"Hey, Seulgi. What are you looking at?”

“N-nothing!” Seulgi jumped when she felt Joy was peeking over her shoulder and slammed her laptop’s lid shut.

“I don’t believe you. I need backup. Seungwan-ah, open her laptop while I grab her.”

Seulgi made an attempt to cradle her laptop and get away but Joy was quicker. She wheeled Seulgi’s chair away from her desk and put her in a headlock while the girl was still seated. Seulgi made some undignified noises while her arms flailed everywhere as she tried to free herself from the giant’s vice grip. Seungwan skirted around their desks and opened the said laptop.

“What’s her password?” Seungwan turned around to ask Joy when she saw the welcome screen but Joy didn’t know it either.

“Try Irene’s birthday. March 29th.”

Taeyeon suggested from her seat, already making her way towards the trio.

“I’m in!”

The laptop’s screen loaded and Seungwan’s eyes widened when she saw the familiar robin egg blue on the website.

“S-Seulgi..this is..”

“Whoah!”

Joy gawked at the screen and let Seulgi go, joining Seungwan as they looked at the page Seulgi was at. Seulgi scrambled to retrieve her laptop but got held back again, this time by Seohyun who was intrigued by the commotion they caused earlier and the rest of the team soon followed.

Oh dear God…

Seulgi sat in her chair and looked at them helplessly as they marvelled at what was displayed on the screen. Taeyeon even whistled when she saw it, turned back to Seulgi and gave her a thumbs up.

“You have good taste, little one. Should’ve known since you are dating my cousin, not that I’m biased or anything.”

“R-really? Is that one okay?”

“Okay??” Yoona asked in disbelief. “Seulgi, I’d marry you if you proposed with that ring. It’s gorgeous and it fits Irene well.”

Seulgi sighed in relief, she had been so worried about picking the wrong ring for Irene ever since she started surveying them. It was much more tedious than expected, shopping for a ring. Seulgi even had to sneakily borrow one of Irene’s rings, one that she didn’t wear often, and brought it to some random jewelry shop to ask what size it was because she had no idea how to tell and she didn’t trust those methods she found online. Seulgi snapped out of her little world when she felt somebody pat her back. It was Jessica.

“Look at you, all grown up and shopping for engagement rings. I’m really proud of you, Seulgi. Really.” She smiled at Seulgi and it was so sincere that Seulgi teared up.

“Th-thanks.” Seulgi beamed and rubbed her eyes for a bit.

“So, what made you want to propose? I mean, you’re still pretty young. How long have you two been going out again?” Taeyeon pulled up a chair next to Seulgi. Everybody followed suit and they formed a circle around Seulgi’s desk.

“Our second anniversary just passed and Juhyun has been hinting since I can remember that she wanted to get married before she turned 30, which is next March, which, you know, is about a little over half a year away so now would be a good time to start planning for it…” Seulgi paused and was surprised to find six pairs of eyes staring attentively at her, Seohyun motioned for her to continue. “I mean, I’ve been wanting to, with or without her hints. I mean, I can’t imagine spending the rest of my life with anybody else. She’s the one, you know? S-she’s the only one and god she is amazing. I..” Seulgi’s voice cracked as she swallowed hard, trying to keep it together but it didn’t work as she lost it when she blurted the rest of her sentence. “I love her so much.”

Seulgi buried her face into her palms and cried as she thought of the last two years with her love, how lucky she was to have found somebody who was so kind and gentle with her. Somebody who was literally always there for her every step of the way, who was so, so patient with her, so loving and forgiving. She cried because she was thankful that, out of all the people on this vast Earth, she got to call Irene hers.

“Seulgi..”

Jessica came over to give her a hug and soon Seulgi was enveloped in a big group hug. They broke the hug when Seulgi had calmed down and each of them gave her a pat on the back. Jessica stood beside her, placed an arm over her shoulders and patted her arm. Seulgi looked up at her with puffy eyes and smiled.

“Thanks, guys.”

“It’s okay. We’re practically family now. And I do mean it literally. We’re going to be cousins-in-law soon. Am I right, Taengoo?”

“Right on!”

---

“Wow you really love mom, huh?”

“I still do.” Seulgi smiled as she glanced at her wife who was in the kitchen preparing dinner, her back facing them. She let out a dreamy sigh.

“Mom, I know what you’re thinking and please don’t go over and give her a back hug. You two are seriously so gross with the PDA.”

“I heard that!” Irene yelled from the kitchen.

“Well, Kang Yerim, good thing I’m your mom and you’re not the boss of me.” Seulgi finished smugly. Getting up from her seat in the living room, she strolled over to the kitchen and hugged her wife from the back.

Irene had jumped slightly when she felt a pair of hands snake around her waist but quickly relaxed and leaned back, resting her head on Seulgi’s shoulder. Seulgi smiled and kissed her temple before Irene stood upright again to continue cooking.

Good lord, those two.

Yerim rolled her eyes at her parents. They had been together for almost 20 years and yet they always seemed to be in that honeymoon phase of a relationship. She shook her head and fished out her phone, ignoring whatever that was going on in the kitchen. She prayed that dinner would not be ruined with her mom distracting her mom, which apparently, was quite the achievement because a long time ago it was her Hyunnie mom who was always distracting her Seulgi mom.

+-+-+

“So mom, how did you end up proposing?”

Yerim asked while they were half way through dinner. Irene nudged her wife while Seulgi kept eating.

“Honey, are you not going to answer your daughter?”

“She’s your daughter, too, Hyun. You carried her.”

“Wow I feel so loved, moms.”

“You were there, you can answer, too.” Seulgi replied while chewing and Irene raised a brow.

“Honey, don’t talk with your mouthful.”

Seulgi whined and Yerim shook her head at her mother.

“Fine.” Seulgi rolled her eyes comically. “So....”

---

Planning for a proposal was tougher than she thought, given that the one she was going to propose to was living in under the same roof as she was. She couldn’t even think of a place to hide the ring because she was paranoid that Irene would accidentally find it while she was looking for something or while she was cleaning the house.

She thought of every possible place to hide it but came up with nothing and resorted to asking Taeyeon if she would mind holding onto it for a while until the proposal day. Taeyeon agreed, of course, understanding fully how tough it was because she too was also already living with Jessica before she proposed. Taeyeon had a good laugh when Seulgi asked for the favour because she had entrusted her ring to Irene back then. Everything comes full circle, Taeyeon thought to herself.

To even begin planning it proved to be a challenge because she couldn’t do it at home and neither could she do it during working hours. So the best solution to the problem was she had lied a little to Irene that she needed to stay back late after work to finish some assignment Jessica had given her. And of course she had asked Jessica to cover for her in case Irene asked anything. Jessica coolly agreed.

Seulgi spent a few evenings in the office together with the usual team brainstorming for ideas and the right time to do it. So far, the best window of opportunity was roughly three weeks away when Irene and her team had to fly overseas for a few days to visit their suppliers’ factory. They were to conduct a review on a few of their suppliers, to ensure that the materials they produced were up to par for their projects.

The team agreed. While Irene was away, they could prepare for it and they didn’t need to be ultra careful and sneaky. In the meantime, Joy said a prayer for Seulgi in hopes that she wouldn’t accidentally spill the beans to Irene - Seulgi was the worse at keeping secrets from the older girl because a single look cast her way would reduce Seulgi to a stuttering mess, spewing out anything that came to her mind. Everyone agreed.

---

“Yea..mom always has that effect on you. Whipped.”

Yerim feigned a cough while muttering the last word. Irene burst laughing and reached over the table to give her daughter a high five while Seulgi scoffed and continued doing the dishes.

---

Before they could actually proceed with their plans, Seulgi told them that she needed to pay Irene’s parents a visit and asked for their blessings. They understood and put everything on hold while Seulgi made arrangements for a visit during a weekday. Seulgi needed to make a day trip to avoid arousing any suspicions from Irene. She needed to be back in the city by the time it was after work so she didn’t really have a lot of time.

“So, Seulgi. What brings you here? On such an odd day and are you wearing your work clothes?” Mrs Bae asked.

“Uhm..yea these are my work clothes. I needed Juhyun to think that I’m at work while I’m actually here because I have something important to ask the two of you.”

The three of them were in the Bae’s living room, the two Baes were seated on the loveseat while Seulgi sat at the corner of the three seater sofa next to it. She sat up straight and her posture was rigid. Her hands, tightly fisted, rested on her knees. She took a deep breath to calm herself before turning to Irene’s parents.

Okay. Be bold.

“I would like to ask for your permission to marry Juhyun.”

Irene’s parents didn’t seem at all surprised, which was surprising to her.

“Well, I can’t say that we did not see this coming. Did we, dear?” Mrs Bae asked and he shook his head.

“No, we definitely saw this coming.” He turned his attention back to Seulgi and she sat even straighter. “Seulgi, I’ll be frank with you. You are not the longest relationship Juhyun has had to date.” He paused when he saw her posture hunched slightly, as though she deflated. “But I have to say you are one of the more committed ones Juhyun has been with so far, if not the most.”

“I know that I’m lacking in many areas but I’m going to work hard to improve on them because I want to be somebody that Juhyun can be proud of. Somebody that she can depend on for the rest of her life, even though I’m like three years younger.”

The Baes looked at her and smiled softly.

Aah young love.

“Well, you don’t have to worry much about that. From what we hear from Juhyun, you’re doing just fine. She loves you just as you are.” Mr Bae reached out and patted Seulgi’s knee. “You have our blessings, Seulgi. Go. And make her happy.”

Seulgi beamed and stood up to give them a deep bow.

***

Seulgi whined like a child the night before Irene had to leave for work, even though she needed her to go so that she could start preparing. Seulgi practically clung onto her while Irene was packing, just like what she had done years ago before they moved in together. Irene shook her head and continued as if she wasn’t dragging her girlfriend everywhere she went.

“Seulgi, it’ll only be for a few days. I’ll be back by Friday.”

“But..Hyun, today is Saturday and Friday is like forever away!” Seulgi defended with a pout.

Irene sighed. Prying herself free, she turned to face Seulgi and raised a brow.

“Seulgi..”

Seulgi froze. Releasing Irene immediately, she slowly backed up with her hands raised as a sign of surrender. One did not simply mess with that tone of voice, it was a death wish.

“I’ll..uhm..let you pack. See ya.”

Seulgi jogged out of the room and plopped on the couch to play some video games. Irene went out to where Seulgi was after she was done and sat beside her, leaning on the younger girl like she always did.

“Seulgi…”

“Yes?”

“It’ll only be a few days..”

“I know. I just like making a fuss.”

Irene sat upright and looked at her in disbelief. Seulgi wiggled her brows and grinned. Irene scoffed and gave her a shove.

“Idiot..”

“Your idiot.”

Shaking her head, she gave Seulgi one last shove before adjusting her position to lie on Seulgi’s lap.

“Do you wanna watch a movie instead?”

“No, you’ll have to get up to pick one and I don’t want to move. Keep playing. I’ll watch.”

“Okay.”

And that was how they spent their last night together before they parted for a week.

***

“Are you sure this simple of a plan will do? Don’t you want to do it a bit..I don’t know, something more complicated and showy?” Joy asked Seulgi while they were finalising the plan for Friday.

“Knowing my luck, I’ll probably screw up and drop the ring somewhere. So I think simple is the way to go.”

“She has a point. Just don’t break any chairs, alright?” Jessica could barely stifle her laughter while remembering that poor chair in CCSJ.

“Ha. Ha. Taeyeon, do you have the ring with you?”

“Right here.” Taeyeon dug her bag, producing a small, black velvety box and passed it to Seulgi.

“Thanks. You know the plan for Friday right?”

“Yes, captain.” Taeyeon gave her an exaggerated salute and the rest followed.

“Thanks guys. I think we’re good to go for Operation Would U.”

—-

“What a name.”

“It served the purpose, Yerim.”

Irene smiled to herself watching their daughter wife. Setting a plate of fruits on the coffee table, she sat down beside Seulgi and made herself comfortable leaning on her shoulder.

“Give your mom some credit, Yerim-ah.”

“...okay.”

—-

Irene was bouncing with excitement in her seat as the captain announced that they would soon be preparing for landing. She was finally home after a week abroad and she missed her Seulgi. They couldn’t talk a lot throughout the week because there was a bit of a time difference, Irene was three hours ahead. But it didn’t matter now, she was home and first thing she was going to do when she saw Seulgi later was to kiss her silly.

She fished out her phone and turned off the airplane mode when they landed, allowing her to receive whatever messages and notifications from when she was up in the air. She frowned when she saw Seulgi’s message, saying that something came up and Taeyeon would be picking her up from the airport instead and would be dropping her off at a place where they would be having their dinner. Irene sighed and slid her phone into her bag.

Customs and baggage claims didn’t take a very long time and Irene silently thanked the staff for their efficiency. It was a long flight and she was tired. All she wanted to do was to go home to Seulgi. She sighed again when she remembered that Seulgi wasn’t going to be picking her up.

Taeyeon spotted her with ease when she walked out to the gates. Greeting her cousin with a hug and her usual grin, the mischievous dimple showing, Taeyeon motioned for Irene to follow her to where the car park was.

“Where are we going?”

“Seulgi told me to tell you that it was a surprise. She wanted to do something nice for you since you’ve been out for so long. So you just sit tight and we’ll be there soon.”

Irene smiled to herself as she listened to Taeyeon’s explanation.

My sentimental baby

She spent the entire car ride looking out the window at the sky, looking forward to see what surprises were in store for her.

Irene’s eyes widened when Taeyeon pulled up at their destination. They were at an upscale hotel in the city centre and Taeyeon passed her car keys over to the valet.

“Come on.” She motioned Irene to follow again.

What is Kang Seulgi up to?

“Taeyeon, are you sure we’re at the right place?”

“Yea. Like I said, Seulgi wanted to do something nice.” Taeyeon stopped at the front desk and greeted the receptionist. “Hi, I’m here to check in under the name Kang Seulgi.”

“One moment please, miss.” He did a quick check to confirm the room Seulgi had booked and did the necessary procedures before passing the card keys to Taeyeon. “Your room is on the 20th floor, miss. The elevators are that way. Would you be needing a porter for your luggage?”

“Ah no, that won’t be necessary. Thank you. Juhyun, come on.”

Taeyeon led Irene to the elevators and passed the card keys to her. Irene accepted them with much confusion, her eyebrows furrowed.

“I need to go now, Jessica is waiting for me at home for dinner. Seulgi’s tying up some loose ends at fieldwork. She should be here soon. Why don’t you go up first?”

“B-but!”

“Have fun, Juhyun-ah!” Taeyeon turned and skipped away.

“But!”

Sighing in defeat, Irene guessed she had no other choice but to go to the room Seulgi had booked for them. And it turned out to be a suite. Irene entered the room and was greeted by a view of the setting sun over the river that ran across their city. Opening the glass sliding door, Irene stepped out into the cool autumn air to take some photos of the setting sun and to breathe in the fresh air from high ground. She went back in after a while and saw that there was a card placed on the bed. She recognised the handwriting instantly.

‘Hi Hyun! Surprise! You’re probably wondering what on earth am I up to and I’m sure Taeyeon already told you. I want to do something nice for you. So why don’t you go soak in the tub for a bit to relax and I’ll meet you in the lobby at 7.30 and we’ll go get dinner. I heard the food here is great.

See you later, my love!

K.S.G.

(p/s: there’s a dress ready for you in the closet.)’

“What are you up to, Kang Seulgi?”

It wasn’t their birthdays, or their anniversary of any kind. Did Seulgi get a promotion with a big pay jump while she was away? It was possible. Irene shrugged and headed for the closet to look for the dress.

***

Seulgi arrived about 15 minutes before time and lingered around the lobby, feeling restless and nervous. The plan was simple enough - dinner and then retreat to their room which would already have been decorated by her friends while they were having dinner and propose. Simple, easy and most importantly foolproof. The fear of screwing up an elaborate plan was real and Seulgi didn’t have the stomach to take that potential risk.

She spotted a decorative mirror and checked her appearance. She was dressed in all black, save for her jacket that was brown - a black turtleneck top matched with black pants. Fixing her freshly trimmed bangs, she turned her face side to side to make sure she looked presentable. Her hand unconsciously slipped into her pocket, just to feel the velvety texture of the box.

Seulgi turned around when she heard her name being called and Irene took her breath away. She was dressed in simple off-shoulder, black and white cocktail dress but she couldn’t have looked more beautiful.

Seungwan helped picked a great dress.

Irene was walking towards her as fast as she could in heels. When Seulgi was close enough, Irene reached out cupped Seulgi’s face, pulling her down for a kiss, onlookers be damned. Seulgi felt Irene sigh into the kiss, her arms automatically finding their way around Seulgi’s neck. It was probably the longest they had gone without seeing each other after they moved in together.

Seulgi rested her forehead on Irene’s and beamed, Irene’s eyes disappearing into two lines as she mirrored Seulgi’s grin.

“Hey..”

“Hey.”

“You look really nice.”

“What are you up to, Kang Seulgi? And you cut your hair? It looks good on you.”

Irene pulled back and fixed Seulgi’s hair while the younger girl grinned, her eyes disappearing into two lines as well.

“Thanks. I just got a promotion and with you coming back, it’s the perfect excuse for a celebration.”

Phew..okay. Good. Didn’t stutter.

“Really? Congratulations!” Irene pulled her down for another kiss. “My hardworking baby.”

“I think we better get going.” Seulgi glanced around when they separated. “We’re going to be late for our reservation.” Seulgi offered her arm and Irene naturally hooked hers over it. “Shall we?”

***

“Alright people. We have roughly an hour or so to finish setting up everything so let’s get to it. Yoong, I want the cameras up within half an hour and Seohyun, make sure the connection is stable when we move the monitor to the next room. Joy, Seungwan, you two get the pictures up and try not to mess up the sequence. I think Seulgi already labelled them on the back. Chop chop! I want this room set up 5 minutes ago.”

“Yes, captain!” the gang saluted and got to work.

Taeyeon stood in the middle of the room and supervised the entire operation while Jessica and a new member of their group were downstairs in the restaurant spying on the couple - in-charged of giving them updates should they make a move so that Seulgi would not be seen as acting suspicious by fidgeting with her phone all evening.

They finished setting up in less than an hour, much to Taeyeon’s delight. The cameras were in place to capture everything and they would have Seungwan hide somewhere with a camcorder for backup - just because she was the smallest and easiest to hide - in case their main cameras malfunctioned.

Once they were done, they moved to their base of operations - the room next door - and their laptop for final checks.

***

Seulgi listened as Irene chattered on throughout dinner. The food was delicious but she didn’t notice it, not when her full attention was on Irene. Irene was retelling her stories from her trip abroad, gesturing animatedly while occasionally readjusting Seulgi’s jacket that slipped off her shoulders. Irene had shivered the moment they stepped into the in-house restaurant and Seulgi noticed, taking off the jacket and draping it over her shoulders without a word.

She was aware that she was staring at Irene. She had been since their reunion in the lobby. There was something about Irene today, she couldn’t quite put a finger on it. Was it because she hadn’t seen her in a long time? Perhaps. It was another mysterious mystery Seulgi would have to solve another day because she had more important matters on hand. She took a glance at her wrist watch, mentally calculating the amount of lead time her friends still needed before they could go up to their room.

They should be done by now. It’s been almost two hours.

“Seulgi?”

She hummed in response.

“Are you in a rush?”

“What?”

“You’ve been glancing at your watch a few times now since we sat down.”

“Oh..no it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it, Hyun.” Seulgi gave Irene a reassuring smile. “You must be tired. Wanna go up and rest?”

“Yea, that sounds nice.”

Seulgi raised her hand and asked the waiter for the bill.

***

Seulgi gasped while they right in front of their room and started feeling about her pockets for something.

“Hyun, I think I left my phone on the table just now. Why don’t you do ahead, I’ll go get it.”

“Okay. Here take one of the keys.”

“Thanks, Hyun. I’ll be back soon.”

Irene entered their room without any suspicions and Seulgi quickly went next door.

Ok so far so good.

The moment Seulgi entered their base of operations, Joy announced with glee while looking at the monitor.

“And we’re live! Produced by the colleagues. Take 1!”

***

Irene gasped when she saw the room, it looked different from when she left it. She left the room with all of its light on but it was dimly lit with only the bedside lamps. The curtains were also drawn, making the room even darker. Irene was confused because she didn’t remember drawing the curtains either. She looked down and saw that there was a trail on the floor, made with rose petals, and it lead to the glass door. There was also a note by her foot that said ‘follow me’ and pointed towards the the curtains. Taking a deep breath, Irene walked towards the drawn curtains.

She stopped when she saw another note taped on the curtains telling her to open them. She recognised the writing on the two notes, they were written by Seulgi. She removed the note and opened the curtains, surprised to find their photos stuck all over the glass.

The photos, Irene realised, were from taken within the last two years that they had been together. She moved to the left side of the door, assuming that the timeline would start from there. She was right. The first collage were from their first date. Irene remembered the red beret Seulgi had bought for her. She looked a little closer and saw that there were little messages written on some of the photos.

‘We dressed alike that day. It must be fate. You looked so beautiful. I love you.’

Irene glanced at at the next few photos and smiled softly. The photos were taken in Irene’s studio apartment kitchen from when Seulgi came over for dinner the first time. They had made a mess of the kitchen because Seulgi wanted to help but was a messy cook. Irene had spent more time cleaning up after her girlfriend than actually cooking that day. Seulgi had sneakily taken a selfie while pointing at Irene who was cleaning up in the background. There were also photos of their meal afterwards. While the food didn’t look particularly appetising, they agreed that it was delicious.

‘I love cooking with you but I always make a mess. Thank you for cleaning up after me. I’ll work hard to improve! I love you.’

Irene’s eyes were glistening by the time she saw the next collage. They were taken in front of Let’s Taco Bout Love from one of their many dates in the area. Irene looked at the one with writings on it. It seemed that either Sunny or Sooyoung had taken the photo because it was a candid shot of Seulgi and Irene laughing with each other, Irene’s hand poised in the air to give Seulgi a slap while she laughed.

‘Sunny said honey was dripping from my eyes everytime I look at you. You make it difficult not to. I love you.’

She looked at the rest of the collages on the glass and slowly, everything came flooding back to her. Irene blinked back tears and swallowed. Using the card in her hand, she covered the lower half of her face and moved on to the next collage. They were from their first trip to a tropical island for a short getaway. There was a photo of Irene that Seulgi had taken, she was posing with a glass of coconut shake, wearing huge sunglasses and a big straw hat. There was another photo of them posing with the crab they were about to have for dinner, and one of when Irene had fallen asleep on one of the beach chairs by the pool, shaded by a huge umbrella.

‘I promise to always have your back, Hyun. I love you.’

Irene glanced at the other collages, remembering every single moment from when the photos were taken.

‘Furniture shopping is so much fun when you do it with the one you love. You have great taste in furniture, Hyun. As expected. I love you.’

‘We’re finally moved in together! I can’t believe it! Is this is how our the rest lives is going to be? I can’t wait. I love you.’

‘Ugh Hyunnie why are you sick? :( But don’t worry your Seulgi is here to take care of you! I love you.’

‘Aaand then it’s my turn to be sick. Thank you for taking care of me, Hyun. I love you.’

The last photo was a stand alone instead of a collage. It was a recent photo of them, taken by Seulgi’s brother when they visited Seulgi’s family. They were sharing a drink and looking into each others’ eyes as they sipped from their straws.

‘I love you, Bae Juhyun. So much.’

“S-Seulgi-ah..” She called with a shaky voice and Seulgi was out the door and came bursting into their room. She went to her and Irene cried the moment Seulgi gathered her in her arms.

They stayed like that for a few moments while Seulgi cooed at her crying girlfriend to calm down. Only when her hiccups had stopped and her breathing returned to normal did Seulgi pulled away, cupped her face and wiped away whatever traces of tears left.

“You okay?”

Irene silently nodded, her eyes locked onto Seulgi’s.

“Juhyun-ah, I’m just going to say it straight because I’m rubbish at speeches.” Seulgi took a step back and reached for her pocket. Taking out the velvet box, Seulgi opened it and got down on one knee. She looked up at Irene and took a deep breath.

Time to rock the world.

“Bae Juhyun, love of my life, will you marry me?”

“Yes!”

Irene reached for Seulgi’s turtleneck and pulled her up, peppering her face with kisses. Seulgi quickly snapped the box shut, fearing that the ring might fall off. She kissed her back, laughing in between the kisses. Pulling away slightly, Seulgi lifted Irene’s left hand.

“May I?”

“Yes.”

Seulgi retrieved the ring from its case and slipped it onto her ring finger and kissed her hand.

“I can’t wait to spend forever with you, Seulgi.”

“Me too.”

“CONGRATULATIONS!!!”

The team of dumb dumbs burst through the door and popped some confetti while Seungwan came out from her hiding spot in the closet with a camcorder in hand. Irene jumped and screamed at the sudden loud noise, clinging onto Seulgi before letting go when she saw who the new occupants of the room were.

“You were all in on this? Even you?” Irene pointed at Taeyeon and she guffawed.

“Yep! We’re all in on this. Even Yongsun came to help out.” Taeyeon pointed at one of the people in their small crowd who Seulgi recognised as Ms Kim from CCSJ, Irene’s colleague and good friend.

“Kim Yongsun you knew about this? For how long?”

“A few weeks. It was so hard keeping this secret from you! But it was so worth it. I’m so happy for you.” Yongsun came over and gave them a hug and soon, they were enveloped in a big group hug as their friends congratulated them again and again.

---

“Wow, mom. Who knew you had it in you? I’m impressed!” Yerim nodded approvingly at her mother. “I thought for sure mom was the one who was going to pop the question.” Yerim glanced at Irene who was staring at Seulgi, not that the latter noticed.

“Thanks. I’m not always hopeless.”

“Mostly hopeless.”

“Gee thanks, Hyun.”

Irene smiled at her wife before turning to their daughter.

“Yerim-ah, it’s getting late.”

“I know..I know..I’ll leave you two alone. Good night, moms.” Yerim went over to her mothers and kissed them good night before disappearing up the stairs to her room.

“So? Hopeless?”

“Mostly. But it’s okay. I love you regardless.”

“That’s good to know.” Seulgi smiled as she leaned in for her own good night kiss.

---

 

END.