Title: Legally Married

Rating: PG

WC: 3,028

A/N: Do I even want to apologize? Yes, I’m deeply sorry for being an MIA in this site. But you know how life is (and school), it gets hard and all that.

Let me clear up some things, some might get curious as to why they decided to get married in a hurry. The thing is, I want to portray Hyukjae as someone who makes crazy things right after knowing Gyuri. So him deciding to marry her right away was part of that, and of the main point were he is yet to understand Gyuri, wholly. It might look fast phased but that is the point, to skip the early stage of relationship and delve into the core of it. Now, why I decided to make them marry at dawn was just for fun. I guess I just find in impossible and crazy and thought, hey why not? So it ended up like that, sorry if it’s confusing, I’ll try to make the next chapters clearer.

But anyways, BIG THANKS TO EVERYONE (you know who you are) THAT NEVER LEFT AND KEEPS ON WAITING, I owe you guys. And please, if you have questions or concerns don’t be afraid to ask me, just post it on the comment box or my wall and I’ll try my best to explain or answer them. So there, i don't know but hopefully you guys will like this chapter.

P/S: I hope that clears your confusion @hyukjae-ah and thank you because you made me have an idea of how to start this chapter.

                Hyukjae would like to deem himself as someone who takes his sweet precious time in making decisions, company decisions more precisely. He had to be on par (if not, at least be able to handle what is left for him to manage) with his father, what the old Lee had done for the company before it was passed upon him. And it was not easy, nothing is easy. Everything has to be right, perfectly laid out, and detailed. Thus, Hyukjae had embraced the community of people taking their sweet precious time to decide, a.k.a people who needs a whole week before they decide or other calls them as people who can’t make up their mind. Whatever it is, that’s Hyukjae.

It’s not entirely different when it comes to his decisions in each day he’s given. He’s practically the same, thinking for about half an hour just to decide which course of meal he’ll eat on a fine dine. But probably that only happens when he’s dining with his parents (trying to piss them, because why not? They do it all the time whenever marriage is brought up, so maybe payback), because God forbid, he won’t be making his date wait that long just for a damn meal decision. No, he’d rather stare at them than the mouth-watering and expensive meal – which will be paid by him, with tip of course.

Even when he first decided that he’d walk to his work, that took at least the whole time he’s in the shower and while putting his clothes on.

So what really happened when he just decided that he’d marry the girl next to him? Without preamble too, mind you. But Hyukjae had long admitted to himself that Gyuri is way different that decisions are inappropriate, because with her, things just happen. Like that one time when he suddenly went out in rain just because Gyuri was there, and Hyukjae and rain isn’t really friendly with each other. Well, not until he met her.

Meeting Gyuri was like living in another life for Hyukjae. Everything’s the same yet entirely and completely unlike. The once unknown CEO became known within a second, the smooth road to life became bumpy in just a blink of an eye, and the strict rule in decision making was thrown at the wind the moment the first bump touched his car tires. Perhaps Gyuri had that certain charm in her that attracted him enough to forget what his principles are, or Hyukjae had been smitten pretty hard by that ethereal beauty that making rash decisions isn’t that big of a deal when it is (if he hadn’t met her, that is).

Obviously it’s both.

Hyukjae remembers one of his friends calling him a love sick fool and maybe he is, for he really can’t describe what he feels up until now. Euphoria would be the biggest understatement of the year if he were to say. There are too many emotions, too many bubbling reactions unpopped, and too many butterflies that he swears his stomach is an inch away from bursting. The only letdown is that, the reason behind it all was still sleeping soundly right next to him. Life is unfair; he would say that if only the sleeping figure of Gyuri isn’t really a disappointment. Rephrasing letdown would be embarrassing for his part, because really, he’d rather say that Gyuri asleep is the most breathtaking and that is the only thing in his sentence. So to make him look like not too eager at all, he takes it in him to chant that ‘Gyuri isn’t pretty at all’, only to have his heart fall out of its place when Gyuri stirs in her sleep.

He closes his eyes immediately and pretends to be asleep, all the while observing the form beside him. When Gyuri remained still, he counts to ten and turns his head slightly to her side. What he expects turns unexpected, and what he expects unexpected turns out to be expected. It doesn’t make sense, but Hyukjae hasn’t been making sense as of late, yet it turns out well at the end. Therefore, Gyuri staring right back at him isn’t that bad at all. If anything, it just feels right.

“Thinking of me?” She asks, unabashedly, tone coming off as a statement rather than a question.

Hyukjae would’ve scoffed at her over confidence but then Gyuri’s smirk outright told him that he really can’t deny the truth, the painful truth that Gyuri has been running in his head ever since their first meeting (but he won’t be admitting that). “Yeah,” oh how pathetically in love he is.

Gyuri’s smile was radiating with words like ‘I knew it’ but it doesn’t hurt one bit. For Hyukjae may or may not have submitted himself to her even before the marriage. Now, there really is no point in hiding anymore. He’d like it for her to unravel him (in more ways than one) and discover what’s underneath. In exchange, Hyukjae hopes Gyuri does the same.

“What about me?” She scoots closer and drapes her arm around his bare torso, resting her head in his chest.

The light contact from her fingers making shapes in his skin is enough to chase away the cool brush of air around. He hugs her closer, the blanket rough against his flesh, “How I did exactly the opposite of how I usually do things.” She rests her chin in his chest and stares at him; he doesn’t return the gaze but rather stares at the ceiling with dreamy eyes. “I don’t think it’s bad though, never. Infact I love every bit of the changes. It’s good, this is good.”

She hums and when Hyukjae looks down at her, she places a soft kiss across his lips. It lingers for a few seconds only and neither of them tried to comeback for another, because the simple gesture was enough for them both to understand the meaning behind it. Instead, he smiles at her and places a chaste kiss in her temple and looks at the clock in his bedside table, 10:18AM.

“I would like for us to stay like this for more, but we’ve got a hectic day ahead of us, baby.”

Hyukjae smoothens the frown she acquires with his thumb and held out his hand in air, observing the new band in his ring finger. “First, we need to file that Marriage Contract, we didn’t have time for that earlier. Then we’ll head to your house and explain everything. It’s my first time meeting your parents and they’ll know me as your husband already, God I hope I leave out your house door in one piece. Does your dad own a gun? After that we’ll have dinner at my parent’s house. No need to worry baby, they’ll accept our sudden marriage like nothing. You do know that my mom had already taken a liking on you, so there’s no problem, my dad doesn’t bother much so it’s easy for you. However, I really do hope your dad doesn’t own a gun or a baseball bat, or your mom won’t skin me alive.” When Hyukjae finishes their itinerary for the day, Gyuri surprises him with a rough kiss square on his lips. It almost hurt, when his front teeth bumped against the flesh of his lips at the sudden contact, but rather than complain at how eager the kissed looked liked, Hyukjae returned the favor by adding intensity between clash and cupping Gyuri’s visage.

They only pull away when Gyuri starts laughing, “I also hope my dad had hidden his gun six feet under, or that the kitchen knives had magically gone missing.”

Filling out the marriage contract was as easy as the slide of Gyuri’s palm in his hand. He relaxes at the touch, although only for a bit. Because Sunday mornings shouldn’t feel like this, it should be like how he had waken up earlier with an armful of Gyuri and lazy morning kisses until they call it off for a brunch with more kisses and occasional hugs. However, Hyukjae is a step away to his impending death – he really hopes that Gyuri’s dad had burried his gun six feet under, if not, it will be him in no less than a minute from now. “I’ll be with you,” she whispers and kisses him at the corner of his lips. The small gesture and reassurance in her voice makes him smile, though a little restraint, but he does and squeezes her hand as she opens the door.

The house executes a mixture of feelings with a dash of Gyuri, quaint and homey. Its interior is a lot less than what his parent’s house look like, or how his flat looks like. Their upholstered couch was dressed in a colorful pattern of flowers with cream-color as its base. The throw-pillows in different shades of green uplifted the beauty of the fresh-looking flowers, and the carpet beneath his socks (his feet was cold by the way, colder than it should be) is fluffy and just the living room alone gives him the feeling of home. Hyukjae can already see himself living in that house, Friday late night movies with Gyuri at his side with blankets around them and a bowl of popcorn. They will laugh, she will cry – because they’ll be watching sad movies for Hyukjae had yet to learn what type of movies she likes, she’ll scream and hide in his side, and they will fall asleep until the movie’s credits ends and there’s nothing else but the static of the flatscreen and popcorns scattered around the carpet.

He would love that scenario.

Would smile from ear to ear right then and there, if only Gyuri didn’t came back right before he finishes his last (because he swears, if looks could kill, he won’t be breathing anymore with the way her dad was looking at him the instant they saw him) daydream with her parents in tow. He almosts stumbles back when he stands up (he just noticed how jelly-like his knees had turned) abruptly, bowing the perfect ninety degree – because he clearly needs to kiss their off for him to be alive. Gyuri takes his hand and leads him down at the couch while her parents (with their eyes still trained on him) take the love-seat adjacent to them.

No one moves, and no one tries to break the silence – not even Gyuri whom Hyukjae can tell knows how much his palms are sweating. The scenario he had imagined prior turned sour and suddenly, the living room doesn’t feel as cozy as before. Maybe it was the way Gyuri’s parents are eyeing him, or perhaps how he realizes that he just barged in into this family, taking their only daughter with him without them knowing.

Again, it was both.

But Hyukjae wouldn’t hide that truth because, damn, Gyuri’s the best thing that had happened to him. And if he couldn’t have her, then he might as well enroll himself in a mental institute and blame her for his misfortune. Fortunately, it looked liked Gyuri was just as crazy as he is, because if not, then explain it to him (in his language) how Gyuri ended up being his wife at the break of dawn?

Hyukjae just hopes that Gyuri’s craziness is a lot like his, maybe he could ask her why she said yes after he leaves this house safe and Oh dear sweet Heavens, please let me live...

The sound of him clearing his throat was the loudest in the room (and it’s not even that loud), he straigthened his posture, relaxes his tensed muscles (because he can’t look frightened in front of his in-laws. In-laws, oh that sounded nice) and tries as much as he can to clear his mind and void them any of his emotions. He feels Gyuri’s hand squeezing his and that was all it took for him to break the tension and be Lee Hyukjae.

“I’m sorry sir, ma’am, for this is how we meet each other, but Good Morning, I’m Lee Hyukjae,” he tries to give them a smile and held out his free hand to them. When all Gyuri’s parents do was stare at the offered hand, he almost retracted it. Almost. If not for that sliver of light from Gyuri’s mom – who had somehow managed to pull her lips upward, Hyukjae knew this was impossible. She was the first to reach out (skin as soft as his mom) after those dragging seconds, then it was his father who looked forced and reluctant. He couldn’t blame him, if Hyukae would be in his shoes he had long chased the guy out of his house. He mentally took note of visiting them from now, because he feels like he’ll come out alive and maybe then he can earn their trust and accept him.

“Gyuri had already told us about you,” Gyuri’s mom’s voice was a little pitchy but soft and small; he can hear the resemblance in them.

“Oh,” he glances at his side and she smiles sheepishly. “Again, I’m sorry. I should’ve paid a visit even before things...” He trailed off, awkwardly looking at them.

“If you knew that, then why didn’t you?” He blanched out at the tone of Gyuri’s dad, it was deep and sharp and sounded so much close to hatred – Oh please let this work. “Do you think any parent would like it for their daughter to be courted outside their house? What more, to return home after missing a day saying she’s already married? Have you impregnated her?”

He winced at the accusation and would’ve right out defended himself and tell them how they have been careful, but doing so, Hyukjae knows he’s digging his own grave. And he didn’t want that, not even if Gyuri’s parents seems like they’re still living in the old days when it’s already the twentieth century, “No sir.”

He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms in his chest, “Then what is this Mr. Lee? Why does someone with a big company in his belt be marrying someone outside their league? Don’t you people have arrange marriage for that? I never remember having a deal with your parents saying that I would let my daughter to marry you.”

“Dad...”

“I would not lie with that sir. My parents have been setting me up with different marriage proposals,” he hated how Mr. Park’s words are so true, but Gyuri’s hand in his is the reality he has. “But your daughter,” he trails and looks at her wife. Gyuri is blushing, and smiling, and Hyukjae thinks she doesn’t deserve someone like him. But then again he remembers, he had been waiting for someone like her, so he smiles and silently thanked his friends for pushing him, “Gyuri is someone I would regret for the rest of my life if I let her pass by.”

The silence that fills the air has somehow grew cold and all of a sudden, Hyukjae can breathe again – albeit the glaring daggers that Mr. Park is sending him was nothing but suffocating. He can feel the heat of Gyuri’s eyes looking at him, her palms softer than ever, and for a second, Hyukjae thinks he saw the look of submission from the older man.

“Well,” he flinches at the sudden voice of Gyuri’s mom, only then realizing that the woman had been there with them all the time. She smiles softly and pats her husband in the back, a small gesture that made the man sigh, in which it is for Hyukjae doesn’t know. One thing is for sure though, he’ll come out alive. “How about lunch? Gyuri, honey, would give your husband a little tour of the house while we set the table?”

Hyukjae loved Gyuri’s mom already.

He just didn’t know if he had loved his own mother enough for her to embarrass him in front of her wife, or it’s her way of payback. But seriously, he’d rather have Heechul with him now or even Kyuhyun rather than her mother, because the woman doesn’t stop. She just wouldn’t stop.

“Have you decided where to spend your honeymoon? Originally I planned on booking Hyukjae and his wife at a hotel in Italy for a month but I didn’t expect for him to be married the next time we meet. Though I have nothing against it, Gyuri honey I knew the moment I saw you that I want you in my family. You’d bring beautiful children in the Lee household.” He could feel the tip of his ears getting hot, yet nothing stops.

“He’s a clean freak but please forgive that, don’t leave him just because of that. He’s also picky when it comes to food, feed him any local food and he’ll love you forever, give him foreign meal and you’ll be on bad terms.” Beside him, Gyuri was fidgeting and giving him side glances, obviously getting uncomfortable.

“He usually spends his time with his friends so make sure to tag along, we don’t want any girl to catch his attention; Hyukjae has been playful.” He wonders if his dad will ever say anything.

“He’s also a cry baby even if he doesn’t want to admit it. Yes, Hyukjae I know. I’m your mother; I carried you in me for nine months so I know. Oh he’s also afraid of needles. I remember there’s this one time we’re at the blood donation center and he out when he saw the needles. The funny thing is that the needles were just there ly–”

He stood up, breaking the trance of her mother before she damages what had already been damaged, and grabs for Gyuri’s hand. He looks at his parents and says, “It’s been a long day and I’m sure Gyuri’s tired, we’ll visit some other time. Thanks for dinner.” He leads her to the front door with quick steps because Hyukjae swears he hears his mom’s voice loud and clear at the background saying ‘Rest well and make many babies after’.

Yep, he didn’t love his mother enough. This is surely payback.