Chanyeol asked as the two started walking away, “I mean, I’m kinda sure you had a boyfriend at some point.”

Sarang tucked her hands in her pockets protecting them from the harsh cold.

“I’ve had before” she confirmed, “But I don’t know… it’s complicated” she shrugged.

“I can follow up.”

“I guess none of them really liked me,” she looked away. “It seemed like they were always after two things, either money or , or both.”

Chanyeol stopped walking. What she said sounded painfully familiar.

“What happened?” he asked.

Sarang stopped too when she realized that she was now ahead of Chanyeol. She turned around to face him.

“What happened with what?”

Chanyeol took a step closer to reduce the distance. “How did you know they were after that and not really you?”

“Ahh, that’s embarrassing…” she pushed her hair back. “You just know when they keep asking for money but when one day you don’t give it to them they leave” she breathed a bitter laugh, “Or when they just want to get you in bed but leave you when you decide that you need more time before you do it.”

Sarang turned around and Chanyeol followed when she started walking. He never expected that she had her heart broken before, it was always the cheerfulness that he saw in her.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that” he said. He knew exactly what it felt like to be used for those same two reasons, and he knew how awful it was.

“Eyy, it’s okay” Sarang assured and he realized how much of a relief it was that she smiled back like she usually does. “It hurts when you realize they just want to use you for such reasons, but I never allowed them to get what they wanted anyway. I tried being in a relationship twice, but in both times I managed to understand their real intentions before falling hard so I’m safe” she laughed