“Creamy Pasta.” you said as you place a lunch box on Jaebeom’s desk. You gave him a proud smile and didn’t wait for him to respond as you waltzed back to your seat. Once settled, you grabbed your sandwich and resumed in reading your textbook. Jaebeom gazed at your retreated figure, slightly shaking his head with a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. You have already marked him as yours.

Im Jaebeom was a transferee in middle school whom you didn’t really bother knowing at first since you were so busy with left and right competitions and extracurricular activities. So when you started to be paired with each other on group projects and debate competitions, you realized how annoyingly handsome and popular he actually was. You grew irritated seeing him being flocked by girls every time he went to the cafeteria. You can’t just let any other girl freely hook their arms with him so you thought of various ways to prevent it. Hearing about the Pavlovian Theory gave you the idea of a perfect plan to make Jaebeom helplessly fall in love with you.

It actually started as an innocent gesture. But one weekend, you and your mom had a session in the kitchen after you told her of the guy you are liking. Jaebeom is the type of person who eats any kind of food and makes it look so delicious. True enough, when you gave him a set of carefully baked pastries, he savoured it and complimented you. It started with simple pastries and soon became a lunchbox.

It’s a rainy morning and most schools and companies already cancelled school and work the previous night so now, both you and Jaebeom are stuck inside your apartment. When you both got off work the day before, you were convinced the storm will not be leaving the country until a couple of days so when the rain has not subsided the tiniest bit and you noticed JB’s constant breathing as he lay on your couch, you urged him to change into comfortable clothes and invited him to bed.

You put your chin on palm as you settle in a stool chair at the breakfast island. He glances back at you and smiles at your just-woke-up appearance, the corners of his eyes crinkling. His hair is still a mess and clothes wrinkly. “What’s for breakfast, chef?” you yawn loudly as soon as you finish your sentence.

He tells you he’s making spam and eggs for breakfast and asks you if you want coffee or juice this time since you prefer one over the other on some days. Shortly after, he places perfectly cooked eggs and spam with bread and butter on the side. You roll your eyes and make a face.

“What?” Jaebeom asks, amused at your rather unamused expression.

You jab on your plate. “Perfect eggs. I hate it.” you say as you lift your fork and begin eating. You used to cook various meals for Jaebeom since middle school but he still makes better sunny side up compared to you. You love and hate it at the same time.

He chuckles and reaches out to your big glass of orange juice, taking a sip.

When you both finish breakfast, you go to the sink to clean up. Not long after, you feel Jaebeom creeping behind you and raking his arms around your waist and under your shirt. You automatically tilt your head to the side to give him room to place his chin onto your shoulders. He stays in that position, occasionally kissing your nape and massaging your belly as you wash the dishes. You’re almost certain you’d both end up spending the rest of the day with lazy until you hear his phone ring from the living room. He didn’t want to break away from you at first—feigning ignorance on the ringing waiting for it to stop—but you urged him, leaving him no choice but to fetch it and answer.

Jaebeom comes back after a couple of minutes after a series of high-pitched “What”s and “Are you serious??”, resuming his position behind you. “It’s Jackson. He wants us to look after Haohao today.”

You pause rinsing the cup you’re holding and turn to him. “Did something happen?” you ask in which he shrugs in return.

“Must be him and Irene fighting, I don’t really know.” he says nonchalantly. Poor boy having to witness his parents fight like a habit.

When the doorbell rang an hour later, just when you’re about to put a shirt on after a shower, JB sprinted past you in the bedroom to fetch the little boy. You didn’t even get to greet Jackson as you saw Haohao being all too clingy to your boyfriend already, looking for something to eat in front of the fridge.

You both spent the whole day playing with Haohao until the cute little kid tired himself out and took a hearty nap in your room. You didn’t know you fell asleep with the boy until light kisses started grazing your arms, pulling you from slumber. You took a quick glance at your side and you saw Jaebeom sitting at your other side, looking at you lovingly.

“I love you,” he dips his head and whispers to your ear when you turn to look at the sleeping kid beside you. You blushed at his cheesiness gave him a searing kiss as soon as you successfully got out of the bed without waking Haohao.

By the time you pulled away from the kiss to grasp air, you answered his sweet declaration of love breathlessly, “I know. I--”

But he didn’t even let you finish your sentence as he initiated another kiss. “Two.”

You look at him in utter confusion. “What?”

“Let’s have two kids.” He says as he pepper a side of your neck with kisses. He pulls away a few moments after. “When you’re ready, that is.” He looks at your eyes with all seriousness and you could feel the sincerity in his words.

You never really talked too far about building your own family together even though you have been a couple since college. Somehow, the mutual trust in your relationship has been enough to know you will no longer try to find another person to spend your whole life with. Hearing Jaebeom express his sentiments into building his life ahead and wanting you to bear his children is a new level of intimacy for you to tear up a little. How can you possibly deserve this kind of man? All those lunch boxed meals and baked pastries were all worthy. You silently thanked the heavens for giving you an Im Jaebeom in this lifetime.