{Chapter 8}

Day Day chuckled as he looked around, rubbing the back of his head as he looked at Livia sheepishly. He was used to his band members’ hijinks; together, they were crazy. But now, he had a wife that he was hoping to impress. Even though they technically weren’t married—they weren’t even alone in the house right now, as no matter what way Day Day looked at it, the Dalmatian decorations—black spots on white walls--may not help. “I’m sorry about this,” Day Day sighed, gesturing to the wall stickers, hoping that Livia either didn’t notice somehow, or didn’t care. Or maybe she wouldn’t notice it at all, choosing to focus on the nice floors, furniture or finishings. Obviously, the house was very new; it was possible that it hadn’t even been lived in yet. Considering the show, Day Day had been afraid they would make them live in a dog house.

“Why are you sorry?” Livia asked incredulously. “Are you talking about the Dalmatian spots?” she continued, looking around at the walls.

Day Day nodded with an exasperated sigh. He would have to talk to his band later about discretion and the art of decorating. The spots, though relatively large, were on every wall Day Day could see, and they hadn’t even been upstairs yet.

Livia laughed at Day Day’s obvious discomfort. “I like it,” she told him. “It’s different…but it’s a part of you and your life, so it’s nice.”

Day Day looked at her, shocked and grateful that she appreciated his group’s decorating skills; however tacky they were. He wasn’t sure why he wanted to impress her so much; it wasn’t like she could break up with him, and she had never given him any reason to think she wouldn’t like something he or his band did.

Suddenly, Bbangku pulled on the leash, yanking Day Day out of his thoughts and a little further into the narrow house. The dog pulled his owner into the kitchen, where they found dog bowls full of food and water.

“Okay, I know the guys didn’t do that,” Day Day said. “We just feed Bbangku in regular bowls, usually…”

“That would be by sister, Nattie, then,” Livia said as she followed her husband and his pet into the kitchen. “It looks like she provided the furniture and supplies,” Livia continued as she explored the kitchen carefully. The house was obviously quite new, and there was something about being in a new house that made anyone a little more careful.

“How can you tell?” Day Day asked, wincing as he watched Bbangku lap up water from his water bowl in the sloppiest way Day Day had ever seen him drink.

Livia, who was opening cabinets up, pulled out a spice jar to use as an example. “Hungarian Paprika,” Livia said. “My mom uses it when she needs spice in a German dish. And sometimes other dishes, but those, for some reason, always make the paprika taste out-of-place.” She laughed a little, and put the spice back in the cabinet.

“Are you sure it’s not the paprika making the dish taste weird?”

“No, it’s definitely the dish making the paprika taste weird,” Livia answered with a playful smile, making Day Day, who was wiping up the water Bbangku had spilled.

After throwing the paper towels away, Day Day suggested that they explore the house a little, and Livia agreed, so the left the kitchen and headed up the stairs.

“Oh, my…” Livia sighed when they reached the second floor, unable to say anything in Korean. The second floor was one narrow, open space, with couches, chairs, and, to their amusement, a large dog bed for Bbangku that looked just a comfortable as any of the couches. What impressed Livia the most was the amount of natural light in the room. There were cameras that, for whatever reason, had lights on already on the second floor, but the large majority of the light was being provided by the Sun, streaming in through the windows. The windows weren’t large, but the builder had strategically placed the windows where they would let in the most light possible.

“Wow,” she heard Day Day say behind her. To his dismay, he saw that his band members had gotten their hands on the walls up here as well, but they had either realized that putting too many stickers looked bad, or they had run out, because the number of spots up here was a lot smaller than on the ground floor. Nevertheless, he was also awed by the second floor.

Livia, who had been walking around the house a little, walked back over to Day Day and said, very quietly so the producers and cameramen present couldn’t hear, “I feel suspicious. Sometimes there’s some sort of catch with the newlywed house, and I haven’t seen one yet.”

“I know, me too,” Day Day whispered back. “Should we go upstairs, or should we wait? He asked, joking a little. He had been nervous, and he refused to believe that the only catch about their new place was just letting their friends control the decorations.

“I don’t know,” Livia sighed, patting Bbangku on the head, who seemed to have taken quickly to Livia. “Maybe we’re just being paranoid. After all, there have been some couples that haven’t had weird things in their houses…”

“Should we go up then?” Day Day asked, speaking louder so the producers could hear.

“Sure,” Livia answered. “You want to go up first?” she asked, teasing a little.

Day Day sighed and smiled at his wife. If there was something on the third and final floor of the house, he would be the first to know. Suddenly, Day Day hoped that the surprise, if there was one, didn’t involve anything falling or being thrown at him. It was unlikely, and Day Day knew that, but he still worried as he made his way, lead by Bbangku and followed by Livia, up the second and last flight of stairs of the house.

When he reached the top of the stairs, there was a short hallway, and a door on either side of the hallway. He waited until Livia made it to the landing, and then said, “You open that one.” He pointed to the door on the right. “I’ll open this one.” He pointed to the door on the left.

Livia giggled. “Oh, we’re so paranoid…”

“We’ve both seen Korean TV shows,” Day Day said, grabbing the handle to the left side door. “We’ve been on them. We have good reasons to be paranoid.”

“Very true,” Livia laughed, facing the door to the right. “Open on three?” she asked.

“Okay.”

“One…Two…Three.”

Day Day opened the door in front of him, only to find himself looking into a very nice bathroom. Just as he registered that though, he heard Livia gasp and begin to laugh. She laughed harder than he had heard her laugh yet, and turned to see what it was, only to start laughing himself.

The door Livia opened lead to the one and only bedroom in the house.

Day Day suddenly forgot about the decorations on the previous floors. The bedroom had been painted, so Day Day knew his band hadn’t done it, and the paint was done in light orange and black stripes, obviously taken from a tiger print design. The bed was in the shape of an oversized cat bed, and the TV across from the bed was showing a series of clips; all of cats.

Day Day began to laugh, partially because the decorations were funny as a play on his band’s name, but also because Day Day knew it could have been a lot worse. Even now, Day Day knew that the tiger print and bed could have been done in a very tacky way, but it actually looked okay. He wasn’t going to say it looked great, seeing it that tiger printed walls would never be cool, but it could have certainly been a whole lot worse than it was.

“Maybe we should change your couple name to ‘The Paranoid Couple,’” a producer suggested, a smile on their face as they watched Day Day and Livia continue to giggle.

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