A/N: I know that cliffhanger was evil…sorry about that…hope this makes up for it. I feel like the chapters are getting a bit longer now, so it might take me a bit longer to update, but I promise I am working on it. Thanks so, so much for the sweet reviews—kept me going! And here you are.

Enjoy :)

Yi Jeong had woken up to a stiff neck plenty of times from sleeping on the bench or on the floor of his workshop. It was where he usually ended up after an all-night bender when even in an alcoholic haze his mind subconsciously recognized the studio as home—more so than his actual house.

Now, in his half-conscious state, he remembered the night's events. He remembered going off on his mother the day before and the tense silence that ensued once they got back on the road to the private airport he had picked Ga Eul up at once before. Surprisingly, his mother hadn't protested when he escorted her to the plane. In fact, she hadn't said much of anything, and he was afraid that this time he really had delivered the final blow to her fragile heart.

Like father, like son.

Afterward, he had headed to a club that some acquaintances from school always raved about, but from the minute he got there he wanted to leave. For once, he didn't want to be around crowds. It was an odd feeling, really, considering that that was exactly why Yi Jeong had always gone to clubs—to distract himself with the loud music and the air-headed chatter and stimulation of all-too-willing females.

Perhaps he had gotten too used to solitude in the past months since he came to Sweden.

Although, if he were honest with himself, it wasn't solitude he was wishing for as he drank away his troubles in the chilly night air by the downtown waterfront. As the night wore on, he found himself reaching for his phone a few times to search for Ga Eul's number, but he turned the phone off while he still had enough sobriety to be reasonable. He was unwilling to let her go, to let go of her, but even more unwilling to drag her into his hellish personal affairs.

Now, as he lay on the floor listening to the faint sound of birds chirping, he wondered if when he opened his eyes he would still see his mother's pained, ashen face that haunted his dreams staring back at him.

He opened his eyes and saw Ga Eul's face instead.

Yi Jeong sat up abruptly and winced as the sunlight directly hit his eyes.

Was he hallucinating? Still dreaming?

Something had fallen off of him when he sat up—a blanket instead of his coat.

No wonder his head had felt so comfortable. He had been sleeping on a pillow, for once.

He gazed at Ga Eul's peacefully sleeping form lying on the floor beside him, trying to make sense of the situation. He stared at her for a long moment, utterly confused, until his eyes caught on the colorful streamers hanging overhead from the high beams of his workshop.

Yesterday had been his birthday. Of course.

She had a light coating of makeup on, and her blanket lay far enough down her torso to where he could see the top of what was probably a dress. Reaching out, he tentatively stroked her hair and then her cheek with his fingers, making certain that she was real. As he pulled away some hair that had fallen over her face, she mumbled something incoherent and shifted her face against her pillow. He knew he probably should be panicking over what he might have said or done to her when he came in the night before, but in the morning light the only thought that came to him was how much of an idiot he must have been to reject her before.

God, she was beautiful.

"Ga Eul-yang," he whispered.

She mumbled something else and moved her head again but didn't open her eyes.

"Ga Eul-yang." Yi Jeong gently shook her. "Ga Eul-yang, wake up."

"Hmm?" Ga Eul rolled over so that she was lying flat on her back and opened her eyes. Unfortunately, when she did, her head slid off of the pillow and hit the floor. "Ow," she said and reached up to adjust her pillow, but Yi Jeong grabbed both of her arms and pulled her to a sitting position instead. The blanket fell down further, leaving most of her sheer shoulder-less lavender dress exposed.

"Ga Eul-yang, what—"

Ga Eul coughed a few times.

"Sunbae." She smiled at him. "You're awake."

"Ga Eul-yang, are you sick?"

"What? Oh, no, no, I'm fine." She shook her head.

"What are you doing here?"

"It was your birthday yesterday, remember?" Ga Eul answered sleepily and yawned. "I was going to surprise you. I made a cake, and…and…" She gestured to her decorations. Then her expression turned serious, and her eyes grew wide. "But Sunbae, are you okay?"

"Why were you sleeping on the floor?"

"Because you were sleeping on the floor." She looked at him like that was the most obvious explanation in the world.

"You could have gotten sick," Yi Jeong scolded, his voice coming out a bit harsher than he intended.

Ga Eul coughed again.

"In fact, I think you are sick. Come on." Yi Jeong stood up and held his hand out to her. "Get up. You're going to your room."

She didn't take his hand, just stared up at him.

"But Sunbae," she asked again, "are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Let's go."

Without waiting for her response, he grabbed her wrist and hauled her to her feet. He moved rather rapidly out of the room and into the hallway, pulling Ga Eul by her wrist as she trailed behind him.

When they reached the guest bedroom, Ga Eul moved to stand between him and the bedroom door. It reminded him of a not-too-distant night some months ago.

"Sunbae, what's going on?"

"What's going on? I'm going to take a shower, and you should get some rest."

"I mean last night. What happened last night?"

"Not now, Ga Eul-yang." Yi Jeong sighed.

"What do you mean, not now? I was waiting up for you all night. And when you didn't come home, I started to get so worried. I thought something had happened to you!"

"Nothing happened to me, Ga Eul-yang."

"And then you were just passed out on the floor, and I couldn't wake you up so I—"

"Look, I just need to get out of these clothes and take a shower." He reached behind her and opened the bedroom door. "Then we can do whatever you want." He grabbed her arm again to guide her inside, but she snatched it away.

"I want to know what happened yesterday."

"I just told you, nothing happened."

"Yes, it did."

"Well, not everything that happens to me is any of your business," Yi Jeong snapped.

An incredulous expression, then an angry one, appeared on Ga Eul's face.

"Of course not, Sunbae," she deadpanned, pursing her lips. "I'm just a guest here. I should know my place."

Before he could respond, she went inside of the room and slammed the door. He heard the lock click.

For a few moments, Yi Jeong just stared at the door, clenching his fists, unsure if he was mad at her or mad at himself.

If she was mad at him then that was good.

He hoped she stayed mad at him. He wanted her to be mad at him. Then she could go back to Korea and find the soulmate he was selfishly keeping her away from.

Yi Jeong walked back into his room and undressed for his shower, throwing his clothes on the floor instead of folding them like he usually did. Stepping into the shower, he turned the water on to the highest heat level he could stand.

That girl always showed up at the wrong time. And now he was going to have to explain himself, which he never did for anyone. Even that whole incident with his father—they had never really talked about it. But he knew now he would have to tell her something, if only to reassure her that he wasn't out fooling around with other women.

Yi Jeong scrubbed at his scalp a bit harder than necessary.

How could he explain to her what had actually happened? He never mentioned his family to her in any of their conversations, and he preferred her knowing very little about that part of his life. His mother's episodes were something he didn't even discuss with the F4 that often. Woo Bin knew the most, but he also knew enough not to ask too many questions. Ga Eul, on the other hand, liked to pry things out of him, and, unfortunately, she was very good at it.

It annoyed the hell out of him.

Yi Jeong let the hot water rush over him, scalding his skin. He tried to remember if he had seen her, if he had said anything to her, when he got home. This had to be the most awkward morning after experience he'd ever had, and he hadn't even done anything with her. It didn't help that right when Ga Eul had opened her eyes—before she said anything—a thought came to him that he had never had about a girl before—not even about Eun Jae.

Now that was unnerving.

Yi Jeong stood under the showerhead and let the hot water run over his face a final time. He felt a headache coming on now that the initial shock had worn off.

What had he done?

…

When Yi Jeong finally emerged from the bathroom, wearing only his towel around his waist, he found Ga Eul standing in front of the large ornate vanity in his bedroom, inspecting the items on top of the dresser—all pieces of pottery she had made and sent to him. He kept everything she made in his bedroom. The photo of the two of them sat on his nightstand, turned to face the bed in such a position that she was always the first thing he saw when he woke up in the morning.

That, however, had been his secret until just now.

He should apologize for snapping at her, he knew, but instead he said, "I thought I told you to stay put."

She glanced up at his reflection in the mirror, immediately lowering her eyes again as a faint blush crept into her cheeks.

"And you expected me to listen to you?" she asked, her tone light but with an underlying edge to it.

Staring at her reflection, Yi Jeong quietly said, "No, I guess not."

He turned around and rummaged through one of his drawers, finally pulling out a t-shirt, then a pair of underwear and a pair of pajama shorts. As he started pulling the shirt over his head, however, he thought better of it. Maybe he could postpone that talk indefinitely, and fortunately he knew quite a few things that would render Ga Eul speechless, even breathless. He could call it an apology of sorts or a belated thank-you for all the hard work she had done the day before.

Coming up behind Ga Eul, Yi Jeong placed his hands on the edge of the dresser, one on either side of her. She looked up at his reflection—he could tell she was taking in his naked upper half—and her body froze up.

Yi Jeong grinned mischievously, eased in a bit closer to her, and whispered in her ear, "You know, sometimes I'm really glad you don't listen to me."

"S-Sunbae, aren't you going to…get dressed?"

In response, Yi Jeong smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"You look so pretty in that dress," he whispered into her ear.

A nervous smile appeared on Ga Eul's face.

"You look nervous," Yi Jeong murmured, reaching up with one hand to sweep her hair over to one side. "Don't be nervous." He brushed his lips over her ear, then kissed her ear, followed by her neck, throat, and cheek. They were light kisses at first, but they grew in intensity as he continued, clutching her tighter. He noticed when she started breathing more heavily but also noticed with some alarm that he couldn't stop kissing her more and more violently. Whatever sense of control he thought he had over her got lost to the wind as he breathed in the sweet scent of her hair, felt her soft skin under his lips, and relished in the warmth of her body pressed up his against his. Suddenly, he wanted to taste all of her over and over and over again. He couldn't stop.

In one swift motion, he turned her around and pressed his mouth hard onto hers. To his delight, she immediately responded to him—putting her arms around his neck and deepening the kiss while he tightened his hold on her waist. He was aware—vaguely—that he was kissing her harder than he ever had before, almost like he wanted to suck all the air out of her, but she didn't push him away. They finally broke away reluctantly, each gasping for air, and Ga Eul removed her arms from around his neck and encircled them around his waist. She rested the side of her face on his bare chest, and he abruptly realized, as he came back to his senses, that he still only wore his towel around his waist.

Gently, he ran his fingers through Ga Eul's silky hair and felt her twitch when his fingertips brushed against her bare shoulder.

"Ga Eul-yang?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you mind if go put my clothes on?" It was an absurd question to ask someone like Ga Eul, he thought, but Ga Eul didn't answer right away.

Slowly—very slowly, it seemed—she pulled her arms from around him, and when she looked up into his eyes, he thought he saw a bit of disappointment there.

Quit imagining things, he scolded himself, as Ga Eul nodded and, tucking some hair behind her ear, moved away from him, her eyes cast downward again.

A few minutes later, he emerged from the bathroom a second time to find her standing on the other side of his bed, staring at a painting on the wall.

"Sorry that took a moment," he said, coming up behind her again and hugging her to him. "Now where were we?" he murmured into her ear. As he planted a strong kiss on her cheek, he felt Ga Eul grasp one of his hands in her own hand and interlace their fingers.

"Sunbae?" she whispered.

"Hmm?" Yi Jeong planted a kiss on her shoulder and another one on the back of her neck as he moved her hair out of the way.

She shivered and remained silent long enough that he could tell she was having a hard time forming what she wanted to say. Her breath hitched when he blew on her ear, and she closed her eyes and gripped his hand tighter. Then he knew he had her. He kissed her neck and throat in a rapid fashion at first, then lengthened his kisses to roam his tongue over each spot and suck on it. Finally, he bit into the side of her neck. Just one bite. Then he turned her body towards him so he could capture her lips again. He ran his tongue on the inside of her lower lip again but this time nibbled on it. When he went back to work on her neck, she cradled his head against her and ran her fingers through his hair. He pulled her tighter to him and continued kissing her until he thought he must have kissed every possible spot on her neck, throat, and the part of her chest left exposed by her dress. He pulled back eventually, and when he did, she automatically captured his lips in hers, sticking her tongue inside of his mouth and imitating his movements as her hands cradled his face and neck.

Moments later, they were on his bed—hands gripping hair, lips roaming over each other's face and neck hungrily. He had initially pulled her down with him so that he was on top of her, but she surprised him by flipping him over and sitting on his abdomen, straddling him. He realized, with some disappointment, that she was wearing short shorts underneath her dress instead of just her underwear.

His disappointment didn't last long, however, as he became lost in the feeling of her mouth devouring his neck. His hands moved up and down her back as she kissed him fervently—first his neck then his jaw and throat and finally back to his mouth. As her hands cradled his face and neck, she traced his lips with her tongue, eliciting a deep groan from his throat, and thrust her tongue inside his mouth. Her lips pressed hard against his lips, and they kissed like that for a while, their mouths moving rhythmically, occasionally pausing for air or to suck each other's lips and nose. Ga Eul rubbed her nose against his a final time before she pulled away.

She gently traced Yi Jeong's lips with the tip of her finger. When he closed his mouth around her finger and started sucking on it, however, she pulled it back, her expression suddenly shy again. Laying her head down on his chest, she gripped his shoulders and hugged him to her, and he returned the gesture with his arms wrapped around her back, feeling her body relax against him so that he bore her full weight.

Not that he minded her lying on top of him.

Yi Jeong kissed the top of her head and mumbled into her hair, "Where'd you learn to kiss like that?"

Ga Eul buried her face into his chest and said softly, "My boyfriend taught me."

Yi Jeong tightened his hold on her, rested his chin on her head, and replied, "I think your boyfriend is an excellent teacher. You should keep taking lessons from him. Only him."

"Yes, Sunbae."

Yi Jeong smiled, enjoying the sweet softness of her voice, the softness of her body relaxed against him, and the sweet taste of her skin still lingering in his mouth. He was no stranger to desire, but touching Ga Eul—tasting her—was completely intoxicating. He didn't know why it felt so different making out with her as opposed to with his other women-women far more experienced at that and so many other things.

Maybe that was it. Maybe it was because he knew he was the only person she had ever done those things with. Everything was new and exciting for her, and it made him want to do things that pleased her all the more.

Reaching down, Yi Jeong ran his fingertips over the backs of Ga Eul's legs all the way to the hem of her dress, which had gotten hiked up considerably. He repeated this motion a few times, stroking her a little higher up on her legs each time until he slid her dress up and reached the bottom of her shorts.

She squirmed a bit.

"Sunbae?" Ga Eul asked quietly, her voice wavering a bit.

"Hmm?" Yi Jeong dropped his hands onto her back and stilled them.

"Can you tell me now?"

"Tell you what?"

Ga Eul sat up on her forearms and looked him in the eyes.

"Whatever's bothering you."

"Ga Eul-yang, I said don't worry about it."

"I'm your girlfriend, Sunbae. I can't not worry about it.' That's not how relationships work."

"Okay, okay, but can we talk about this later?" Yi Jeong started stroking her back. "We were having fun just a minute ago, weren't we?" He reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear. "I think we both had a lousy day yesterday. Maybe we can cheer each other up." With one arm still laid over her waist, he used his free hand to stroke her cheek and to trace her lips the way she had his a few minutes before. Then he stroked the side of her neck to the crook where her shoulder and neck met.

When Ga Eul remained unresponsive, he stopped and put his hand on her back again.

"Ga Eul-yang?" Her whole body felt tense to him. "Sweetheart, is something wrong? Do you want me to stop?"

An unreadable but nonetheless serious expression had come over her face.

"I want to get up," she finally said.

"Oh…okay, sure."

Yi Jeong moved his arms away and allowed her to get up and off the bed.

"You do know you were lying on top of me, right? Technically, I should be saying that to you," Yi Jeong said, sitting up and propping some pillows up behind him.

Not that he would say that, of course.

Ga Eul didn't answer. She had her back to her him as she stared at the same painting again. It wasn't an expensive piece, but it depicted a field of wildflowers on the edge of an ocean. He hadn't picked it out, but when he found it in another part of the house when he moved in, he had immediately had it moved to his bedroom.

"Ga Eul-yang…Ga Eul-yang, why aren't you looking at me?"

Silence.

"Ga Eul-yang, did I do something wrong? Am I making you uncomfortable?...Talk to me."

Ga Eul turned around then, but she looked angry, and he thought he saw tears lurking in her eyes.

"Why? You want to talk to me now?"

"I want to talk about whatever's bothering you. I don't mean to scare you. I only enjoy making you uncomfortable to a point. I hope you know that."

"Oh, so we can talk about what's bothering me, but you can't say anything about what's bothering you. Not now. Not at Christmas." Her voice rose a few degrees. "You don't get to pick when I'm allowed to be part of your life, Yi Jeong Sunbae. Relationships don't work like that."

"Ga Eul-yang, come on." Yi Jeong patted the space next to him. "Come on. Sit back down. We'll do whatever you want."

"Whatever I want?" Ga Eul repeated slowly. "You mean whatever you want. Quit changing the subject, Sunbae."

"I thought we were on the same subject. Why are you all the way over there?"

"You know what I want, Sunbae? I want you to tell me what's going on!"

Yi Jeong ran his hand through his hair and looked away.

God, he had never met a girl so…so…aggravating.

"I'm not one of your girls, Sunbae."

Yi Jeong froze.

"All right," he conceded after some moments and faced Ga Eul again. He patted the spot next to him. "Just…come sit back down, and I'll tell you…Actually, will you turn that light off?" He gestured to the light switch over by the door.

There were no windows in his bedroom—no sources of natural light—and Ga Eul looked at him questioningly but nodded. She went over and turned the light off, and in the ensuing darkness he just barely made out her form making its way around the bed again.

As he slid under the covers so that he was lying on his back again, he felt Ga Eul get under the covers herself and sidle up next to him. To his surprise, she laid her head back down on his chest and hugged him from the side.

"Okay, Sunbae," she said. "Whenever you're ready to talk, I'm here."

Yi Jeong stayed quiet for a moment, glad for her warmth against him and glad that in the engulfing darkness she couldn't see his face.

"Ga Eul-yang?"

"Hmm?"

Yi Jeong took a deep breath. If he didn't ask this now, he would lose his nerve.

"Can you do something for me? Can you sit up?" He gently pried off her arm that was lying over his stomach.

Ga Eul rolled over and said quietly, "Okay, Sunbae."

When she had gotten situated, he stretched himself out at an angle and laid his head down on her lap. He felt her body stiffen in surprise, but she quickly relaxed and grabbed one of his hands to hold it. Her free hand played with his hair.

He shut his eyes and wished he could stay like that forever.

When she stopped running her fingers through his hair and dropped her hand to her side, he realized she was waiting for him to say something.

He opened his eyes and tried to stay relaxed as the words gradually dislodged themselves from the back of his throat.

"My mother was here…yesterday."

"Oh? I didn't see—"

"She came in the morning. She didn't stay long. We…left…before you got here. I had to take her back to the airport."

"I remember you saying she was in the hospital once." Ga Eul pushed her fingers into the hair on the back of his neck and stroked his head again. "Is she okay?" she asked.

"We don't…exactly…have the best relationship."

"And?"

"And…my father…you remember meeting him once, don't you?"

"Actually, I met him twice."

"Twice?"

Ga Eul squeezed his hand.

"After that night you introduced me to him, I almost ran into him one afternoon when I was headed to your workshop to ask you something…I don't think he saw me, but he was with a lady about…well, a little bit older than me. Maybe around your age. Then I realized why you said…all of that to your father. I'm guessing that lady wasn't your mother."

"And once again, you guess correctly," Yi Jeong said bitterly.

"Sunbae?"

"Hmm?"

"Is that why you had those photos?"

"Photos?" Yi Jeong tensed slightly. "What photos?"

"Your father goes with a lot of women, doesn't he?...Oh, I don't know anything. It's just that I saw a stack of photos lying on the counter in your workshop. I wasn't snooping or anything. They were just there, and they were in my way when I was decorating."

Those photos. He'd nearly forgotten about them, and he bet his maid had put them up there when she was cleaning up.

He stayed silent for a moment, trying to figure out how much he wanted to say to her.

"My mother…she gets upset with my father sometimes," he tentatively began, taking Ga Eul's hand that had been holding on to his and playing with her fingers before interlocking their fingers together again. "I mean, it's understandable, I guess, but she's always dragged me into the middle of it. The first time it happened I was only nine. My mother sent me to his office at the museum after school. I just got in the car, and the driver told me my mother wanted me to wait there for her, and she would come pick me up and take me somewhere. I didn't think anything about it at first, not even when I burst into his office and found him on top of his desk with some woman. I mean, I remember just being sortof…frozen. The woman left really quickly, but my father started yelling at me and then my mother appeared out of nowhere and started cursing and screaming at him. I remember backing into a corner and watching them go at it until some security people came and dragged my mother away. She was sobbing at that point…still pretty hysterical…but she looked at me…she looked right at me as they were taking her out of the room. And then I understood. She wanted me to break them up. She wanted me to see to my father for what he really was, and I'd always looked up to him until that moment."

He'd never shared that memory with anyone. Ga Eul squeezed Yi Jeong's hand again, but he was glad Ga Eul didn't say she was sorry. He could take her anger a lot better than her pity.

After a moment, he continued, "She tried to kill herself a few weeks after that. That was another first time. She's been depressed my whole life, but since that day I lose track of how much she's been in and out of hospitals. When she gets out, sometimes she's better for a while, but then I'll get a phone call and she'll want me to go find him and break up whatever new affair he has going on. Sometimes I'd seduce his women myself, just to get back at him. And now most of the time I don't even pick up her calls. She could be dying, and I wouldn't even know it. Sometimes I wonder if she actually did die if I would care or if I would just feel relief. And yesterday, I got so angry, I drove like a mad person to that airport. I nearly drove us off a cliff."

He rolled over so that the back of his head rested on her lap.

Her hand had stopped moving through his hair.

The weight of his words hung between them, and he waited patiently for everything to sink in before he whispered finally, "See, I told you. I'm not a good guy."

Ga Eul said nothing, but her hand gently cupped his face, and she ran her thumb over his cheek as she said only three words in answer.

"You are today."

You are today.

It was an oddly simple response to everything he had just confessed, but the very nature of it said that she understood, that she held nothing against him, and that it mattered more to her what he was in this moment with her than what he had been all the moments before he had been with her.

And that, perhaps, gave him the longing and the courage to do something else he had never done with a girl before.

Sitting up, he asked Ga Eul to turn on her side, and she obliged him. Pulling her to him, he shifted his body so that he was spooned against her and buried his face into her hair.

With one hand, he pulled the covers back up over them.

"Ga Eul-yang?" he whispered as he settled himself into the most comfortable position he could find.

"Hmm?"

"You're really sexy when you're mad, you know that?" he murmured into her neck, and she laughed softly. "You're also the most stubborn girl I've ever met." he continued.

"I have to be to keep up with you," Ga Eul replied, grabbing his hand again.

Yi Jeong smiled though he knew she couldn't see him. He'd never cuddled with a girl before, but he could already tell he immensely liked cuddling with Ga Eul.

By some unspoken agreement, they stayed like that for most of the day, only getting up to eat a late breakfast and an even later lunch. As the day wore on, they talked about their lives and caressed each other at leisure. Ga Eul showed him the scar she got from a bicycle accident when she nine, and he told her stories about all the mischief he and his brother used to get into at the museum. Ga Eul stayed in his bed that night, and he fell asleep holding her in his arms, his heart feeling a wondrous sense of peace at being laid bare but, at long last, unburdened.