A few months later in the summer, Chaerin and Dara held a rather small wedding for friends and family. Neither were keen on the idea of a large celebration, especially since they weren't sure if they would be completely safe with one. Combining homophobia with anti-fans didn't seem like a great idea.

To both of the women's delight, Bom and Minzy were able to attend the wedding. Chaerin and Dara knew that they all had tight schedules, so when Minzy and Bom turned down spots as bridesmaids, the brides didn't take it to heart. They were just grateful that their former bandmates were able to make it.

There was no question about the location of their honeymoon. Going to the Philippines was Dara's first choice, of course, and Chaerin was more than happy to agree. She knew that Dara loved to visit the country she considered home.

In the weeks following the wedding, support was still pouring in for the two, but the hatred was, too. It started with comments on tabloid articles online, then with comments on their social medias, and now they were beginning to come straight to their direct messages. Chaerin was used to it. She had learned to set up her direct messages to be request only, so she could delete messages and block the sender quickly if need be. She had set this up on Dara's social media as well, with a bit of struggle, but the older woman still let those messages get to her.

One day in particular stuck out to Chaerin. She had returned home after a signing, tired and ready to sleep until she saw Dara laying on the couch with her eyes closed and looking uncomfortable. No, not uncomfortable… upset. It wasn't a usual occurrence for Dara to not be doing something productive.

“Sandara?” Chaerin calls out, walking over to her as Dara sits up, the exhaustion evident on her face. “Is something wrong?” She asks, sitting beside the older woman.

Dara hesitates for a moment before taking a shuddering breath. “I try to block them out, I do,” She says, her voice wavering. “But some people are so horrible, Chae. How can they say these things?”

Chaerin immediately pulls her into an embrace when she sees tears beginning to form in Dara's eyes. “What did they say?”

Dara pulls away and grabs her phone laying on the coffee table, wiping her eyes with the sleeves of her sweater as she hands the device to Chaerin. “Just open it.” She mutters.

Chaerin hesitates a moment, studying Dara's face until she sighs. Gripping her wife's hand, she unlocks the phone and reads the incoming message on the screen. It wasn't long, but it was nasty enough to make Chaerin switch off the phone right away and set it down. “You know that it's not true,” She says, hugging Dara again.

Dara nods, burying her head in the crook of Chaerin's neck. “I know…” She says, her voice muffled.

“I love you for you, and nothing else.” Chaerin whispers, holding onto Dara as if she would lose her.

Chaerin still feels a rush of irritation when that memory crosses her mind, despite it happening over three months ago. She deleted the message from Dara's phone and took the next day off to spend with her. Dara was resilient - with enough reassurance, she had gotten over the words sent to her and was able to continue with her current modeling job at the time.

Now they were nearing the end of the year and things were finally starting to settle down. They still received dirty looks when they walked down the street with hands entwined, that was, when they weren't recognized. When they were, there were usually mixed reactions, though most of them were positive or neutral. It was better than the few negative interactions they'd had.

The snow falls outside in a quiet morning haze, causing soft disturbances in the light coming through the window. Chaerin and Dara were still fast asleep, Dara curled up against Chaerin's chest right where she could hear her heartbeat through the fabric of her t-shirt.

Dara yawns as she opens her eyes rubs them, attempting to get rid of the haziness. Cautiously, she removes Chaerin's arm that had been draped around her, careful to not wake her up. However, Chaerin stirs at the disturbance and yawns, making Dara sigh in her defeat.

“Morning,” Dara mutters, a soft smile drifting across her face as Chaerin rubs the sleep from her eyes.

Chaerin leans forward and pecks Dara's lips quickly. “Morning,” she replies, her voice husky from grogginess. Sitting up, the younger woman stretches her arms out behind her as Dara swings her legs over the bed and stands up.

“What do you have to do today?” Chaerin asks, keeping a sitting position on the bed as she watches Dara walk over to the closet.

“I have a photoshoot in a couple hours, but otherwise I have nothing to do.” Dara answers, pulling out two sweatshirts and holding them up. “Which one?”

Chaerin smirks as she glances over her choices, then points at the one on the right, one that happened to be hers. “Mine, of course.” She says, then stands up and makes her way over to Dara. “You look better in it,” Chaerin comments after planting a soft kiss on Dara's lips.

“Alright,” Dara agrees, laughing as she hangs the other sweatshirt back up. “What about you?” She asks, referring to their schedules for the day.

“An interview at noon,” Chaerin answers as she heads to the bathroom, keeping the door open so they weren't shouting at each other. “It shouldn't be more than an hour or two.”

“We should go do something later today, then,” Dara suggests, removing her t-shirt and putting on the sweater instead. Chaerin sneaks a glance, grinning to herself as Dara makes her way over to her, hugging her from behind.

“I agree,” Chaerin mutters, turning around and kissing the top of Dara's head. She drapes her arms around the older woman's waist, smiling lazily before letting go and continuing to get ready for the day. “I'll call you once I'm done, and we can meet up somewhere, okay?”

Dara nods, smiling brightly. “Sounds good to me.”

~*~

The snow had melted considerably over the past few days, even since the morning. It wasn't like there was much to begin with this year, but that didn't change the fact that the roads were iced over.

After their events for the day, both Chaerin and Dara had decided to take one car to to local theatre where a new musical was being put on. It was the one thing they could both agree on, since neither really wanted to see any of the movies currently playing.

Dara shrugs her coat on as the two walk outside, shivering as the cold bites her rosy cheeks. However, the chill in the air wasn't enough to stop her rambling critique that Chaerin had come to expect after every movie and play they watched. “The girl in the main role was good,” she continues, “but I think her best friend would have done it better. She just carried herself differently that didn't fit the role she had.”

Chaerin listens with a soft smile lingering on her face, draping an arm over Dara's shoulders as she speaks. “It was easy to tell they both worked hard, though. They’re both talented,” the younger woman, then glances sidelong at Dara as she smirks. “But not as much as you.”

Dara’s blush is hidden by her already red nose and cheeks, but that doesn’t stop her humble laughter. “Stop it, you're making me flustered.” She says, holding a hand over . “Besides, it's not like you're not good at acting.”

Chaerin laughs as she takes out the keys as they approach the car. “Yeah, I had thirty seconds in one movie and ended up getting shot in the head.” They both laugh at Chaerin's dark comment masked in humor, remembering her small role in an American movie a few years ago. The doors to the car are quickly unlocked, and both get inside as soon as they can to escape the cold wind.

“Here,” Chaerin prompts, holding her hands out for Dara to take. The older woman does so, watching as Chaerin cups them between her own palms and blows warm air onto them. Dara grins, pulling her hands back as Chaerin lets go. “Better?”

Dara nods, reaching over over to fasten her seatbelt after planting a quick kiss on Chaerin’s cheek. “Thank you.” She says, finding a comfortable position in the seat. “Now let's go home and get out of this cold.”

The drive home would be quick, only around ten minutes. But with the ice, and Chaerin as cautious as she was, it was easy to tell that their ride would be a bit longer than anticipated. The two were mostly quiet on the way, finding themselves more tired than they realized, but one particularly long red light prompts a few words from Dara.

“You know,” she starts, causing Chaerin to look over to her. “We haven't had a whole night to ourselves in a while.” She left her intentions open-ended, but once her lips turn up in a smirk, Chaerin understands completely.

“You're talking about this now?” Chaerin asks, glancing between Dara and the road ahead of them.

Dara nods, discreetly reaching down and releasing her seatbelt as she leans closer to Chaerin. “How long has it been?” She asks, her voice dropping as she runs a thumb over her wife's cheek. “A few weeks?”

Dara is barely able to close the space between them before bright headlights and a blaring horn overwhelm them.

~^~

Moments of impact… they could be anything. Bumping into someone on the street, a first kiss, an embarrassing moment in front of a crowd…

A car accident.

Some of these moments are so intense that they have the power to completely change who we are. Sometimes for the best. Sometimes for the worst.