“Are we seriously gonna ride in that...thing?” Nana asked when Siwon brought an old Volkswagen van and the blue paint on its body was pretty much faded.

“Does it look like we have a choice here?”

"Can't you rent a better car?"

"This is the best I can get."

“Where the hell is your car, anyways? And whose van is this?”

“Workshop. My friend. Now, just shut up and get in.” Siwon replied shortly and proceeded on loading their luggage into the van not wanting to explain further details to Nana.

Nana just groaned inwardly and got in to the van.

“Buckle up.” Siwon instructed and Nana just followed his instructions without further ado.

**

The first 30 minutes of their 3 hours long trip was completely awkward and quiet. Neither one of them made any effort to break the ice. Moreover, the radio was not working. It was a total disaster.

“Gosh, how am I going to survive this awkward trip?” Nana thought as the cold wind lightly slapped her cheeks due to the absence of air-conditioner in the van.

Nana made a quick glance to Siwon and his face was as cold as the wind.

“Time, please fly faster.” Nana prayed silently.

**

The sun was slowly setting down.

“Ah, the sunset is so pretty right, Siwon-sshi?” Nana voiced out her amusement at the sight of the beautiful sunset.

“Mm.”

Tch! What a response. It was my first sunset with a guy and it wasn’t even close to romantic like I watched in movies.

Nana glanced at her watch and the little needle pointed to somewhere between six and seven which meant in an hour, they would probably reach her grandma’s house. They’ve been on road for about 2 hours non-stop now; Nana was getting pretty worn out of the long trip with Siwon.

“Do you want some?” Nana offered Siwon her favourite chocolate bars.

“I’m not hungry.” Siwon didn’t even bother to spare her a glance.

I know you are hungry, Choi Siwon. Well, it’s not my loss.

Nana resumed eating while singing to Babo by Juniel and Yonghwa. That song was her current obsession.   

Siwon glanced to his right. Not bad. Nana’s voice was quite soothing but his ego refused to admit that.

“Can you do me a favour, Nana-sshi?”

“Sure, what do you need?” Nana cheerfully asked as it was the first time Siwon tried to make a conversation with her during the trip.

“I need you to shut up. If you wanna sing, wait till we reach your grandma’s house and you can sing your heart out in her shower.” Siwon smiled his most sarcastic smile and returned to his normal cold expression in a split second.

You think I will just give up and listen to you, huh Choi Siwon? Nana smirked.

Nana cleared and did some warming up before she started singing again. This time, even louder. Simply, just to annoy Siwon. Well, he started it first and she was more than glad to play along. Siwon turned to his right and sighed at the sight of Nana who seemed to be lost in her own world. He knew he lost the round and he didn’t wanna waste his time trying to stop Nana.

“You are really good at getting on my nerves, you know that?”

Nana smiled innocently and batted her long eyelashes to annoy Siwon more while she continued to sing Babo.

This girl sure has the guts.

Suddenly, a loud cracking sound was heard mostly likely coming from the engine. Siwon stopped the van at the side of the road. He tried to start the engine again but it was a futile attempt.

“.” Siwon hissed in frustration as he rammed the steering wheel with his hand. He got out of the van and opened up the engine hood to check out the engine. As soon as he opened it, a very thick smoke escaped from there. There was definitely something wrong with the engine and Siwon was trying his best to find the problem.

“What’s wrong?” Nana asked as she stood next to Siwon.

“I think the belt snapped because your voice was too horrible.” Siwon mocked.

So this guy is trying to get back at me huh?

“Excuse me? Even Baek Jiyoung can’t sing as well as me.”

“That is the worst self-praised line I’ve ever heard in my entire life.”

“Whatever.” Nana rolled her eyes.

“Anyways, is it serious? Can you do something about it?”

“There’s nothing we can do. We need a tow truck. Do you have any number of the local tow truck service?”

“I don’t have any. I’ll try to call my grandma. Maybe she can help us.”

Nana tried to reach her grandma but her grandma couldn’t be reached.

“What do we do now? I can’t reach my grandma.”

Siwon sighed. He never expected this would happen and the only tow truck service was hours away from him. He didn’t have a choice but to wait for any incoming car.

“Stay in the car. I will try to stop any car to ask for help.”

Seconds went by. Minutes went by. Hours went by but a single car was nowhere to be seen. Siwon glanced to his watch and it was already 8:33 p.m. 

“Was your homeland always this empty and quiet?” Siwon asked as he rested his right hand on passenger’s door.

“We are the type that always stays indoor when the night falls as far as I can remember.”

“I guess we need to camp out tonight. Thankfully, there was a small empty site nearby.” Siwon said.

Siwon took all the camping necessities and went to the empty site nearby to set up the camp for the night. He even collected the woods scattered around the site to set up a fire since the night breeze was getting cold.

“I’ll cook some ramen for dinner.” Nana said as she went to take three packs of ramen that she packed in her bag. Siwon noticed Nana was pretty worn and exhausted.

“Nana-sshi, I’ll cook the ramen. You should take care of yourself more. You’re carrying a life inside you.”

Is he bipolar? One minute, he was cold towards me. Another minute, he acted like he cares for me.

“I’m fine. I won’t faint any time soon.” Nana said trying to get back the ramen but she needed more than just the strength alone to remove the ramen from Siwon’s tight grip.

“Why you never listen? Just go inside and rest, I will call you when it’s done.”

Nana gave up fighting with Siwon for ramen. She knew Siwon was just as stubborn as she was.

“I don’t wanna go inside so I’ll wait here instead. Who knows you might eat it all by yourself?” Nana said as she crossed her arms across her chest and playfully glared at Siwon.

“Suit yourself.” Siwon scoffed. Stubborn Nana is stubborn. Little did he know, he and his wife were quite alike in their personalities.

**

They decided to warm themselves up in front of the camp fire.

“You seemed to be really enjoying my ramen just now. I always knew I was born with natural culinary skills.” Siwon boasted and he glanced to Nana who sat not too far from him. He wasn’t really sure why he was in a good mood that night despite the engine problem. He kept teasing Nana because he found her reactions were amusing.

“That is the worst self-praised line I’ve ever heard in my entire life.” Nana purposely used Siwon’s line from earlier.

“Plagiariser.” Siwon mocked.

“You should come up with your own line.”

“I don’t want to.” Nana stuck her tongue out like a 5 years old kid. Being a 23 years old woman didn’t stop her from showing her childish side.

So childish.  Siwon chuckled.

**

Nana was still rubbing her arms as she was feeling cold despite the heat from the camp fire and Siwon noticed that. He scooted closer to Nana and draped his jacket around Nana’s body. The sudden closeness between them caught Nana by surprise.

“Don’t take this the wrong way. I just don’t want my baby to be cold.” Siwon reasoned feeling a lil bit flustered.

What a lame excuse. Nana giggled softly.

“Thanks.” She felt much warmer than before and it was better.

“You can borrow my shoulder if you want to.”

That surprised Nana more. She turned to Siwon and gave him a puzzled look.

“What?”

“Why are you suddenly being nice to me?” Nana squinted her eyes as if she was a policewoman interrogating a suspect.

“Do I need a reason?”

“Yes. A good one.”

“Well, I—I Uhm, you know. I need to be responsible to the mother of my unborn child.”

“Cliche. I always hear that line in movies.” Nana giggled.

“Really? I’m pretty sure it’s my own idea.”

“Whatever.”

“Well then, since you offered.” Nana rested her head on Siwon’s shoulder.

“Ah, it’s so quiet.”

“Seriously? Just enjoy the sound of nature around you. It’s soothing.”

“Sing me a song, Siwon-sshi.”

“You will regret it, trust me.” Nana lifted her head and gave Siwon a questioning look.

“My voice is too good for your ears.”

“Tch! That is the worst---“

“Self-praised line I’ve ever heard in my entire life, I know you were gonna steal my line again.” Siwon chuckled.

“Quote of the day.” They giggled together.

Nana saw another side of Siwon that night. A better side of him and she wished that side of him would stayed longer. The cold Siwon who was with her earlier was way too different than the Siwon who was right next to her. The person who was right next to her was a much better person.

Nana rested her head again on Siwon’s shoulder.

“Sing a song, faster.”

“Are you sure? I’m not gonna be responsible if you have nightmares later on after you heard my golden voice.” Nana just giggled and nodded.

Siwon started singing Babo by Juniel and Yonghwa.

“I thought you didn’t like that song.”

“It’s my favourite actually but I didn’t like it when you sang it because your voice was horrible.”

“Yours is worst than mine.” Nana punched Siwon’s arms.

Siwon just responded with a chuckle.

Siwon continued singing till he was certain that Nana was asleep. He carefully wrapped his arms around Nana’s shoulder and pulled her closer to make sure she was more comfortable.

I failed at being cold towards you. Every attempt was futile because you always have one way or another to crumble my cold facade.  

Is the van problem a blessing in disguise?

**