Sorry for the interruption, but I have something fun for yall! I have started a QnA   "Ask the character" on this story. You can ask any question to the characters or the author(me) through this. 

The first few questions are answered in this chapter's end, after the A/N. Do read the A/N carefully hehe.

Please check out the rules in this blog if you want to participate as well.

 

 

                                            _______

 

 

 

Baekhyun trudged past the dark alleys, beads of sweat trickling down the side of his face as he eventually started running through the uncountable twists and turns of the narrowed roads. He was all alone and scared. He wanted nothing but to find a little bit of light that would provide him some sort of assurance that the darkness wouldn't envelop his whole existence. 

And he finally found it after another few minutes of running around in the unknown alleys. He had found his light. It was in a humane form, pure white light scorching from the figure of that person. Heaving a relieved sigh, he made his way to reach as near as possible of the only source of light in this dreadful place. 

Reaching near, he realized the person, or more specifically the petite form of the girl in a long white dress, was standing just a few inches away from a cliff. It seemed dangerous, he had to warn her and call her back so that she would maintain a safe distance from the ridge. His trembling hands went up to hold the warm shoulder of the girl, making her turn around. 

At first, he had to squint his eyes due to the burst of light that faced him along with the girl. Then, slowly and steadily, he opened his eyes, and they widened in shock. "M-Munhee?" He whispered, not believing to find her in such place.

Munhee beamed brightly. "Baekhyun!" She giggled wholeheartedly without any reason. Her voice as soft as ever, dreamy even. Her whole face glowed as if she had bathed in a river of stars, so bright, so warm and so mesmerizing.  

Baekhyun gaped at her, not believing whether she was actually real. Despite being uncertain, he still offered her his tentative palm, "Munhee, hold my hand. It's too dangerous to keep standing here." He gently urged her, wagging his fingers at her in haste. Much to his dismay, she only shook her head while giggling. "Munhee, don't be like this. Please! Hold my hand! Or you'll fall down the cliff!" He hissed, not being able to control his panicked voice. 

"Try to catch me then!" She chortled heartily while taking one step back. 

"Don't be silly! Come back to me!" Baekhyun begged her, trying to walk closer to her so that he would be able to stop her but he felt like his feet were glued to their place. "Munhee, stop! This isn't a place to be joking around!" He even tried snapping at her, maybe she'd just get scared of getting scolding from him and finally listen to him?

But she didn't. She smiled brightly as she took another step back and one more. And then she was slipping off the edge, her face now stripped off the previous childish smile, dread took place in her features as she raised her hands to be held, but it was too late. She was falling down to the blurry black hole in front of his own eyes.

"Munhee!!" He screamed with all of his might, stumbling onto the edge as he saw her bright figure enveloping by the sheer darkness. He screamed, cried and wailed, but there was no avail. She was gone, lost from him forever. 

 

Next thing he witnessed, he was in a completely different surrounding. A dim orange-ish light coming from a candle helped him to see the pale face of a sick looking Munhee in his arm. Her eyes were blinking heavily, dark shadows under her eyes were erasing the usual brightness from her face. She was saying something to him, giving him a weak smile that tore down millions of strings from his chest even though he couldn't hear a single word what she was saying. He was continuously caressing her face and smooth wavy hairs, trying to ease whatever pain she might be going through to look this sick and pale. Her lips managed to utter some more soundless words and then her eyes fully closed, her body went dangerously lifeless. He was left with no other option but cry while calling her name in agony.

 

 

                                             ________

 

 

 

Munhee suddenly woke up after hearing some muffled screams from the male beside her. She rubbed her sleepy eyes and  the bedside lamp with much difficulty when she was awake enough to decipher what was happening to Baekhyun. He had his face buried into his pillow while he continuously whimpered as if he was in immense pain, his back heaving up and down due to him trying to take long breathes. Worry stirred inside her as it had been a long time she had last seen him having nightmares. And the fact that he had his face clutched to the pillowcase so tightly that it might hamper him in breathing and might prove dangerous for him, worried her even more.

"Baekhyun!" Munhee reached her right hand which was on his side to shake his shoulder. She could feel his figure trembling due to whatever he was witnessing in his sleep. "Baekhyun, wake up!" She shoved him a little more harder on his shoulder, helping his face to be freed from the pillow so that he could at least breath properly. She could see his face was frowned as he kept mumbling something, tears running down from his closed eyes, everything tugged her heart painfully, it always left a throbbing ache in her chest to see him suffering. "Baekhyun, wake up, p-please!" Her own voice cracked as she tried to wake him up from the torturous sleep. 

Finally, after a few more agonizing seconds, Baekhyun snapped his eyes open while panting harshly as if he'd just come from some marathon. When his panting reduced, his red rimmed eyes fell over her. A look which oddly seemed like relief washed over his agitated features, but his lips were still trembling and his eyes turned glassy one more time. Without wasting any more seconds, Baekhyun hovered himself over the boundary-pillow so that he could be closer to her. His hand reach to cup her face as he breathed hard, "Thank god, you're f-fine! You're fine..n-nothing happened to you!" He mumbled while his fingers caressed her face with so much intensity as if he had to make sure at every passing second that she was really there. His head fell on the crook of her neck while he let out his silent cries of relief or something that Munhee couldn't decipher. Her free hand immediately went towards the back of his head, patting there and sometimes combing softly to ease down the aftermath of his supposedly nightmares.

‌"Yes, Baekhyun. I'm fine. Please calm down." Munhee assured him softly while attempting to sit up to console him better, but he wasn't backing off from his position, so she had to remain laying there. When he finally lifted his tear strained face, she tentatively brought her fingers up to his face to wipe all the traces of tears away, and he let her even though he looked like he was still in his own world.

‌"Why were you there? It was never you...It was never you.." Baekhyun asked and it looked like he was asking these to himself, his eyes unsteady as he kept mumbling under his breath. 

‌"I don't underst-" Munhee started unsurely but was cut off by the male himself.

‌"No! You need to understand! I need you to be safe! Promise me, promise me t-that you'd stay s-safe?" He demanded now aligning his eyes with hers, his hold on her face got more firm as he waited for her answer. If it wasn't a moment like this, Munhee herself would've been out of breath due to the close proximity between their faces, as they were just inches away from each other. Though, Munhee was confused as well. She knew his nightmares consisted of Myunghee. Then why was he asking her to be safe. Then she concluded that he might be again thinking that she was Myunghee like that one night. 

‌"O-Okay, I promise." Munhee assured him despite knowing that the promise or his worries weren't meant for her.

‌"Thank you." Shuddered breath left past his parted lips, almost hitting Munhee's face, making her grit her teeth to be able to control herself from any stupid thoughts. "I promise, I'll k-keep you safe. I'll protect you... So that you'll n-never get h-hurt."  He spoke in his broken tone, tears still welled from his shaky eyes, coursing down all the way to his jaw. 

‌Munhee wanted to dry his tears once again but before she could attempt to do so, her heart almost stopped as she witnessed her husband's face leaning down towards her own, too close for her heart's sanity. She felt her whole body had gone numb when his pair of soft looking lips ever so gently landed on her forehead. By every second, the touch of his lips went firmer as if he was pouring all of his heartfelt sincerity and thousands of unsaid promises into that one honest touch from them.

Munhee had no other option but close her eyes like him, savour the unexpected wonderment and self-indulgently pretend that this emotional intimacy was actually meant for her, instead of her sister. She was aware of her thoughts being immoral at the highest degree, she would pass the blame on her growing selfish heart. And she also knew she this would never meant for herself, so she decided to be self-centered just for one night and treasure every single moment, every single precious feelings, that came from just a single touch from his lips to her soul, into the deepest and safest layers of her memories. Maybe she could pretend for the rest of her life that just at this one night, there were only her and Baekhyun in the whole world, no one else other than the two of them.

‌After a long lingering moment, he had detached himself from her forehead, letting the girl finally open her eyes and wake up from her open eyed dream while leaving shuddered breaths from her own trembling lips. Munhee had never imagined that a single eye contact can disable the ability of her whole body functions and render her with some intense electrifying waves through her soul. But it did happen when Baekhyun opened his eyes and stared right back at her. There was enormous amount of different emotions swarming from his irises, that Munhee had to constantly tell herself weren't for her. She reached her shaky fingers up to his face, wiping away the residual traces of those salty waters before tentatively restig her hand on the smooth skin of his cheek.

She didn't know whether it was her hand or it was Baekhyun himself, but in the next moment all she could see and feel was his face getting even closer to her, so close that the phrase 'personal space' was left with pretty much no meaning for them. She found him resting his forehead on hers ever so gently, their warm breathing tangled with each other. Their lashes brushed each others when they closed their eyes at the same time, none of them making a single sound that could break the sort of intense tranquillity formed between them. Munhee could only hear the speedy rhythm her heart was flaring on and the sound of their heavy breathing. 

 And then the moment came when she felt his body froze, probably finally realizing that she wasn't Myunghee, the only woman he loved. Munhee wanted to tell him, maybe even shamelessly beg, to pretend she was indeed Myunghee, so that she could know how warm it would feel when he would embrace her like the woman he loved, how precious he could make her feel when he'd give her the taste of Baekhyun's love that she knew Munhee would never receive. It was extremely greedy and selfish of her, she was utterly aware. 'Just for one night..' Yet her mind kept chanting this desirous words like a broken radio inside her.  

Munhee let out a huge relieved breath when Baekhyun leaned back from her personal space before the last few straws of her patience could fully break. And thus he saved her from uttering something from that she was sure she would've regretted greatly later. She retreated her hand back from his face with much reluctance while forcing her eyes to open, finding his own eyes darting somewhere else other than hers. "A-Are you alright?" She asked, trying to sound casual but she knew she failed miserably. Though her query was genuine, since he didn't look that alright and she could guess that his nightmare was probably something that scared him vastly. "Did you have nightmares again?" She asked even though she was certain of it, so that she could make him speak about it. Minseok had advised her long time ago that speaking about nightmares could be helpful.

Baekhyun looked back at her upon hearing her questions, silently nodding as a reply before he let himself fall back on his side of bed. Though his eyes were still at her. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" Munhee softly asked. Baekhyun had never revealed more than the fraction of information that Myunghee always occupied his nightmares. He was always stubborn to keep his mouth shut whenever he was asked the details about his nightmares.

He looked tensed at that, but he masked his face again, "No. Is your hand still hurting? Do you need pain relief spray again?" And he changed the topic just like that. 

"No, it's bearable now." She mumbled, disheartened. "If you don't want to share about your nightmares, then it's okay. Can you switch off the lights? We should sleep."  

"Okay." He then carefully switched off the lamp on Munhee's side before lying down again. Both of them knew they were wide awake, but none of them spoke a word until..

"Munhee?" Baekhyun called for her, his voice had that slightest tremble which told her that he still wasn't over whatever he had seen in his dream. Munhee hummed, waiting for him to continue. "Can I...Would you mind if I h-hold your hand? Just for tonight?" He asked, voice timid. 

Munhee gulped, her hands were already clammy and now after he had asked for it, she could feel them sweating, literally. She subtly rubbed her sweaty hand on her pyjama top, feeling nervous even though they had hold hands for countless times before this. "I..."  Munhee didn't know what she wanted to say, so she stopped like a fool, leaving her sentence incomplete just like that.

She heard Baekhyun heaving a sigh,  "It's okay if you... don't want to. Good night?" He spoke as he faced the ceiling.

Munhee closed her eyes even though there wasn't any bright light in the room, recollecting her scattered energies, she blindly reached her right hand to her husband. She could feel his head turned towards her to confirm whether she had actually given him her hand or not. "Here, take it." She lightly poked her fingers on his chest. 

"Oh..thanks?" Realizing it, Baekhyun took her hand in his large ones as he fully turned to her side so that it would be convenient for them.  "Uhh is it okay if I remove this... boundary from here?" He then asked again, causing Munhee to slightly froze in her spot as it was quite unexpected to see this suggestion coming from him. "It's causing your hand to strain!" He reasoned without missing any beat. 

"O-Okay." Munhee stammered, suddenly wished she could drown a whole bottle of water. But she knew it wasn't actual thirst for water, it was just her overly nervous self. Without anymore exchange of words, Baekhyun plucked the pillow away from between them and throwing it somewhere behind him. It fell somewhere into the floor with a soft thud. Then she felt his right hand gently clutching onto hers, cradling her limb into his chest as he scooted a little closer to her so that her hand wouldn't be too stretched. 

"That pillow surely ate up so much space!" He commented while chuckling. Munhee didn't need any light to know that it was one of his awkward chuckles.

"Yeah. Shall we sleep now? Good night." She mumbled, her whole concentration went to feel the rhythm of his heart beats since the back of her hand rested just near his heart.

"Good night."  

Everything went silent after that and both of them eventually fell asleep with Baekhyun using Munhee's hand as his personal bolster.

 

 

 

                                              _____

 

 

Next morning, they slept until someone knocked on their door. Both of them stirred from their slumber together. Munhee was about to lift her left hand to rub her eyes, but winced and immediately remembered that she had an injury to be cautious of. Baekhyun who was rubbing his face on her pillowcase, Munhee was certain of one fact after living with him for all these months that he was the one between the two of them who moved more in his sleep, snapped his face up to check on her since the little painful whimper escaped from her lips didn't go unheard by him.

"What happened?" He asked, brows furrowed while he blinked his eyes vigorously to push away all the grogginess, his hoarse voice not forgetting to leave it's effect on her poor heart like usual.  

"Uhh n-nothing. I was about to use my injured hand by mistake." She admitted sheepishly.

"Be careful from now on." He mumbled and both of them heard another set of knocks and voices of the kids calling for them. Munhee almost forgot that someone had knocked on their door in the first place.

"Baekhyun, open the door, hurry up!" She urged Baekhyun to get rid of his slothful movements. The male only groaned and pushed himself up from the bed. He managed to open the door before letting out a huge yawn and rubbed his eyes, looking like a big baby himself. 

A cheerful Sarang and a comparably silent Miseo entered their room. They were captured by sort of back hug by their father, causing them to giggle adorably, before they were carried towards the bed in that position. They scooted closer to Munhee and timidly peeked over all of her bandages. "Mama, do they still hurt?" Miseo asked while pouting, feeling bad for their mother.

"Just a little." Munhee smiled and answered, not forgetting to give a side glance to her husband who had plopped himself on the bed, sneakily trying to venture for few extra minutes of sleep. Even though past night wasn't a peaceful one, they did sleep for more than usual as it was already nearing ten in the morning. So they should all get up and start their day rather than lazing around some more.

"Mama why no school today?" Sarang asked, though the little one looked albeit happy for having to miss school for another day. Miseo only pouted while waiting for the answer. Between the two babies, Miseo was the more eager one to attend classes and she'd feel sad if they had to miss any class day. 

"Since Mama is still a little sick, Daddy suggested to not send you two school today." Munhee answered and patted Miseo's soft cheeks to cheer her up,  "But don't worry, Daddy has already spoken to your teacher and she said she would email him today's homework and class works. Happy?"  Miseo beamed hearing that she wouldn't miss knowing what would be taught in the class. Then Munhee's attention went to the male, "Baekhyun, get up already! It's ten in the morning!" She told him loudly.

Hearing their Mama, the kids also started poking on their father's back to wake him up. Baekhyun only groaned, "Do you have any emergency? like, do you need to go to washroom urgently?" He asked after he was forced to open his eyes.

Munhee got a little flustered at his direct query, she shook her head, "Not t-that urgent." She managed to reply.

"Then let me sleep for five minutes more!" Baekhyun whined before going back to bury his face into his pillow.

Miss Lonn peeked her head since their door was fully opened, and smiled seeing the whole family together. She eventually knocked on the door to gain their attention. Baekhyun muttered something under his breath but didn't move from his position, while the three girls' attention went to the door.  "Good morning. Since it's getting late, I thought of checking up on you whether there's any problem or not." She said to Munhee.

"No problem at all, Miss Lonn. I am fine." Munhee smiled while letting the older woman know. 

"That's great. Then would you all be coming for breakfast? The food has already gotten cold. Should I start reheating them?" Miss Lonn asked. 

"Sorry we slept till late. Yeah, do that, we'll be down within a few minutes." Munhee told Miss Lonn and the older lady was off to the kitchen. "Babies, have you brushed your teeth yet?" Her attention went to the kids again.

"No!" They replied together.

"Okay, hurry up and get your morning routines done, little missies!" She pinched their round cheeks and sent them off to their room. Then she looked at her husband, softly rolled her eyes since he looked like he was in deep slumber but she knew he was awake since it's not possible to get hold of sleep while so many people talked beside someone's ears. "And Mr. Byun, would you kindly get up and help me? Or should I go on my own?" She sassily asked. 

Munhee attempted to get up but she was stopped by Baekhyun's hand holding her. He sat up in a second, "I'm up! Don't you dare to move on your own and worsen your injuries." He threatened her in a cute manner before scooping her body up in his arm. Munhee was horrified when he groaned quite loudly as he stepped down from the bed with her. "How did you become so heavy overnight!" He groaned, though his lips were threatening to quirk at the corner of his mouth and the playful glint in his eyes told her that was just messing with her

"Baekhyun!" She whined, feeling her face heat up despite knowing that he was joking around. 

That managed to break his obvious facade as he chuckled. "I was joking, you're not that heavy." He said, while they entered their washroom. Munhee was about to give him a smile but she ended up whining and throwing a soft punch at his chest when he added,  "You're as light as a baby elephant."

 

Munhee knew it was silly of her to feel giddy about such insignificant matter, but she did feel quite giddy as it was the first time they brushed their teeth together. She couldn't help but to at a stretch glance at their reflection in the washroom mirror, where it could be seen how they both stood together, of course, Baekhyun's one hand on her waist keeping her secured from falling, her back rested at his chest, while they did their morning business. And the fact that their pjs had almost similar colors which made them look even more close. It was truly silly and exaggeration of her stupid heart to constantly get the feeling that how couple-like they looked, a really cute couple at that. But thankfully, she managed to keep her giddy smile hidden throughout and reminded herself that her thoughts were baseless.

 The next few hours went into them having breakfast, then them or more like Baekhyun bringing their necessary stuffs into the guest room downstairs since they had agreed to temporarily move there. Now that they were settled in Munhee's past bedroom, Baekhyun sat down beside her with his laptop.  

"Are we watching something?" She asked her husband while pointing at the laptop on his lap, confusion rising inside her since he sat rather closer to her than he normally would. 

"No. We're going to do some online shopping." Baekhyun let her know. "For you." He added.

"For me? It's the babies we should shop for! They are the one who would turn five on this weekend!" Munhee protested.

"Hmm we'd do that too. But for now, we're going to look for some short dresses for you." He stated firmly.

'So he is still stuck there?' Munhee gaped at her husband. "Most of my dresses are knee length anyway." She reminded him. "If that makes you happy, I'll just wear them and avoid those long ones?" She bargained with the stubborn male, who had already started scrolling around the options of dresses.

"Yeah do that. But you'll still get new dresses."  He shrugged, making Munhee huff at annoyance.  "Here, look, how's this one? And these two here? Oh yeah, this color is really pretty, get this one too?" Just like this, within not more than fifteen minutes, a load of outfits were added to their online shopping cart. Baekhyun stood to his words, choosing outfits that would do her a huge favor by managing to cover her at most. When he was done ordering everything he wanted, he looked up at her and winced finding an irritated Munhee. "W-What? Did I do something wrong?" He asked timidly.

  "No. You just simply ordered sea of dresses for me, in front of me, without giving me any chance to choose!" She rolled her eyes, sending small glare at the male. 

"I uhh thought they were all pretty and you would look pret- I mean they would look good on you.." His blabbermouth replied.  "And besides, if I'd let you choose, you would've call it a day after selecting two or three dresses!" He defended himself.

Munhee couldn't protest on the last part since he was right. So she d onto another excuse, which was quite legit, "But did you notice all of them were too short! You want me to go out in those?" she huffed. 

"No! No one should see you in those, not even Jongin!" He grumbled before hastily adding, "I m-mean, there are erts everywhere, you know? So you shouldn't wear them while going outside. We'll get some knee-length ones for you as well. Or some pants?" 

His logics went in circles in Munhee's head since they were vague. "So what's the issue if I wear only knee-length ones at home?" It was Munhee's turn to grumble annoyedly. 

This made Baekhyun tongue tied for some reason. He opened his mouth to say something but he was saved by the sound of knocks on their door. "Come in,  door isn't locked!" He yelled, not wanting to get up. 

"Shouldn't you open the door yourself? It might be the kids ag- oh! Mom?" Munhee stared at her mother-in-law, who was peeking her head through now their opened door, in surprise. Baekhyun was as much surprised as her.

Mrs. Byun fully entered their room and her first instinct was to rush to Munhee's side and gasp at all the bandages before holding her face, "Oh my poor child! You've got so many injuries! How are you feeling now? Do you still have pain?" The older women asked with concerned voice.

"I'm fine, Mom. Please don't worry. And you didn't even let us know that you're visiting?" Munhee assured her before asking.

"How can I not visit when I hear the news of such big accident!" The older lady yapped.

"Mom, it's not something big!" Munhee tried to console the agitated lady though she didn't look that convinced. But nonetheless, calmed down enough to have conversation without crying over Munhee's injuries.

Baekhyun's mother went to meet the kids in their playroom after she was satisfied with giving out advices to her son and making sure he was taking proper care of her daughter-in-law. Munhee was glad that she somehow managed to induce her mother-in-law in helping her to take a bath since the thought of getting Baekhyun's help in bathing was even more nerve wrecking than taking his help in case of using the washroom. 

But when the time actually came, it had proven to be quite tough for Mrs. Byun to help Munhee alone, so she ended up calling Baekhyun and Munhee didn't even want to remember the details of the most awkward and embarrassing bath she had ever taken in her whole two decades of life.  

 

 

                                         ______

 

 

 

The rest of the week went faster for Munhee even though she had to practically spend almost twenty four hours on the bed for every single day. Now today was already the day before the kids' birthday. Munhee's elbow was fully recovered by now. Her ankle had also recovered quite well, the reddish swell was gone from there, and she could walk while slightly limping if she tried to. She had to thank Baekhyun since his constant help and care made her recovery this easy and peaceful. From giving her medicines to take her on small walks around the house or sometimes in their garden, he had done everything with diligence. She had to thank her mother-in-law as well since she stayed with them and took care of the kids while Munhee was unab