It was a lazy, late Sunday afternoon and since I was too indolent and insisted on watching a variety show instead of going out, Jinyoung gave up and came over to my house. In half an hour, he was standing at my door with a bag of groceries. When he rang the doorbell I ran to the door and jumped on him, wrapping my arms around his neck and swinging around.
 

“Hey! The things are gonna drop!” he yelped, so I grabbed the bag from him and started looking in. He let himself in and closed the door behind him. I set the bag on the counter and starting taking stuff out. There was spam, spam and more spam. Why am I not surprised. This boyfriend of mine is crazy over spam. There was also salad and half a loaf of sourdough bread.
 

“Hey hey, stop rummaging. Did I say you can go through my things? No manners,” he scolded me and started taking the cans and food into the kitchen.
 

“What’s yours is mine…” I sang, seating myself on the work area next to the stove. He looked at me in mock incredulity. “What, it’s true. Your heart’s yours but it’s mine,” I argued. He had to give in to me with that one. I remained in my spot, watching him assembling the skillet and oil to heat up the spam and pop the bread in the oven. He did everything in the kitchen by himself, after the ruckus I caused in his kitchen the other day. He wouldn’t even let me stir the spam. I didn’t really mind. As I said, it was a lazy Sunday and that meant the day was meant for lazing around. I wandered over to the living room and switched on the television. My favourite variety show wasn’t on yet so I switched to cartoons.
 

“Dinner’s ready!” he announced.
 

He sat across from me at the table. He had already laid the table and prepared the food. I grinned to myself as I watched him spoon spam into the sandwich. He was about to set it down on my plate but I opened my mouth, motioning him to feed me.
 

“Aish you lazy girl,” he commented, breaking off the bread and putting it in my mouth. I chewed happily. The sandwich tasted great; the spam was well-seasoned and was a hit with the sourdough bread. Jinyoung cooked anything with spam to perfection.
 

“But you love me anyway,” I replied smugly. He smiled and bit the other end of the bread, masticating rather thoughtfully. “What, you don’t?” I asked him. He laughed and shook his head. He continued making more sandwiches and set them on my plate. We ate in comfortable silence; a luxury from knowing each other for so long.
 

While watching him eat his sandwich enthusiastically, a thought suddenly popped into my head. It’s been a while since I saw him react strongly. I’ve got to admit, he was quite adorable when he was angry or jealous. Not that he wasn’t already cute enough but watching him get mad and worked up over something makes me laugh. ‘It’s quite entertaining actually,’ I thought as I started formulating evil plans in my head. I cleared my throat before I started and he looked up at me, puzzled. I faked a troubled expression before putting my plans into play.
 

“Oppa. You know… there’s this guy in class, he bothers me all the time,” I lied, trying to hold back a smile. “He keeps teasing me. Solji says that’s because he likes me.”
 

I sat back and watched his expression. Slowly, enjoyment turned to annoyance. Boy, this is going to be good!
 

“WHAT! Who is this guy huh! Tell me his name! No… no, show me how he looks like… I’m gonna beat him up for trying to make a play for my girl!” he yelled, pushing back his sleeves.
 

His face was red and his hands were in the air, his fingers contorted. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to make him jealous after all. Now Jinyoung was looking like he wanted the guy, who didn’t even exist for that matter, quartered and burnt and have his ashes tossed in twelve different places. Knowing Jinyoung and his protectiveness over me, he’d definitely insist on following me to class on Monday. Poor guys in my class would suffer in the hands of my half-crazed boyfriend. This should be the time to end my joke once and for all.
 

“Oppa…” Jinyoung turned to look at me. “I was just kidding.”
 

“You… you!” His eyes were as wide as saucers. As quick as lightning, he made a grab for my dinner plate and mumbled something along the lines of ‘Naughty girls cannot eat dinner.’ and ‘This is your punishment.’
 

###

“Oppa, are you still mad?” I asked him for the umpteenth time, prodding him on the shoulder. We were sitting on the sofa at the living room, watching television… Okay, more like he was watching television in an attempt to ignore me and I was telling him to stop being angry. He shrugged my finger off, turned away and continued watching the drama on that was airing on the TV. It was some pathetic, sappy soap opera which I knew he disliked watching. That meant only one thing. He was blowing his top.
 

I had pleaded, annoyed and hugged him but he pushed me away each time. He was still hell-bent on not talking to me.
 

This calls for desperate measures.
 

I looked at myself in the mirror and turned away in disgust. ‘This… this rag is so off-putting!’ I thought to myself. Side-eyeing myself in the mirror, I cringed. Ugh. IT’S PINK! AND IT HAS A FURRY BALL AT THE BACK! Why Jinyoung got me this bunny costume for my birthday was beyond me. What’s worse was he wanted me to wear it! Wear it! I’d rather wear a potato sack! I stalked away from the mirror; looking at myself in this horrible rag was the pits, really.
 

“OPPA!” I yelled cutely, after jumping in front of the television. He was still watching the depressing soap. The haelmoni was dying and she was clutching her son’s hand feebly, saying she forgives him for… Ugh. I should stop. He was literally taken aback by the sight of me in the bunny suit. His head jerked back and his eyes went round, with what I suppose was horror. ‘Told you this crap is ugly,’I silently thought in my head. I had expected him to smile and be pleased with me wearing the costume but I was wrong. After getting over the shock, he merely grabbed the remote by his side, switched the TV off and strode over to the kitchen. I crept behind the dining table and saw him bent over, fiddling with his bag.
 

Great. I dug through my closet for this crap, got dressed in it and even called out to him cutely and he barely looked at me. I turned to look at him, but he was no longer there. I looked around but he was no longer in sight. I was starting to get pissed. Being in the bunny costume made me hot and the material scratched irritably against my skin. My stomach growled. And that idiot didn’t even let me finish my dinner! I stomped over to the kitchen to look for food. The sink and stove were already cleared, plates drying neatly by the side.


I pulled open the refrigerator to find… nothing. I must have forgotten to shop for groceries again. I fished around in the cupboards and found a measly pack of jajangmyeon. I guess this would have to do. I boiled some water in the pot and crouched at the corner, munching on a pack of biscuits I found in the drawer. I hope it wasn’t expired.

 

My life was miserable. It was a horrible, miserable lazy Sunday. Maybe I shouldn’t have joked about ‘the guy’ to Jinyoung. He dislikes it when guys try to hit on me. I told him I wouldn’t even look in their direction but he still didn’t like any guy with the intent to pursue me around me. We were both cool with each other having friends of the opposite gender but he eyed my guy friends pretty closely. I didn’t mind; I didn’t have much guy friends to begin with. Jinyoung was the first guy I got close to in high school.
 

“Bin-ah.”
 

I looked up at the sound of his voice. I didn’t even bother to smile. I was angry, hungry and tired. I wanted to get out of the costume so badly but I was starving that changing out of it would have to wait.

SNAP!

He was holding his phone and grinning. ‘Did he just take a picture of me in this rag?’ I wondered in astonishment.

“Aww, my cute bunny. I must have forgotten to feed you…” Jinyoung cooed at his phone. I was horrified. Oh no he didn’t!

“Give me that!” I launched myself up, trying to take away the phone. He moved away swiftly and held the phone out of my reach. I jumped up and down stupidly, trying to reach for the phone but he was too tall. Damn it, that should teach me for falling for tall guys. He laughed as he watched me bounce up and down.

After a while, I finally gave up and slumped against the kitchen wall, defeated. He was standing at the far corner of the kitchen. The idiot must be happy seeing my in this stupid bunny suit. He must be taking more pictures of me now. Is the day really going to end like this? I felt exhausted, pissed off and ravenous… A burning smell wafted into my nose. The pot! The water must have dried up while I was hopping like a crazy bunny. I looked over at the stove, contemplating on whether I should walk over and switch the fire off when Jinyoung moved and did it for me. He took the packet of jajangmyeon noodles and put it back in the cupboard. Even though I was really hungry, I was too tired to snap at him. I sighed, ripped off the bunny hood and crawled over to my room. All that can make me better now is my soft bed and a good night’s sleep.

Halfway to my room, he lifted me up and marched us over to my room. I didn’t protest; honestly, I couldn’t really be bothered about him right now. In a daze, I pulled the bunny costume off, smoothed my tank top and put on a fresh T-shirt. I was about to leap into bed when I felt Jinyoung’s arms around my waist.

“Jagiya…” he whispered.

“No!” I growled. “Let me sleep! I’m tired, I’m hungry and I’m in a really, really bad mood right now! I sweated like a bear in that bunny suit and now I stink and you didn’t even smile at me or tell me you liked it or forgive me! You took away my dinner! That guy prank was just a joke for goodness’ sake! I just wanted to see you jealous…”

My rants were muffled as he turned me around and pulled me into his chest. He my hair softly and sang one of the songs he had composed himself, trying to calm me down. My legs were becoming like jelly.
 

###

“So, you weren’t really mad? And you rushed to the kitchen to laugh?!” I glared at him. “Oh my god, I hate you!” I shoved a few more rice cakes into my mouth, almost choking. I was listening to him recounting the day’s event. I almost smiled when he complained to me, in great detail, how horrible the soap opera was. Almost.

He reached over to pat my back, his eyes worried. In the midst of coughing I still glared at him. We stopped at the ddukboki stall across the street after he coaxed me out of my room and house, telling me he would buy me dinner. The dinner he had promised to buy me was not ddukboki though. We stopped by the stall because my stomach was growling so loudly. It was embarrassing. After I stopped coughing and resumed shoving more spicy rice cakes down my throat, his right hand curled back around my waist. That was only because; 1) I refused to hold hands with him, 2) I kept my hands full with the ddukboki container and chopsticks and 3) I kept moving away from him.
 

I was still very much annoyed after finding out that he pretended to be mad just to return the ‘favour’; he was really pleased when I wore the bunny costume. I mean, I can’t really blame him for being pleased. When he gave me the bunny outfit two years ago, I immediately refused to wear it, even when he begged, pouted and did aegyo. Every year and as and when he remembers about the bunny costume, he would plead me to wear it but I stubbornly rejected his requests. The only reason why I still kept the bunny outfit was because it was a birthday gift from him. If it was from any old Tom, or Harry it would have been thrown out or donated to the children’s home. Perhaps I would even have shredded and burnt it, cackling as I watch it turn to ashes.
 

We reached the ramen place nearby and upon sitting down, I immediately waved the waitress over and ordered a bowl of tonkotsu ramen and iced water. The waitress eyed me with distaste before she left; probably because of my scruffy appearance. I had no time to change because someone pulled me out of the house without letting me take a look at myself in the mirror. All I could do to salvage my pathetic appearance was pull my hair up into a ponytail and obviously I did not do a good job with it. Let’s not even get started with my black T-shirt and hot pink shorts. Jinyoung must have noticed how bothered I was about my appearance because he shrugged off his jacket and put it on for me.
 

“Are you still mad?” he asked me the same question I had repeatedly bugged him with hours ago.

“Food!” I yelled, when my steaming bowl of ramen came, just at the right moment. I ignored him and went on to scoop up some noodles. I was famished; my system was screaming for food in my tummy. However, the moment the noodles came into contact with the insides of my mouth, my eyes went wide and it took everything for me not to gag the noodles out. My eyes watered and I dropped my spoon and chopsticks. Boy, was I stupid or what? The noodles were steaming hot! I guess hunger does that to people. Or maybe just me. I opened my eyes to find the bowl over at Jinyoung. Was he hungry too? He scooped up some noodles and placed them gingerly onto the spoon, blew lightly and moved the spoon towards me. Oh, he was feeding me!

Many spoonfuls later…

“Say ahhh!” he said, twisting the spoon around. “Here comes Bob the aeroplane!”

Normally that would have been lame but I giggled as I opened my mouth and let him feed me. I suppose I was not mad anymore. Being mad made me hungry so I decided to let him off the hook. As I chewed, I looked over at the counter and saw the waitresses looking at me in contempt and whispering among themselves. I snorted.

“Oppa, they’re so annoying. And predictable. I bet you a month’s pay that they’re saying how someone like me shouldn’t be dating a pretty boy like you,” I exclaimed loudly, so they could all hear my words.

They became flustered and snuck into the kitchen as a few other patrons in the shop turned to look at them. A few of them looked over at me, amused. Jinyoung just grinned.

“I’d date you in any form you come in Yoon Bin. Even in a bunny costume.” His eyes twinkled mischievously as he teased me. I groaned as he took out the phone and showed me the picture he had taken. I was in the bunny suit, pouting in the corner, looking pathetic as hell.

“You’re not gonna delete that, are you?” I asked, even if I already knew what the answer was.

“Nope, tough luck. In fact… I’m making this my wallpaper!” he announced. His fingers slid around on the touch-sensitive screen and in a few seconds, he showed me my pathetic face in a bunny suit in the background. He was cooing at the picture again, as if it was a baby.

‘Is it really that precious?’ I scoffed, pulling the bowl towards me and sipped the broth. He looked at me as if I had sprouted two heads. That answered my question. We chatted amicably, the afternoon incident forgotten. It felt good to talk to him again. My mood was lifted, watching him smile and laugh at my silly words. I loved his smile. It made him look friendlier. His sharp features made him look cold and mean and that contrasted greatly with his caring and warm personality.
 

After he paid the bill, we were out on the streets again, walking. I patted my stomach happily and he chuckled. He definitely knows that the way to my heart is through my tummy. His hand reached out for mine and he intertwined our fingers. I snuggled against him, and was glad he gave me his jacket. It was suddenly so cold out. He leaned over and planted a kiss on my forehead.

“Cold?”

I nodded. We stopped walking and he wrapped his arms around me. Even without a jacket he was still so warm. I breathed in his scent; soap and men’s deodorant. We stayed like that in the middle of the nearly empty street, until I broke away. I gazed up into his chocolate brown eyes and he moved closer, our foreheads touching and he stared back into my eyes.

“Just so you know… I’m not going to return this jacket ever.” I told him. He laughed loudly and used his free hand to ruffle my hair.

“But you can keep the bunny costume.”