Jaehyun stared at his cellphone. His mother just informed him that they will be having a Christmas dinner on the 23rd, with the reason that so their children can spend the “real” Christmas eve with their own little family.

“Your mother called?” Yerim appeared from the kitchen with 2 cups of hot chocolate. It’s heavily snowing outside so they decided to spend the weekend indoor.

“Yeah. Dinner at my house next week,” He shrugged.

She nodded as she sipped on her drink. “I haven’t seen your parents in months, it’s alright. We’ll probably have dinner at my home too that week,” She shrugged.

♦♦♦

Thursday came faster than they expected. Jaehyun was dressed warmly in a long-sleeved shirt and sweaters, while Yerim dolled herself in a turtleneck woolen dress. When they arrived at Jaehyun’s home, it was noisy, probably due to Jaehyun’s niece and nephew.

“Uncle Jae!” A 7 years old girl run towards Jaehyun’s direction and he gladly welcomed the girl into his arm,

“Hi, Raena. How are you doing?” He asks.

The girl beamed, “I missed you! And oh, hi Auntie Rim!”

Yerim grinned before giving the little girl a hug. The last time she saw her was probably 8 months ago during their wedding.

“Oh, you’ve came. Hi, brother,” Yunho, Jaehyun’s older brother went to give him a hug before turning toward Yerim to give her a hug too. They went inside and was greeted by the sight of Rion, Raena’s 5 years old younger brother chasing the family’s dog.

“Ah, son! And Yerim! Come here, come here, food will be served shortly!” Jaehyun’s mother welcomed them. They were soon ushered to the big dining table where different kinds of food were being served. After the hearty dinner, they boys went to the porch to drink some beer while the ladies stayed inside.

“So, Yerim, it’s almost a year of being married to Jaehyun, right?” Her mother in law said.

Yerim nodded, “Yes, omonim. It’s been a little over 8 months.”

“Have you guys talk about having kids? I mean, Boa got pregnant after 5 months of marriage,” Jaehyun’s mother said.

“Ah, we haven’t really talk about it. I mean, we’re both still busy with our work, especially since oppa is still relatively new to the company’s Korean branch,” Yerim reasoned.

“But you should have children when you’re still young and on your prime. Isn’t that right, Boa-ya?”

Boa, Yunho’s wife, smiled softly before patting Yerim’s shoulder, “It’s okay, omonim, maybe they’re still not ready yet. You’re both has gotten married younger than when Yunho and I did, it’s okay to wait until a year or two.”

After another half an hour of suppressed arguments, Jaehyun’s parents insisted everyone to stay for the night, and despite being nervous and worn-out after the talk with his mother, she was a bit excited to see the kind of home Jaehyun grew up in.

“This is my old room. I moved to the states for high school, so, welcome to middle school era Jaehyun,” He said sheepishly.

The room is painted white with one wall painted navy blue. There were several basketball posters, and picture frames of him with his family and friends. The bed was smaller than the bed they have at their apartment, but still big enough for two people to sleep in. There was a speaker and a TV, and there were basketball figurines on top of his bookshelf.

“Your room is cool, I mean compared to my pink floral middle school catastrophe,” She grinned.

“I have some of my old clothes for you to sleep in,” He said as he opened his closet to retrieve a hoodie. “This is from back in the days when I was still short,” He grinned.

She unfolded the hoodie which reads Joongang Middle School. The hoodie is worn out but it looks comfortable enough to sleep in.

“Oh, I forgot the pants. Are my old PE pants going to be okay?” He asked, picking out a dark green short. Yerim nodded. “Bathroom’s there,” He pointed to the white door next to his closet.

Yerim emerged from the bathroom already looking cozy in his clothes. She was wondering if she’s too much of a midget because even though he claimed he was way shorter in middle school, the hoodie was still big on her, and the shorts reached her thigh. She noticed Jaehyun had changed into a basketball jersey and shorts.

“None of my old clothes fit me but these, I guess we’ll look like we’re about to head for PE tonight,” He chuckled.

She rolled her eyes before slipping under the cover next to him.

“So, what did you talk about with my mom and Boa noona?” He asked.

She sighed, “She wants us to have kids.”

“What??”

“I know.”

They were wrapped in silence.

“It’s okay, don’t think about it too much. We’ll be having dinner too with my parents, we’ll be faced with the same questions,” she grinned.

He chuckled before turning off the bedside lamp, “Goodnight.”

♦♦♦

Yerim was totally right because when they had dinner at Yerim’s household they were bombarded with the questions regarding kids. It gets bigger because of her devil of a brother, Jungwoo. He kept adding fuel to the fire Yerim lost count on how many times she had stepped on his foot. Dinner ended peacefully, thank god, with all of her sibling deciding to spend the night at their parents. Yerim and Jaehyun came prepared, learning from yesterday’s dinner.

“Alright, now I’m going to give you the honor of witnessing my embarrassing teenage room,” Yerim sighed before opening the door to her bedroom.

Jaehyun was already ready to see the pink floral catastrophe she mentioned the other night, but it was not what he expected. 3 walls were all pale white, and one of the walls was pale pink. There were fairy lights arranged to form her initials, KYR. There were polaroid and framed photographs surrounding it. There were posters of her favorite singers and also a rack filled with CDs. Her desk was white and tidy, with pink and purple trinkets adorning it.

“It was less pink than what I had in mind,” Jaehyun grinned playfully which earned him a smack on the arm.

“I’m gonna change,” she rolled her eyes. She came out fresh, already off of her make up. Jaehyun was sitting on the edge of her bed.

“Tomorrow’s Christmas. Any idea what to do?” He asked.

Yerim shrugged, “Buy a Christmas tree?”

“Isn’t it too late for that??”

“Go to the city? Explore? Oh! Oh! I know! We can go to Myeongdong! There’s a lot of delicious street food there!” She exclaimed.

Jaehyun couldn’t restrain his urge to pat her head, she was too cute. “I don’t even know what’s there in Myeongdong, but yeah, let’s go th—”

“YOU”VE NEVER BEEN TO MYEONGDONG? OH MY GOSH! WE’RE DEFINITELY GOING THERE TOMORROW, LET’S SLEEP EARLY!”

♦♦♦

After a simple breakfast, and gifts for Joonmyun’s and Jongdae’s children, the two of them depart for Myeongdong.

“What are we gonna do?” Jaehyun asked.

“Try food, shopping, walk around? Come on, you should try this tteokbokki, I know a place!” Yerim grinned before dragging Jaehyun along. “Halmeoni¸ one portion of tteokbokki and a stick of eomuk please!”

The halmeoni smiled before handing them a paper bowl. “You made a cute couple!”

Yerim grinned before giving her the money. She grinned before taking a bite of the spicy rice cake. “Here, have some,” Yerim said as she put the spoon in front of his mouth. He opened his mouth and chewed slowly. Well, it was indeed good. Very good.

“Wow, it’s actually good,” He mused before taking another bite.

Yerim grinned. They both finished the food quickly before Yerim pointed at another stall. “It’s spicy, we should wash it down with slushie!” Before he knew it, he was already sipping on an orange slushie.

She grinned at him, “Any dish you’d like to try? Or anything you want to buy?”

Jaehyun stared at her, she was sitting next to him, her legs swinging in joy. “I’m still kind of full. Shall we look around first?”

She nodded. He offered her his hand and she blushed softly before taking his hand. She was ecstatic before, but she’s beyond giddy right now. 

♦♦♦

After nearly a year of marriage, she would be lying if she didn’t have any feelings for Jaehyun. Jaehyun was the best husband option she could ever had. He was caring, he was nice to her, and most importantly he respected her love for music. He never judged her for liking music and wanting to be an artist. It’s even better because they shared the same passion for music. She never knew there will be times when she will be able to sit down and compose songs freely. These past few months, Jaehyun had been such great inspirations and motivation. He always listened to her songs and gave her his inputs and so far, he’s been a great help. He never judged her love for doing domestic stuffs she could barely do when she was young. He appreciated her cooking. He’s everything she wanted in a husband. But she doesn’t know what to made out of her feelings.

She watched two of her brothers getting married with no love and later on developing feelings. She wanted that kind of experience too. But she didn’t even know if Jaehyun even have barely the same feelings as her. Jaehyun wasn’t the type to voice out his feelings, so Yerim never knew for real. They are indeed more comfortable with skinships like hugging, holding hands, and occasional cheek kisses in front of families but that’s it.

She glanced at their interlaced hands before looking up to see his side profile. He looked down at her as he smiled, his dimples showing. “What do you think of those shoes?”

She grinned as she felt him tugging her to come inside the shoe store.

♦♦♦

It was a little past midnight when they got back home. They had lunch somewhere in Myeongdong, then they went to watch a movie, spent the rest of the afternoon doing karaoke, grabbing early dinner near Hongdae, and ended up drinking beer in the park near their apartment. Without even realizing, they went home with matching timberland boots and several other items.

“I had fun today,” he grinned as he settled under the covers next to her.

She grinned before nodding. “I’m glad I can give you’re a full experience of Seoul fun today.”

“Thank you, you know. I need it.”

She smiled. “Thank you too,” She grinned before scooting closer to peck his cheek. She was blushing furiously before hiding under the covers and turning to the opposite side.

Jaehyun chuckled before turning off the bedside table.

“Goodnight.”

Hi! Sorry for going MIA for 2 weeks! It's the election week here in Indonesia, and also nearing exam week for me so I've been busy. But here's an update, I hope you guys like it^^ Thanks for stopping by to read this story!