Hello, everyone! It's been a hyena :'-) I'm sorry I abandoned you all for the longest. 2019 was really tough and by the end of it, I genuinely thought that I would never be able to write or find joy in anything again. 

Lol, at least I'm still as melodramatic as ever :-P 

Anyway, I managed to put the pieces of my life back together and I'm in a much healtheir head space these days. The Muse returned to me and I started writing in small spurts two months ago :-D

I'm planning to come back to AFF and hopefully finish off F.E.C.H. in the coming months. But while I'm rewriting old chapters and starting some new ones for that story, I thought I'd post this short Seulrene drabble in the meantime. Thank you so much to everyone who's read and followed 'Muse' in the past year - it has more than 800 subscribers now :-OOO All of you who have read my stories and actually liked them over the years are truly wonderful souls - thank you for keeping my candle burning all this time :'-)

Anyhoo, this drabble is especially for all my fans out there who wanted me to write another Seulrene fic. I hope you like the fluffy content <3

Sound. 

Babbling brooks so audible that you could pick out every liquid monomer and lay claim to it.

Smell.

Pine cones. The soft dusting of charcoal on a barbeque grill. And God’s green Earth melding into a menagerie of olfactory camaraderie.

Taste.

Air so crisp and clean that it inhaled vivacity and made a home deep in your lungs.

Touch.

Silver birch stems prickling under your calloused fingertips as you mapped out the emerald glades spread out before you in curtains of splendor.

Sight.

A view as breathtaking as a sun-soaked, surreal dream, with its purple mountains which hands stretched out to meet and embrace. 

And on this tiny slice of heaven stood a two-storey house by the lake. Red gabled rooftops and walls splashed with an ivory hue; a broad, wooden deck which sat and greeted people walking past with a quaint, crystal wave. Six glass block windows opened out onto the front porch in squares of shimmering mirrors dancing across the silver birches. And on the second landing, the bay windows from the master bedroom and the attic overlooked the lake behind the house as it dipped and leapt into transports of sapphire delight.

Seulgi got lost in the illustrious view of flying fish jousting with the ripples of salt-water as she attempted to hang up the curtains in their new home. Her wife had left her with that Herculean task; she in turn had gone to buy some groceries at the local supermarket in town, which was just 2 kilometres away by car. Seulgi usually did the grocery shopping on weekends, but had begged her lady love to do it today so she could spend time in their new surroundings. They’d bought the lake house two weeks before and officially moved all their belongings into it just a few days ago. The process of making it their home was daunting, but Seulgi was finding it extremely rewarding so far.

Seulgi and her wife had been married for 5 years and they both finally made enough money to afford such an illustrious property. It was in the hopes that they would start the family they’d reproduced in their minds after 13-odd dates and eventually grow old together. A smile dotted Seulgi’s full lips as she put a screw into position and began drilling the first metal bracket into place. These brackets would hold up the custom-made pewter rods she and her wife had bought to hang their new curtains on.

A soft footfall interrupted her work and Seulgi looked up from her vantage point on the step-ladder. A beautiful woman with auburn hair cascading down her shoulders and a come-hither grin greeted her from atop the welcome mat.

“Wow, you really are doing a great job of this place.” The woman remarked, her dark brown eyes flitting appreciatively over the length of the room.

Seulgi blinked in confusion, unsure of how to proceed. The vision of loveliness finally gave her a hint in that regard when she walked into the house, extending a slender hand towards her. 

“We haven’t been properly introduced yet. I’m Irene, your new neighbour.”

Seulgi’s eyes invariably travelled towards the point where the woman’s light-blue, denim cut-offs began and her long, pale legs ended. She wore a casual, yet trendy white halter-top that accentuated the sharp bones on her pale shoulders. Her feet were adorned with simple, gold flip-flops that clicked and clacked with every incandescent step.

Seulgi the collar of her pink and blue plaid shirt self-consciously while eyeing Irene. She too wore denim shorts, albeit darker ones with decorative rips along the bottoms and a pair of faded black and white skateboard Vans. Bright rays of the sun seeped through the uncovered window where she’d been working; the dark-haired woman had rolled up the sleeves of her plaid shirt to her elbows to give herself some relief from the sweltering heat of the day.

Silver droplets of sweat now dotted Seulgi’s forehead though as a different kind of heat settled in her stomach just from looking at Irene.

Seulgi was struck anew by the invariable perfection of Irene’s pearly white teeth. Whenever she smiled, two adorable dimples appeared on her cheeks. The step-ladder wobbled just a little beneath her as Seulgi ached to get closer to the exquisite beauty standing on the threshold of her new home.

“I’m so sorry, I’m interrupting.”

Being a gallant woman in a 21^st century guise, Seulgi was quick to make her guest feel at ease. “Not at all, I was due a break anyway. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Seulgi by the way.”

“Yes, I remember from the housewarming party you threw two nights ago, even though I just met you and your wife briefly.” Irene replied, the slightest sparkle of mischief dancing in her eyes. “Is she home by the way? I wanted to ask her about where she got that delightful clothing armoire in your bedroom.”

Irene secretly relished in how Seulgi squirmed nervously at the mention of her wife.

“She went to the supermarket to pick up a few things. She’ll be home in a few minutes.”

Seulgi said the words with an inherent warning laced into her tone, which Irene ignored completely. Instead, the woman’s ivory hands travelled over granule, subtle blends of buff and turquoise painted onto the living room walls. It was as if she owned the room and everything else in it, a rare gift which Seulgi couldn’t help but admire.

“These colours are lovely,” Irene murmured in a lower tenor. The sound of her voice rippled over Seulgi’s skin and lay embedded deep within her senses.

This time, there was no hesitation when Seulgi climbed down from the step ladder and stood next to Irene, admiring the walls too.

“Thank you. My wife and I struggled for ages trying to figure out which colours to go with. But then we finally decided on variants of brown and blue because –”

“They subtly remind you of the colours of Nature standing just outside your door.” Irene finished off, turning to face Seulgi.

In those seconds which passed, electricity thrummed through their bodies as Irene’s eyes danced and spun over the coarse veins protruding from Seulgi’s lank forearms. Irene had been drawn to those tanned arms ever since they’d met, even when she’d been thinking of her own wife too.

“That’s exactly right,” Seulgi agreed. “How did you know?”

Irene shrugged and dug her hands into the tiny pockets of her cut-off denim shorts. “I guess I have an appreciation for Nature too.”

“Is that why you moved here?” Seulgi asked.

“That and…I was finally ready to start my life right. With love.”

There was something effortlessly poetic in the way Irene phrased the last part of her sentence. That was exactly how Seulgi felt about coming to this idyllic place too.

“With love,” she repeated, her voice slightly higher. And yet, the essence was sweet and soothing to Irene. “I like that. It’s why I came here.”

“And your wife? Does she share the same sentiment about love and nature?”

There it was again, that self-satisfied grin on the auburn-haired beauty; it spoke volumes without saying anything at all. It irked and intrigued Seulgi all the more. She found herself drifting slowly into the kitchen, giving an indirect tour of the house with Irene following closely behind.

Unlike the living room, the kitchen was a den in a real sense of the word. It was cool and closed off, like the inside of a cave. Irene marveled at the long expanse of a grey and black marble island in the centre of the room, hosting a regular electric stovetop as well as an impressive-looking flat cooktop. She idly wondered how Seulgi and her wife had been able to afford this lake house.

Seulgi finally answered Irene’s previous question. “Yes, my wife does share the same sentiment about love and nature. We met when she still worked as a customer service agent for a department store franchise and I was doing some professional ghostwriting for a well-known publishing house. Our first home was a small, but beautiful apartment in Seoul. We didn’t have much back then. But I always researched fun and inexpensive meals that I’d cook for us in our tiny kitchen. My wife even started her own vegetable garden on our flat rooftop; she loves growing cabbages. We had a good life together in Seoul, but we always dreamed of escaping to the countryside and living a quiet and peaceful existence. Now my wife has her own profitable business which she runs out of our home and I’m finally writing my very first novel.”

“You’ve known each other a long time.” It was a statement acknowledging the seeming permanence of monogamy.

“Indeed. But it’s amazing how I’m still finding out new, enthralling things about her, even now.”

“Like what?”

Seulgi blushed, yet smiled reminiscently, running a tanned finger over the smooth cooktop. “Like how she loves expensive dinner mint chocolates more than anything in the world.”

“Including you?” Irene asked in a teasing voice.

“Probably,” Seulgi teased right back, which had Irene laughing uproariously.

Despite her best intentions, Seulgi liked Irene’s laugh and pretty much everything else which came in that petite, sensuous package. It immediately brought her wife to mind and she gulped nervously.

“So what about you and your wife?” Seulgi questioned in a bid to distract herself.

Irene ran her fingertips over her arm in perpendicular fashion. “Pretty much the same as you, we’ve been together for years. I’m quite the entrepreneur; I recently started my own interior design company and my wife loves to cook. One of the first things she ever made me after our 13^th date was kimchi-jeon.” She murmured with a nostalgic twinkle in her dark brown eyes.

“Lucky you,” Seulgi marveled. “I would kill for some kimchi-jeon right now.”

“I’ll ask my wife to whip up some for the two of you. But if your woman doesn’t like the taste, I could always serve it to you instead.”

Something about the way Irene said the word ‘serve’ made a tight, steel knot of pleasure form in Seulgi’s stomach. That same knot was growing and morphing into a savage beast, aching to be uncoiled and freed from its metal cage.

“I’m sure you could,” Seulgi volunteered, feeling strangely parched.

This was new and dangerous territory that she hadn’t ventured into before. While marriage was fulfilling and wonderful, it often made the normal everyday routine dry and monotonous. And before you knew it, you and your significant other were in a ‘rut’.

And sometimes the only thing needed to solve the problem was to encourage a little danger.

“It’s really hot this afternoon. How about a drink?” Seulgi asked out of the blue.

Irene was surprised by Seulgi’s sudden boldness, but a slow and alluring smile blossomed on her face soon after. Seulgi told her guest to make herself comfortable on the sofa in the living room while she got everything ready.

Seulgi tried very hard not to let the tray rattle underneath her trembling fingertips as she walked back into the living room a few minutes later. She had no idea what she was doing with this exotic stranger.

All she kept wondering was when her wife was finally going to make an appearance.

She loved her wife with all of her heart. But the past month of getting their new house ready had been taxing on both of them. Once they were done sprucing up the place, she hoped that they could finally indulge in a little R&R.

Or perhaps, she’d get a little R&R right now…

Seulgi chuckled nervously and set the tray down on the coffee table. Irene watched in a mesh of amusement and intrigue as this naturally introverted woman with her long black hair tied in a messy bun set to work on fixing her drink. It gave her an excuse to watch the way Seulgi’s hands moved with fluent ministrations as she dispensed an equal measure of liquid and ice cubes into each glass.

And when Irene stooped just a little to take her first sip, the contrast of bitter and sweet components in the drink flooded her palette with overwhelming sensations.

“This is a really good drink,” Irene murmured approvingly.

Seulgi blushed again, but looked pleased with herself nonetheless, running her fingers through her thick bangs. “Thank you. I like to experiment.”

“I bet you do…”

In response, Seulgi took an almighty gulp of her own drink, nearly coughing at the flames erupting in . Irene grinned and took both hers and Seulgi’s drinks. She set them down carefully onto the coffee table in front of them, scooching infinitely closer to black-haired beauty. Seulgi arched her back downwards and found that she was lying on the sofa with the auburn-haired woman practically straddling her.

Their eyes locked and Seulgi found herself drowning in Irene’s enigmatic brown orbs that spoke of untold, tantalizing secrets. Irene her heart-shaped lips subtly and finally pressed them against Seulgi’s. She could taste the cool, crisp alcohol on and along with it, a question of desire begging to be answered.

Against her better judgement, Seulgi reciprocated and kissed Irene back, their noses bumping precariously together as she dug her fingers into the latter’s sensuous hips. The push and pull of interwoven tongues and friction between their lower bodies was making them both inebriated with ecstasy. But finally, Seulgi pulled away and ran a tongue over her bruised lips.  

“I don’t know if we should do this.”

“Oh, but we absolutely should.”

“But my wife-”

“Your wife isn’t here right now.”

Seulgi quirked an eyebrow at Irene’s peculiar phrasing, but didn’t protest further when the auburn beauty sat in her lap. Her breath hitched in when Irene wrapped her arms tightly around her neck and kissed her deeply. Irene moaned in pleasure a moment later at the feel of Seulgi’s pliant body finally yielding completely to her. She left Seulgi’s lips briefly, leaning closer and on her earlobe instead.

Seulgi’s eyes rolled into the back of her skull; it was all she could do not to let herself come undone just yet as they writhed against each other with their clothes still on.

Naturally, the mood got spoiled when Irene started kissing her neck and Seulgi mumbled ‘I love you, Wifey’ into the open air.

Irene pulled back sharply and stared in astonishment at Seulgi, who grinned sheepishly in return.

“Wifey?”

“I’m sorry, it slipped out.”

Irene ran a hand through her disheveled hair and stared in resignation at Seulgi. “All you had to do was go along with it a little longer before breaking character.”

Seulgi chuckled sardonically. “I didn’t know you were going to start your little ‘roleplay’ out of the blue like that. Did you even go to the supermarket earlier?” she questioned, staring behind her at the front door where Irene’s car was probably parked.

“Of course I went to the supermarket! I even bought salmon so we could have a nice dinner tonight, which you are definitely cooking and serving. And you’ll be doing the dishes afterwards too.” Irene faux-scolded, pinching Seulgi in the arm a few times.

Seulgi cried out and playfully grabbed Irene’s wrists before getting her to settle in her lap again. “I’m sorry, I messed it up, honey. I’ll definitely do the dishes and anything else you want tonight,” she murmured, reaching forward and hugging Irene tightly, peppering her bare shoulder with feathery kisses.

Irene closed her eyes and gave herself over to those enticing kisses, reveling in how sweet Seulgi could be under any circumstances. She cupped Seulgi’s chipmunk cheeks and stared lovingly into her soft brown eyes. “It’s ok, I was only teasing a little. You actually did better than I expected.” She praised, a slow smile forming on .

Seulgi gazed in adoration at Irene’s face, falling in love with her all over again. “You really are something else,” she marveled, running her hands over the smooth expanse of the auburn beauty’s legs.

This time, Irene gave up the pretense of being a y vixen and blushed innocently, just the way Seulgi liked. “So are you. And I wanted to do something spontaneous to show you how much I appreciate everything you’ve been doing to get the house ready.”

Seulgi played off the compliment. “It’s nothing, baby. It’s everything we’ve worked for in the past few years. I want this to be a home we can both love and enjoy together.”

“And we will,” Irene whispered, leaning in and capturing Seulgi’s lips in another heart-stopping kiss.

Seulgi stopped the kiss a minute later and let out a mirthful chuckle. “When you walked in earlier, I really had no idea what you were even planning. Did I do ok?” she asked nervously of the woman above her.

Irene laughed and clapped her hands in amusement. “Omo, you’re adorable! How can you be so outstanding at when we’ve been together for years, but be so terrible at roleplaying?”

“I just…it’s not something I’m used to – wait…did you say I was outstanding at ?” Seulgi asked with a wide smile on her face.

Irene rolled her eyes and laughed as she got up from the sofa. “Don’t let it go to your head.”

Seulgi laughed and watched as Irene prepared to walk off in pouty indignation.

“Oh, it’s too late for that.” The dark-haired woman countered, climbing off the sofa too and following her wife. “When you say ‘outstanding’, do you mean just as a couple? Or in general with all the lovers you’ve ever had, and I’m the best?”

The two women had reached the floating wooden stairs leading to the master bedroom above and Irene stopped, turning to face Seulgi with a cocky grin.

“Are we going to stand around talking about it? Or are you going to show me just how outstanding you are?” she asked, putting her hand on her hips.

Seulgi didn’t answer immediately. A burning look formed on her face as she took Irene in her arms and kissed her hard. Irene stumbled just a little, but held on tightly to Seulgi’s arms as she gave into the dark-haired woman’s blazing desire. Seulgi intertwined hers and Irene’s hands, bringing them up to her lips and laying fervent kisses around the wrists, which set Irene’s pulse points going.

“I’ve always been fond of ‘Show And Tell’.” Seulgi quipped cleverly, flashing a devilish grin at Irene when she was finally done teasing her.

“Pabo,” Irene mocked, but without any trace of malice.

Seulgi grabbed Irene by the waist and gazed at her with a y smirk on her face. “I’m your pabo, Baechu” she murmured with a sentimental smile.

Irene’s eyes crinkled with happiness and she cupped Seulgi’s cheeks, kissing her again. “I love you so much, my beautiful wife,” she whispered against her supple lips.

Seulgi’s eyes crinkled with happiness while gazing at the love of her life. She finally stopped wasting time, picking Irene up and carrying her carefully up the stairs.

“I love you too, Wifey.”

I hope you all managed to get the clues I threw into the story about the true nature of Seulrene's relationship ;-) I thought I was being too obvious at times, lol. I'd love to hear your feedback in some comments. 

See? I'm being obvious again. 

As I said, this is an old story that I re-worked for Seulrene. I originally wrote it for my ex-girlfriend 3 years ago when we were still together. It still holds a special place in my heart and I'm happy to share it with all of you. The lakehouse mentioned in the story is based on a sketch I found online once upon a time. I traced that picture, coloured it in and presented it to my ex during our first year together as a couple. Here is the picture if you'd like to get a visual for the story:

Now to explain some terminology I used in the story: 

1) armoire - a large piece of furniture with either doors or drawers that can hold a TV, clothes or other items

2) kimchi-jeon - a type of kimchi pancake made with buchimgae or a Korean cabbage

I think that's about it for now. Time to get some sleep and savour the last few weeks of my summer vacation before reality kicks in again. I'm listening to a ballad remix of Ariana Grande's 'R.E.M' by Moonlight Records on Youtube and it's giving me the romantic feels so damn hard. It's nice to know that I haven't given up on my romance completely, haha. 

Thanks for reading, pip pip cheerio!