Exchanging gifts

"I can't believe they made the food so spicy!"

Here came the long awaited rants that Haneul had predicted but not really looked forward to. Soomin's coughs had only gotten worse by the time they reached home but at least Haneul's married date was called off, not even discussed.

While Changmin was going through the first-aid kit to find medicines for his wife, Haneul offered a listening ear to her.

"Like, who treats their guests like that?!" Soomin ranted, coughing along the way.

"We even forgot to bring up the important topics." Changmin said, his voice full of disappointment.

Haneul slightly smiled that her luck had been surprisingly good. Not only did she enjoy conversing with Yeom Tae, but she also got to keep herself away from all the trouble.

"We should've talked earlier." Soomin coughed, reaching her hand out to Changmin while he squeezed a tablet out of the film. "Sweetie, go to bed. You've had a long day." She looked at Haneul and said softly before swiping her hand such that the tablet went into her mouth, gulping it right after with a glass of water.

Haneul slowly nodded, "Take care." She said before walking away towards the stairs, calling it a day.

She closed the door of her room, looking all neutral and worried about her mother before grinning widely. Concern? Oh, everything was okay. Medicines work like magic. There was nothing to worry about when she had her victory to celebrate.

She was so pleased that she didn't even realize when she fell asleep. The next morning, her first job was to update her friends with the details of the dinner. She made sure she texted paragraphs of her dynamic experience in their group chat right after breakfast. Soomin had started to feel better too.

Her paragraphs were read thoroughly right away, her friends congratulating her and also insulting her for worrying. She giggled while seated on her study chair, accepting that she was worrying over nothing.

Today was an unplanned Sunday and she had no idea how to spend it. While wondering what she could do, the door to her room was knocked with her housekeeper entering right after.

"Ahjumma!" Haneul was delighted to see her. "Decide how I should spend my day for me." She asked right away.

The housekeeper smiled lightly, walking towards Haneul with a package in her hand.

"Someone has already decided your day's activity." The housekeeper said, handing the package over to Haneul.

Haneul received the package with curiosity. She hadn't been expecting anything today. The housekeeper passed a small smile before turning around to leave, shutting the door with no sound. Haneul held the brown cardboard package in her hands, turning it sideways, looking at the thin ropes that closed the cardboard shut with a wax seal in the center.

The package was a square as big and wide as a smartphone. She put it down on her study table and opened the cupboard on the study table by pulling it towards herself. Everything inside was organized properly. From there she grabbed a pocket knife, pushed the cupboard close with her knee and sat down on her chair, holding the knife by twisting it open and holding the package in her other hand. She started to cut the rope, allowing it to loosen from two sides. For the rest of the sides, she placed the knife on the table and let the ropes slip along with the wax seal.

The anticipation was real but the clear tapes on the cardboard were strangely hard to remove today. She grabbed her pocket knife and pricked each corner and edge of the cardboard where it met with the clear tapes. The front of the cardboard had her name on the information box so it was for her after all. Strange because she didn't remember ordering anything nor did her friends inform her about a delivery.

The cardboard came off, revealing the bubble wrap. Though the anticipation was strong, whose heart a bubble wrap can't melt? Her attention quickly diverted to popping the bubbles for satisfaction. When some bubbles in the corner became hard to pop, she remembered that she had a package to unbox. A smug face was made by her while she took the bubble wrap off.

A navy-blue colored box appeared from inside with a small brand title in the corner, written in white. She definitely didn't order it as she had never seen the brand name before. She was certain now. She pulled open the lid of the box, revealing a gift card, customized by the brand.

"Hope you like this!" She read with enthusiasm as there was an exclamation mark at the end, chuckling right after.

She pulled the card and gasped. A cupid heart made out of champagne diamond suspended inside a silver lining, the arrow all out of silver and small clear diamonds for detail, was hanging by a minimal silver chain.

She gulped slowly before holding the piece. It looked beautiful, almost too beautiful to wear. Haneul was a clumsy one. She never wore real jewelry from the fear of losing it. There was no information about the sender but she could guess who it could be.

She glared at her phone. Is this how he was going to catch her attention? Well guess what? She loved 'exchanging' gifts. With a smirk on her face, she turned her laptop on. If he was going to try to strike up conversations by sending gifts, she was only going to reply by sending gifts.

So the browsing began, looking at pretty things for the pretty man, Yeom Tae. Fortunately, Haneul had guessed his tastes and was confident that she would find something nice and pretty.

She found the perfect platinum watch with an ice blue finish. He was going to love it, especially with his formal dressing style. It was going to be late though, even with express delivery. She wasn't going to talk to him until he received it.