(Taeyeon’s POV)

“Fany-ah… Should we go on a date? We’ve both been so busy lately… we haven’t gone out on a date in like forever…” I asked her.

“Ohmigod, yes please! I feel so guilty that last month was so crazy for me I couldn’t spend time with you… Why are you still with me, Taeyeonie?” she asked playfully.

“I don’t know… Why am I still with you?” I joked.

“Yah! Am I that bad?” she gave me a slight shove.

“What can I say? I’m such a er for a cute eye smile…” I chuckled.

“Is that all?” She frowned at me.

“Okay… Then, the next best thing is that you’re really good in bed…”

She gave me the cutest, most horrified look ever, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“OHMIGOD! Taeyeonie! I can’t believe you just said that! Please! Control yourself!”

“Oh, lighten up… I’m just kidding. And it’s just the two of us… Seriously though… come here…” I pulled her close and started kissing down her neck.

She let out a soft moan. “As much as I missed this… let’s go out and do something… I’ve been cooped up in the office and home too often these days…”

“What did you… have in… mind…” I asked while still continuing kissing her. Her soft skin was just begging for attention from my lips.

“Uhm… I… I don’t… kn-know… H-How about…” she tried speaking but she was obviously struggling against my advances.

By then I had made my way up to nibbling on her ear.

She groaned in frustration at her inability to form a coherent sentence, grabbed my hair, pulled my head back and then planted her lips solidly on mine; her kiss getting deeper and deeper.

Yes! I’ve missed this… It’s been a while…

She held on for as long as possible, only finally pulling back when she needed to take in some air, leaving me wanting more.

“Now, that’s what I’m talking about…” I said with a smirk.

She blushed but also gave me a smug look as if she already knew and didn’t really need me to point it out.

When I tried to initiate another round, she stopped me.

“I know what I want to do!” she said excitedly.

This girl… How does she go from y to childish in just a second? Aish…

“What?”

“Uhm… It’s a surprise!” she exclaimed, her voice extra boisterous and higher than usual.

“Uhm… okay…” I said suspiciously. “You’re being weird…”

“No, no… It’s not weird at all… You’re going to be soooo surprised!” She flashed me one of her eye smiles.

Kyaaa! She’s so cute!

“Really…? Okay… so… do you want to leave now?” I asked.

She looked at the time on the clock and thought about it.

“Hmmm… I guess I should start early just in case…” she mumbled to herself.

“Start early?”

“Hush! It’s a surprise… You’ll just have to wait and see… You’ll be impressed…” she smiled confidently.

“Oooh… Are you doing an event for me, Hwang seobang?” I laughed.

“Mmmm… maybe…” she winked.

Ohmigosh! Did she just wink at me?!

Fany always had the best cute expressions… One wink could literally stop my heart.

I can’t believe I’ve become such a mushy person… Dammit Hwang Miyoung! What have you turned me into?

“So we’re leaving now? Do I need to change?” I looked down at my outfit and wondered where we were headed. I was wearing a simple outfit of skinny jeans and a hoodie over my t-shirt.

She looked at me from head to toe. “Mmmm… nope. You’re perfect.”

It was actually a test to see where she was taking me.

“What?! I look like a hobo… Where are you taking me?” I guess it was somewhere I didn’t need to be dressed up or even dressed somewhat nicely…

“You’ll know soon enough… And what are you talking about? You look like a goddess even in a hoodie, okay? So you don’t have to worry about it…” she said.

I could feel my cheeks warming up in the cold weather. She always knew how to make me blush.

“Fine, fine… Don’t tell me… Is this pay back for that time I didn’t tell you we were going for the cooking class?”

“Maybe… Why? You scared?”

“A little bit… You can be quite scary sometimes, Hwang Miyoung!”

“What…?! That’s crazy talk… I’m harmless...” she batted her eyelashes and pretended to be innocent.

“You do realize that I’ve known you long enough not to buy that, right?”

She wrapped her arms around my shoulders and pecked me on the cheek.

“Darn… Nothing gets past you now, does it?”

“Maybe if I’m really distracted…” I grinned.

“Yah! ByunTaeyeon!” she scolded me disapprovingly.

“Wae? You don’t even know what I was thinking of…”

“Aish! Whatever… Let’s go…”

I put on my favorite pair of sneakers; my lace-up, cream-colored, mid-top converses, to go with my “fancy” outfit. I also took the liberty of putting my hood up because of the cold.

Just before we exited the door, she paused and stared at me.

“Wae?”

She tilted her head and gave me a strange look. “You look like a teenage boy…”

“What?! That’s so random… And what about it? Is that what you like, you pedo?”

“NO! I was just wondering if we had a son, would he look like you right now…?” she said.

“Ohmigod, woman! What on earth is happening?!” I poked her in her head. “Is this what you think about when I’m not around?”

“What? You don’t think about these things? Is it just me?” she sounded surprised.

Ohmigod! We haven’t even been a couple for a year and she’s thinking about kids? How’s that even going to work?

“Uhm…” I really didn’t know how to respond.

“Gotcha!” she exclaimed. “I’m just kidding… You definitely look like a hobo…” She laughed.

I gave her an annoyed look. I couldn’t decide which scenario was worse.

“Yah… You trying to give me a heart attack?”

“Eiii… I was just kidding… and it’s just the two of us…” she said smugly.

“Ahhh… I see what you’re doing… Touché! Fine… no more messing around…”

“Sounds good… Seriously, let’s go…!”

So we finally left the house and Fany started driving us to her secret location. I was still wondering where she was heading when she pulled into a supermarket.

“Grocery shopping?” I asked incredulously after what seemed like her building such a hype about a surprise.

“Yes, and no…”

“Okay…”

Why is she being so secretive? Aish! This girl!

Then I suddenly realized. “Fany-ah! Are you planning to cook for me…?” I asked cautiously as if I was holding a live grenade.

“Yup… Okay, so I know you said that you like haejangguk but it’s too complex for me right now, and I really don’t think I can stomach that stuff… but… how about I make you soondubu jjigae?”

“Uhm… Fany-ah… are you sure about this?” I was a little concerned about her attempt to cook. I love her but it really wasn’t necessary for her to do that for me.

“No, no… trust me. I got this, babe.”

She sounded so sure, I didn’t have the heart to stop her.

It’s okay, I’ll just keep an eye on it…

So we from aisle to aisle looking for the ingredients: dried anchovies, kelp, onion, garlic, green onions, Korean green pepper, soondubu …

“Taeyeonie, do we have sesame oil at home?” she asked.

I chuckled at the fact that she didn’t even know what we had in the kitchen. “Yes. That, oil, soy sauce, salt, pepper, red pepper powder, fish sauce. We have all of that.”

“Oh, okay. Shall I do a beef one or a seafood one?”

“Uhm… Let’s do a mix.”

“Ok, good. Did you want eggs in your jjigae?”

“Uhm, you decide.”

“Hmmm… Why not? Let’s go all out…” she chirped merrily.

“Okay… don’t go crazy now…”

“Oh, uhm… stupid question… Do we have rice?”

“Of course we have rice, you silly! Oh, gosh… let me see that list…”

So I grabbed the list out of her hands and took over the grocery shopping…

---

(Jessica’s POV)

“How did I end up here again? Did you drug me?!” I asked as I thought about the situation that was ahead of me.

“What do you mean? You agreed to this… Please, Jessie… you know I’ve been wanting to do this… Now is the perfect time,” Kryssie looked at me, her expression turning dejected.

“When did I agree to this?”

“Don’t even try wriggling your way out of this! Do you know how much time I’ve spent preparing for this? No, you’re going to do this with me and that’s the last word…!” she lectured me.

“Uhm… Which leads me to… How did you managed to hide this from me until now?”

“You just weren’t paying attention…”

I suddenly felt a little guilty when she said that.

“I’m sorry, Kryssie… Have I not been giving you the attention you deserve?” I said as I wrapped my arms around her waist and drew her closer. “How could I have been so terrible…? I’m surprised you haven’t booted me out yet…”

“That’ll be too easy… You think I’m just going to let you go and let you find some other girl? Nuh uh…” she wagged her finger at me disapprovingly. “No, you don’t get it that easy… However, I’m willing to forgive you if you do this with me…” she smirked.

I let her go and took a step back. “Kryssie… you know I love you but… I can’t… not this… I’ll ruin everything… you’ll hate me… we’ll hate each other…”

“Calm down, you drama queen… I just want us to experience this together… It doesn’t matter how it turns out.”

I really didn’t want to disappoint her so I just dropped my head and held out my hand. “Fine… I know this means a lot to you… Let’s do this thing…”

She slapped a pair of gloves into my open hand. “Yay! You’re so good to me, Jessie! I love you so much right now,” she kissed me on the cheek.

“Yes, well… I’m helpless against you… If it was anyone else… tch!”

“I know… That’s why I’m so happy right now!” she flashed me a big smile, even accompanied by some really irresistible eye smiles.

“Right… sooo… where do we start…?” I asked as I stared at all the ingredients for making kimchi. It was mid-November which meant it was kimchi-making season.

“Well I’ve already laid everything out and did most of the hard work… We just have to assemble.”

“Yes, my love… Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it…” I accidentally switched on my aegyo mode without even realizing it.

“Oh, I could get used to that… Say it again…”

“What? My love?”

“Nope, the other thing…” she teased.

“Why, you little rascal!” I sighed. “Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it…” I said again, shyly.

She grinned again. She’s been really happy recently, which was good. There was nothing quite like seeing Kryssie smile.

“If I do this, you’ll have to do what I want after… Call?” I continued.

“Ara… Call!” she agreed.

So I rolled up my sleeves and got to work.

I helped Kryssie mix up the seasoning for the cabbage. She had such look of concentration as she did it, it was so adorable yet extremely attractive in a way as well. She kept tasting it as she went, just like a real pro; she looked like she had done it a million times.

“How’s it taste?” I finally asked when she looked satisfied with the mix.

She grabbed a little bit of it and fed it to me.

“What’d you think?” she asked intently.

“Mmmm! It’s good!” I replied. Honestly, what did I know? To me, anything she made tasted good.

“You’re just saying that… just because I made it…”

Oh, Kryssie… You know me too well…

“No… I’d throw up if you gave me a cucumber or melons…” I replied.

“That’s totally different…”

Then we started layering each leaf of the cabbage that had already been cleaned with the seasoning mix, and then placed in an airtight jar. We finished by topping of the cabbage with any remaining seasoning mix with a little bit of water and kept the jars in a cabinet where it would stay for the next two days to ripen, before they’re stored in the fridge.

“Asa! All done… Good job, Jessie… See you survived!” she patted me on the head like I was her pet.

“You do realize you did all the work, right? I was completely useless…” I told her honestly.

“No… you weren’t that bad… You helped me season the cabbage and put the finished stuff into the jars…”

“A monkey could have done that.”

“Learn how to take a compliment, Jessie…” she told me. “Come on… Let’s clean this stuff up…”

“Okay…”

Kryssie started collecting all the dishes and utensils we used, while I collected all the unusable leftovers and threw then away.

“So, what did you want to do now, then?” she asked.

“Well… now that we’re out in the open… I want us to just be a real couple, in public…” I answered.

Honestly, I just wanted us to be able to be a real couple for as long as we could in the event that we really had no choice but to go back to our old lives, although I wasn’t sure if it was even possible anymore.

“I want that too… Mmmm… You want to go take a walk?”

“Yup... sure…”

“Go put on something warm… I heard it’s going to snow today,” she told me. She always took care of me so well.

“No way… It’s not cold enough.”

It was cold out but I didn’t think it was cold enough to snow. Besides, the sun was actually shining nice and bright.

“Hmmm… You want to bet? I think it will…”

“Call! What do I get if I win?”

“I’ll be your slave for a day…”

“Okay… and if you win… I’ll give you something really important to me…”

Actually, it was something I had been meaning to give to her for a while now… So, honestly, I was hoping that it would snow indeed.

“Call,” she accepted the deal.

I was always more sensitive to the cold than she was, so I grabbed my gloves, scarf and coat, while she walked out just having gotten her coat.

“Aren’t you going to at least wear some gloves?” I asked her.

“I’ll just hold onto your hand…”

“Shall we just take a walk and see where it leads us?”

She nodded.

It was indeed a beautiful day to take a walk even though it was a little cold. Just like I had done before, she took hold of one of my hands, held it in hers and kept it in her pocket. I was feeling like a real couple already…

We hadn’t done it in a while but we started getting lost in the city again like how we always loved to; walking through small alleys and mysterious corners... We wouldn’t do it at night of course but in the bustle of the day, we really enjoyed it.

This time around, we weren’t conscious about whether or not others stared at us or thought it was weird. We just did as we wanted, like we were in our own world.

“Jessie…”

“Hmmm?”

“I’m really happy right now…” she said, not really stopping or even looking my way but she had a wide smile plastered on her face and her eyes were full of joy.

For the first time since we got together, I really felt like nothing in the world could stop us and that we were just like any other couple on earth. Most of all, I was happy that Kryssie was happy. That in itself was worth anything else; she was worth everything else.

Sometimes I wondered of all the people in the world, why Kryssie? Why did it have to be her? It was a stupid question, I know, and although no one can help who they fall for, it was certainly the worst, most inconvenient relationship I could possibly be in. And yet she was the only one I wanted and I would give everything up for her.

Isn’t love a funny thing?

After a while, we somehow made our way to Namdaemun Market, the perfect place to be seen but not noticed. There were so many people around, nobody cared who you were or what you were doing as long as it wasn’t extremely out of the norm.

We walked from stall to stall, looking at different items, then I stopped at one selling accessories. I wondered if I should get Kryssie something… I did really wanted to buy her something but I wasn’t sure if it was too cheesy.

“What is it?” she asked when I just stood there, not saying or doing anything.

“Kryssie… is it too cheesy for me to buy you something? I haven’t actually bought you anything this entire time…”

She chuckled and put her arm around my shoulder. “You’re too cute, Jessie… I would love for you to buy me something… but you don’t have to…”

“But I want to…”

“You want a couple item, don’t you?” she raised her eyebrow at me.

I got caught. She knew me too well and she was too smart. But I didn’t want to admit it so I just pretended to look at the items.

She leaned over me and quickly browsed through the accessories. Then she pointed to one of the hair bands.

“Ahjumma, can I get that one?” she said.

Then she nudged me because I was still just standing there like a statue. She gestured for me to pay and so I pulled out my purse.

“Sorry, ahjumma, can I get two of those? Thanks.”

My mind was still a little numb for some reason, even after I paid for the gift that I wanted to buy for her so badly. I started walking again but she reached out her hand and stopped me.

“Hold on…” She turned me to face her and then she put on of the hair bands on my head, but not before gently brushing my hair to fix it.

Then she did she same for herself, whipping her hair back as she did so.

Oh god! Is she put on this earth to torture me…? Just a little…?

As if on cue, I noticed that little bits of snow was falling. I looked up to double check. Yes, it was slight but definitely snowing.

She held out her hand to catch some of the falling snow. “I win, Jessie…” she gloated.

“A deal is a deal… I will give you something important to me when we get home…” I promised. “Do you want to start heading home? In case it starts snowing heavier…”

“Yeah… okay. But wait…”

“Hmmm?”

She took hold of both ends of my scarf and started unravelling it.

“What are you-“ I started.

“Shhh…” she shushed me.

“Did you just-“ I tried again.

“Shhh…” but she shushed me again.

Then she used the scarf that was still draped around my neck to pull me in, slowly, closing the gap between us inch by inch.

Ohmigod! Is she going to kiss me? Now? Right here? In front of everyone?

I wasn’t sure why, since we had already done it like a thousand times now… but I was feeling really nervous.

Kryssie and I drew closer and closer, as she leaned in for the kiss but it felt like we were moving in slow motion, until suddenly, our lips met. All at once, it was like all the air had been out of my lungs but then filled again, slowly, by her… As our kiss went on, it felt like we were suspended in time, while the rest of the world was passing us by.

“Shall we go home now?” she asked once my lungs were filled with air again.

I was still in a daze so I just nodded my head in response. She took my hand and led the way.

As we headed home, I wondered what I should say to her… or rather how I should tell her how I really feel about her. She had always been really clear about her feelings for me, but I had never really told her the whole truth of my feelings for her…