It took him exactly a year for him to man up and poured his heart’s out to her. A year after they got hitched and thirteen months after their first son was born.

A short glimpse at the windows portrayed the cold winter weather. There had been reports of snowing coming around this week but so far, none. The scene below her apartment was lacking of a white blanket of snowflakes. Her eyes continued to linger on the city below her apartment where the residents were dressed nicely, in winter clothes, going about to return to the comfort of their warm homes after getting some Christmas shopping done.

Another ten more hours and they will be celebrating Christmas as a family unit for the first time. She had to admit that she was slightly nervous about it. After sending her mother (and his mother) on an all-paid vacation to Rome as Christmas gifts, she had to rely on the cookbook and her luck, not to destroy whatever dish she will be preparing later. But that would be in ten hours’ time. Right now, she wanted to focus on resting.

Her mind drifted back to the precious memories she made with him over their years as housemates and friends with benefits. It’s been almost a year since she and the rock star got hitched and still, she made no move to confess her true feelings for him.

She snapped back to reality at the sound of her young son’s cries. She sighed brought her feet to the crib and carried him out from the crib. She cradled him in her arms, in a rocking motion and with the help of a plushie doll; she managed to eliminate his cries and sent the boy to fits of giggles.

Rian continued to play with her son until it was evident that he was getting sleepy. The baby yawned and stretched his limbs, eyelids on the verge of closing. She smiled at the cuteness displayed by her son. She brought Lee Jin to his cot and placed him inside the cot, tucking him before putting on her nightgown.

She headed to her vanity table, took a seat on the small stool and brushed her hair, while eyeing on the small crib at the corner of the bedroom. She hoped to be able to squeeze at least four hours of sleep tonight. This week had been hectic for her and her son. The babysitter bailed on her at the last minute since it was the week before Christmas.

Luckily she had Nana and Ailee to help her. Her former group mates took turns to babysit while she tackled her activities. When she returned home, the former idols were both fast asleep on the couch, Nana’s hand on top of Ailee and the younger girl’s head was on Nana’s shoulder with slightly opened whereas the boy, giggling inside his own cot.

She rose to her feet, about to take a lie down on the bed when she heard loud noises, as if something fell off from the cabinets and crashed onto the floor or simply dumb enough to run into the cabinets itself. Her eyes widened in surprise.

Could it be a burglar? Ridiculous! She paid large sum of money to the landlord to make sure they always upgrade their apartment’s securities. Right now, her building was supposed to be like a tight-maximum security kind of prison. No one was supposed to be able to get in or out into the apartment.  

Rian slowly took out a metal baseball bat (Yoo Jin bought it for her for safety reasons - and so that he could sleep easily when he was abroad), paced towards the door and quietly opened the bedroom door. She peeked into the living room; eyes squinted at the dark figure in front of the fireplace.

She made way to the fireplace, with stealth of an exterminator; both hands gripped the baseball bat and swung it at the figure’s back.

When the bat touched the figure’s shoulder, the intruder yelled, “God, woman!” Quickly, massaging his shoulders as Rian was about to take another swing at the man. “Stupid idea! They are so going to pay!” he continued, oddly enough it sounded familiar.  

Noticing how Rian was already envisioning another swing directed for his head, he immediately ran to the power switch and turned the lights on. Both intruder and home owner froze on the spot.

“Jin Yoo Jin? Jin Yoo Jin! Weren’t you suppose to come back tomorrow evening?” the actress bellowed at her husband. He just plastered a smirk on his face and kept his distance from the furious Rian.

“Explain yourself immediately!” she ordered. Yoo Jin just shrugged his shoulder, before carving an expression equivalent to a man being defeated at a tennis match. “There was an extra seat on the airplane, heading to Korea. So, I decided to come early- he mumbled incoherently, rushing to finish his sentence.

“What? I cannot hear you, talk properly. Sit here,” she ushered the taller man into their couch. “Open your shirt,” she commanded. He looked at her like she was mad. Rian raised an eyebrow, “Open your shirt, quickly. It’s not like I haven’t seen everything you have,” she continued, with a wide grin. He grudgingly obeyed his wife, glaring at her. She just returned him with a smirk of her own.

She cannot help it. She just loved teasing him, concerning the need to bare his body. Despite being married for a year, he was still shy about exposing his washboard abs to her, his official wife. It was just natural for her to toy with his insecurity.

Rian placed the bat down, against the wall before storming off to find some cream to ease the pain. It did not take long before she returned to the living room with some cream in hand. That’s when she actually noticed the Christmas stockings hung over the fireplace, the Christmas tree was adorned by bright ornaments and a star was placed on top of the tree along with the music playing in the background.

In the middle of the living room, Yoo Jin stood there with a sheepish grin. Both of his hands were inside his trousers’ pocket and he motioned towards the Christmas stocking, one written with the word “actress” on it, with his eyes.

“So?” He grinned triumphantly, like an idiot at her. She simply returned with a short “Okay.”

“Is that it? Just okay?” he asked, sceptically.

“Yeah,” she nodded and then continued, “Do you want me to say something?”

“Nothing else you want to add to the ‘okay’?” The rock star looked up at his wife, with hopeful eyes. She shook her head, ushered him down to the couch. She instructed him to turn so that his back was facing her, “Turn around.” Only adding, “Yes, I have nothing to add,” as an afterthought.

He crossed his long, muscular arms and began to rant, “I came home early for this? Your lack of reaction astounds me,” he sulked at the thought of Rian’s emotionless expression upon seeing the decoration he so painstakingly did.

“The next time I decided to come home early to surprise you, remind me don’t.” She could not resist and pinched his shoulder hard before smacking him.

He turned glaring and yelling at the same time, “Why did-

“The baby is sleeping,” she snapped, to which he lowered his voice, but the exasperate tone was still there, “Why did you do that, woman!” She huffed, in annoyance and threw daggers at him. She dabbed more cream onto her husband’s shoulder, gave him a little massage and almost tuning out to Yoo Jin’s ranting. “I gave you my heart and all you give me is just an “okay”? Something is not right with you. Why, oh Lord, do I have been attracted to girls who spell trouble?’ he wailed.

“Is this your idea of a confession?” she inquired, when she was hit by a sudden realisation behind her husband’s sulking. The smirk on her face grew wider, almost mischievous. “Is that why you were upset? Jin Yoo Jin, you’re one amusing man,” she chided, applying more cream on the bright red bruise, taking place on his shoulder.

“No, I am not,”  he protested, turning away from his wife but his arms still firmly crossed over his toned chest. Trying to avoid being seen with embarrassment written clearly on his face. He muttered to no one in particular, “I just did all that decorations for nothing, not even a kiss on the cheek.”

While he was too busy complaining to himself, she stood up and headed for the Santa socks, picking the sock with the word actress on it. She upturned the sock; a replica of Yoo Jin’s most precious guitar (he once declared he loved the guitar more than the MAMA’s awards) fell into her hand.

A guitar replica? There are only three things in life that Yoo Jin treasured the most. That would be his guitar, notebook on lyrics to unfinished song and the gift his students at Kirin High gave him for an early retirement. She knew that much about his favourite and treasured items. If he was giving her a replica, Ui Bong once said, that means he is giving his heart to you, which had the equal meaning of I love you.

She launched herself on him, engulfing him in an unexpected back hug, leaned closer to his right eye and whispered, “It’s lovely, not up to my standards but I kinda like it anyway.”

It took her only a few seconds to spill out the fact that she already loved him.

“I love you, too.” Yoo Jin turned to face his wife, all the traces of disappointment vanished, replaced with a huge, satisfactory smile on his face. “So, can we do it tonight?” he asked, hopefully.

Rian smirked, slyly at him. “No, Lee Jin’s asleep and I’m tired.” The happy expression he had on, melt away. The actress came to her feet, with one hand holding to his, pulling him up from the couch. “But Nana and Ailee are free, tomorrow. So, I’ll think about it, tomorrow.”

The pleased grin found its way back to Yoo Jin’s face and he uttered, “Can’t wait for tomorrow.”