[NEW!] Bonus 8: Catching Up
Distant Torment“Haeun, put the cat down and step away before I have to make you,” Baekhyun warned, taking one careful step towards his wife.
His fiancee refused to listen to him, and instead simply held the dangling cat a few inches further away from her body.
“You can’t just expect me to not hug my son, Baekhyun,” Haeun retorted, visibly struggling in trying to hold the orange cat still as Kai tried to wriggle out of her hold. Kai was almost fifteen years old, and he understood why Haeun wanted to get every minute of affection she could, but god’s sake, her dress was pale gray. Baekhyun rolled his eyes, not even trying to hide his reaction.
He walked closer to her to take a hold of the poor cat and let him down. Kai immediately scampered away, probably running to hide under the sofa in the unfamiliar cabin. They had brought him with them to the lodge because they didn’t want to leave him alone at home.
“Yes I can, love, especially if you expect us to be on time to the wedding.”
“You’re rude.”
“You don’t seem to find me rude when I’m on—”
“Okay,” she cut him off, and Baekhyun laughed at her flushed expression. Even after being together for nearly four years, out of which they were married for a little over a year, Baekhyun still loved the moments where he could make her blush as if they had just gotten together and he was just discovering all the little things that made her tick.
Baekhyun pulled her closer by tugging on her hand, and as she stumbled into his chest, he wrapped his arms around her waist. With her heels on, Haeun was just as tall as him, but she still rested her chin on his chest.
“Yes, husband?” she asked, and the word still made something in him melt.
Baekhyun lowered his voice, just barely above a whisper as he looked into Haeun’s eyes. “Can’t I just hug my wife before we leave?”
“Not if I can’t hug my son,” Haeun retorted as she pushed herself away from Baekhyun and moved to grab her coat from the sofa.
“Remember that the next time he misses his litterbox and you ask me to clean up,” he commented before Baekhyun turned away to double check that all the stove burners were off in the kitchen while Haeun let out a grunt of indignation.
***
The music was softer while Chanyeol and Wendy swayed in each other’s arms. The dance floor had mostly cleared as the wedding guests had left after a beautiful ceremony and a few hours of partying. Only a few close friends and family had remained.
Haeun could see their lips moving as their heads tilted towards one another, and she felt a wave of nostalgia come over her as she remembered her wedding the year before. When it was her and Baekhyun standing up in the center of the reception hall, the lights shining down on them softly as they slowly danced. Haeun remembered being exhausted, but giddy, as the reception came to an end.
Haeun wondered if the couple dancing in front of her felt the same unending joy and the unwillingness to part, not only from each other but from the night, that she and Baekhyun had felt.
While they had opted for a wedding in the spring, Chanyeol and Wendy had decided for a wedding in the winter. They rented a set of cabins at a lake lodge a few hours outside the city, perfect for a woodsy, warm feel to the wedding. The inside of the cabin they were in was lit up with soft yellow lights, the window curtains open to allow moonlight in as it reflected off the snow.
“Are you thinking about our wedding?” Baekhyun asked into Haeun’s ear. His soft breath splayed across her cheek, causing a shiver to run up her spine at first at the sudden sensation, before she relaxed into his side. His arm wrapped around her shoulders naturally, and she sighed.
Jeonghan let out a snort as he scrolled on his phone before Haeun could respond. “I feel so lonely right now, you don’t even understand. I miss Minghao,” he lamented. His partner of several years was out of town on an unfortunately timed business trip, and this left Jeonghan alone in a sea of couples at a wedding celebrating one of his best friends. The irony wasn’t lost on anyone.
“Just because you’re here alone doesn’t mean you have to ruin our time,” Baekhyun retorted.
“Go be cute somewhere else then.”
“No.”
Haeun cut the two idiots off before they could keep going on the pointless topic. “I was thinking about our wedding,” she said, bringing Baekhyun back to the question he had asked. “I’m just hoping that they had as wonderful of a time as we did.”
“I was the best man, of course they had a great time,” Baekhyun boasted with a laugh, and Haeun couldn’t help but smile at the arrogant response.
“So does that apply the other way around and to Chanyeol’s best man skills, then?”
“Clearly,” Dongwoo spoke up behind them, “especially since Baekhyun cried.” Haeun pulled away from Baekhyun and turned around to see him with Eunji and their squirming seven month old son in his arms.
Baekhyun let out a grunt of indignation. “I did not cry,” he protested. “There was something in my eye! We were outside, and it was windy!”
“Uh-huh, even Jaehwan doesn’t believe you,” Haeun retorted as she rolled her eyes before extending her arms in a ‘give me’ motion towards the baby. Dongwoo handed Jaehwan over to Haeun, and she wrapped him up in her embrace.
“Baekhyun looks like he’s a few seconds from getting baby fever,” Eunji teased as she wrapped a shawl around her bare shoulders and sat down next to Haeun. Haeun turned to look at her husband, and he looked as though he were a deer in headlights, moments from death.
Clearly, Dongwoo had also caught onto Baekhyun’s expression because the man laughed. “Don’t look so scared, Baek, it’s not that bad.”
“Caring for Kai tells me otherwise, and that cat is mostly self-sufficient,” Baekhyun muttered but looked at her meaningfully before raising his eyebrows. Eunji leaned over Haeun and looked at the couple curiously, her eyes flickering back and forth between them.
“What’s that look for? What’s happening here,” their friend asked as Jaehwan babbled and tried to grab onto his mother’s shawl. Eunji didn’t even bat an eye and instead h
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