(PS:  I have updated around five days ago, so it might be a double update for some of you!) (PPS:  the pictures used are only used for the purpose to help visualize their outfits, so only focus on the outfits, not on their faces there >.<)

 

                                          _______

 

 

Next day, being Sunday, Munhee woke up a little later than her usual waking time. She sleepily frowned when she found the bed empty beside her. Baekhyun wasn't someone to get up at least before nine on a weekend morning, excluding some exceptional days. She sat up, knowing that she wouldn't be able to get more sleep since she had already opened her eyes once. Rubbing her groggy eyes she blinked around the room in search for her husband but he wasn't seen anywhere. When her head was clear enough from the sleep, only then she managed to hear the distant sound of shower running inside their washroom. When the shower turned off, indicating that he was done, Munhee picked up her discarded robe from the corner of the bed, slightly blushing at the thought of him watching her without it when he had woken up earlier this morning. 

When the door of the washroom unlocked, Munhee hastily put on the robe before stepping down from the bed. "Oh, you're up! Good morning!" Baekhyun smiled at her before moving towards the bed to retrieve his picked out t-shirt and putting it on.

 "Morning. Why did you wake up so early? You even took a shower this early when you had fever just last night." Munhee frowned in worry for her husband. Sometimes he did things without even thinking the outcome. 

Baekhyun shrugged nonchalantly before touching his forehead, "My fever is completely gone. I am fine now." He let her know.

Not fully trusting his words, Munhee took the liberty to check his temperature on her own. She hummed in satisfaction feeling the colder temperature of his body. 'Wait, he feels colder than what people would call a normal temperature.'  That only meant one thing. "Baekhyun, you didn't use the geyser again? You just had a fever yesterday and now you're showering with cold water!" She nagged at her husband. 

"Using geyser is a hassle! Also, cold water...uh helps me to keep my head clear? I am habituated to use cold water for bathing, you don't have to worry everytime!" He offered nervously. Much to his dismay and Munhee's horror, he sneezed one time just then and there. 

Munhee's hands naturally went to her hips, her eyes giving him a 'Now what are you gonna say about this?' look, making him grimace. "That's it, you're banned from touching anything cold for next two weeks!" She declared firmly.

"Two weeks? Isn't this too much, Mun?" Baekhyun protested, while ruffling his hairs with his towel. "You know I can't live without having iced teas or ice creams! Or maybe just cold coffee or cold noodles? Spare some of the options?" He bargained, trying to show her his puppy eyes. 

But his puppy eyes couldn't win against her whenever it was matter of his health. So Munhee shook her head strictly, "No! No contact with anything cold means no cold coffee, no cold noodles, no iced teas, no ice creams and specially no cold water for bathing. And that for next two weeks." She crossed her arms over her chest while waiting for anymore objections or excuses from the pouting male.

"I don't think it's possible to avoid cold... water while taking a shower. It's kind of...uhh important for me?" He mumbled while rubbing his nape. 

"Fine, do whatever you wanna do! Just don't forget that we have a huge event this weekend and if you fall sick or something, I am not gonna go there alone!" She huffed, annoyed at his stubbornness.

Baekhyun grinned a little, "Of course not! It's not only a huge event, it's also your birthday party that day! Of course I'd be there no matter what!" He told her while planting a soft pinch on her sulky cheeks, making her softly smile back even though she was still annoyed at him. 

 

Later that day, Munhee found Baekhyun and her babies in the living room. The pair of father-daughters decided to lounge there after breakfast, while Munhee prepared the lunch. She smiled upon seeing the kids and her husband intently watching something on his phone. "What are you guys watching with so much interest?" She asked while taking a seat on the handrest on the single couch which Baekhyun was occupying, while the kids sat on his laps comfortably. 

Baekhyun looked up at her, grinning he gestured Munhee to join heads with them in watching whatever they were watching. Apparently, they were choosing the design of a cake which would be used as her birthday cake. Since it was a huge party and lots of celebrity and big-shot businessmen would be present there along with the media, they had to choose every single item carefully, that included the birthday cake as well. After all, even a small negative happening can hamper the long cherished reputation of Byun family. 

"That's a nice view. Stay like this while I click some family pictures of you all." Jongin's usual excited voice managed to gain all of their attention. 

"Jongin, what are you doing!" Munhee covered her face so that it wouldn't be visible in the pictures he was obviously clicking. 

"Why are you in my house, Jongin? Get out." Baekhyun scolded him half heartedly, not even glaring at the younger male. Munhee must say, Baekhyun was going back to treating Jongin normally throughout the time.  

"Hyung, Noona, just pose as I say, let me click one good photo then you can speak all you want! C'mon Noona, do it! It would work as a good image for Hyung when this would be posted on his Instagram!" Jongin focused on explaining Munhee since she was undoubtedly easier to convince. 

Baekhyun wasn't the social media person, his Instagram profile was practically run by Jongin. The younger male was the one who had suggested Baekhyun to start posting his business and family related photos there so that the leftover impact of the scandal that had happened almost three months ago, would be washed away without leaving any trace. 

Apparently, just until three months ago, no one cared about Baekhyun's personal life, since he had always managed to keep his personal life detached from media, only some main events of his life were mentioned. But some paparazzi had suddenly gained interest on the CEO of Byun Corp. and successfully managed to capture some pictures of him and Munhee together in Japan, where they had gone to visit around five months ago, actually it was supposed to be a business trip for Baekhyun but he somehow managed to turn it into a small family vacation for them, and then the one time Munhee had visited his office and he had taken her out for lunch to a nearest restaurant, the other time when Baekhyun had took all of them out to the amusement park, then one time when he had dropped Munhee for her spa appointment and lastly a few pictures of them going in and walking out of their house together. The most terrible thing wasn't the paparazzi's stalkerish behavior or his tendency in taking the pictures in a way that would seem like the both of them were immensely in love with each other, the paparazzi had used wrong and disturbing information about them to gain extra attention.

The pictures were leaked rumoured as various nasty scandals, and the people had made it worse for Baekhyun and specially Munhee by commenting vile words about them. Some assumed Munhee had seduced her brother-in-law after her sister died, some commented and assumed that they had been seeing each other even before Myunghee's accident meaning that Baekhyun had extra marital affair with Munhee and they started dating freely after Myunghee was gone from their way, some assumed that Baekhyun has kept Munhee in his house just for carnal enjoyment. Honestly, for Munhee, it was all a nightmare. In those few days, whenever she would go to surf on social media, the scandals and skin pricking negative comments were all over there. Munhee was this close to go into a state of depression seeing or reading all those nasty and full of hatred comments for the both of them, and specially for her. She felt sorry for Baekhyun since he had to stay strong in front of her and constantly tell her that he was going to make everything alright, so she couldn't know what he was actually feeling throughout that whole week. They even had to let the kids miss their school just to keep them safe from any surprise attack from media people.

Lastly, after lot of consulting from Jongin, some senior employees and their parents, they decided to reveal the news of their marriage through a press conference. Munhee was grateful to the fact that after Liana, Baekhyun had hired Jongin as his secretary, and during the press conference it was mostly Jongin who talked and answered all sort of questions and managed to clear the whole situation. After knowing and understanding their whole situation, the public now supported them and even apologized to them for leaving insensitive comments about them. And the young generation kind of shipped the two of them as a couple. So according to Jongin, it would leave a good impression on the people if Baekhyun time to time gave them a glimpse of his private life, so they would keep giving him their support, and it was also good for his business to have a clean image of private life. They even threw a huge party in their house shortly after the press conference, to invite all powerful people from different spheres of society, and of course the media as a sort of proof that they were actually married. That had also helped boosting their image to the public's eyes.

"Noona, do the pose!" Jongin broke Munhee from the thoughts of that one dark time of her life. She shuddered at those horrible memories till this day. 

"Jongin, I don't have any makeup on! I would look ugly if you take pictures of my face like that!" Munhee whined. 

"You don't need makeup, Mun. You're pretty enough without doing anything special." Baekhyun strictly told her, making her shut . He never missed any chance to remind her to be confident about her looks, because according to him she never looked bad. 

"Yes, Mama is really pretty."

"Mama is pretty like an angel."

Miseo and Sarang also contributed, making Munhee an embarrassed mess at all the compliments at once. 

"Yes Noona, do I also need to say it? You're pretty even without any makeup!" Jongin also joined making Munhee groan. 

"Okay, stop you all! I'm posing!" Munhee gave up and followed Jongin's instructions. It was a simple pose, she just had to circle her hands around Baekhyun's shoulders from where she was sitting and all of them had to look at the mobile screen just like they were doing previously. Ever since the scandal, they had been invited into various events and they were almost habituated in giving out all these couple-ish poses in front of cameras. On Munhee's part, she still felt nervous and a little bashful whenever she would be held by her husband or she herself would hold him in front of a broader portion of public.

 Baekhyun's eyes caught something before Jongin could start his job, instinctively, his hand landed on Munhee's bare thighs. "I think you should change into a longer dress." He suggested her.

Munhee rolled her eyes at him. Wasn't he the one who remained persistent on his demand of not letting her wear longer dresses? Then why did he want her to wear something longer?

"Geez, Hyung, you don't have to worry over your wife's pretty legs. I am cropping her legs in the pictures. No one would see them! You're such an over possessive dude." Jongin commented while shaking his head.

"I am not over possessive or anything like that! You don't know how ert the younger generation kids are. They don't even think before commenting anything!" Baekhyun defened himself. Munhee had noticed him read each and every comments on his social media posts where family pictures or simply their couple pictures were shared. He would be personally blocking anyone who would leave even a slighest unacceptable comment. 

Munhee smiled seeing his protective mode getting on just on a simple matter. She picked up a cushion from the nearest couch and covered her thighs with it. "It's okay, Baekhyun. If that makes you feel better, I am keeping this cushion here, it will help to cover." She assured him.

"Fine." Baekhyun nodded and only then retrieved his hand from her thighs before they went back to their original pose.

By the time Jongin had clicked all the pictures he wanted, the Byun family was also done with the cake selection task.  

"Thank you for cooperation! Pictures are done! Now it's time for dance lessons!" Jongin clapped his hands to gain their attention.

"Dance lessons?" Munhee asked confusedly. 

"Yes. You two must've forgotten that you are scheduled to do a couple dance in the party. And since you have the dashing and talented Kim Jongin as your multi talented friend slash secretary, I will be the one doing the choreography of your romantic little dance performance." Jongin declared proudly.

 "Choreography? Is it any dance competition or what!" Baekhyun scoffed at Jongin's extraness.

"Right. I don't think I'd be able to dance a single step if there would be the pressure of memorizing a choreography!" Munhee muttered, already nervous at the reminder of the supposed dance performance. 

"It would be easier if you practice everyday for it!" Jongin bargained.

"If you're forgetting, I have work, unlike you. Maybe I should just fire you, you don't do much other than flirting with the female workers." Baekhyun threatened looking all serious.

It was Jongin's turn to scoff at Baekhyun, "You wouldn't fire me, Boss." He stated sassily, uttering the word 'Boss' mockingly. "Now don't waste my time and start the dance lesson. I postponed my lunch date with Krystal for you two. So I don't want to miss my date with Jennie in the evening." Jongin reminded the both of them.

The couple rolled their eyes at the younger male. They had tried to make him realize that he should just court one female at a time, and try to be serious with her, of course. But he always swatted away their advices saying that he couldn't think of dating someone seriously after being rejected by his blonde girl, he hadn't told them her real name till this date. "I still don't know how do you manage to go on dates with these top models!" Baekhyun mumbled.

"Why? You're jealous? Noona, keep an eye on him. He sounds suspicious!" Jongin snickered.

"Yah! What nonsense!" Baekhyun jabbed at Jongin, then he turned to Munhee, "You know he speaks nonsense most of the time, right?" He asked her insistently.

"Yeah, I know." Munhee shook her head while smiling at their bickering. She sometimes got the feeling that these two would've been the best cast if someone decided to make a human version of Tom & Jerry. Baekhyun would make a cute but hotheaded, and sometimes dumb, tom while Jongin would be cute and mischievous Jerry. She earned questioning stares from the males when she ended up giggling loudly to herself at her hilarious thoughts.  

"Okay, are we doing the dance lesson or not?" Jongin huffed.

"I don't need any lessons. I am already a decent dancer!" Baekhyun proudly shrugged, leaning back into the couch while crossing his legs to sit royally as the kids had run off to somewhere else. 

"Oh, that's great! Then I'd have to teach only one person. Come Noona, let's dance~" The younger male wiggled his brows while grinning playfully at Munhee, grabbing and taking her to the spacious side of their living room. 

Baekhyun gaped at that, immediately discarding his royal stature and following the two from behind. 

Jongin set a random romantic song on the music player and went back to Munhee, smirking when he noticed Baekhyun was also standing there with crossed arms, glaring at the ground. The moment Munhee was going to hold Jongin's offered palm for starting the practice, Baekhyun slightly pushed her away with a sway of his hips and grabbed onto Jongin's palm instead of her. Then much to Munhee's astonishment, the older male made the younger male hold his waist, while he himself circled his arms around a shocked Jongin's shoulders. "What? I just think it would be easier for her to learn by watching first?" Baekhyun reasoned, making Jongin roll his eyes. "Let's start then?" He told Jongin, who looked kind of flustered.

Munhee stiffened her laughter with much struggle when they actually started doing the ballroom dancing, looking awkward as hell. She sneakily unlocked her phone to take another video that might be useful until another one year or two. It wasn't her fault that she had to handle a stubborn man, so keeping little but powerful weapons here and there wasn't that wrong, right?

"Don't even think of taking any video, Munhee!" Baekhyun threatened even though he had his back facing her, the girl winced at his ability to know her possible actions this well. 

"Fine, won't take any." She grumbled, locking her phone back. 

"This won't do, you two should dance together!" Jongin whined, looking like he was going through constipation. 

"I think you're right." Baekhyun immediately agreed to Jongin like an intellectual and without wasting any second, he left the younger male and brought Munhee closer for a dance. 

"It would've been better if I had a partner as well, you two could've followed along!" Jongin mumbled while Baekhyun and Munhee took their position, his hold on her waist was delicate but firm at the same time. Feeling a little bold for no particular reason, Munhee circled her hands around his nape instead of his shoulder, which made their position even more intimate, the tiny ball of nervousness at the possibility of Baekhyun minding the position or telling her to change it had washed away when Baekhyun didn't react to it at all.  

Without waiting for Jongin's instruction, they started waltzing through the melodic rhythm of the song softly playing in the background, Munhee had no idea whether it was her or Baekhyun who had initiated the dance in the first place, neither she cared about it. The only fact she was aware of at this moment, was that she loved it. She loved the feeling of staying closer to the man she had unconditionally given her heart to, she loved having his soft eyes on her while they danced in their own simple choreography that came naturally from their unspoken mutual coordination, she loved being held by him as if she was something or someone really precious and he wouldn't let any harm reach near her, she loved being the reason of his heartwarming smiles that had once become rare after they had lost Myunghee, she loved everything about their dance, she loved everything about him. Even though sometimes it would get a little too hard for her to suppress all the love and affection swarming inside her for this man,  and despite it being more or less a one-sided love, yet she never regretted loving him even for a second. It wasn't her choice to fall this deeply, madly even, for this man, Baekhyun, but it was definitely her choice to continue loving him without having his feelings reciprocated towards her. But she wouldn't mind it if she'd be able to openly love him, without any restrictions. 

"I think I found my partner!" Jongin hollered, breaking the trance that had been formed between the couple, he ran towards a confused looking Miss Lonn who just entered the house. 

Jongin almost dragged the older woman towards the space where Munhee and Baekhyun were now standing idly while keeping their position intact, but their eyes on Jongin and Miss Lonn.

"I forgot to take the gift I had bought for my daughter, I just came to get it." Miss Lonn explained to Munhee. "Jongin, son, please I can't dance!" Then she added, looking flustered as everyone's eyes were on her.

"You have me as your dancing partner Miss Lonn! Even if you can't dance, we will dance better than them now." Jongin playfully winked at the older woman. 

"Is that so?" Baekhyun mused, a hint of challenge present in his tone. He hoisted Munhee closer to his chest before giving Jongin a challenging look, "Let's see who dances better. I think Me and Mun would win definitely." He told Jongin proudly before looking back to Munhee, "Ready?" He asked her grinning.

 

 

 

                                              _____

 

 

 

It was just the day before the party. Everything was ready for the launching event. Munhee and Baekhyun had personally visited the venue which was one of the top hotels in Seoul, the food menu was selected keeping in mind of every possible preferences, the decoration plans were already done so they'd be start decorating it today, they had personally emailed and sent elegant invitation cards to every chief guests. They even met up with the top-class models who'd participate in the advertisements and photoshoots. Their office, factory and employees were also all set. All they needed to do was to officially launch their first collection, which would be done in the party. 

 

So currently, having no other work at hand, Munhee decided to just sulk at her husband. Reason? He had just gotten a really cool haircut on his now black hair, might she inwardly add that he looked quite attractive, maybe even more attractive than before, but he didn't allow her to get a haircut. And it wasn't new, whenever Munhee would be saying that she should try shorter hair, he would say that long her suited her beautifully and she would lose all the enthusiasm to get any haircut, because she's just greedy for getting those compliments from him for her hair even though maintaining them was a headache most of the times.

"I just said what I felt like. Your long hair is beautiful. It does suit you a lot. But I haven't said that you can't cut them shorter if you want to!" Baekhyun defended himself, he had been doing that for the past ten minutes.

Munhee buried her face into Senior Mr. Byun's tummy even more, not wanting to acknowledge Baekhyun's presence. The fact that her husband was kneeling on the bed just beside her weirdly cramped figure, made it even harder for her to ignore him. 

"Munhee, why are you being so difficult? You literally twisted my words on your own!" Baekhyun sighed in frustration. 

"Why would you say that everytime I'd even think about getting a haircut! You just want to discourage me!" Munhee managed to muffle from wherever was in between her hiccups. Munhee knew it well that she was being ridiculous, throwing tantrums for particularly no solid reason. She didn't even know why she was being so sensitive from the morning this day. It wasn't like her period was nearing or something like that. She couldn't decipher the nervousness in her heart that had been getting bigger and bigger within every passing day. Was it because she was nervous and maybe apprehensive of the next day? She wasn't that nervous because of their project, maybe she was just being a coward because tomorrow she would have to confess her feelings to Baekhyun as per her promise to herself. 

"Hey, are you..are you crying? Oh god! Please d-don't cry!" As soon as Baekhyun heard the crack in her voice and her hiccups, he started to panic. He had said to her in a few rare times that he didn't like seeing tears in her eyes, if the man only knew what poor condition his words had made of her heart. "Okay, listen, I'm sorry! I don't ing know what I did wrong, but I'm sorry! Stop crying for god's sake!" He groaned and lightly patted her back whether trying to calm her down or make her look up at him, he had no idea. "You know that I would never stop you from doing anything as long as it's safe, right?" He asked Munhee after a few moments when her cries were subdued.

Munhee only nodded her head, her face still buried into the plushy's tummy, she felt guilty for wetting it, but at that moment Senior Mr. Byun seemed like the best option to hide her face so that Baekhyun wouldn't have to see her tears. 

"Good, so why are you crying then? It was just a compliment. You don't have to stop eating if I tell you that you look good when you're not eating. Right?" He again asked, voice soothing to her ears. Giving her untamed heart a reason to be tamed for the time being. She again opted for a silent nod as a reply. She felt him gently holding her and turning her so that her face would be revealed, and she let him. He sat down crossed legged beside her before softly chuckling at her tear strained face and pouty lips, "Look at you, if you aren't just being a little baby.." He cooed at her, eyes shining with fondness, he dabbed his fingers on her face to dry the traces of tears. 

"I'm not a baby!" Munhee protested, feeling her face heat up at the way he was treating her. 

"But you're crying like one!" He told her albeit teasingly. His fingers lightly caressing her warm cheeks. "Okay, get up now if you're done crying. We're going to get you whatever haircut you'd like." He then told her, patting her cheeks twice he held out his hand for her. 

"W-What?" Munhee blinked, but did manage to grasp onto his hands and was pulled up on a sitting position by him. "Haircut?"

"Yes, haircut." Baekhyun shrugged. "It's okay if you don't have any specific haircut in your mind. The hairstylis