Our Story - Binjin

Chapter 93: Yet More Side Stories

Author's Notes: Hyun Bin's really back! 😊 I'm sure everyone's thrilled by the news. Decided to do a light-hearted chapter, just seemed suitable for the mood 🥰 hope everyone enjoys it!

Story 1: The Mother-in-laws

Mrs Kim and Mrs Son were by now solid friends. They had kept in constant contact since the meet-the-parents lunch a couple of months ago. Hyun Bin's parents had recently made a second trip to Daegu after Hyun Bin had formally proposed to Ye-Jin. Both families had discussed their mutual expectations for their children. The conversation went very smoothly, parents on both sides just wanted them to be happy and were willing to let Hyun Bin and Ye-Jin decide on when and what they wanted to do. Mrs Kim and Mrs Son were very excited about the upcoming engagement. They couldn't wait for it to happen.

Mrs Son arrived in Seoul this morning. She had called Ye-Jin yesterday evening to tell her that she planned to stay in Seoul for a couple of days. Ye-Jin had been in the middle of filming and had merely told her mum that she'll be filming through the night and may not be at home when she arrived.

Mrs Son had arranged with Mrs Kim that they would meet in Seoul and start some of the preparation work for the engagement. Even though they were leaving it up to Hyun Bin and Ye-Jin to decide how they wanted to hold the event, there were some things like preparing the traditional hanboks, the exchange of gifts between the families, etc that they could start looking at first.

She entered Ye-Jin's apartment and it was in darkness. It looked like Ye-Jin was not home yet. As the automatic doorway lights flickered on, Mrs Son smiled. Why? There were two pairs of man's shoes lined up neatly on the side, a pair of dress shoes and a pair of sneakers. They were obviously Hyun Bin's. She opened the shoe cabinet to retrieve a pair of home slippers and her smile widened, there were another three pairs of men's shoes, a pair of slippers and two pairs of running shoes. It looked like Hyun Bin was well settled in.

Mrs Son brought her home-made side dishes to the kitchen and started organizing them into the refrigerator first. She looked at her watch, she needed to hurry up. Mrs Kim would be here soon. Mrs Kim had earlier asked if there were anything they needed to prepare in Ye-Jin's apartment, like new curtains or any furniture. Mrs Son didn't think so but had suggested for them to meet directly at Ye-Jin's apartment and Mrs Kim could see for herself what it was like. Mrs Kim had never been Ye-Jin's apartment and happily accepted the invitation.

At exactly 9am, the doorbell rang, the two mothers greeted each other excitedly. Mrs Kim immediately saw Hyun Bin's shoes and she smiled wryly. The two mothers exchanged a look and broke into laughter, both they and their children were too old to act like prudes. The mothers were actually pleased that they were spending time at each other's apartments.

Mrs Kim wandered around the apartment and nodded approvingly. Ye-Jin's apartment was similar to her personality. It was classy and yet warm, neat and yet personable. The artworks and little decorations really made the place welcoming. Ye-Jin had very good taste.

One thing she found interesting though was that Ye-Jin's apartment was on the ground floor. It was in stark contrast to Hyun Bin's preference for high floors. She commented to Mrs Son, who shared that Ye-Jin enjoyed having a garden and liked to host her friends there.

They looked around the living area and Mrs Son said, "I think the curtains are all pretty new and none of the furniture needs replacing. It's all good. We can take a look at the rooms too." They went into Ye-Jin's study room, guest room and everything looked in good shape. As they entered the room at the corner of the house, Mrs Son introduced, "This is Ye-Jin's bedroom."

Both mothers burst out laughing the moment they stepped in. Why? Unlike the rest of the house, which was tidy, the bedroom was oddly in a mess. The bed was unmade, with the blanket thrown off on both sides, as if a couple had woke up in shock and threw the blanket off simultaneously. There were two set of pajamas, strewn across different parts of the room, little imagination was needed to deduce what happened there - but that wasn't the most amusing part - they were matching pajamas and had little unicorns printed all over them, even the larger set which was obviously worn by Hyun Bin. Mrs Kim couldn't stop laughing, she had never seen her son in anything like this.