January 21, 2014 643 am

                The Ritz Carlton, Gangnamgu, Friday night

                Parking attendants were all busy assisting the guests of the masquerade ball organized by the ladies for college scholarships. The ball is an annual event where everyone in seoul wants to be seen.  A red carpet was laid down for the guests, and backdrop of the seasons’ ball was set up. Hyun joong helped his wife from the car, taking care of her dress. Ladies from politics, socialite, wannabes to celebrities all graced the occasion, all in their designer gowns and the men in their tuxedos, shelling out hundreds of dollars for their invites knowing that all proceeds will go to deserving university students.

                Somin picked a teal ball gown with flower lace appliqué and a silver Venetian mask and hyun joong in a black Armani tuxedo with a black bowtie and a matching mask. Members of the press were having a field day taking their pictures as they walked on the red carpet, with him holding onto his wife’s hand.

                “mr Kim, why are you both in sneakers?” one observant reporter asked them, pointing to somin’s and his teal high cut sneakers.

                “my wife cant stand the cold on her feet.” He answered the reporter and they walked into the Ritz lobby. More reporters wanted their reason for wearing matching sneakers, but they declined to answer. Coat attendants took their coats for safekeeping, and they made their way to their moms, who were standing by the door, waiting for them.

                The matrons hosting the charity ball were all by the ballroom door, welcoming the guests. Sun hi and Min ju were waiting for their children, remembering that sun hi warned hyun joong not to be late.

                “I told you not to be late.” Sun hi tells him, as they made their way inside the ballroom, being the last couple to show up. The Ritz ballroom is again transformed to a room filled with lace, gothic chandeliers, high candles and flower centerpieces, the orchestra playing in the background. Seo yeon was busy with Min ho in tow, the ushers guiding the guests to their designated seats. Hyun joong and somin were led to the table where Jae and yoona were seated, tae wook and hye jung, aki and mi jun as well as the other boys who didn’t have dates.

                “hi everyone!” somin greeted the unnis, as soon as she was seated. Hyun joong too sat beside her.

                “hi min! we all thought you wont make it!” hye jung said.

                “if I know hyun joong, they played a little before they came.” Tae wook says, making somin blush.

                “sorry we’re late.” Sung ho says, seating his date and himself, surprising Hyun joong.

                “aren’t you going to introduce your date to us?” tae wook , and sung ho obliged.

                “this is yoon hee, my date. Yoon hee, meet everyone,” was all he said, not meeting hyun joong’s eyes. But the Kim’s were busy playing under the table, with somin’s hand trailing a path to his crotch.

                “baby, you’re really driving me nuts.” He whispers to her, but her hand continued its path, getting nearer and withdrawing as soon as it nears his crotch.

                “you two, stop that.” Seung hyun tells them, and hyun joong kissed somin’s cheek and lifting her hand on top of the table, joining the others in the conversation as dinner was served. Somin was again not eating, passing her food to hyun joong’s plate.

                After dinner, the MC called everyone’s attention, the awarding was about to start with the welcome remarks given by the ladies club president. They were all seated, clapping and cheering for the winners. Seung hyun and Tiffany got the best dressed award for the night, while somin was squirming in her seat to go to the bath for her “night sickness”, and surprised the others as they hurriedly left.

                “babe, you alright?” he calls from the hallway, but all he heard was somin retching. He checked the hallway and nobody was around, hyun joong made his way inside the bath, finding his wife bent over the sink, with her eyes tearing up, washing .

                He helped her up and wiped her face with his hanky, as somin leaned into him.

                “let’s get some tea.” Hyun joong says, kissing her forehead, somin nodded.

                He helped her with her gown as they made their way out of the restroom, and meeting Yoon hee, but somin didn’t pay her much attention as they walked off. Hyun joong helped somin with her dress and walked into the Ritz café, and seating in one of the couches, ordering chamomile tea and sugar cookies. He pulled her into his arms, as she sipped her tea.

                Ring. Ring.

                Hyunni, where are you? his mom called him, noticing they left the ballroom.

                At the café, mama. Somin wanted some tea.

                Is somin ok?

                Yes, she’s ok. We’ll just finish the tea and we’ll go back.

                Ok, the ladies are all looking for you. they want to say thank you to everyone who joined in the fund raising.

                Ok, mama. We’ll be there in five minutes.

                Sun hi ended the call, and somin in time finished her tea and cookies.

                “babe, better?” he asked her, noticing color has come back to her face.

                “better. Was that mama?”

                “yes, she wants us back. The ladies want to thank everyone. And I think Mrs kim, I owe you a dance.”

                “let’s go?” somin stood up and surprised him, she’s back to her old self.

                He paid the bill and they went back to the party, where the president of the ladies club called each member of the participating teams to the stage, leaving the girls behind. Claps and cheers went out to each team, as they bowed to the crowd after they were introduced.

                Somin was talking with Juni about her wedding, when hye jung said that yoon hee too was getting married soon. The girls all congratulated her, and yoon hee blushed, thanking everyone.

                “thank you. sung ho and I would like to invite everyone to the wedding in January.” Yoon hee says. The boys all went back to the girls, with hyun joong claiming his wife, knowing sung ho is around. But sung ho went to yoon hee’s side, taking her hand in his.

                “babe, yoon hee unni too is getting married in January.” Somin tells him, as he sipped his sparkling water.

                “congratulations to you.” hyun joong offered his hand to sung ho, and sung ho accepted reluctantly.

                “sorry about the fuss that I made with somin. Ours is a long story, I never thought I would be married to her, after my parents were so against my long time girl friend, who they never met. When I met my supposed fiancé for the first time, I was totally surprised to meet her at the restaurant.”

                “wow, did you know, hyunni and somin too, have almost the same story as yours?” jae said.

                “when I met somin, I wanted to rebel. I only knew about my fiancé two nights ago. So sorry about what happened to your jaw.” He bowed to hyun joong, apologizing for hurting him in the ball field.

                “it’s ok. Congratulations again on your engagement.”

                “two nights ago, I found out that I’ll be a dad soon. We’re pregnant.” Sung ho tells them, a proud smile on his face. “I promise to be the best dad and husband to my wife. Scouts honor.” Everyone congratulated them, and talks of juni’s December wedding and yonn hee’s January wedding started again, the girls all excited for the shopping and spa parties.

                “babe, that’s our song.” He whispered to her, and they left the group, and danced to the orchestra version of Runaway. He held her in his arms, and after the song, her father came to claim her for a dance too, leaving hyun joong to dance with his mother in law.

                “when are we leaving for Nagoya?” min ju asked him, as they danced.

                “we made the reservations for this Sunday. We’ll all leave on the afternoon flight, yoona and jae will be on the evening flight, and will stay at the westin Nagoya.”

                “your dad and I cant stay the whole five days, but you kids stay. We’ll be flying to Shanghai with your parents for a site visit.”  Another hotel is on the rise under Jun woo’s realty company, Lotus Inc. in china.

                “ok mom, and the girls can do more shopping while we’re there.” Hyun joong twirled his mother in law some more on the dance floor until jun woo came to switch partners again.

                “babe, mom said they cant be with us for five days, they’ll fly to shanghai. We’ll stay at a mountain side ryokan with hot springs before flying back home to attend the festival.”

                “ok babe, the twins will surely enjoy the weather.”

                “everything’s ready already. The boys wont be joining us, but we’ll have dinner with them when we come back,” he tells her, leading her off the dance floor and joining the others until the party started to dwindle at around twelve midnight. The kim’s made their way home, talking about their plans for the weekend.

                “I love you baby.”

                “I love you more baby girl, and daddy loves you.” he kissed her nape as he spooned her after their warm shower.

                Sunday  morning

                Hyun joong and somin were busy packing their bags for their Nagoya trip in the afternoon with the rest of the family, with him reminding her to pack warmer clothes. She picked mostly tights, button up dresses and coats, sticking with her tan knee high fuzzy boots.

                “babe, let’s go. We’re hungry.” Somin tells him as he zipped their luggage, all three of them lined up on the wall. “mama said she’ll make my favorite soup.”

                “ok, let’s go.” They both went off to the Jung’s house next door, with his arm around her shoulder to ward off the cold. The trees in the yard have shed their leaves, leaving them bare and some shrubs have turned brown too. The parents were already seated on the heated floor as they made their way inside through the kitchen doors.

                “morning!” they both bowed to their parents, and hyun joong helped in the kitchen, leaving somin to snuggle up to her dad who was reading the morning paper. Her father kissed the top of her head and went back to his reading.

                “min, you and hyun joong are again in the papers this morning, seems that they made a fuss about your wearing sneakers to the ball.” He tells her, flipping the paper.

                “dad, don’t mind them. We only wanted to be comfortable in the cold.” Somin says, as she browsed through the paper that jun woo gave her. IS SHE PREGNANT again? The kim’s were both wearing matching sneakers at the ball. People were guessing that she is indeed pregnant, considering that she’s been avoiding wearing high heeled shoes lately. More pictures of somin wearing her fuzzy boots were on the paper and their pregnancy story was again printed.

                “dad, let them be. I received a call from a good friend of ours, and they want the kids to pose for them when somin starts showing, she wants to get somin for their baby line. Proceeds will go to their halfway house for young mothers.” Min ju said. “they saw pictures of hyun joong and somin in Ji eun’s campaign.”

                “no,” somin says, but hyun joong said “yes, we’ll do it.”, seating himself beside somin and handing her a glass of warm milk.

                “but babe, I’m not a model.” Somin protested, drinking her milk.

                “remember babe, it’s for a good cause. Remember what you said, anything for charity?” he reminded her, wiping the side of with his thumb, while the mothers were all busy talking.

                “when did I ever say that?” somin asked him, with her brows raised at him.

                “at noona’s store in ometesando. Remember?” he too raised his brows at her, grinning and she grinned back at him, sticking out her tongue at him.

                “mama. We’ll do the campaign.” Hyun joong says, as somin puts food on his plate, the family talking about their later flight to Nagoya.

                Incheon International Airport

                Gun woo, hyun joong’s assistant was busy handling the tickets and luggage for check in. the twins were with their parents, with kyu holding on tightly to on them while everyone were all lounging together in the VIP lounge of Asiana airlines, excited for their first trip together. Bundled up in warm clothes and sporting couple airport fashion. Hyun joong was in designer jeans, sneakers, a grey turtleneck shirt and jacket; somin in a buttoned up pale pink cashmere dress and coat with tights and knee high boots.

                “sir, everything has been taken cared of.” Gun woo approached hyun joong in his seat as he checked his mail on his phone.

                “thank you. email me the documents for the Hainan project, and please follow up with Miss Liu’s secretary about the updates on the site.” He tells Gun woo, taking the tickets from him. Gun woo left them and went home with the driver and security. He just watched his wife giggle and gossip like a schoolgirl with his cousin and the others until their three o’clock flight was called to board. They boarded the plane, almost occupying all first class seats. Hyun joong and somin were cuddled together in their seats, until dong sun went to them and demanded to watch cartoons while he settled between them, clapping and giggling as the character danced and sang.

                “babe,” somin called him, but dong sun turned to somin and kissed her cheek soundly. Hyun joong just laughed at the little boy’s antics.

                After the almost two hour flight, they landed safely