Palace to Plunder (AMBW)

7 DDU

"You still have these photos?" I glanced at Mom, as we walked into her home. The photos I was referring to were the ones I took for my portfolio years ago. That brought up so many memories. "Look Qi Tai, remember this one?" I pointed at the photo of him eating at the restaurant where we went on our first date.

"Oh wow." He picked up the frame and grinned. "We should take the kids here and to your old school sometime."

"Heavens no." I snorted. "I don't wanna go back. I spent so much time there worrying about exams."

"You wouldn't wanna go see your old professors?" Qi Tai raised a brow at me and placed the frame back down onto the shelf.

"You've never taken me to whatever school you graduated from in Korea."

"I graduated from a school here." He rolled his eyes and pushed past me, dragging our suitcases behind him. Joon and Jiyun ran after him with their bags, and I stepped inside, locking the door behind us.

"Did you cook anything?" I glanced in my mother's kitchen.

"You haven't changed, have you." Mom rolled her eyes at me and took out a jar full of my favorite chocolate chip cookies she used to make for me as a kid. I rushed inside like a child, with a wide smile.

"Ah ah." Mom stopped me. "Let the kids take some first."

"Mom!" I whined. "They haven't even had dinner yet."

"They can have one before dinner." She smiled and called out to them. "Joon! Jiyun!" I held my mouth open wide and glared at her. If it were me, she'd always tell me not to spoil my appetite! I would get an entire 30-minute lecture on why I shouldn't eat dessert before dinner.

Joon ran in first and Jiyun chased after him. My mother handed Joon a cookie. "Split it with your sister." Joon frowned and broke the cookie in half before giving Jiyun a piece.

"Say Thankyou." I leaned against the counter and nodded at them.

"Thank you, grandma." Joon bowed his head. Jiyun mumbled out the same thing but it came out like gibberish.

~

"Hey!" I whisper shouted at Qi Tai, who was in the kitchen taking out a lot of cookies from the jar for himself. It was after midnight, and the kids were sleeping with their grandma. "I can't believe you snuck out here, and you're taking too much!"

"Oh please." He chuckled and took a bite. "Why are you out here so late? Are you the cookie police? Or trying to sneak some for yourself?" He shot back and pushed the jar back onto the counter. I coughed in embarrassment at his accusation.

"I..y-you!" I stuttered and bit my lip. "You're going to have to work off all those calories!" I poked his shoulder and shoved past him towards the jar.

"I know a good way we can work it off." He whispered in my ear flirtatiously, and I felt heat rise to my cheeks.

"I'm not doing that with you here." I grabbed a cookie and took a bite.

"Why not? I'll make it quick."

"Shut up, Levi." I almost choked on my treat, knowing good and well he was lying. "I'm not doing that in my childhood home, and I'm not doing it with my mother in the other room. These walls are thin."

"There's always the bathroom." He smirked. "We can turn on the shower to drown out the sound." He placed his torso against my back and leaned forward to place a kiss on my shoulder.

"Do you ever stop?" I wheezed. "What is wrong with your mind lately?" I poked his forehead and nudged him away.

"I've been overworked and need a reward." He admitted. "We haven't had alone time lately."

"The more you keep acting like that, the more children we'll probably have." I snorted. "And then we really won't have any alone time."

"I'm not opposed to proving you wrong on that." He lowered his voice, in a dark tone.

"My god.." I placed the lid back on the jar and strolled back to the living room. I was half-convinced he was doing that so he could take more of my mother's homemade cookies for himself.