It’s during the morning after when Yebin notices a lot of things she hasn’t noticed before.

And only because, for the first time, she wakes up before Roa and has some minutes to spare before her time is up. (If she overstays her welcome, Roa would be considered working overtime and Yebin would have to pay extra.)

Initially, she had found the place to be far too contrived to be anything more than an apartment furnished to Roa by her agency. But then she notices certain idiosyncrasies that stick out like a sore thumb at the crack of dawn.

For instance, the pile of music sheets on the coffee table with a pair of circular wire-framed glasses sitting on top like a paperweight. A grocery list held up by a touristy magnet of the Gyeongbokgung Palace on the fridge. A cup of ramen sitting on the counter with a pair of chopsticks sticking out. A set of keys hanging just above the light switch. Aside from Yebin’s shoes, there are rain boots as well and some sneakers, including a very overused-looking pair of Converse All Stars.  

It’s not just a workplace. It’s a home.

And Yebin sees all this from the comfort of the bed only by gazing around. She had avoided looking to the left towards other woman sleeping soundlessly beside her.

Scratch that. Not soundlessly.

Low mumbling catches Yebin’s attention as she finally turns her head.

Roa’s lips are slightly parted and their sullied appearance, proudly defiled by Yebin, is a stark contrast from the rest of her face. Bangs fall over eyes that are magnetically enticing when open, but pretty and peaceful when closed. Her cheeks are still a bit flushed from the night before, but Yebin thinks the pink hue looks oddly endearing.

She’s quite pretty, Yebin thinks. It was Roa that she had spent the night with, but as Yebin glances at the sleeping mumbling girl beside her, she can’t help but think it’s Minkyung whom she’s waking up next to.

Minkyung. A charming name for a charming face. It fits her. Yebin wonders if she likes it more.

Wait, no. Why am I thinking about this…?

She shakes her head just as Minkyung stirs awake with a groan.

Yebin immediately sits up, clutching the blanket to her chest as she looks for her discarded shirt.

“Good morning,” Minkyung murmurs, her voice muffled by the pillow, “Have some coffee before you go.”

Yebin kindly declines her offer. It felt far too domestic for her liking. After all, she pays strictly for Roa’s services, not for Minkyung’s coffee. She has to be careful, she thinks. It’s a precariously thin line she’s treading; one misstep and she’s a goner.

“Did you know you talk when you sleep?” Yebin points out as she dresses herself with the same clothes she came in the night before.

“No I don’t,” Minkyung immediately replies.

“Yeah you do.”

“Nope.”

“I heard you.”

“What did I say?”

“They weren’t real words.”

“Then it’s not really talking.”

“Fine, you sleep mumble.”

Minkyung tosses and turns to lie on her stomach, not caring when the blanket slips down to her waist and exposes her upper body. Yebin feels her cheeks burning up at the sight of long brown hair cascading down the . There were less nail marks than usual, but the few that could be seen were deep (it was one of those nights).

“Well, I have to go now,” Yebin says, “Thank you for the night.”

It still feels a little strange to her; saying thank you to the person she slept with. She’s never even thanked Wonwoo. (But perhaps he never really deserved it anyways.) But then again, Yebin thinks this is common courtesy towards an , especially after a job well done.

Minkyung – no, Roa – Minkyung – Roa mumbles as if she’s on the verge of dozing off again. Usually, she would her client off at the door with a wicked smirk, inviting them to return again.

But Yebin figures she must be tired and lets her off this time, so she slips out of the apartment quietly to let Minkyung fall back asleep.

&

Yebin lets out a long exhale.

“You…are incredible. Like, mind-blowingly…good god, you put the power in power bott–”

Yebin catches herself, wide-eyed, and promptly gets off the older girl beneath her. She realizes it’s already too late to take back her words when a honeyed laugh sweet to the ears comes from Roa’s direction.

“Thanks.”

“I-I…didn’t mean to say that out loud…” Yebin sheepishly confesses.

Roa takes the pillow Yebin had been hiding behind and smirks at her. “Why not? It’s a great compliment.”

Yebin chuckles to hide her embarrassment and turns to face the ceiling. “…I have a weird question.”

 “Try me.”

“Um, has anyone ever…” Yebin drifts off as she tries to figure out a way to word her question, “made you…you know….hit your peak?”

Roa snickers, visibly amused at Yebin’s euphemism especially considering what they had just finished doing. “You mean ?”

Yebin blushes. Way to be blunt…

“Nope,” is Roa’s candid response.

“Really? Never?”

“That’s my job, not theirs.” Yebin can almost sense the proud smirk across Roa’s face. “Besides, they’re either too inexperienced or too experienced. Two extreme ends of the spectrum don’t get me off,” she confesses, as if they were talking about the weather.

Yebin scoffs. “I get the inexperienced part, but how can someone be too experienced?”

“Oh, you won’t believe how ahead people get of themselves. Usually, I can weed out the weird ones with the coffee meetups, but sometimes I get someone who pretended to be normal but is actually bat crazy,” Roa replies.

Yebin hums and ponders for a bit, listens to her inner voice giving her a pep talk, and then turns to look at Roa, who had closed her eyes.

“So…none of your clients has ever come close?” she leans in, places a chaste kiss on Roa’s exposed collarbone, “…Not even me?”

Roa’s mouth tugs into a smirk when she feels Yebin’s lips grazing her skin, up her neck, over her jaw, leaving soft kisses along its path, until she reaches the corner of Roa’s upturned lips. Are those goosebumps that she’s feeling…?

“Honestly,” Roa murmurs, “you’ve come the closest.”

And when Yebin hears (feels) the pleasant sigh that slips past Roa’s lips, that’s all she needs to go in for the dive.

Her inner self cheers her on for being so daring as she captures Roa in a languid kiss, her fingers reaching up to tangle themselves in the older girl’s hair. Roa reciprocates just as steadily as her, arms automatically wrapping around Yebin’s waist.

But then a loud alarm breaks Yebin out of her sweet, sweet cloud nine, like glass being shattered.

No, it’s not a dream (though it might as well be).

Roa breaks the kiss apart and blindly reaches over to turn off the alarm that would usually mark the end of their session.

“Can’t you just…go overtime for a few minutes…just this once…” Yebin murmurs yearningly into her lips, thumb caressing the area behind Roa’s ear.

Roa just hums before snipping the thread Yebin had been hanging on to. “Sorry, but your time is up, Kang Yebin. Unless you’re willing to pay,” she says, “again.”

Yebin groans. “Can’t make an exception for me?” she whines into Roa’s lips.

“Oh, I wish,” Roa says, “but I don’t make the rules.”

Yebin sighs and detaches herself, falling back to her side of the bed in disappointment. “I’m going to go broke because of you.”

“Thank you for being a loyal client.”

Yebin lets out a gruff hmph, inciting a chuckle from Roa, who playfully pokes her on the cheek.

“I’m just kidding. Spend your money wisely.”

“Wise words from an….”

“Oh yes, shattering degrading stereotypes, that’s me oh me,” Roa jokes. “But seriously, don’t choose an over having food on your plate.”

“Okay, I’m not that broke,” Yebin grumbles and ignores the fact that she would totally choose a night with Roa over food.

Truthfully, she thanks her gazillion relatives for her generous stash of birthday money and also her free-handed parents who won’t stop sending her money, no matter how much she insists. Perhaps, if she tells them she’s spending most of it on an , they’ll stop.

But of course, Yebin would never tell them that. She’ll have to think of another way. For now, she tells herself its her money and she gets to choose whatever she wants to spend it on.

And as she watches Roa – Minkyung – rise from the bed, figure silhouetted against the sunlight coming in through the window, stretching her long slender arms above her head, and smiling at her, Yebin marvels at her circumstances.

Sure, she’s expensive, but wow she’s worth it…

And Yebin doesn’t regret spending a single buck to get a breath of fresh air after being underwater for so long.

&

The image of Roa (Minkyung) in nothing but underwear, a white tee, and an apron had always been something that Yebin could’ve only dreamed of – an imagination that she never would’ve thought would actually come to fruition in reality.

And yet here she was now, lying amidst bedsheets she has grown so accustomed to, staring at the back of Roa (Minkyung?) in nothing but underwear, a white tee, and an apron in front of the stove.

Yebin pinches herself to check if this was real life. (It is.)

Two months have already flown by since Yebin first opened her laptop to browse websites of services for a whole hour before eventually settling on one. Back then, she had thought this would be just a one time thing, or maybe two – not a multiple times thing, often enough that she’d now be considered a regular with its added perks and all.

But Yebin knew if she wanted to spend some time with her, she’d have to spend some money as well.

Once, the bank had even flagged her account; it turns out her sudden large amount of spending the past two months was rather suspicious… (She fixed the situation before Wonwoo could find out.)

Oh right. Wonwoo. They still live together and