"There."

Two men walked up the city road with a destination in sight. No one commented on what they were wearing. No one batted an eye. The dark cloaks they wore were picked off the ground to escape the intruding feet of passersby, and the two men reached their address: a popular lunch spot on a busy weekend. 

"Thereee."

They stood by a table, with the first of them reaching out to the empty seat and clutching something out of nothing. "Ah, right there! Just a tinge, but there!" 

The second nodded, breathing it in with a similar conviction. 

"It is not every day we find such an energy at this time, in this part of the country."

~ ★ ~

Words.

Words are used to communicate. They can piece one's understanding of the world in a message to another person. They can express the depth of one's deepest feelings, and tell the wildest stories. 

And Bomi has always called that more of Chorong's thing.

Chorong could pour words out in sonnets on paper whenever she had the time and mind to do so, and Bomi saw that as amazing; Not just saying something straightforwardly, but using pretty words in some perfect order that sounded like nobody else could come up with… Or that Bomi could never come up with. 

So, for Chorong to say stuff like that out loud, —stuff like love, stuff like "on our date", "cutie", and "sorry for making you wait", — just had Bomi lost for words. Her brain's capacity for big words was already small enough, and now it was fried, by the simplest ones that meant the most to her. 

Being smart and flirty with words was already a huge stepping stone to what Chorong was truly accepting. However, turning that into romantic actions would really be something else. 

Think of it as an update in a long time at a crucial moment of change in their relationship. They were reminded the comfort of going back to their original roles. The difficulties were now admitted, the acceptance refreshing for both of them, and they were holding hands and little things with each other to be getting comfortable again. 

They were talking to each other again! Watching movies with each other again. Hanging out in each other's rooms, teasing each other with sweet kisses on cheeks again. 

Going with the bravery of their confessions that day, Chorong had first felt it as the softness of Bomi's head knocking into the side of her face. But it wasn't just a knock, it was a peck of the lips. "Thank you, unnie." 

Bomi smiled and bid goodnight, skipping out of Chorong's room safely, eyes only wary to notice the thick book she almost got hit by in the week before. 

And in the phantom of that kiss, Chorong touched her cheek, the smile softening on her face. If she was going to be open to this, she had to be open to it all. In everything. Talking, affection, spending time, showing love. In the height of this feeling, she went back to writing more. 

Then came another day, when Bomi was tying on her apron ready to go into the flower shop, Chorong's arms came around and tied it for her. Chorong took it as a chance. She pecked Bomi on the cheek, and like she hadn't been affected by it, pushed back some stray curls that missed the rest of Bomi's tied up hair behind Bomi's ears. 

It would have been convincingly cool had it not been a miscalculated aim that landed low on Bomi's cheek beside . Chorong almost had to lean her balance with jelly legs for support. 

Bomi's cheeks coloured while watching her and that was as much strength Chorong could hold. It was really like Chorong had forgotten how the dating thing works now. 

With that, she ushered Bomi into the shift and shut the door. And now she was stuck on that door, holding it extra closed with the thrumming going through her body. 

She leaned her forehead on it lamely. Actually going for it was not easy, when her feelings moved around crazily just with their close proximity like this; just with the thought of making a move of some sort or reciprocating it. 

"You could just kiss her, you know, unnie."

Chorong jumped. If her glare couldn't make the girls stop teasing them, she didn't know what will. 

"Demonstration please!" Namjoo clapped, and at the cue, Hayoung collapsed on the couch dramatically with hand upon her heart. 

"Oh, Naeun unnie~ I've been keeping this feeling inside for such a long time, but now I know. Now I know what it means." 

Naeun reached onto her collar with one hand. "Hayoung-ssi, do you love me?" 

"Yes! Pabo unnie! Why didn't you know my heart? Yes! Yes, a thousand times." 

"Mmmwah!" They blew kisses and hid their faces at the angle on the couch to loud applause, and Chorong's hands quickly covered her eyes at the display.

"Yah! Seriously stop."

For herself to be doing those acts with someone was one thing, but watching others kiss would always feel like a voyeuristic crime to her. In the end, conservative gay was her middle name. 

When they finally made it to the couch on a lazy day, just spending time fondly as they do, that's when it happened.

"Here?" Bomi eyed half-suspiciously, sitting down on the couch to Chorong's unwavering stare and pout on her. "You're resting here? I thought you'd be having your own time right about now. It's 4:00pm." 

"It's raining," Chorong said absently behind a yawn. "It's cold, and I'm sleepy, so… what if I just wanted to sit here with you?" 

They couldn't go out as Bomi would've liked, and in staying in, they normally have their own space. Chorong still treasures that time to herself; writing, colouring, reading, whatever it may be. But in ways that feelings were unpredictable, she wanted to be simple today. 

And Bomi grinned. Bomi expressed herself happily with that, as always welcome to spending time with her. "Then, you wanna watch something? I was gonna watch something." 

"Go ahead. What are we watching?" 

At the agreement, Bomi jittered with a smile, looking around the table for the remote. "Hmm… romantic comedy? I saw it was recommended."

"I was thinking like a drama episode though." 

"Okay. Only if I can find the remote first."

That's when Chorong saw the device in its plastic protective wrapping, dug into the corner of the couch by Bomi's hip. "Mm, I got it. It's right there…" Chorong reached for it, and everything in her view shifted. Now that's when it was finally happening.

She saw her eyes first; beautiful brown and up close. Chorong's breath hitched to realise Bomi was that close. 

Holy- What? I… 

Unlike the premise of her dreams, their positions were switched; Grasped onto the remote she was looking for, but staring on top of Bomi for far too longer than necessary. Bomi's mouth parted, like she hesitated to say something and then it closed. It was when Bomi's hands gradually cupped her face that Chorong really started to blush. 

Time froze. Heartbeats were syncing and pumping to the hope of forthcoming bliss. The scrabble to steady her position now would come at the cost of losing a first kiss, especially with Bomi already looking at her lips like that— 

So Chorong didn't move, and allowed Bomi to inch forward in that last gap that separated them. 

She didn't mean to, but there was instantly a whimper. An embarrassing squeal caught dead in because Bomi's luscious lips were on hers. Bomi held her face and kissed her, and Chorong's brain turned to mush but at the same time her heart was screaming, "Yes!! Yes!!!" 

It was an awkward timing in a most mundane movement with little tension to the day leading up to the whole thing, but she loved it all the same. The tension could easily fly back within a second. The awkward timing to make a move now was endearing. 

If Chorong made the final say that it was okay to date, then this was their crystallising moment of understanding they were both really okay with it. 

And when Bomi's lips let go with a brief inhale through her nose, Chorong dropped the remote. Stuff it back into the couch for all I care! Her hands, which did nothing before, slid up Bomi's shoulders, holding her and cupping her neck as Chorong deepened a new kiss on Bomi's mouth.

For all the trouble she made them go through, Chorong never quite imagined this like a reward. All those times she dreamed that never-ending fear of being used, it was all masked with a helplessness, and feelings she confused on how to fo