Ice: Thaw the Frozen Heart [EDITING]

Chapter 29

"Hey, wake up." Kris gently shook her shoulder.

Yeojin stirred on her seat and stretched her arms and legs. She let out a little yawn as her eyes slowly fluttered open. She rubbed her squinted eyes and let out a content sigh.

She couldn't remember the last time she cried hard like yesterday since she had always thought that it was better to hold in all the sadness. But after yesterday, Yeojin felt relieved. She could even fall asleep easily while she usually had a hard time doing so on her birthday. For that, she was thankful to Kris. When he told her they should go home after her crying session, she thought he meant the mansion. But he was thoughtful enough to go to their own house instead. She didn't want to meet the family with puffy eyes, and she had that weird longing to be with only Kris for the day. It felt weird, though, that he referred to their house as their home.

"Come on. Let's get something to eat." Kris unbuckled his seatbelt and alighted the car.

Yeojin followed after some more stretching. She let out another yawn as she alighted the car.

"You're still sleepy?" He asked as they walked toward the food court at the rest area.

"You woke me up at 5," she deadpanned and he smirked.

Yeojin didn't know what he was up to when he woke her up from her pleasant sleep at 5 in the morning. He just told her to take a quick shower. She complained at first, but Kris threatened to carry her to the bathroom and wash her himself if she didn't get up on the count of three. Her eyes immediately shot opened just when he started counting, and she ran to the bathroom without anymore retort. Yeojin still felt sleepy when they walked to the garage. She wanted to ask where they were going so early in the morning but was too sleepy to even ask. She fell asleep again once she made herself comfortable on her seat.

Even now, she still felt a little bit like a zombie as she walked behind Kris, trying to hold back another yawn. But the weather was pretty nice and she felt somewhat refreshed.

"Sokcho?!" Yeojin's eyes were almost popping out of their sockets.

"That's what I just said," Kris nonchalantly replied, taking some of her fried goguma, as they walked back to the car.

"Why?" Yeojin stopped in her steps. The memory of the last time they were there was still fresh in her mind. Her cheeks were suddenly hot, probably red- she assumed- because she could feel blood rushing to her cheeks.

"You'll see." Kris answered with a proud smirk.

Somehow his tone only made Yeojin blushed even more at a thought she quickly dismissed.

He belatedly realized that she was stopping and turned back around. "Why are you standing there?" He arched an eyebrow. He saw her reddened cheeks and only then it dawned on him that his words could have meant something else. Especially knowing what happened in Sokcho before. He felt his own cheeks burning as he swallowed. "I-I'm not going to do anything to you. If that's what you're thinking." He cleared his throat and Yeojin started trotting after him.

"I-I-I wasn't thinking you would do anything to me," she stuttered as she walked past him toward the car.

The ride continued with silence. It was an awkward silence at first, but it soon turned into a comfortable one when Kris decided to turn on the radio.

"Hey, do you have tissue?" Yeojin asked after finishing her fried goguma.

"Yeah, in the console." He nodded his head toward the compartment between their seats.

She opened the compartment and took out the tissue. She paused when she did a double take at what she saw in the compartment. Her lips parted and she just blinked at the small object she thought had been thrown away. It was a gold ring. A wedding ring. HIS wedding ring.