Shinhye was preparing to cook something in the kitchen and was so focused on cleaning the ingredients she did not notice Kris was already beside her.

“Are you okay?” Kris asked.

Shinhye was surprised as he spoke. “Oh, yeah, I did not know you were there I’m sorry.”

Kris was a little worried about Shinhye she seemed a little distant on the walk home and it bothered him a little bit. “What do I need to do?” he just asked hoping to help her.

“No, I’m good. I’ll call you when I’m done.” She responded not looking at him.

“Shinhye…” he put his hands on her shoulders and let her face him.

“What?” asked Shinhye.

Kris looked into her eyes and he knows she was thinking of something that it bothered her. “Are you mad about the kiss? I know I said I would permission. I’m sorry.” Kris cupped her cheeks.

“No, it’s okay.” She said assuring him yet she felt uneasy about what happened earlier.

The two were headed out the shop when somebody bumped Kris. Some of their stuff fell on the ground. Kris and the lady picked up the things that fell. Shinhye had to chase some of the things that rolled over. Finally Shinhye had picked up everything. When she stood up she had realized she was about three meters away from Kris and he was hugging the tall, blonde girl he just bumped with. After they hugged they were happy chatting with each other.

Watching from afar, Shinhye felt uneasy. He never saw Kris smiled like that with any other girl. She even could not remember if he smiles like that when he was with her. Then it hit her. As she recalls many girls would want Kris. She might not care so much before because he was always at her side. The sight before her eyes made her question a lot of things like ‘What if he gets tired of the way Shinhye lives and he decided to let go of her?’ ‘What if he’s not really happy with her?’ ‘What if he meets someone he likes better beacause clearly he was so focused on her he did not notice other girls before her?’ ‘What if Kris does not really love her? She just needs her because he’s all he has.’ These entire questions frightened her. She then diverted her gaze when she saw Kris saying goodbye to the girl and going towards her. She just looked to the things she picked. Her forehead scrunched up. Suddenly images of Kris popped inside of her head. She was disappointed as she noticed Kris expressions were mostly full of worries.

“Give me those.” Kris then grabbed everything she was holding.

Shinhye looked at Kris and the smile he had earlier disappeared. There was a pain in her heart and she silently walked with Kris going home.

Shinhye looked at Kris and again he stares at her with concern. “Do I make you worry too much?” she finally asked. It was a stupid question to ask. She wanted to take it back but it was too late. Of course she makes him worry too much. Just being with her it too worrisome. Kris raised an eyebrow in response together with a confused look. Both of his hands were now on the counter and in between them were Shinhye’s leaning on the counter.

“I’m sorry, I saw how happy you were chatting with the tall blonde girl a while ago and you are not that happy when you’re with me.” She finally admitted. She put a hand on . She was also surprised as those words came out of .

“What?” Kris was confused and then lips made a wide smile when he realized something. One of his hands tugged the strands of Shinhye’s hair behind her ear as he stares at her amusingly. “The woman earlier was Cindy. She was a missionary in our school in senior year. She was having a vacation here with her husband. They helped our school and they were really nice to us. I just didn’t expect we would see each other here.” He explained. He was still amused as this is the first time he saw Shinhye being insecure and he was happy it was about him. Although she did not even have to worry because we all know how much he loves her.

“How come you had to greet her like that?” little by little Shinhye and her big mouth dig her own grave. This was a little bit new to her. She had never felt jealousy until now and brings out her insecurities.

“It’s normal to greet them that way. I was not to it at first but her husband and I were close and I got close to her as well so I got used to it.”

“I heard also that most foreigners are friendly when they meet other people so the salesman was just being friendly with me a while ago right?”

“That guy was not being friendly. He was already asking you out a while ago and the way he looked at you, he was trying to-“Kris stopped his statement and he was already frustrated he remembered the scene a while ago.

Shinhye looked at him and he saw how tensed he was. She suddenly stood on her toes and gave him a sweet peck on the lips. Kris was surprised by her actions. A wide smile escaped Kris lips and he stared at Shinhye. There and then Shinhye realized the difference between what she saw earlier and what’s she’s seeing now. What she saw earlier was Kris smile that she rarely sees. It’s the same smile he wears sometimes when they were having fun with Junhee and the other guys. The smile he’s wearing right now is not only a smile of happiness but a grateful smile. As far as she knows she only sees this when he’s with her. She hopes that she was right.

Kris leaned to her close and his right hand held one of her cheeks. Before he could kiss her he looked into her eyes asking for permission. He didn’t need word to ask and Shinhye just gave him a smile giving him permission. Finally his lips landed on hers. Their lips locked with each other like a perfectly fit jigsaw puzzle. They started to kiss each other sweetly. It only lasted for a while and they broke apart for a moment. Kris rested his head on Shinhye and they looked into each other’s eyes with so much love.

Shinhye’s heart began to beat really fast as Kris moved his hands to her neck and cradled her head, her cheeks with his thumbs. Kris leaned once again for another kiss. Shinhye followed his lead closing her eyes and let her arms wrap around his neck. Kris arms made its way to Shinhye’s waists securing her in his arms. Shinhye tried to pull back a little bit but Kris wouldn’t let her. he pressed his body into hers and held her tighter.

The last time they shared a kiss like this was when both of them haven’t confessed with each other. Kris was so caught up in his emotions yet Shinhye responded unconsciously aware of her feelings. The kiss they now share was different. It is a way of expressing and conveying how they felt for each other. The two broke apart as both ran out of breath. They rested their foreheads on each other. Both have candid smiles on their faces and at the same time chuckled for a moment. They were both genuinely happy. Kris gave her a sweet peck on the lips before wrapping around his arms around Shinhye’s waist, pulling her close and embracing her tight afraid to lose her.

“If this is what I get when you get jealous, I might hug random girls even if I don’t want to.” Kris teasingly remarked.

Shinhye smacked one of Kris arms pulled back a little and narrowed her eyes at him. “Or you’re not getting any if you do it on purpose.”

“Did you hear? Shinhye noona’s father had succeeded in distributing their shares among who people who deserved it.” Sehun dropped the information as quietly as he could at lunch. All of the guys heard and was surprised of the news.

“Where did you get that information?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Two of my classmates’ families were apparently one of the many who had received the shares. They were discussing it secretly at my back and I happen to hear everything.” Sehun proudly say.

“Does it mean Shinhye noona and Kris hyung will be coming back soon?” Kai asked.

“I don’t about that yet but…” Sehun then narrated what he heard.

Apparently with a strong support system from Woobin’s family, Maru was able to proceed with his plan faster than they could imagine. The first brother still attempted to try to stop Maru’s plan while the other brother wasted his time searching for Shinhye. The two brothers constantly lost their allies as they were losing faith on them. Apart from that the brothers’ teamwork broke apart when they knew about each other’s hidden agenda in claiming the company.  More and more of their wrong doings were being known not only to the business world but to the public as well. Unfortunately as the public knows about this they were starting to be informed about the entire thing about Shinhye, still Maru’s side still managed to handle the situation. It was known that they hide her for her safety. It was a risk letting to know people that they were hiding her but on the good side people rooting for them might actually help them in hiding her until everything’s settled.

Maru knew for a long time of his brother’s illegal transactions however they couldn’t take action because they had a hard time gathering strong evidences as his brother had a lot of connections throughout the years. These allies of them eventually lost their trust when it was revealed that the company would be distributed. No one had thought it would be possible until Maru announced it with his father’s approval. This made opportunities for Maru’s side to gather strong evidences against his brothers’ wrong doings.

Together with their victory in distributing the shares, they finally filled strong cases against the two brothers. With no support system with most of their allies gone and some of their connections also helped to take them down. As of the moment he cases are still going on but it was nearly impossible that the brothers would win them over.

“That part of the information, we kind of knew it already. It was all over the news” Kyungsoo said.

“Then why did you bother asked me about it?” Sehun annoyingly responded.

“I thought you had additional information regarding Shinhye noona and Kris hyung.” Kyungsoo exclaimed.

“Sorry that’s just what I heard.” He paused for a moment. “Wait, I remember they said that they might come back here soon since some of the cases filed involved the attacks on Shinhye noona.”

“That I did not know.” Junhee stated.

“Even if they come back here soon there is no guarantee we could see them soon.” Kyungsoo said.

It’s been a month since Kris and Shinhye arrived in Alaska and in three days they will be going back home. The two had spent most of the time in the villa watching movies and snuggling together. Sometimes they would go out and stroll at nearby parks and beaches when they assessed that it’s safe to do so.  The two were like newlyweds spending honeymoon together. Both still stayed in different rooms. Kris could not protest since he knows that his feelings might be so overwhelming for him that he might not be able to control himself. Besides they spend most of the time together so sleeping in different rooms gave them time for themselves.

Their daily routine includes Shinhye preparing meals; Kris and Shinhye do part time jobs to earn some money. Though they have enough money to survive, they figured they have nothing much to do. It was also safe to do so. After more than a week that they stayed there they finally realized that it was quite impossible for them to be tracked where they were. They live in a community where technology is not that efficient. Good thing they still have service for mobile phones to receive calls and text messages. At night when they’re not too eager to sleep they would watch movies or have a night stroll when they feel safe to do so.

Apparently one of the reasons why they also do not go out much is because they often had arguments. These arguments were healthy as they were mostly caused by jealousy. Both of them apparently attract attention from opposite . Shinhye is very lovable and she’s easy to be with. Aside from her looks people enjoy her company. Being friendly as she is she entertains people without knowing that she was being asked out already by guys. She was still learning to socialize with the people in the community and trying to learn their language in her defence. Kris tries his best to be cool with it but sometimes he can be overly possessive of her. In Kris case, though a lot of girls try to flirt with him his attention was mostly dedicated to Shinhye. He is a hot blooded man as well so it’s only normal to be distracted sometimes. In the first place he had to watch over her basically for her safety, being jealous just comes next. He still had to be careful of their surroundings and the people they interact with.

Though Shinhye was knowledgeable of the attention Kris was getting from other girls way back when they were younger, she had not paid much attention till now. Some girls were a bit too much as they practically throw themselves at him even though she sees he was having a hard time getting out of the situation. Even though Kris had done everything letting her know how much he loves her, there were time that some girls get into her nerves and make her feel unworthy of him. There were decent girls who liked Kris and they were really pretty, addition to that some would question why Kris likes her. Even though she may not understand English well she can at least tell it by the way they act around her. Although she often let it slip, but it sometimes affects her interaction with Kris. Shinhye usually spaces out and is silent. She usually doesn’t want to talk about it so Kris is cautious when he tries to talk to her regarding these situations.

At the end of the day they always talk everything out. Kris was a little scared every time they had arguments. He hated seeing Shinhye being insecure so as much as possible he wants to know what she really feels and work it out rather than seeing her keeping it to herself. He would also apologize as soon as possible when he gets overly possessive of her. As much as he doesn’t want her being insecure, he doesn’t also Shinhye being indifferent with him because of his overly protective and overly possessive instincts. As they spent this time with each other, they were given the chance to know more about each other as their significant other. It was more about dealing with their new relationship with each other and being away from home made them focus more. The situation back home had not much affected their relationship therefore it was not often used as an argument in their relationship. Sooner or later it will affect their relationship as well so it was fortunate of them that they had to deal with it later.

This seemed like a vacation for both and both enjoyed their time very much. Time to time they were informed of how things are going. The two would sometimes forget how their lives were until Woobin calls to check how they’re doing. Yesterday they were informed that they had to go back for Shinhye’s appearance was needed in some cases filed to her uncles.

“I forgot to inform the other at work that we’ll be leaving in three days.” Shinhye remembered as she was folding their uniforms for work.

“We can see them tomorrow and return the uniforms as well.” Kris said.

“Didn’t you promise we’ll be seeing at the beach tomorrow?” The two had planned their last three days in Alaska and it involved mostly visiting for the last time their favourite places.

“We could drop by in the afternoon before we go home.”

“Oh okay. I’m going to miss this place.” It was starting to sink in for Shinhye. She had a lot of memories here. A lot of firsts in her life happened here. Though they were supposed to be hiding, it was also a vacation for her and gave her chance to temporarily forget all the crazy things happening at home but now she had to face them again.

“You must be Kris?” Maru asked Kris as he entered the room. Kris eyes wandered the room searching for Shinhye. Apparently she was not there and he had to face her father alone. “Shinhye’s in her grandfather’s room. Her grandfather wanted to see her at the moment.” Maru can sense Kris nervousness across the room. He asked Kris to sit on the sofa so they could have a little talk.

“You have your father’s strong features but you have your mother’s eyes.” Maru remarked as he examined Kris features. “I want to thank you and your family for everything you’ve done for my daughter. I know how much my good friend and his family had to sacrifice and suffered because of us and I’m so grateful you still stayed by Shinhye’s side.”

“It was what my parents would have wanted and where I would rather be than anywhere else sir.” Kris politely responded. Maru can see the sincerity of Kris’ words. He was well informed of her daughter’s relationship with the help of Woobin.

“I’m glad that Shinhye has you by her side and I hope that even if things got worse you would never leave her. A lot of things are still uncertain and we don’t know if things would change for the better. Maru knew he could entrust his daughter to Kris. He was impressed how he stood by her side after all these years when anyone would have given up a long time ago.

“I would do my best to be there for her sir.” Kris responses were short yet direct and summarize what Maru needed to hear.

“I request you to stop being so formal with me I can see you are a very respectful person but it’s quite uncomfortable for me. I am very good friends with your father and I hope you could be comfortable with me as well. It’s still uncertain if we get to meet after all these are through but I’m still hoping.” He was about to dismiss Kris when he remembered something. “Kris when things get better and let’s just say you were given the opportunity to start a new life what would you like to do?”

“I would like to continue my studies if I was given the chance and hopefully get a job that I enjoy.” He politely responded.

Maru was relieved haring that Kris had plans for himself not depending too much on Shinhye’s decisions. At his response he gave him a smile. “I hope we could meet again, I would like to know how my good friend had been since I last saw him if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind. I would like to hear what he was like before he settled as well.” Kris responded.

They exchanged smiles and Maru dismissed Kris.  Uncertain things maybe at the moment they both knew they would see each other again.

Preview:

Shinhye was now able to spend time with her father and grandfather soon enough to live with them as well. Kris and Shinhye prepare to go back to school. With everything slowly falling into place, Shinhye was given the time she needed to do to discover what she wanted to do with her life. Woobin also prepares himself for new responsibilities he was handed to him by his father but he was required to go back to school as well while things are getting better with Maru’s situation.