My piece for @juminfanzine ! I was so honored to be a part of this amazing project, and I appreciate all the hard work of everyone involved!
The following story endowed by Mrs. Han herself explores the private lives of the Executive Director and the RFA Party Planner weeks before their wedding. According to Mrs. Han, the then-engaged couple had a small dispute over which colors to have displayed on the day they would finally speak the words, âI do.â
âOkay, tell me again why teal, mint green, and creamy white are an âordinaryâ choice, Jumin.â
Jumin swirled the dark red wine in his glass tentatively. âDonât get me wrong, darling. Theyâre fine colors, itâs just⌠wouldnât you prefer something bolder?â
The brunette faced her fiancĂŠ and cocked a brow. âLike royal purple and midnight black?â
âThose are only two of the colors I chose,â Jumin hummed. âYou forgot to mention silver.â
âThose colors are too heavy, Jumin. Besides, you wear them every day, arenât you tired of them?â
Jumin took a sip. âNot at all, my love. These colors are clean and professional.â
âYes, which is one reason I have a problem with them. Theyâre just⌠too gothic-looking, and I donât want our guests to feel intimidated.â
Jumin reached over and grabbed her hand. âMm⌠I hear you. Why donât I adjust one color from royal purple to lilac?â
She tried to force a smile as her eyebrows scrunched together and her hand balled into a small fist against his palm. Without so much as a glance at her, he knew she didnât like his proposal.
âIâm not⌠Iâm not feeling it, Jumin.â She moved her hand from his and pushed the bedsheets away. âPurple just does nothing for me.â
âAll right.â Jumin pulled his hand to his lap and cleared his throat. âYou have thirty seconds to tell me why teal, mint green, and creamy white are the perfect color choices.â
She scoffed and playfully rolled her eyes. âYou arenât seriously going to time me, are -â
âTwenty-seven seconds.â
âOh. Oh, okay, um, well, they complement each other, and⌠and theyâre inviting⌠they arenât gothic, theyâre stylish, and ah⌠they⌠ahâŚâ
â⌠I donât know, what do you want from me?â
Jumin smiled mischievously. âYou havenât convinced me, my precious princess.â
She bit her lower lip. âTell you what, Jumin. Iâll play you for it.â
â⌠Youâll play me for it?â
âDarling, this is our wedding. I figured youâd be a little more serious about this.â
She grabbed a quarter from her drawer. âDo you have any other suggestions?â
â⌠What game did you have in mind?â
âA simple one. Heads or tails, Jumin?â
âMm⌠hm. Heads or tails.â Jumin squinted. âThere are two sides of the coin, which makes the probability of landing on either heads or tails one half for each side. However, heads are the popular choice because it is the heavier of the two, with it having a 51% chance of dominating. There may also be faults on the coin itself, considering coins are a currency people handle. People arenât perfect, they consistently drop their things, including their coins. But based on the mathematical probabilityâŚâ
âJumin, dear lord, please pick one.â
She tossed the coin and slapped it against the back of her hand. âTails.â
âThe coin must be damaged,â he said nonchalantly.
She giggled. âYouâre only saying that because you lost! Well, thatâs that then!â
âNow, wait a minute, hold on. Best two out of three, dear.â
She raised her brows. âYou are awfully persistent about this, arenât you?â
âThis time, Iâll toss it and you call it.â Jumin grabbed the coin from her and threw it up.
The coin landed in his palm and he slapped it against the back of his hand. âHeads.â
She grabbed the coin from him. âBest two out of three, remember? You havenât won yet. Iâll toss it this time.â
âFine.â Jumin watched her carefully. âTails.â
Rather than slap the coin on the back of her hand, she threw it up and let it fall onto the bedsheets. â⌠Heads! Hah! I won! Do you see that?!â
Jumin tipped over and looked at the coin.
âHah! Well, it looks like my pretty, classical colors will be on display on our wedding day!â She leaned in and kissed his cheek. âGood night, Jumin!â
â⌠No. Another game.â
Just as she pulled the bedsheets over her body, she heard her fianceâs firm insistence. âJumin, we need to be up early tomorrow. You lost. No more games.â
âOne more.â he opened his left palm and made a fist with his right hand. âGa-wi, ba-wi, bo, eh-seo hana-bbagi-il.â
âJumin, really?â She pushed the sheets back. âI need to be up in four hours, and you need to be up in three.â
Jumin grabbed her wrist. âWhile that is the case, our wedding is four weeks away, and we are still arguing about colors.â He resumed the hand position for the Korean-style of rock, paper, scissors, a determined look on his face. âI insist.â
âAll right. Best two out of three again.â
âGa-wi, ba-wi, bo, eh-seo hana-bbagi-il.â
âGa-wi, ba-wi, bo, eh-seo hana-bbagi-il.â
â⌠One more time, I promise.â
âGa-wi, ba-wi- bo, eh-seo hana-bbagi-il.â
â⌠I donât like this game, Jumin.â
Jumin smirked smugly. âNow, as I remember you telling me earlier, âYouâre only saying that because you lostâ. I won. You must give up your position as the victor and push your colors aside.â
âNo way! We won one game each, isnât it fair we have a tie-breaker?â
â⌠We should have drafted up a contract.â Jumin grumbled.
âI know what we can do. Video games. âCombat for Mortals.â Three rounds.â She jumped out of bed and rushed towards the Greystation. âThis will be our tie-breaker.â
As soon as the Greystation hummed to life, Jumin closed his eyes and rested his head against the baseboard of the bed. âAll right. Three rounds. But I insist we draft a contract before we engage in combat.â
âNo need, this will be fast,â she handed him a controller.
âOh? What brought you to that conclusion?â Jumin murmured inquisitively.
âJumin, I mean, no offense, but Iâm good at this game. I will destroy you.â
âChoose your warrior!â
âJumin, all you did was spam the same attacks on me. I want a rematch.â
âI only, as you say, âspammedâ the same attacks because you kept trying to back away from my character.â
âYes, because you kept âspammingâ the same moves!â
âAll right, if you want a rematch, then I would be happy to oblige.â Jumin took her hand and delicately kissed a trail from her wrist to her forearm. âI would do anything to make you happy.â
âAh, JuminâŚâ her lips pecked his cheek and traveled to his ear. â⌠then agree to my colors.â
âNow, nowâŚâ Jumin pushed her hair back. âLetâs not be rash, dearest.â
âYou think I donât see what youâre doing, honey bunny? Your flattering words wonât work with me. Not this time.â
Jumin stared at her for a moment⌠then grinned playfully. âIt was worth a shot. Come, letâs play another round.â
âI win.â Jumin tossed the controller onto the couch.
âYou donât win a fight if you keep spamming the same buttons.â MC huffed and threw the controller off to the side. âThis isnât working. Letâs try something else.â
Jumin hummed softly. âI know what we can try. Trivia.â
âTrivia? Wait for me then.â She untucked her legs and made her way to the kitchen. âBrain games require coffee.â
âMake me a cup too, if you please,â Jumin called out.
âSure! As long as you agree to my colors!â
Jumin surged towards her and gathered her in his arms from behind. âYouâre a sneaky little devil, arenât you? Iâll make my cup, thank you.â
âIt was worth a shot,â she smiled.
âYou included math questions within the deck?â
Jumin shuffled the trivia cards. âIs that a problem?â
âEh, a little. You know Iâm not good at math, youâre automatically putting me at a disadvantage.â
âIs that soâŚ?â Jumin droned, his hands still busy shuffling the cards. âSee now, if we had drafted and signed a contract, I would have considered your mathematical disability.â He glanced up at her. âWe donât have to do this. You can give up.â
âNo way,â she grimaced. âI will do my best.â
âThatâs my girl,â Jumin rubbed her cheek with the pad of his thumb. âStubborn to the end.â
âPsh,â she huffed playfully. âWho goes first?â
Jumin adjusted his sleeves. âWell, since I won âCombat for Mortals,â itâs only fair I go first.â
âYou donât win by spamming,â she said under her breath. âAll right, fifteen seconds on the clock. Ready?â
âOlympia is the capital of which U.S. state?â
âWashington,â Jumin answered.
âCorrect. What is Shawshank in the movie âThe Shawshank Redemption?ââ
âThe prison itself,â Jumin responded.
âCorrect. What is Naan the Persian -â
âCorrect. If letters were numbers a=1, z=26, how much would Wayne Rooney -â
âTime.â MC reached down and stopped her timer. âYou got⌠all of them right. No surprise there!â
âYour turn,â Jumin reshuffled the cards. âFifteen seconds. Are you ready?â
âWait!â she reached out, sipped her coffee, and nodded. âReady!â
âWhat is the second largest country by land mass?â
âSecond⌠Canada!â She shouted.
âThatâs right. In which ocean did the Titanic sink?â
âTitanic⌠oh! The Atlantic ocean!â
âThe uh, the⌠North Atlantic ocean?â
âCorrect. A studentâs math scores are 98, 87, 82, 95, 93, 81, 100. What is the average?â
She froze. âUh. 98⌠95⌠one⌠93?â
Jumin shook his head. âNo, 91. What is the worldâs smallest -â
Jumin stopped his timer as it went off. âTime is up, dear.â
âYou threw a math question at me, thatâs not fair!â
âItâs more than fair, dear, trivia games include math questions.â
âLetâs play another game.â
Jumin squinted his eyes. âYou realize youâve lost two games in a row now?â
âI didnât lose the combat one, Jumin.â
âSpammers donât decide who wins or who loses.â
Jumin huffed. âWell⌠what other games did you have in mind?â
â⌠I bought marshmallows the other day. Letâs play chubby bunny.â
âChubby what?â Jumin watched as his fiancĂŠe made her way back to the kitchen.
âChubby bunny! You stuff as many marshmallows in your mouth and say âchubby bunnyâ after every marshmallow.â
â⌠Dear, that sounds dangerous -â
âIâll start!â MCâs hand ripped the bag open, and she pushed a marshmallow in her mouth. âChubby bunny!â
Jumin watched her, grabbed a marshmallow, and timidly pushed it into his mouth. âCh⌠Chubby bunny.â
She clapped for him playfully and pushed another marshmallow into her mouth. Jumin snickered as he watched her; she had only gotten two marshmallows in, and it looked like she was having a hard time keeping them in.
âChu⌠chub⌠mm⌠chubby bunny!â
Jumin swallowed his marshmallow and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. With a squeak, she jumped up, ran to the kitchen, and coughed the marshmallows into the trash bin. Jumin, not too far behind her, rubbed her back and stroked her hair.
âI told you it was dangerous.â
âHah⌠you were rightâŚâ she panted. âBut that⌠was only because you⌠haahâŚâ
Jumin pulled her against him, turned her around, and held her chin in his hand. âBecause IâŚ?â
Flustered, she tried to look away from him, but he lightly pressed his fingers against her skin. âLook at me, darling.â
Her eyes slowly met with his. A soft, intimate beat of silence passed between them when Juminâs eyes sparkled.
Jumin pushed her hair behind her ear and took another step closer, closing the gap between them. âHazel⌠and gray. These can be our colors.â
âWhatâŚ? Where did youâŚâ As soon as she looked into his eyes, she knew. His thoughtful, polished metal gray eyes were peering back at her⌠just as her autumn-hazel eyes were peering at him.
âI think⌠thatâs a fantastic idea,â she smiled.
âMmâŚâ Jumin beamed. â⌠do you really think so, dear?â
âI do. Then⌠thatâs that, isnât it? Those are our colorsâŚ!â
Jumin kissed the tip of her nose. âThose are our colors.â
An unsettled expression graced her features. Juminâs eyebrows scrunched as he observed her. âWhatâs the matter?â
âI realized something, Jumin. We didnât decide on a flavor for our cake.â
âHm? We visited the pastry chef two weeks ago. We decided on the vanilla filling.â
âVanilla?â She frowned. âI didnât agree to vanilla. I wanted chocolate.â
They stared at each other. A sigh escaped her, and she gripped his hand. âIâll play you for it. One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war.â
âBefore that, I need to schedule today off. You should do the same, my love.â