HYUN [ JJK ]

❝ I learnt it from Youtube. ❞

"I wasn't implying anything." Jaehwa leaned in to reach for the box, her eyes widened upon the sight of bulgogi pizza.

"How many terms do you have left?" Jeongguk asked before he took a bite of the chicken drumstick. She almost chuckled upon the ketchup at the corner of Jeongguk's lips, the way he stared at her with those puppy eyes as he waited for her response made Jaehwa feel something on the inside.

"Four." Jaehwa replied. "A year to go."

"You'll get there sooner than you thought. I was in your shoes." Jeongguk stated proudly, in which what he got in return was a glare from Jaehwa. It was easy for him to blurt that out when he was not the one who's buried in assignments.

Silence took over the small space as they both focused on eating their late dinner. Unlike usual where they always had topics to talk about, the night was surprisingly quiet. Maybe it's because Jeongguk was tired since he just started joining a small production company a few weeks ago, so Jaehwa took his silence that night as a cue for her to not force him to rant about his work as per usual.

"Jae." Jaehwa swallowed hard when Jeongguk broke the silence out of the blue. From her field of vision, she could see how the guy was no longer munching on the chicken. Instead, he was drawing circles on the box with his fingers, looking at somewhere she couldn't tell.

"Hmm?" Jaehwa managed to hum though it was almost inaudible. Her heart palpitated at the sudden change of the atmosphere—the air somehow turned stuffy as the mood tensed up. It freaked her out that Jeongguk looked somewhat serious that it reminded her of the day they talked about sending Hyun to the foster care.

"I thought about this a lot." He paused, not looking up at Jaehwa. "But..."

"But?"

"I think we should end this." Jaehwa stopped chewing immediately, her eyes met Jeongguk's which were wavering for a reason she couldn't tell.

She had never been in a serious relationship until she met Jeongguk. Maybe it was bad of her to not expect anything on the day they decided to date, but as time went by, she found herself falling harder for him to the extent she hoped he is the one.

Her mind was filled with thoughts as the silence continued filling the air of the kitchen. Half of herself wished she was dreaming, but before she could utter a word that could barely rolled off her tongue, Jeongguk took a sharp inhale, a small smile crept onto his lips.

"Let's get married." He breathed. Jaehwa swallowed hard, the thud caused by the pizza that was secured in her hand just now elicited a light chuckle from Jeongguk. Or maybe he was laughing at how pale she was. "I know you're in your final year. I won't force you, but my heart aches every time I think about Hyun." Jaehwa waited for Jeongguk to finish off, her lips went dry as time went by. "Your priority is your study so study for now, hmm? We can put the rest aside for now, until the time is right."

Another silence. God, she hated how quiet the apartment complex was.

"And one more thing." Jaehwa hated this. She hated how calmed and collected Jeongguk was while she could barely breathe properly. She hated how Jeongguk could blurt everything without any stutter like he had thought about it since forever, like he had practiced the lines over and over again that every muscle of him had memorised what to do. "I want you to know that I'm doing this not because of the custody. I love you. I love you so much. I really do, and I can't imagine myself marrying someone who's not you."

Jaehwa didn't know whether to laugh or awe upon what she just heard. It felt so not Jeongguk, it felt so weird to have him staring deep into her soul like he was reading her inside out. Yet, behind the foreign feeling, she couldn't believe how much Jeongguk had grown, how much he had matured if to be compared to the day they first met. Maybe the events that happened during their encounter were the reason why he changed into such man.

"Kim Jaehwa?" Jaehwa snapped back to reality when she felt a hand on top of hers. There, she saw him holding her hand that was placed on the table and much to her surprise, Jeongguk's hand was icy cold just like hers.

"Jeongguk-" She breathed out, trying her best to flash a small smile. Jaehwa was happy that it was finally happening, but her tongue froze every time she wanted to utter a word. "I-"

"Will you marry me?"

At least, she gave up to blurt the word out. It was replaced with a gesture instead—a light nod was all it took to make Jeongguk loosen up. Jaehwa didn't notice how stiff he had been until he sank deeper into his chair, his hand against hers started to feel warm again.

"Alright. Give me a minute."

"Jeongguk, what-"

Jaehwa's words were cut off when Jeongguk left his seat to shuffle next to her chair, kneeling on the floor before he took something out from his pocket. Jaehwa knew this was going to be really cliché—this proposing stuff, the happy tears and all but deep inside her, she believed Jeon Jeongguk wasn't a cliché guy she saw in dramas. He always had his own way to amaze her (in both and bad ways) ever since day one.

"Give me your hand." Jaehwa was prepared for this whole event, but she burst into laughter when Jeongguk took a ring out of his pocket.

"Jeongguk-" She broke into another round of laughter, had to clasp her stomach with her other hand as she threw her back backwards. "What is this?!"

"Shut up. I learnt it from Youtube."

Jaehwa was still trying to swallow her laughter when Jeongguk slid the aluminium foil ring into her ring finger, both amused and perplexed at how her boyfriend's mind worked.

"It smells like fried chicken." Jaehwa said after she sniffed the ring that was now around her finger. "You could use a new aluminium foil."

"I haven't got my first payment yet. Don't worry, I will change this into something better later. By the way, don't ever degrade fried chicken like that. Fried chicken is life. And you-" Jeongguk paused before he propped himself up with his arms, planting a quick peck on her lips but it made Jaehwa shriek a bit when he spontaneously licked her lips playfully, cleaning pizza crumbs off them. "Are my life too."

"You're nasty!"

"I have always been."