Misun always thought that living in the country side would be a boring affair, especially for a person like her who was born and brought up in the city. Sure, country side is beautiful, peaceful and above all pollution free, but it seriously lacked the thrill and  excitement of busy life people led in the city. For her, countryside is for taking a nice brief break from her hectic schedule. So when Kris asked her whether she could move in with him at Damyang, she had a lot of misgivings. Yes, she deserved a much needed break but she didn’t know whether she would be able to survive the dull country life for any extended period of time. So, it came as a surprise when she found out that  her life now is nothing like what she expected it to be in Damyang.

It’s already been a month since she came to Damyang and never once did she think that life was dull and dragging here. Her days were fully packed with activities, that the weeks passed by in a blur. Her mornings always started with having breakfast with the two boys, who to her great surprise got along really well. The only misgiving Kris had about Sehun was his long brown hair. According to Kris , it was longer than necessary and unkempt. But Misun had a different way of interpreting it- jelousy- because of Sehun’s perfect looks.

“Do something with your hair.” Was Kris’s greeting to Sehun every single morning. Even though Sehun kept repeating that it was the careless disarray style he was going for and that  the unkempt hairdo was intentional, kris took none of it.

Breakfast was always followed by the both of them doing their respective chores. Sometimes, Sehun stayed back and helped since he didn’t have much to do in his place. Then they would go to the orchard and tend the plants and it always lasted till the afternoon. After lunch, they would work on Misun’s articles until kris came back. Then the three of them would make dinner at Sehun’s place and chat until it was time to go to bed.

Kris’s clinic was- there was no other word for it -thriving. But Misun had to admit that it was less hectic compared to his work back in Seoul. Most of his patients were old people, who lived alone and didn’t have enough money to buy medicines for themselves. The younger population of Damyang were much healthier since  their daily routine and their eating habits ensured their fitness and hence they seldom visited him. Kris also managed to acquire a small medical dispensary nearby his clinic to supply medicines for his patients, for free. He also had two assistants. One of them was a handicapped boy around Misun’s age. Kris found out that the boy had trouble finding  a job because of his physical condition and hence scouted him out to work at the medical dispensary. The boy had a twin sister, and she worked as Kris’s assistant at the clinic.

Both Misun and Sehun helped Kris at his clinic occasionally whenever the siblings took their day off. Misun enjoyed working there too. At first Misun thought that it was because of seeing the happiness on the patients’ faces when they were given free medical consultations, but later realized that it was because she worked with Sehun. He had this aura of happiness and positive energy which never failed to infect the people around him. His spirits always soared high and no one could dampen them. She found out that as long as Sehun was around, she was upto anything.

During the weekends, the duo also managed to go on short trekking around Damyang, while kris used the weekends to catch up with his sleep. Even though the trips were purely for research purposes according to Sehun, Misun considered them as weekend adventures. While Sehun collected wild herbs and took notes about the wild plants and their qualities, Misun ran around chasing birds and animals. Misun never felt this free before in her life and she loved being this way immensely.

It was a Friday night and both Sehun and Misun were hanging around Sehun’s living room.

“Okay, so this is where we are going this weekend.” Sehun said, as he beckoned Misun to come forward and look at the picture he had opened on his laptop. It was a beautiful landscape, with a cliff on one end and a beautiful waterfall on the opposite end. The water below was a pale turquoise and Misun immediately started fantasizing about going there.

“It’s a restricted area though.” Sehun mused as he watched Misun jump around in excitement.

“What?” Misun’s face fell and she deflated like a balloon.

“No worries, though. I have entry pass from the Damyang Forestry Department.” Sehun wiggled his eyebrows as he produced two passes from his pockets.

“You are the best!!” Misun ran forwards and hugged Sehun from behind the couch.

“I thought kris was the best?” Sehun joked as he reached towards the back and ruffled her hair.

“Not anymore.” Misun said with a wink.

“Kris should know about this then.” Sehun said with a smug smile and typed something on his phone.

“What are you doing?” Misun asked frowing when Sehun hid the screen with his other hand.

“Well, I’m informing Kris that his post as the ‘best’ has been stripped off him and that it’s mine now.” Sehun said matter of factly.

“Why don’t you ask the best guy in the world to cook dinner for you?” Kris snapped as he placed a plate of food in front of Misun with  more force than necessary causing some of the food to spill. Kris and Misun were having dinner alone this time since Sehun had enough sense not to present himself infront of Kris within arm’s reach after causing the trouble.

“Some one’s jealous…” Misun sang as she dug in.

“I’m not.” Kris snapped.

“I never said it was you.” Misun said with a sly grin.

“Whatever.” Kris said as he started eating too. But there was an angry pout to his lips which made Misun smile.

Misun was still sleeping when her phone rang Saturday morning. She groaned and picked up the phone without bothering to open her eyes.

“Hello?” she mumbled, fighting a huge yawn.

“This is Jiyoung.” A male voice responded from the other end.

“Sir!! Morning.” Misun sat bolt upright and rubbed frantically at her eyes to rid them of sleep.

“Misun, I hope you are doing well.” Jiyoung said with a hint of a smile on his voice.

“Yes, sir. I hope you are well and good too.” Misun said, politely.

“Yes, I am. Actually I am calling you to let you know that we have decided to put your article about Korean country life as the prime feature of our next issue. Send additional pictures to my mail and I will pick one of them as our cover page.”

It took a moment for Misun to understand what he said.

“Sir, that’s a great honour for me!!!” Misun gushed unable to believe what he said. This is the first time her article is getting the priority even though she has written numerous articles before as a part of her work.

“It’s that your article has a lot of promise. We believe that with your article, our magazine will play a role, irrespective of how small the role might be, in promoting Korean tourism.” Jiyoung said.

“Thank you.” Misun said with her voice full of emotion.

“If you have time, do come to the headquarters sometime. We miss you.” He said before hanging up.

Misun fist punched the air and ran downstairs.

“Yes!! My article is getting featured!!” She shouted as she pulled kris into a bone crushing hug, crumpling his neatly ironed shirt in the process.

“can’t breathe.” Kris wheezed as he struggled with Misun’s grip.

“I’m going to Sehun’s. See you later!” Misun ran out of the house.

“Wear something decent!” Kris shouted as he ran after her. She had a tanktop and a shorts on and nothing else. Even though the weather was cold, she was used to sleeping like this since she was a kid and its too late to break out of her habit. Kris stopped when he realized that it would be impossible to outrun her. Besides, he had breakfast to make.

“Hunnie, my article is the prime feature this issue.” She said bubbling with happiness as soon as she spotted him in the garden already making a new flower bed.

Before Sehun could respond to what she said, she launched herself onto him and he caught her around her waist on pure reflex.

“You are heavier than I thought.” He mused as he looked up at her smiling face.

Misun widened her eyes when she realized that their faces were only inches apart with their breaths misting against each other. Misun immediately struggled to free herself off Sehun’s grip and at the same time tried really hard to hide her embarrassingly red face.

Sehun gently released her and set her down on the ground.

“Congratulations, you owe me a treat.” He said.

“Sure ! we can go out for dinner. What do you say?” Misun asked with sparkling eyes. “Are there any nice restaurants in Damyang?”

“Actually I have a better idea. My report is finally done and it’s almost time for my monthly visit to the research centre in Seoul. I’m planning to go tomorrow. Why don’t you come along with me? We can have dinner there as soon as I finish my work. We can go trekking next weekend.”

“Who will be there at the center on a Sunday?” Misun mocked, folding her hands across her chest.

“We scientists work every single day.” Sehun retorted and smacked her forehead.

“What will I do when you are working?” Misun asked thoughtfully.

“You can take a look around the facility if you wish.” Sehun suggested.

“I thought the works you do there are confidential?” Misun asked.

“It is. They make you sign a confidentiality agreement before issuing a pass for you. So yeah, No issues.” Sehun explained.

“If that’s the case I’m in.” She high-fived Sehun.

“I should get going. I haven’t brushed yet.” She admitted sheepishly as she turned around. But, Sehun caught her arm.

“Wait, wear this. You are exposing too much skin.” He said and took off his knit sweater and pulled it down her head. Misun’s heart rose to when she saw Sehun in only his wife beater. For the first time after meeting Sehun, she was seeing him in a near shirtless state. Just like she had imagined countless times, his skin was flawless, if one was ready to overlook the web of veins that adorned his forearms and biceps…Damn why are they so attractive???? She could also make out his chiselled abs and chest through the thin fabric that was covering his torso. Misun found it hard to take her eyes away from him and also had trouble breathing.

Damn you, Sehun!!! she cursed as she struggled with the sweater and ran away and didn’t stop until she was in her room and was safely buried under her covers.

Misun dressed up Sunday morning for their trip to Seoul . This is the first time she is going back to city after coming to Damyang. Is she ready to go back to the place that