______

Munhee decided there wasn't any use of keep worrying about the dreadful night, it would lead her to drown in unnecessary anxiety that might spoil everything she wanted to do for Baekhyun today. So she engrossed herself in baking batch after batch of choco chip cookies, she had eventually come to term with the realization that baking cookies was something that would always help her feeling better. Also, baking cookies meant getting to see her lovely babies grinning ear to ear out of excitement as they loved eating cookies as much as she loved baking them. Whereas Baekhyun never said anything about her cookies, she was certain that he also loved eating them as she had seen him happily munching on them everytime. That's why she would always have to bake separately for the father and daughters. She usually stored them in different jars so that one party wouldn't get a whiff of other party's cookies, otherwise they would just sulk if the other party sneaked some from them.

"Don't you think you're baking more cookies than usual?" Miss Lonn asked as the older lady just got back from grocery shopping and witnessed the mountain of the sweet food in the kitchen. 

Munhee smiled at the lady sheepishly. Miss Lonn was right. Now that she was finally out of her trance, she could see she had baked almost twice than she would usually do. "I uh...I just got carried away." She mumbled while rubbing her head. It wasn't a lie though.   "Umm why don't you just take some for Heejin? She likes cookies, right?" She offered some for the older lady's daughter. It wasn't possible to finish this amount of cookies by themselves unless they start eating cookies for breakfast, lunch and dinner from now on. 

"But you will still have like one jar's amount of cookies left to be taken care of!" Miss Lonn mumbled, both her and Munhee's face went down as they didn't like wasting food. Then the older lady's face lit up, "Oh I think I know what you could do with the extra cookies! I've found out on my way back here that someone just moved into the house next to yours. You can give them these freshly baked cookies for a warm welcome as their neighbor." She proposed the idea.

"That would be great. You're a life saver Miss Lonn!" Munhee sighed in relief, hugging the older lady in gratitude. "I'll pack them nicely." She shortly grinned and proceeded to stuff the food in a nice container. Since she had to look after the last batch of cookies still inside the oven, Miss Lonn offered to deliver the food on her behalf. The kids also joined with the older lady as Munhee wanted them to learn more socializing from an early age, she didn't want them to be an awkward piece like her.

"Mama! Our neighbor Oppa is so handsome!" Miseo shrieked the moment all three of them returned home.  

"Yes! New neighbor Oppa looks like a handsome actor, just like the drama actors! So handsome!" Sarang also joined in fangirling over their new neighbor, causing Munhee and Miss Lonn to laugh out at their enthusiastic selves.

"Oppa?" Munhee raised a curious brow at her daughters after she was done laughing. 

"Yes! And Mama you won't believe! He is so tall!" Miseo continued to gush over.

"Taller than Uncle Jongin!" Sarang offered, her eyes turning wide while she spread her hands to show how big the man was.

"I think he is as tall as Uncle Kris?" Miseo asked Sarang, to which the younger one nodded vigorously. 

"Okay, okay! I understand your new neighbor Oppa is really handsome and tall. But remember to not say this before Daddy, hmm?" Munhee laughed while teaching the kids. She still hadn't forgotten how insecure Baekhyun had gotten when the kids once said they liked their Uncle Kris's long legs. Though it was really fun to witness Baekhyun fuming like an adorable kid whenever the girls would even call some actors handsome, she didn't want him to feel insecure of their neighbor, as there was a huge chance of them stumbling upon one another almost regularly.

The kids nodded to Munhee, making her proudly smile at them as they listened really well to her, whereas she was certain that most of the kids of their age were far more mischievous than her babies. The girls then were reminded of their current favourite cartoon show, so they dashed to their playroom to watch it. Miss Lonn smiled at the retreating figures of the kids while she joined with Munhee to help her putting the sweets inside the jars. "Really though, the man did look like a celebrity. I think I have seen his pictures somewhere but I can't remember it at this moment!" She gossiped with Munhee.

"It's okay, you can just tell me if you remember!" Munhee assured the lady who seemed to be stressing to remember where she had seen the male.

                                            ______

The ticking of clock never felt this heavy and slow for Munhee. It felt like time was really testing her patience today, it was as if every minutes took five-times extra time and effort to pass. It was only late afternoon now, she had to pass at least five to eight long hours depending on the time Baekhyun would decide to return. 'No Mun, not again!' She immediately grimaced when like a broken clock, she was again stuck at the thought of whether her husband would actually return in time or not. 

It was actually needless to say that almost everything depended on Baekhyun's return. Because the way she acted this morning before him, it was totally given whatever she was up to, or at least the nature of the thing she wanted to do. She knew Baekhyun was a smart man, so it would be extremely foolish of her to even think that he wouldn't know that she was up to something. So the real question was,  whether he was willing to give her a chance to do whatever she wanted to do, or he would just show his reluctance indirectly by not coming home within their usual dinner time. 

Her train of thoughts broke when she heard caller alert from her phone. She slightly froze in her spot momentarily. 'Must be him!' She inwardly yelled to herself, trying to make herself move towards her handphone as soon as possible before Baekhyun decided to end the call or something. She was certain the call was from her husband, because this time of day generally was among the least busy hours in office. So in any normal day, Baekhyun would either give her an audio or video call at this hour, or just would simply chat with her through exchanges of texts. In short, she could say that it was their prime communication time while his stay at office. Though they hadn't been able to continue this ritual of them throughout this week due to her husband's sudden busy schedules. 

Shrugging off the nervousness, of course she would be nervous to talk with him after whatever brave stunt she had pulled off this morning, her heart would start pounding erratically and her face would burn in embarrassment literally everytime she was reminded of her brave kiss on his cheek, she couldn't just believe she had actually done it in the first place, she walked to the coffee table in their bedroom, her heart thumping with nervousness as well as anticipation. That's why the sinking feeling was inevitable when she finally saw the name flashing on her screen. It wasn't Baekhyun. She heaved a sigh before composing herself for the conversation she had to go through after receiving the call.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Mun! How's everything?" Sehun asked from the other line, he sounded quite cheerful. 

"Fine..I guess. Why have you called?" She half heartedly asked. Honestly, she wasn't in the mood of small chitchat at this moment, so she directly asked him his reason for calling her.

"You don't sound fine though. Did something happen? Wait don't tell me you and Baekhyun had any fight because of what happened in the conference room yesterday!" Sehun asked, the cheerfulness in his voice now dimming. 

Munhee didn't know what to say. She wanted to really think that her husband finding her on another man's laps had caused some issues between them. It was an absurd thought, she knew, yet she kind of hoped that it was really the case here. Because that would mean that her husband was jealous, that would also mean he did have some growing feelings for her in his restricted heart. But alas, she didn't have a tad bit confidence in this matter. "No, Sehun. We didn't fight. I might be just sleepy, that's why I don't sound fine." She opted to just keep her answer short after letting out inward sighs. 

"Okay, I am trusting you for now. Hey, you had told me that... you're gonna confess to Baekhyun. How did it go?" He then asked, his voice fully calm and serious now.

"I didn't do it yet. Actually, I'm gonna confess to him tonight." She absentmindedly mumbled. Her mind again went to the similar circle of thoughts that had been encircling around her mind since morning.  

The line went silent for a few seconds, though Munhee didn't quite notice it due to being busy in her own thoughts, trying hard to not crawl back to her own world where only her and her thoughts resided.. "That's..that's great! Best of luck for it. And did you tell him about me? I mean, does he know that I am your ex boyfriend?" He asked furthermore.

"Yes, that he knows already." She delivered. "Did you really call me to ask my progress in confessing Baekhyun?" She finally found herself fully concentrating in the conversation.

"No! I actually wanted to give you a surprise! But I guess I will keep it for later." He said, Munhee was sure he was smiling while talking about it. 

"What surprise?" She asked, she didn't know why, but the idea of getting any sort of surprise from her ex boyfriend slash currently entitled as friend wasn't sitting right with her.

"You will know when the time comes!" He singsonged. "Okay, I have to go now, getting some calls from work. Bye, see you soon!" Then he ended the call just like that.

Munhee shook her head at his impulsive antics. Her fingers started clicking on the phone on their own, she found herself entering her and Baekhyun's chatroom. "Should I text him? I should remind him about his promise to come home soon tonight!" She fought with herself to come up with any valid excuse to at least text him. But then she again deleted whatever she had already typed, telling herself to be patient and not to bother him while he was busy in work, otherwise he might get annoyed and decide against her request. 

 "I should start cooking. Yes Mun, go cook some kickass dishes which would force him to his fingers off of his hands, and maybe he would be then impressed enough to kiss the chef's hands?" She talked to herself through the mirror, giggling at her stupid thoughts and completely idiotic hopes. Even though she knew her thoughts were almost illogical, but she did feel her tummy butterflies tickling her from inside, her face heating up just at the imagination of her thoughts becoming true. "Okay, time to get started! Fighting to me!" She patted her shoulder and made her way towards the kitchen to start cooking dinner. At least one thing that she was optimistic about, it was her cooking skills that she had managed to polish by diligency. So she would put her soul into it today.

                                           _____

   The clock hitting at eight in the late evening, was when Munhee finally wrapped up the literal feast she had prepared for tonight's special dinner, she also prepared some evening snacks for the kids in between. She had let Miss Lonn an early off for today as next day was weekend anyway, she was even planning to get the little ones into their bed early, all these because she wanted her and Baekhyun to be alone.

 Logically speaking, it would be hella awkward for her to even utter a single word of confession if there would be kids sitting beside them or Miss Lonn would be lurking around the kitchen. Perhaps, she didn't want anyone else to be there since a huge part of her already knew her confession wasn't going to be one of the smoothest ones. So it will be better if she didn't let anyone else witness if she was to get rejected mercilessly, she didn't want anyone else to see her breakdown at her own misery. 

According to her planned sequence of works, she fed the kids and had to spend a good half an hour to make them fall asleep as they weren't sleepy at all, she had to narrate at least five stories of five different princesses before she finally managed to lull them into their dreamland. Planting soft pecks on their chubby cheeks and forehead, she left their room and hoped they would have a good sleep, perhaps next morning would be a new one for them as well if her confession went well by any miracle.

She went back to her bedroom after that, intending to take a long hot shower to wash off the slight tiredness from her body. "What should I wear?" Munhee froze at the realization that she hadn't decided on her outfit, even though they would be staying at home, she still wanted to look presentable while she'd be opening up her heart like a book without cover to her husband. 

After spending like twenty minutes in picking out the best fitted outfit for tonight's dinner from the sea of dresses, her ever so confused mind still couldn't get hold of the proper kind of outfit for such unusual occasion. She came to fix her mind on two dresses, but they still seemed a little overdone for a simple dinner at her own house with her husband.  

"Ugh! I can't do this!" She threw the dresses into the bed out of frustration and grabbed her only savior at this moment, her phone. Maybe she should ask for someone's advice, right? She never had to bother worrying about choosing outfits because she always preferred to wear comfortable ones over the stylist ones, she kept her choice of outfit fixed even the few times she had gone to dates before getting married. But it was Byun Baekhyun whom she was going to confess to, he was in short words, a sophisticated man overall, so she couldn't probably wear one of her pajamas and have dinner with him and then express her feelings to him like that. She would just embarrass herself by doing so. Also, she needed to look good for the sake of her own self confidence that wasn't much high in the first place.

So without thinking anything, she dialed a familiar number. Initially, she wanted to call Jisoo as the girl had amazing sense of fashion, but she was still a girl. She needed a man's opinion because she wanted to look good for a man. She nervously nibbled on her lower lip and waited for the male to receive her call.

"Hey, Noona! How are you? Haven't seen you for a long week!" Jongin's slight surprised and mostly happy voice greeted her from the other line. 

"Hey, Jongin! I'm good. Are you perhaps busy?" She asked the male, not wanting to interrupt him if he was too busy.

"Oh Noona, your husband makes me work all day long! How can I not be busy!" Jongin whined cutely.

Munhee felt bad for him even though she knew he was mostly kidding. "Oh, I will talk to you later then? Sorry for calling you at working hour!"  

"Wait, no! Okay, I was kidding. I am not even that busy to not have time for you, Noona. And you sound tensed, you wanna talk about something?" He inquired immediately. 

"Umm actually I wanted...I mean, I needed your suggestion on something. But for that, I need you to promise me that you won't tell Baekhyun anything about it. Please." She requested the younger male in a small voice. 

"What is it? O-Okay I promise you. Why am I getting a feeling that it's something serious?" Jongin murmured. "Ugh, I am actually in Hyung's office and he is giving me scary looks, let me just leave his office first!" Munhee heard loud footsteps, she guessed Jongin excused himself from Baekhyun's cabin. Her heart started thudding without any advance warrant just at the mention of Baekhyun's name. "I am back at my desk, you can tell me now!" Jongin let her know after a few moments.

"Okay I'll tell you. But promise me another thing, that you won't tease me about it, neither in future nor now."  She laid her condition and sighed in relief when Jongin replied with an assuring 'okay'. "So...I..uhh I am going to...umm c-confess to B-Baekhyun tonight. Oh god! This is so nerve wrecking to even tell you this, I don't know what I am gonna do when I'd really have to talk in front of him!" Munhee immediately went into a nervous breakdown as it felt even more real that she was really going to take such a brave step tonight. 

"What? Thank god! Finally!"  Jongin exclaimed loudly, then he continued,  "Umm are you trying to get my suggestion on how you can confess to Hyung? Like should I brew some ideas for you?" Surprisingly, Jongin sounded too calm for her own good, it was as if both of their nature had reversed suddenly, it did nothing but worsening her edgy self. 

"No! I have already asked him to have dinner with me tonight. I have prepared all his favorite dishes altogether. All I need right now, is to... make myself look presentable in front of him. And I am really confused, like confused as hell about what outfit I should wear! So I thought since you're a man yourself and you kind of know Baekhyun well, so if you could help me pick out a dress?" Munhee talked in one breath, huffing when she ended. 

"Wow. Okay, of course, I would help." Jongin chuckled and agreed. So they decided to do video call and Munhee showed him the shortlisted ones. "Listen Noona, don't be so nervous. It's not something formal. You can just confess to him in your pajamas, it wouldn't really matter. But I also understand that you want to look good and feel confident while doing so and maybe because your confession would lead you both to some spicy activit-"

"Jongin!"

"Okay, okay, no teasing!" The male laughed, "So what I want to suggest you that just try to go with your comfort. I know Hyung, he would definitely prefer you to be comfortable in any situation. And I think he likes it when you stay yourself. He didn't give you that bracelet with the special message for nothing." He said in a slight teasing tone, wiggling his brows at her playfully.

"Oh god! Why is nothing hidden from you!" Munhee whined, for some reason, feeling bashful that Jongin knew about Baekhyun's gift. Also, it did add a little relaxation in her system that Baekhyun really meant the words, rather than it being just a random message.

Jongin shrugged proudly, "Of course, I would know. I am his personal secretary after all!"

"Now Mr. PS, thank you so much for your advice. I will try my best to follow your suggestion. I'd have to go now." She smiled at the male, feeling relieved of getting his advice. His words somehow helped her nerves calming down.

"You're welcome, Noona. Best of luck. I swear I am going to throw the wildest party for you two once both of yours hide and seek game ends!" He sent his good wishes and gave her an encouraging grin before ending the call. 

Lastly, Munhee settled on a baby pink knee length dress; it had scooped neckline, short butterfly sleeves and a tiny bow in the middle of the neckline, giving it a cute vibe. The lower part of the dress was slightly flowy, so it would be comfortable to wear. She kept her selected dress into the bed before cleaning the mess of clothes she had made into the room.

Judging by Jongin's words, Baekhyun was still in office, so it might take him at least another hour to reach home. So she didn't bother taking anything with her in the washroom as she went inside for her shower. She came out after a refreshing shower, her body cladded only in a white terry robe. She reached towards the cupboard again, for picking out some undergarments.

 She randomly picked out an unmatched pair, she had a weird habit of wearing unmatched pair of undergarments, but then she suddenly remembered one embarrassing moment she had to go through in front of Baekhyun because of wearing unmatched undergarments. It immediately made her wince.  "No, No, No, No, No, don't remember it now, don't remember it now, please DON'T!" She almost begged to her mind to not remember that particular incident, yet she mind was all set to take her into another round of sheer embarrassment. 

It was a random weekend day where they had no special plans, so the Byun family stayed home. It was nearing evening and kids went to play at their playroom after they were done with their studies. Munhee had settled herself on the couch of her bedroom, she was checking the kids' homework, she always did it for them, she would mark the errors subtly and tell the kids about them. She thought it helped them learning better. Baekhyun on the other hand, was cleaning their bed because he again had his own little snacks party there and he had diligently dirtied their bed. So before Munhee could start nagging at him or ban his snacks-on-bed thingy, like a good boy, he took the responsibility of cleaning his mess.

Suddenly, both of them noticed the change in the sky outside. Strong wind started blowing while dark clouds gathered in the sky, indicating that it would rain at any moment.  Munhee gasped recalling that their clothes' drying stand was still in the balcony.  "Baekhyun, get the drying stand from outside!"  She told the male as he was closest to their balcony and also she was kind of busy to do so.

Baekhyun nodded and went to the balcony, within seconds he was back with the rack.  "It's already started raining."  Baekhyun let her know. He must've noticed Munhee's horrified face so he immediately added, albeit proudly,  "But I was fast enough, so none of the dried clothes got caught with the droplets."  

Munhee sank back into the backrest of the couch with a relieved sigh. Getting the laundried clothes wet in rain was just a hassle for every person.  "Thanks! Keep them here, I'll fold the clothes later."  She mumbled and went back to check Miseo's homework.

"No, it's okay. I'll do it."  Baekhyun offered and had already started sorting out the clothes.

It was really sweet of him. If they were a normal couple, she would've given him a flying kiss or something as a form of gratitude for being such a sweet husband, maybe even rush towards him to steal a quick peck from his plump looking lips.  She was again engrossed in her work-in-hand while Baekhyun walked back and forth to keep the sorted clothes in their designated places.  Munhee heard him mumble something to himself, so she casted her eyes at him. Her eyes went wide like round sausages when she found him holding onto her undergarments in both hands and raking his eyes over them confusedly.   'What the hell he is doing! And how the hell I forgot there would be my undergarments as well!'  She immediately panicked, and the heat raising in her cheeks was an annoying bonus.

At that very moment, Baekhyun also looked up at her direction, making Munhee inwardly wince.  "Hey, they look different, no? I think I lost their other pairs back in the balcony. I'll go look for them."  He muttered, smiling sheepishly at her as he was about to go to the balcony again. 

"Wait!"  Munhee stopped him, she rushed towards him and almost snatched her black brassiere and light pink undies from his grasp, of course with a flustered face.  "You didn't l-lost anything. I...I wore them like this. You know...I d-don't have to worry much about wearing matching pair anyway."  She managed to deliver in between her stupid stuttering and wild heartbeats. Then she grimaced to herself, thinking that her answer indirectly pointed it out that she didn't have to worry about him finding her in matching underwears as they didn't have any intimacy between them.  She was flushed to the roots, she didn't want him to take her words that way.  'Go bury your head somewhere, Mun. You are embarrassing!'  She scolded herself internally.

Much to her horror, Baekhyun only chuckled a little.  "It's okay, I already know about it. There's nothing wrong in wearing unmatched pairs."  He told her reassuringly, maybe even a bit teasingly. 'This man!'  Munhee didn't think it was possible, but she got even more flustered after that, knowing that he might've seen her dumb choice of undergarments back then while he took care of her bathing when she was injured? Or it could also be one of the times when he had to change her clothes when she was drunk?  Her thoughts were interrupted when Baekhyun softly snatched those little devils back from her hands,   "Go back to whatever you're doing. I'll take care of the rest."  He said with a small smile, he even patted the side of her head.

Munhee was too embarrassed to protest or tell him that she could do it on her own, so she dumbly nodded and went back to the couch, though she couldn't actually check the rest of the homework due to her embarrassed self.

*Flashback ends*

Munhee grimaced at the memory, she hastily shoved the wrong pair inside and decided to be a diligent woman for tonight. She did manage to find a pair of lacy baby pink undergarments, that would match with her dress as well. It's not like she was expecting Baekhyun to check whether her brasserie and were of same set or not, she was sane enough to not expect things to escalate that much between them within tonight, she just wanted to be fully confident, and maybe fully prepared for any compromising situation if by any chance they occurred. 

Munhee got reminded that like that day, she again forgot to bring the dried clothes inside, so she hurried her way to get them. Getting back inside, her eyes fell onto the clock, she decided to handle the clothes later and get herself dressed if she didn't want Baekhyun to walk in while she had practically nothing on inside the robe. 

After putting on her dress, she walked towards the dresser to do some light make-up. She had her hair tied in a loose ponytail, letting a few loose strands fall at the side of her face.

As for ornaments, she wore a Tiffany solitaire diamond pendant that Baekhyun had brought for her randomly, the pendant was cute and looked good with her outfit. She wore tiny diamond earrings that matched with her pendant. She wore her favorite perfume, maybe she had even overdone the amount of it out of nervousness. She didn't forget to wear the bracelet Baekhyun had gifted her as her birthday present. Lastly she wore her wedding band on her ring finger back. For these past days or months or year even, ever since she had acknowledged her feelings for her husband, every single day she put on her wedding ring with a hope. A hope that one day, the ring would be as meaningful as a wedding ring was supposed to be. It wasn't any different today, she hoped for the same thing while she wore it on her finger.     

 When she was finished, she stared back at her reflection in the mirror. She looked moderately good, not too good but not too bad. But she was satisfied with the look, so she smiled at herself. It was a big day, or night, for her, she had been nervous throughout the whole day. But now, she didn't even know how she felt, maybe her senses went numb due to the constant push and pull in between her nervous side and her anticipated side. She wanted to speak to her mother for moral support, but then she dismissed the idea. This was her own battle, so it would be better if she handled it on her own. Maybe, part of her didn't want to raise her mother's hopes in advance as there was a greater possibility of her confession being turned down by Baekhyun. 

Sighing loudly, Munhee fisted her hands, "You will stay strong, you will be fine no matter whatever happens." She told herself seriously. She eyes again trailed towards the wall clock, it was nearing ten. Baekhyun usually got back within this time. Just at the thought of the inevitable outcome of tonight, Munhee again started feeling breathless. To keep herself from being occupied by those disturbing thoughts, she went to fold the clothes to distract her hyperactive mind. 

The black shirt Baekhyun had worn yesterday, was on Munhee's hands now. She didn't know what idiocy crept upon her, but she found herself observing it closely, to the point that she couldn't stop herself from sniffing it, taking in the fresh smell of detergent. She could swear even after the wash, it still somehow smelled like Baekhyun. Her favorite scent.

  As she was already being idiot enough, she again went near the vanity mirror, biting her lips shyly, she let her stupid self wear her husband's shirt over her dress. It was too big on her as it almost covered her dress, it reached just a few inches above her knees. Her smaller hands were lost inside his long sleeves. Overall, she looked funny but cute in his shirt. 

Munhee softly folded the long sleeves for her tiny paws to escape and breathe freely. She again inhaled it's scent, trying to get more of Baekhyun's natural scent from there, she concluded it would've been much better if it was his used shirt instead of being washed. She hugged herself while getting lost in her illogical world of teenager sort of thoughts, where she thought of how it would feel like if she wore his clothes in front of him. She had heard somewhere that guys liked it when their wife or girlfriend wore their clothes. Would Baekhyun like it? She couldn't be sure about him. But she herself absolutely loved the feeling of having his clothes on her. It gave her a giddy feeling inside, along with a feeling of reassurance and security. 

When her little giddy time was over, she hastily sorted all the dried clothes and was left to patiently wait for her husband to return home to her. Biting her lips constantly, she couldn't help but to check the time again and again. With every passing minutes, she started to feel uneasy. The slight calmness she had gotten by doing stupid things, were starting to fade.

"It's only ten thirty. Don't presume things this soon. H-He will come." She told her gradual dimming self. 

When it was nearing eleven, Munhee was even more restless. She thought of calling Baekhyun and asking where he was, but in all honesty, she didn't have that courage in her. It was his decision to choose what he wanted to do or when he wanted to come. She couldn't force him into returning soon, just like she couldn't force him to love her. It was getting too nerve wrecking for her to just sit inside the confinement of her bedroom. So Munhee took her phone and went downstairs. She hoped the larger space of their living room would ease her breathing process and let her relax.  

Sitting on the couch, she tapped her fingers on her phone impatiently, fighting an inward war with her mind to try some other source to check where her husband was. She knew she could get to know his whereabouts from Jongin, but again, she just wanted everything to happen naturally or like the way Baekhyun wanted to. Calling Jongin might lead him to interfere by talking with Baekhyun or something. 

The clock was hitting twelve. The huge dinner she had cooked had gone cold long time ago. One part of her mind was telling her to just put all the foods inside the refrigerator as it didn't seem like Baekhyun would be wanting to eat that food. She blinked her moistened eyes for the nth time, not wanting to cry, since crying would mean she was already accepting that he wouldn't come. She was getting tired of reasoning his lateness behind the curtain of him being extremely busy with some urgent work. "He would come. He w-would." It had become like a mantra in her head as she kept chanting it every passing second.   

Munhee was nothing but a slumped figure of flesh and blood by the time the clock hit two in the morning. He had never been this late. She had no more reassuring reasons to point out to herself, she ran out of them. She was tired, worn out even, despite not doing anything but sitting here on the same sofa for hours. Her stomach growled, she didn't know how it had the audacity to get hungry when she was no way in the mood of even having a sip of water. The dried tears streaks in her face had ruined her make-up long time ago, it only itched on her skin, giving her irritation. Yet she had no mental energy in herself to get up from there and go back to her room and attempt to at least wash was face.

She wearily glanced at her cellphone for the nth time, there was no missed calls, no texts, there was nothing. 'He didn't even consider at least letting me know. Why?' She thought to herself. Yes, she was finally admitting to herself that she failed, Baekhyun had failed her, that he had indirectly-no directly rubbed the reality onto her face. He didn't want it. He wasn't even considering giving her a chance. As much as heartbroken she was, she was disappointed at him, she was beyond upset and it was killing her inside. 

 "Stop crying like a fool!" She loudly reprimanded herself, her weak fingers wiping her fresh tears almost aggressively. But then, she again started sobbing silently, burying her face into her knees while her hands tightly clutched around them. Sure, she had the phase of feeling disappointment towards her husband a lot of time, but for some reason, this time it was getting unbearable for her. The pain she felt was constricting her ability to stay positive like she did in every time. 

She wanted to blame herself for getting her hopes high when it was certain from the very beginning of their marriage that it wouldn't be like any other marriages. It didn't matter how Baekhyun had changed, his attitude towards her had changed. He had always been clear about it, he had never failed to mention it that he saw her as his friend. He had never promised to love her, so it should be wholly her fault to be this delusional in the first place.

 But she somehow couldn't put all the blames on her delusional self, because no matter how much she wanted to unsee or brush it off as nothing deep, she could never totally erase her female instincts which would never fail to point herself out the indicators which could only mean that he did have feelings for her. So being selfish in this regard, she wanted to blame Baekhyun equally for her broken heart at that moment. She wanted to ask him what in the earth she needed to do to make him accept that he indeed liked her as well, if not love. It was too frustrating for her to have her instincts being proven wrong. The familiar nausea enveloped her mind, her heart, her whole body. Making her drown into self misery, giving into the urges of crying until her eyes couldn't produce anymore tears. 

                                            _____

Baekhyun stepped inside his house when it was past three in the morning. He slightly stopped in his track seeing the lights of the living space still on. Taking a moment or two, he again made his way inside. He had to stop again when he reached near the couches, his eyes immediately found the half lying figure of his wife on one of the couches. She seemed like she was sleeping, even though her position seemed a bit uncomfortable to be sleeping in it. He wasn't ignorant enough to not know that she had fallen asleep while waiting for him.

Heaving a sigh, he took careful steps near her. He kept his office bag and blazer on the nearest sofa before he found himself kneeling before the one which Munhee was occupying. Up close, it was clearly visible that she wasn't in peace even if she was sleeping. He could see the slight crease in her forehead, he definitely didn't miss the traces of dried tears on her face. He softly caressed her cheeks, trying to wipe away the tear streaks. Sighing again, he let his hands reach to hold onto hers as they were resting on her lap. His hold was cautious, afraid of disturbing her sleep. 

His fingers gently the back of her palm, his eyes kept gazing at her sleeping face, though he took a little time to glance at wedding ring sitting perfectly of her finger while he caressed the spot. "I'm sorry." He breathed, his tone not more than a whisper. "I'm so sorry. You will not have to cry anymore. I...I will fix everything...for you. I promise." He mumbled while he softly rested his forehead at the back of her hands.  

He stayed like that for a few more moments, then he lifted his face up, staring at her face again. Then his attention again went towards her cramped figure, so he got up and scooped her small form in his arms as carefully as possible. Reaching their bedroom, he laid her down on her side of the bed, tucked her into a warm blanket, hoping that it would provide her the warmth she needed to sleep peacefully. He stood there, just facing her for uncounted time before he finally turned around and made his way out of the room.

Baekhyun made his way to downstairs, wanting to switch the lights off. He firstly switched off the living room's lights. Then he noticed the dining area was also still lit up. Reaching the dining space he stopped, eyeing the food fancily decorated there. He didn't need to trace his gaze all over the table to realize the fact that she had cooked all of his favorite dishes. He also didn't miss the lone long candles sitting in equal spaces on the table. 

Baekhyun raked his fingers through his hairs. With hands fisted into tight balls, he approached the table and sat down onto his chair with a loud plop. He diligently reached out to every dishes and ate the food, not even needing to heat them up before having them. After he was done tasting each and every dish present there, he stored the dishes into the fridge before going back to their bedroom. 

He took his clothes from the cupboard and went towards one of the guest rooms downstairs to take a needed shower. After that, he let himself plop down onto the bed of the same guestroom instead of going back towards Munhee. 

                                              _____

Munhee woke up with the sound of the bell of their house ringing more than once. She squinted her sleepy eyes before pushing herself up, her eyes feeling sticky due to falling asleep while crying. 'Oh. I was crying last night.' She recalled everything and instantly got hit by splashes of disappointment. She noticed herself on her bed instead of the couch, but she wasn't even surprised at this point as she knew it was Baekhyun. He had done it for her for so many times that it didn't surprise her like past. Though if it was any normal day, she would've felt a little flustered at the thought, but she was far away from feeling anything else but dejection after yesterday.

She checked Baekhyun's side of bed and just as she had expected, his side was untouched, meaning he had slept anywhere but here. Her heart sank even more. She didn't understand why he was suddenly so reluctant to even sleep in the same room with her whilst he had been sharing the bed with