“Um… What?”

“Well, we’ve been dating for over a year. We’ve moved in together. You still continuously have a problem with the fact that I am younger to you and that we’re from different paths of life.”

“The second part is totally not true. I don’t have a problem with that.”

“But, the age difference is a huge issue for you, isn’t it?”

“Sometimes, it can be. And, I know it would be easier if we were engaged or married or something. But, I know that that’s not possible.”

“Maybe two or three years down the line?”

“Yes, we can only think about it then. And, right now, I am happy with us. We’re already living together. And, I’m happy with where we are. And, who we are together.”

“Of course,” he said, sounding a bit condescending.

“What?”

He looked up at me all confused and I realized that I had misinterpreted his tone. “Huh?”

“Nothing, nothing. I was just worried.”

“Well, you have nothing to worry about right now. I am a hundred per cent committed to you and to us.”

“Yeah, that’s scary too.”

“Why is that scary?”

“Because, if I start believing that and then, you suddenly leave me…? What will I do then? I’ll be sad as hell, won’t I?”

He smiled and took my hand in his. “You don’t have to worry about that, ever.”

I rolled my eyes. “When you look at me all sincerely like that, I doubt you even more. You look so… honest. I hate believing in you so much.”

“Shut up and eat.”

The ride home was really long, mostly because he kept taking me through the scenic route. At home, we didn’t quite get to sleep either. The next day was a Saturday and we decided to stay in for the entirety of it. We made breakfast and watched shows and movies.

I sometimes considered myself incredibly lucky to have him. At the end of every night or shift, he would be home, irrelevant of the time. Just to see me. It wasn’t that he was trying to prove something. It was just that he missed me. I could trust him and that was so incredibly rare from anyone in my life before. Everyone tried to impress me but he just tried to be there with me whenever he could. He wanted to be there with me, not prove something. I always looked at him suspiciously and wondered when he’d get tired of having to make me understand things from his perspective.

A-ri was fast asleep and I got a call from my mother. It was four in the afternoon on a Saturday. So she was probably calling to ask me how A-Ri is.

“Hey mom.”

“Hey Hyunwoo, why don’t you call me?”

“Because, I am busy all the time.”

“Of course. How’s that pretty girlfriend of yours?”

“She’s good. She’s sleeping.”

“Marry her before she runs away. You won’t get such a pretty girl again.”

“She’s a woman, she’s a grown woman. She’s not a girl.”

“Whatever. You’re all children to me. Plus, I spoke to her parents last week, they’re fine with you two getting married.”

“We’re not fine with it yet.”

“Why?”

“Well, we’re both busy and we need to spend more time together. Maybe next year.”

“Fine,” she sighed. “Hey, your brother was asking me if he could visit you.”

“Why?”

“Well, because he w