2018

COURTING

It was a quarter past ten when Yejin woke up. The blackout curtains was slightly open, allowing just enough sunlight to brighten her room. The curtain's room-darkening feature was only used when she's filming back to back projects, where her sleeping schedule is not fixed. On her free days, she prefers having it slightly opened and wake up with a bright room to welcome the new day.

Still half-awake, she checked the time through her phone. The first thing she saw was a message notification from Bin. She jolted up in bed to read it again but felt lightheaded at the sudden movement so she closed her eyes and lay down to recover, smiling as she remembered their moment before they slept.

"Good morning! I bet you're still asleep. I have something for you on your doorstep. Pick it up when you wake up. -ktp"

She read his message twice before she got her senses back and realized what it meant. She went out of her room to check what he left for her.

A beautiful bouquet of peonies was placed neatly just outside her door. She picked it up and smiled at his gesture. A handwritten letter was tucked in between the flowers.

She went in and placed the flowers in her dining table. The blush on her cheeks were as pink as the flowers she was holding. Taking the letter out, she appreciated his neat handwriting.

"Good morning, Yejin
I hope the flowers make you smile. Thank you for giving me a chance.
Don't forget to eat breakfast. Text me when you wake up. 😊
-ktp"

"Boya.. why is he being so extra," she said biting her lip, her cheeks blushing like a tomato.

She took a selfie of her sniffing the flowers and sent it to Bin.
"These are so pretty! Didn't know you could be this sweet 😏 thank you, Bin! Good morning!"

He was in a meeting when he received Yejin's message with a photo of her hugging and sniffing the flowers. The smug smile on his face didn't go unnoticed by his manager who was sitting across him.

The meeting that was scheduled in the afternoon was moved earlier without notice. He dragged himself out of bed.

While getting ready, he smiled as he kept rewinding the night he had with Yejin. He quickly dressed and decided to buy her flowers before heading out to the meeting.

Embarrassed for being caught, he put on a serious face to avoid being questioned.
He sent a quick reply to her.

👦🏻: "I'm glad you liked it."
👩🏻: "You should have called me when you dropped by this morning"
👦🏻: "I didn't want to wake you up. Did you eat already?"
👩🏻: "I'm cooking now. Why were you up so early?"
👦🏻: "My meeting was moved. I'm in a meeting now."
👩🏻: "Oh. Sorry! Okay have a great day! 😊"
👦🏻: "Can I come over this afternoon?"
👩🏻: "Hm. Alright. Tell me when you're done."

He kept a straight face but his heart was leaping out of inexplicable joy. He turned his focus back to their meeting.

Eating her breakfast: spam and kimchi fried rice with rolled omelet, Yejin stared intently at the flowers. She loved the flowers but the effort of getting out of the way to surprise her even when he was running out of sleep was what she really appreciated.

The meeting finished at two in the afternoon and Bin sent her a quick message saying that he's on his way. He passed by her favorite bakery to buy pastries.

Yejin have just finished cooking when she got his message. She arranged the flowers in glass vases, displaying it around her house. The doorbell rang as she was putting the finishing touches.