With Seulgi’s birthday and Valentine’s Day only a few days apart, Irene really didn’t know how to go about it - celebrating twice would seem like a bit of an overkill but both days were special and deserved to be celebrated by itself. She mulled over it during lunch for a few days straight before her friend from Sales noticed.

“Okay, out with it. Why do you look so glum nowadays?”

“Yongsun-ah, I don’t know what do to. Seulgi’s birthday is coming up and it’s like four days before Valentine’s Day. What do I do? Do I just pick a date in the middle and celebrate them in one go?”

“What do you really want to do?”

“I want to do it on separate days but I feel like I’d be overdoing it? And I don’t think Seulgi has that much free time, she’s always toiling away on her laptop with her reports and paperwork.”

“I’m going to tell you something now that will seem a bit useless.”

“Okay. Shoot.” Irene looked expectantly at her Yongsun.

“Follow your heart.”

“Yong..”

“I know. I know..”

“You’re a genius! I totally know what to do now. Thank you!”

Irene gave her friend a tight hug before returning back to work, leaving her quite bewildered.

“Okay? Happy to help!”

***

Seulgi’s work schedule was unpredictable but it would be more or less fixed when Jessica rolled out the work plan for the quarter. Irene called her cousin sister-in-law to ask about Seulgi’s schedule and Jessica emailed it to her with a ‘have fun’ and a wink emoji, knowing fully what Irene’s intentions were. Irene blushed and looked around, paranoid that her colleagues saw her expression.

Aah..so you’re benched for those 2 weeks? Well then, don’t mind if I do.

Irene chuckled to herself before realising that it was a bit too loud and a few of her colleagues were looking at her. Clearing , she put her serious face on and pretended to type something on her laptop. She peeked over the laptop’s lid to see if the coast was clear before sighing.

That was close.

It wasn’t going to be her first time celebrating Valentine’s day, but it sure was the first time that she was celebrating it with somebody she actually loved. She cringed at her own cheesy thoughts and gave herself a shake to get rid of the goosebumps that formed. She moused over to the internet browser and double clicked. Once the search engine fully loaded, she typed in what she had in mind and smiled as she went through the results.

***

“Seulgi-ah!” Irene plopped down on the couch next to Seulgi and leaned fully onto the girl who was playing some rhythm game on her phone. Seulgi leaned to the side and rested her elbow on the armrest to support herself while keeping her phone in position, determined to clear the mission without missing a beat.

“Yeah?” She answered absentmindedly.

“Your birthday is coming soon. So is Valentine’s Day..”

Irene watched as Seulgi paused and exited her game. She turned to Irene while putting her phone away.

“Yes? It’s next month. Why?”

“What are you doing that weekend?”

“You?”

Irene blushed almost instantly and whacked her with the nearest pillow she could reach while Seulgi laughed and blocked the attacks by shielding herself with her arms.

“Oh my god, did you learn that from Taeyeon?! I swear that woman is such a bad influence on you.” Irene glared at a still laughing Seulgi.

“I don’t have plans yet. But I hang out with Sunny and Sooyoung on my birthday mostly. They usually insist that I stop by because Sooyoung and I have the same birthday. Sooyoung wants to celebrate together.”

“Oh. I didn’t know that.”

“Yep. But I don’t think they will mind it if I don’t hang out with them this year.”

Irene looked as though she was in deep thought as she leaned forward to pick up her phone that was on the coffee table. Scrolling through the calendar, she paused at the intended week and hummed.

“What are you thinking about, Hyun?” Seulgi leaned closer to take a look at her phone and turned her head towards Irene. “Wait, is that my work schedule?”

“Yes, I’m thinking of which day I can whisk you away.”

Irene’s eyes softened when she saw the way Seulgi perked up at the mention of a possible trip.

“Where are we going exactly?”

Irene had planned a short weekend trip to the tropics. It was a place that Seulgi had mentioned offhandedly that one time that she wanted to visit, apparently there were some forms of watersports there that she badly wanted to try out - parasailing being one of them. Irene had shuddered at the thought of Seulgi potentially talking her into giving it a go.

“Hyun, it’ll be fun! Look at them go!” Seulgi pointed excitedly at the video she was showing to her and Irene all but covered the phone with her palm. They were in the airport waiting to board their flight and Seulgi had thought that it would be a good idea to at least expose Irene to how the activity was going to be

“It looks so scary..”

“Why don’t I go first? Then you can see that there’s nothing to it!”

Irene couldn’t say no, not when Seulgi was looking at her with a bright smile that resembled the sun.

My sunny bear.

***

The both of them slept for the major part of their five-hour flight. Once they finished their complimentary in-flight meal, they were out like a light until the captain made the announcement about the local time and weather and that they would soon be landing. Irene glanced at Seulgi, who seemed to be knocked out cold, and didn’t have the heart to wake the tired girl up. Seulgi had been at work till late the night before, rushing to finish a report to send to Taeyeon for review before she trudged her tired self back to Irene’s apartment.

She waited up for Seulgi, as she always did whenever Seulgi came over. Sha had offered to pick Seulgi up at her office but the latter declined since she didn’t know how late work would end. Seulgi slumped against Irene when she opened opened the door and started whining about the reports and the regrets of having slacked off during the afternoon to entertain Joy - the giant was bored because Seungwan was out of town for a fieldwork, leaving her alone for a week.

Irene woke her up eventually to put their seats upright in preparations for landing. Seulgi stayed awake enough to put everything back the way they were before falling asleep again, her head swinging awkwardly from side to side because she could no longer slouch comfortably. Irene took off her jacket and bundled it up. Placing it on her shoulder, she gently guided Seulgi’s head towards it and the said girl settled on her shoulder with a contented sigh.

“You’re the best, Hyun..” Seulgi mumbled before dozing off again.

“I know..”

Irene looked out the window, admiring the city lights below as they began their descend.

---

“..did you just make a gagging face at me?”

“I did no such thing.”

“Seulgi..”

“She did no such thing.”

“...children.”

Seulgi and Yerim cackled and sent finger guns to each other.

---

In hindsight, Irene probably should have thought things through a little bit better when she decided on whisking Seulgi away to a tropical island. Being a person who was scared of both the deep sea and heights, she really should have reconsidered other destinations but there she was, clinging onto Seulgi for dear life as they stepped on the buoy where they would be parasailing that day.

The weather was great - neither too sunny nor too windy - it seemed perfect for an activity like such. Seulgi was bouncing with excitement as she pointed to the tourists who were currently up in the air.

“Look, Hyun! It’s really not that bad. Look look look! That person is taking off!”

Irene considerably paled as she saw a fellow tourist take off - legs kicking the air as they ascended into the sky, high above the water.

“What if something goes wrong and we fall?”

“We have life jackets. We’d be floating till the come rescue us.”

“So you’re saying we could fall?”

“We’re not going to fall into the water, Hyun.”

Irene watched helplessly as her only form of support on the rocky buoy walked further and further away from her when it was Seulgi’s turn to go. Finding a vacant spot on the benched, she sat herself down and watched as Seulgi got suited up for her turn. She thought her heart was going to stop beating the moment Seulgi’s feet left the buoy, a worried frown formed when she saw Seulgi’s limbs flailing in the air. But unbeknownst to her, the said girl was having the time of her life whilst in the air.

And when it was finally her turn, Irene might have, perhaps just a little, enjoyed it as well.

Irene silently thanked Seulgi when she asked if they could spend the remainder of the day just lazing around either on the beach or by the hotel pool. She probably thought that Irene had had enough of excitement for one day, what with parasailing, snorkeling and island hopping. Seulgi had enjoyed herself thoroughly from what Irene could deduce, and while the activities weren’t exactly in her comfort zone, she gave them a go anyway and she could see how much Seulgi appreciated her efforts, especially after the amount of coaxing the younger girl had to do.

They spent the rest of late afternoon lazing by the pool and Irene fell asleep, lulled by the warm sea breeze. She slept until she felt somebody carrying her somewhere and jolted awake. Seulgi was moving her indoors because it had started to drizzle.

“You could’ve just woken me up, ya know?” Irene commented when Seulgi finally put her down.

“I thought you’d like it be better this way.”

Irene rolled her eyes and gave Seulgi a shove, smiling in spite of herself.

“Idiot..”

***

Thankfully it only drizzled and stopped after a few minutes. Irene had gone to the hotel’s in-house restaurant to ask if their dinner plans could still proceed as planned and the staff assured her that it could - there weren’t any rain clouds in sight, they probably won’t be expecting any rain for the rest of the day. Irene beamed and dragged Seulgi back to their room to get ready to dinner.

Dinner was a relatively quiet affair - they were both tired from being out the whole day - the only sounds one could hear were the occasional clanking of cutlery against china and the sound of waves crashing onto the shore. They were seated at a table right on the beach and were either too busy admiring the setting sun or each other. Irene had taken one look at the sky and gave her mother a video call just to show her the view.

“It’s so pretty here, mom! Look at this stuff.” Irene shifted the camera to show the ocean view and the pinkish sky. “Isn’t it neat?”

“It sure is, Hyun. What are you two having for dinner?”

“We’re having crabs!” Seulgi yelled from across the table and Irene passed the phone over to her. “Hi, Mrs Bae! How have you been?”

“Ah..Seulgi. I’ve been well, thank you for asking. How are you enjoying your birthday?”

“It’s been great! Juhyun’s great, the food’s great, watersports was great!”

“That’s good to hear. Alright I don’t want to impose on your birthday dinner any longer. Let’s talk another time, Seulgi-ah. Can you pass the phone back to Juhyun?”

“Okay. We’ll call again soon! Here you go, Hyun.”

Irene chatted with her mother a little longer before hanging up and returned her attention to Seulgi who was very diligently prying the shells off of the crabs to reach the tender meat inside. Irene snorted because Seulgi’s concentration face was too funny and quickly took some photos before the girl noticed. Irene inspected the results with a satisfied smirk.

I’m sure that will come in handy for future blackmailing use.

“Hyun, what are you looking at?”

“Nothing..” Irene said in a singsong manner before putting her phone away, as if nothing had happened.

---

“Did you ever get to use that photo?”

“That and others. Plenty of times.”

“Your mom can be a real meanie sometimes, Yerim.”

---

“I can’t believe four days just passed like that” Seulgi whined.“Ugh I have reports to correct when I get back.”

They were taking a stroll on the beach, admiring the view they had come to get used to over the past couple of days.

“I want to stay here forever..”

“Me too. Thanks for the birthday and Valentines trip, Hyun. You’re God sent.

“You’re not so bad yourself.” Irene beckoned Seulgi towards her and she complied, leaning down for a kiss.

---

“You have it just as bad as mom.” Yerim rolled her eyes. “Why are my parents like this?”

“....”

“Not so fun when you’re the one on the receiving end, is it Hyun?”

Irene heard Seulgi snickering and glared at her. Seulgi, who was reviewing some reports at the dining table, immediately ducked under the laptop’s lid, using it as a cover to shield her from her wife’s glare. Irene turned her attention back to Yerim and huffed.

“Well, daughter dearest, why don’t you ask Rong out and maybe understand why are we like this.”

“That was fun. I’m going to meet Rong now.” Yerim stood up to gather her things and sauntered out of the living room as if Irene hadn’t said anything. Stopping at the foot of the stairs, she turned towards her parents with a cheeky grin. “Also, mother dear, jokes on you because I already did. Today is my second date.” She sent a wink Irene’s way.

“What?! Yah! Kang Yerim! When did you-” A flustered Irene yelled but the only replies she got were Yerim’s cackles and the sound of the front door closing.

Irene crossed her arms and grumbled. “That girl..”

Seulgi was amused to see her wife so worked up. It was understandable, she was their only child after all and Irene was notoriously protective of her. Seulgi shrugged when Irene looked at her.

“Don’t look at me. She gets it from you.”

“Hmm..good to know that all those hours of labour weren’t for nothing.” Irene answered dryly and got up from her seat, making her way towards Seulgi. She pulled up a chair beside her and sat down. Irene leaned on her wife and rested her cheek on Seulgi’s shoulder.

“When did she get so big, Seulgi-ah?.”

“Kinda scary, huh? How fast they grow up.”

Seulgi kissed the top of Irene’s head and went back to work, her wife watching as she typed the last few review points on her team’s report.

---

END.