It’s been a month since the late evening run to the orphanage and Siwon’s passionate vow. Several things have changed. Siwon had arranged for Haneul to have a car and driver the next day. He also talked to his manager and arranged to be home for dinner at least three nights a week.

    Siwon leaned back in the makeup chair and smiled. It’s been a month since he’d started spending more time with Haneul and last night was a breakthrough. He smiled again remembering.

    The two had watched a movie. A psychological thriller that starred a friend of Siwon’s. The movie was absorbing so it took him a while to notice something was off with Haneul. He glanced over when he heard her suddenly gasp and saw her huddled in the corner of the couch, gripping a pillow with what could only be called a death grip.

    Siwon grabbed the remote and paused the movie. He chuckled when Haneul jumped and squealed. “Come here, ahneh,” he said, grabbing Haneul around the waist and pulling her to him. “Poor pillow,” he removed it from her grasp. “Hold onto me instead.” With that, he wrapped her arms around his waist, pressed play on the remote and leaning back, put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him.

    For the first fifteen minutes or so, Haneul was as stiff as a board. Siwon could feel her staring at him, so he just relaxed his body and continued to watch the movie. He eventually felt her relax against him. That didn’t surprise him but the joy that he felt did. He’d known that he now considered her as important to him but he’d never once realized that that feeling had become a romantic one. Her proximity taught him that indeed it had.

    The rest of the movie was lost on Siwon. He was lost in thought and fighting desire. When the movie ended, Siwon looked down just as Haneul looked up at him, her eyes widened with confusion. He stopped fighting the passion and gave in.

    He bent down and pressed his lips to hers. For a moment she froze and he wondered if he was the only one whose feelings had shifted, but then he felt an answering press of her lips. The moments after that were a delicious blur of sensations. Her soft hair, delicate moans of surprise and pleasure, the feeling of her hands around his neck and his on her hips, all combined to make that first kiss one that could not compare with those scripted ones he’d felt before. Even his pre-debut experiences with other trainees had not prepared him for the physical and emotional connection he’d felt with his wife last night.

    A knock at the door brought him back to the present. “Come in,” he said, but immediately regretted it when Krystal stuck her head in.

    “I’ve been looking for you everywhere oppa!” she called and flounced in. “Let’s have dinner together tonight. I know a place where we can be discretely spotted by Dispatch and start a little rumor and some buzz for our finale.”

    “No, Krystal,” Siwon said firmly. “I’m going home tonight to have dinner with my wife before a taping of Sukira with Sungmin.”

    Krystal pouted. “You’re no fun! Surely I’m much better company that that fat, frumpy ahjumma you call your wife.”

    “Krystal Jung!” Siwon boomed. “You will not speak of my Haneul that way!”

    “You can’t possibly care how anyone speaks of her,” Krystal protested. “Isn’t it an arranged marriage?”
    “Kim Haneul is my wife! My woman!” Siwon said fiercely. “I will have no one speak ill of her in my presence. Get out!” Krystal paled and then turned red and purple. Siwon left when she didn’t, unable to stand another moment with her.

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    “Are you sure tomorrow will work for you?” Haneul said into the phone in Mandarin, only glancing up when Siwon entered the house. “I need to go now di di. My driver and I will pick you and your friend up at noon. Bye sweetie.”

    “Tao?”

    “Yes, we’re going shopping tomorrow with a sunbae of his named Key,” Haneul replied. “I was going to talk with you tonight about it.”

    “Do you need any money?” Siwon reached into his back pocket for his wallet.

    “Oh no,” Haneul waved her hands back and forth. “Ahjussi makes sure Uncle deposits my share of the company profits into an account for me.”

    “Ah, then what did you need to talk to me about it for?” Siwon questioned. “I’m confused.”

    “Just wanted to make sure you didn’t need me tomorrow for anything.”

    “Oh,” Siwon said with a raised eyebrow and a wink. “I’ll always need you, but I suppose I could spare you for a shopping trip with your dongsaeng.”
    “Oh dear,” Haneul giggled. “Maybe I should fry some chicken tonight. You appear to be supplying plenty of grease.”
    “Why you….” Siwon growled and chased a giggling and shrieking Haneul around the house. Neither of them noticed the buzzing of Haneul’s phone on the coffee table as she received text after text.

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    “What are we shopping for noona?” Key asked Haneul after Tao made the introductions.

    “Everything,” Haneul replied, blushing a little.

    “By everything,” Key questioned. “Do you mean an entirely new wardrobe?”
    “Uhhh,” Haneul hesitated. “Yes? I’ve lost weight and now even my skinny clothes don’t fit.”
    “Whoa,” Key breathed. “I know I shouldn’t but I have to ask. How much weight did you lose?”

    Haneul’s blush deepened. “Fifty pounds.”

    “What!” Tao exclaimed. “In how long?”

    “Two months.”

    “That can’t be healthy!” Tao declared, concern crossing his face. “You haven’t stopped eating have you?”
    No,” Haneul protested. “Of course not! I’ve been eating just as much. I have just been working out quite a bit.”

    “Hmm, I’m not sure I believe this was healthy,” Tao said. “I’m going to keep an eye on you. I’m proud of you for wanting to work out but I don’t want you to take this too far.”

    Before Haneul could respond to this, the trio reached the mall. Tao and Key walked past the stores that Haneul would usually shop at, the ones with the best deals. Even though she grew up as a chaebol, she’s always felt that there’s no need to spend extravagant amounts of money on name brand clothing. But now she has a reason to dress like a chaebol, to prove that Krystal is wrong. That Siwon did not make a mistake in agreeing to marry her.

    “So,” Key asked from outside the dressing room. “What made you decide to revamp your life?”

    Haneul sighed as she lifted her arms for the personal shopper who was measuring her. “One of my husband’s costars told me that I was too fat and frumpy to be his wife, that I didn’t deserve that spot, but she did.” The personal shopper snorted and shook her head before writing down the last measurement and then sliding out to pick some clothes.

    “You’re married to an idol?” Key asked. “Anyone I know well?”
    “I would’ve thought it would be all over SM by now,” Haneul said. “Can you tell him di di? I don’t want to say it from in here. I feel like I’m announcing everything I say to the entire store.”

    Tao chuckled and leaned over to whisper in Key’s ear. “She’s married to Choi Siwon.”

    Key gasped like a teenage girl with a new piece of gossip. “No! You’re married to him? I can’t believe I haven’t heard anything!”
    “They’re waiting until his drama ends before announcing anything,” Tao sneered, clearly still not happy with the situation. “Jie Jie, who keeps texting you? All the buzzing is driving me nuts!?

    “I don’t recognize the number so I haven’t been reading them,” Haneul replied. “I don’t want to turn it off in case my nampyeon need to contact me.”

    Tao let it drop then because the personal shopper had returned with arms full of clothes. They ended up spending two hours in that store, had a lovely lunch, and then another two hours at a different high end store. They finally returned home around 3:30.