What's the Wish of Your Life?

Living with Saram

Morning light. Brewed coffee. Oreo O's and the love of his life. Saram marveled at what only seemed like a far-fetched dream not so long ago, but had now become a reality right before him. Everything that would make for a perfect breakfast was here and his heart was full. He never thought that one person could turn this dwelling place that was once so dark and lonely, into a warm and blissful home. 

It was barely eight in the morning and Dong Kyung was already busy with her grocery list across the table from him. It was their first weekend at home as husband and wife, and he clearly remembered how the first rule she had set as soon as they recited their wedding vows was that Saturdays would be for grocery shopping.

“We need to stock up on cold cuts. The whole family is coming over tomorrow for dinner,” Dong Kyung said after taking a sip from her cup of dark roast coffee. “And yes, that includes Joo Ik oppa and JiNa eonnie.”

“Oppa?” Saram asked in a rather displeased tone. 

“Wae? He’s Jin-a Eonnie's boyfriend.”

“Then you should be calling him hyeungbu.”

Dong Kyung sensed his undue annoyance and she nearly snorted. “I will. When they get married,” she winked at him then continued jotting down more items on her list. 

“Are they getting married?”

“Don't be ridiculous. They just started out. Let them enjoy their young romance.”

“I will never understand why people waste their time like that,” Saram muttered then took a sip from his cup.

Dong Kyung stopped writing and looked at her husband with a confused expression. “What do you mean?”

“Humans don't live forever. Why are they wasting their time not being with the person they love the most?” 

His point of view, albeit romantic, only proved to Dong Kyung that her husband still had a lot to learn about being human. And even though she wasn't sure where and how to begin teaching him how to live as a mortal, she was sure of one thing - that she would navigate this limited and unpredictable mortal life with him for as long as this lifetime would allow. 

“You have to consider that their lovestory is still unfolding. They're still getting to know each other,” she pointed out.

“Can't they do that while they’re married?”

“No, that's not how marriage works. A lot of marriages end up in divorce due to incompatibility. There's a lot to learn about a person before you decide to spend the rest of your life with them,” she added. 

“Divorce?”

The look of on Saram's face clearly spelled out apprehension. That’s when Dong Kyung started panicking. She could just tell that her explanation only muddled his perception of marriage. Why on earth did she start with divorce?

“Well,” she cleared her throat and took a shot at some damage control. “Sometimes, people discover things about their spouses that put them off. And in some unfortunate cases where it’s irrevocable, it ends in divorce.”

“Is that why you didn't want to marry me right away?” Saram asked with downcast eyes as he absentmindedly played with the teaspoon in his cup. There was a sudden pang of fear in his chest but it was different. This feeling was new. He didn't have a word for it yet. 

“Mworagu? I just had to get some work done. We talked about this, right?” 

He looked at her and observed her expression for a moment, like he always did.

He noted how her eyebrows were a bit furrowed but also slightly raised, almost as though she was trying to get them to stay in their place but kept failing. Her eyes had their usual sparkle in them, but they were strangely rounder. And she was smiling but it looked so contrived. 

Okay. She looks exasperated but she's not there yet, he thought to himself. It was an opportunity he would usually take to annoy her some more because it was fun to see her getting riled up and her comebacks were always amusing. But this time, that strange feeling in his chest held him back. “Ne. We did,” he said with a slight nod and a small smile instead. 

Dong Kyung sighed in relief. She was expecting him to retaliate, but he conceded so easily this time. 

“That's new,” she smiled as she reached for his hand. “Since you’re being nice, let’s have a date night later.”

“Date night? Are we going somewhere?”

“Why don't we decide later at the grocery store? Kaja. It’s almost eight. It will get crowded soon.”

Dong Kyung then hurriedly stood up from her seat as she swigged the remaining coffee in her cup. She then took the cup to the sink and marched towards the living room. But as she walked past Saram who was still seated at the coffee table, he grabbed her hand and she immediately halted. 

“We're different from them, right?” He asked tenderly while looking up at her.

There was an exigency in his grip that felt so familiar to Dong Kyung.  As though it took her back to that day when he told her not to let go of his hand if she didn't want to lose her life. It  reminded her of how she clutched that hand as he walked away from the table, leaving her with a great sense of vulnerability that was too compelling to ignore. She remembered how she clung onto him as she yielded to what she could only call desperation. But now she could feel that same helplessness from that very hand that had saved her from pain.

Only then did she realize why he didn't keep on badgering her earlier - the concept of divorce seemed to have bothered him. How could she have missed it?

So she took a step closer to her husband and cupped his face with her free hand. “Of course. In every aspect,” she answered him with a reassuring smile. “You and I are each other’s fate. And we already know it while others are still trying to figure it out.”

Saram then hastily stood up from his seat and wrapped Dong Kyung in his arms. Her warmth was very comforting and he instantly felt better. 

When he pulled away, Dong Kyung noticed that the usual playful smile on his face was back and she felt like everything in the world was right again. 

“Still, I don't get why people waste their time like that,” he muttered, still with that playful smile tugging at his lips.

“We're still on that?”

“I mean, take yourself for example" Saram stated with a smirk. "You loved me so much even then that you wanted us to live together right away. I wasn't even your boyfriend then,” he teased, barely holding his laughter in with every word.

Dong Kyung scrunched up her nose as she pursed her lips then hit his arm with a closed fist. She knew her face resembled a ripe tomato right now like it always did every time he teased her about that night she had asked him to live with her. 

“Look who's talking. You were so eager to live with me that you didn't even think twice and just moved right in,” she retorted smugly.

Saram couldn't help but laugh at his wife’s defensive look. Her counterstrike was just as amusing as he had expected. He then planted a soft kiss on her little pout. 

“You look so adorable when you're guilty,” he jested some more. 

“Aissh,” Dong Kyung hissed at him with an eyeroll. “Let’s go. The store will be too crowded soon.”

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