--Mid October 2020--

When Chang-wook pulled up to the gate of the villa he stole a glance at Ji-hyun’s hands. She was fidgeting with her skirt. He reached over and squeezed them. Their eyes met briefly.

“She is pretty nervous about meeting you too,” he said, hoping to reassure her.

“Nervous? To meet me!?”

“Well, she knows what I did to you… and feels bad.”

“Oppa! I still… That you upset her so much!”

They bickered about whether he was a good son or not—she thought he was even if he was horrible for making his eomma worry—as he parked the car. Ji-hyun fumbled with the seatbelt. Chang-wook decided he would let her take care of it and got out of the car and picked up the bottle of wine he had stashed in the back along with the gorgeous bouquet Ji-hyun had brought. But when he came around to her door she still hadn’t gotten out. He opened the door and crouched down next to her.

“Jiji, what’s the matter?”

“I… I… I just don’t know what to think. It seems so surreal. Where we were a year ago? Everything that has happened for both of us? And now I’m having dinner with your eomma. We should have been doing this a year ago. If I hadn’t run out…”

“Busan was my mistake. Not yours. Remember. You are special no matter what. You don’t need me Jiji… and I mean that in the best possible way.”

“Jang-i… I… saranghae.”

“Come on. No crying. Out you get.”

They walked to do the door and waited while his mother came to answer it. Ji-hyun sniffed a little and checked her face in the little compact she had brought. He watched her with a tender smile on his face. She is strong, he thought.

“AH! Ji-hyun-ah! My darling. Come in. Oh. Are these for me?” his mother was effervescent and it infected the young couple. They all moved into the dining room where a modest family meal was waiting. Chang-wook watched the two most important women in his life slowly get to know each other. He could see how much they wanted to like each other and decided to let them figure it out rather than trying to force the kind of intimate closeness he so desperately wanted for them. 

“Aish, I can’t believe that he dragged you all the way out here first! He could have picked you up and then me tomorrow morning but he insisted that you weren’t eating properly because your parents and sister were away .”

“Orabeoni is very kind… But my parents got home a couple of nights ago. They send their greetings. My eomma said that she hopes you like the freesias. She thought they would go well with the tulips.”

“Oh! I love them. Your eomma is so right. Freesias and tulips look beautiful together. One so stiff and upright the other elegant yet understated… just like the two of you,” she smiled. Chang-wook saw the tears sparkling in her eyes. 

“Eomma!”

“No, I am just so relieved! So happy!” she wiped a stray tear.

“Eomma,” Ji-hyun spoke familiarly and grabbed the older woman’s hand. “No. We are happy. Very happy. I am sorry we ever gave you anything to worry about. I promise that he will move in soon. Once the movie is finished. Then he can take a vacation…”

“Vacation!” Chang-wook’s eomma gasped. “He can’t take a vacation! Do you know what he needs to be doing? Working! Saving money. Move out of that money- apartment, yes! But a vacation! Humph.”

The three of them started laughing, each thinking a version of the same thoughts.

“This is nice. I could live like this.”

“Oh, this feels so natural. Why did we wait so long?”

“I love them. This feeling, too. Family.”

—

Chang-wook waved his eomma goodnight and grinned at Ji-hyun who was busy putting dishes away.

“Do you want to see the view?” he asked. 

“Hmm… Oh? Did you say something?” she asked looking up from what she was doing.

“What were you thinking about so hard?”

“Nothing. Just that this is a big house for her to have been living here on her own.”

“I know… I just… I wanted alone time and couldn’t convince myself to move in,” he paused as he remembered why he had wanted to be alone and why he no longer needed to be. "Come see the view.”

She wiped her hands and followed him outside to a small spiral staircase that led up onto the roof. She gasped when she saw the little table he had set up with glasses and a bottle of champagne.

“The ice has melted…” she pointed out.

“That is what you have to say?” 

She laughed and squeezed his hand. He pulled her into a back hug and pointed out various sights. It was hard to see the details but the general impression was impressive.

“It’s a bit cold,” she said pulling his arms tighter around her. 

“Come over here. I have a blanket.”

He pushed her towards the outdoor sofa and dug out a blanket. She tucked herself into his arms and he wrapped the soft blanket around them. 

“Oppa, thank you. I’ve been thinking about all of it. And I want to thank you for just watching tv with me that night. If you hadn’t just sat with me, eaten chimaek with me I don’t think we would be here. That was the first time we had just spent time together.”

He kissed her forehead. She was right. Until then their attraction had overwhelmed everything else. He hadn’t been aware of how different it would be just spending time with her. They had a lot to learn about each other. 

“I know. Thank you for letting me stay.”

“Since then… since then we… it feels more like the days on set. When everything was just about getting to know each other. But we aren’t characters… I am not saying… Oh, I don’t know…”

“That it was just attraction? Ha… I know. I know,” he tilted her chin up so that she could see the sincerity in his eyes. She reached up and kissed him. His breath caught when she didn’t let him pull away. The kiss deepened. They shifted so that she was kneeling next to him. 

“I will never give up my attraction to you,” she whispered. She caressed his cheek and pushed his hair back. Their kiss resumed and both of them were left panting with desire. 

“Jiji… I…”

“Where am I sleeping tonight?” she asked. He was by her direct question. He couldn’t believe that she was giving him the choice. Her tacit desire was waiting for his direct consent.

“In my arms.”

—

Chang-wook abruptly woke up at six am the next morning when his alarm blared. He realised that he had almost overslept and overset his carefully made plans. He looked down at the sleeping woman, his sleeping woman. It had been two months since they had started dating. Of course, it felt much longer, since the day she had called him “orabeoni.” Then when? What were their milestones? May 2017, their first kiss? Or maybe that was June when they had kissed and Chang-wook and Ji-hyun. Then Noona’s. Then Busan. Then the musical. Then June… when they had been afraid of their feelings and hurt each other so much. Then August and Busan again. Then being cast together. Her professionalism. They had been able to work together. Then the photoshoot. And finally, her call when she nagged him and he realised that she still had feelings that were deeper than just the electric attraction they shared. 

“Hmm… I don’t want to get up… my off day! Why!!!” Ji-hyun complained. She sleepily curled herself around him and nuzzled his side. 

“I’m waking you up because we have somewhere to go.”

Her eyes opened as she realised she wasn’t in her own bed. He snuggled back into bed and pressed a kiss on her forehead. 

“We need…”

“A little bit longer… surely we have a little bit longer. There is nowhere in Seoul that will be awake at this time.”

He had to admit that she was right and found that he was perfectly happy to spend another half hour with her before they had to get up.

When they finally emerged from his room, there was breakfast on the table and his eomma was quietly sipping a steaming mug of tea. 

“Eat quickly. I don’t want to be late. I’ve been looking forward to this all week,” she said in clipped tones. Ji-hyun buried her face into his back before jumping away when she realised that her embarrassment would be greater the more she advertised their intimacy in front of his eomma. 

“Chang-wook, don’t you look like that. Too smug! Urgh. I can’t believe I have to see this. Hurry up,” his mother slammed her mug on the table and walked off muttering, loudly, that young people had no shame. She turned at the door to her room. “Ji-hyun-ah, this is entirely his doing. I apologise for his behaviour.”

Chang-wook slapped a hand over Ji-hyun’s mouth before she defended him by saying she was the one who had seduced him last night.

“Aish, oppa. That hurt.”

“Sorry, I just didn’t want you to say that you had seduced me last night!”

“I would NEVER say that. I want her to think that I am a good woman… not some gumiho seductress.”

“But you are…”

“AISH. Eat.”

—

Ji-hyun got into the back seat of Chang-wook’s car and gave his eomma a shy smile. The morning had not gone how she had planned and it was uncomfortable thinking that the woman she formally wanted to call eomeonim was aware she had spent the night with her son. She jumped self-consciously when her phone pinged loudly with a message notification.

“Don’t worry. You are a grown woman. I would be more worried if you had slept in the guest room.”

She didn’t know who had sent it but could easily guess when she caught the sly smile Chang-wook’s eomma gave her.

The drive took almost an hour and they arrived at the curved brick building in Goyang just before it turned eight am. As they pulled into the parking lot, Ji-hyun put on the face mask his eomma offered her. They took the elevator up to the fourth floor and walked into a sleek reception with a bored, sleepy receptionist behind the desk. 

“Just wait here,” he said holding her back while his eomma went over to get their keys.

“Are we…”

“I found one that would be pretty empty. I’m sorry it isn’t a big one but I didn’t want…”

“I’m smiling,” she let him know. 

“I can tell.”

They reconnected in the main hall. It was a chic jjimjjilbang and more expensive than the large ones that were dotted throughout Seoul. 

“Where do you want to go first?” he asked.

“Hmm… Kai, Bai, Bo for who gets to pick,” his eomma advised. She won a resounding victory and headed off to see what the different rooms were like, finally picking the charcoal room with its beautiful domed ceiling. Luckily the place was practically empty and they were able to comfortably lounge in the hot rooms and even pushed down their masks so that they could speak more easily. 

“I hope you are happy,” Chang-wook asked as he pealed a baked egg for her. She took the egg from him and bit into it. Ji-hyun wanted to think about her answer. She was overwhelmed with gratitude that he had made the effort to find somewhere they could go to jjimjjilbang together. His uniform was nicer than the one she imagined him in but what did that matter when he was pealing baked eggs for her.

“You can’t even imagine. How am I ever going to give you a better gift?” 

“I can think of one,” he said. She looked around. There was no one there. She leant in hoping to kiss him but he backed off. “Not that, you crazy woman! Nothing to do with that. Something more… long term.”

She blushed at his implied desire. Like him, she had been thinking of their milestones. How long now? Almost four years since he claimed to have fallen in love with her. Was it really that long? 

“Jang-i… Whatever you want… I will do my best to give you that present. My heart you already have, my love too… I will try to figure out…”

“I’ll tell you. Don’t worry. I promise to tell you.”

“Aish. Will the two of you be quiet!” his eomma interrupted. “I’m trying to relax and you two being lovey isn’t helping me one bit. Yes, yes, it is lovely that you are in love but honestly!”

After three hours, the rooms began to fill up and they decided to leave. Ji-hyun went out first and got into the car and waited for Chang-wook and his eomma. It would be easier to explain a mother and son going to jjimjjilbang together rather than him with two women. 

Ji-hyun let herself be put into a taxi and driven back to her apartment. When she was back inside she couldn’t help but turn on some music and dance around her apartment. It was such a perfect day already. Nothing could spoil it. She went about her chores and even remembered to post the picture from the cast dinner. She flicked through her notifications and was surprised to see how many people were convinced that she and Chang-wook were dating. Normally she ignored fan comments. It wasn’t her place to judge them. But now when they were guessing the truth she became fascinated by what they were saying. Even more amusing were the questions on her picture with Yoon Bok-in. It seemed that everyone wanted to know who had taken the picture. 

“OHHHHH!!! Eonnie looking pretty wither her SP eomma!”

“Did your boyfriend take the picture?”

“Oooo. I love it. Ji Chang-wook took a picture of her with her SP eomma.”

“Everyone needs to relax. It is just a cast dinner. They aren’t dating.”

“Eonnie, don’t date Chang-wook oppa. I love you but he needs to be with his fans.”

“Eonnie!!!!!!!! so pretty. Ji Chang-wook is so lucky!”

“Did Ji Chang-wook take the picture? Omo!”

The comments went on. She laughed. There were going to be fans disappointed that Chang-wook was dating her. But ultimately it was their lives, she decided. So what if fans got upset. The only things that mattered to Ji-hyun were her work, him, her family, and friends. And Geobug of course. And Ggomma and Eomeonim. 

As she was getting ready for bed her phone rang. It was her eonnie. 

“Ya! I can’t believe that he didn’t invite us as well. Aish. I thought he was meant to be considerate.”

“Eonnie! How can you say that?” 

“Hey. If I don’t say it, who will? Eomma and Appa wanted to go too. Appa even hinted it to him…”

“Oh no! He will be so upset if he knows…”

“That is why you should invite him to our jjimjjilbang next time.”

“Ok, I understand, I understand.”

“Love you Hyun-i. Seriously. We are so happy for you.”

“Eonnie!”

“Aish. Sleep well.”

Her sister hung up. Ji-hyun felt overwhelmed but unbelievably happy. Reality was stranger than fiction, and who could have imagined how their story would turn out to be such a fairytale?

—

Her opinion changed radically when the onset interview between Ji-hyun, Bo-gum, and Tae-hyung was released a few days later. Somehow a PD or editor had decided to add Tae-hyung’s interruption. BigHit got the video taken down within half an hour but by then fans had seen it, downloaded it, re-uploaded it, and translated it into as many as thirty languages. Within two hours BigHit’s statement that their idol’s comments had been taken out of context resulted in most of the reposts to be deleted and fans warning each other to respect his privacy. However nothing could stop the rumours. Somehow the rumour was that both she and Tae-hyung were dating—just not each other. 

The next morning Ji-hyun found herself at her company, head buried in her hands, listening to her boss’s frustration that was only topped by her own.

"How did you go from no dating rumours to so many?" her CEO asked. She had called the night before to confirm that she was dating Chang-wook but they weren’t going to go public yet.

They called in Chang-wook and Chi-gu to discuss the situation.

“Well, why don’t we tell them?" Chang-wook asked. “That you are dating someone…”

"Oppa, Boss, we both have projects! We can’t say that we are dating right now! Why do you all think that it would be a good idea?"

"Because it would be," her mother replied. "Then if you say you are in one people will move on. That is simple. Understand?’’

"Do we say who it is with?” her CEO asked. He was curious at Ji-hyun’s eomma’s approach and respected the way she had managed Ji-hyun’s career until she had joined SOOP.

"Why should she?"

"I don’t like it," Ji-hyun said. It just felt too dangerous. They were in the honeymoon phase. It was wonderful and magical to be with oppa, to love him, to know that he loved her. But she had also seen what could happen if couples suddenly started dating publicly. It was difficult. They all had busy schedules, not to mention how their fans might react.

Chang-wook’s phone rang. He listened without saying anything and then told the person on the other end of the line where he was. 

"My boss is coming over. Dispatch is just about to publish something."

Everyone grabbed his phone and to see what scandal he might be involved in. There was complete silence. A picture of him waiting outside of the women’s changing room at the sauna and another where he could be seen with his hand on the back of a person in a woman’s sauna uniform. It was his mother, and it would be easy to prove, but the picture was the closest he had ever come to having a serious dating scandal.

"It could be worse," he said. “At least Ji-hyun-ah is not mentioned. Just that I was seen on a “date”. It was when we went to the jjimjjilbang. There are no compromising pictures of us together.”

"We aren’t that lucky,” Soop boss responded. He handed his phone first to Ji-hyun’s eomma. Her face was grim. The article Dispatch was now showing SOOP and Glorious started with a picture of the “Suspicious Partner” cast that had been taken at their meet up. But the second picture was the two of them talking to Kim Tae-hyung. It could have been brushed aside except that in the picture it looked like they were holding hands. Everyone retreated into the office and waited for the Glorious CEO to arrive. They sat down and created a single statement.

“We are sorry to be greeting you in this abrupt way. We would like to confirm that our actors Ji Chang-wook and Nam Ji-hyun are dating. They would like you patience at this time so that they can focus on their current work. They would like to thank their fans for the love and support they have shown over the years.”

It was short, to the point, and sent out immediately—before Dispatch had time to post their more salacious article. Netizens, of course, went wild over the news. Some were angry that the couple was secretly dating, others speculated whether they had been dating since “Suspicious Partner”. Some made snide comments about Ji-hyun pretending to date her previous co-star and how it must have broken Chang-wook’s heart to see that. Still others had a better guess saying that they had reconnected with the Hollywood movie and had been dating since then. This explained the CF together. In all Ji-hyun, as might be expected, faced the lions share of the backlash. But Chang-wook also faced a slew of hate from some of his fans who regarded his decision to date a woman eight years younger than him as treasonous to all their dedication. One solid fan vowed to stop supporting him on the grounds that he had ruined his reputation and disrespected all the hard work she, his fan, had put into his career.

All of this raced around the nets until six pm when Kim Tae-hyung dropped a bomb completely wiping the story off the map. He announced a collaboration with Eun-ji on the BTS official twitter. Eun-ji, in turn, posted a clip from their recording session on her instagram with a little purple heart emoji. The MV teaser was so romantic that his fans and hers started to speculate about their possible relationship—the first one for any of his bandmates. A week later, faced with increasing pressure from fans and the press, the companies admitted that the two singers were dating.

“Tae-hyung! Did you do that on purpose?” Ji-hyun asked him at the wrap party dinner a week later. 

"Not exactly. We’d already recorded and filmed the MV… and it was always meant to be released on that day."

"You were hinting at something in the interview?” Bo-gum probed for more information. He informed the newly publicly dating that he was feeling left out of all the scandals, did they know of anyone he could date?

"Well…"

“Aish..." Ji-hyun took a sip of her drink.

"Sorry, Ji-hyun.”

“Oh, you didn’t mean anything. Anyway, Dispatch had some photos of us. At least they aren’t being published.”

Ji-hyun returned to her apartment to see Chang-wook lounging on her sofa. 

"He didn’t mean to out us,” she said.

"We outed ourselves,” he replied. He patted the sofa and she settled next to him.

"Oppa. I’m worried. We only just started dating and now everyone will be watching. What happens if it doesn’t work out?"

"Nam Ji-hyun-ssi, nothing will change… Don’t worry about it. We will take each day as it comes."

“What does your costar say?

"She is fine with it. I don’t think she cares. Won Jin-ah thinks that we are terrible at dating, by the way."

“How do they manage?” Ji-hyun huffed.

“Yes. They are very good at it. I guess…”

"Omo! Just how do they do it? Dating in secret?" she couldn't get the thought out of her head.

"Well, they don’t have hours of videos of them as a couple to pour over…"

"That BTS! It ruined everything."

“Don’t you ever watch it? Most of my youtube views are rewatching our BTS. Especially when I was in the army.”

Ji-hyun rolled her eyes to the heavens. 

“Do you want some tea?” she asked getting up. 

“No… I want you,” he playfully grabbed at her, catching her around the waist.

“Aish, are you always like this? Don’t answer,” she laughed. “I’m going to kick you out. I need a good night’s sleep. Filming is going to be crazy tomorrow. We are behind because of that long day of crafting that message.”

“Jagiya! Please. Please let Orabeoni stay!”

“Only if you ask my appa for permission first.”

Chang-wook decided that retreat was the best tactical decision for his and their long term happiness. He hugged her and popped in to see her parents and assure them he was headed home. They laughed and wished him luck. He understood why when he got his bike onto the street there were the telltale signs of photographers lying in wait for him. So Chang-wook did something he hadn’t done in many, many years. He called a taxi to take him home. His bike could spend the night in the parking lot.

When he got home, Ji-hyun had left him a voice message and a screenshot of her youtube history. Aside from cat videos, “Suspicious Partner” BTS clips were her most viewed videos. Chang-wook smiled. He was one crazy, lucky, madly in love man.

END PART 3