Another Life With You

Back to the Roots

The phone buzzed and buzzed again on the sofa, waking Seri from a comfortable, deep sleep. She muffled a groan and swatted at the air, as if the buzzing came from flying insects rather than the phone by her head. It evidently didn't work, as the buzzing continued in sharp bursts. Seri turned over to the other side, as if that would help.

The sofa shifted. An arm reached over her ear and took her phone, turning the vibration off. Seri blinked blearily and opened her eyes to come face to face with one Ri Jeong-hyeok.

"You're a morning person, aren't you?" she asked grumpily, her voice still raspy from sleep. His only reply was an indulging smile.

They had fallen asleep on the sofa after dinner the night before, technically the first time they had 'slept' together, in a very PG way. Although there had been no funny business, something hard seemed to be pressing into Seri's thigh at this very moment. That did better to wake her up than the buzzing from her phone did. Feeling mischievous, she inched closer to Jeong-hyeok, tucking her face into his neck and rubbing her leg ever so slightly against that hardness. "Good morning," she whispered, breath tickling the spot under his ear.

A blush crept from Jeong-hyeok's cheeks to his ears. He cleared his throat gruffly. Before he had to muster up a reply, Seri's phone buzzed again. "Should you check that?" Jeong-hyeok asked, grasping at the distraction and brandishing the phone.

Seri drew back and narrowed her eyes at him with a smirk. Seeing the bashful look on his face, however, she decided to let him off this time. She sat up and unlocked her phone, raising her brows at the number of messages she had received. Scrolling through them, she gasped and began tapping furiously on her phone. "No way... jinjaa?" she murmured.

Jeong-hyeok had stood up and was on the way to the bathroom. Pausing at the hallway, he looked back at Seri kneeling on the sofa. "What is it?"

She turned to look at him. "Apparently Gu Seung-jun handed in a letter of resignation to Queen's Group," she trailed off thoughtfully. "You know something about this, don't you?"

Jeong-hyeok only gave her a secretive smile before slipping into the bathroom and closing the door behind him. After quickly freshening up, he came out to find Seri gliding towards her bedroom. "I've been summoned to the family house for a meeting," she said, catching sight of him. "It's too bad... I have to keep my hands to myself today." This, said with a wink.

Having recovered his composure, Jeong-hyeok only crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, "You should act more ladylike, Yoon Seri."

She had already made it past her bedroom door, but Seri paused at that and swanned back, unable to resist having the last word. Going on her tiptoes and placing her hands on Jeong-hyeok's chest for balance, she injected as much innocence into her smile as she could. "Oh, you don't know what effect you have on how ladies act, do you, Ri... Jeong... Hyeok?" Seri tapped him on the nose and sashayed back to her room, leaving Jeong-hyeok red-eared and flustered, wholly satisfied with herself.

When she came out again 20 minutes later, hair styled, makeup on and sharply dressed, it was to the sight of Jeong-hyeok standing in front of two plates of food on the kitchen counter. "I've cleared a day off with the studio. I'll accompany you to the office," he declared.

"Oh?" Seri picked up a fork and scooped some eggs onto a piece of crispy toast. "Is my bodyguard back to work? Do you need to put something black on?"

Jeong-hyeok looked down at the white sweater and jeans he was wearing, a result of one of Seri's shopping sprees. "Black is more practical, true."

"No, forget I said that. White looks good on you. Anyway, you really don't have to come with me. I'm only meeting my family."

"Exactly," Jeong-hyeok said, giving her a pointed look.