I apologize immensely for the long wait between updates. I've been primarily trying to focus on getting The Gift of Autumn updated and finished, but even that is slow in coming because of how busy I have been with work right now. Things will be busy until after the first weekend in November at least, but I hope through NaNoWriMo I will be able to get a lot of writing done. My intent is to write my NaNo word count via my WIPs. Thank you to those who are sticking around even through slow updates. More notes at the end.

Oh Ha Ni rested her slender hands on her protruding belly. She glanced down her body, almost snorting a giggle at how ridiculous the too-lumpy mound looked. She pulled the throw pillow out from under her shirt and sat up, tossing it aside. She was still going through moments of disbelief that she had a baby growing inside of her that she had taken to sticking things beneath her shirt to imagine how she would look once the baby was larger and she was closer to giving birth. It sent giddy happiness through her, but also bittersweet sadness as she thought of Seung Jo. A deep sigh escaped her as that bittersweet sadness took over and she stared at the pillow she had just had beneath her shirt to imitate a more pregnant belly. Her dark gaze shifted to where her phone lay on the coffee table. Her natural line of sight shifted to where her laptop lay open on the desk nearby. Ha, Ni reached out to her phone, her fingers brushing the edge of the table as she hesitated before she finished reaching and grasped it before she could change her mind. Even though she had picked it up, her fingers hesitated to open the phone, even as her nails tapped nervously against the back of the phone.

"You can do this, Ha Ni," she whispered to herself. Taking a breath, she flipped the phone open and pressed the messages button before scrolling down to the oldest unopened message. Her finger hovered over the button before finally pressing it to open the message. Her jaw immediately clenched, because she could practically hear the annoyance in Seung Jo's words demanding to know where she was. She immediately flipped the phone closed, annoyed with herself for thinking there would be anything different. She tossed the phone onto the couch and got to her feet to head to the kitchen and make herself some herbal tea.

The unfortunate thing about opening that message and further seeing how many were still left to read, not to mention the unopened emails and voicemails, her eyes could not help but drift towards the couch where her phone lay. Were the other messages as annoyed as the first? Could her heart take reading the others, only to be stung over and over with the annoyance she would see? What of the voicemails? Would they be nothing but Seung Jo demanding where she was and calling her selfish or childish? And the emails... what words would they hold?

Ha Ni actually jumped as the sound of the teapot began to whistle indicating the water was ready for her tea, startling her. The cup on the counter rattled as her hand smacked it and she had to roll her eyes at herself for jumping at the smallest thing. Sometimes she understood how Seung Jo would get so annoyed when she would practically phase out of her surroundings when her mind would wander off. She straightened as her hand fell to her flat belly as it suddenly hit her that she would need to stop allowing her mind to drift so easily, especially once her baby was born. Once more, her eyes shifted to where her phone lay on the couch. A determined set to her jaw formed as she poured her tea and took the cup back to the couch. As she set it on the table to let it steep, she reached for her phone. Taking a breath, she flipped it open once more and moved to the next text message. Like the first, it was asking where she was, still steeped with annoyance. Similar messages followed before she noticed a shift about the sixth message. The tone of Seung Jo's text sounded less annoyed and more concerned, following the same pattern for three more text messages. When she got to the tenth unread message, her heart skipped over itself in her chest.

Ha Ni. Please... come home. Reading the next few, they were almost the same message, each more pleading than the other.

She was almost ready to close her phone because, despite Seung Jo asking her to come home, there was nothing that indicated why and she simply suspected that it was to save face because she had left. But they were not actually married, so why would it matter if she was no longer there? He could simply move on easily with Hae Ra now that she was not there to constantly interrupt. Yes, they probably still had to factor in Kwang Kyung Soo considering his feelings for Hae Ra, but Ha Ni knew that Hae Ra's feelings were with Seung Jo and she would have no issues breaking Kyung Soo's heart.

Except when Ha Ni clicked on the next message it made her heart trip over itself once more. It was only three words, but they were words she had honestly not expected to see from Seung Jo.

I miss you.

Ha Ni dropped her phone as if it just burned her hand, the item falling to the floor where the three words stared up at her for a few moments before the screen faded before going black as the phone went to sleep. Despite the words disappearing, Ha Ni still stared at the screen as if she could still see them clearly. They were words that had never been uttered to her by Baek Seung Jo before. Though to be perfectly frank, there had never been a time where she had not been away from Seung Jo enough for him to miss her, so the words were even more shocking to her.

She lowered her hand to reach for her phone. It shook as she picked the phone up and carefully put the object on the living room table, staring at it as if it would grow legs and turn into Seung Jo himself. Dark eyes drifted over to where her laptop was open, but the screen was dark. After seeing the message, she was curious about what the emails contained, but at the same time, she was scared to do so.

"Come on, Ha Ni, you can do this," she murmured to herself. She grabbed her tea and rose from the couch before walking over to the table where the laptop was. Setting the cup down, she took another deep breath before she sat down and swiped her finger over the touchpad to awaken the machine. Her nails tapped against the table anxiously as the screen brightened as the laptop came out of sleep mode. It still took a moment before her fingers hovered over the touchpad and the screen faded as if to fall asleep once more before she touched the pad and it brightened again as she navigated to the browser to open it before logging into her email account.

Ha Ni took a sip of her tea, her eyes drifting to the folder marked clearly "Seung Jo" and noticed that since the last time she had checked, the emails had increased to almost two hundred and thirty. She licked her lips, her throat suddenly dry, before she clicked on the folder and the unread emails were a bold blaze before her eyes. The subject lines for the first dozen or so were the same: "Come home". She clicked on the first and immediately wanted to close her email program. It was typical Seung Jo.

Oh Ha Ni, stop this. Come home. Eomeoni is worried.

Nothing about his own emotions; only speaking to Hwang Geum Hee's emotions. She suspected that, like the text messages, the next few emails were going to be similar. She scrolled down until about the sixth message titled "Come home", expecting to see the same, however, like the text declaring I miss you, this message had a different tone.

Please. I need you home. I'm sorry.

Apologies were not things she had ever received from Seung Jo, even when he knew he had been wrong. He had simply taken for granted that she would forgive him. For a moment, Oh Ha Ni wondered if perhaps Geum Hee had taken over sending the messages for Seung Jo and it was not really him.

Leaning back in her seat, Ha Ni stared at the screen, feeling mixed emotions about the messages. Her fingernails tapped against the side of the laptop beside the touchpad, debating if she wanted to continue going further. She straightened in her seat when she saw a different title to an email after so many titled "Come home". This was simply titled "The Miniaturist". Intrigued, Ha Ni opened the email to a single sentence, but her heart beat hard in her chest.

You are sunlight through a window, which I stand in, warmed.

Closing that email, she scrolled down to another titled "Sonnet XVII". She was no great intelligence, but she knew from class that a sonnet was a type of poem. Surely, Sueng Jo had not written her poetry? Opening the email, it was yet another single sentence, one that had her swallowing back sudden tears.

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

Moving on to another email, this one was titled "Corinne". She opened it to find another message, nothing but another sentence.

Love is the emblem of eternity; it confounds all notion of time; effaces all memory of a beginning, all fear of an end.

Ha Ni had to reach up and wipe her tears away that had started to slip down her cheeks as she read the emails. She scrolled and saw a variety of different titles ranging from "Norwegian Wood" to "Hamlet" to "Anna and the French Kiss". She filed away in her mind to try and read them later, but one caught her eye for two reasons. It was titled "One More Time" but also seemed to have an attachment. It was towards the end of the latest set of emails that had come through and the first that had an attachment. Looking closely, she noticed that all those after it also had attachments. Opening the email, she saw more than a single sentence and felt her throat close once more as she read the words.

I'm sorry that I didn't know the reason behind those tears
I'm sorry, now I'm right in front of you
One More Time One More Time
Can you return to my side once again?
I will always love you
I'll never regret it, I will only love you
I'm so foolish
For not knowing what's inside your heart
It seems to be in pain
Without you, I don't know happiness
Now I understand what love is

Ha Ni took a shuddering breath before looking at the attachment that showed it was a sound bite. She hovered her cursor over it before double-clicking on the file and letting it download. The sound of music filled the air before her breath caught once more like the familiar sounds of Seung Jo's voice filled the air as he began to sing. She had never realized what a beautiful singing voice he had until their camping trip in high school and she learned he could play a guitar and sing. At the time she remembered how she had realized that, of course, he was also musically talented on top of it. His voice washed over her and she let her eyes drift closed to listen to the sweet sound before she jerked as the familiar words within the email met her ear. He had sent her lyrics of the song and had sent the entirety of it to her to hear.

Close to the end of the song, Ha Ni immediately turned it off and covered her mouth with her hand, trying to suppress the sob that was starting to escape. Her other hand moved to her still flat belly, thinking of the child she now knew was there. Her eyes squeezed shut as she continued to sob into her hand. Her chest constricted as she felt panic gripping her and her breath started coming in faster pants as the panic attack increased. She suddenly felt strong arms around her and her first thought was how did Seung Jo find her. It was not until she was tucked close and she heard her cousin's own melodic voice comforting her that she realized Seung Jo could not have possibly found her nor could he be there at that moment to hold her.

"I was wondering when you would start reading messages," Hyun Saeng said as he stroked her hair once she had calmed and her sobs had turned into small hiccups. Ha Ni straightened and noticed her cousin looking at her laptop. She followed his gaze, a tear slipping along her cheek.

"I think it was inevitable that I read them eventually," she admitted. "I had only intended on reading a few since I figured they would all be the same. Annoyed."

"I hear a but coming," Hyun Saeng said.

"But the tone changed," Ha Ni said. "One text message claimed he missed me. Emails read the same until he claimed he needed me home, then I started getting single lines about love. I thought maybe iEomeonni/i was starting to send them, until that last email."

"How was it different?" Hyun Saeng asked.

"He sent me a song he sang." Hyun Saeng simply arched a brow and looked over. He wanted to hear what had caused his cousin to break down and wondered if he needed to find this Seung Jo to give him a piece of his mind, but there was something that held him back.

"It was a love song, one that talked about being foolish and not knowing what is inside my heart and talk of love," Ha Ni explained further. "If it was anyone else singing, I would have thought it was iEomeonni/i trying to convince me to come home, but it was Seung Jo's voice."

"Could she have made him sing it to send to you?" Hyun Saeng asked.

Ha Ni shook her head. "There's a lot of things she could convince him to do, but that isn't one of them," she said. "Especially not if it meant trying to get me to go home."

"So he sent you a love song," Hyun Saeng said, stroking his cousin's hair.

Ha Ni sniffled and pulled away from her cousin and grabbed a tissue to blow her nose. She tossed it into the trash can before pulling out another and wiping the tears that remained on her cheeks before she spoke. "It doesn't matter if he did," she admitted sadly.

"It doesn't?" Hyun Saeng asked.

Ha Ni shook her head and looked at the man with a sardonic smile. "We aren't married," she said. "I can't go back to how things were, especially now with a baby on the way."

"But he should know and he should take responsibility," Hyun Saeng pointed out.

"What good would it do to force him to actually marry me, when he clearly didn't want to, and force him to be a father to a child that he may not want?" she asked.

"You don't know he doesn't want the baby, or you, if he sent you a love song," Hyun Saeng pointed out as Ha Ni rose and took her teacup towards the kitchen.

"But hasn't he proven that by not wanting to register our marriage?" Ha Ni had to ask as she poured another cup of the herbal tea she had brewed. Glancing into the cup, she realized she would not be able to stomach any more of it and turned to toss it into the sink. She turned and leaned against the edge of the counter. "As much as I might want to go back, it isn't just about me now either."

"He should know," Hyun Saeng pointed out. "It's his baby too."

"I know," Ha Ni acknowledged. "But I feel like this is about winning for him and not about actual feelings for me."

"Even with the song sent?" Hyun Saeng asked as he rose and walked over to lean a hip against the island counter.

"A song doesn't mean that he really wants me or that anything would be different," Ha Ni admitted. "As much as I want to believe he wants me, it isn't about me, like I said." Her hand moved to rest along her lower abdomen. "I have to think of my baby now. That may mean not being with Seung Jo and learning to live my life without him."

"But I still-," Hyun Saeng started.

"I need to figure things out first," Ha Ni interrupted. "I don't plan on never telling him, but with how bad my morning sickness has made me feel, I am scared to reveal it right now and I still have to get used to it in my own head. When I am ready, I will tell him. Right now? I'm not ready."

Hyun Saeng lifted his hands. "Fair enough," he said. "Sorry if I seemed pushy."

"You are about to be a father yourself," Ha Ni said. "I can understand how you would be upset if you were in Seung Jo's position. I plan on telling him. I'm just... I'm just not ready yet to cross that bridge. I still do not entirely know how I am going to approach life without him and it's still hard to imagine that I am going to have a baby right now."

"I promise I won't push," Hyun Saeng said. "But if you need anything, you'll tell me?"

"You will be the first to know."

It had taken Seung Jo far longer than he would have liked to make plans to travel over a weekend to Daegu in order to meet with Park Hyun Saeng. He still had gotten nowhere with his father-in-law to find out where Oh Ha Ni was and it made him upset that his mother backed Oh Ki Dong in remaining tight-lipped over where she was. It did not matter that, deep down, Seung Jo knew that Ki Dong was in the right. He needed to find his wife and he needed to find her now. The longer she was gone, the emptier he had started to feel. He continued to write songs and record them before sending them off to her, especially when he had taken note on his cell phone that a few of his older messages had been read. It gave him some hope that she was finally starting to look at her text messages, which meant that she probably was also reading his emails. She had not listened to any of his voicemails, however, because her inbox was now full after he tried calling her that morning.

Stepping off the train in Daegu, he hoisted his backpack onto his shoulder and made his way through the crowd of people. He had arranged for a hotel room to stay in and headed directly there before he would head off to see if he could find his new cousin. It did not take long for him to find the hotel and get into his room, the front desk clerk flirting with him the entire time. He had simply given her a cold look, earning a pout that just made his annoyance run deeper. He realized that each woman he ran across recently that attempted to flirt with him did not even hold a candle to Oh Ha Ni. The fact that it had taken him this long to realize how important she was to him, or that it had taken something as extreme as her walking away to realize it, showed that it did not matter that he was an intellectual genius. He was a complete idiot when it came to life and relationships.

Regardless of that realization, he still needed to find his wife and bring her home. He was not yet sure how to convince her of that once he did find her, but he needed to do so. He realized more and more just how incomplete his life was without her in it and how lost he felt without Ha Ni as that ever-present light in his life. As much as he found things she did annoying initially, he had come to crave her unique look on life and even how she seemed to weave her way into every aspect of things he did. He had often expressed frustration and annoyance when she had ingrained herself even in the things that he had once solely wanted to be his, such as tennis, yet now that she was no longer there, he realized that she was a very important part of his soul that was now missing. It was as if he was an incomplete puzzle walking around ready to crumble until he found her and she completed his entire picture.

Seung Jo slowed as he approached a cafe where he had arranged to meet Park Hyun Saeng once he was able to get a hold of him. That had been another trying situation was to not only get in touch with the other man but to get him to agree to meet with him so that Seung Jo could make the necessary travel arrangements. Stepping into the cafe, Seung Jo looked around until he spotted the man that he recognized from the picture of an article he had found on Park Hyun Saeng and the announcement of him taking over a position at Daegu Hospital as the head of cardiology. He moved towards the other man.

"Baek Seung Jo?" Hyun Saeng questioned, his tone harder than he had intended. He had wanted to sound more neutral than anything, but this was the man that had made his favorite cousin cry. Often.

"I am," Seung Jo said, wariness showing in his voice. He had heard the hardness in the other man's voice and wondered if he would be of any help in finding Oh Ha Ni.

"Have a seat," Hyun Saeng said as he gestured to the seat across from him. "Though I will say if you intend on asking me where my sachon is, I won't answer you."

Seung Jo was halfway seated when he paused, lifting to look at the other man surprised. He finished sitting before answering him. "I came to talk to you about helping me find my wife," he said.

Hyun Saeng's eyebrow arched. "I've talked to my sachon and she said you two aren't actually married because you had to think about registering your marriage," he said. "After your honeymoon where you consummated your marriage. While in some areas of the world, that pre-marital sex isn't a big deal, it still is here in Korea, especially for women."

Seung Jo had the decency to look down in shame before he let out a breath and lifted his head once more to look at Hyun Saeng. "I... was an idiot. I said that in an attempt to prod her into changing her major and succeeding, the same as I have every other time. Get her to reach for a go-."

"Oh Ha Ni is not a child!" Hyun Saeng said harshly. "You give motivation to children and offer them rewards for jobs well done, not a grown woman who you claimed to love and supposedly married."

"We are married," Seung Jo hissed. "I registered our marriage before we left on our honeymoon!"

Hyun Saeng's jaw tightened and he leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. "Then that makes you even more of an asshole," he said. "And gives me even more reason to not help you with Oh Ha Ni."

"What do-," Seung Jo questioned, but Hyun Saeng simply got to his feet, tossing some money on the table.

"I was willing to hear you out, to maybe see if I should talk to my sachon on your behalf, but this just proves that she had every right to leave your sorry ass behind," Hyun Saeng said.

Seung Jo immediately got to his feet. "Who the hell do-," he started.

"I am the man that comforted my sachon multiple times since she left you," Hyun Saeng snapped, stepping closer to Seung Jo. "I am the one that has supported Oh Ha Ni in picking up the shattered pieces of her life after you destroyed her. I thought maybe, after seeing how many emails and text messages you sent her, just maybe you gave a damn. However, now? I do not want some arrogant ass such as you anywhere near her. You have done nothing but manipulate her at every turn. No more."

"She's my wife," Seung Jo said through gritted teeth. "Now that I know she's here, I will not let her go."

"I said I comforted her," Hyun Saeng said, reaching for the lie he hoped he would not regret. For as much as he hated Seung Jo right now, he knew eventually Ha Ni was going to need to reunite with him to at least co-parent their child. However, Hyun Saeng was not going to lift a finger to assist Seung Jo in his efforts to try and find Ha Ni or win her back. He was on his own there. He had dug his own grave. "I never said Ha Ni was here."

"Where is she?" Seung Jo demanded.

Hyun Saeng simply shrugged. "Not your problem anymore, is it? I am sure that's exactly how you want it too, considering what you said to her. Go back to Seoul and move on with... who was it she told me still had a chance?" Hyun Saeng thought a moment before snapping his fingers. "That's right... Yoon Hae Ra. Move on with Yoon Hae Ra. I am sure that she would gladly take Ha Ni's place."

Seung Jo's fists clenched, his wedding ring biting into his skin. "How dare you," he snarled.

"I dare plenty," Hyun Saeng said darkly. "You destroyed my sachon. I watched her try and be brave, but all she was was broken and that is because of you. Go back to Seoul, Baek Seung Jo. Move on, don't move on. Mourn the loss your idiocy created and choke on it for all I care. You do not deserve Oh Ha Ni and if I have any say in it, you will never get the chance to hurt her again." Hyun Saeng tucked his hands into the pocket of his trousers and headed for the cafe's door, his shoulder slamming into Seung Jo's. He took some small pleasure in the fact that the man stumbled from the sudden movement. He didn't bother looking back, but maybe he should have because then he would have seen the calculated look crossing over Seung Jo's features as he watched Hyun Saeng walk away. He would have seen the determination that started to form soon after. For as much as Hyun Saeng wanted Seung Jo to disappear from Oh Ha Ni's life after what he had heard, Seung Jo was determined more than ever to not let her go and now knew for certain she was somewhere in Daegu and that Hyun Saeng knew exactly where she was.

The quotes I included are actual romantic quotes from the referenced books and when I moved on to songs, since I mentioned that Seung Jo was sending her song lyrics and songs, I had to include "One More Time" from the show itself. Also, if anyone is curious how Hyun Saeng didn't know that Seung Jo and Ha Ni are actually married from Ki Dong is because Ki Dong never said anything because he is respecting Ha Ni's decision about leaving, so he wasn't going to drop the bombshell that he knew about the registration being done before the honeymoon. That will come into play later once Ha Ni knows he knew.