A/N: I might have done overkill on the fluff in these chapters, but it's all written, so I might as well post it. ^^ Glad y'all have been enjoying it thus far :) In the next chapter, we will be moving on to more pressing matters as reality demands us (and the characters) to. In the meantime, another chapter for my lovely readers/reviewers :)

Yi Jeong had hated mornings ever since he could remember. He hated his mother's fits when his father came home in the early hours of dawn, the scent of alcohol mixed with another woman's perfume lingering on him. He hated the empty silence that enveloped him once his previous night's bed partners had gone, and he woke up to another lipstick-stained number scrawled on ripped hotel paper and a throbbing headache. He hated being left alone with his thoughts.

He hated being alone, but he never wanted anyone to stay.

Not until Ga Eul. In Sweden, he'd open his eyes to see her already sitting up in bed, an old shirt of his hanging loosely around her petite figure, her hair pulled into a messy bun and her over-sized black glasses sliding down her face as she scrolled through messages on her phone. When she caught him looking at her, she'd blush and act shy at first, but then she'd reach over and mess up his hair, and when he said 'good morning,' she'd smile at him like he'd just done something wonderful, like he'd just done the most wonderful thing in the whole damn world, and he'd want to snuggle up into her sweetness and stay there forever.

Ga Eul-yang, what are you doing to me?

At present, Yi Jeong pressed his cheek further into the soft and comforting warmth of her skin.

He wondered if waking up to her would always feel like this—if he would get the same heady rush he felt the first time he almost kissed her, if he would feel clean and whole again when she opened her eyes and smiled at him. His face was resting on her bare chest, and it took him a moment to remember how they'd gotten that way. He could taste her sweetness still, could breathe her in as he nudged against her…

Shit. He must have fallen asleep.

Which meant he had been lying almost completely on top of Ga Eul most of the night.

He had the covers pulled up to his neck—her doing, probably—but her shoulders were just as bare as he'd left them.

Abruptly, he sat up.

Why hadn't she pushed him off of her? Wasn't she cold?

Her eyes fluttered open as he lifted himself off of her and started gathering the covers around her.

"Yah, why didn't you tell me to get off of you?"

"Huh?" She eyed him sleepily, a confused expression on her face.

"You're going to catch a cold."

Realization seemed to dawn on her, and she ducked under the covers, pulling them tight around herself.

"Ga Eul-yang, what are you doing?"

In answer, she drew the covers tighter and covered even her head.

Yi Jeong laughed at her shyness.

"Are we playing 'Hide and Seek' now? I think those kids are wearing off on you too much, but if you insist."

He tugged at the corner of her blanket.

"I wonder what's under here."

The blanket got pulled out from under his hand, and he chuckled.

"You do know I've already seen everything there is to see, don't you?"

"That's not it," Ga Eul replied, her voice muffled by the covers. "I…I'm cold."

"I'm cold too. Can't I get under there with you?"

"Aniyo." Ga Eul poked her head out. "Would you please hand me hand me my clothes?"

"What clothes? You were wearing my shirt last night, remember?"

Ga Eul's cheeks turned a nice rosy shade, and she wouldn't look at him.

"Wouldn't you like to take a shower?" Yi Jeong prodded, nudging her leg. "I'm guessing you have clean clothes in your closet."

Her closet was located on the side of the bed where Yi Jeong currently sat, and he grinned smugly at her, thoroughly aware of this fact.

"Yi Jeong Sunbae, wouldn't you like to take your shower? Guests first."

"Aniyo. I'm a gentleman. Ladies first."

"If you were a gentleman, you would go in the other room so I could get dressed."

"I'm also a scoundrel. That's what a Casanova is-part gentleman, part scoundrel."

"That's a convenient excuse. Well, can't you be the gentleman part right now? It's nine o'clock in the morning."

"I'm having too much fun for that."

Yi Jeong chuckled as Ga Eul let out a frustrated sigh.

"But I'm tired," she tried. "You go ahead."

"Well, in that case...I guess we can just stay here." With one forceful tug, he snatched the covers out from under her and drew them aside so he could slide back under them. Ga Eul flattened herself and tucked her arms in, but Yi Jeong grabbed her and tickled her until she rolled over and almost fell off of the bed.

"Hey, don't go that way!" He pulled her back from the edge and into himself.

Ga Eul squirmed a bit in his arms but finally settled down, huffing in defeat, with her chin propped up on his chest, so close he could bend down and kiss her if he wanted to.

"Ga Eul-yang, don't worry." Yi Jeong wrapped his arms around her to hold her in place. "I can be a good guy when I want to."

"But you don't want to right now."

She was right. He didn't want to. He wanted to make love to her until she forgot every name she'd ever known but his. Pressed up against him like this, her body felt unbelievably warm and tantalizing. She didn't have a model's figure, but she had curves in all the right places without being too skinny, and everything about Ga Eul was real. No implants, no enhancements. Just soft and supple skin. She had put her panties back on sometime during the night, but it would only take a him a few seconds to remove them and-

"Sunbae."

He focused back in on Ga Eul's face-on the hard look she was giving him that said she knew exactly where his mind had headed.

"What?" Yi Jeong never, ever blushed, but he could feel one coming on, like he was a kid with his hand caught in a cookie jar.

So terribly close to making off with his treat.

"Why do you always assume you know everything that goes on in my mind?" he asked, glaring back at her to distract himself.

"Because I do," Ga Eul answered calmly. "Because I know you."

She looked so sure of herself. Confidence suited her. Her adorable shyness had originally drawn him to her, but this bold version of Ga Eul would be the death of him.

Damn. He was losing his mind.

Yi Jeong sighed.

"Fine. Seongsaengnim, do you want breakfast?"

"Breakfast? You know how to cook breakfast?"

Ga Eul lifted her eyebrows.

"No," he answered. "But there's a bakery on the corner. I noticed it when I went to the convenient store last night. I can go get us something." He rubbed her back with his knuckles, which prompted her to lay her head back down. "And then we can do whatever you want."

Ga Eul didn't say anything for a moment, then mumbled, "Do we have to go anywhere today?"

As if suddenly aware that she had spoken out loud, she continued, "I mean, I know we have dinner later, and…um…oh, and you need to get stuff for your apartment. It's okay. We can go out. Maybe we should—"

Yi Jeong pulled her back from where she had started struggling out of his grasp.

"Ga Eul-yang, if you want to stay in bed with me all day, you can just say that. I'm not going to say no."

From the way Ga Eul curled into herself and held onto him tighter, he knew she was blushing.

"I do need to use the bathroom, though, and then I will go get us something to eat." He kissed the top of her head. "And then we can do whatever you want within the confines of this mattress."

"Y-yah…it sounds wrong…when you say it like that," she protested as he slid away from her and sat up.

"You know, you're the naked party here, not me," he said, getting up and heading toward the bathroom.

"Who's fault is that?!...An-anyway, what does that have to do with anything?"

"I'm just saying you shouldn't suggest things like that in your state unless you're prepared to deal with the consequences."

"Don't worry, Sunbae. By the time you get back from the bakery, I will be dressed like a nun again."

By the time Yi Jeong returned from the bakery with two coffees and a few pastries, Ga Eul was fast asleep beneath her covers, her shoulders-now covered by a t-shirt-peeking out from the top of her blanket and her hair spread askew across her pillow. Sitting down quietly on the edge of the bed, Yi Jeong brushed her hair out of her face and pulled her covers up to her neck.

He would have liked to slip back under the covers next to her, but, given how small her bed was, he knew that would only wake her up.

Instead, out of his small suitcase he pulled a few documents that he needed to review before assuming his impending position at the museum and sat down on Ga Eul's old but comfortable couch with them. Sipping his coffee, he scanned a list of upcoming events.

His own exhibition.

The acquisition of some recently discovered ancient artifacts.

Some new and upcoming talents.

He flipped the page over. His father had sent him some information about the museum's finances: a spreadsheet of the proposal for next year's budget, allocations to charities, details of all the major stockholders...

Peeking at Yi Jeong from her position on the bed, Ga Eul wondered if this was what it would be like to wake up to him every day-to kiss him good morning and make coffee for him while he reviewed his schedule for the day. He looked so serious in his suit-yes, he'd taken a shower and put on a suit to walk across the street and back-and his studious frown as his eyes wandered over the papers in his hand only made him that much more handsome.

"You should have woke up sooner," he said without glancing at her.

Crap. He'd caught her staring.

"Your coffee's cold," he continued. "You're going to have to warm it back up. I saved two pastries for you, though."

Sitting up and propping some pillows behind her, Ga Eul asked, "What are you doing?"

"Hmm?...Oh, this?" Yi Jeong collected the papers back up and set them in a neat stack on the table. "Just some stuff I need to review."

"For your job?"

"Yeah. For my job."

Ga Eul nodded and let her eyes drift down to her sheets where she picked at a loose thread on the hem.

"Ga Eul-yang?"

Yi Jeong's voice sounded quite close all of a sudden, and when she looked up, he was standing beside the bed.

"Yes?"

"I don't want you to think I'm…" Yi Jeong seemed to be struggling with the right words to say. He sat down next to her on the bed and took one of her hands.

"I don't want you to think I'm ignoring you," he began again. "But there's a lot of things that are going to be happening now that I'm back. I might not get to see you as much as I'd like to, and when I do, we'll probably be surrounded by a bunch of other people."

Ga Eul nodded and gave him a small smile.

"It's okay, Sunbae. You're a very important person. And I already knew you'd be busy taking over your responsibilities at the museum and getting ready for your exhibition." She squeezed his hand. "Don't worry. I'll be busy too. Why don't you try teaching thirty six-year-olds every day and see what it does to you? And once Jun Pyo starts planning the wedding, I don't think Jan Di's going to leave me alone."

Seeing Yi Jeong crack a smile, she continued, "Besides, you'll still have to do pottery. Mind if I join you? I think I've gotten much better even since the last piece I sent you."

"Yes, I think I'd like that…Actually, I was wondering something else, too."

"Hmm?"

"Would you…like to live with me?"

Yi Jeong's dark eyes had turned serious, and she stared at him in surprise. Her lips parted halfway, but nothing came out. She blinked.

"If you're uncomfortable with that, it's okay. But I thought it would be a good way for us to see each other, you know, at the end of the day. You'd have your own room and bathroom and everything. The apartment's pretty big. You wouldn't have to pay rent. Just promise you'll cook for me every once in a while…You don't have to give me an answer now. Just think about it."

Ga Eul parted her lips again. Live with her? Yi Jeong Sunbae wanted to live with her? He wanted to see her every day? She felt herself grow warm again, though this time not from embarrassment.

"Um…I'd like that," she said softly.

Yi Jeong's face brightened.

"Really? You want to?"

"I'd like that," she continued, "but I…I don't know that I can."

"Why not?"

"Well…it's just that…my parents are kind of old-fashioned. Plus, the school where I work at…they're very particular about certain things. If they found out I lived with you, and I'm not married…" Ga Eul trailed off and bit her lip.

Yi Jeong was disappointed, she could tell, but, to his credit, he didn't push her on it.

"All right. How about this then? You keep your apartment here, but you can come over to my place whenever you like and stay as long as you like. I'll give you the extra key." Yi Jeong slid in closer to her and started gradually leaning in toward her. "And you can sleep in the guest bedroom, or you can sleep in my room, wherever you're more comfortable, as long as I get to sleep with you."

Ga Eul mumbled an "okay" right before his mouth crashed onto hers, and she pulled him closer, and he climbed onto the bed completely-dress pants and all-and positioned himself on top of her, still kissing her. She could hear one of their phones ring in the background-Yi Jeong's, she was certain-but he didn't try to break away, and, well, if he didn't care, she certainly didn't...