The Way I Loved You

Shrimp

"We've always eaten on opposite ends of the table, I thought I should sit here with you from now on."

Haein studied Hyunwoo's expression curiously, wondering what in the world could have gotten into him. Since when was he keen to eat breakfast with her? They always sat at opposite ends of the table to remain as far from each other as possible. Why was he smiling so much at her? He had barely smiled at her ever since that fateful day, it was rather unnerving to see him like this now.

She half expected him to snap out of whatever hypnosis he was in and go back to being cold, distant Hyunwoo who didn't initiate conversations with her but he didn't. He continued to smile brightly at her, as if she was his entire world, as if all their arguments had never taken place. Did he lose his memory or something? She thought she was supposed to be the one with memory loss.

Worst still, he even peeled her shrimp for her and arranged them in the shape of a heart, the smile remaining frozen on his face all the while.

She furrowed her eyebrows, staring at him as if he'd turned bright pink overnight. What the hell was wrong with him? He was acting so out of character that it freaked her out. Did he finally go crazy after all the pressure that her family put on him? Maybe she should bring him to see a therapist. Since when did Baek Hyunwoo care so much about her?

It continued throughout the day, much to Haein's horror. They had a meeting together with other board members including her father and he'd stopped the entire meeting all because she choked on water and even wanted to call an ambulance.

"Are you okay?"

"Hold on. I'm okay." She was barely able to choke out a reply between violent coughs, but she was perfectly fine, she just needed to get the water out of her windpipe.

"Don't talk, let me." Haein sighed internally. She didn't have the breath to protest.

"Please call the ambulance."

WHAT? Her eyes flew open in shock. He was definitely overreacting.

"I'm fine! I just choked on some water."

"Really?" He crouched down in front of her to meet her eye level, his eyes bright and earnest.

"Yes."

That had been so embarrassing. Having your husband fuss over you in front of an entire room of people while asking them to call an ambulance just because you choked on water was a terrible experience. Everyone probably thought that Hyunwoo was one of those overprotective husbands who waited on her hand and foot.

If they thought that, they couldn't be more wrong.

That night, it happened again. For the first time in his life, Hyunwoo stood up against his in-laws during their family meeting. The more shocking thing was that he wasn't even defending himself, he was defending her.

"Haein."

"Yes?"

"You'll receive a certification of contents tomorrow. I'm going to file a suit for how you built your department store over my land in Gwanggyo."

Haein sat up immediately at her words. "We already talked about this when the construction began. And it wasn't that much land."

"Listen. All wars began because one party stepped over another party's land."

"You gave me your permission-"

"I did, but Auttorney Shim was against it."

"So you're going to file a suit now that the building has already been built?"