When he spotted her coming out from the bedroom, he hurriedly pushed the square gift box out of the view. "Buin, come here." Hyun Joong extended his arm, waving his hand towards Hwang Bo, gesturing her to come to him. He patted the empty seat next to him and gave her a warm smile.
Hwang Bo who had just changed her clothes, was heading towards the kitchen. Two of her brothers in laws were coming for dinner. She had to prepare delicious and nutritious dinner for them. Nevertheless, she made a 180 degree change in direction when Hyun Joong gestured her. She complied without even wondering why Hyun Joong asked her to sit next to him on the couch.
"Do you want to do this?" asked Hyun Joong as he bent over to his side. He took gift box he hid beside the couch and placed it on the coffee table in front on them.
Hwang Bo let out a sharp exclaim of delight. She covered her face with her hands in disbelief. "You get me a present? A real one?" she asked. Her face beamed with joy and she was smiling excitedly.
He removed the box cover with deadpan look. "No. I borrowed it," Hyun Joong answered in flat tone.
Her expression changed from joy to gloom upon hearing the word 'No'. She pouted and gave him a deadly glare. Despite the glare, she still extended her neck and leaned forward to see the content inside the box anyway. The pout changed into a smile again. Wider this time. "Manicure?" She greedily took out the nail polish bottle one by one with both hands.
Hyun Joong bobbed his head several times. He grinned at Hwang Bo's thrilled expression.
"Shillang, I like this color!" Hwang Bo gasped and shoved the nail polish bottle on her hand on Hyun Joong's face.
Hyun Joong had to literally press his back against the couch to avoid the nail polish bottle from crashing onto his nose. He narrowed his eyes to look at the bottle of green nail polish. Lime green to be exact, as printed on the bottle.
"Where did you get all this?" asked Hwang Bo. She scanned the bottles one by one and counted more than 20 colors all together.
"I borrowed it from my girl friend."
Hwang Bo darted a deadly glare at him again. "Girlfriend? How could you have a girlfriend when you already have me, Hwang Buin? Did you forget the contract?" Hwang Bo pushed the gift box aside to reveal the marriage contact underneath the glass top of the coffee table. "Did you look at other woman?" she asked, jabbing the glass at where the exact line he wrote on the honeymoon was visible.
He remained quiet as if he was thinking deeply about her questions. "Girl. Friend. Not girlfriend. Friends who are girls."
"Who?"
"You don't know them."
"Ask them to come."
"Kyu Jong and Hyung Joon are coming afterwards. Our house is not big enough for party. Buin, if we invite my girlfriends then we have to invite your boyfriends too," he said, threatening her against inviting his friends who were girls. As he said this calmly, he picked four colors and set them aside.
Hwang Bo looked at Hyun Joong, thinking thoroughly. "Shillang, after thinking about it.. I do actually have a lot of boyfriends," she said, followed by a loud chuckle. She patted his knee, assuring him that they were just friends who were boys.
Hyun Joong was quiet but he looked annoyed. "That's why we shouldn't invite your boyfriends over."
"And your girl friends too, understand?" Hwang Bo cut in his sentence.
"Our pool isn't big enough to entertain them all," said Hyun Joong in sad tone. He looked at the inflatable pool at the corner of their living room.
"You like the pool more than me."
"No. I like Buin more." He quickly changed the subject. "I picked four colors. Buin picks four colors too."
Hwang Bo's wide smile when Hyun Joong said he liked her more than the pool was very hard not to notice. It stretched from one ear to the other. "Do you know how to do manicure?" she asked, sounding doubtful.
Hyun Joong nodded. "My girlfriend told me how."
Hwang Bo sighed and pouted at the word 'my girlfriend' he used.
However, Hyun Joong failed to notice the pout. He cheerfully instructed Hwang Bo to spread out her hands. "Your nails are healthy," he commented like an expert, deriving a smile from Hwang Bo. "First, we have to remove the old nail polish." He looked inside the gift box and pulled out a bottle of nail polish remover. Then he carefully soaked a cotton ball with a good amount of nail polish remover. Gently, in a single stoke, he wiped her nails one by one to remove the existing nail polish. "OK. Now soak your nails in bowl of warm water."
For a moment, none of them move.
"Buin, go and get that bowl of warm water," he said with a hint of tease in his voice.
Hwang Bo rolled her eyes. Just when she thought he would pamper her totally with a manicure, he instructed her to get a bowl of warm water. Immediately as she was about to get up from the couch, Hyun Joong pushed her down to hold her back. "You'll do it because you like me a lot, right?" Hwang Bo stared at him with a timid smile.
"No. I like playing with water," replied Hyun Joong with straight face.
Hwang Bo pouted. "But you are afraid of sharks!" she reminded him. By this time, she could detect the playful tone in his voice. She decided to play along with him.
"Buin! You rear shark in our kitchen?" He faked a shock look which prompted Hwang Bo to give him a few good hits on his shoulder. Hyun Joong chuckled. "Let's do rock, paper, scissor.." His suggestion was cut short by Hwang Bo who asked "Again?" in surprised tone as if she could not believe it. He nodded. "Yes. We don't seem to be able to make decision on anything. This is the only way to do it."
"Rock, paper, scissor!" Hwang Bo sighed. She was ready to accept her lost when Hyun Joong suddenly got up, saying, "I lost. I'll do it." Hwang Bo stared at his back with opened mouth.
Hyun Joong came back with the bowl of warm water. He placed in on the table. He sat on the floor, facing her. He took Hwang Bo's hands, guiding her towards the bowl.
He did it in silence with gentleness that almost killed Hwang Bo. Her heart fluttered.
After a few minutes in silence, Hyun Joong took her hands out of the bowl and patted them dry with a towel. Then he squeezed a good amount of moisturizer onto her palm before asking her to smooth it all over her hands. Again, with the same gentleness, he clipped her nail carefully.
He did it in full concentration which prompted Hwang Bo to emit a soft chuckle. "Shillang, I'm sorry but when you concentrate like this.. You look like a school boy solving difficult mathematics homework." She threw her head backward and covered her eyes with her arm.
"I'm good in mathematics," he protested. Hyun Joong crane his neck to glance at her. "Are you crying?"
"Yes. I'm too happy. My Shillang is so nice to me."
"You cry a lot every time I'm nice to you. People might think I'm not nice to you a lot of time. People might think maybe you make a mistake marrying me."
"Am I not allowed to be happy?"
"Of course but you are not allowed to cry when you're happy."
Hwang Bo quietly agreed with him when she unconsciously nodded her head several time.
After he was done trimming her nails, he grabbed a nail file to smooth the edges.
When she saw him holding the nail file, Hwang Bo immediately pulled her hands away and put them up. "Shillang, wait! Do you know how to do this?" Again, she asked with suspicion. She did not want him to break her nails if he did it wrongly.
"Of course," replied Hyun Joong with confident. "My girlfriend.."
"My girlfriend! My girlfriend again!" Hwang Bo shouted.
Hyun Joong was shocked with her outburst.
"Am I allowed to cry when I'm angry? Am I even allowed to be angry?"
Hyun Joong placed his hands on her shoulders and squeezed them lightly. "Yes. But why are you angry?"
Hwang Bo sighed in exasperation. She gave up. She would not admit to jealousy if he was not sensitive to it.
"Buin." Hyun Joong paused. He stared at the nail file. "Actually.." He chuckled. "I have no confident with this." He quickly handed the nail file to Hwang Bo.
Hwang Bo laughed, taking the nail file from him. She started to smooth the edge of her nails to make them round again after the clipping. "I'll do it myself," she mumbled softly.
His eyes were wide with amazement as he watched Hwang Bo's skill. It was one of the woman skills that man just lacked. His jaw dropped.
"Shillang." A brief silence followed. "Seriously, who is the girlfriend?"
"No one."
"If she's no one, why are you always 'my girlfriend, my girlfriend' like that?"
"Are you jealous?" He leaned forward and tilted up his head to look at Hwang Bo's expression.
She lowered her head even more and turned it to the side to hide her expression from him.
Hyun Joong grinned. He pointed his finger at her accusingly. "You are jealous!"
Hwang Bo could not hide her blush. She stamped her feet in annoyance. "Yes, I am! Are you happy?"
"Hhhmm.. Very happy. Actually the friends who are girls are seniors from the company. I asked them about manicure so that I can give Buin one." He smiled happily after the confession.
Hwang Bo pouted again. "You tricked me."
He was still smiling happily even after Hwang Bo's accusation.
She was relief to hear it. "Aa.. Seniors." She nodded her head to acknowledge. "It's good to have seniors. You can consult them when you need help," she said. "I'm done." She lifted her hands, showing Hyun Joong the now rounded edges.
He nodded his approval which brought another smile to her lips. "I'll do your nail now. What color did you choose?" he asked.
"These four colors." Hwang Bo pointed at the four bottles of nail polish she set aside earlier.
"OK. I'll paint nice color for you. First layer, then let it dry. Then another layer, right? That's what seniors told me." He put cotton ball between her fingers.
"You learn well."
He started to apply the first layer, the clear nail polish. He did it carefully and slowly, blowing at the nails from time to time to dry the first coat. He took his time to finish all ten nails.
She watched in giddiness. From her point of view, he looked like he was painting a masterpiece. She felt like she would really cry anytime now despite Hyun Joong telling her that she could not before. Hwang Bo stared him when he got up. Her sight followed him who disappeared into the bedroom.
He came out carrying a pillow and a table fan. He lifted her hands, placed the pillow on her laps and rested her hands on the pillow. Then he switched on the table fan, aiming it to blow at low speed at her nails to speed up drying.
"I'll do your nails after this," Hwang Bo offered.
Hyun Joong was quiet at the suggestion.
"Don't you want me to?"
"Only one." He showed her his right thumb.
"Do all ten," Hwang Bo insisted.
"No. Kyu Jong and Hyung Joon are coming later. I'm supposed to work, not having fun."
"As a Hyung, you are embarrassed, right?"
"No. I'm doing manicure with my wife. There's nothing to be embarrassed about. OK. Do all ten but if they like it and want you to do for them, I'm telling you now that the other members will want it too."
"Jung Min and Young Saeng too?" She was shocked.
"Hhhmm."
"I'll paint one only," Hwang Bo quickly told him.
Hyun Joong picked the yellow nail polish and started to paint Hwang Bo's thumb nail.
"Shillang, Hyung Joon's ideal girl is pretty, Kyu Jong's nice. What's your ideal girl like?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Of course it matter. I want to know."
"I'm married to Hwang Buin now. Others don't matter anymore. It was before, not now."
Hwang Bo insisted to know. She asked again, "Am I close to your ideal girl from before?"
"You are the ideal woman now."
She smiled. She was very satisfied with the answer.
He continued to paint, changing between all the colors they individually picked. But he stole a glance towards her direction. He caught her smiling. She did not notice that. Hyun Joong too, smiled.
"Do you want to know what my ideal man is like?" Hwang Bo asked out of nowhere. Immediately, she heard a firm "No" from Hyun Joong. She threw her head backward and was laughing out loud until her stomach hurt. She bent forward, trying to hold her stomach.
"Don't move. It'll spoil my painting." Hyun Joong gave her a warning look. "Why do you want to tell? I don't ask about it. I already know what your ideal guy is like. Like me. Like me. That's why you marry me."
"Bingo!" She winked at him, biting her lower lip shyly at the same time.
Hyun Joong put down the red nail polish he was holding. "Done," he announced.
She brought her hands up to see his work of art. "What is this?" she asked, laughing out loud and gasping at the same time. Hyun Joong left her little finger clear, not painting another color on the top of it. On the ring finger, he drew a few small dots. One pink dot in the middle surrounded by five red dots. "Flowers?" she asked. "This is cute." The middle finger was half colored on the top, the way she sometimes did it. He did a random swirl pattern with three different colors on the index finger. Her thumb had a large yellow dot with two small black dots and a curvy line. "It's a smiley!"
He gave her a smug look. "I learnt well from seniors. They are pretty, right?"
"Very colorful. Unexpected. Creative." She nodded her approval.
"Pretty," he summarized what she said in one word. "OK!" Hyun Joong got up, clapping his hands. "Time to cook. Buin, hurry up. Go to the kitchen." He pointed towards the kitchen and grinned. He sat next to her on the couch, looking at her looking at his painting on her nails. He duplicated the same pattern on both hands. He was proud of his artwork. He was proud it made Hwang Bo smiling.
Hwang Bo was the youngest among her two siblings. Her Oppa pampered her a lot, treating her like a little girl; but played with her rough, treating her like a boy. Being married in the We Got Married show to Hyun Joong who was six years younger than her, she treated him like a dongseng. She was playing the Noona role she never was. To her, he was merely a dongseng whom she hang out with to have fun. At the very early of their marriage, she did mother him a lot, protecting him a lot. Now she had to keep reminding herself to safeguard her feeling. It was very easy to slowly falling for him. She had been falling for him since the past few episodes. She was still falling. Who would protect her from the dongseng who had captured her heart with his charm?
- the end -
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