Minji’s POV

“Does your wound still hurt at night?” I asked Seungho.

“Not really.” He said, feeding me sandwich.

“Don’t strain yourself too much.” I said, feeding him as well.

“Don’t you guys have hands, or did the both of you suddenly lose the ability to feed yourself?” G.O asked annoyingly, but walked passed before we could give him an answer.

We were at Junhyung’s place for BBQ. They used the excuse to ‘celebrate Seungho and I’s recovery’ to actually have this gathering. But whatever the reason is, it is the people present that matters.

Since Seungho and I could not really eat the barbequed stuff, we stuffed ourselves with the surprisingly delicious cucumber sandwich Haneul made.

“What’s wrong with him? Did you delete his stuff?” I asked.

“He’s just jealous.” Seungho laughed, mouth opened wide, waiting for me to feed him.

“Don’t you have hands?” I teased.

“What are hands? Are they something you can eat?” He asked, biting his hand.

“CAN I BITE YOU!?” A voice asked. Loki.

Both Seungho and I turned over to look at him.

“Bite?” I asked.

“Not you. You~” He said, looking at Seungho.

“Me? You want to bite me?” Seungho asked.

Loki nodded.

“But… why?” He asked, looking at me, confused.

“Yea, why?” I asked.

“Hur~~ Please!!!” Loki pouted, showing his puppy eyes as well.

Seungho and I looked at each other.

“But…” Seungho muttered.

“I said please!” Loki stomped his foot.

“But it’s not exactly the right thing to do; bite someone.” I tried to reason.

Loki sighed and squatted down.

“Is something wrong?” Seungho asked, carrying the boy to sit on his lap.

“I cannot say.” Loki said.

I laughed at how troubled he looked.

“Is it a secret?” Seungho asked.

Loki nodded.

“Do you have to do it?” He asked again.

Loki nodded.

“Well… You can bite me, but… I need to know why I got bitten, right?” Seungho said.

Loki pouted.

“Would you tell me later?” Seungho asked.

Loki nodded.

“Alright.” Seungho said, showing his forearm.

I looked at Seungho with wide eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut while Loki opened his mouth wide. I was a little terrified too. Kids do not seem to know their strength. However, to our surprise, Loki just touched Seungho’s forearm with his teeth, pretending to bite him, and then started giggling.

Seungho looked at Loki quizzically.

“Seungho ahjusshi, saranghae!” Loki smiled.

He planted a really wet kiss on Seungho’s cheek before sliding off his lap and running off.

“What just happened?” Seungho asked.

“I got no idea. Your cheek is dripping with his saliva. Oh my~” I wiped off the saliva on his cheek.

“It’s alright~” He laughed.

“That boy will grow up to be a charming one.” I said, looking at Loki scare his ahjusshis.

“Like me?” Seungho asked.

I raised my eyebrow at him.

“What? Am I not?” He asked.

“Of course you are.” I laughed, leaning in to kiss him on his lips.

“There are kids here.” A voice said.

We broke apart to find Haneul looking at us with arms crossed.

“Says the one who practically eats up each other with her husband.” I teased.

“What in the world was that supposed to mean!? Junhyung and I don’t eat each other!” She laughed.

“You guys do, alright. You guys definitely do.” Seungho said.

“Whatever! You can have your girl later, lend her to me now.” Haneul said in her usual demanding tone.

“Is this how ask someone when you want something?” Seungho asked.

“I’m not a thing.” I hissed.

“I don’t mean it that way!” He said hurriedly.

Haneul laughed out, earning death glares from Seungho, but of course it did not scare Haneul, nothing could, thou, perhaps only Junhyung would be capable of scaring Haneul.

“I’m sorry.” Seungho pouted.

“Forgiven.” I said, pinching his nose with appropriate strength.

He let out a nasally ‘ouch’.

“Bring her back.” Seungho said while Haneul practically was pulling me into the house.

“Yea, yea~” Haneul said, rolling her eyes.

I thought I saw something to Seungho after that, and Seungho gave her a nod. But I did not think much about it.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked.

“Nowhere. Just want to talk to you.” She smiled.

“Your cucumber sandwiches are like drugs. I can’t stop eating.” I said.

She laughed, with her head thrown backwards.

“I’ll make them for you everyday then.” She said.

Everyday?

“Have you seen the whole of this house?” She asked suddenly.

I shook my head. I realized suddenly, I really have not.

“Let me show you!” She said excitedly.

She started with the kitchen, showing me exactly where everything was and what it was for. Then the living room, every single gadget. Junhyung’s Coke room, in which I had to admit I was wowed. She also introduced me to ‘Ironey’, the Iron Man suit that belonged to Junhyung.

“But… It’s Tony Stark.” I said.

“Tony Stark is the one in U.S. The one in Korea, in this house, it’s called Iron-ey.” She smiled.

“Ooookay~ Hello, Iron-ey.” I laughed.

“Hi~” She said in a robotic voice which made me laughed harder.

She took me up to the second level, showed me the kids’s room, their playroom, Junhyung’s work room, her library and even the master bedroom, in which I was really reluctant to enter.

“Come!!” She dragged me in.

I stood awkwardly at the door, amazed by the beauty of the room. It was mainly white with splashes of colour here and there.

“Neat.” I said.

“Junhyung likes it this way.” She said.

“Oh~ He packs?” I asked.

“You wish. He likes it this way, but he never lifts a finger. Lazy .” She said.

“So you packed it?” I asked.

“Do I have a choice?” She asked.

It is amazing how a person like Haneul can actually do things according to other people’s bidding. It just does not seem like her.

“Why? Are you thinking ‘Oh gosh, this is so not Haneul’? She asked, as thou reading my mind.

I shrugged my shoulders and looked away, giggling.

“All the things you do for love.” She said with a sigh.

“Exactly.” I nodded.

My eyes caught sight of blown up photo of her in her wedding dress, Junhyung in his suit and around them were a whole lot of other people dressed in weird costumes. At closer look, I realized those dressed in the costumes were Beast and MBLAQ. My Seungho was dressed in the ‘Kungfu Panda’ suit.

“Is this some sort of theme party?” I asked, laughing.

“Oh this! Kind of? It was taken after our wedding.” She said.

She laughed and made me sit down before telling me the whole story. Before I knew it, I was bending over, holding my stomach and laughing my heart out. She was laughing hard as well. When we both finally calmed down, I turned to look at her.

“What?” She asked, fanning herself.

“I was there.” I said.

“Where?” She asked.

“The wedding ‘concert’. I was there.” I said.

Her eyes widened.

“. Are you serious!?” Her eyes widened.

I laughed and nodded.

“I’m a B2UTY too, remember?” I said.

“Oh my god! Oh my god!” She started laughing again.

Like everyone else present that day, a part of me was envious of Haneul, another part of me congratulated the couple. I did not know MBLAQ at that time. I could not see clearly who was dressed in those costume. After the ‘concert’, I went back and continued to move on with my life, pushing out the fact that my idol was now officially someone’s, and soon, I forgot the fact I was even there.

Never in my dreams would I have thought that today I would be sitting here, listening to the female lead of that fairytale retell the whole story to me, refreshing my memory. What was even more amazing was that the panda on stage that day, the one I did not pay much attention to, he is now my boyfriend.

“Hey~ You okay?” Haneul shook me, worry filled her eyes.

“I’m good, I’m good. Just… It’s so amazing.” I smiled, still looking at the photo, my finger unconsciously running across Seungho’s face.

“Who is this?” I asked when I spotted a guy that did not seem familiar.

He had a cheeky yet charming look. He was behind Junhyung and Haneul, his arms over their shoulders and his chin rested on their heads.

“Jace! My best best best friend.” Haneul smiled.

“Seems like a funny guy.” I said.

“Funny? Indeed. But please add charming, loyal, handsome, wonderful and amazing to his description.” She said proudly.

I smiled. How amazing it is to have such a friend.

“But if you ever see him, please don’t tell him I said this about him. His cockiness percentage adds each time he hears a compliment about himself.” She said.

I laughed and nodded.

“The boys have to know about this!” She said excitedly, pulling me up.

I thought she would drag me down and scream to the crowd that I was there at the wedding that day, but instead, she took me upstairs.

 “Guestrooms here, nothing much.” She said when we were at the third level.

“How many levels does this house have, exactly?” I asked, amazed.

She turned back to look at me and winked.

“More than you thought.” She said.

She led me up another staircase that was hidden from sight and I gasped when we arrived at the fourth level. It was like another house altogether, except this was just a level.

There was a small living area outside, with a couch, a television, a coffee table, a small fridge. There was only one room on that level.

“Come.” She said, pulling me along.

She pushed opened the room door and led me in.

The room was fully furnished with a walk in wardrobe, a double bed, a table, a bookshelf and even a toilet.

“W… woah!” My jaw dropped.

“This was supposed to be Junhyung and I’s private little area.” She said.

“Supposed?” I asked.

“Yea. We never thought we would not have the time for privacy.” She laughed helplessly.

“Ahhh~” I said.

“Apparently no one apart from us knows the existence of this place thou. Not even the kids.” She said.

“Really?” I asked.

“Yea. It was specially built this way.” She smiled.

“Ahh yes. Privacy, right?” I laughed.

“Something that is out of our reach now.” She sighed.

“But gone for better causes, no?” I asked.

She thought for a while, and then nodded.

“Very peaceful here thou.” I said.

“I know, right. That’s why I like it.” She said, sitting on the table.

She pushed opened the window, letting fresh air come in. Below, we can see the boys fooling around with the kids, and afar, we could see the tall buildings and busy traffic.

“Initially, I never had plans on having such a huge house. But Junhyung, for some odd reason, thinks he is opening a resort. It would have been bigger if I did not stop him. He wanted a permanent room for my family as well as his, and also the boys.” She said.

I laughed, trying to picture how huge the house had to be if Haneul let Junhyung did whatever he wanted too.

“It would be a golf resort or something like that.” I said.

“Exactly! And I’ll be skin and bones just cleaning it!” She said, hands threw up in the air.

“He wouldn’t let that happen to you!!” I laughed, smacking her thigh.

We continued watching the boys from above.

“I feel like a stalker.” I confessed.

“Me too.” She said, and then we burst into laughter.

“Did you guys build this the way it is so when you have privacy, you could watch the kids from up here?” I asked.

“No. Honestly, no. We never thought of that. We never expected the kids to be around when we have privacy. But it seems like, even when the kids are around, we don’t have the luxury to enjoy this. It’s like privacy slipped out of our lives the moment we slipped the rings on each other’s finger.” She said.

“Is this a warning to not get married?” I asked.

She looked at me and nodded slightly.

“OH YOU DIDN’T SEE THAT!!!!” She squeezed my cheeks.

“I DID!! I SAW!!!! I’M TELLING JUNHYUNG!!” I .

“NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!” She pleaded.

We ended up laughing at each other.

“So, do you like this place?” She asked suddenly.

“It’s cozy and peaceful.” I said, looking around.

“Would you live here?” She asked.

I looked at her with wide eyes.

“What?” I asked.

“Would you live here?” She asked again.

“I… I… I would but… why would I? I mean…” I was lost for words.

Her lips curled up into a smile.

“So, welcome to your new home!” She said excitedly.

“HUH!?” My jaw dropped.

“Stay here, Minji ah. Isn’t this place better than the hotel or hostel or whatever room you’re staying in now? You don’t have to worry about food, laundry or company here. You have whatever you need, and even if we don’t have it, we could get it for you.” She said.

I shook my head.

“Why? You don’t like it here?” She asked, sounding sad.

“No! Not that! But just… I don’t wish to invade your privacy. I… I can’t.” I said.

“I thought I just told you that privacy slipped out of our lives the moment we slipped the rings on each other’s fingers?” She said.

“I can’t.” I muttered.

“Minji, please!” She pleaded.

“This level is like your private area. If you want to be alone, you come up. If you want company, you come down.” She said.

“But this place belongs to Junhyung and you. I can’t.” I said.

“It was supposed to be ours, but we never used it, and I doubt we ever would.” She said.

“Junhyung… It’s his house too. I… I don’t feel good.” I said.

I was tempted to say yes, honestly.

“Junhyung approves.” A voice said.

Peeking his head out from the door; Junhyung.

“Stay with us, Minji ah. I reckon Haneul needs some female company. Take this as, staying here to keep my wife sane?” He said.

“Are you indirectly saying I’m crazy?” Haneul asked.

“Of course not!” Junhyung said hurriedly.

“But he’s right thou. I need a friend.” Haneul pouted.

“I’m not enough?” Junhyung asked.

“You’re different.” She said.

“Right~” Junhyung muttered.

This couple is weird.

“But the kids… It’s their home too. They might not like the idea of a stranger staying here.” I said.

“We’ve talked to them and they absolutely love the idea of having you here. Loki even ran to grab my car keys, urging me to go pick you up. It was 11.30PM.” Junhyung said.

I laughed, picturing the cute sight.

“Seungho…” I muttered.

“Seungho approved too.” Seungho said, appearing out of a sudden.

“You knew?” I asked.

“I did.” He smiled.

“You didn’t tell me!” I punched his shoulder.

He winced and pouted.

“This would definitely be a better place than living in that weird place. Here, at least I know you would be safe.” Seungho said.

“What else do I not know!?” I yelled.

“Just a couple more things.” Junhyung said.

I glared at them. In a few minutes, the other boys were walking into the room with boxes and luggage that seemed so familiar. It was mine!?

“How did you…” I muttered, pointing at my stuff.

“It’s not difficult to get things to go our way, you know.” Doojoon said proudly.

“What’s the other thing I don’t know?” I asked.

“Today isn’t to celebrate the recovery of Seungho and you.” Haneul said.

“Then?” I asked.

“It is to welcome you here.” She said, hiding behind Junhyung, perhaps afraid I would hit her.

“Gosh! You guys are huge scammers!” I shouted.

“We secretly have a joint company that cons people.” Dongwoon said.

The other boys turned to him and started smacking him.

“Welcome.” Haneul said, pulling me into her embrace.

“What if I didn’t agree, huh?” I said, trying to hold back my tears.

“You would.” She said.

“How would you know?” I asked.

“Well… I don’t know. I just know you would.” She smiled.

“How much is the rent?” I asked.

They all stopped fooling around and stared at me.

“What? I can’t stay for free. How much?” I asked.

“These days, people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” Haneul said, seemingly annoyed.

“I… don’t understand.” I muttered.

“Did you think we want you here because we’re running out of money and need to rent out this level? Come on!” Haneul said, obviously pissed.

“But… I can’t just… stay here without… you know, paying. I got to… at least pay… something.” I said, looking at Seungho for help.

“Pay it with your presence.” Haneul said.

“Huh?” I asked.

“Pay, if you insist, with your presence, your happiness and your wellbeing. We accept nothing but that.” She said in a tone that indirectly marks her words final.

“Thank… you.” I said.

She smiled and was happy Haneul again. How quickly her mood changes.

“Come on, let’s go back downstairs to eat!” Joon said.

Just as we were about to move out, Seungho stopped us.

“Erm…” He muttered.

“What is it, hyung?” Junhyung asked.

“Do you happen to have a fifth level in your house? Or a four and a half level, or whatever storeroom, empty room?” He asked.

“Why do you ask?” Junhyung asked.

“I want to rent it too.” Seungho said with a pout.

We all burst into laughter. Seungho, really!?

***
Seungho: I want to rent it too.