This is the anniversary of our first day

The red string of fate

"Yoonjung, wake up!" Heejin shook Yoonjung's body that was covered almost completely with blanket. 

"No... I don't have work tonight, I want to sleep until the morning."

"Don't be funny. Come on, wake up already." Heejin pulled the blanket off her.

"Ah, why..." Yoonjung slowly rose up. 

Heejin started rummaging through her wardrobe. 

"What are you doing?" 

"Where is that dress... the one I gave you for your birthday last year." 

"That was not a birthday gift, you bought the dress but it was too small for you." Yoonjung said half asleep. 

"Yea yea..." Heejin pulled out her jacket one by one to get better access to her clothes, "where is it?" 

"It's still inside the box down there." she pointed towards the bottom shelfs where there are lots of unopened boxes and bags. "What do you need it for?" 

Heejin took out the dress out of the box, "put it on."

"Huh? what for?" 

"Just put it on." Heejin pulled her up, "actually... maybe you should shower first. 

"I don't want to go out. I want to sleep." Yoonjung resisted. 

"Come on, quick. take a shower and put this dress on." Heejin almost practically dragged her towards the bathroom. 

"but this dress is not even washed yet..." 

"It's ok, you won't die wearing it unwashed." Heejin closed the door to the bathroom with Yoonjung inside. 

After around ten minutes, Yoonjung came out of the shower with the dress on but still with sleepy face and wet hair. 

"Aigoooo~ what do I do about you." Heejin pulled her and sat her down on her chair. 

Without complaining or asking more questions, Yoonjung let Heejin dried her hair, styled it and even put make up on her, all the while catching a little bit of more sleep. 

"Done!" Heejin said proudly. 

"OK, so where are we going? I am really not in the mood tonight." 

Heejin pulled her out of the room, "I bet you will be soon." she muttered while grinning. 

Heejin opened the main door and moved to the side, allowing Yoonjung to see what was waiting in front of her.

Kang was standing outside with a bucket of flower in his hand. He was looking especially handsome that night with the formal wear and with his hair neatly brushed to the side. It was not the same 'Kang Biker' that she was used to see, but she was definitly not complaining. In fact, she stood there just slowly soaking and memorising the view in front of her. 

Kang slowly walked towards her and offered her the flower. "Happy anniversary."

"OH!!!" Yoonjung gasped while covering . She completely forgot that day was their anniversary. "Wait!" she ran back inside the house. 

Heejin and Kang looked at each other in confusion. 

"Thanks for helping me out." Kang said to Heejin.

"Anything for Yoonjung." Heejin raised her thumb up. "Where are you guys going?" 

"It's a secret." Kang winked mischiveously. 

"Don't do anything weird, ok? or else I will activate Haesoo to follow you guys." 

"Please don't. Your brother scares me to death." Kang laughed. 

Yoonjung came back outside scrambling while carrying a big box with red wrapper and a black bow. 

"Oh... what is inside?" Heejin poked her head curiously. 

Both Yoonjung and Kang gave Heejin a look.

"Anywaysss..... I better go now...." Heejin slowly walked backwards towards the gate, "have fun guys." 

Yoonjung turned her attention back to Kang now that they are both finallly alone. "I might have forgotten that today is the day of our anniversary, but I didn't forget about it. Here, I bought this for you." 

With Yoonjung help, Kang unwrapped the box and looked inside it. There was a pair of black heated gloves with his initial at the bottom. 

"Do you like it?" Yoonjung looked at Kang, her eyes glistened with hope. 

"I love it." Kang took the gloves out of the box and tried it on. "They're perfect. Thank you." he gave her a short kiss on the mouth. 

Yoonjung smiled, silently proud of herself. 

"Shall we?" Kang offered his hand to her.

She took his hand, "where are we going?" 

"You'll see." 

"OH, I forgot. I don't think I can ride your bike with this dress." she said belatedly. 

He smiled, "Don't worry. I took care of it." 

They stepped out of the gate and Yoonjung saw a black car parked outside her house. 

"Did you drive this?" 

"I borrowed it." Kang walked over to the passenger side and opened the door for Yoonjung. "My lady."

Yoonjung laughed. She followed and got in the car. 

She watched as Kang half running towards around the car and got inside the car from the driver side. 

"Ready?" Kang asked. "Oh, wait." He leaned towards Yoonjung side and pulled her seatbelt over her body before clicking it in place. 

"Thanks..." she said softly. She has always said that this kind of scene in a romantic movie is very tacky, but now that it happened to her, she could see why they had to have it. 

"OK, now, ready?" Kang asked again after putting his own seatbelt on.

"Ready!" Yoonjung said cheerfully.

 

She has always loved seeing Kang on his motorbike, but that night, watching him drive, it drove her heart to beat even harder and faster. There's something about the way he drove mainly only using one hand while resting the other hand on the center console. Also, unlike when she riding behind him on the motorbike, sitting next to him on the car, it allowed her to focus on his side profile, which she thinks is his best angle. 

"Can you stop looking at me like that? you're distracting me."

"Like what?" Yoonjung blushed, embarrased after being caught staring at him. 

Yoonjung used his free hand to hold her hand, "I was kidding. You can continue staring at me. I like that." 

She lifted her body slightly and leaned over to give Kang a kiss on the cheek. 

Kang looked at her with a surprised yet pleased face. 

Yoonjung looked away to hide her shyness. She has never been a phsyical person in a relationship, not even with Seojoon. But Kang made her feel like she wanted to do things she never imagine she would, like initiating a hug or even a kiss like she did just now. 

They continued driving through the night in silence while their hands are still holding each other. 

"We're here." Kang stopped the car in front of a small building. 

When she got off, she saw a long line of queue in front of the only restaurant in that small building.

"oh, i wonder if we will be able to get a table..." she muttered. 

Kang passed the car key to the valet and placed his hand behind her back, guiding her inside, "we already have one."

The moment they walked inside the restaurant, they attracted the attention of the people sitting at nearby tables. They were led by the host towards the private room. Once inside, two tables were seen in the center of a small but beautiful room surrounded by big windows with a view of a man-made garden with big pond and trees with lights all around it.

"So pretty..." Yoonjung muttered, standing in front of the window, admiring the view. 

"It is." Kang stood close behind her, his front barely pressing against her back. 

She felt her heart beating fast for the third time that night. It was beating so fast she was worried she would pass out from it. 

"Do you like the room?" A voice came from behind them. 

They both turned their heads and saw Myungsoo walking inside the room. 

"Myungsoo?" Yoonjung was slightly surprised and confused upon seeing him. 

"This is how we managed to get a private room, despite the queue." Kang gave Myungsoo their signature greeting where they shake their hands and bumped shoulders after. "Myungsoo owns this restaurant." 

"oh, that's so cool." Yoonjung remarked. 

"I have arranged for your choices of meals tonight, so I hope you will enjoy it." Myungsoo gave a sign and a waitress came in carrying a bottle of wine in an ice bucket. "Just call me if you need anything." 

Yoonjung and Kang proceed with the dinner while talking to each other. 

"Oh by the way... I just got a new project." Kang said, referring to his job as an architect. 

"Really? That's good news!" Yoonjung said excitedly. 

"Yes. So I will be in Hong kong for about a month for the first part of the project."

"What?" Yoonjung was taken aback by that particular of news. "When are you leaving?"

"Next week."

Yoonjung stopped eating. She put her fork and knife on the side 

"What's wrong?"

She shook her head.

"No, something is wrong. Tell me."

"I was just surprised, that is all." 

"Ok... But you dont look ok."

"Well yeah, I mean... I would appreciate it if you could tell me about this before you take on the project."

"You dont want me to do this project?" Kang seemed surprise.

"No, it's not that. But you will need to be away overseas for one month and you are only telling me this now? One week before you have to leave?" 

"Yeah but I am telling you now right? It's not like I waited until I leave before telling you."

Yoonjung frowned. Kang just didnt get it. She wanted him to tell her as soon as he received the project, not because she wanted to stop him from taking it, but she wanted to be the first person whom he shares news with, good or bad. And it is an even bigger deal that he has to go overseas for the project.

For the first time in the relationship, there was a kind of silence that is cold and awkward. They finished their dinner without talking to each other. 

By the time they are back on the road, neither of them even looked at each other.

The car stopped somewhere unfamiliar to Yoonjung. Kang got off the car. she didn't come out because she didn't even know if she was supposed to, but then the door on her side was opened and Kang offered his hand.

She got off the car and followed him, still not saying anything despite holding his hand. 

Kang stopped walking. Yoonjung looked around her but there was nothing but empty space. 

"This is our house." Kang said.

"huh?" Yoonjung was puzzled by what he said.

"Well at least it will be. Right now it might be an empty land but I am hoping I can build a house here, a house that I design myself." Kang looked at her, "When I first purchased this land, I have already imagined what kind of house I would want to build on it. but lately.... that image changes. Instead of a house full of games and motorbike stuff, I want to change it to a house that has a nice kitchen and maybe even a big shelves that can take hundreds of books. Instead of a house with just one bedroom for one person, I changed it to two, one for us and the other one for your grandma."

It felt like someone breath out of her body, she felt suffocated but not in a bad way. 

"Yoonjung. I want to thank you for loving me the way you do. I have never known someone who can love as much as you do, the way you do. I want to love you more than you have loved me. When I said I want to take care of you, I meant every word back then, now and I will still mean every word if that is the last thing that I will say to you before I die."

"I know we haven't been together long enough so it might be too early for me to propose to you..." he added, "Also, I am quite broke. When I bought this land a couple of years ago, I used up all my life saving, so now I pretty much am living day by day."

Yoonjung laughed with tears in her eyes.

"So I hope you will wait until I am good enough to be able to propose to you properly. But until then.." Kang took out a small vintage brown wooden box. He opened it and there were two rings inside, one is big and the other one is smaller, "This is a promise ring, from me to you. Will you accept this promise of mine?"

"I don't care about your money..." she said through a soft sobbing, "... but I agree that it is too early for you to propose to me. I would've said no to that." 

They both laughed. 

"But I know I would regret it for the rest of my life if I said no to being loved by you until the day I die. So yes, I will accept your promise." she said excitedly. 

Kang took out the rings and put the smaller one on her finger while Yoonjung put the big on one him. She jumped and wrapped her arms around his neck. He lowered his head down and pulled her in for a kiss.

"About the new project, I am sorry for not telling you about it earlier. I didn't think it through, about how you would feel." Kang said, pulling away from her just a little bit to be able to see her face.

She shook her head, "I am sorry for my reaction. I was just very sad at that moment to hear that you will be away for one month. But I am truly happy for you about this new project."

He smiled and continued kissing her. 

 

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