"Oh, dear... Gyu-yah, are you sure you're really fine?"

"I -" my words were cut short by my uncontrollable coughing again. "I'll be fine," I managed with so much force, fingernails boring cresent marks on the flesh of my palms. 

"Alright then. Take care!" my secretary, Myungsoo, said with a worrying frown, and left. 

It was another typical day at work, and as the youngest director out there, I had to maintain the efficiency of my work no matter what. I had to also live up to the expectations of the society, and especially my family. 

The sun was striking especially bright into my room today, as I busied myself with the stacks of papers and many post-its which wrote sign here everywhere. However, no matter how much I willed myself to focus on my work, I would feel like dozing off and my head would get all the numbers wrong. I wasn't tired, but I really needed a break. 

Just then, I thought, hey, maybe Hyunnie was right. Nam Woohyun, the manlier of us both, yet the house-husband. It wasn't that he didn't have a job, which was why he ended up being the one doing the cleaning; he still worked part-time at a childcare. He was an amazing man which had zero incapabilties and the way he breath already radiated perfection to me. 

Now, this husband of mine, just a few months younger, was nagging at me about how I should have stayed home and rest instead of coming to work. He was right, everything that he said, although it hurt - about how much I only cared about my pride and my (our) financial needs more than himself. For this, my Hyun gave me the cold treatment for two days. I had to make it up to him, and went through hell for a full day. 

I signed the nth piece of document, and put back the post-it at where it was stuck several moments ago. I shut the file with agony, and heaved a loud sigh. I was so bored of all these, working towards being the President and taking over my father's job. I could still remember the time when I was so angered by all these inheritance - I had wanted to be an idol, just like my Hyun - but all I was faced with was deafening silence that had me sucuumb to it. 

I looked at the clock at my table and it showed 9:38pm. I guess I had overworked again, and my Hyun will get angry at me for that. I sighed another time. Life wasn't as good as anyone thought. Everyone thinks that my life was perfect - I had a good job, had a good home, and a good family. Truth is, despite all the things I've received, I have only gotten more pressure from the society in return for my achievements. Expectations were set. Tabloids all wrote about how Kim Sunggyu will exceed his father, how Kim Sunggyu will be the best businessman out there. I hated them, to be honest. I never liked how all this were created just because of my family. I wanted everything to be built from scratch, from my own hardwork. I wanted to be an idol, someone who appreciates music who wanted to express life in tunes. 

I took a simple, 15-minute drive home without any thoughts. Before I knew it, I had reached home. I was kind of scared to go into the house, afraid that my Hyun would yell at me. I did not even need to open the door, my Hyun had opened it before me. I guess he was so excited to see me home, or perhaps he was furious. The moment the door opened, my Hyun pulled me into a warm embrace and we just stayed there. He was so warm, unlike the air-condition in my room, which served nothing but a platter of frosted reality. 

"Hey, baby Gyu."

"Hey, Hyunnie."

"Come sit, you must have been tired," he said, putting down my bag and removing my tie for me. "I made porridge today. Mom said that it's good for your throat."

I nodded in appreciation; I wasn't one who expressed a lot. "Thanks dear, you're the best." I scooped a little of the bowl of porridge, and let it settle for my tastebuds. The porridge tingled at my tastebuds, snapping each and every one of them into excitement for more. I must admit, no matter how many michelin stars a restaurant had, the food could never compare to the delicacy my Hyun prepared. Hyun put magic into his food, I suppose, for I could even feel his love from the palatable foods.

"How was work?" he asked, as usual. "Did you manage to do much with the cough?" Snap, I knew that was coming, and it wasn't a good sign. It gave me the vibe that he was mad.

"I guess work was fine." I subtly just said. "...You're right, Hyunnie. About staying at home. I'm so sorry that I didn't listen to you. It didn't exactly go well." 

He just hummed in response, nothing else. The night flew past in a flash; we ate in silence, I showered, we watched the news together, and snuggled on the bed, calling it a day.

The next day, my throat didn't back down, and gave me no mercy. It was as if my throat was telling me serves you right for not listening to Nam Woohyun and yelling at Nam Woohyun. Ugh, this was totally bad. Besides the throat straining whenever I tried to speak, my whole body was aching and warm, and I was feeling cold under the thick covers. 

After several minutes of struggling to breath through my blocked nose, I saw Woohyun walking into our shared bedroom, holding onto a tray full of things. When he settled beside me, he began - silently - dipping a cloth into a bowl of iced water and wrinkling it up. He proceeded to fold it and put it on my head.

"Lie down, dear. You're not good, you need a rest. Come, lie down." He supported me and I silently complied. He put the towel on my forehead and then I felt a pang of coldness leaking through my veins and slowly entering my system. Chilly, but really cold.

We just sat there, not talking, for a good hour. It wasn't an awkward silence, just a quiet, peaceful moment. It was until then I suddenly croaked with a hoarse voice, "Hyun, should we go for a vacation sometime soon? You know, since our marriage 5 years ago. It was postponed because of... you know, right?"

I just brought it up merely because I wanted to make it up to him for being an for the past week, and causing him to take a few days of no-pay leave to take care of the useless me. However, what didn't strike me was the fact that that happened during our honeymoon. Coming to think about it, it wasn't totally unpleasant, but yes, I cannot help but sense the discomfort on my Hyun. 

5 years ago, when Woohyun and I decided to get married, it was the happiest day of our lives. Woohyun proposed to me in an ordinary but cheap and cheesy manner. To be honest, I didn't see the proposal coming. That one fine day, Woohyun decided to play dead with me. He acted like he was dead from an accident, and had me at snot and swollen, bloodshot eyes. Then, he came alive, and I thought I was crazy or depressed. Unfortunately for him, I was too taken away by the shock of the incident, when he said, "It was just a test to see whether you're willing to live with me forever, because I want to live with you forever, take care of you, and be tied together legally," I didn't get a single thing he meant. 

Then came the bad times. We decided to run off to Jeju-do and then to Hong Kong where Woohyun's grandparents lived at for honeymoon. It was then, Woohyun's parents' car was damaged in the engine by someone, and the car swerved off the high mountains of rural Korea. Woohyun was so devastated about it - they were so happy Woohyun was getting married just three days before that. 

It was also because of that incident, I swore to protect Woohyun from everything. He needed to understand that there were people for him, and he could always rely on me. Being the older among us, he was my boy and someone my conscience called me to protect. Death was a fun thing to him just before we got married, and later, death became the hardest thing he could ever face. 

Now back to what I mentioned about our honeymoon, it seemed like Woohyun didn't quite like the idea of going for honeymoon. He just stared into thin air, nothing else. I sat up and circled his waist in my arms and kissed him in the neck. "Hyunnie, I know this is really hard for you, but..."

"Let's go for a honeymoon, okay? I really want to go to Paris, or even Egypt!" He cheerfully said. I just sighed in relief; he was fine. 

The whole day was not exactly the quietest days you could see of us. The whole day, I helped him out in cleaning, and I watched a movie with him. For dinner, he cooked me another bowl of porridge. 

"Yah, don't you ever think that I'm getting bored of porridge?" I whined, "I want steak, ramyun, kimchi chigae, sushi, or anything else from you!"

"Yah, don't be childish." He rolled his eyes at me. Moments later, he smirked, "It's not like you don't like porridge either, do you? What happened to oh Woohyun, my star at night, so bright, would you take a rest and appreciate my porridge?" He mimicked me. 

"Hey!" I frowned. He just laughed at me. Coming to think of it again, he was right. In fact, I really liked porridge, and I sought for its presence for rest.

In middle school, porridge was my life. I only knew how to cook that well, and everything else was a disaster. I learnt how to cook porridge because I wanted to take care of my late grandfather, who could only eat soft food. Sooner or later, I took up the habit of eating with him, and then it became my favourite food. 

I met Woohyun in high school when I transferred to a better high school. He looked so good while playing basketball, and he was flawless. All the girls wanted to be his girlfriend, and the guys wanted to be his teammate or friends. Unfortunately, he wasn't the easiest guy to get along with, so he only had a few friends around him. 

There was this one day then, I saw him training basketball all alone in the dark. He kept trying to shoot into the hoop, but failed over and over again. He stopped, and lied on the floor, panting profusely. "Why... Why?! WHY?!" he just kept yelling, fists clenched and hitting the floor. His condition deteriorated since he was injured from an attack in the previous game. After not being able to stand properly for a month, although people said he could still play well, his injury didn't give him any mercy. It just hollered at him, it up, you can't run anymore. You can't shoot anymore. Basketball isn't for you, and neither is any of your dreams.

He lost it, and the news about him quitting all the sports he had been doing in the past spread around quickly. From the day onwards, when I heard the news, I always dropped a pack of porridge on his desk. From the back of the class he would notice it, and he would dispose of it, and even warned the class for putting trash on his table. I guess he didn't like it. But I persisted, and I started adding post it notes to it, and so on. I wrote encouraging words, and sooner or later, he began eating them for lunch every other day.

If I were him, I would be curious as to who the heck puts porridge on my table every day. In fact, my porridge never stopped coming for nearly a year and a half. It was just one day, that one unlucky day, he decided to spy on the 'porridge sender', and he caught me putting the porridge on the table. His words were cold, harsh and made me very sad. 

"So it's you, huh? Tastes delicious, and I appreciate your sincerity to make me food every other day, but stop this damn thing already. I can't stand it. I can't go on eating porridge everyday; it's bad for my health. You're being overdramatic and annoying. I like it, I guess, but stop this crap. Stop cooking for me. If you like me, just let me know, but this is getting too far that I hate it."

It just stabbed me in the heart. I cried so badly in the toilet, when someone noticed me, I was sent back home. I didn't turn up for school the next few days. On top of it all, I stopped giving him porridge. 

When I returned to school, news spreaded around like wildfire again. This time, Woohyun confessed to the entire world that the school's valedictorian, Kim Sunggyu, was his boyfriend. I couldn't understand all this (blame my absence in school), and when I returned, I was attacked by a mob of angry girls. I nearly got killed, until Woohyun saved me.

That day, we sat at the rooftop together, speechlessly. I know we had to go back to class, but the jock he was stopped us from going. He apologised to me later for being mean, and asking me to stop bringing the porridge. He told me that he really, sincerely, loved it, but it hurts him more to know that no matter how much he loved me, he couldn't get near me. Now that he learnt that I liked him, he became really happy knowing that he had a chance to be with me.

That was how the both of us got together. We started off a little roughly, because no one liked the fact that the high school jock and valedictorian are getting together. Woohyun resumed basketball, and even taught me some basic moves. Sometimes, we played together, and had lots of fun. We didn't care about the school's view about us; we were in our alternate universe, enjoying ourselves.

I jerked back into reality when Woohyun sneezed. He groaned a little and rubbed his eyes. I smirked, "Hey, it's about time, someone who doesn't really care about financial needs and himself begin taking care of himself, no?"

Author's note:

I seriously don't know what to write, and the idea hit me and ran off. This was written in commemoration of Sunggyu-biased Singapore fan group, actually. I really had an idea, but the moment I felt too sleepy and went to bed, two days later (today) begin writing again, and I lost it. I still hope everyone would like it though!! :D

I might also write a sequel or a prequel to it, maybe about their past, or their honeymoon. But that is whether I have time and the mood to write. 

Look out for my other stories!!~ Do subscribe, upvote and comment! :D

~CornflakesPrincess