Drink Water!

Have you ever sent your friends an message or an instagram reel that tells them to drink water? Or maybe you just spray them with a bottle and say, “DRINK WATER!!” When I swam in high school, I usually told my friends that I had my water through osmosis by just being in the pool. Personally, I’ve never had anyone tell me to drink water or to keep myself hydrated. I usually carry a water bottle around whether it be working at SM or just anywhere we have schedules.

I work with my wife, Stella. Yes, she’s the Hearts2hearts members. Yes, we live together where she takes the blanket and pouts when I’m cold. Yes I make sure she gets enough sleep. Yes I make breakfast and no she doesn’t call me a bad cook. But here’s the thing about Stella:

She. Will. Not. Drink. Water.

It’s not even forgetting that she can drink water. Every time I see her, she has SOME drink in her hand like bubble tea, americano, zero pepsi, or literally anything that isn’t water.

Now, being the amazing husband I am, I tried getting her to drink more water. I carried around water bottles, set daily reminders, and asked her members to help me. I even got her a water bottle with her name engraved in it!

But guess where I found that water bottle?

If you guessed the trash can…you’re wrong. It was in the SM Lost and Found.

Now, I never truly understood how bad her water problem was until we moved in together after getting married. Even though we do spend almost everyday together, I’d always assumed she’d drink water from at least SOMEWHERE and not NOWHERE. I was deeply wrong. She did not.

I mean, her members can vouch for her on this. I once heard Jiwoo say, “I swear she never drinks water and she always complains to ME when she gets headaches and fatigue! I mean, am I her mother?” and I had Carmen say to me in the most serious expression and voice, “You’re her husband. Do something about your wife and her water”

To that…I’ve sorta failed. She has gotten way better with the minimum about of water she drinks being around three-quarters of a water bottle. Definitely not enough but there’s room for improvement.

But…I have one last idea and I’m sure one hundred bazillion percent sure that this will work.

Get ready for this wife.

I’m sitting in the Hearts2hearts practice room, laptop open, earbuds in, completing this spreadsheet my boss said was due 2 days ago but let it slide because it was a holiday.

Stella is not drinking water again. She has...a bottle of bubble tea? Where did she get that?

“Honey, where did you get that bubble tea?”

“Oh…uhhhh Jiwoo unnie took me and Ian to the bubble tea shop nearby but her and Ian were full from lunch and I still had room for boba so she bought me one!”

This was a flat out lie. I can always tell when she’s lying. She always has that mischievous glint in her eyes that sends butterflies to my stomach even after all this time.

“Haha likely story”

“Excuse me husband?! Did I just hear you doubting your OWN WIFE? Memberdeul!! THIS IS TREASON!!!”

I sighed as a flurry of “OPPA!” and “BOOOOO”s started erupting towards me. I sighed and walked up to Stella, water bottle in hand.

I stretched my arm out and told her “Babe, drink some water. You can’t just survive off americanos, bubble tea, and whatever’s not water”

She pondered for a second and then opened her mouth, “Welll husband. Let me take you through what my drinks are. This is an iced americano. What is ice? Well it’s frozen water. What’s an Americano? It’s espresso diluted with what? That’s right, water. As for the bubble tea, what the main ingredient of tea? That’s right again, WATER! Therefore, I don’t need normal water to survive. I’m providing my body with water AND additional nutrients”

Damn she was good because she did technically have a point but I countered anyway, “While I do agree with your analysis on the iced americano, the bubble tea starts off as tea leaves, milk, syrup, sugar, tapioca pearls, and enough calories to qualify as a meal”

Stella stayed silent for a bit and then stuck out her tongue, “Boooo You’re being a boring husband and manager”

“You married me”

“Yup I did.”

I handed the water bottle to her. “So you’re going to listen to your husband and drink water?”

“Nope” she answered, popping the p.

I had enough. So I brought out the big guns.

You see, Stella LOVES dessert. Like any dessert. Tiramisu, cake, cupcakes, Dubai chewy cookies, literally any type of dessert. And what better way to get a dessert lover to do something than to bribe than with dessert?

“Alright babe, I have one last offer to get you to drink water”

“And what’s that gonna be husband? Giving me a million dollars?”

“No, but even if I did, you’d spend it on more iced americanos and bubble tea.”

Stella immediately pouted and her members were snickering, watching amusedly at their resident couples having their weekly argument. I continued on, “Listen. If you drink a bottle of water. A full bottle of water each day, I’ll take you to a dessert cafe of your choosing on Sunday”

Stella’s entire faced lightened up hearing the word dessert and I resisted the urge to kiss her right there.

“If I drink a bottle of water each day, we can go ANYWHERE??”

“Yup”

“OHMYGOSH OHMYGOSH I have three entire lists of places to go in Seoul! There’s a lemon cheesecake that I KNOW you’ll love and I do too because I love you. There’s a exquisite tiramisu place that’s run by a Korean chef who studied the culinary arts in Italy for 10 years!! And there’s also a cupcake bakery that sells all sorts of flavors! They have like 50 but I really wanted to try the OREO crumble or the red velvet or ooh ooh they also have a LINE Friends inspired design cupcake place!”

“That sounds lovely honey, but remember, the deal is that you have to drink a bottle of water a day and I get to choose that bottle. It has to be the size that I choose or you don’t get the dessert and I’m also gonna hold onto the water bottle so every time you need water, come find me. And I’m also gonna enlist your members to help so you don’t cheat”

Ana shouted from the couch, “We’re gonna watch her like hawks! Don’t worry oppa!”

Stella genuinely looked like she was solving the hardest equation in the world. On one hand she had to drink water, something she didn’t really enjoy doing, but on the other hand, she had dessert waiting for her.

She barely took a second thought and instantly said, “Fine, I accept these terms husband. Get your card ready for all that dessert we’re going to eat.”

I smiled, “Bring it on wife”

The first day of the challenge started off how you’d expect. She forgot to drink water all morning. She had her first sip of water at LUNCH people, like how do you forget to drink the one thing you’re made of? (on an unrelated note how do she look so good though?)

I had the water bottle with her name engraved on it, the one we’d agreed for the challenge. And when she saw it on the table, she instantly came up to me and drank from it. I was surprised.

“Wow, is this a new record for my wife’s first sips of water while working?”

“Shut up husband or I’m banishing you to the couch”

“You love me too much to send me to the couch”

“Nuh uh”

“Yuh huh”