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🎶 Suran - Heartbeat https://youtu.be/7Nxpx3qi6us?si=u3y_3Tq…

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Aren't they called the three major human desires? Appetite, sexual desire, and the desire for sleep. Out of those three, cruelly enough, our couple's sleeping habits were the worst for each other.

Here's how it happened.

Just looking at my face, I'm a Gyeongsang-do man who looks like he could sleep fine even if you left him on the street. Tall, bulky, with a face that doesn't blink at most things.

But strangely, I've been sensitive about sleep since I was a kid. Back in my student days, if we booked a place for a group trip, I was always the only one staying up all night. Eventually, when the sun came up, I'd go home and pass out.

I don't know if I turn into a vampire at night or what. For some reason, only at night, every sound in the world becomes excessively annoying.

But my wife was the exact opposite. Of all the people to meet, we met as such a strange combination. Do they call this sort of thing polar opposites?

A guy who can't sleep a wink if you nudge him even a little, and a person who falls so deep that she wouldn't know if someone carried her away. Plus, she had the full set of snoring and sleep-talking.

How could we sleep under the same blanket like this?

Still, it was good when we were dating. It was good when we were newlyweds, too. Back then, swept up in that "hot passion" or whatever, we gritted our teeth and stuck together in one bed, refusing to be apart.

Exactly three years. It was madness. I could count on my fingers the days I slept soundly during those three years. But back then, even that was good. I thought not being able to sleep was no big deal. I just loved the person next to me to death.

The problem is, I thought a person would adapt after suffering for three years. Adaptation, my foot. Because I couldn't sleep, I became ferocious. I'd get annoyed for no reason from the morning, and my blood would boil at a single word that didn't even matter. I'd snap at my wife even though she hadn't done anything wrong. I thought, at this rate, sleep is really going to kill someone.

So exactly three years ago, we started using separate rooms. To be precise, I was the one who declared it first. I felt a bit sorry for my wife. It doesn't look great for a married couple living in the same house to sleep apart.

But once I actually tried it... sorry, my foot. I realized for the first time then what a happy thing sleeping separately is.

It's quiet. No sound. No one tossing and turning next to me at dawn, no one stealing the blankets. Above all, I realized for the first time that day how happy it is not to hear snoring. Just getting good sleep makes a person gentle.

Since we started using separate rooms, we haven't had a single big fight for nearly three years. It's strange, isn't it? Well, it's not like our affection cooled down or anything.

...No. Well, after six years, I guess the excitement has settled and the honey has run dry, so maybe it has cooled down a bit by now. Anyway, we were living quite peacefully without any major issues.

Then one day. They say when a person does something they don't usually do, something is about to happen.

I guess today was that kind of day. Everything was the same as usual until evening. We ate together. Talked about some trivial stuff. Said goodnight and went to our respective rooms. I lay down on my bed and pulled the blanket up to my neck.

Ah. Peaceful again today. It's quiet. Now I just need to sleep. I closed my eyes just like that.

-Click.

The sound of the door opening.

"What's up?"

What the. Why is the person who just said goodnight a moment ago coming into my room? My wife was walking toward the bed with a face that looked like nothing was wrong.

"Why are you coming in?"

She stood by the bed, looked at me once, and then even lifted the blanket. I thought I was watching a horror movie.

"Why are you lying down?"

She really lies down. Next to me. What is this situation right now? I mean, well. If you think about it, it's not a strange thing for a wife to come into her husband's room to sleep together. In fact, anyone else would say it's a lucky day.

But I'm scared right now. My heart is already racing. Why? Suddenly? Did something happen? Did I do something wrong? Or... surely. Is she saying let's sleep together again? Why is she lying down next to me with her mouth shut tight like it's been locked?

...It looks like I'm done sleeping for tonight.