Kiss Me

I’m falling for your eyes, but they don’t know me yet

And with a feeling I’ll forget, I’m in love now

Kiss me like you wanna be loved,

You wanna be loved,

You wanna be loved

This feels like falling in love,

Falling in love,

We’re falling in love

Jaerim and Soeun were seated shoulder to shoulder on their couch at home, both enjoying the coffee that Jaerim had made after breakfast. It was silent except for the casual sipping of their coffee and Soeun’s giggle every once in a while when Jaerim would shoot a cheesy smile her way. They both heard the doorbell and when Jaerim refused to answer the door, Soeun urged him with a gentle but firm pat on his shoulder. Jaerim continued to sip on his coffee.

“Oppa, now that my drama has finished and we’ve had our wedding ceremony you’re really going to act this way?”

“N…no…”

Soeun leaned in front of Jaerim to catch his gaze and used as much aegyo to make her husband answer the door. Knowing he couldn’t resist her no matter how hard he tried, he complied and received the awaiting mission card.

Soeun put her matching couple mug with Jaerim down as he sat back down next to her. He wrapped his right arm around her shoulders before they opened the mission card together.

“To Jaerim and Soeun couple, we hope that your newlywed life has been blissful so far. To make even more good memories at the start of your marriage, please pack your bags for a 3 days and 2 nights camping trip at the following location.”

Within the envelope they also found 50,000 won along with a few pictures of the spot where they would be camping. Jaerim and Soeun were equally delighted and decided to make a list of things they needed before they left.

“We need clothes, a tent, foldable chairs and tables, toiletries, and food. We can stop by at the supermarket to buy some things to cook…” Jaerim trailed off, babbling and hastily writing down things they needed for their trip while Soeun was enraptured again with Jaerim’s special attention to detail. She could see the gears turning in his head as he planned and she found it unbelievably cute. She couldn’t help the smile that erupted on her face and she took out her phone and snapped a few more photos to add to her personal collection.

Jaerim was so caught up in his planning that he hadn’t even heard the first few clicks of Soeun’s phone. When he finally realised that she was taking his photo he began to pose, eyes squinted and smile visibly showing his teeth, Soeun’s favorite pose.

“Am I cute?”

Soeun nodded enthusiastically and showed him some of the photos that she took.

“Soooo cute! My husband is the cutest!”

Soeun emphasised her statement by giving him a thumb’s up, fully displaying her half of the couple rings that Jaerim had made. Jaerim lightly pinched her left cheek and came in close.

“I can also be cute at night.” Jaerim added a wink for effect and took note of Soeun’s flushed face. Ever since their photoshoot for Allure, whenever their faces were close together, or when they were together in general, in the moments of silence, in the moments when they didn’t even realise it, and underneath all the teasing and bantering, their thoughts would drift off to…a kiss, a confession, wanting, wishing, hoping and believing that what they had was more than just compatibility, chemistry and ; that what they had was the real thing. “I’m cute when I sleep.”

Soeun composed herself and threw a series of hits to his back, as he cried out in mock pain and laughed. To further distract herself from entertaining the thoughts of what could happen between them at night, Soeun changed the subject. “Oppa, you know you can’t bring the bidet, right?”

Jaerim hung his head as if feeling defeated at the prospect of no bidet, but nodded his head. He lightly lay his head on Soeun’s shoulder and she gently his hair. “I know. I’ll have to dig us a hole then…”

Jaerim and Soeun lugged out baggage that seemed to be fit for a one month trip. Expecting to find their regular car, they were both surprised to find a camping car. They stepped inside and offloaded their luggage and found that it was a small but cosy camping car. When Jaerim stepped into the driver’s seat, Soeun noticed that he was pouty.

“What’s wrong, Oppa?”

“I guess we can’t use the tent…”

Soeun smiled in realisation. “We can still sleep in the tent and then use the camping care for cooking and the bathroom. You won’t have to dig a hole anymore!”

Jaerim held up his hand for a high-five. “Oh yeah! Let’s go!”

They arrived at a supermarket and Jaerim took out his phone with his planned shopping list. Soeun grabbed his wrist and led him over to the refrigerated kimchi section.

“Jagiya…why are we here? Could it be, you want to make kimchi jjigae?”

Soeun nodded her and before Jaerim could get a word out about what happened the first time, Soeun linked her arm around his and swayed from side to side, like a little child asking for something. “I promise, Oppa, it’ll be really good this time. I brought some stuff from home so I’ll make it really well.”

Jaerim took the opportunity to interlace their fingers as he silently grabbed the bag of kimchi and placed it in their basket. “I’ll look forward to my Soeun’s cooking then.” He ruffled her hair and they proceeded to pick up the rest of their ingredients for their camping meals for the next three days.

It was a few hours later when they arrived at their camping spot. Soeun had fallen asleep approximately 30 minutes prior, believing that it would be another couple of hours before they arrived at their destination. Jaerim parked the camping car and leaned back in his seat to admire his wife. He made sure that she was sleeping soundly before carefully getting out of the car and setting up their tent, table and chairs and decorating the area by hanging up some of their pictures and setting up glass jars with a tea light candle in them for that evening. Too absorbed in his work, he didn’t notice Soeun creeping up behind him. To his complete surprise, not only did she lean forward to meet his eyes with a big smile on her face, she also wrapped her arms around his waist. Even if it was just for a moment, he felt how much she appreciated all that he had done for her. She clapped her hands, while marvelling at the completely set up camping site, and took out her phone for the second time that day to take some more photos.

After hiking for a couple of hours, they arrived back at their camp site at dark and Soeun set out to start preparing dinner. She ordered Jaerim to sit back and relax but that didn’t deter him from following her and leaning over her shoulder and helping her out once in a while. At the completion of her dish, Soeun expectantly stared up at Jaerim while he tasted her kimchi jjigae.

“How is it?”

When Jaerim shut his eyes and pretended to wince, she poked his stomch causing him to spit out some of the soup in his mouth. Like an attendant wife, she grabbed some tissues and wiped his mouth. She took a spoonful and sampled some of the soup for herself and when she realised that it tasted just as good as how she makes it at home, she poked Jaerim a few more times.

“It’s fine! Tell me the truth, good or bad?”

Jaerim grabbed the hand that was currently directly a spoon at him. “I was joking. It’s really really really good because my Soeun made it with love!”

Soeun dropped the spoon and shrugged out of his grasp to take the pot and place it on the table. Jaerim followed her with two bowls of rice, and they both sat down and began to eat their dinner. When they were both full, Jaerim drank the remainder of the soup to show Soeun that he loved her cooking and as an apology for making a joke earlier. Soeun his hair in appreciation.

“It tastes really good? You’ve eaten really well…”

Jaerim flashed her his satisfied smile, and she sent him one back.

“Soeun-ah, have you ever seen the stars up close?”

Without waiting for her reply, Jaerim stood up and retrieved a telescope, as Soeun’s eye twinkled with amazement.

“You prepared all this?’

Jaerim let out a laugh to show her how proud he was of himself. She moved closer and he gently took hold of her shoulder and positioned her in front of the telescope. He leaned forward over her shoulder to show Soeun how to use it, as Soeun had a sharp intake of breath when she felt Jaerim’s breath near her ears and neck as he instructed her. She shivered from the autumn air, to which Jaerim subconsciously enveloped her in a tighter hug as he directed the telescope east of its current view.

“If you look here you should be able to…”

Not even hearing Jaerim’s words from their close proximity, Soeun leaned forward to look through the telescope. When she could only see darkness and no stars, she turned to her left to ask Jaerim why she couldn’t see anything, but all thought left her mind when she found his lips so closer to hers.

Jaerim was equally as surprised, but he couldn’t turn away. He couldn’t distract himself this time. This wasn’t work, anymore. He couldn’t even see the cameras. He could only see her. When he realised that she wasn’t turning away either, or hitting him, or laughing out of embarrassment, he decided to test the waters. He moved closer, ever so subtly, and she didn’t move back. Just a little bit closer and his eyes flickered over to hers: so bright, so clear, and seemingly determined, like something had been realised. Soeun’s eyes fluttered to a close. His hand cupped her left cheek. Just a little bit closer. His eyes closed. He pressed his lips onto hers. It wasn’t passionate, but gentle. It was a consummation of the truth of that moment; like they were two people in love.

A few days after they camping trip, Jaerim came into the studio for his backroom interview.

“The kiss?”

Jaerim had a contented smile on his face while answering.

“In that moment, I just…”

He looked directly at the camera, and beamed.