Irene and her omma are laughing their problems away, along with a glass of wine in their bedroom. "Did you see the look on her face?" Mrs. Bae asks, "It was priceless; I can't believe Prince Seokjin fell in love with someone like her." "I know right!" Irene continues, "What makes her more perfect than me?" "My Irene will allow surpass her enemies, no matter what." They both hit their glasses together and began to drink the night away.

"Seokjin-sshi...." Minji replies, "I...." "I don't care what happened in the past." Seokjin explains, "I don't care what your ex did to you; all I care is you trusting me." As Seokjin pulls away from the hug, cups his hands on Minji's face and wipes away the remaining tears, he slowly leans in to kiss her on the forehead. "Wash up and get some rest." he replies, looking into her eyes, "It's been a long day for you." Minji nods her head, in agreement, and makes her way to the bathroom to wash up for bed. Meanwhile, Seokjin locks the bedroom door and began preparing the bed for Minji and the small couch for himself. Roughly twenty minutes later, Minji comes out in her nightgown and sees Seokjin asleep on the couch. She tiptoes over to him, shaking him awake by saying, "Seokjin-sshi...Seokjin-sshi...why are you sleeping on the couch?" He opens his eyes at the sound of her gentle voice and asks, "Is there something you need?"

"Why are you sleeping on the couch?"
"So you and our baby can sleep on the bed comfortably."
"What about you; aren't you uncomfortable sleeping on the couch?"
"I'll be fine, honest."

Minji shook her head and replies, "I think it's best for you to sleep on the bed with us." "But—" "It's okay; you're not going to hurt our baby or me." And so, Minji was able to convince Seokjin to sleep on the bed with her and that ends their crazy day.

The next morning, Seokjin swings his arm onto the other side of his bed to cuddle with Minji; however, her spot was empty. "Minji?" he asks, getting up from the bed, "Minji?" Seokjin quickly got himself ready for the morning and heads downstairs to look for her. In the kitchen, Hoseok kindly poured a glass of orange juice for Minji. "Here's your orange juice." Hoseok replies, placing the glass cup on the table for Minji. "Thank you." she replies. As he is about to leave, Minji asks, "Have you ever since Seokjin with other girls beside Irene?" Hoseok stops in his tracks and looks back at the worried Minji. "Did something happen yesterday?" he asks, taking a seat across from her. "It was a small misunderstanding that I took too far." Minji explains, looking at her cup. "What are you two talking about?" Seokjin asks, once coming into the kitchen. "Nothing!" they both exclaims, looking at Seokjin. Hoseok and Minji looks at each other and then slowly turn away from each other. "Hoseok?" Seokjin orders. "Yes, sir!" he replies, getting up from his seat. "Can you leave the kitchen for a bit?" Hoseok doesn't hesitate and leaves the kitchen. Seokjin walks over to the table, stealing Hoseok's seat and asks, "What did you say to Hoseok?" "Nothing; it was nothing, Seokjin." Minji replies, "Don't worry about it."

Before Seokjin could ask Minji another question, he was interrupted by his halmeoni. "Oh there you are!" Seokjin's halmeoni replies, standing at the entrance of the kitchen, "I've been looking for you two." "What is it, halmeoni?" Seokjin asks.

"I've invited someone to help you two with your marriage."
"You mean like a marriage counselor?"
"Exactly; now come to the living room."

Seokjin and Minji follow his halmeoni to the living room and are shocked by the appearance of Song Joongki and Song Hye-kyo. "They're our marriage counselors?!" Seokjin and Minji exclaims. "Yes." Seokjin's halmeoni replies, "I've invited them here to help with your marriage." "But halmeoni..." Seokjin replies. "No excuses, Seokjin." she demands, "They took their own personal time to come and help you and Minji come closer together." "What about—" Minji asks. "I'll handle those two later; now you two go on a double date with my special guests." "Shall we?" Joongki asks, gesturing towards the main doors. "After you." Seokjin replies. "Not at all, your Highness." Hye-kyo replies, "It's better if you two go ahead of us due to respect."

Returning to the private gazebo, Joongki replies, "Yeobo, is it alright if you and Minji leave us gentlemen alone for a bit?" Hye-kyo smiles at Joongki and then turns to look at Minji. "Do you mind if we take a walk together, Minji-sshi?" she asks. "Not at all, Mrs—" Minji replies. "Just call me Hye-kyo unnie if that's more comfortable for you." She immediately responds with a nod and the two ladies start on their walk. "How did my halmeoni contact you two?" Seokjin asks, out of curiousity. "Let's just say that she has her way of dealing with things." Joongki answers, with a smile. Seokjin sighs heavily before saying anything else. "How did you and your wife meet?" Joongki asks, "Were you two friends or—" "We had a one night stand." Seokjin explains, "And we just met each other again earlier this week." "So, you and Minji only known each other for a week and you two are already married, correct?" Joongki asks. "And she's pregnant." Seokjin adds.

"You're pregnant with Seokjin's child?!" Hye-kyo exclaims, "Congratulations!" "What about you, Hye-kyo unnie?" Minji asks, "Shouldn't you and Joongki be having a baby now?" "It's only been seven to eight months since we got married, Minji." she explains,

"There's no rush for us to have a baby."
"I see."

"But having a child right away is fine too." Hye-kyo reassures Minji, "As long as both sides are okay with you having the child." 'It seems like it but there is still one person who is against it.' "You're in good hands, Minji-ah." Hye-kyo replies, with a smile, "Seokjin-ah is a good man for you." Once making their way back to the private gazebo, the two ladies found the whole place decorated with paper lanterns, hanging above them and lit candles around the railings and the legposts. "What is all of this?" Minji asks, looking all around, "Did—" "My husband and I planned all of this for the two of you." Hye-kyo explains, walking Minji to the gazebo, "Since halmeoni told us about you know who." "Then where is Seokjin and Joongki, unnie?" she asks. However, Hye-kyo is out of sight. "Unnie?" Minji asks, "Unnie?" All of a sudden, she could hear music playing behind her on the gazebo.

As Minji turns her attention to the music, she is greeted by Seokjin, who is dressed in a black tuxedo suit. "What is all of this, Seokjin?" Minji asks. "I want our first date to be a little more special." he explains, pulling out a flower crown behind his back, "I'm going to treat you like a princess tonight." "Seokjin....I...." she replies, as he walks closer to her. Before Minji could finish her sentence, Seokjin gently places the flower crown on his wife's head and gently kisses her on the forehead, causing Minji's heart to flutter even more than before.

From a distance, Joongki and Hye-kyo are keeping a close eye on the young couple. "What did you say to Seokjin, yeobo?" Hye-kyo asks, looking at her husband, "Did you give him any marriage advice?" "All I told him was to love her as if it's the last day on Earth." Joongki replies, "And that he should show more affection towards Minji and their baby."

"So you knew about the pregnancy?"
"He told me, Hye-kyo." he explains,
"What about you; did you share anything to Minji?"

"I'll tell you when we get home." "Should we call halmeoni about the set up?" Joongki asks, "I bet she's wondering how they are now." "Let's not even bother." Hye-kyo replies, "I'm pretty sure she can imagine the whole thing in her mind." 

'I can't believe he did all of this for me.' Minji thought to herself, 'It's truly beautiful and heart-warming.' At that moment, Minji's eyes began to fill with tears of joy. Seokjin immediately notices and asks, "Did I make you cry, Minji-sshi?" "It's nothing." she replies, wiping her tears, "I'm just so touched that I couldn't help but cry tears of joy." He sighs in relief and guides her to their table filled with colorful macarons, tiny sandwiches, a tall-pitcher of pink lemonade with matching cups and a small 2-tiered cake. As they both sit down together, Seokjin began to distribute the amount of sweets and savories between himself and Minji. "When did you plan all of this, Seokjin?" Minji asks. "Well the sandwiches were from yesterday, but the macarons, pink lemonade and cake were provided by Joongki and Hye-kyo." he explains, "Halmeoni must've told them to do so." "It's lovely." she replies, with a bright smile. Throughout their date, the sound of laughter from Seokjin's iconic dad jokes echoes in the night sky. "I didn't think that you would like my dad jokes." Seokjin replies, "Usually people would cut me off." "Abeoji would always tell the same jokes to me." Minji explains, "And I kinda like it." Seokjin smiles at Minji and then realizes that it was getting late. "We should probably head back." Seokjin explains, getting up from his seat, "Halmeoni must be worried about us."

Back at the vacation home, Irene and her omma comes running up to the main doors and asks, "Where have you been?!" Seokjin looks to Minji and back at Irene and her omma. "They went out on a date, Mrs. Bae." his halmeoni replies, coming downstairs, "That's why they weren't here the whole day." Mrs. Bae walks up to Seokjin's halmeoni and asks, "Aren't you suppose to show some sympathy for my daughter too?!" "Sympathy for what?" she scoffs, "I told you to not meddle with my grandson and his wife." Mrs. Bae falls silent and looks away from her. "Halmeoni—" Seokjin replies. "I know what I am saying, Kim Seokjin." his halmeoni snaps, "I don't need you to correct me; now, I want you and Minji to wash up and meet me in my bedroom." Without hesitation, Seokjin takes Minji back to his bedroom to wash up from the date.

"Omma!" Irene exclaims, in the guest bedroom, "How could halmeoni do this to us?" Mrs. Bae scoffs and replies, "Once Mr. Kim finds out his mother's outrageous behavior, he will surely come to the vacation home and yell at her." "But halmeoni holds a greater power than Mr. Kim." Irene reminds her, "Mr. Kim is always silenced by halmeoni." Mrs. Bae began to think of another scheme and finally came up with something. "Remember halmeoni saying something about that girl being pregnant with Seokjin's child?" she asks. Irene nods at her mother's words. "If she is truly pregnant with Seokjin's child," Mrs. Bae explains, "then we'll have to make her lose it."

"Omma! Are you crazy?!"
"Are you dumb, Irene?" she snaps,
"Because of that unborn child, you were pushed out of Seokjin's life."
"But—"
"We will need to plan this carefully or else halmeoni will find out."

Irene, not wanting any of this, follows through with her mother's orders.

"What did you want to talk about, halmeoni?" Seokjin asks, once sitting down with Minji on the ottoman. "I want you to keep a close eye on Irene's action tomorrow, Seokjin." his halmeoni explains, "I fear that they will plan to hurt Minji and your unborn child."

"Halmeoni, I don't think that they will have the nerves to hurt Minji and our child."
"If it's their last option to become a part of this family, they will."

Seokjin sighs at his halmeoni's response and turns to look at Minji, who is worried for the baby as well. "It's going to be alright, Minji." Seokjin reassures, grabbing a hold of her left hand, "Nothing is going to happen to you or our baby." "How can you be sure of it, Seokjin?" Minji asks, looking up at him, "Can you really trust Mrs. Bae and Irene?"

"I'm not saying that I trust in them, it's just that—"
"You have to obey your parents's words."

"Minji," he asks, with a smirk, "are you jea—" "I am not jealous!" she exclaims, standing up, "W–who said that I was jealous?!" Seokjin stands up as well; however, he immediately grabs a hold of Minji's wrist and drags her out of his halmeoni's bedroom without any hesitation. "Be careful with her, Seokjin-ah!" his halmeoni shouts, "Don't hurt her or the baby!!"

Back in Seokjin's bedroom, he closes and locks the door behind them, drags Minji to the bed and he pins Minji down onto the bed. "Let me go, Seokjin!" Minji shouts, "I don't—" "Then say that you are jealous." he replies, "If not, then I will punish you." "With what?" she asks, "If anything happens to the baby, then you will be responsible for—" Seokjin forces a peck on Minji's lips.

"Are you going to say it?"
"I'm not jealous."

Again, he kisses her. "Now?" "No." As he is going in for the third kiss, Minji turns away and confesses, "Alright alright; I give up, Seokjin-sshi." He scoffs at her confession and finally unpins Minji from the bed. "I didn't want to do this to you, Minji-sshi." Seokjin replies, as Minji is sitting up on the bed, "But you made me do it." Minji's eyes widen at his words as he makes his way to the other side of the bed. 'This guy,' she thought, 'I didn't think he could be this sly.' "Are you going to sleep or are you planning to stay up late?" he asks, climbing in. "You're not sleeping on the bed tonight." Minji snaps, "Your punishment for teasing me is sleeping on the couch tonight." Seokjin ignores her words and tucks himself under the covers. "Yah! Kim Seokjin!" Without warning, he pulls her back down on the bed and holds her in a hug. "Let go of me, Seokjin-sshi!!" she shouts. "No more shouting, Minji." he replies, "Let's just sleep peacefully." 

The next morning, Seokjin is up early and decides to head for the kitchen; however, Irene comes in his path and replies, "We need to talk, Kim Seokjin." An hour later, Minji wakes up from her slumber and found herself alone in the bedroom. 'Where did he go?' she thought to herself, getting out of bed, 'He usually wakes me up before heading out.' Still in her nightgown, she walks out of the bedroom and heads downstairs to search for Seokjin; however, did not see anyone down there. "Minji!" Hoseok exclaims, scaring the crap out of her. "Hoseok-sshi," she replies, "where did everyone go?" "I don't know." he replies, "When I woked up, I saw no one as well." Minji sigh heavily, catching Hoseok's attention.

"Is everything alright?"
"Everything is fine, Hoseok-sshi."

"What are you two doing?" Mrs. Bae asks, coming into the room, "Don't tell me that you two are—" "It's not like that, Mrs. Bae." Hoseok replies, turning his attention to her, "You're taking it the wrong way." "But I saw what I saw." she replies, with confident, "And I'm sure Seokjin won't like his 'perfect bride' to be flirting with his 'best man', would he?" 'Can I slap the living hell out of this woman?' Minji thought, trying to calm herself, 'Who does she think she is?!'

"Minji-sshi, I don't know what Seokjin sees
in you, but I don't like you."

"Same goes to you, Mrs. Bae." Minji replies, with a fake smile, "I don't know how Seokjin's abeoji never saw this side of you; besides, aren't you just trying to get into his pants instead of marrying your daughter off to Seokjin?"

"This bit—" "Omo! Did I say too much?"

Mrs. Bae stops herself to say anything else and immediately leaves the scene. "Wow, Minji!" Hoseok exclaims, "I didn't think that you would have the courage to talk back at Mrs. Bae." "I have a protect what matters most." Minji replies, looking at Hoseok, "I have to stay strong for myself and the baby; I can't let some woman come and say bad things to us."

Meanwhile, Seokjin and Irene are sitting in a coffee shop. "What is it that you wanted to talk about, Irene?" Seokjin asks, taking a sip from his coffee. "I know you're not going to believe in me, Seokjin," Irene replies, "but my omma is planning to—" Before she could answer, Irene's cellphone ranged. "Answer your phone call." Seokjin replies, "It might be important." Irene nods her head, grabs her phone and heads out of the coffee shop to answer her omma's call. "What is it?" she asks. "Irene!" Mrs. Bae exclaims, on the other line, "I need you to come home right away."

"Omma, what are you—"
"That Kim Minji just insulted your own omma."
"So what?"
"So I need you to teach her a lesson about obeying her elders."

Irene rolls her eyes at her mother's words and immediately hangs up on her. 'She's over-reacting...again.' Just like that, Irene heads back into the coffee shop and sits down with Seokjin. "Who was that?" he asks. "Omma; but it's nothing."

"That Irene!" Mrs. Bae exclaims, in the guest bedroom, "How could she betray her own mother; I guess I will have to do everything myself."

Coming back, Seokjin stops Irene in her tracks and asks, "Are you sure it wasn't anything important?" "Don't worry about me, Seokjin-sshi." Irene replies, "Everything is fine." As she heads on upstairs to the guest bedroom, Seokjin decides to look for Minji and Hoseok. Entering the guest bedroom door, Irene saw that her omma had packed everything into their luggages. "Omma?" Irene asks, "Why are you—" "We are leaving this instant, Irene." Mrs. Bae replies, "I can't stay here any longer."

"You just need to—"
"Irene! If you're not going to do your job,
then what's the point of us to stay here?"

"Then who are you going to ask for help?" she asks, crossing her arms, "Don't tell me that you're going to kiss up to Seokjin's abeoji for help." "He is the only person to handle that girl!" Irene rolls her eyes as her omma is dialing Seokjin's abeoji. 'Always him...why not appa himself?' she thought.

"Mrs. Bae!" Seokjin's abeoji exclaims, getting up from his seat, "You need me to do what?!" "I need you to get rid of that Kim Minji!" Mrs. Bae exclaims, "She is ruining our plans to get our children married."

"How can I get rid of her?"
"Do whatever it takes!!"

"Mrs. Bae—" "Yeobo," Seokjin's omma asks, opening the office door, "it's time for lunch." "I'll be down there." he replies. As soon as she closed the door, Seokjin's abeoji ends the call by saying, "We'll discuss this later, Mrs. Bae."

"That bastard!" Mrs. Bae shouts, throwing her phone on the bed, "What is he so scared of?!" "Omma," Irene asks, "did you and Seokjin's abeoji—" "We were once lovers, Irene." Mrs. Bae explains, "We were made to marry each other, but Seokjin's omma became pregnant with his child and I was thrown out of the picture by halmeoni." Irene's eyes widen at her omma's words. "This is why I want to get rid of that Kim Minji, my child." Mrs. Bae continues, "Once she's out of the picture, then halmeoni will give all her love towards you and so will Seokjin; I don't want you to repeat the same fate that happened to me." Irene walks over to the window and spots Seokjin embracing Minji with a smile on his face. "Do as I say, Irene." she replies, placing her hands on Irene's shoulders,

"And you, too, will have your happy ending instead of her."

• • [ end of chapter seven ] • •