Chapter 26

“Minkyu.. no eating in the living room...” You said without looking at him and continued washing the dishes. Minkyu sighed and walked towards the kitchen table with his bowl of cereal.

You finished the dishes at the same time Minkyu finished eating, you both made your way to the sofa and cuddled with each other. Minkyu slept in a couple of minutes while you kept changing the channels for your TV, waiting for something entertaining to magically appear. You felt a bit cold, making you wonder how cold Minkyu must be. You quickly put him into bed and changed your clothes into decent comfortable clothes. It was passed noon and you were thinking how should you spend you Sunday.

Knock Knock

That somehow made you think that that would be the answer to how you'd spend your Sunday.

“Oh.. just you..” You casually said and opened the door wider.

“I'm not coming in... there's actually someone in my apartment that wants to see you..” Ilhoon replied and stuck his hands in his jeans pockets.

“Huh?.” You blurted dumbfounded.

“Let's go.. you make things so complicated...” He held your hand and was about to drag you.

“Wait.. Minkyu is asleep...” You held your hand back.

“Perfect then..” He smiled and dragged you out to his apartment.

“Omg ilhoon.. it better not be one of your pranks... I swear i'll m-” You stopped talking as you entered his apartment and saw Halmoni cooking something on the stove.

“Halmoni...” You whispered and hugged her tightly.

“Aww sweaty...” Halmoni hugged you back and patted your back softly. you got a bit teary but wiped them away quickly. You let go of her and smiled excitedly.

“How are you Halmoni.. I missed you soo much..” You spilled your emotions out.

“I'm fine.. what about you.. and Minkyu.. how are you guys doing.. is Ilhoon treating you well..” Halmoni asked as she held your hand and walked you to the sofa to sit with her. Ilhoon looked at you curiously, wondering what you would say.

“He's great Halmoni...” You chuckled and Ilhoon smiled knowing he was great. After catching up for a couple of minutes you left to your apartment to do some cleaning.

Later that night, Ilhoon came over and sat on the sofa. He gave a loud sigh and you closed the door and sat next to him.

“Where's Halmoni?” You asked as you faced him.

“Asleep..” He answered shortly. Definitely not Ilhoon, he usually never shuts up.

“Are you ok?.. you seem.... down.” You tried to inform him that you were here for him.

“I'm just worried for Halmoni...” He replied sadly.

“Why?.. what happened?..” You asked worriedly.

“You know my uncle, the one that was sick...” He asked and you nodded.

“Well, he's very sick.. I would say he's on his death bed...” He finished and you gasped but held it in and held Ilhoon's hand and gave it a light squeeze.

“I'm sorry..” You some what felt like those were the only suitable words to leave you mouth.

“Don't be sorry to me... it's not me i'm worried about.. it's Halmoni...” He gave you an assuring smile.

“Honestly I was never close to my uncle.. no one is.. he's one of those really cold , strict people you try to avoid.” He explained and you furrowed your eye brows in confusion, it was the first time he has spoken about his uncle that way.

“Why though?..” You blurted and bit your lip after making that mistake. However ilhooon didn't think it was a personal question. Instead, he continued talking.

“I don't know, maybe it's because My uncle isn't happy... he never wanted to marry his wife, I heard he was forced to by my grandpa..” He started and you tried to understand what Ilhoon was saying but he can tell from your confused expression that you didn't understand anything.

“My uncle had no intention of marrying my aunt, however she got pregnant and his father said he had to marry her or my uncle wouldn't inherit nor become the successor of his company... so he did marry her, I think that's why he's not normal.. he's a very strange man..” Ilhoon finished and laid on your sofa and put his legs on top of you.

“Can I sleep here?..” He asked as he closed his eyes. But you were still thinking about his uncle and how poor his aunt must be, marrying and living with a man who didn't love her. Ilhoon opened his eyes and looked at you, wondering why you haven't pushed his legs off of you with a smack.

He saw that you were out of it, like you were thinking about how to end world hunger.

“Ay..” he called and you jerked your head to face him.

“Hm?” You replied.

“Your comfortable..” He gave you a cheeky smile and you were confused till he shook his legs a bit. You expression flattened and you smacked his legs off you.

“Idiot.. go back to Halmoni.. you said she was leaving tomorrow..” You pulled him up to stand.

“Fine...” He walked out after giving you a sad face, making you chuckle.

“Yah.. Yah.. let's go.. the girls there are hot..” Ilhoon's friend was trying to convince him to go out, but Ilhoon wouldn't go. You were sitting in Ilhoon's living room watching the gag concert and eating chips, while Ilhoon was trying to ignore his friend who came to visit late at night.

“I can't.. I have a TV date with Miyun.. sorry..” Ilhoon used you as an excuse and continued watching TV. You raised an eye brow and shook your head. His friend looked at you and you froze.

“Miyun.... can I steal Ilhoon for the rest of the night?..” He asked nicely. You looked from him to Ilhoon, who was giving you a look to say no, and back to his friend who came to sit between you two. You checked your time, which was 9pm and stood up.

“Well,it is time for me to head home, I'll see you guys around..” You walked to the other sofa and picked up the sleeping Minkyu and rushed out the door. You were to afraid to look at Ilhoon because you already know the face he's giving you.

You put Minkyu on your bed and went to take a shower. You put comfy pajamas on and took a small towel to dry your hair. You made your way to the kitchen to get a cup of water, you turned to walk back, however you saw someone sitting on your sofa. You gasped and accidentally dropped your cup and slipped all at the same time. You fell to the side of your thighs, and felt something sharp in your palm.

“Miyun!” Ilhoon ran towards you and tried to help you up. You got up slowly, and then pulled your hand away from him and glared. You were so mad that you didn't want to say something that you'd regret. You walked to the bathroom to remove the piece of glass that was in your palm and washed it.

“Are you ok?..” Ilhoon asked from the door. You saw his reflection from the mirror and noticed he was worried.

“I'm fine..” You answered with a monotone and he frowned.

“I'm sorry..” He said sincerely as he saw you washing your cut.

“Just stop doing that.. appearing out of no where, or at least not in the middle of the night...” You scolded as you walked out of the bathroom and into the kitchen to get a band aid.

“I only came cuz you totally dumped me earlier... it took me an hour to convince jay that I didn't want to go out...” He folded his arms and sat on the counter.

“I didn't dump you.. it was time for me to go home, and going out is your choice, stop using me as an excuse..” You warned and he nodded.

“Fine...” He replied and you smiled in satisfaction.

“Now go home...” You looked at him and he was going to object, but you squinted your eyes and he gave up and left.

It's been a week since Halmoni left, and ilhoon went to see his uncle two days ago and returned today. He made you have lunch with him earlier, and dropped you and Minkyu back to your work place.

“Yah.. you better come today to Watanabe, we are having a little gathering with everyone..” Eunji said over the phone.

“Ok.. i'll come after work..” You hung up and got back to taking care of the kids.

When your job was done, you got ready to leave with Minkyu and bid goodbye to Minah.

“See you tomorrow!..” she waved and Minkyu waved with a smile. You made your way to Watanabe and mostly everyone was there, including Changsub. Minhyuk and Eunji were chatting, Eunkwang was serving the drinks. Jonghwan was talking to some girl you've never seen. Changsub was on his phone. Penial was also there, he immediately waved when he saw you. There were a couple of others you know but weren't close with.

Minkyu ran to the corner where the toys and kids were. While you greeted everyone and sat next to Eunji and Jonghwan.

There were 3 tables next to each other, with 6 chairs on each side. You all chatted for a bit and then Ilhoon walked in.

“Hey..” He greeted you and sat next to you, on Jonghwan seat, who left to the restroom.

“That's Jonghwan's seat.. he's gonna kick your ..” You warned.

“I dare him..” He smiled and automatically joined the convo. Changsub, who was sitting right in front of Ilhoon, kept quite but would chuckle every now and then at funny moments.

Eunji stood up with a big smile on her face and asked everyone to shut up, which ended up making everyone laugh.

“Alright let's get into partners.. we are going to be playing charades!” Eunji clapped and smiled excitedly.

Half of the table was also excited while some groaned and some didn't mind.

“Alright get a partner! Doesn't matter who, just get with anyone..” She started. You looked around and saw everyone moving seats, sitting next to their partners. You looked to your right and saw that ilhoon was still sitting in his seat.

“What are you doing?.. go sit next to your partner...” You told him and was about to stand to look for someone.

“I am..” He casually said, as if it was a dumb question. You looked towards his right and saw that it was an empty seat. Then realized he had already chose you as his partner without even talking to you. You chuckled and smacked his arm lightly as you sat back down.

“Yah..” You called out and he looked at you with raised questioning eyebrows.

“Do you have a partner?..” Penial asked pitifully.

“Yes.. I reserved her ” Ilhoon answered for you and you gave him a look.

“Am I a table now?..” You asked with a raised eye brow, making both men chuckle.

“Ok.. i'll find someone else.. but the next game your mine..” Penial pointed at you, ilhoon gave him a look.

“Never..” He lightly scoffed and turned the other way.

“He's talking to me...” You tried explaining.

“I know..” He answered and looked away. Making you dumb founded.