Chapter 2

"Are you excited?" Ryeon asked, watching Lucy eyes widen as the landscape of Busan became more visible.

They had been on the train for hours, and Lucy had been chatting non-stop with Jaesun, Mark, Kimi, and Heejoon. However, as they finally approached the station, she fell silent and displayed exactly how she was feeling at that moment.

They didn't want to travel by car to avoid the risk of an accident, especially since it would soon be Christmas holidays and many other people were on the road travelling. The train was also crowded, so the voices of other conversations could be heard as well. But in that moment, everything seemed to be muted, and Ryeon observed Lucy as he saw her little feet tapping against the wooden floor and her prominent teeth biting her lower lip without mercy.

"Dad is waiting for us at the station," she mumbled. "I miss him so much!"

Ryeon smiled. The train finally stopped, Lucy got up and fetched her own suitcase. The others got off first, but Lucy managed to wait for him to grab his suitcase as well. She helped him grab one of the small violet plants they had—since no one would be staying in the apartment to take care of them. When they got off, Lucy smiled and got excited, seeing her father searching for them in the midst of the crowd and, before noticing them, reaching for his phone.

Jungso called Lucy, asking where they were, but he didn't need an answer when he saw the other young people approaching. Jaesun pointed in their direction, and just like Lucy, Jungso hurried over and took her in his arms in a hug, spinning her around as if she were a little girl. He took care not to make her drop the small pot she held in her hands.

"I missed you so much, Dad!" Lucy hugged him tightly in return, smiling when her feet touched the ground and her eyes finally landed on him. "You look handsome today!"

Jungso clicked his tongue, holding her cheeks.

"I'm always handsome, but look at you, how you've grown! You're beautiful, and your hair has gotten longer!"

Lucy smiled shyly.

"I haven't grown at all, I'm still the same height, Dad," she chuckled softly, hearing Ryeon laughter as he approached.

"You're lucky, love. Getting humiliated by four centimeters is the limit."

Jungso laughed, looking at his son-in-law, but he didn't want to let go of his daughter. He hugged her more, letting Ryeon wait a bit longer.

"Have you guys eaten? I made roasted meat for lunch, but I also made tteokbokki with triple cheese and carrot cake with chocolate topping for dessert. All to make my sweet tooth happy and well-fed."

Lucy smiled dreamily, but her smile grew even wider when she saw her father grabbing her suitcase and one of the little plants ‘José’ so that Ryeon wouldn't risk dropping one of his "grandchildren."

The friends said their goodbyes right there. They had planned to meet at Ryeon house on the penultimate day of the year to go together to the house they had rented months in advance.

They were excited.

Guiding the couple home, Jungso drove and talked about some things he had done with Sun-ha. Her recent tests had shown that everything was perfectly normal, which made him as ecstatic as Lucy.

When they arrived, Ryeon looked at his little house across the street. Rosé was still traveling with her husband, so she wasn't planning to come back anytime soon. The front lawn was neatly trimmed, and the front paint had been touched up.

"I made sure to organize everything," Jungso said, looking at him. "Since we painted the front of our house, I didn't see a problem with painting yours too."

"But you didn't even tell me, Uncle. How much did the labor cost? I'll pay you."

"Relax, kid. We're family, remember? Well, we're not one hundred percent yet, but when you marry my daughter, you'll basically be my son too. And I assume that maybe you guys will move in here. I mean, I also think that, but you get what I mean. I just want to take care of what might be your home. And there was no labor cost because I did the painting myself."

"You? Alone?"

"Well, of course. I'm still young and have plenty of strength. And you can see, it turned out to be a beautiful paint job, didn't it? I did a good job."

Lucy looked at her beige house facade and nodded. Ryeon house had a calm green tone, and Jungso assured them that even the cleaning lady had been there the day before, so everything was perfectly organized.

"I really have to thank you, Uncle. You're a bro, you know?"

Jungso laughed at the slang but turned his gaze to the door opening. Sun-ha appeared there. The woman smiled, approaching, and it didn't take more than a few seconds for her to be hugging her daughter too.

"My angel, how are you? How was the trip? Was it smooth? Have you guys eaten? Oh my, your hair has grown!"

Lucy laughed and just shook her head. Sun-ha smiled at her, then shifted her gaze to Ryeon, but she invited them inside.

The interior of the house was still the same, the furniture in the same places. As usual, Lucy walked to the kitchen, watching Ryeon place the suitcases in a corner of the living room.

"The smell is so good, Dad," she said, looking at the dish on the table.

"Come on, wash your hands and come eat," Sun-ha ordered.

"You can go up and put away the suitcases."

"Oh, about that..." Ryeon scratched the back of his neck, feeling awkward.

"We decided that we'll stay at Ryeon house these days. The house is empty, so... it would be better."

"Better?" the man furrowed his brow, placing both hands on his hips. "Why?"

Sun-ha laughed, touching her husband's shoulder.

"Love, the kids are already grown, they want to be alone, have privacy..."

"But we have that here, don't we? I thought we'd have some time together."

"And we will, Dad, it's just like twenty meters away."

Jungso couldn't completely erase his upset expression, but he eventually nodded. Lucy laughed, even though Ryeon continued to watch her father-in-law closely, not wanting him to feel bad.

"Hey, Uncle, we were thinking about going out for dinner," Ryeon said, sitting at the table as they prepared to eat. "What do you guys say?"

"Sounds great," Sun-ha said, looking at her husband. "What do you think, Jun?"

"Fine, but we'll split the bill"

"I insist on paying for everything, Uncle," Ryeon interrupted him. "It's a way to show how happy I am to see you guys, you know?"

"I don't know about that," the man narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, Jun, stop being difficult, love. We'd love to, Ryeon."

"So tonight?" Lucy asked, serving herself before the others.

Her mother laughed, reaching for Jungso's plate to serve him and served herself as well. Ryeon was the last one to serve himself, and he smiled when he saw his in-laws agreeing to the invitation for that same night.

They spent hours at that house, talking about things they had already discussed over phone calls and video chats, but those conversations didn't compare to being said face to face.

When they grabbed their suitcases and the plants, crossed the street, and stopped at the little house on the other side, Lucy and Ryeon laughed as they saw the older couple by the door, waving as if they were going to the other side of the country again.

"They're so dramatic," Lucy laughed, finally entering the house. "I missed this..."

Ryeon placed the plant pots on the windowsill, being careful to put them in a spot where they wouldn't fall, and took the suitcases to their own room.

Everything was really well-organized. The few clothes that had been left there were clean and ironed. Some skateboards ‘the older ones he hadn't bothered taking to Seoul’ were also neatly organized and dust-free.

"The house smells like eucalyptus," Lucy smiled, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Why didn't you tell your parents about what happened at work?"

"I will tell them, just didn't want to do it now. They were so happy to see us, didn't want to spoil it."

"Spoil? Beautiful, they'll be proud of the stance you took."

"You think so?"

"Yeah, they definitely will be."

"I guess I'll tell them during dinner, or maybe tomorrow. I don't know..."

Ryeon smiled, seeing her gaze fix on nothing, and approached her. It was only when he sat beside his fiancée that he finally had those beautiful eyes on him.

"Do you know what's happening right now?"

"What do you mean?"

"We're alone in the house."

"Are you really wanting to have sex at three in the afternoon after we've stuffed ourselves with food?"

Ryeon laughed out loud but shook his head.

"Not that, babe. I mean that this might be our future home, and we're here alone. It'll be like this when we're married too."

"Do you want to come live here when we're married?"

"It's an option. Mom is in that car-slash-house thing, and even if she stops traveling someday, I don't think they'll come here. She said the house is big enough for a young couple full of dreams to live in. She wants to live freely out there..."

"A couple full of dreams?" Lucy chuckled softly. "Full of dreams of having children, I know my mother-in-law well."

"Maybe, who knows, right?" Ryeon chuckled too. "But we still have a few years until then."

"So, is this our preview of being married?" she asked, watching him nod. "Do you want to do something that only a very in-love couple does when they're like us two?"

Ryeon raised an eyebrow, but nodded, curious. "What?"

"Do you want to take a nap? I'm dead tired, I really want to sleep while being cuddled..."

Ryeon laughed, shaking his head as he saw her with that beautiful and persistent smile. He got up, took off his shirt, then pulled off his pants and socks. He looked at the bride, laughing, then pulled Lucy and lifted her dress. She tried to cover her breasts, laughing because she wasn't wearing a bra, but hugged him in the end and sighed in pure delight as she felt the warmth of his skin against hers.

They lay down in their underwear and tangled up. Lucy yawned, and Ryeon hugged her tighter. It didn't take long for her to close her eyes, her small mouth slightly ajar, softly snoring as she rested with her heart and belly full.