[AN: I tried to stay away from this story but... well, it was too hard. I hope you like it and get a little fluttery... hehehehe]

—Late October 2020–

“What do you mean you didn’t ask permission!” He gasped when Ji-hyun casually mentioned that she was spending the weekend at the villa instead of letting him drive her home that night. 

“Chang-Wook-ssi. I am a grown woman. I think that I can make my own decisions about how I live my life. And, I might add, as you explained it to me, my appa didn’t want you to spend the night at mine while our relationship was a secret. He never said anything about my staying the night at yours or that we couldn’t spend the night together once the relationship was public!”

Chang-wook gaped. What have I gotten myself into, he thought. Not that it mattered of course. 

“I heard that,” Ji-hyun giggled. His face was an open book to her.

She walked into the kitchen carrying a huge bag of side dishes from her mother. 

“I feel bad bringing this all over when your eomma is such a good cook.”

“No! She will be grateful. No… I am grateful. She is always making me food so it is nice for someone to make food for her.”

Ji-hyun rolled her eyes. She knew that the real reason her eomma had sent the food was part of an elaborate plan to make Ji-hyun seem more domesticated than she was. But eomeonim was surprisingly touched when she saw the various containers. 

“Oh! She… Ji-hyun. Your eomma! How kind. Now. I will get out of your hair. I have plans for the weekend.”

“Eomeonim! I wanted…” Ji-hyun trailed off. She had hoped to salvage her reputation by being helpful around the house and doing her best to get to know the woman she wanted for a future mother-in-law.

“No, no, no. We have had this plan for a while. The Celebrity Eomma Gang are going for a cruise. We are going to Jeju for a couple of days. Isn’t that nice?” she smiled and patted Ji-hyun’s arm. “Your eomma is joining us. Didn’t she tell you?”

“No… she didn’t.”

“Ah well. Make sure to get all the gossip from her. She is the first one of us with a daughter. Everyone else has son’s.”

“Oh.”

“Now. Let me get my bag. My car will be here soon.”

The couple looked at her gather her things and head out the door. A few seconds later the door opened again.

“I forgot. Eat well. Don’t go out looking for trouble. And enjoy yourselves,” she waved and allowed the door to swing shut behind her. 

Chang-wook turned to Ji-hyun with a grin on his face.

“We have the place…”

“To ourselves,” she finished. She ran over to him and threw her arms around him hugging him close. “I don’t really know what we are going to do.”

“Umm…”

“No, seriously. I had plans to get to know your eomma. To see what… Aish. Don’t start laughing at me! You’ve spent time with my parents and sister. The only time I’ve met your eomma… oh I was so embarrassed that morning!”

“Jiji… don’t be embarrassed. We…”

“Did that… and she knew.”

She tilted her head up so that she should meet his eyes. 

“Oppa, tilt your head down so that I can see your eyes,” she insisted. 

He did. They smiled at each other. Ji-hyun waited for him to kiss her. Instead he rested his forehead on hers. Her neck hurt from having to bend back so far. She knew he knew but she was still surprised when he scooped her up and carried her to the sofa. He put her down.

“Stay there.”

She turned to watch him walk away. His back was, she decided, was her favourite feature. There were many pretty faces, many handsome faces but not many perfect backs. She laughed. She couldn’t see it of course. He was wearing a too-big t-shirt and athletic shorts. She looked down at her own outfit. Bulky sweatshirt, baggy jeans, and, of course, his socks.

“We are very casual,” she commented when he walked back with a tray covered in snacks.

“Hmm?”

“You never dress up for me!”

“Oh… I hadn’t thought about it. Would you like me to?”

Ji-hyun thought. Sometimes, yes, she wanted him to look polished, dashing when they were together. But she also loved that he could just wear whatever he wanted when he was with her.

“Sometimes… I think sometimes I would like you to dress up for me.”

“Deal. You too.”

“Me too?”

“Yes.”

“Deal,” Ji-hyun found her brain whirling with an idea. Could she pull it off? Yes, she could. It would just take a phone call. Maybe two.

—

The next morning Ji-hyun picked up her phone and disappeared. Chang-wook sighed. He didn’t know where she had gone but it must have been fairly important because after confirming with him that it was an ok time to call someone on a Saturday she had dialled a number.

“Is everything ok?” he asked. He could feel the frown on his face but it melted at the sight of her grin.

“All good. What are we having for dinner tonight?”

“You are thinking about dinner? It isn’t lunchtime yet.”

“I want sashimi.”

“Ummm…”

“Don’t worry. I’ve already arranged it.”

“You have?”

“I want to have a date with you. But we promised your eomma that we wouldn’t leave. So I have arranged for us to have sashimi here.”

Chang-wook found himself wanting to kiss this bold Ji-hyun. He stood up and tracked her into a corner. If she wanted to escape she’d have to knock over a plinth with a very expensive Silla era jar he had given his eomma on her birthday two years ago. He found her wiggling in that direction.

“That jar is from the Silla era,” he casually remarked.

“Jang-i…” she whined. 

“Saranghae…” and he stepped back allowing her and exit. She stood there and laughed at him. 

“Aish. Let’s do something fun.”

“Fun?”

“Teach me how to ride your bike.”

“WHAT?”

“In the courtyard? Couldn’t we do that?”

Chang-wook took a moment to see if it would be possible before deciding it wouldn’t be. 

“Umm… maybe watch a movie?”

“Or… could we watch “Melt with Me?”… I never…” Ji-hyun took a deep breath. “I never watched it.”

“Never?”

“It came out at the wrong time. I was busy with school.”

“Ok. Ok.”

They settled on the sofa and started at the beginning. She smiled. When they stopped for lunch, she told him that it was better than she expected.

“I am glad you chose it.”

“You chose it,” he reminded her.

“Why did you accept the Hollywood film?” She asked. He wondered why she was suddenly changing the topic.

“Because you chose it,” he gave her a serious look. “What is this about?”

“Nothing. I was just curious. I thought that perhaps you wouldn’t…”

“If you think a project is good, Jiji, then it is probably good.”

“Aish.”

He dodged the carrot that she tossed at his head and retaliated with a piece of celery. They began to throw food at each other turning the kitchen into the theatre of war. A food fight of vegetables and fruit. When Ji-hyun launched a tomato that splattered on Chang-wook’s white t-shirt they called a halt to hostilities. Both of them were panting.

“Oh! Your poor t-shirt!”

But she didn’t seem to feel guilty. He stood there stunned as she grabbed her phone and snapped a picture of him standing there. In one hand he had the smushed tomato, in the other a handful of carrot sticks.

“Upload it,” he said impulsively.

“What?”

“Upload it.”

“Are you…”

“Yes.”

She nodded and added the photo to her instastory with a laughing emoji and a heart eye emoji.

He looked around for his own phone and found it. He quickly snapped a picture of her standing there, phone in hand, a shocked look on her face.

His own instastory was updated. The caption simply read: 토마토 살인청부업자 (tomato hit-man). He grinned and grinned again when he saw her eyes widen as he took off his t-shirt.

“It needs to be washed,” he said, trying to sound as innocent as possible. 

“Nappeun sae-kki… Turn around.”

“What?”

“I want to see your back.”

He obliged. 

“Ok. All done. What damage did you do?” she cried out. Her instagram was pinging with notifications. 

“Do you still have notifications on?” he asked.

“Aish. I got a new phone. It must have reset…”

“OOooo…” he cackled as he saw the responses to their updates. 

“oppa! unnie!”

“Eonnie, more please! More pictures of chang-wook opppa!”

“Omo! They are so cute.”

“Are they at his place? Are they having a date?”

“O!!! Did they have a fight? So cute. Food fight. FIGHTING!!!”

“I can’t believe I’m seeing this. I can’t. My heart. I’m crying. They are so cute.”

He felt Ji-hyun approach him and rest her head on his arm so that she could see the comments. 

“They seem… happy,” she said. 

He wrapped an arm around her. It had been a shaky could of weeks for them. The picture of them holding hands while talking with Tae-hyung was published—thought the story had been supportive. There had been an article wondering when they had started dating. Both of them had posted handwritten notes to their fan cafes, which had subsequently filtered out. In it they explained they had reconnected with the movie but hadn’t officially started dating until after the CF. His solid fans were cowed by his openness and promised him to support him no matter what. Her fans were more enthusiastic—simply happy that their “lovely girl” was smiling and posting more. 

Ji-hyun took his phone and scrolled through his pictures until she came to one of her, him, and his eomma. 

“Can I?” she asked. He nodded.

She posted the photo to her fan cafe, carefully blurring his and his eomma’s faces. It wouldn’t take a genius to know who they were but he appreciated the gesture. “Getting to spend the day at jjimjjilbang is always relaxing. I hope you have a relaxing weekend.”

The doorbell rang.

“Omo!” She jumped away from him and ran to the door. He followed curious to why she thought something would be delivered for her. It was too early for the sashimi that was meant to arrive at 8pm. “No… go back!”

He looked at her. Did she have a surprise planned for him?

Ji-hyun came back gingerly carrying a box. A bag was swinging from her bag, the name of the brand covered with a piece of tape. 

“What is that?”

“No! Not now!” she shuffled to the guest bedroom and returned a few minutes later.

“Aish,” she had her phone pressed to her ear. “It didn’t all… Oh! Sorry. Ok. I’ll wait. Ha. I forgot. Umm… Oppa… should we… Let’s clean up.”

She moved to the kitchen.

“Can you let me know what is going on?” he asked.

“No. Not yet,” she was busy cleaning up the mess they had made. She rooted under the sink for cleaning supplies. Chang-wook shook his head and went to find the vacuum cleaner. The bell went again. Ji-hyun struggled with the gloves and then repeated the same thing as before, only this time she went into his room. When she came out she had a wicked look in her eyes. “Oppa… at six, I am going to take a shower. You need to take one too. And then… I think you are smart enough to figure out everything else.”

He shrugged. They went back to cleaning the kitchen, watched two more episodes of “Melt with Me”, including the first kiss. Originally he had wanted to skip the kiss episodes but Ji-hyun had rolled her eyes. She was very moved by them.

“Oh! Oppa… That was so beautiful. It was very moving.”

“Jiji. How can you say that?” he wasn’t sure what response he had wanted but it wasn’t that one. “I was so…”

“You filmed it in August, didn’t you? After… after Busan.”

“How did you know?”

“I don’t know. Just the way… It is very you. Actor you. I haven’t really kissed actor you so I don’t have anything to…”

“What do you mean you haven’t kissed actor me?”

“Oppa… You haven’t, and I’m not conceited when I say this, but you haven’t kissed any of your costars the way you kissed me.”

“I… I haven’t really… Really?” he pulled out his phone and found a youtube video of them. He watched to all too familiar clip and then watched, horrified, as Ji-hyun replayed his kiss with Jin-ah. He blushed. She fell off the sofa laughing. 

“I wish you could see your face right now! I wish Jin-ah could see your face right now!”

“I…”

He was saved when Ji-hyun’s alarm blared. It was six pm.

“Aish. We got to get ready. Scoot!” she said and struggled to get up from where she had slipped between the sofa and coffee table. He reached out and pulled her up. 

“Never kissed Ji Chang-wook actor-nim?” he asked. “Would you like to?”

“No,” she grinned.

“Good.”

He bent down and gave her a sweet kiss. By then he had had time to guess what she had planned. The details were hazy but he would find out soon enough.

“See you soon jagiya.”

He was sitting in the sitting room looking down at the suit she had found for him. It was the same one from the photoshoot. It was still covered in paint but otherwise pressed and tidy as if it was meant to have large paint splotches everywhere. He prayed that Ji-hyun would also be wearing the same dress but the distracting fact was it had been held up by five safety pins made it unlikely. He stood when he heard the guest room door open. 

“Ya,” he called. His heart was beating too fast and he wanted to open the door but… “Jiji… Ya… Hurry up… I can’t take this.”

“Jang-i,” her voice was muffled. “I need help with the zip.”

A slew of words, none of them decent, flew threw his mind. Needed help with her zip? Need help with her zip? What was with women? Didn’t they realise how very y it was to help them with zippers?

She opened the door and turned so that he could see her back. The zip was caught around her waist where the seam hugged her waist. 

“Hurry!”

He found himself hesitating in front of her back.

“I…”

“You just need to zip me up.”

“You want me to zip you up?”

She threw him a flirtatious smile over her shoulder. 

“You’ll need to help me it later,” she reassured him

“Ok.”

“Hurry!”

His throat was dry as he pinched the zipper and slowly dragged it up.

“Now the chain,” she said.

He watched as she dropped it over her shoulder.

“You need to hook it on my other shoulder and then at the bottom,” she explained.

He tried to swallow but struggled. His fingers floated over her skin and he tried to recite the national anthem backwards. He stumbled with it when she reached back and pulled her hair away so that he could attach the chain. 

“Umm…”

“You’ll need to help me with the chain too.”

“Ok.”

He finished the task of fixing the chain in place and she turned around. The smile on her face was playful. This is Ji-hyun at her iest, he thought.

“Jang-i… Jang-i? Are you all there?”

“Don’t ever do that to me again,” he whispered. He bit his lip as he considered whether he could get away with kissing her shoulders or if he should play it safe and kiss her lips instead.

“Kiss me? Quickly. It is almost time for the food to arrive.”

“Of course you would think about food at a time like this,” he chuckled. He rested his head on her forehead. He looked at her. “When… you… are… this… y… I… forget… I… forget…”

He punctuated each word with a soft kiss on her shoulders. Might as well… 

She sighed.

“Oppa… are you going to end our date before it has begun?”

“Would that be ok?”

“No,” she was resolute. “Plus you haven’t told me what you think of my dress?”

She pulled back and twirled. The red floor-length, wool-silk sheath spun around her it came up as a halter dress in the front.

“Oh! They really did keep it!” she cried running her hands up and down his chest when she finally came to a stop.

He grabbed her wrists and snuck a kiss. 

“Happy?”

“I wish I could share with everyone how happy I am right now.”

Her tummy grumbled. 

“I guess you are hungry,” he smiled.

“Aish. When… what time is it?” she grabbed his wrist and looked at his watch. “Soon…”

They stood on the roof watching the view while they waited. Chang-wook caught the site of a car pulling upfront and ran down to get Ji-hyun’s sashimi for her. He grinned at the shocked face of the man delivering the food. He was getting an eye-full of top star Ji Chang-wook in a suit covered in paint and rather conspicuous lipstick mark on his cheek.

He returned to find Ji-hyun setting the table. The meal was delicious and they ate probably faster than they needed to. 

“Oh! I loved that.”

He loved watching her enjoy good food. It made his own food that much more delicious. She stood up and walked over to him. He got a silly grin on his face when he realised she was going to try to seduce him. While he found her distractingly y, she wasn’t exactly a seductress. Ji-hyun was too straight foreword for seduction.

“Jang-i,” she whispered into his ear.

“Mmm.”

“Do you want me to tell you a secret?”

“Secret?” He turned his head. She smiled in their kiss. 

“Yes. A secret.”

“Ok.”

“My favourite part of you.”

She ran her hands over his shoulders and drew his jacket back. Chang-wook sat forward so that she could pull it off. 

“Yes?”

She carefully folded it on the table. She moved back behind him and ran her hands down his chest. Her head rested on his and he felt himself relax against her front. 

“Yes?” he prodded. He was now part distracted, part curious, part anxious that he wasn’t going to be able to wait for her.

She kissed his hair. She didn’t reply but began ing his shirt. 

“I think that people are always distracted by your handsome face,” she explained.

“Wait,” he tried to turn but she made him face forward again. “You don’t like my face best?”

“No. It is very handsome. And your eyes are particularly lovely. And your lips too, I guess.”

“You guess?”

“Hmmm… are you upset?”

“No. Just curious now,” he said. He brushed her hands away and finished ing his shirt. He discarded it on the table. He stood up and face her. 

“My chest? My abs?” he asked grinning.

“No,” she pouted. “You moved. I didn’t say you could do that.”

“Are you going to dominate me?” he teased. 

She gasped out a laugh and doubled over. She was laughing so hard that she had to sit on the floor. Even then he found her beautiful. Her carefree personality. Her laugh. The fact he knew that she didn’t care that she was sitting there in an expensive, bespoke gown, a one of a kind gown. She was just loving life.

“Jiji,” he sat down with her and pulled her into his lap.

“Your back, you crazy man,” she finally managed to say through giggles.

“My back?”

“Yup. And maybe your shoulders too.”

“That I understand. I have distractingly y shoulders,” he returned her laugh with one of his own. 

“Let’s stay here forever,” she asked. She placed her hand on his cheek and drew him in for a kiss.

“The floor is too cold.”

Chang-wook then demonstrated a dangerously seductive move. He shifted her so that he could stand up while carrying her. But she stopped him before he could demonstrate his strength.

“No. Piggyback. Remember I love your back.”

He fell back laughing. She landed on his chest and nestled her head on his chest. 

“Let’s never change,” she whispered. “Stay like this now matter what. Laughing.”

He sat up and brushed her hair away from her face. 

“The floor is too cold,” he said. He didn’t know how to respond to her request. Never change? Of course they would change. They would argue. They would get older. They would get sick. Deal with challenges at work. “Jiji. I can’t promise that. But I promise that we will do all the changes together. We will meet every challenge. We will be together. Let’s grow deep roots so that nothing can topple us. But I can’t promise things won’t change.”

Her eyes flashed with sadness.

“Jiji…”

“No. Don’t say anything.”

She stood up. He saw her wiping a tear away.

“Jiji.”

“I love you so much,” she threw herself into his arms. “Yes, yes. Let’s change together. Get old together. That is what you mean right? Other things too. But let’s get old together, oppa.”

He pushed her back so that he could turn around and offer his back to her.  She got on and he carried her into his room. He set her down and turned to face her. Instead he saw her back. 

“I need help taking this off,” she reminded him.

Chang-wook realised that his Jiji was, in fact, terribly good at seduction. As he unlocked the fine chains, he placed open-mouthed kisses on her back. The front of the dress fell forward. He reached for the zip and opened it. And then pulled her into a back hug. 

“Saranghae, Jiji, saranghae,” and then he turned her so that he could gather her into his arms and receive her kiss.