By the time that we got back to my dad's house, several hours had passed. It didn't take us that long to eat, of course, but we sat there and talked about anything and everything. He was just so easy to talk to, and I loved listening to his voice.

We were both surprised to find that all of the parents were still awake and waiting on us when we got back. They were in the same seats as when you had left, but now they were all holding wine glasses.

"How was dinner?" my dad asked as I sat down next to him on the loveseat.

I looked over as Hoseok held up a bottle of white and a bottle of red towards me. I nodded towards the red, and he poured us both a glass.

"It was good," I told him. "We had sushi."

"We want to talk to the two of you," Mr. Jung told us in short, clipped English.

Hoseok handed me my glass of wine, then sat down on the floor in front of me, since my father and I were occupying the only two seats on that couch, and he didn't want to move across the room to where his parents were.

"We understand that what we were asking for you was taking it a bit far," my father said. "We got the point with all of the arguing you both did over it."

"So we aren't going to push you into it," his mother continued.

"Because we know that it wasn't fair to you," his father finished.

Hoseok looked back at me and I shrugged as I put my hand on his shoulder. He smiled at me, then turned back to the parents.

"We'll do it," he told them. We had both discussed this for a while and decided that the easiest thing to do was to just let them think that they had won.

"No," his father said. "You don't have to do that. We'll just sign the merger without it."

"What merger?" I asked, looking at my father. "You mentioned it earlier, but you didn't give me any details about it."

"It's part of the deal to save the company," he stated, looking down at his hands. "We merge Heartstrings with their jewelry company in South Korea. I'll still run the US side, and we'll be able to keep all of our employees. We won't have to lay anybody off. Part of the deal was supposed to be that I would take Hoseok under my wing, as my son-in-law and US VP, and show him how we do things, so he can eventually take over both branches, but..."

"But we feel like we were putting unfair pressure on you kids," his mother said.

"Eomma," Hoseok said, smiling at his mother. "We said that we would do it, and we will."

His mother studied him from across the room, her eyes moving from his face to my hand on his shoulder, and back again.

"No, nae adeul, that's not necessary anymore," his mother told him. She spoke English very well, with almost no accent. "I have always wanted you to marry for love, and I'm sorry that we tried to force you to do otherwise."

Hoseok reached his hand up to where mine was on his shoulder, and wrapped his fingers around my own. "And I will be," he told her, causing her to give him a weird look. "We're not kids, Eomma, so I'm not going to sit here and tell you that we're in love with each other after one date. But give it a few months, and I could definitely see that happening."

"Me too," I said with a smile. I turned my hand over in his so that I could slide my fingers through his.

Hoseok turned his head up to smile at me. "Ellie is amazing, Eomma. I like her a lot already." He turned back to face his parents. "We talked about it. We want to this. You aren't forcing us into anything. All of the arguing before....we had never met each other. It seemed archaic to us. But after meeting Ellie, I have no problem with proceeding with your plan."

My father reached a hand out and set it on my knee. "It's not necessary anymore, sweetpea. Mr. and Mrs. Jung and I have figured out a way to move forward without the marriage."

"Daddy," I started. "Are you even listening to anything that Hoseok is saying? We want to move forward with the marriage. All we ask is that you give us a few months before it happens, and not make us do it next month, like you planned. We can start the planning now, but we want time to spend together before we make that ultimate commitment. We like each other. A lot, actually. But we want to be sure that we're really compatible."

"Which, I really see no issues coming forward in that department," Hoseok said with a squeeze to my hand. "But we don't want to jump right in, either."

Mr. Jung looked back and forth between me and his son. "Are you both completely certain about this?"

I looked down at Hoseok as he looked up at me, then we both looked at his father and nodded and spoke at the same time. "Absolutely."

*******************************************************************

After the talk with our parents, the three adults went upstairs to bed. I was a little surprised to hear that he and his parents would be staying at your father's house for two weeks, and not in a hotel. Though my dad's house was about the size of a small hotel, and there were plenty of rooms, so, at the same time, it also made sense.

"I can't believe that they were going to give us the easy-out option," I said, leaning into his side on the couch. We were both on your second glass of wine, and there was a fire going in the fireplace.

"I agree," he told me, tightening his arm around me. "The way my parents have been shoving this marriage agreement in my face for the past couple of days, I never thought that they would change their minds about it. I never thought that I would change my mind about it."

I tilted my head back to look up at him. "You still have a few months to get out of it, Hobi," I said, watching his handsome face.

"I wouldn't do that to you," he said, his eyes on the fire before flicking down to mine.

"It's not just about me, honey," I told him. "You're in this, too."

"But I want to be in it, Princess," he said. He leaned forward and set his wine glass on the glass coffee table, then took mine and set it down, as well. Then he pulled me onto his lap and cupped my face in his hands. "I like you, Eloise. A lot. I can easily see myself falling for you." He blushes a little and looks to the side for a moment, then looks back at me. "Maybe I already am. I don't know. I've never been in love before. I've never been one to believe in love-at-first-sight, but I do now believe in extreme like-at-first-sight. When I looked up the stairs earlier and saw you hiding around the corner, watching me..." he laughed and poked my side a little. "Checking me out, I think it's called."

"Oh I was definitely checking you out," I said with a giggle.

"Then you came down the stairs, looking all confident, and sexy as hell," he continued.

"Then I literally 'fell for you,'" I added with a laugh.

He laughed, too. "You did. But I caught you, and I just didn't want to let you go."

"Yeah..." I said, remembering. "I definitely noticed that you didn't want to let go of my waist. It was giving me goosebumps"

He shook his head for a moment, then leaned his forehead to mine, a thing he did often, and I was really starting to love it.

"I never want to let you go, Princess," he told me. "I'm yours, and you're mine, and unless something drastic happens, that's the way that it's going to be."

I tilted my head a little and placed a soft kiss against his lips. "I am yours, Hobi. I'm starting to think that maybe I was meant to be."

He smiled as he slid one of his hands around to the nape of my neck, and pulled my mouth back to his.

This kiss was different from the other ones you'd shared. They had been sweet, hesitant, questioning. Even the one that had been a bit more at the restaurant, he had still seemed hesitant.

But not this time. This time was...claiming. This time he captured my lips like they were his and he was going to do whatever he wanted to with them. Not that I minded. Especially not when he ran his tongue over the seam, gently asking for entrance. When I parted my lips and gave it to him, he sighed into my mouth before sliding his tongue inside and over mine, stroking it lightly before pulling it back, then doing it again.

By the time he pulled his lips away from mine, I was practically a puddle in his lap, my arms had snaked under his and around his back and I were holding tight, because I didn't want to let him go.

After taking a moment to catch his breath, he smiled at me. "Wow. That sounds really...I don't know the English word, but sangtujeog-in is how I would say it. Umm...Hold on." He pulls his phone out of his pocket and pulls up his translator app. "I feel like we're going to be using this app often. Cli-ch? Is that it?"

He stops and hits the button to make the app say the word out loud. "Cliché."

"I can't even remember what you were saying was cliché at this point," I told him with a giggle.

"Oh umm..." he squinted his eyes, trying to remember himself. "Me saying 'wow' after I kissed you."

"Oh! Nah. Not cliché. I was thinking the same thing."

He smiled as he reached out and ran his knuckles over my cheekbone. "I could definitely go for doing that the rest of my life."

I giggled at him. "Good thing. Since we're going to be married."

*****************************************

Author's Note: I know that once I post the next part, the chapter break is going to seem weird, but there just wasn't a good place to stop, and I didn't want the chapters to be too long. This is my first story, (that I've published, anyway) so please bear with me. 

Also, for the parts where something is said in Korean, please forgive me if it's too formal or doesn't sound right. I am doing the best that I can here.  

Thank you so much for reading my story. 

Edited to add: I'm still going through and changing the formatting. So stick with me, please. 

Here's some Sunshine to brighten your day.