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“Can we go to Ikea?”
You looked up from scrolling through Pinterest on your phone, slightly confused at Seonghwa’s request. “Ikea?”
He nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, haven’t you seen the furniture there? It’s so cool. Also, it’s like the cleanest place I’ve ever been.”
You snorted and put your phone down as he sat next to you on the couch, resting his head on your shoulder. “Only you would want to go to a furniture store because it’s clean.”
“But can we go?” He laced his long fingers in yours, his dark blonde hair tickling your chin.
Your heart melted at his soft voice. “Of course, silly, I always want to go to Ikea.”
He sat up, grinning, then placed a quick kiss on your cheek. “Now, or should we wait?”
You stood up, straightening your skirt. “No, now. Lemme grab my shoes and we can go.”
Seonghwa enveloped you in a bear hug, which wasn’t hard since he was over six inches taller than you. “Yay, thank you, Emma!”
You laughed, then hurried into your bedroom to grab your Filas. As you sat on the couch to lace them up, Seonghwa retrieved your keys. “Do you want me to drive or will you?”
“I’ll drive,” you told him, taking the keys from him.
Together you left the apartment, and as you got into your Civic, he leaned over and kissed you. “Thank you,” he murmured in that soft voice of his.
Knowing that your cheeks were pink, you kissed his nose. “Anything for you, baby.”
About half an hour later, you pulled into the Ikea parking lot, which was unsurprisingly full for Saturday afternoon. The big blue building glowed in the daylight, the yellow letters looking like miniature suns.
You both exited the car, and Seonghwa took your hand as you walked toward the building. “It’s so big,” he commented, squinting up at the front of the store. “It always amazes me.”
You nodded, and as you entered Ikea, Seonghwa turned to look at you. “So do we see the plants, the showrooms, or the lights?”
“Why do I have to pick? Let’s do all of it,” you replied, still holding his hand as you both stepped onto the escalator. “We can start at the top and go down.”
When the escalator brought you to the top, the site of all the displays was momentarily blinding, all the lights and furniture bright and attention-grabbing every way you looked.
“Omigosh, look,” you pulled him over to a display of a living room with a light display in the shape of a dandelion. “I love that light. My mom has one.”
Seonghwa looked up at the lights in awe, pointing out how there were small lights woven into the dandelion branches. You stared at it for a second, then glanced around for something else to catch your eye. Seeing a huge navy couch, you pulled him to go flop on it. He fell next to you, and you both looked up at the canned lights on the rafters.
“There’s so much to see, come on!” you said, then jumped up, still dragging him with you. Hurrying over to another living room display, you stopped at the huge window overlooking an apartment complex on the other side of the road.
Seonghwa rested his head against yours. “I challenge you to a game of hide and seek,” he said.
You whirled around to face him, looking up into his eyes. “You’re on. You count first.”
“Wait, what rooms are we allowed in?” Seonghwa asked.
“All of them on the showroom floor,” you replied, darting away quickly. “Count to thirty!” You heard him start to count, and you quietly rushed to find the best hiding spot. Ikea definitely allowed for really good hiding. You hurried through the sofa bed displays, the kitchen displays, and the workplace displays until you arrived at the bedroom showcases. Glancing left and right, you spotted a room with a tall-ish bed with longer covers. You went over, crawling under the bed and ignoring the looks of the other shoppers. Making sure you were absolutely still, you waited for Seonghwa to find you. Or, well, he probably wouldn’t find you.
Several minutes elapsed, and you started to wonder if you chose too good of a hiding spot. As you waited, you watched the shadows of feet walking back and forth as people passed by the display. The chatter of voices made it hard to hear if Seonghwa’s soft voice was calling out.
Suddenly, the bed squeaked and sagged a little bit as someone sat on it. You held your breath, your heart beating quickly. Whoever it was, if they looked under the bed, they’d most likely get quite the scare.
After a moment, the bed creaked a little bit as the person got off. You released your breath, thinking you might have to find a different hiding spot for Seonghwa to even have a chance to find you.
“Found you!”
You jumped in surprise as Seonghwa’s face appeared next to yours. He had lifted the bed skirt, and was looking at you with triumph.
“Seonghwa!” You shimmied out from under the bed and hit his arm. “You scared the crap out of me.”
He didn’t look remorseful as he grinned at you. “This is one of your favorite spots, and this bed seemed too tall not to have you under it.”
You rolled your eyes and stood up, brushing the dust off your skirt. “Well, you found me. Can we go downstairs now?”
He pouted. “But that means I don’t get a turn.”
You stood on tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “Please?”
His pout melted into a smile. “How could I say no to that face?”
You stuck your tongue out at him and he laughed, taking your hand. As you headed back down to the marketplace on the first floor, he commented on the difficulty of finding you.
“I kind of thought I might have picked a hard spot,” you admitted. “But that’s a good thing in hide and seek.”
The marketplace was busy with shoppers, each looking between the shelves and huge containers to find what they were looking for.
“There are plushies over here,” you tugged his hand and led him over to a rack of stuffed animals of every shape, size, and color.
Seonghwa poked one. “They’re so soft.”
You picked up a decent-sized frog and hugged it. “Frog.”
He grabbed an enormous blue dog with floppy legs. “He has noodle legs.”
“Wait, wait,” you put the frog down and dug through the pile to find a plushie in the shape of a toothbrush. “This one always gets me.”
Seonghwa burst out laughing. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that one.” He looked through the stuffed animals and pulled one out that looked like a heart with arms. “Do you need a hug, Emma?”
You shoved it away, giggling. “No, but I need to hug the shark. Let me find him.” You walked around the display, looking for the familiar blue fabric. You found it in a pile of teddy bears, picking it up and holding it close. It was huge, and you loved to hug it every time you visited Ikea.
Seonghwa came around and saw you. “That is almost as big as you.” You said nothing. You couldn’t really, since the majority of your face was against the shark. He watched you cuddle the shark for a moment, then laughed. “I’m fairly sure you’ve hugged that shark more than me today. I’m going to get it for you.”
You immediately looked up, frowning. “No, Seonghwa, you really don’t have to.”
Seonghwa rolled his eyes. “I think it would be a crime to separate you and shark.”
You shook your head, your heart pounding. “Seonghwa, no, I can’t let you.”
He leaned over to give you a kiss. “I’m going to anyway.”
Dropping the shark, you hugged him tightly. “Are you sure?”
“Positive,” he assured you, grabbing the huge plushie and holding it. “Okay, now plants, right?”
You nodded, feeling slightly overwhelmed. “Yeah, they’re at the end.”
Still clutching the shark with one arm, he took your hand. Before long, you had entered the plant section, and there was green everywhere. On shelves all over the room were plants, tall, short, big, small, blooming, twiggy. You could see shelves with pots, watering cans, and other plant accessories. You walked around the displays, taking in all the beautiful greenery. On a few of the shorter shelves were small trees and cactuses.
“Seonghwa, look at this little guy,” you pointed at one of the bonsai trees. “I like him. Oh! What about this one? He’s growing so well! What resilience.” You hurried over to the cactuses. “Look at the pointy boy! I frickin love cactuses. They’re so cool. Wait, Seonghwa, look at those flowers, they’re so bright!” You darted here and there, trying to absorb every plant at once. “This bonsai looks like it’s dancing, but that one next to him looks like someone punched him. I bet they got in a fight and that’s the first one’s victory dance. What about this one? He’s so tiny.” You picked up a small potted plant, the leaves just barely sprouting out of the dirt. “He’s a baby boy.”
Seonghwa watched you hurry around the plants, touching and admiring each one. You turned to him, a somber expression momentarily flashing across your face. “Seonghwa, I swear I could live in this place.”
Seonghwa laughed, shaking his head. “I think you’re a plant at heart.”
All too soon, you were at the checkout, and Seonghwa was purchasing your giant shark. You were a little dazed, but when you checked the time you realized you had been here for two hours.
As you walked out, you clutched the shark to yourself, making sure he didn’t touch the ground.
“Should I drive?” Seonghwa asked, smiling at you.
You nodded. “I gotta hold Mcdonalds.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Mcdonalds?”
“His name is Mcdonalds,” you told him matter-of-factly. “Obviously.”
Seonghwa laughed as you both clambered into the car. All in all, it was a pretty good day at Ikea.