Chapter 31: The Garden of Delight – September 21 – 23, 2025
Kookie had brought her back to their garden again. With Jangmi and Jaedeok. As Yunyeong lay in their hammock next to Jungkook under the apple tree, her infant son curled up asleep on her chest while their daughter snoozed away on her appa’s, she turned her head to gaze up at her husband.
“Hi, there,” she whispered shyly.
He grinned down at her as his eyes collided with hers. She could still feel sparks flying whenever their eyes locked. She suddenly remembered that first day when she’d glanced into Yun’s bedroom to find Jungkook sitting on her twin’s floor. Yunyeong’s heart had skipped a beat in that moment as her eyes encountered his for the first time. The beauty of the heart she’d seen buried in his eyes had stolen her breath that day. He’d been pursuing her ever since. Thank God for that.
Her lips curved into a lovely smile now. A sweet zephyr was stirring the air around them as autumn’s gentle sunlight filtered through the leaves of their apple tree to bathe their faces in a heavenly glow. This was one of those golden moments in life – where, for a few seconds, at least, everything was perfect – and they both knew it. So neither of them missed the opportunity to seal it with a kiss.
Jungkook’s adorable grin faded as he lowered his head towards hers. A serious glint entered his eyes too. But as that smile melted away, those luscious lips brushed hers in a kiss of pure delight.
—
Yunyeong was rifling through the desk drawer. Jungkook had brought few things with him when he’d moved in with her. This beautiful, oak desk was one of them. He had called her from work asking her to search its drawers for a certain document he needed. So far she wasn’t having any luck finding said document.
“Kookie, it doesn’t seem to be here,” she murmured into her phone as she opened the bottom drawer and began to sort through the papers hidden there.
“It’s okay,” he sighed. “I’ll look for it when I get home. Thanks for trying. Love you. Bye.”
“Love you,” she breathed automatically as she continued to dig through the pile of papers.
Suddenly, she stilled. As a gasp left her mouth. She stared in shock at a scrap of paper that had just surfaced from the very bottom of the drawer. Her fingers slid across the rough wood as she grasped that old piece of paper. She drew it up out of the drawer, her eyes tracing the sketch of Kookie she’d made all those years ago. Before she’d been willing to admit that she liked him. Before he’d spent half his summer vacation building her a secret garden.
Kookie had found her sketch! And kept it!
Her mind went back to the day she’d lost it. She’d retraced her steps of that day a thousand times in her mind. Trying to figure out where she could have left it. Even now she well remembered that Kookie had disturbed her at the kitchen table while she was sketching herself. He’d startled her, and she’d jumped. Her pencil had slid across her cheek on the paper. She’d been angry with him for ruining her self-portrait.
But really she’d been mortified that he’d unearthed her secret. No one had known she loved to draw. Not until that moment. She’d been so upset that she had jumped up and rushed off to her room. Apparently, leaving behind the sketch she’d made of Kookie.
He had known. He had found it.
Now as she stared down at it, her heart began to hammer. Was this what had given him the courage to pursue her? The fortitude to spend six weeks working a job to purchase the materials to build a girl he barely knew a garden? Had this tiny sketch of his sweet face inspired him to give her even more of himself?
Her heart turned over in her chest as she stared down at that beautiful picture of his beloved face. She wished he was home now. She wanted to see that face before her. In all its beauty. In all its sweetness. To gaze into those eyes so full of tenderness for her. And to revel in the kiss of those luscious lips. She blushed suddenly as she recalled a moment a couple of nights ago. A moment with those lips.
—
He found the sketch sitting on the top of his desk as he entered their bedroom that night after work. His heart ceased to beat as it flew up into his mouth. Yuni had found the sketch she’d made of him! He’d stolen it and hidden it away. Thinking she’d never know that he’d taken it. But clearly she had found him out today. Was she angry with him?
“So…I found a sketch of mine that went missing several summers ago. I think you know which summer,” her voice wrapped around him from behind.
Slowly, he turned towards his wife. Trepidation in his gaze. As his eyes met hers, he winced.
As he pivoted to face her, she read the fear in his eyes. He thought she was angry with him. She stepped forward.
“Yuni, I’m sor—”
“How much did you already like me that day? That you would save that little doodle?”
He stood up straighter. “What?”
She crossed the room towards him. “Was that sketch how you knew I liked you? Was it the reason that you risked so much for me? Working a job for half the summer to afford to build me a secret garden?” Tears were flooding her eyes. She would never get over Kookie’s kindness to her.
Dumbly, he nodded his head. “You’re not mad?”
“That you cherished that little sketch?” She shook her head.
He glanced at it momentarily. “It’s not just a little sketch. It’s stunning. It looks exactly like me.”
“I mourned the loss of it.”
His eyes turned sympathetic. “You did?” he breathed.
She bobbed her head up and down. “I looked all over for it. I was crushed when I couldn’t find it. It never occurred to me that you had found it. I’m glad it didn’t. I would have been mortified if I’d known you had it.”
“Why?” Puzzled, he furrowed his brow.
“Because it was proof positive.”
“Of what?” he quirked his midnight eyebrow at her in the cutest way possible.
Her face melted into a smile. “Of the fact that I was already in love with you.”
His heart flipped upside down in his chest. “Well…I guess it’s a good thing I took a risk and built you a garden then.”
“Yes, Kookie. It’s a very good thing that you did.” She stepped into his arms and threaded her own around his neck. “I love you, Kookie. I’m glad you found my portrait of you.”
He smiled down at her. “I’m glad you realize it’s a portrait.”
Then he bent his head and kissed his happy wife. The one who had brought him so much joy.
The one whose mouth he had, eventually, filled with laughter.
