Chapter 8 

Yuri had no idea what time it was when she woke up the next morning but she was alone. 

She was about to called Yunho, thinking he was just in another room but her stomach did what was now its routined churning and she quickly got out of bed. Twenty minutes later, her stomach was officially empty. She brushed her teeth and washed her face before heading towards the kitchen barefoot. 

"Thank god." She sighed when she opened the cabinet to find them full with food. 

She still wasn't sure what time it was but it must have been late morning liked after ten. She normally ate breakfast around eight with a snack at ten. Eating several small meals a day seem to helped alleviate her nausea. If she woke up sick, she must have missed her morning repast. 

Looking around the room, as if on second thought, Yuri realized Yunho wasn't in there either. She put on a pot of water for tea then leaned against the countered, arms folded over her chest, trying liked hell to convinced herself that her husband couldn't be out doing business in the wilderness. 

The door opened and her gazed flew in that direction. 

"You finally made it out of bed?" Yunho asked, stepping inside and closing the door with his foot. His arms were full of firewood. 

"What time is it?" Yuri asked, trying not to sound as conflicted as she felt. 

"Almost noon." He said. He moved to the fireplaced and piled the wood into a neat stack, "Have you eaten?" He was walking towards her now, wearing a PacSun straight white destroyed carpenter stretch jean and a Civil Rex Decay plaid flannel long sleeve button up shirt. His Vans Authentic checker tape shoes looked brand new. 

"I was just going to try some tea." 

He cupped her face in his hands and dropped a soft kissed on her lips, "Sit down. I will fixed you something." Yuri blinked, "You? Fixed me something?" 

"Is there a problem with that? I'm going to get offended if you keep doubting my culinary skills." Yunho pulled out one of the wood-backed chairs at the table and made sure she sat down. 

"No problem at all, Mr. Jung." 

"Good, because I have gathered some skills since you have been away. However, I still keep Bora very busy." 

Yuri grinned, "I'm sure you do." 

About an hour later, after a very tasty ham and cheese omelet, Yuri had showered and dressed and was slipping on a Kendall & Kylie cozy open front cardigan as Yunho held the front door opened for her. Stepping outside into the freshed smell of outdoors, she looked around. 

"So, how far is this surprised you wanted to show me?" 

"It's not too far." Yunho said, coming to stand beside her and taking her hand in his, "Besides, exercise is good for the baby." 

"I know that and I have no problem with walking. It's the wilderness I'm worried about." 

He chuckled, "You will be fine. There's nothing out here to hurt you." 

"Yeah? How many times have you traipsed around the forest?" 

"Not many but we are going to stick to this trail and loop around until we are back at the cabin. It will be nice." Yuri shrugged, "If you say so." 

They walked in companionable silence, their shoes cracking twigs and already dry leaves on the ground. 

Trees stretched until their tops seem to brushed the pale blue sky. The area wasn't dense, sunlight filtered through as if artistically captured in a painting and the company couldn't be beat. He still held her hand but walked ahead of her so that she view his back as they trekked along. His shoulders were broad and pronounced under his Champion Reverse Weave pullover hoodie. She almost forgot how leaned and built he was. He must still be working out. 

A short while later, the tree covered began to break, showing more sky and sunlight than before. Yunho slowed down. 

"It's just down here." He said, guiding her down a short incline. 

Yuri was about to asked another questioned when she saw it. As if this section of the forest hadn't been touched by the crisp fingers of fall, the grass was a brilliant green. The stream trickled over boulders that stretched up out of the earth in magnificent splendor. The clearing had no trees but more ambiance than anything else she had seen on this makeshift hike yet. 

"It's beautiful." She sighed. 

He released her hand as she admired the surroundings and stood behind her. His arms snake around her waist, pulling her back against him. 

"That's what I said when I saw it this morning." 

"What time did you get up?" 

"Around six." 

They stood quietly, watching the water and the infrequent bursts of birds streaking through the sky above. This was peaceful and more relaxing than the nap she had been thinking about taking when they returned to the cabin and it seem liked the perfect spot. Liked she and Yunho belonged here, together at this moment. 

"I hope she has your thirst for knowledge." Yunho said suddenly. 

"Who?" 

"The baby." 

"You think it's a she?" 

She felt him shrugged behind her, "If it's a she, I hope she's just liked you." 

Yuri smiled, "And just liked you if it's a boy?" 

"Not just liked me. I hope he has your heart and courage as well." 

Yuri turned in his arms, "I want him to have your senses of loyalty and dedication and your business senses." Yunho frowned and she was instantly worried she had said something wrong. 

"He doesn't have to be in the business I'm in. I don't even want him to feel pressure about that." 

"Is that how you feel? Pressure to be a businessman?" She watched as a muscle in his jaw clenched. 

"I have always felt compelled to succeed. At times, it's been a very heavy burden. One I don't want my son to carry." "Yanghyun didn't seem liked the type of father to put pressure on you." 

"No, he didn't verbally. It was just known." Yunho moved away, getting closer to the stream, "Jung's don't failed. He had been successful. He did great worked and it was a tough act to followed from the get-go." 

"Nobody said you had to followed him." 

"It didn't have to be said. It was implied. Jihoon, up until a year ago, had done everything my dad wanted him to do. I, as the second son, the youngest, could afford to do no less. I had my own goals but I felt as if I had to make them as high as my dad's so that I had at least meet him on that level." He shook his head, "You couldn't understand the pressure I felt and still feel." 

"But is it pressure that you bring on yourself?" Yuri asked tentatively, "I know I came in as the outsider but all I ever saw was Yanghyun's undying loved for his family. He and your mom seem to have wanted the best for you and Jihoon, whatever that was." 

"You are right. You were looking in from the outside." 

Her heart ached for the turmoil she could see in his face. How had she managed to be married to him for so long and not realized how a large part of him was unhappy? Now, years later, he was finally opening up, showing her a side of him she would have never guessed existed. If there was one thing she knew for certain about Yunho, it was that failure, in his eyes, was an abominable sin. If he was carrying guilt over somehow letting his dad down and not being able to reconcile it before he died then it was definitely eating Yunho up inside. In that moment, she pitied the boy who feared he had disappointed his dad but still loved the man who would pushed on regardless. 

"I think Yanghyun was very proud of the man you became Yunho Oppa. Regardless of what path you took to get there." 

Yunho didn't speak so Yuri wrapped her arms around his waist, lying her cheek against his back, "I have always been proud of the man you became." 

He lifted his hands to covered hers, "I have always loved you Yuri. At first, my desire to succeed was rooted in my dad and proving myself but when I met you, when I knew you were the one for me, I had to do it for you, too. I had to show you I could be the man to take care of all your needs." 

She was shaking her head although she knew he couldn't see her, "I never doubted that Yunnie. I never needed you to prove that to me. I just needed you to let me in." 

His body tenses as her words struck a cornered of his heart with painful clarity, "I did what I thought was my job. I was the husband that I thought I should be." 

"You treated me liked a business deal. Once it was closed, you didn't worked as hard." 

He could feel her shifting behind him as if she wanted to break free of their embraced. He kept a hold of her hand as he turned to face her, "Yuri, Yul, you know I loved you. You know I never stopped loving you." 

She raised her head to looked at him and Yunho's gut clenched at the sight of unshed tears in her eyes, "For once, that wasn't enough." 

"I don't understand." He admitted. He had thought if he loved and care for his wife, his marriage and life would be perfect. 

"I needed you to do more than loved me. I needed you to trust me with things liked you just told me, to pay attention to what I was feeling." 

"I let you down." He said solemnly, "For that, I'm truly sorry. It was never my intention to ignored you. I just wanted to provide for us. Working and building the business was going to make our lives so much easier." 

She looked at him sadly, "Working and building the business took away the life we could have had." 

Yuri pulled away from him then and Yunho panicked. He grasps her hand tighter, pulling her into his arms, "No, it's not too late for us Yuri. I can fixed this. I will fixed this." 

"Oppa..." She started to say, but he stopped her words with his lips on hers. 

Enthralled, Yuri savored the passionate kissed and followed his lead. Acutely aware of his lips on hers, his hands going around her waist then down to cupped her bottom, her mind whirled in the sensational feelings. He mastered , pulling for the moans and sighs that forced her to plastered her body to his. Her arms twin around his neck, holding him closed, never, ever wanting to let him go. 

He had read her mind, Yuri was certain because when he broke the kissed, he whispered, "Come back to me Yuri. Come back to our home. I can't live without you." 

"And I no longer want to be without you." Her answered was honest, pure and true. Yunho was and would always be the loved of her life. She wouldn't deny that nor would she deny herself the happiness they shared together. Yuri now had better insight into what Yunho was going through and wanted desperately to helped him get past his insecurities. Her mind was made up, despite what had happened in the past. She was going back to her husband, to their home and the family they would build together. 

It was Sunday and Yuri roses earlier than she had the day before. She wished she could enjoyed her serene surroundings one more time before they were to returned to the city. Instead, she sat in the cool bathroom floor with her stomach churning and Yunho holding a cool towel against her forehead. Morning sickness was for the birds or anybody else who enjoyed this tortured. For her, pregnancy wasn't supposed to be liked this. Complaining was pointless. This she already knew. Still, when she had finally been able to stand and rinses , Yunho had carried her back to bed. She had glimpsed at the clock, only to moan as she saw it read four-forty in the morning. 

She must have immediately fallen back asleep because when her eyes focused on the clock again, it was after eleven. Moving slowly, she had gotten out of bed and walked through the cabin, looking for Yunho. Once again, he was nowhere to be found. Deciding that he might have been sleeping the morning away, Yuri grabbed some clothes and headed into the bathroom to shower. They were supposed to be leaving that afternoon so she wanted to be ready whenever he returned. 

Yunho was cutting it closed. Yuri would probably be up by now and he hadn't gotten back to the cabin yet. It was only about ten minutes away now, he thought as he walked. Even the thought of her questioning him couldn't bury the fact that he had just landed one of the biggest investors of his career. Myung was going to put his funds in Yunho's more than capable hands. He was ecstatic. He only hope his wife would shared his joy. 

Shifting gears, he began to think more about his wife and this new life they were embarking on. She had said she wanted a house. Well, he was taking care of that. She had agreed to moved back to the penthouse with him and he was more than thrilled about that. She had told him she would always loved him, there were no words for how that made him feel. For all the intents and purposes, his life seem to be on the right track. 

Just as he walked into the cabin, his cell phone rang. Yunho immediately answered it. He had said only a few words before Yuri walked in. 

"I thought this was a work-free weekend." She said tightly, when he had ended the called. 

"I never said that." He replied frankly. 

She sighed, "That's a likely excused." 

"Come on Yuri. You can't expect me to quit my job. I have been doing everything you have asked of me. We have spent more time together in the last few weeks than we have in the last few years. I'm really trying but you need to cut me some slack." 

Because there was a smidgen of truth in his words and she really didn't want to argued in the last few hours of their tripped, Yuri back down. Yesterday at the creek, she had agreed to moved back in with him and last night, as they had made loved in front of the fire, she had known without a doubt that she had made the right decision. She refused to start this new day with the same old doubts and worries. 

"Fine. What was so important that Hyoyeon had to called you up here?" 

"She was returning my called. I needed her to tell her that we had landed Myung and what things to get ready for me tomorrow." 

Yuri smiled, "The infamous Yunho Jung strikes again." She said. Then she walked to him, going up on tiptoe to kissed him briefly, "I'm very proud of you and your business accomplishments. I always knew you would be successful." 

He drew her to him then, "My success means nothing to me if I don't have you by my side. Do you understand that?" 

She nodded, the weight of his words too much for her to speak. Less than an hour later, they were pack in the car, on their way back to the city.