*tap*tap*tap*

                “Hey, will you stop that?” Eunjung smacked Hyomin the shoulder.

                “What?” Hyomin frowned at her partner.

                “I can’t concentrate on this case with your incessant need to make noises while you think.” Eunjung snapped.

                “I can’t concentrate on this case with your incessant need for everything to be quiet.” Hyomin fired back.

                After a glare, they each went back to whatever they were reading. Their work has been slammed recently and without sleep, they have been on edge. Not even coffee could help their mood and tiredness. They were sitting at their desks, sifting through the mountain of evidence for the cases they were given to follow.

                “Ugh! I can’t think like this anymore!” Hyomin’s scratched her head and got up from her desk. “I’m getting more coffee. Do you want some?” Hyomin asked her partner, who was yawning. Eunjung replied with a shake of her hand.

                  As Hyomin poured herself a cup of hot, invigorating cup of coffee, Captain Jeon Boram walked by and commented. “Hyomin, why don’t you go home? You look … rough.”

                  Rough was an understatement. Hyomin had been at the station for the past three days. Instead of sleeping, she managed a few hour-long naps in between. Her hair was a mess and her skin was dull. Not only that, but she was starting to have bags under her eyes.

                  “Captain, that’s hurtful.” Hyomin complained as she swaggered back to her desk.

                  “I’m being truthful, take the night off … heck, you can take tomorrow off, too. You look like you need it.” Captain Boram was known for her persistence.

                  “But I can’t! I have so much work to do! Look at all these unsolved cases!” Hyomin argued.

                  “Lies. She doesn’t want to go home because her and her precious sunshine had a fight or something.”

                  “Hey, out of this, no one’s asking you.” Hyomin glared at her snickering partner.

                  “Yea yea, whatever. Usually you couldn’t wait to get out of work and run home to your Sunny. But the past few days have been weird …” Eunjung continued to offer her observation.

                  “Shut-“ Hyomin reached over to smack her partner.

                  “I agree.” Captain Boram nodded. “What’s the problem, Hyomin? Do you need some help?” She pulled up a chair, much to Hyomin’s dismay, and started to offer love advice.

                  “No, I don’t need love advice right now. I have work to do.” Hyomin not so politely declined.

                  “Are you … having trouble … in the sack?” Eunjung slowly asked with her brows waggling up and down. “Need some advice? I’ve got plenty.”

                  “NO! Will you two leave me alone?” Hyomin frowned.

                  “No, since it is an order for you to go home, Park Hyomin.” Captain Boram patted Hyomin’s shoulder and smiled wickedly. “Good luck.” She walked away to find her rumored girlfriend, Soyeon.

                  “Aish! Why is it any of her business anyways?” Hyomin hung her head low.

                  “Because she doesn’t want your zombie self to make mistakes. You’re completely exhausted and it’s dangerous in our line of work. So go home and deal with your Sunny like a real woman. Show her whose boss. Use the mace if you have to.” Eunjung nonchalantly stated while she casually flipped through some files.

                When Hyomin got to the farm, she heard the sound of hammer against nail echoed through the courtyard of the farm. After a deep breath, she opened the door of her truck and planted her feet on the ground. “Sunny-ah, I’m home.” She called up to the roof.

                  Perched on the highest roof of their farm, Sunny was doing some repair in preparation for winter. The sun was starting to set behind the small frame of her lover. Hyomin’s heart swelled as she gazed up to the beautiful face that was smiling down at her.

                Sunny looked down to see Hyomin waving at her. “I’m finishing up some repairs, so I’ll be down soon.”

                  “Do you need help?” Hyomin felt bad that she avoided going home.

                  “It’s alright, I’m almost finished.” Sunny declined and continued to hammer down some nails.

                  Hyomin decided to stop distracting Sunny and went inside to change out of her work clothes. She looked around inside her home for a certain unwanted person. “Mason-ah, did you go home?” She muttered to herself, but sighed in disappointment when she found the young boy playing in the livingroom. “Ah … you’re still here.”

                  For the past week, Sunny’s nephew, Mason, had been staying with them since his parents and grandparents went on a vacation to Jeju island. Sunny volunteered to keep him because she was home a lot anyways. Plus, Sunny had always been fond of kids and she was good at taking care of them. So, a spoiled kid who demanded all the attention from her had invaded Hyomin’s perfect household.

                  The detective scrunched her nose at the young boy, who was blissfully ignorant of her contempt. He was too busy doodling in his coloring book to mind her. Hyomin went to change into more comfortable jeans and sweatshirt before she went back out to the barn to feed their animals.

                  “Hyominnie, aren’t you tired? Go get some rest, I can do that later.” Sunny said as she climbed down the ladder.     

                  “I’m okay, honey. I haven’t seen Greenie in a few days, I think she misses me.” Hyomin grinned as Sunny approached her. Instinctively, Hyomin used the sleeve of her sweatshirt to dabble away the sweat on her lover’s face. “You should get some rest, you’ve worked hard.”

                  “You’re only worried about Greenie? What about me?” Sunny pouted and asked in her cutest aegyo. “I’ve missed you, too.” Over the past three days, she only had brief conversations with Hyomin. So the aegyo princess had saved up tons of aegyo power to use when Hyomin returned.

                  “Aigoo … you are so …” Hyomin leaned in and kissed the tip of Sunny’s nose. “I can just eat you up.”

                  Sunny blushed and leaned closer against Hyomin. “You can … anytime …”

                  Hyomin almost died because of Sunny’s sweet actions and words. She would have had a massive nosebleed and died. Instead, she lifted Sunny’s chin up and leaned down to kiss those pouty lips. They way Sunny’s lips poked out was extra delicious. It was going great until there was a loud, annoying scream from the house.

                  “Uh oh, I better go check on Mason, almost forgot about the little guy.” Sunny laughed and turned toward the house when she felt her arm being tugged back. Her body collided against the clingy detective.

                  “But I haven’t kissed you yet.” Hyomin complained.

                  “In a little bit, love. Come inside when you’re done.” Sunny left Hyomin to go tend to the little monster and the only thing Hyomin could do was to appreciate Sunny’s fine assets as the other woman left.

                  “Stupid Mason.” Hyomin grumbled and resumed her task of feeding the animal. It was pretty pathetic that Hyomin was jealous of a kid, but she wanted to just have Sunny to herself. She knew it was selfish, but Sunny was all she ever needed. Well, Hyomin also love lettuce, so she actually needed both Sunny and lettuce.

                  After Hyomin fed the animals, she came back inside to find Sunny cradling a sleeping Mason in her arms. Sunny looked so much like a mother. That thought scared Hyomin. She stared at the pair for a minute, and then wandered into the kitchen to start dinner. Soon, Sunny came into the kitchen and gave Hyomin a comfortable backhug.

                  “So are you done with your cases, my y detective?” asked Sunny.

Hyomin could tell that the shorter woman had been missing her. “Not yet. But the captain sent me home to get some rest.”

“Why don’t you do that then? I’ll call you when dinner is ready.” Sunny wanted to cook.

                  “It’s okay. I feel like making dinner for my Sunny Lee.” Hyomin made a reference to the popular orange juice brand.

                  “Ah, you’re so corny.” Sunny laughed. “I’ll go take a quick shower, then.”

                  Hyomin nodded and waved the cute woman away. She was happy to make dinner for her love because it helped alleviate some of the guilt that she had been feeling. So to make it up, even when Sunny was unaware of her guilt, Hyomin decided to make Sunny’s favorite food.

                  When Sunny returned, she helped set the table while Hyomin transferred the food over. It was a typical evening in their home. They had dinner together as much as possible and every time it felt like a romantic dinner. Hyomin always made efforts to show her girlfriend that she appreciated her everyday, not just on special occasions.

                  “Mmmm … Hyominnie, your cooking is daebak!” Sunny exclaimed after a sip of the hot stew and gave it a thumb-up, which made Hyomin grin from ear to ear.

                  “I know. That’s why you like to keep me around.” Hyomin munched happily on some vegetables. “I make good stew.”

                  “You got me figured out.” Sunny nodded in agreement and laughed.

                  “Here have some more …” Hyomin happily picked up a piece of chicken and presented it near Sunny’s lips. The sunshine was grateful and instantly snapped it up.

                  After she swallowed, Sunny her lips in a way that drove Hyomin wild inside. “Mom called today. She said that they are going to spend a few more days in Jeju.”

                  “Oh, they’re having fun without us. I wish we had gone with them.” Hyomin started to imagine Sunny in a bikini, but it was winter time so that would not have happened anyways.

                  “Uh huh …” Sunny also put her spoon down and studied the woman across from her. “Do you like Mason, Hyomin?”

                  Hyomin blinked and was surprised by the sudden question. She shrugged, “Why do you ask?”

                  “I really like having him around. But I haven’t seen you play with him much … or at all. You played with little Yongsan from the neighbors before Mason came.” Sunny smiled and glanced back at the livingroom, where the boy was napping. Her look was so gentle and loving that it made Hyomin quite jealous.

                  “I don’t know, I guess I’ve been busy and when I come home, I’m too tired to play.” Hyomin made up an excuse.

                  “But you like kids right?”

                  “I … guess …” Hyomin was shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

“What if we have our own kid?”

                  Ah. Then came the most dreaded question. Hyomin was afraid of this day ever since the arrival of the boy. She did not hate Mason, but she hated that he brought out Sunny’s secret yearning. She saw the thirst for motherhood in Sunny’s eyes and she had been avoiding this moment. Hyomin was not ready. She did everything she could, but it was not enough.

                  “Huh?” The dumbest question came out of Hyomin’s mouth.

                  “I asked if you would like to have kids … with me.” Sunny repeated.

                  Hyomin was even more dumbfounded. “K-kids? As in plural?”

                  Sunny nodded at her girlfriend, but slowly her heart cringed. She saw the reluctant and almost terrified look in Hyomin’s eyes.

                  “Um … why do you bring this up? Is it because of him?” Hyomin glanced toward Mason.

                  “Not entirely. I’ve been thinking about it for a while … it would be nice to have mini-Minnie or mini-Sunny running around.” Sunny said in a hopeful voice.

                  Hyomin remained silent until Sunny finished. “I … actually haven’t thought about kids at all. What we have right now is perfect. I don’t want to change it for anything …” She avoided looking at Sunny’s expression, because she knew the disappointment in Sunny’s eyes would kill her.

                  “Not for anything?” Sunny’s voice was low and airy. “As in you don’t ever want to have kids?”

                  “…” Hyomin paused to think about it before she nodded. “I have never felt compelled toward motherhood.” She knew her honesty would hurt Sunny’s feelings, but she did not want to regret it later.

                  “But I’ve seen you play with them so well, like Yongsan and Lily from down the road.” Sunny tried to help Hyomin recall the happiness the children had brought her.

                  “That’s true. I do play well with them and we had fun, but it was fun because I was not responsible for them. There was no attachment, no diapers to be changed, no crying baby to calm, no future college funds …” Hyomin did not say ‘and no sharing of your love’ because she realized how selfish she already sounded.

                  “So if we stay together … I may never be a mother?” Sunny asked again in a shaky voice.

                  “Why do you need to be a mother? Am I not enough to make you happy?” Hyomin finally looked up at Sunny, who seemed stunned by her confession. “You’re all that I need, Sunny. Just you.”

                  “Hyomin, don’t try to turn this around to make me feel guilty.” Sunny’s jaws squared. “You know darn well that I love you, but I want us to have a family.”

                  “For me, family is just you and I so I don’t see the importance of children.” Hyomin was surprised that she raised her own voice. Her cheeks were burning hotly and her heart pounded against her chest. They have had arguments before, but never have Hyomin raised her voice to Sunny. She usually gave into her love very quickly.

                  “So are we at the dead end of our relationship? We can’t grow more from just this?” Sunny spoke the words that pierced Hyomin’s heart.

                  “Are you that unhappy with this?” Hyomin replied and she felt her tears welling up. Before Sunny could answer, Mason’s voice could be heard screaming for her. Their yelling had woken him up and he was grumpy. Sunny gave Hyomin one last look before she rushed to the living room to calm the child.