Surprise!

The Honeymoon - Part 6

Mu-hyeok was drooping with fatigue when the cab pulled to an unexpected stop on a quiet street at the edge of the town's center.

"Se-ri and I are stopping here for lunch," Jeong-hyeok announced.

Se-ri looked at him with surprise then glanced out of the window. There wasn't much to see, the same picturesque stone houses that dotted the rest of the town, residents out and about in the same unhurried way that defined local life, the odd car ambling by. She shot Jeong-hyeok a questioning look and was jolted into startled laughter when he replied with a wink.

"Will he let your mother hold him?" Jeong-hyeok looked down at their son curled quietly in her arms. The boy's brown eyes were blinking rapidly as he fought to hold on to consciousness, but the excitement of the morning had wrung the energy from him. His head lolled and his limbs hung limply when Se-ri tilted him upright.

"That's a lovely idea. Hyeoky will be fine with us." Se-ri's mother held out her arms from the back seat. Jeong-hyeok's mother nodded enthusiastically and his father made a noise of assent making Se-ri wonder if they'd already known of the plan. Her father grunted accepting the proposed scheme.

"I had a celebrated local chef prepare you lunch," Jeong-hyeok told them as he lifted his son gently and passed him to Se-ri's mother.

Se-ri worried that having the four seniors around a table without her or Jeong-hyeok to run interference might be awkward or worse, destroy the amiable cordiality they'd established. But there was no time to argue, Jeong-hyeok was already sliding open the van door and stepping out. She had no choice but to take his hand and let him guide her out.

"If you don't like the Chef's menu..." She called back.

"We'll eat ramen!" her mother cut her off.

Jeong-hyeok slid the door shut and the cab pulled away before she could protest further.

She watched it go, still worrying. Jeong-hyeok wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and pressed a kiss to the side of her head. "They'll be fine. Our mothers will keep them in line."

She nodded and let herself settle in the here and now.

"Where are we eating?" They stood at the bend of a street. There was a tiny coffee shop up the road but she'd be surprised if it stretched as far as sandwiches.

"I've ordered a car." He pressed another kiss to her head.

She smiled and tilted her head back rising to her toes so she could brush her lips against his neck. He smelled fresh with a woody undernote.

He looked down at her, his eyes dark and intense. Did they need lunch? She wondered. Maybe all they required was a hotel room and a few uninterrupted hours. Her husband - how odd and wonderful those words were - her husband's mouth stretched into a grin, his white teeth showing, deep dimples winking to life.

"Stop thinking so loudly."

He bent down and pressed a playful kiss to her mouth finishing it with a swipe of his tongue against her lower lip just as she pressed in to deepen it.

She shivered, wanting, unsure whether to laugh at being so transparent or stomp her feet at the way he'd used his tongue to undermine his own warning. Before she could decide between the laugh and stomp, a car pulled to a stop beside them.

*

The town dropped away as the cab climbed the hilly terrain towards Hotel Schwyn, the name Jeong-hyeok had given the driver. She resisted the urge to google search on her phone. She didn't care where they ate. Sitting in the back seat, her head on Jeong-hyeok's shoulder, both her hands curled around one of his large hands, his other hand resting comfortingly on her knee, she was already in heaven.