The first thing Irene did when she took her seat was giggle.

               “Why are you looking around so much? Are you my bodyguard?”

               Jaeho smiled in response but couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling off, evident in his still-present jumpy nature. “It feels so weird,” he admitted, taking a seat next to his girlfriend. “I don’t mean to be rude to our bodyguards, but … I mean, the last two times I went to a public place, I got attacked.”

               Irene nodded, having felt similarly in her life in the past, gently placing her hand on his. “It’s ok, we’re safe here. I chose this place because they have a private room. Noona will protect you.”

               Jaeho laughed, thankful for Irene’s injection of humor into the otherwise somewhat somber atmosphere. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

               “You know, you shouldn’t even be afraid of being attacked; hasn’t there been an increase in fans trying to get pictures with you?”

               Jaeho, unsure how to respond, blinked a few times. “What? Me?”

               Irene nodded, also confused. “Yeah! Haven’t you seen the fan account of you on Instagram recently?” To be honest, Irene had conflicting feelings about the new situation; her initial feelings stood, but now that the public’s perception of Jaheo turned positive, something unexpected happened. In retrospect, she maybe should have expected it given how handsome her boyfriend was, but in her defense, she was more concerned about her fans’ approval of Jaeho than anything else.

               Her desire to see the public treat her boyfriend well did not accommodate the growing attention he was accumulating; or in other words, Jaeho—her Jaeho—was attracting the attention of many other fans, especially female fans, many more than she ever expected. Was she jealous of the growing female attention Jaeho was unknowingly accruing? For sure. Did she worry about Jaeho taking advantage of this sudden increase in attention of the opposite ? Not at all. Still, it didn’t make her any happier that her boyfriend was drawing the attention of so many other women. Jaeho was hers. Hers. It was a strange dichotomy; now that the public wasn’t attacking him but rather swooning after him, her stance changed from frustrated to protective. Now that she thought about it, bringing the fan account of him to light might have been a mistake; but then again, it was probably only a matter of time before he found out. “It was created recently; one of my members brought it to my attention.”

               “What do they even post?” Jaeho, still trying to wrap his head around the situation, asked.

               “Mostly fan taken pictures of you from the few times you were spotted in public and the pictures of when you were a model,” Irene said, her eyes sparkling. Jaeho could already tell she was about to about it, and sure enough, she proceeded to do exactly that. “Since you didn’t want to show me those pictures, I was forced to follow the account,” she said, pulling out her phone.

               “Wait, I don’t really—”

               “You look so hot in those pictures too, I don’t know what you’re so ashamed of,” she said in that proud motherly tone she used whenever she was showing a picture of videos of her members to him, which was strange given what she just said.

               “Did you have to word it like that?” Jaeho replied, laughing uneasily.

               “What, are you not confident?” she asked, opening the account to the fanpage. “You should—oh, wow, look! They noticed that I followed them!” Irene pointed out excitedly, pointing to their most recent post which was a simple picture of the two photoshopped together, with the caption expressing their excitement towards the idol following their account and their support for the couple.

               “Of course they would, you’re the much more famous girlfriend of the person they’re a fanpage for.”

               “You should follow them too! There are so many good pictures of you. You know, I’m a bit conflicted because I have such an easy source of all these really nice pictures, but at the same time, everyone else has access to them.” She leaned against him, holding her phone between them. When Irene noticed Jaeho was making a pointed effort to not look at her phone, she followed up with, “What’s wrong?”

               “Well…” Jaeho started uneasily. “I don’t know … you’re probably used to it already, but I had this thing while I was doing modeling work where…” Jaeho trailed off, trying to find the right words, “…I take on a different persona mentally while taking the pictures. It’s sort of hard for me to look at my own modeling work because this separation is sort of shattered and I realize that the person in those pictures is actually me, and that juxtaposition makes me feel uneasy … does that make sense?”

               Irene nodded, understanding fully. Not only did Irene used to feel this looking at pictures taken during photoshoots, but also at video recordings of herself performing her songs’ choreography. However, it was as Jaeho said: she had been faced with this dilemma so often that she no longer really had those thoughts, just when she was wearing heavy makeup. “I see. But you really look so hot here, even you have to agree, right?” she said, urging Jaeho to reply while scrolling through the various pictures that were already posted on the account. “Especially these,” she said, pointing at a particular photo of Jaeho shirtless.

               “Ah, it’s so embarrassing,” he chuckled, hiding his face in his arms.

               “Whyy~?” Irene whined, lightly pushing him with her elbow, urging him to look at her phone. “Maybe if you posted more pictures of yourself, you wouldn’t have to deal with this. Speaking of,” Irene’s tone suddenly changed from playful to scolding, something that put Jaeho on edge, “Why did you have to plan that thing with everyone else?” she said, hitting him on the shoulder repeatedly.

               “Ow—what thing?” Jaeho inquired, leaning away from the angry woman.

               “You know what I mean,” she replied, exasperated, “that Instagram thing, right after the concert, the ‘#WeSupportYouBaeJoohyun’ thing,” she explained, now feeling the onset of tears from the memory of reading his post. “It-It’s unfair to make me cry like that, you know? I almost told Sooyoung that you made me cry again so she could beat you up for me,” Irene’s voice came out uneven, her attempt at hiding her near-crying state with humor failing miserably.

               Jaeho, concerned at the sudden change of emotion, redirected his attention back onto his girlfriend, who was avidly avoiding his gaze, albeit with her head still on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, that wasn’t my intention,” Jaeho replied, enveloping her in a gentle, warm embrace, “I didn’t plan it out with anyone else actually, I just saw that the hashtag was trending and thought it appropriate to join in.” Irene wrapped her arms around Jaeho in turn, burying her face in his chest, tears silently running down her face.

               The idol, for a long time, harbored several fears: that Jaeho would shy away from being in the public’s eye, that Jaeho would try to separate his private life from his relationship with her, that Jaeho would try to distance himself from her fans whom she loved so much for his own safety. No matter how selfish it might have been to secretly wish that Jaeho could just handle all the scrutiny that came with being a celebrity—or at least being well known—so that her lifestyle didn’t have to change, she wished for it all the same. Jaeho’s post, to Irene, wasn’t only a heart-warming statement, but also a signal that Irene was free to indulge in all these selfish desires, that Jaeho was willing to take that extra step and wasn’t afraid to be in the spotlight, that Jaeho was willing to humor Irene in the perfect scenario she held in her mind. As if Jaeho wasn’t already one of the most physically attractive men she knew, as if Jaeho’s personality didn’t mix perfectly with her own, as if Jaeho’s attitude towards her line of work wasn’t that of complete understanding, this was just another affirmation that Jaeho was just simply perfect. “The accompanying caption were just thoughts I’ve had for a long time and didn’t have the chance to express until that point.”

               Irene kept her eyes closed, enjoying the warmth of her boyfriend for the next few minutes, feeling the unsettled tension in the middle of her chest gradually unravel until her body was overcome with the warm, cozy feeling of content. Her breath steadied and peace of mind returned, the tears drying up from her face.

               “I forgive you.”

               “Don’t make that face, it makes me want to kiss you,” Jaeho said, gently tapping her unknowingly pouting lips with his finger.

               “Why don’t you then?” Irene made eye contact with Jaeho, wearing her signature playful smirk that appeared much too often. At first, this forwardness from the otherwise reserved woman was out of a duty to the Jaeho from the past to repair their relationship that he worked so hard for, but now that she was used to it, she realized this side of her was much too fun not to use.

               This didn’t mean that Irene wasn’t still embarrassed to say such things, but by this point, she was so practiced that she could hide her flush with ease. What she wasn’t used to was Jaeho’s confident reply, grabbing her chin and lifting it slightly, taking commanding lead of the situation. “Should I?” he replied, staring deeply into her eyes, an ever so slight grin on playing on his lips.

               Irene could feel herself blushing but didn’t let up the confident exterior, all those years of acting and emotion control for performances giving her the experience to do so. “Should I?” Irene reached around, tenderly placing her hands around his nape, gently tugging him closer.

               “Are you done?”

               Jaeho wrapped his arms around the thin woman, placing his chin on her shoulder. “Hm?” Irene, briefly surprised at the sudden skinship, turned her head to the right to see her boyfriend’s face just centimeters from her own. She smiled, rubbing her cheek against his. “Not quite.”

               Jaeho closed his eyes, a smile forming on his lips as the pleasant aroma from Irene’s perfume wafted into his nose. “You’re so warm.”

               “Well, I am a human being,” she replied cheekily, her attention focused solely on the lock she was trying to write on.

               Jaeho chuckled, opening his eyes, drinking in the beautiful view atop the Namsan Tower.  After enjoying the café, Irene suggested they go to Namsan Tower and partake in the writing-names-on-locks ritual, to which Jaeho obliged. Luckily, the location was relatively deserted, most likely because it was a Tuesday and was just raining; they ran into one other couple who greeted them, but that was the extent of their public interaction. Their bodyguards stood a few meters away from them: far enough away that the couple felt they had their privacy, but close enough to protect them.

               “Have you been here before?”

               “Nope.”

               Irene stopped for a second, looking at the man that was back hugging her. “Really?”

               He nodded. “I never felt the need to before.” His father drilled many lessons into his brain, one of which including the importance of keeping promises; because of that, he had always refused to come to this particular location with other girlfriends. It was always his intention to make the visit once he felt more confident in himself and the relationship, but all his previous ones ended before he got to that point. However, with Irene, it just felt different. Where his confidence was coming from, he wasn’t sure: was it from their relationship survived his sudden amnesia? Was it from their relationship surviving public backlash? Was it from their relationship thriving despite Irene’s busy schedule? It was probably a combination of all three mixed in with a few other things, like how he never got bored of being around her.

               “The wind feels really nice up here, doesn’t it?”

               She nodded, putting the final touches on the small metallic surface. “Done!” she exclaimed, proudly showing her boyfriend her work. Etched on the small lock were five simple characters: ‘Joohyun ♡ Jaeho’. “Yeah, it does feel really nice,” she said in response to Jaeho’s statement.

               He wrapped his hand around the smaller hand of Irene’s, admiring her work. “Your handwriting is so pretty.”

               “This view is pretty,” Irene noted, joining Jaeho in admiring the view from the top of the tower.

               “Yeah, it really is.”

               “Do you think—” when Irene turned to look at Jaeho, she jumped at the shock of seeing his face so close to hers, eyes pointed directly at her. “Yah, what are you doing?”

               “Admiring this pretty view.”

               Irene’s heart exploded, the heat emanating from her face thankfully being cooled off by the cool spring breeze. If not for it, Irene swore she would have passed out from a heatstroke. “You…” she started, words escaping her, her mind filled with static, a huge grin on her lips.

               “Hm?” Jaeho replied, urging a response from the lady in front of him, his smile widening by the second.

               “You’re so cheesy,” she managed to finish, loosely holding onto the lock they had purchased a few minutes ago, now with the couple’s name etched onto it in black permanent marker. The idol leaned back onto the well-built man’s sturdy chest, closed her eyes and enjoyed the familiar, comfortable warmth radiating from the man she loved.

               “I learn from the best,” he replied, planting another kiss on her crown. “Should we stay like this a little longer, or should I let you go secure the lock onto the rail?”

               “There is a correct answer but I’m not going to tell you,” she said with a playful, teasing tone.

               Taking it as a challenge, Jaeho swooped down and picked her up. Irene squealed as she felt her legs lifted off the ground, her arms automatically latching onto Jaeho’s neck as the confident man easily carried her slender body in his arms. “Yah, put me down! I’m heavy!”

               Jaeho laughed earnestly, slowly walking to the rail. “How long do you think I can hold you for?”

               “I don’t want to know, put me down!” she insisted, secretly wondering the answer to that question. She could feel the muscles of the man whose arms she was in bulge, but they were incredibly steady. The back of her knees were securely supported by Jaeho’s right arm, her back with his left, her forming the bottom part of the ‘v’ her hoisted-up body was forming. The sensation of being suspended in the air as such was strangely both parts frightening and amusing; it was like that time she went paragliding in Thailand, except it felt much safer and comforting. There was a duality in her mind at that moment: while a part of her was embarrassed and fearful, another was insanely attracted by the effortless show of strength.

               “For you, I would never let go,” he said, laughing again when Irene smacked his shoulder in response.

               “Enough with that,” Irene said, unable to stop herself from laughing in kind, “put me down already! When I said that there was a correct answer, this wasn’t what I had in mind!”

               “You definitely weigh less than I squat. You don’t even serve as a sufficient workout, you need to eat more,” Jaeho scolded her, “I should have force-fed you more at that café.”

               At this point, Irene could do nothing but laugh. As all women, she was insecure about her weight, and instances would have externalized it were it not for how effortless Jaeho was making it seem. “Fine, later, OK? I’ll work hard so that you can start using me for your workouts,” Irene said, her statement laced with laughter.

               “Here’s your stop, miss,” Jaeho announced, carefully settling her onto the ground. Once Irene found her footing, she hopped out of Jaeho’s arms.

               “You know what, I’ll take that as an acceptable answer,” Irene stated, turning her back to him and securing their lock onto a rail.  “You know, one other thing I’ve noticed is that SM stopped with their interference. Maybe they’re just taking a break or something, but my schedule has returned to how it normally is when I’m not doing promotions.”

               “Oh, that’s nice,” Jaeho commented, crouching down with Irene to admire her handiwork again. There was something satisfying, pleasing, about the aesthetic of the view of hundreds of locks of all shapes and sizes stacked on top of each other, with different ornaments and notes depicting messages and cute pictures, stretching to infinity, framed perfectly by the orange glow of the beautiful sunset peeking between the gradually parting rainclouds, casting a mystical glow over the South Korean city. It was a beautiful sight for sure, one to behold, but to Jaeho, Irene’s tiny frame, kneeling in front of the locks and likewise staring off into the setting sun, completed the picture. “It’s such a beautiful sight,” he commented in a faraway voice.

               Irene nodded. “It really is, isn’t it? I can understand why so many couples like coming here.”

               The longer he stood there, admiring the beautiful backdrop and the even more beautiful woman kneeling before it, the more he came to realize why this was such a popular spot for couples. “Yeah." For Irene, it was the view that was the attraction, but for Jaeho, it was Irene. He wondered if this was the reason why so many of his friends recommended going here with his previous girlfriends, and was thankful he resisted until Irene.

               Irene leaned her head against Jaeho’s shoulder. She was at peace for what felt like the first time in months: no fears of her relationship being leaked, no worries that her fans weren’t accepting Jaeho, no anxiety for upcoming schedules, no thoughts about making things up to Jaeho for sticking with her despite everything, nothing.

               “Um, hi, excuse me,” a soft yet excited voice said out of the blue. Irene squealed, jumping in Jaeho’s arms, instinctively pressing her face against his chest.

               “It’s fine,” Jaeho said, laughing at his jumpy girlfriend. He had seen that the couple were trying to get in and gave his bodyguard the ‘ok’ to let them get closer.

               “Oh, sorry,” Irene hastily removed herself from Jaeho and bowed slightly.

               “Oh no! It’s fine, I didn’t mean to scare you!” the woman, arm-in-arm with what appeared to be her boyfriend, replied. “I’m a fan, of both of you, and I didn’t want to interrupt you because the two of you looked so cute, but could we get a picture?”

               Jaeho furrowed his eyebrows in disbelief. “Of both of us?” he repeated.

               The woman nodded eagerly. “Yeah! I’ve seen your work as a model and always thought you were handsome,” the man notably pouted, an action which went unnoticed by his girlfriend but not by Jaeho. He shot a quick apologetic smile, “and I’ve been a Red Velvet fan since the ‘Rookie’ era,” she finished, just about bouncing with energy. In the way her eyes lit up as she talked, her exaggerated hand movements as she talked, the way she was almost bouncing around the man she was holding hands with, it was clear that she was being genuine. Jaeho could somewhat tell from her body language while she was confronting the bodyguards of Irene and himself, but it was still somewhat relieving to see a fan of Irene—a stranger—be accepting of him in person.

               “Of course! You don’t mind, do you Jaeho?”

               “Um, I don’t mind, but I’ve never taken a picture with a fan before,” he admitted as he stepped a bit closer to the other couple, the fan’s boyfriend taking his girlfriend’s phone.

               “First time for everything,” Irene said, putting one hand around Jaeho’s shoulder and the other hand around the woman’s.

               That picture later ended up online—of which Irene and Jaeho had given permission for—and a news article detailing their date was subsequently released. To the pleasure of both Irene and Jaeho, as well as the members of Red Velvet, this time around, the comments were filled with mostly nice and supportive comments—that wasn’t to say there were no negative comments, but it was easy to tell that the positive comments outnumbered the negative ones.

               Still, however, Jaeho felt bad. He figured that once the public perception of him turned around, if it ever did, then he would enjoy reading comments; of course he knew that he would get negative comments and that the occasional negative comment had the potential to ruin the day of someone, but he never fully grasped it until it happened to him. Why was it so easy to skim through nice comments and so easy to get stuck up on negative ones? At a certain point, after Jaeho realized he was still thinking about the few negative comments that appeared underneath the article while barely reading the rest of the comments, he forced himself to stop.

               Fortunately, this type of thing never really affected Jaeho in the long-term much. Until recently, Jaeho made sure to never get too hung up about the past and live in the moment, the exception being an understanding and desire to be attentive of everything Irene had done for him so that he may pay her back later. However, with the nameless masses of comments, Jaeho had little attachment to them and the negative emotions he felt gradually faded away.

               “Oh, I finally remembered what I had to tell you!” Jaeho said as they arrived at the mini golf course. It was about a week later, Jaeho and Irene deciding that their next outdoors date to be mini golfing. The date had two purposes: the most obvious one was to enjoy each other’s company doing a fun activity, but the other was to act as a final test to see how necessary their bodyguards were. As appreciative as they were to them, it felt slightly cumbersome at times to see the two men standing at a distance in their peripheral vision. Their efforts to remain discrete were appreciated, but there was only so much the hulking men could do to hide their presence while still doing their jobs. Thus, they determined that if nothing major happened, then bodyguards would be considered no longer necessary. “My dad said he already had plans next weekend so he wouldn’t be able to make it.”

               Irene frowned. “Aw, why not?”

               “He has a doctor appointment to do a routine checkup.”

               “Ah ok, that’s important. I guess we’ll have to delay for a few more weeks then.”

               Jaeho nodded. They had been planning a get-together between their parents but were mostly gated by Irene’s busy schedule; she had an availability next weekend but that was it, seeing as public favor fell back on her side and companies were starting to reach out to her again to hopefully secure her as an endorsement model for their product. “You know, speaking of that, something interesting happened,” Jaeho noted. Irene turned to look at him in response, urging him to continue. “There were a few companies who reached out to me, asking if I would model for them.”

               Irene laughed. “Really? Did you accept any of them?”

               “No,” Jaeho admitted, admiring the simple beauty of the joyous expression on his girlfriend’s face. How many times has he seen it? Jaeho himself wasn’t sure. All that he did know was that it was something he was never going to get tired of. “It sort of feels weird to do modeling again, especially since I haven’t done it in a long time. But honestly, I feel like some of the companies reached out to me hoping that I could pressure you into joining me eventually.”

               Irene latched onto his arm and smiled while looking at him with wide, expectant eyes, causing Jaeho’s heart to just about melt on the spot. “Why not? Doing a couple photoshoot would be so fun!”

               Jaeho pursed his lips. “I don’t know…”

               “Aw, why not?” she replied as Jaeho pushed open the door to the building.

               “Welcome!” came the greeting from the employees. It was something that Jaeho noticed before entering and confirmed when he stepped in: the place seemed strangely deserted. Unlike their previous date to the Namsan Tower where they went on a weekday, this time it was a normal Saturday afternoon, a day Jaeho expected a place like this to be packed. Instead, the only other people present seemed to be the employees. “Thank you for your patronage, Ms. Bae,” someone, who appeared to be the manager denoted by his slightly different uniform, said, bowing in respect.

               “Thank you for having us,” Irene bowed in kind, as did Jaeho, still a bit confused at the situation. Patronage? Did this have something to do with how deserted the place was?

               “Did you rent this place out?” Jaeho whispered, turning to the idol. She smiled smugly, squeezing his hand.

               “Your girlfriend is quite rich, you know,” she proudly said, indirectly answering Jaeho’s question. Jaeho frowned; he was ready to duke it out with his girlfriend for the bill, as Irene almost always paid for their expenses. How many steps ahead was this woman?

               “Come this way, please,” the manager politely announced, leading them to the counter that stood in front of a variety of displayed clubs, golf balls, and tees. After choosing their equipment, they set out to the course.

               “Wait, honey,” Irene called out as Jaeho collected his ball from the hole; his father liked golfing, so much so that their form of father-son bonding often took the form of golfing, at first at mini golf courses then at actual golf courses. The first hole was an extremely simple par 2 hole, clearly meant to serve as an introduction, but Irene seemed to be having trouble. “Wow, you got it right away?” she said with an upward tone inflection, indicating her surprise.

               “I used to golf with my dad all the time,” he explained, making his way back to the in equal parts perplexed and confused woman.

               “Oh, I never knew that,” she commented, gripping her club. “Am I doing this right?”

               Jaeho withheld a chuckle. “Here, let me help you.”

               Irene, noticing her boyfriend suppressing a laugh, indignantly said, “Why are you laughing? This is my first time golfing in a long time!”

               “No, I’m not laughing at you,” he replied, reaching out to fix her posture. Irene retreated, rejecting his help. “Really! I just thought you looked really adorable,” he continued, now letting out the laughter he was holding in.

               “Stay away from me! I’ll figure this out myself,” she insisted, pushing the man away.

               “I’m sorry! I won’t laugh anymore, I promise,” he said, grabbing her wrist firmly. Her heart exploded with life in reaction to Jaeho’s boldness, unable to do anything but to let Jaeho assert himself over her. She was too taken by surprise, too seized by a sudden surge of arousal, too overwhelmed by her memories of Jaeho of the past that she just let him grab her by the wrist and effectively take control of her.

               Irene loved Jaeho, amnesia or not, but that wasn’t to say that she didn’t prefer the times when Jaeho would casually initiate skinship or in general be the forward one in their relationship. As much as she loved the current Jaeho, deep inside her, she preferred the Jaeho from before: the one that would randomly take charge and make executive decisions, the one that would randomly kiss her hand or her forehead, the one that would randomly tell her ‘I love you’. So, feeling Jaeho take control as he did wasn’t only a heart-wrenchingly romantic gesture in Irene’s eyes, but also an immensely relieving one. Maybe, after all this time, their relationship could finally return to as it was …

               “What’s wrong?” Jaeho said, seeing Irene suddenly freeze up shortly after he grabbed ahold of her. While she wasn’t smiling, Jaeho could tell the stunned expression was more positive than negative, namely by the pink hue that took her cheeks.

               She shook her head. “Nothing,” she said, breaking out into a smile before remembering that she was supposed to be mad at Jaeho for laughing at her, then directing her gaze to the ground. “To be on an even playing field, it’s only fair that you teach me, so I guess I’ll allow it.”

               Jaeho took a brief second to wonder about the brief pause from Irene before moving to help her. “First of all, your grip,” he said, standing on the other side of the golf club, “loosely hold the club against your palm and point your fingers towards your knees.” Irene nodded, resting the handle of the club against her body and keeping the club upright with her right palm, making sure her four fingers were pointing at her knees. “Clutch the top part of the club with your left hand in a similar position,” he continued, demonstrating the technique to Irene. She followed, and Jaeho continued. “Your left thumb should be tucked underneath your right palm when you curl your fingers around the club,” he instructed, once again demonstrating it to Irene. When she followed, Jaeho nodded in approval, setting his club down and walking behind her. “You’re a fast learner, as expected of an idol.”

               Irene’s heart skipped a few more beats when he wrapped his arms around her and grabbed both her wrists. “Now, when you swing, you want to make sure to keep your left arm as straight as possible while bending your right arm.” Even though her boyfriend’s mouth was right next to her ears, she could barely hear him over the beating of her own heart. Hugging him was one thing, but feeling his firm arms around her frame, enveloping her entire body … it simply felt like heaven. In that moment, Irene thanked whoever created mini golf for granting her the ability to experience this. “When you swing,” he continued, oblivious to Irene’s inner turmoil, “you typically want to rotate your hips for maximum power.” Irene took a few moments to breathe, desperately trying to calm herself down and to focus on Jaeho’s words. “However, I doubt you’ll need maximum power here, but still, make sure you aren’t bending your back or your knees or anything, or else you’ll lose your balance and miss.”

               “Um, ok,” she replied, too embarrassed to admit that she heard almost none of that.

               “Got it?” the dreaded words came from Jaeho’s mouth, and when she paused for a second, Jaeho stepped away and secured eye contact with him. Irene pouted and shook her head, mustering the best set of puppy dog eyes she could.

               “Sorry, I was too distracted,” she said through her pout. This time, it was Jaeho’s turn to completely malfunction, his entire body feeling like it was melting away at the display of cuteness from the top beauty.

               “By what? Did I explain something weirdly?”

               Irene shook her head. “No, it’s just—” she was often conflicted between hiding things due to embarrassment and remembering Jaeho’s dislike for dishonesty, but over the months, she learned that telling the truth sometimes even benefitted her in the reaction Jaeho had. So, she decided to tell the truth. “—just that you were so close to me that I couldn’t hear properly.”

               Jaeho laughed, feeling the onset of bashfulness take over him. “Really? That’s adorable,” he commented, reaching around her again. “I’ll show you again, but listen closely this time, ok?”

               It took a good three more times before Irene was finally able to collect enough information to piece together what Jaheo was trying to tell her, but even so, Jaeho ended up winning. Irene suspected Jaeho went easy on her near the end, knowing her competitive spirit, but appreciated that he didn’t make it too obvious. Still, she was a bit frustrated, but it didn’t stop her from enjoying that date. As with their previous date, another news article was released about this one, detailing how Irene rented out the entire place for a brief period. Not so long after, yet another news article was released, although the information it contained wasn’t necessarily fresh; it was the first birthday Irene had the opportunity to celebrate with Jaeho, and she made sure to brag all about it on her social media accounts. This marked the second ever picture Jaeho willingly took with Irene, being forced to resort to displays of cuteness and peer pressure to get him to agree.

               The next date the couple went on that didn’t appear on the news was a couple of weeks following Irene’s birthday, in which Jaeho and Irene’s parents finally got to meet. Irene booked a reservation at a high-class restaurant, making sure they had a private room. It was a long drive out to pick up her parents, so luckily, Jaeho consented to traveling a bit to reach their destination, a restaurant located not too far from her parents’ residence.

               Irene had many expectations going into that day. There wasn’t a single doubt in her mind that her parents would love Jaeho; through the text messages and calls they shared, her mother and father already expressed interest in the man and excitement towards meeting him.  That was perhaps the reason why her parents rushed her to getting to the restaurant, making sure they arrived half an hour before the agreed upon time.

               Jaeho also talked quite a bit about his parents; about his albeit fleeting memories from his young childhood about his mother and the strict but kind, caring, and hard-working father he lived with through his adolescence. He said many good things about his father, but Irene couldn’t help but feel nervous nonetheless; her occupation was an unorthodox one, and she worried that Jaeho’s father would be offput by that. Technically speaking, her career path was an unstable one, hinging heavily on the public’s perception and the good-will of her fans.

               Her anxiety extended well past just concerns about her occupation though; would he like her? Irene knew how important his father was to him and the respect he held for the man that raised him unassisted by a mother, and that made it all the more important for Irene to be liked by the older Song. What if he didn’t approve of their relationship? After all, a slew of incidents that put Jaeho in danger, whether physically or mentally, have already occurred because of her. What if he wasn’t impressed enough by her and deemed their relationship unhealthy for his son?

               When the door to their room open, Irene nearly jumped to a standing position.

               “Hello!” Irene bowed deeply upon seeing the man she loved along with the man that must have been his father enter the room. From just the brief glance, she could tell where Jaeho’s handsomeness came from: the piercing eyes, the nice jawline shape, the big eyes, they were all traits both shared. The older man had a few more wrinkles, and when Irene lifted her head to take another look at him, she could almost feel all the hard work he endured, raising Jaeho as well as he did. His hair was already predominantly grey, his rugged appearance indicating all the stress he’d undergone. She had just met him yet was already saddened by how frail he appeared. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Mr. Song!” Irene said, her smile hiding her sadness as she extended a hand to help him into a seat.

               “Wow, you really are a beauty,” he commented, his eyes disappearing into upside-down crescent moons. He very much gave off the joyous-old-man vibe, which made Irene feel a little better. “Joohyun, right? It’s nice to meet you,” he said, the smile on his face not faltering for a single moment as he clasped Irene’s small hands in his own.

               Meanwhile, Jaeho bowed to greet Irene’s parents. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Bae,” he said. Irene’s sister, despite wanting to come, was busy with other responsibilities and had promised to make time for their next get-together.

               “My, you have such good manners! It’s nice to meet you too Jaeho,” Irene’s mother said, gesturing him to enter the room. “I’ve heard so much about you, but I never expected you to be so handsome in person.”

               “You’re quite beautiful yourself, I can see where Joohyun got her genes from,” Jaeho replied, causing the older woman to laugh again.

               “I can see why my daughter always calls you a smooth talker,” she said, Irene making sure the door closed securely behind them.

               “See? I told you,” Irene pouted, latching onto Jaeho’s arm, “My mom’s already stealing you away from me.”

               Jaeho laughed. “She’s not, I promise. Actually, I got something for you since you always buy so much for me,” he said, reaching into his back pocket. Irene separated from him, a perplexed look on her face: not because she wasn’t used to Jaeho randomly buying stuff for her, but because they had already promised to not surprise each other shortly after planning this event.

               “What?” Irene said, a clear ‘but-you-promised’ look on her face as Jaeho pulled out a velvety, purple, rectangular box from his back pocket.

               Jaeho replied with a knowing, almost triumphant smile, pulling out a beautiful bezel set aquamarine necklace. “I happened upon a jewelry shop and walked in just for fun, and when I saw this, I knew I had to get it for you.” As the piece of jewelry came into view, Irene’s eyes bulged out of their sockets. Was it because it was exceptionally beautiful, or was it because it was Jaeho giving this to her? Either way, Irene could’ve sworn that, despite all the jewelry she’s been given to wear in her relatively long career as an idol, this was the most beautiful she had ever seen. “So, you can’t even blame me, right?”

               Irene could feel her lips spreading out into a smile against her wishes, her blood circulating about her body at breakneck speed. “I’m pretty sure I still can,” she insisted, turning around to hide her smile. While the action caused her to fall in love with Jaheo just a little bit more, it was also immensely embarrassing that her parents were witnessing her react like this.

               “I’ll put this on for you,” he said. Irene pulled back her hair, feeling Jaeho’s arms around her nape followed immediately by the cool sensation of silver against her skin. A few seconds of securing the necklace later, Jaeho turned Irene around to admire his girlfriend brandishing the piece of jewelry. “It’s an aquamarine gem, your birthstone,” he informed her, stepping back to admire the view. “Wow…”

               Irene smiled, pulling her hair back and admiring the piece of jewelry that was sitting on her sternum. “Yeah, it’s so pretty, thank you.”

               “Yeah, you really are.”

               Jaeho had used this exact line against Irene a multitude of times, yet every time Irene found herself blushing fiercely, the laughter of their respective parents in the background making it all the worse. “I was going to—never mind, let’s just start eating.”

               For Jaeho, seeing the normally calm and reserved Irene nearly trip over her words was perhaps one of the most adorable and endearing sights in the world. “How about I do it for you?” Jaeho finished for Irene, grabbing her shoulders firmly and turning her around. Just a blink of an eye later, she found herself looking at a close-up of Jaeho’s close eyes, her eyes widening as she realized that Jaeho’s lips had captured her own.

               If she had blushed any more, Irene firmly believed that she would have fainted right there on the spot. Frankly, she was feeling a bit lightheaded, but luckily Jaeho’s firm grip on her kept her standing. The kiss lasted just a second, and by the time Jaeho pulled away, Irene felt her strength leave her body.

               “Oh my, how bold of you,” Irene’s mother commented.

               “Alright, you two lovebirds, sit down and let’s start,” came her father’s reply, clearly with a hint of laughter inside.

               Irene playfully hit Jaeho as he escorted the red-faced woman to her seat. Jaeho laughed in response. “What?”

               “It’s embarrassing,” she whispered. There was a part of her that was glad that Jaeho was taking charge and comfortable enough in front of her parents to do something like that, but it was also extremely embarrassing to do these kinds of things in front of the people who raised her, not to mention for them to see her this flustered.

               “OK, I won’t do it again,” he whispered back.

               Irene hit him again. “Don’t you dare.” Jaeho threw her a puzzled expression, but before he could say anything, Jaeho’s father interjected.

               “I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone here for this dinner. My son, for somehow managing to give me such a beautiful daughter-in-law,” Jaeho, not wanting to interrupt, just glared at his father while Irene was giggling, “and Joohyun, for accepting my son,” this time, the roles flipped; Jaeho nodded earnestly while Irene had opened to protest but promptly closed it, “and her parents, for making the time to join us here today.” Jaeho’s father, who was standing, held up his glass of soju, to which everyone else joined in the toast, clinking their glasses and taking the first swing of alcohol for the night.

               “I would also like to commend Jaeho for being a man,” Irene’s father said, both his wife and his daughter shooting daggers at him, albeit for different reasons, “At first when I saw him, I was a bit worried because most pretty boys like him wouldn’t be able to take care of a woman like my Joohyun.”

               “Dad!” Irene said through gritted teeth, Jaeho simply laughing in response.

               “But after seeing him take such command of the situation just now, I can safely say that I support you two fully.”

               “Just like that?” Irene’s mother followed up, to which her husband nodded.

               “I mean, I’m her father after all. I can see how much my princess loves Jaeho, so the only thing I needed was an in-person verification that Jaeho is the man that can take care of my daughter for the rest of their lives.”

               Irene buried her face in her hands, Jaeho patting her on the back, smiling. “Thank you, I promise I will do my best. Your daughter deserves the best, and I don’t know if I’m fitting for that role yet, but I will work hard to ensure that she gets exactly that.”

               “Did I come here just to get embarrassed?” Irene’s muffled voice interjected, her hands and face still on the table.

               “Joohyun, it’s bad manners to do that,” her mother said gently, rubbing her hand from the other side of her. Irene obeyed, lifting her head from the table. The orders for the food were already placed, so to fill the time waiting for the food to arrive, the inevitable topic of the couple’s future was brought up.

               “From what I understand, your son is a model, right?”

               Jaeho’s father nodded. “He isn’t doing that work right now, but he has his fair experience.”

               “See?” Irene’s father turned to his wife, “There’s nothing to be afraid of, not to mention how well he took the news when it came out and everything that followed.”

               “Well…” was Jaeho’s automatic reaction, quickly realizing it was perhaps a mistake. As it turned out, it wasn’t.

               “The incident at the grocery store?” hearing the mention immediately brought concern to Jaeho’s eyes. “It was terrible what happened to you, but I think you did a good job.”

               “Hm?” Jaeho couldn’t help but make that curious noise in response, not expecting that answer at all.

               “As a man, it’s your responsibility to protect your woman’s pride. As such, standing up to three men at once to do that made me more confident that you were the right man for my Joohyun,” he explained. Jaeho just chuckled, bowing in thanks, a bit baffled by that interpretation of his actions. “Speaking of, when are you two giving me grandchildren?”

               “Dad!” Irene’s mom and Irene herself exclaimed, the older man letting out a hearty laughter.

               “Nothing wrong with wanting a few more helping hands at the restaurant, right?”

               Jaeho’s father nodded in agreement. “I personally also want grandchildren, but it felt like they were getting lower with every breakup Jaeho faced.” Jaeho eyed his father, hoping he would get his indirect message to stop talking, but the message fell on deaf ears. “I have to be honest though, you can ask Jaeho himself; none of his ex’s were women I particularly liked but ones that I accepted for the sake of Jaeho’s happiness. As you two may know, Jaeho has lived most of his life without a mother, so I knew how important his future wife would be do him. All the other women Jaeho has been with were younger than him,” Irene bumped Jaeho’s arm with a mischievous smile, Jaeho raising his eyebrows in response. Although no words were exchanged, Jaeho regrettably instantly understood Irene’s intention: that her theory that Jaeho liked older women was only being strengthened by his father’s words, “and also pretty immature, so I’m happy to see that it's a woman like Joohyun who my son finally ended up with.”

               “I’m also thankful,” Jaeho continued off where his father left off. There were a million things he wanted to say: that Irene helped fixed an insecurity he had about not ever finding a significant other due to his past failures, that Irene indeed filled the void his mother left behind, that Irene was nothing but a positive influence on his life ever since that morning, but that Jaeho knew he couldn’t. The couple had decided to not tell their parents about Jaeho’s sudden amnesia, mostly because it was so inexplicable that they felt their parents would have taken it as an excuse to cover up a fight they had and start worrying about their relationship, so Jaeho made sure to choose his words meticulously. “Meeting Joohyun was such a bizarre event to me, especially since I started out as her fan, but it was undoubtedly the most important night of my life. Ever since meeting her, she has never stopped giving to the point that I feel a bit bad; even this watch that I’m wearing is something she bought me after realizing my previous watch was a little broken,” he said, showing off the digital watch that was sitting on his left wrist.

               “It’s not a big deal,” Irene insisted, “It’s a small price to pay for how you fixed my loneliness.”

               “I think we’ve strayed a bit off the original topic; how many grandchildren are you willing to give me, Jaeho?”

               The repeated question from Irene’s father made him laugh, Irene this time just laughing along, realizing she couldn’t stop her father from asking such abrasive questions. “As many as your daughter is willing to have,” was his reply. Irene glared at Jaeho, who shot her an apologetic smile as her father turned the question to his daughter.

               “So? Joohyun?”

               “Um, I’m not sure,” was her careful reply, “Maybe one or two?”

               Irene’s father nodded thoughtfully. “We’ll see if you change your mind after your first experience,” he commented. Irene’s face exploded in another fit of pink, her mind briefly flashing back to her and Jaeho’s first experience together—one that this Jaeho no longer had—before firmly resolving to keep shut about that.

               “Honey, what are you saying?” Irene’s mom said, exasperated.

               “What? Having a first child changes you, don’t you agree?” This explanation caused everyone else in the room collectively sigh in relief while also embarrassed that their first thought went there.

               “Yes, you’re right dear,” Irene’s mom said, content. “But before that, when do you plan on getting married?”

               Jaeho and Irene couldn’t help but let out a little chuckle at that. “I’m not sure, I think Joohyun is too busy to be considering that right now. Honestly though, there might never be a good time since I doubt she’ll become less busy any time soon, so we’ll see.”

               Irene’s dad laughed heartily in response. “What a good answer! Joohyun, I’m starting to like your boyfriend with every passing minute.”

               “Oh, are we finally going to get to why only mommy can sleep with daddy?”

               Irene smiled and tenderly patted their child’s head. “Yes, but that’s a story for next time. For now, go to sleep.”

               As their child drifted into dreamland, the couple lounged on the couch in the living room, simply enjoying each other’s presence. “What do you have for tomorrow?”

               “Nothing much, just one meeting, maybe a surprise fan meet-and-greet, but that’s it.”

               “Oh ok, that’s good,” Irene said, closing her eyes as she drank in the warmth that radiated from her husband’s body. “Thinking back, that day—that week really was something, wasn’t it? Almost like from a K-Drama.”

               Jaeho laughed. “Yeah, really. I wonder if our princess will even believe us.”

               Irene paused for a second before replying, “If it didn’t happen to me, I probably wouldn’t have believed it myself.”

Finally, a chapter without much conflict, right? ^_^ Who else forgot that this was a frame story, with the concept of these chapters being bedtime stories for a child? How do you think Jaeho/Irene will resolve Jaeho's amnesia problem?

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Anyway, hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading!