She was fully able to ignore the sound of raindrops against her window but when the thunder cracked like a falling tree, Seulki almost fell out of her chair in surprise. When she was little, Seulki was afraid of thunderstorms and every time it rained, Insoo would give her something sweet to eat to calm her down. Now that she was older, though, she wasn't afraid of thunder but she still kept her tradition of eating something sweet whenever it rained. She looked back down at her textbook and sighed. She was only about half done with studying. “A little snack break won't hurt,” she said to herself with a smile. She marked her place in her book and stretched. Then, with another smile, she headed downstairs to the kitchen.

Seulki was glad that Mr. Yoon had already gone home for the night. As the chef of the house, he was always trying to get Seulki to eat healthier foods. But since he had already left, Seulki headed straight for the fudge ice cream. She didn't bother getting a bowl out and only grabbed a spoon as she sat down at the kitchen island.

She listened to the sound of the rain as she spooned ice cream into and thought back to the multiple times as a child she would be cowering in her room, afraid of the storm that was occurring. Only two things would calm her down: sweet foods or Insoo. Thankfully, she had easy access to both of those things when she was little. Nowadays, not so much. She did, however, have a lot of Seyong since he kept paying her to do his homework. Seulki liked Seyong but after about five minutes in the room with him, she wanted to kill him.

“You know you’re going to get fat if you continue to eat ice cream like that,” a voice suddenly said. For the second time that night, Seulki almost fell out of her chair but this time, it was because Insoo had insulted her out of nowhere. He then chuckled and sat down next to her at the kitchen island. “I’m joking,” he said as he grabbed the spoon out of Seulki’s hand and started to dig into the ice cream.

“Hey!” Seulki yelled, taking back the spoon out of Insoo’s hand and hitting him on the shoulder, “Get your own ding-dang spoon!” Seulki took another bite of ice cream. “So what are you doing down here anyway?” she asked.

Insoo got up and walked over to a drawer and grabbed a spoon before sitting back down next to her. “Same reason as you, I guess,” he stated, “the rain made me think of old times so I thought I’d come down and hang out with my favorite girl.”

Seulki smiled and tried to hide the blush that was starting to crawl onto her face. “So what have you been up to lately?” she asked, changing the subject, “Lately, I haven’t had the chance to see you much.”

Sighing, Insoo took another bite of ice cream. “My grandma has me busy with stupid things, my dad is starting to have me help him at work, and school is still a pain,” he said, “So, the usual. What about you? Everything okay with you?”

“Well,” Seulki said, “besides Seyong hanging out with me almost every day and school piling on the projects, I’ve had a lot of time to hang out with my mom. She’s getting into someone named Lady Gaga and it’s kind of freaky.”

Insoo laughed. “Why does that not surprise me?” It was quiet for a few minutes as the two of them continued to eat the ice cream and then Insoo asked, “So what is it that Seyong wants?”

Seulki almost chocked on her ice cream. She couldn’t tell him that he was paying her to do his homework for him. “Oh, uh, it’s nothing,” she lied, “he just wants to hang out with me.”

“I haven’t been replaced, have I?” Insoo asked, “I mean, if you would rather hang out with him than me, I understand but all Seyong does is talk about you and wanting to be with you and it’s getting kind of strange.”

In the middle of his sentence, he saw Seulki’s eyes widen in shock. He stopped talking as he tried to figure out what was wrong. “No more,” she whispered. Insoo cocked his eyebrow and Seulki looked up at him. She grabbed onto his shoulders and that’s when Insoo knew that Seulki was just playing around. “There’s no more ice cream!” she said, shaking him dramatically.

Insoo decided to play along. “No more ice cream?” he gasped, “That’s impossible! We must find some more at once! My princess cannot go without ice cream!”

Seulki bolted over to the freezer and opened the door and Insoo smiled. Even though they were both adults, Seulki was still too short to see the very back of the top shelf and she had to stand on her toes to get a peek. It wasn’t until she jumped that he decided to get up and help.

He walked up to her and placed her hands on her shoulders to get her to stop jumping and he craned his neck to look in the back. With a dramatic sigh, he turned Seulki around to face him. “I’m sorry,” he said, “I have failed you, princess.” He pulled her close to him as he pretended to cry and Seulki soon found her body being crushed between his arms and his torso as he held her a little too tightly.

“Wait! Insoo, there’s still another way!” Seulki yelled, trying to free herself so she could breathe. Insoo let her go almost immediately after that.

“You don’t mean,” he said, peering into her eyes. Seulki nodded and Insoo tried to hold in his laughter. “Then it shall be done, my princess. We must consult the queen.”

Seulki closed the freezer door and began to walk out of the kitchen. “Mom!” she yelled, making her way to her mom’s room. Insoo followed her, quietly chuckling to himself as Seulki looked for her mom. He remembered playing this game when they were little kids so it was nice to take a break from adulthood and return to their time of innocence.

A minute later, they approached a room on the second floor and Seulki opened the door. “Mother – I mean, my queen,” Seulki said, walking into the room. Mrs. Shin closed her book and looked up at the two people entering her room, “I’m afraid we have some grave news.”

Insoo walked up next to Seulki and knelt down on one knee. “The princess is out of ice cream,” he said as seriously as he could.

“We just bought you some new ice cream last week,” Mrs. Shin stated.

Seulki blushed. “I ate it,” she admitted quietly.

Mrs. Shin laughed, “You know, you’re going to get fat if you keep eating ice cream like that.”

Seulki’s mouth dropped. “What is this, Insult Seulki Day?” she asked.

“No, that was a few months ago,” Insoo teased, standing up, sensing the end of the game. Seulki glared at him and hit him on the chest.

“Insoo also ate the ice cream!” Seulki reported to her mother.

“But I work out!” Insoo defended himself, “What’s your excuse? I don’t see you hitting the gym!” He could see Seulki’s face growing red in embarrassment but Insoo couldn’t help but pick on her like that. He thought she looked really cute when she was embarrassed.

Once again, Seulki hit him on the chest. “Oh shut up,” she said, “it’s not polite to make fun of a girl’s weight, you know!”

“You two act like just like a married couple,” Mrs. Shin noted and Seulki’s face turned bright red. Mrs. Shin chuckled and said, “But why don’t you ask Mr. Yoon yourself to buy some more ice cream?”

Seulki sighed. “I can’t,” she said, “If I do then he’ll just have another reason to make fun of me. He’s a mean man, you know?”

Mrs. Shin smiled and land laughed. “Okay,” she finally said, “I’ll tell him. Now, it’s late. Go to bed.”

Seulki’s jaw dropped. “But mom!” she protested, crossing her arms, “I have a lot of schoolwork to do!”

“She’s right, Seulki,” Insoo piped up, “You should go to bed. You could really use the beauty sleep. You could sleep off all of the ice cream!”

For the fourth time that night, Seulki hit Insoo on the chest but then she sighed. “Fine,” she said and then walked out of the room. It only took a second before she came back. “Wait a minute,” she said, “I’m an adult! You can’t tell me when to go to bed!”

“Goodnight Seulki,” Mrs. Shin said with a smile, “Goodnight Insoo.”

“Goodnight Mrs. Shin,” Insoo answered, waving to Mrs. Shin.

Seulki pouted. “’Night mom,” she said and followed Insoo out of the room, closing the door behind them. Seulki sighed and glared at Insoo. “I hate you,” she grumbled.

Insoo grinned broadly. “Yeah right,” he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder as they walked down the hallway. “Besides, you know I’m only joking. You’re not even close to being fat.” He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly and Seulki gave him a reluctant smile. “But you seriously should go to bed. It’s late. I’ll clean up downstairs.”

That time, Seulki nodded obediently. “Okay, goodnight Insoo,” she said, waving to him and walking the other way towards her bedroom. Insoo smiled and waved back and the both of them went their separate ways as the thunder continued to roll.