2nd 

He remembered the first time his mother met Haneul clearly. It was during the celebration prepared for him after graduating in college months after he and the girl started going out officially. 
    

Everybody in the household was excited about this but he knew better. He knows that if it was his mother who organized the party, it was probably for some kind of a business gathering once again, showing their family's wealth and connection. Little did the guy know that Haneul was invited along with some guests.
     

Only when he spotted her familiar figure wearing a simple peach dress that amongst the crowd did he learn what his mother was plotting. It wasn't just a business gathering as how it turns out to be. 

    
He was supposed to approached his girlfriend when all of a sudden, spotlight was directed at him, as well as another person in the hall– Jo Yanghee. 

"I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate my one and only son for finishing his college with the highest honors at a very young age," Mrs Cha's voice echoed throughout the huge hall of the Cha residence and everyone else stopped whatever they were doing. "I'm so proud to have him as my son."

   
Rounds of applause followed after, after all screams of congratulations died down, she spoke once again. "And to commemorate this evening, our Jo Yanghee here will offer a dance to my son, to congratulate him. Please do give them a round of applause!"

   
Yanghee approached him slowly, smiling shyly whereas he just gawked at her approaching figure. How could they team up against him like this? 

Also, how come Haneul was invited when he didn't even told her about this event?

His head whipped to the sea of people where he saw Haneul earlier. Only this time, the spot where she stood was empty. 

--

"What do you want to talk about?" Hakyeon asked quietly after placing his drink back on the table. His mother didn't budge but smiled sinisterly nevertheless. 

"You should know by now that you'll never win against me Hakyeon," she said as she stirred the foam atop her mug of coffee. He gritted his teeth.

"You can never hide anything from me, my dear. I'm way too experienced to be fooled by someone as innocent as you," she mocked raising up the mug to her lips. "After all, you took after me. The most intelligent one in my batch." She laughed lightly. 

"Just go straight to the point!" He detonated. Seriously, did she visit him in this hour just to annoy him?

"Oh," she laughed heartily. "You might not want me getting straight to the point, my child." She raised her phone at him, his eyes widening when he saw what was flashed on the screen. "Not when I have Yong Haneul's phone number with me."

--

At home, Yong Haneul was busy counting each minute that passed by. They just saw his mother at their doorstep, and it wasn't good news. Puffing her cheeks, the girl on her twenty's opted to wash up first, and think things through.

   
Few minutes after taking a shower, she heard the door clicking. Turning around, she stood up  from the sofa immediately, the blanket she used to warm herself up dropping in the process. 

"How was it?" She asked when she noticed his unreadable expression. "Did she got mad at you?" 

"Haneul-ah..." Hakyeon started, his gaze boring into her eyes. As a response, she raised both her brows in question. "I'm not leaving you," he announced as he charged towards her, cupping her cheeks as he locked his lips with her soft ones, kissing her passionately. 

What he did took her by surprise, nevertheless she responded with the same ardor, her hands tangling their selves in his locks. They kissed for a few minutes before he broke it to ask her one important question, "Can I?"

--

Hakyeon woke up to the feeling of fingertips brushing away strands of his hair from his face. He buried his face some more onto the pillow in hopes of shooing her away.

   
Instead of stopping, she turned her attention to his head, combing his hair back until her hand would reach his nape, tickling him. He opened one eye to glare at her. "Stop it," he threatened. 

  
Her response was a boisterous laugh. She leaned towards him, "why?" She widened her eyes at him. "What will you do?" Then laughed again when he rolled his eyes at her. 

   
Finally realizing that she wouldn't let him sleep some more, he leaned his elbows for support, looking at her. "What time is it?" He asked, voice thick with sleep. 

   
The girl on the bed just shrugged her shoulders at him, "I don't know, you tell me," smiling at him. 

Smiling, he reached for the back of her neck bumping foreheads with her. He inhaled her scent that is always a mixture of peaches and blossom before saying, "I'm hungry. So it's either lunch or breakfast for me." 

Kissing her nose lightly, Hakyeon knew that she was everything he needed and no one ever could say otherwise, not even his mother.

And he's sure of that. 

--

"You haven't eaten yet?!" Hakyeon eyed the sulking girl on the table who had her head resting on her elbows, while he found difficulty in tying his apron at his back, "Wah, really," he scoffed. "You have the time to wake me up but don't have the time to cook for yourself?!" 

She raised her head at this, "I was supposed to ask you to cook breakfast for me, but you were sleeping like a log!" She exclaimed, pure annoyance written on her face. 

The older huffed at her behaviour. Quickly looking at the ingredients presented before him, he was surprised to feel delicate fingers on his back, specifically on the apron's ties. "I'll tie it for you," she mumbled. He let go of the knot and let her do the honor of tying the problematic knot. 

When she was done, he thought that she would finally back away so he was surprised when she s her arms around his middle instead. 

"You still didn't tell me," she started. Hakyeon knew what she was talking about but he refuse to tell her. She would definitely cry if he told her the truth. So he asked instead, "tell you what?"

"How did the two meetings go," she stated, her hold on him tightening. Now, finally, the guy's brows furrowed at her question. "Two?"

"Yeah, two." He buried her face at his back, "the one with the uni, and the one with your mother."

Hakyeon found himself cracking up a bit at the way she put up things together. "Well, it was s same old. Schools wanted to recruit me, and mom nagging about me rejecting the offer." He concluded and he felt her arms tightening even more. 

"But why am I not convinced?" Her voice sounded muffled due to his clothes. He smiled sadly, "don't worry, Haneul-ah. I won't leave you, ever. I won't waste us." 

Her answer was a small nod of her head. She could sense that he was hiding something, but he was probably afraid to be honest with her. For now, she will be contented with what he told her. 

--

One day later, Yong Haneul woke up to a tremendous on her lower back. She tapped the space beside her to find it empty and she grew irritated at the thought that he left without even waking her up. 

   
Having difficulty into sitting up, she clutched her abdomen when a sudden pain strike her. 

"Great," she mumbled. "Just great."

Planting her feet on the floor, she spotted a small not on the bedside table and the irritation she felt vanished all of a sudden. 

I left to uni early because of an unexpected faculty meeting. You're supposed to have the first day of your period today, right? Don't drink any medicine okay? Just treat yourself with a warm compress and that should do the trick. ;)

She almost scoffed at the note. Honestly, she didn't know how to react. Is he some kind of a menstrual expert or something to advise her of using only warm compress? Has he experienced having a period actually?

  
Ever since she got into a relationship with him, he refused the idea of her taking painkillers. He said that it's not good for her health and he doesn't want a dying wife along the way. 

   
So even when they became a little bit more fearless about life, Hakyeon also refused the idea of her taking birth control pills. He said some things from being careful and a lot about natural ways of contraception to the concept of it things are meant to happen that way, then let it be. 

   
Sometimes, the idea of having an extremely intelligent boyfriend hurts her head big time. But what could she do? She loves him way too much to be irked with the way he's thinking. 

--

"So, what would you apply for in college?" Hakyeon asked one evening when he was walking Haneul home. The younger thought for a while before answering his inquiry. "I want to apply for Medical Technology," she sheepishly answered, looking on her left to avoid his gaze.

He squeezed her hand that was tangled with his to assure her that there was nothing wrong about her decision. "Why medical technology though?"

She puffed her cheeks because she was seriously getting embarrassed. "Well," she started. "I saw this course once on TV and I found it great to actually know the causes of diseases. And I thought, if I could be one of them, then maybe I can hel