Shin Hye impatiently tapped her foot, arms crossed, as she waited by the door. She glanced at her watch and frowned. It’s been almost an hour since she asked him to take a bath. What’s taking him so long? More importantly, why am I even doing this? She her heel, about to go back inside the house, when the man she’s been waiting twenty minutes for, strode out like he had all the time in the world. He saw Shin Hye by the door and jerked his head – a motion for her to follow him. He didn’t detect the irritated look on her face and just kept walking.

“Where are you going?” Shin Hye asked, annoyed that he didn’t even apologize for making her wait.

Min Ho turned around nonchalantly and pointed. “My car.”

She sighed. This guy. “You seriously want to bring your flaming red, luxury Ferrari to the market and attract attention?” It wasn't so much a question, rather a derisive remark. And one that earned a scowl from the chaebol. “We’re riding this one,” she took out the car keys from her jeans’ pocket and sauntered to her black Audi. Out of nowhere, Min Ho was already in front of her – his hand swooping in to grab the keys from grasp.

Startled, her whole body jumped as the faint smell of his aftershave filled her nose. The last time he was standing this close to her ended in a rather unpleasant experience. “What the hell? Ya!” She shrieked ungracefully as she stepped away from his towering figure. So much for keeping her cool.

“I’m driving,” he told her and opened the car door for the driver’s side before Shin Hye could.

She scoffed. Unbelievable. He didn’t ask her if he could drive, he informed her as if it was already expected. “What, you can’t handle a woman behind the wheel?” She challenged.

Min Ho, on the other hand, didn’t lose his calm. He was still clutching the door handle when he leaned his elbow on the car roof and looked at her. “For your information, I’m not a ist, and I’m very secure of my masculinity. This is your car, I’d let you drive…” his eyes travelled down to her stomach. “But you’re still hurt.”

Meo? Shin Hye didn’t expect to hear that, or to recognize the hint of concern in his voice. She didn’t hide how much she was taken aback either, instinctively covering her stomach with her arms. What did he say? She recalled seeing him earlier, right after her morning run. Maybe he saw the bruises on her stomach. That made her feel slightly self-conscious.

“Get in already, I’m starving,” Min Ho added before climbing inside.

Shin Hye was still flustered and didn’t have a witty remark ready. So she cleared and got in. She silently put her seatbelt on and looked straight ahead.

“Oi.”

She turned to her left and saw Min Ho staring at her curiously. “Doesn’t that hurt?” He was pointing to her seatbelt. “Don’t wear it, I can drive slowly.”

What the hell. This was making her uncomfortable, so she looked away. “Is that an excuse to drive like a wimp and not be embarrassed about it? Just drive. You said you’re starving,” she replied coldly, making sure that Min Ho got the message and would stop acting like he cared.

He rolled his eyes. “Suit yourself.”

The drive was silent and filled with so much awkwardness. And that was understating it. Regardless of any truce, Shin Hye could still feel the tension between them. Their arguments and fights helped to release their anger, which was a natural reaction to their aversion for each other. But now that they’ve promised to no longer fight, all that tension hung in the air with nowhere to go. Everything the chaebol did still made her want to scream and punch him in the face, so being around him now was not at all pleasant, to say the least. And the fact that he’s been acting differently just made it all the more awkward and strange. I’ll just have to ignore him. Ignore him.

Mindlessly, she let out a long sigh and leaned her elbow on the window ledge to focus on the scenery instead, hoping they’d reach the market sooner.

She remembered this road like it was just yesterday. It’s been almost three years since she and Shi Yoon left the Cabin, but the place was still fresh in her mind. She’s been too distracted by the recent events that she never fully got to appreciate being back where this life started.  Growing up, she never really considered any place her home. The houses she lived at when she was younger -- her horrid Grandfather's house, and the house where she escaped to with her Mother -- all held painful memories she'd much rather bury. But the Cabin was the closest she considered to a home. And coming back to her home wouldn't be complete without remembering him.

Her savior. Her mentor. The Father she wished she had.

We’re back, ahjussi. Sorry we took too long, she thought as her eyes darted to the blue skies above. She was never one to pray, but her thought seemed like a silent prayer to the only man apart from Shi Yoon who she truly respected.

“You should really have yourself checked at the hospital.”

Her thoughts were interrupted by Min Ho's voice piercing through the silence. Shin Hye bit her lower lip. Argh. I just wanted a peaceful ride.

“I’m fine,” she replied stoically, making a conscious effort to sound like she couldn’t be bothered.

“You didn’t look fine earlier. You’re still in pain, aren’t you?”

She closed her eyes and tried drowning him out. Noisy and nosy.

“You afraid the doctors there will find out you’ve been beaten up?” Min Ho continued asking when he got no reply. “Then again, it could be dangerous if they look into you, right? You can’t give them your name, and that would be very suspicious.”

She pursed her lips, wondering when he would stop talking. It was hard to ignore him when she can still hear him. Please stop talking.

“How about if you give them a fake name? I’m sure you have aliases. That could work.”

“I hate hospitals, so drop it,” she blurted out rather loudly. She thought Lee Min Ho would be the reserved, brooding type, but he was almost as chatty as Shi Yoon. Another reason to dislike the guy.

“Why?”

Shin Hye turned to him with a scowl she couldn’t hide. “What’s up with all the questions? Are we playing a game or something? I’m not in the mood.”

Min Ho frowned. “Look, I’m trying here,” he told her without removing his eyes from the road. He seemed as annoyed with her as she was with him. “Shi Yoon told me to have at least one decent conversation with you. To help lessen the animosity between us. I guess that’s not happening if you’re going to be so hostile so early in the morning.” He mumbled the last sentence to himself.

Shin Hye heard it and groaned. “I’m not being hostile. I just… prefer to ride in silence. Can we do that, please?” She closed her eyes and leaned back. “And stop listening to Shi Yoon. He’s an idiot.”

Min Ho didn’t say anything more and Shin Hye kept her eyes closed, pretending to doze off so he doesn’t strike up a conversation again. Just because they were in a truce doesn’t mean they’re suddenly friends. He still gets into her nerves and she wasn’t going to start being chummy just because he decided to actually treat her like a human being now.

Soon the car slowed down, so she opened her eyes. Min Ho parked right in front of the grocery store and unbuckled his seatbelt. “We’re here.”

Shin Hye immediately got out of the car and marched straight to the building in front of them. It was a Friday, and there were more people there than she expected. Then again, it was already past nine o’clock. The whole place buzzed with noise – a stark contrast to the silence of the Cabin. Once again and for the nth time, she questioned why she agreed to this. She’ll have to express her irritation at Shi Yoon the moment they get back home. With a huff, she approached the carts by the entrance and pulled one before starting off to the aisles.

“Let me do it,” Min Ho nudged her aside, taking over the cart.

She scoffed inwardly. Universe, give me patience. She let it go and walked right beside him. “Okay, let’s do this fast. Where’s Shi Yoon’s list?”

Min Ho stopped in his tracks and turned to her with widened eyes. “.”

“You didn’t bring it?!”

He promptly inserted his hands inside his pockets and patted his jacket. “I think I left it by the fridge at the Cabin.”

Shin Hye hung her head low before looking up at him again with narrowed eyes. “Do you at least have your wallet?”

“It’s right here,” he raised his left hand, clutching a brown, leather wallet.

After a quick grab, she opened the wallet, to Min Ho’s surprise.

“What are you doing?!” He reached for her hand but she turned abruptly to dodge him without even looking up. She pulled out all the cards inside, grimacing at how many he had. Too many. After pocketing them at the back of her jeans, she returned the wallet. “You can’t use credit, debit, ATM cards or anything else that’s traceable. And don’t worry, I’m an assassin, not a thief. I’ll give these back at the Cabin.”

He stared at her, looking displeased. “I knew that. I’m not as stupid as you think I am.”

She shrugged. “Sorry if you felt offended. It’s just that you’ve shown nothing that proves otherwise,” she smirked. She didn’t notice Min Ho make a punching motion behind her. “Let’s just get whatever then,” she said indifferently. The faster they get this over with, the less time she had to spend with him. But she didn’t really know what to get without a list. Shi Yoon always bought groceries because she didn’t like being around so many people. And he never complained because he enjoyed being in a crowd.

“Where do we start?” Min Ho asked.

Where do we start?  That question flustered her a bit; she realized that Min Ho had even less market experience than her. Ah! “Rice. Let’s buy rice,” she said and started looking for the aisle number. “There. Aisle 12. Rice,” she pointed and walked to that direction. He stole a glance at Min Ho from the corner of her eye. He looked like he was just waiting for her.

“Uhm…” she bit her forefinger as she thought. “That one,” Shin Hye pointed to a medium sized sack. Not the smallest, not the biggest. Just right.

Min Ho proceeded to lift the sack and placed it in the cart. “What next?”

“Eh? Uhm.” Shin Hye scanned the aisles. She really wasn’t wired for things like this, but she didn’t want to admit it to the chaebol. “Why don’t pass by every aisle and just get whatever we think is important?” She suggested.

Min Ho nodded. “That could work.”

Shin Hye began to walk to aisle one, with Min Ho on her heels. She was already looking through the shelves when she noticed the chaebol who was just behind her a minute ago wasn’t anywhere near. “Meoya, where did that guy go?” She mumbled as she backed off a few steps. She looked around and caught sight of him glued to a spot not far from one of the sample stalls. It looked like he was watching silently as people ate.

She walked to where he was standing, her patience wearing thin. “What are you doing?” Shin Hye followed his line of sight and realized that he was staring like a starved wolf at beef cuts being grilled at a stall.

“Are those free?” Min Ho asked, pointing to the beef, then to the other stalls that served different samples. He looked and sounded fascinated by the fact that people just ate and never paid.

Shin Hye didn’t know whether to be amused or repulsed by the fact that this man was almost thirty years old but knew nothing about simple, everyday stuff like this one. She didn’t like watching TV or going out much, but she wasn’t this ignorant.

“Those are samples. Of course they’re free,” she replied dryly, ready to pull him away and back to grocery shopping. But one second, he was beside her and the next, he was already in front of the beef stall, grinning and eating to his heart’s content. The server looked unhappy when he ate several pieces.

Shin Hye unconsciously tried to suppress a smile. She forgot to tell him that samples were just meant to be samples and not meals. The chaebol proceeded to the next stall and ate a lot again, pissing off another server. But the server ahjumma didn’t look like she had the heart to tell the man to go away. From where she stood, he looked like a person who hasn’t seen food in days, when in fact, he could buy this market a hundred times over. Shin Hye just crossed her arms and watched him, shaking her head.

After he finished sampling all stalls, he walked back to her with two cups in his hands.

“Are you done?” Shin Hye asked, slightly entertained.

“Misugaru juice,” he handed her one and drank from the other cup. “I can’t believe people just let you eat for free. Why do we even pay for meals?”

“I can’t believe someone like you just said that,” she turned around, hiding a smile, and drank the juice he gave her.

“I may be rich but I appreciate free stuff, too,” Min Ho told her, pushing the cart again. “Oh, let’s buy this,” he removed a bottle from the shelf. Shin Hye didn’t bother wondering what it was he got and just nodded. She proceeded to browse through the shelves. Anything she found familiar, she immediately took and put inside the cart. Min Ho was doing the same. They did this quietly, and within minutes, their cart was almost full. And they haven’t even gone through half of the aisles.

“Shouldn’t we be prioritizing meat or something?” Min Ho asked, turning to look at her quizzically. She glanced down at their cart and realized they’ve bought nothing ‘essential’.

“Kure. We should buy meat,” Shin Hye responded, sounding more confident this time. “You head to the meat section. I’ll go get another cart. We’re running out of space.”

“Okay,” Min Ho replied. “I’ll be over there.”

Shin Hye left to walk to the entrance. It’s going so well so far. Grocery shopping isn’t so bad. Her mood was surprisingly lighter, even with Lee Min Ho around. Maybe this was the reason Shi Yoon wanted to buy groceries all the time. It was strangely comforting just walking around, eyeing what to buy; like there was nothing more important to do at that moment than choose between two brands of soy sauce.

She walked to the meat section where the chaebol was standing with his back to her. The way he stared at the shelves, one would think he was making some important decision.

“Ya. Just get whatever you want,” Shin Hye told him.

“Really?”

“You’re paying anyway.”

“Arasso,” he replied and true enough, picked out everything he wanted. Shin Hye watched as he basically got almost every kind of meat, poultry, beef. Shi Yoon will be pleased, she thought.

They went around the rest of the aisles and filled the second cart. “I think we’re done!” Min Ho announced. Shin Hye found it somewhat absurd how he looked so proud of accomplishing an everyday chore. Then again, it was quite a feat that she was ab