Life returned to its usual pace once the fieldwork ended, Seulgi found herself having to get used to the relatively new sense of freedom she had now that she didn’t have to rush or be stressed out over that fieldwork anymore. It took a few days to fully adjust, everybody agreed that they somehow felt a bit lost because they had nothing to do all of a sudden after weeks of being on a tight schedule.

Ms Song had graciously told Jessica to bench the entire team for a few weeks, to allow them some time to catch their breath and to fully recharge before they were assigned to a new wave of fieldworks for the coming third quarter of the year. So the team of dumb dumbs kept themselves busy by tidying up their respective desks. Piles and piles of paperwork from their other fieldworks needed to be filed and put away, not to mention shredded should the need arise.

Seulgi kept herself busy by helping and teaching Wheein and Hyejin anything that they didn’t know. They had been going on fieldwork with Jessica in the past few weeks and they were both very intimidated by their manager. Seulgi smiled at them, she saw a bit of herself in the two rascals. How could she forget that she too was once like them, fearful of their resident Ice Queen. They didn’t even believe her when Seulgi assured them that Jessica was actually a very warm and funny person underneath that icy exterior.

Sometimes I think Jessica is just scaring all these newbies for kicks.

With the fieldwork over with, Irene stopped staying over daily. Seulgi was almost sad when Irene packed up her things to go. She stood by the door of her bedroom and watched as Irene examined her little backpack for anything that she might have missed. It wasn’t like she had a lot to pack anyway, her clothes already took up about one quarter of Seulgi’s closet space as did Seulgi’s in Irene’s.

“Must you go?”

Irene turned around to see Seulgi pouting at her, rocking on the balls of her feet as she restlessly watched on. The younger girl trudged her way across the short distance, still pouting. When she was close enough, Seulgi reach to take one of Irene’s hands and just held it

My clingy baby

Irene shook her head at the sight of her girlfriend. Seulgi clearly wasn’t going to let go of her hand anytime soon as she held on and followed Irene wherever she went to retrieve her belongings. When they finally got to the front door, Seulgi held on tighter.

“Seulgi, we’ll be seeing each other tomorrow. Have you forgotten?”

“No..but..” Seulgi trailed off and had her gaze casted on the floor.

“But?” Irene tilted her head and looked up, searching for Seulgi’s eyes.

“This house is going to feel so empty without you..” Seulgi’s reply came out barely a whisper.

“Seul..”

“You know what?”

Irene jumped slightly at Seulgi’s sudden outburst. Seulgi looked serious, she had her game face on.

Be bold!

“Let’s move in together. Like Joy and Seungwan, ya know?” Irene gasped and Seulgi continued, “I mean, I know this is going to sound a little dramatic but this past month living with you has been great. I love it - coming home to you everyday. You being the last person I see before I fall asleep and the first person I see when I wake up. I really like that and I love being able to see you everyday. I love how we sometimes just sprawled across the couch doing nothing and it’s fun, or how sometimes you let me help you in the kitchen, or when you tell me about your work face to face instead of over the phone and oh I don’t know? When you just make yourself comfortable on my lap while I play my games? And I’m just rambling right now but I do have a point. The point is that this place was just a regular house and well, I’ve always thought that it was because I live alone but I see it now..” Seulgi took a deep breath, eyes never leaving Irene’s before continuing, “It’s not the house. It’s you. My home..is you. So what do you say?”

“Yes.” Her reply was quick and simple. Irene’s eyes were glistening and Seulgi mentally patted herself on the back for not chickening out of her plan when Irene threw herself into Seulgi’s arms and pulled her into a searing kiss.

---

“I knew it. There was no way you two could’ve continued living separately.”

“Well, thank you for knowing us so well.”

---

House hunting, according to Joy, could either be fun or stressful - depending on how they were going to handle it and who their real estate agent was. Joy and Seungwan had little problems with theirs. They spent a few weekends looking at houses around a neighbourhood they both liked with their agent before settling on a modest two-bedroom apartment about a 15-minute drive from their workplace. They had highly recommended the agent to Seulgi, who was apparently a good friend of Jessica’s and apparently, she had helped Irene find her current place a couple of years back.

The couple spent a few days discussing the essentials before starting their house hunt. They talked about things like the all important budget, location and what type of house they were looking for. Irene was quite worried if Seulgi could cope with the rent because she knew that the younger girl’s pay wasn’t exactly as handsome as she was but Seulgi assured her it was fine. She could handle it.

“I’m smart, Hyun. Don’t worry about it! Besides, Ms Song said we’re going to get another increment soon.”

Only when they had finalised the details did they give the agent a call, asking if she was free to meet up and they could go over what they had in mind for their future home. The real estate agent agreed enthusiastically, Seulgi could feel her smile and energy all the way over the phone. She sounded like she had a pretty smile, Seulgi commented off handedly and earned herself a glare from Irene only to have her confirm a while later that yes, their would-be real estate agent was a very bubbly person and had a very pretty smile. Her eyes apparently disappeared into two crescent shaped lines when she smiled.

When they arrived at the office for their first meeting, Seulgi could tell right away which was the one they had spoken to over the phone because Irene was right, she did have a pretty smile and her eyes looked like they smiled when she did. She greeted Irene with much familiarity, giving her a hug and a pat, asking how she was before turning to Seulgi.

“Hi, I’m Tiffany and you must be Seulgi! I’ve heard a lot about you from Taetae and Jessi and I’m so excited to be able to help you two find your first home together! Why don’t we get started? Oh before we do, can I get you two anything? Coffee? Tea?”

“Uhm..Tea is fine, Juhyun doesn’t drink coffee. Thank you. Very nice to meet you, by the way.”

“Very nice to meet you, too! Why don’t you two take a seat over there and I’ll be right back.”

Tiffany pointed to one of the discussion rooms in the office and left the two, headed to what Seulgi assumed was the pantry. Irene nudged Seulgi with her elbow, beckoning her to follow. Seulgi was looking a bit lost as she processed what just happened. Tiffany had came out a bit strong and Seulgi hadn’t had the lead time to process the details yet.

“Bubbly, isn’t she? You’ll get used to it, don’t worry.” Irene teased when she saw that Seulgi was still in a bit of a blur.

“I’m just a little lost. Who’s Taetae again?”

“Taeyeon. The three of them actually go way back.” Irene explained and suddenly everything made so much sense.

Tiffany returned a short while later with their drinks and they started their meeting.

***

Tiffany was as good as they said she was - they being Joy, Seungwan and Jessica. She found them the perfect home in practically no time at all. The moment Irene and Seulgi stepped into the apartment they knew it was the one, even though it was the very first one they were suppose to view that weekend.

Irene was squealing the moment she saw how brightly lit the apartment was by natural lighting. Seulgi flinched and covered her ears as the empty house echoed her girlfriend’s excited squeals while Irene pranced around the empty living room in delight. As soon as they entered the apartment, they saw that the opposite wall was actually a huge glass sliding door that allowed plenty of sunlight into the house. Seulgi could see it in Irene’s eyes that this would be the one. They probably wouldn’t even need to inspect the entire house, Irene was sold the moment she stepped into the bright room.

Tiffany gave them a brief tour of the two bedroom apartment and let the couple look around by themselves while she waited in the living room. She smiled at the sight of the two, Irene was dragging Seulgi around and they were already discussing where would the furniture go. Seulgi was drawing invisible squares to show Irene where the sofa could go and where the tv cabinet could be placed to avoid potential glare from the sun.

Things got serious when Seulgi fished out a measuring tape from her pocket and started measuring the area. She even took down notes as she went around the house, inspecting everything from the plumbing to the network coverage - holding her phone up in the air as she went from room to room, trying to view some videos in the highest definition to see if they would play smoothly.

Irene then dragged Seulgi into the kitchen. It was a modest-sized kitchen, just enough space for two or three people to work in simultaneously. Irene was more than satisfied with it, already thought of where would the fridge and oven be placed. Seulgi was more than happy to be dragged around the house. Irene was at her most adorable at the moment with her childlike excitement over their would-be home, talking to Seulgi at the speed of light.

My tiny Rap God.

“Seulgi-ah! What do you think if we put the bed here? And the closet can go over there! Oh!” Irene hopped to the next spot. “The dressing table can go over here! Can you imagine it, Seulgi?”

Seulgi, who was taking photos of the room, put her phone down and beamed at Irene.

“Yes, yes I can. Hyun, can you stand over there and I’ll take a picture of you.”

Seulgi pointed to the balcony outside the master room. Irene skipped over and posed for a few shots before dragging Seulgi out to the next room. They spent about an hour in the empty house, almost forgetting that Tiffany was with them. They apologised for making her wait but she waved them off, the satisfactory from seeing them so happy with the house was more than enough for her.

“This is the one!”

“Are you sure you two don’t want to look at the other apartments in our itinerary? There might be better ones.” Tiffany tried to reason with them, not wanting them to jump to conclusions.

“No, we’re sure. We’ll take this one.” Seulgi smiled reassuringly at her and gave her a thumbs up. “Thanks for helping us find this one. It’s great!”

“Alright then, if you’re sure. We’ll head back to the office and get the paperwork done.”

***

“I can’t believe we’re shopping for furniture, Seulgi! For our home! Ooh!! What do you think of that sofa set over there?” Irene went over and plopped down on a black two-seater sofa. Seulgi puffed her cheeks, thinking of the pros and cons of getting a leather sofa. One the plus side, it looked good but it would be a pain to sit on during the hot summer days, not to mention it was sort of overpriced. That was all it took for Irene to get up and made her way to the next sofa set on display.

Seulgi would occasionally stop Irene in her tracks just to her picture. Her phone’s photo gallery was quickly filling up with photos of Irene while they shopped. Irene was being utterly adorable, bubbling with excitement as they looked around the vast, Swedish furniture shop. Irene was tugging on Seulgi’s arm the entire time, pointing and leading her to anything that caught her attention. Seulgi thought that she might not make it, her heart was so full.

She has no business looking so adorable today.

Furniture shopping turned out to be much more fun than either of them thought it would be. It was truly something Seulgi would love to experience again with Irene in the future when they moved into a place that was truly theirs. Irene had insisted that Seulgi picked the furniture but Seulgi was fine with letting Irene choose, reasoning that she was contented with being able to live in a house surrounded by furniture that was chosen by the one she loved. Irene went red and gave Seulgi a shove, head lowered to hide her blush. Seulgi laughed and wrapped an arm around Irene’s shoulders, pulling her close as they continued their shopping.

It took a few weeks for their home to take shape since they could only work on it on weekends but it progressed steadily. Seulgi and Irene would spend most of their weekends in their new home, assembling the furniture and arranging and rearranging them until they found a spot that they both agreed on.

They even took it upon themselves to repaint the walls. Irene thought it would be fun so Seulgi went along with it. Because it did seem like a lot of fun. Dressed in jeans and shirts they wouldn’t mind getting paint on - Irene in one of Seulgi’s old oversized t-shirt that she actually stole from her brother and Seulgi clad in an old flannel and topped with a baseball cap, the two of them set to work. Seulgi volunteered to climb the ladder to reach the top of the walls since their roller brush wasn't long enough and Irene was afraid of heights.

That eventually led to Seulgi accidentally spilling paint all over Irene, causing a huge mess, when she toppled it from the ladder she was climbing. The can had missed Irene but paint was splashed all over her. Seulgi apologised while laughing and Irene was not having it. She was dead set on giving Seulgi a hug and covering her in paint, too. Seulgi made a game of trying to get away but it was futile - Irene always got what she wanted and in the end, Seulgi was in a mess too. Irene even drew a heart on Seulgi’s cheek.

They cleaned their hands quickly and fetched their phones to take a few commemoration shots before Irene dragged Seulgi into the shower with her, determined to wash the paint off before it dries.

***