The Birdhouse

Dreams can come true

"If you're brave enough to take the leap, even the most impossible dreams can come true"

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Jipyeong and Dalmi stood at the entrance of Dalmi's house, they were holding hands as he greeted halmeoni and Dalmi's mum. The look of surprise on her mum's face was palpable, as her eyes fell on their hands then onto their faces, and back to the hands. Noticing her mum's reaction, he felt perhaps it was a bit inappropriate to be holding hands in front of them, so he loosened his hold and was going to let go but Dalmi held his hand even tighter. She turned to look at him and smiled, reassuring. His lips curved and dimples were now back on his cheeks.

Halmeoni not being able to really see what was happening, she thought she had to pretend this was the first time she met him again. He did ask them to keep quiet about his visit before to avoid Dalmi. "Aigoo, Good Boy, when did you come back?", halmeoni asked trying to put on a show. Little did she know, Jipyeong already filled Dalmi in about his secret visits during the drive back to her house. Dalmi stifled a laugh, seeing how bad halmeoni's acting was.

His lips pursed seeing dear halmeoni trying to cover up for him. He cleared his throat, then said in a loud whisper, "halmeoni, she knows..". "Knows what....ah, she does!?", halmeoni asked confirming as she realised what he was telling her. Dalmi's mum then thought she should fill her in and whispered in her ears, "Eommoni, they're holding hands right now."

"WHAT?", halmeoni yelled, startling everyone. "So...you're both...how?", she smiled widely. She couldn't contain her happiness, it's like a dream come true. She always wished Dalmi and Jipyeong could be together, she loved them the same. Even Dalmi's mum was now grinning, seeing how happy Dalmi was right now. All these times they thought Dalmi was unhappy because of relationship issue with Dosan, but now they knew what the real reason was, she hasn't smiled like this since Jipyeong left.

"Halmeoni, it's going to be a long story, so I'll tell you later. Right now, should we all have dinner first? I'm hungry", Dalmi said, then turned to Jipyeong, "You can stay for dinner, right?". He smiled and nodded, "of course, I'd love to."

The night was filled with lots of love, warmth and laughter. They made grilled beltfish which had become his favourite food now. This time Dalmi gave him the biggest piece, inducing teases from her family and laughter afterwards. Jipyeong was so happy he couldn't hide his wide dimpled smile from showing and was grinning from ear to ear.

It couldn't get any better than this, Jipyeong thought, looking into Dalmi's eyes as he was leaving after dinner. "Go inside, it's getting chilly", he said softly. "Ok, drive safely, I'll see you tomorrow morning?", she asked. He would have to go to Seonju to pick up Dalmi's car early tomorrow morning since it was too late now. He smiled and nodded then kissed her forehead lightly, "Good night, sweet dreams". He still couldn't believe he was now holding her hand and bidding her goodnight. He wanted to kiss her lips again like he did today when they were at Seonju but he was afraid it'd be too much for her in one day. He wouldn't dare to ask for more, so every little thing he could get was enough for him.

That's it? Dalmi was feeling a bit disappointed. If only Jipyeong knew she wanted more than just a light kiss on the forehead, remembering the kisses they shared previously. She blushed, touching her cheeks as they're getting warm and red. Jipyeong noticed the blush, "what are you thinking of?", he asked with a cheeky smile. "Nothing...", she averted her eyes somewhere else, unable to look at him in the eyes, feeling embarrassed. His lips curved, trying to hold his big smile threatening to come out any second. When he finally managed to regain his composure, he lowered his head so he could see her face but she was still avoiding eye contact. Then he called her softly, "Dalmi-ah".