After work, she made time to visit her designer friend, Seulgi, for some last-minute dress. The latter was baffled because the time is very limited but she managed to find a dress that might be suitable for the occasion. It was a bit too exposed for her taste, but Seulgi had nothing that were her size at the moment.

She went home with the dress on a hanger, and she store it at her closet with a heavy feeling. Now, how do one tell her husband they will be having a party in two days?

She was in deep thoughts while she cooked, not even noticing her husband has come home.

“What are you cooking?” He peered over her shoulder, effectively shocking her.

She threw away her spatula as she clutched her heart. “You scared me!” She pouted as she picked up the fallen spatula.

He laughed before apologizing, “Sorry. I don’t think you would be so immersed in your cooking that you didn’t notice me coming.” He plopped himself on the kitchen counter as he watched her cook. “What are you making? Is that tofu?”

“Yep. I made sundubu jjigae.” She said as she picked a spoon and fed him a spoonful of the broth. “Good?”

“Oh wow, this is good,” he nodded. “And what’s that?” He pointed at the skillet.

“Fish. I fried some snapper,” she shrugged.

“I’ll go change first, then I’ll set the table,” He announced as he jumped down and walked to their bedroom. He appeared ten minutes later in t-shirts and sweatpants, before walking to grab plates and cutleries.

After dinner, they settled on the living room. Jaehyun working on his laptop, while Yerim sat on the floor, listening to a music and trying to write some lyrics.

“Jaehyun-ssi,” she spoke up. Jaehyun looked up from his laptop to the girl sitting below him. “Wae?”

“Uhm, it kind of slipped from my mind that I forgot to tell you, but there’s a party to commemorate Lotte’s Anniversary this Friday. Well, the formal ceremony will take place next week. Friday is more like a small banquet? Between my big family,” she told him.

“Is this gonna be our first appearance in front of your family? After the wedding, I mean,” he said.

She nodded.

“Any dresscode?” He asked again.

“Something semi-formal?” She shrugged.

“What color would you be wearing?” He asked again.

“Blue? Why?”

“Just asking,” he shrugged.

♦♦♦

Friday came by quicker than Yerim thought. She was still in her bathrobe, doing her make-up when Jaehyun finished dressing up. She didn’t think he would pick a matching suit. He was sporting a white turtleneck with dark blue blazer and pants.

“This is good enough, right?” he asked, a bit self-conscious about going to meet her family.

“You look fine,” Yerim brushed him off as she curled her lashes.

“I’ll wait outside while you change,” He informed with a smile as he left the bedroom.

Yerim picked her dress from the closet, feeling self-conscious of the dress. Reluctantly she put on the piece of clothing, hoping she wouldn’t embarass herself tonight.

Jaehyun was casually chatting with Jungwoo through the phone, notifying his friend slash brother in-law that he’ll be coming tonight, and listening to the latter talk about how long his wife did her make up.

“Let’s go,” he heard her said and he whipped his head to see her exiting the bedroom.

She was using a lacy light blue dress with dark blue skirts that matched his blazer. She walked ahead of him to pick her heels when his breath completly hitched, most of her back is showing!

He had troubles paying attention on the street as he drove the two of them to Lotte Hotel. The image of her back kept playing on the back of his mind. He shook his head as he passed their key to the valet. He followed her closely behind, trying to divert his attention from her back to somewhere else, somehow noticing the long blond hair which were swiped to the side, or the light blue heels she’s wearing, the silver bracelet around her left wrist, their wedding band on her ring finger, the small diamond reflecting the light. He shook his head, trying to focus his attention somewhere else, the golden chandelier seems to be very interesting now.

“Jaehyun-sshi. Hello? Earth to Jaehyun-sshi?” She waved her hand in front of his face, shaking him away from his unholy thoughts of her.

“Oh, yeah?” He cleared his throat, feeling a little warm now.

“We’re going to see my family. I don’t think it’s correct for me to go around calling you Jaehyun-sshi when we’ve been married for more than 3 months. And you can’t just call me Yerim-sshi too,” she explained as she tugged the sleeve of his blazer.

“Ah, you’re right. But I… I don’t think I could act out calling you jagi or stuffs… Can I just call you, I don’t know, Yerim-ah? Or maybe... Yerim-ie?” He asked.

She nodded thoughtfully. “Should I just call you Jaehyun oppa then? Something neutral? I mean, you’re two years older than I am. I think I should probably start calling you that to be polite.”

He nearly choked on his breath. He shook his head discreetly, fighting off the unnecessary dirty thoughts on his head, before nodding. “Yeah, that would suffice.”

She nodded before holding his arm lightly, pulling him inside the brightly lit ballroom. Immediately they saw her parents conversing with her oldest brother and his family.

“Yerim imo!” A little boy probably 5 years old followed by a younger one run towards their direction, hugging Yerim’s legs.

“Jihoon, Jiyoon! Hi!” She bent down to kiss their foreheads. Jaehyun moved slightly behind her, there’s no way he’s gonna let more men enjoy the view of his wife’s backside.

“Ah! Our newlyweds! Come here!” her mother called. A minute later they found themselves being enveloped in hugs. It was okay conversing with Joonmyun, but it was another story when his two younger brothers came. Especially Jungwoo. Jaehyun swore he’s going to skin Jungwoo alive if they’re not in laws now. The latter kept teasing him and whispering, asking about his non-existent life with Yerim. God, he hates befriending the younger guy.

After barely surviving her close family, her aunts and cousins and uncles and people in general started coming, greeting them, wishing they would have a child soon, and recommending fertility clinics. All in all, he’s going to have a massive headache tonight. He downed the champagne flute in one shot before escaping the venue for some fresh air. Being surrounded by people felt a bit suffocating. Eyeing an open balcony spot, he stepped out a bit, noticing Yerim is still surrounded by her sister in-laws and female cousins. He picked a glass of wine from a nearby table and took a sip as he watched the view of Seoul’s night scenery in front of him.

Life went wildly for him in a blink of an eye. All he remembered was being shipped to the States for high school and college, being dragged back to Korea to finish his enlistment, being thrown back to the States again to manage their business, and when he had barely adapted to working there, he was being pulled back to his hometown to marry some girl he barely knew and manage the Korean Branch of their company. His father told him he would be marrying a Kim, not just any Kim, but Lotte’s Kim. He found out he was marrying Kim Yerim, the younger sister of his friend, but then again, his friend never really talked about his sister so Jaehyun barely knew her, especially because he spent years abroad so he missed out tons of parties where opportunities of seeing her were huge.

She’s not bad. She’s great to be honest. She shared the same greed for freedom like him, but unlike him who was reserved, she was more open about it. She took chances offered in front of her, silently chasing her dreams. She was a great cook, and she was a great musician as well. She had the warmest hugs even though the hugs they shared were short and barely noticeable because those only happened when they were asleep and always ended when one of them accidentally waking up and immediately shifting away. He was so deep in his thought he didn’t realize his wife’s presence next to him.

“I’m sorry my family is being a headache.”

He looked to his right to see her, a glass of wine in her hand.

“Ah, it’s okay. My family is also like this,” he assured. They were basking in a comfortable silence until she decided to strike a conversation.

“Was it nice? Living abroad? Not having to attend countless parties?” She asked.

He shrugged, “That’s actually one of the perks.”

“Have you ever tried rebelling? I mean, since you’re away from your parents’ eyes,” She asked before taking a sip of her drink.

He chuckled as he shook his head, “Nothing major. I tried getting drunk once, one of my parents’ bodyguard who was stationed to keep an eye on me dragged me home and reported to my parents. I tried enrolling in a dance class, managed to get away with it for a month by lying to my bodyguard, telling him I have debate club. He found out, my parents flew personally to give me the lecture of my life, and I stopped trying entirely.”

She nodded. “I hate this kind of life. I am lucky enough my parents allowed me to take music classes, but then, they never allowed me to pursue a career on it. Thankfully, Jongdae oppa was on my side and convinced my parents to let me help him manage Lotte Ent, when in reality I was more of a trainer and composer than a director.”

He smiled at her before giving her head a pat on the back.

“Yo, what’s my favorite couple doing right here??”

Jaehyun nearly choked on his drink upon listening to Doyoung’s boisterous voice. The said guy grinned as he pinched Yerim’s cheeks, causing the girl to stumble. Jaehyun quickly steadied her position by putting a hand or her back, regretting his choice immediately when his warm hand made contact to her cold back.

“Careful,” he said softly, thanking the Gods above it’s quite dark so she couldn’t see the blush on his face.

“Doyoung oppa what are you doing here?” She asked, pouting as Doyoung had pinched her cheeks a little too hard.

“Well, excuse you, but I’m your cousin and I worked for Lotte, duh,” he rolled his eyes sassily.

Figured out why he’s still single until now and constantly a headache to his parents.

“How’s the newlyweds life going, guys?” He asked again, this time setting himself next to Jaehyun.

Jaehyun eyed him and he laughs, “What? I was just asking you know. You guys looked so cute talking in your own cute little bubble out here. Ah, makes me wonder when I will finally get married too,” he grinned.

“Well, if you started going to the meetings your mother had difficultly set you up and start behaving normally then yeah, you’re probably going to be married even before my brother,” Yerim rolled her eyes.

“Ya! You impolite little girl!” He shrieked, and Yerim laughs. “Anyway, Jung, Taeyong invited us for a little basketball game this weekend. You up for it? And you, Yerim, Minhyung and Donghyuk will be there, they miss their little devil friend,” he grinned.

Yerim rolled her eyes, “If Jaehyun oppa comes then I’ll tag along.”

“Alright, I assumed the two of you will come. See you guys! And oh, Jaehyun, you’re totally getting laid tonight, I can see it!” Doyoung winked and yelled when Yerim threw a canape from a nearby table towards his direction.

Jaehyun definitely blushed.

“Remind me again why I shared the same bloodline as him,” Yerim sighed.

Jaehyun chuckled before his eyes shifted back to her open back. “Aren’t you cold? Your dress is a bit too…. Open,” he said.

She laughs, “I forgot this party existed, and I went to see my designer friend for some last-minute dress. This is the only thing that fits at that time. It’s a little cold, but nothing I couldn’t manage.”

Jaehyun shook his head before shrugging off his blazer, putting it around her shoulder. He felt at ease upon not seeing her enticing back anymore. “Dress warmly, winter is nearing,” he smiled softly.

Yerim silently appreciates the smell of his cologne that lingers on his blazer before muttering a small thanks.

“Anyways, you knew Minhyung and Donghyuk? Taeyong’s evil little brothers?” He asked again.

Yerim enthusiastically nodded. “I’m part of their evil trio. We were all around the same age, so we spent all our school days together. Even until college. We liked to pull tricks on Taeyong oppa and my brothers, it’s refreshing to see their shocked faces,” she grinned and he shook his head.

“Knowing them, now I can visualize your childhood.”

They shared a knowing smile before enjoying the comforting silence between them again until it was time to wrap the party. Gently putting a hand on the small of her back—very thankful she’s now having his blazer covering it—he led her outside. They bid goodbye to her families and they entered the car in silence after he received the car from the valet.

“So, are we coming to Taeyong hyung’s house this weekend?” He asks.

“Totally.”

Hello! It took a while to sneak in an update since I'm busy to prepare for my college's talent show. Wish me luck everybody! And here we can see how jaehyun feels about Yerim. Their relationship is slowly blooming~~~ Thank you for reading!

P.S Yerim's outfit is the one she used in one of the performance during One Of These Nights era in show champion. And Jaehyun's? I made it up XD