The world may think that Kim Jong Kook has officially gone too far with the way he runs his chores— but as they say, “old habits die hard”— and he couldn’t agree more.

Could they really blame him? His whole schedule has been recently flooded from back-to-back variety show filmings, recording schedules for his comeback album, and daddy daycare duties. Honestly, he barely has time to spare. He lacked sleep, he hasn’t fully caught on their chores and minor home repairs, and worst of all, his workout sessions at the gym have been compromised to tiny home workout sets (although don’t mention this to his wife or Song Ji Hyo would go livid — as he wasn’t the only one who’s having a hard time).

Ji Hyo, on the other hand, also has a lot on her plate. The good news is: she’s back on the theatre screens again. The downside of it: she was just as swamped as her husband. While she was already at the tailend of their promotion activities and interviews for the new movie, she was also in the middle of memorizing scripts as they prepare to shoot a new drama that’s set to be released by late fall. Something she did not think was possible in her forties as an actress and as a rookie mom of a toddler. For the first time in years (and ever since having Jin-ae), she assumed two succeeding big projects in a short period of time. It took a lot of convincing by both her agency and the ever persuasive Kim Jong Kook to jump into these opportunities before she agreed to the offers. Frankly speaking, she was grateful for her husband’s never-ending support. He really was her number one fan and cheerleader. She would’ve regretted it big time if she didn’t listen to his advice and assurance. However, despite all of this, she couldn’t deny how exhausting and overwhelming everything felt.

It came to a point that the couple had asked Ji Hyo’s parents and Seong Moon to look after Jin-ae for one whole week. With Jong Kook and Ji Hyo’s schedules tangled against each other, the Cheons were more excited than troubled to have their first and only grandchild (yet) to stay with them. They had even insisted that Jin-ae could stay longer, if needed. It was a welcomed suggestion but guilt had already swallowed Ji Hyo for being apart from her daughter for too long even if their three year old didn’t seem to be bothered at all. Her halmeoni, harabuji, and samchon were spoiling her to death that she wasn’t particularly interested whenever her parents called to check on her.

On the fourth night of the Kims’ busy week and Jin-ae’s mini vacation at her grandparents, Jong Kook and Ji Hyo had found themselves coming home together at eight pm with take-out food from the Chinese restaurant downstairs for dinner. Just like old times, they had sprawled themselves on the living room floor and ate their jajangmyeon and tangsuyuk while passively watching the night news. By the time the end credits rolled, neither one of them moved an inch— Ji Hyo had lain down on the floor and Jong Kook’s back had leaned against the couch frame.

“Yeobo, we need to clean up,” Jong Kook lightly shook Ji Hyo’s thigh.

Ji Hyo sighed and closed her eyes, “Oppa, I don’t want to move anymore.”

Jong Kook chuckled, “I know what you mean but our dishes have been waiting to be washed for the past two days.”

Ji Hyo groaned, “Can’t we just leave them for one more day?”

He smiled, “I’m afraid we’ll be invaded by roaches if we do that—”

“Then please do it, Oppa. I’m so tired I could pass out on the floor,” she retorted.

“Yah,” Jong Kook laughed and crossed his arms against his chest, “Ji Hyo-ah, I’m pretty exhausted too and those dishes won’t get themselves cleaned.”

“Oppa…,” Ji Hyo pouted with pleading eyes as she swung her right leg to hug Jong Kook’s stretched legs.

Jong Kook smirked, “No, yeobo, that’s not going to work on me this time.”

“Aish,” Ji Hyo pulled her leg back and rolled her eyes in annoyance.

“Come on, Ji Hyo-ah,” He poked her side but she didn’t budge. “The sooner we clean, the sooner we’ll get to sleep.”

Ji Hyo husband by pretending to doze off while resting the back of her hand on her forehead.

“Jinja,” Jong Kook muttered under his breath while controlling his face from breaking out into a smile. He knew for a fact that she loved to play jokes on him like dramatically refusing to do their chores so he would offer to do it himself. However, today wasn’t the day for that. He wasn’t going to give in that easily. He wanted his sleep too.

Like any other couple, Jong Kook and Ji Hyo had gone past the honeymoon phase in their relationship. Don’t get them wrong— Jong Kook was still sweet and cheesy as ever leaving Ji Hyo feeling cringe-y most of the time but she would eventually reciprocate her affections for him in her own special way. They have fallen into a rhythm of complementing each other— building on their friendship and enjoying each other’s company as they’re growing old together. But on moments when they’re not too fond of one another, they tend to go back to their default mode when they started out as friends that love to bicker against each other.

“Yah,” Jong Kook called her attention “Don