Women are so hard to understand

Maybe it wasn't that easy to avoid the dread of marriage as dinner was scheduled on her next free day. Haneul hadn't even had the chance to explain the situation completely to her friends; about how she accidentally ended up getting engaged. Youngsoo had been busy with his girlfriend who had come from the States and Haru had too many surgeries to lend an ear to Haneul. It was okay, she thought as she sat in front of her soon-to-be in-laws.

This was it. She was getting married. Even though she had the resolve to accept her fate as it was, it still felt strange in all manners. She didn't dislike the man. No, she could never. She just didn't know how to proceed normally after everything.

"I can't believe our children are so quick with everything!" Haewon laughed cheerfully. "Say what will be the best wedding date?"

Right. All they needed now was a date because Yeom Tae and Haneul had already proceeded with their engagement. Haneul knew her parents would pick an earlier date because they were afraid deep down that she would change her mind. Marriage preparations? It wasn't that hard!

"How does the 20th sound?" Changmin suggested.

Of course, he only gave a week's worth of space for preparations. Most of the things were already prepared in fact. Both families had started preparations by the time Yeom Tae had proposed Haneul. It was all pre-planned anyway.

"What do the kids have to say about this?" Yeom Jae addressed the couple, sitting silently and nervously.

"I am alright with any." Yeom Tae spoke his thoughts.

All eyes traveled to Haneul, the pressure was insane. Any normal overthinking, anxious woman would've just said 'yes' here.

"It's good." Haneul said slowly.

Her approval instantly pleased both families, moving onto dinner. This time it was at Haneul's house so the food wasn't extremely spicy even though Soomin had suggested her thoughts of wanting to get back at them. Changmin thought it was immoral to do anything like that, for at least as long as their daughter wasn't successfully married into the family.

He had told his wife, "We will surely get back at them later. Don't you worry, sweetheart."

A cardiologist he was, knowing each and every way the heart could work. His wife was pleased with his assurance and asked the servants to prepare delicious, scrumptious and appetizing food for today. Only for today though.

Both families tried bonding further on the dinner table, over a far more delicious food this time.

"I was waiting for the spice, you know?" Yeom Tae slowly whispered to Haneul.

But her mood seemed off-settling.

"The food wasn't under my charge." Haneul slowly muttered, swinging her chopsticks in her plate of Kalguksu (Knife cut noodles with soup).

Yeom Tae pressed his lips together, staring at her clockwise moving chopsticks bathing in the Kalguksu soup. From afar, it looked like an attempt to get the noodles to cool down. But Yeom Tae could see her disturbed expression quite clearly as he was seated right in front of her. If this is what this marriage was going to do to her, he'd rather call it off.

…

"Women are so hard to understand, man." Yeom Tae wearily said, his face facing the office ceiling at midnight.

His confused mind had led him to his friend yet again, Jiwoo. And somehow, Jiwoo was always at the office.

"Marry a guy then." Jiwoo bluntly replied.

Yeom Tae sighed. "Isn't it so weird? I claim that I've taken a liking to her but I know nothing about her. I don't know what she's thinking. She said yes, smoothly. I didn't even have to impress or anything. And now she feels like a carcass in the coffin."

Jiwoo put his laptop away, shutting it down before doing so. He turned around to look at Yeom Tae, seated beside him. He fixed his glasses with his middle finger before finally paying all his attention to Yeom Tae.

"Your work was to get her to marry you. She's doing just that, isn't she?" Jiwoo asked. "What's the problem then?"

"I don't want to marry her against her will." Yeom Tae muttered.

"She agreed to it. Whatever happens now, know that she brought it upon herself." Jiwoo answered. "You don't need to understand a woman. Just make sure she eats and sleeps well."

Yeom Tae narrowed his eyes. "I've gotta disagree." He said slowly, "I'm not a man if I give up trying to understand her. That's stupid. I can't just provide her with food and sleep and expect her to be alright with that."

Jiwoo shook his head and stood up. "You want to understand her. Okay, got it." He said slowly. "Take her to the house." He added. "She'll let herself open up at the place she would be spending the rest of life."

Yeom Tae nodded. "I could try that." He said. "The weirder thing about all of this is that she was very open about the topic during our date to the festival."

"And now she's questioning if this is what she really wanted, right?" Jiwoo guessed.

"Probably." Yeom Tae muttered.

"I'll say this," Jiwoo looked at Yeom Tae. "It's definitely better to be honest about this with her. Let her know what you feel about this. If she wouldn't know what you feel, she wouldn't be comfortable letting you know what she feels. There needs to be communication."

Yeom Tae crossed his arms together. "Jiwoo-yah! How come you're still single?"

Jiwoo left a chuckle. "I've dated once, remember?"

"Right." Yeom Tae muttered. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Jiwoo said. "You don't have to be sorry just because I can't move on." He added. "I just don't want you to be in the same spot as me."

Yeom Tae nodded slowly, "I'll make sure everything goes smoothly."

"Good luck." Jiwoo shrugged.

Yeom Tae was nervous but Jiwoo's advice had pumped him a little. He needed to know how she felt, so he definitely had to express himself as well. Women can't be that complicated now, right?!