It was an unending source of frustration for Hyejin that she could never get a straight answer from The Unnies whenever she tried to ask about their relationship.

The first time, she hadn’t even really been thinking about it. It was her first week since moving to Seoul and her and Byul were left alone at the apartment. Wheein was out with friends and Yong was out walking their neighbor’s dog as a sort of favor. It was meant to be a passing thing, a way to start conversation.

“Unnie, how did you and Yongsun-unnie meet?”

Byul had looked up from her laptop where she had been sorting through photos from a shoot and gave a single smirk that made her look more devilish than any other demon Hyejin had come across. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” The demon replied, teasing. 

That had been the start of it all.

Since then, she’s tried to be subtle, inserting carefully worded questions into conversations with Byul in the hopes to get the demon to slip up. Every time, Byul’s eyes just flash playfully while she keeps shut. Or worse, she outright lies.

Once, Hyejin had been flipping through channels randomly on the TV when she passed by a documentary about the infamous Park Chung-hee assassination. Beside her, Byul had chuckled while scrolling through her phone.

“That was a hectic day, Chung-hee was assassinated right when Yong had finally agreed to go out with me.”

Hyejin practically fell off the sofa.

“Really?”

When she looked up, Byul was snickering into her phone. After Yongsun had gotten back from dog walking, Hyejin had complained about what happened. The angel had simply shook her head in disapproval. She was smiling though.

“Don’t believe everything this demon tells you,” the angel had said knowingly, passing by Byul and giving her a quick pinch on the shoulder. Byul had looked up at Yong with a smile. Hyejin had rolled her eyes and scoffed. 

Another time, she had come back home in the wee hours of the morning to a drunk demon, nursing a half-finished bottle of soju alone at the dining table. Wheein had mentioned before that Byul sometimes had moments of ennui and that it was best to let her deal with it on her own. What Hyejin saw however, was an opportunity.

She had approached carefully, checking to make sure Byul was at least, still awake enough to hear her. When she turned to Hyejin with a glassy expression, she put on her best comforting smile.

“Are you alright, Unnie?”

Byul had nodded, once, head tipping dangerously close to the table. Hyejin had to reach out a hand to steady her.

“Would you like to talk about it?” Byul shook her head.

Now or never , Hyejin thought to herself, “Can you tell me how you and Yongsun-unnie met?” She winced, hoping Byul was too drunk to notice how forward she was being. The demon just levelled her with a long stare before bursting into a fit of giggles.

“Angel.” Byul said, between fits of laughter. 

Hyejin tried again, “Yes, Yongsun is an angel. How did you meet her?”

Byul just kept laughing, “Yeba angel,” she said this time, her laughter going soft until she let out a soft snore and was, effectively, asleep. Hyejin sighed out in frustration. Failed again. She debated briefly with herself if she should even make an attempt to move Byul to the sofa when she felt a soft hand on her shoulder. Yongsun was there, with a tired look to her eyes and concern written all over her face.

Hyejin decidedly kept shut as she helped Yongsun carry Byul back to their bedroom.

Speaking of the angel, Yong wasn’t much help either. When it became clear that the demon was never going to give her a proper answer, Hyejin had tried asking Yong, to even lesser success. She had set an alarm to wake up earlier than usual for her, while the sun was still out. To catch Yong at home while Byul and Wheein were out at work.

“Unnie, how did you end up going out with Byulie-unnie?” She had asked once she found Yong preparing a snack in the kitchen. The angel almost dropped the entire plate of french fries she had just finished making.

Yong had looked at her, wide-eyed and blushing. 

“Well, s-she asked and I agreed.” Yong spluttered, a traitorous blush creeping up her neck as she quickly turned around and made a beeline for the living room, her wings very nearly smacking both Hyejin in the face. 

“Is that it?” Hyejin called after her, frustrated. Yongsun had been too flustered to answer anything else she tried to ask.

When Byul had heard what happened later that evening, she didn’t stop laughing the entire night.

Now, five months since she had first asked, she was no closer to finding any form of closure. Hyejin had woken up after only four hours of sleep, and instead of retreating back to her room, she had gone downstairs instead, only to find that Wheein was on the second day of her full moon transformation and The Unnies had gone out to eat lunch because it was, coincidentally, their anniversary.

“I don’t understand why they don’t just tell me,” she grumbled to Wheein. The wolf only looked up at her sympathetically. She had learned, shortly after the first time she asked, that Wheein knew just about as much as she did. As far as both of them were concerned, Yong and Byul had always just been Yong&Byul , no spaces. 

Wheein shifted until her long snout was pillowed on Hyejin’s lap. She let out a single huff, which Hyejin took to mean, Just give up already .

“I’m not giving up until I get a straight answer,” Hyejin said, determined. On her lap, Wheein gave out a quick grunt , Suit yourself, but leave me out of it. They stayed that way for a while, Hyejin sighed, pondering maybe going back to sleep just like this. For lack of anything better to do, she let her eyes wander. In the months she’d been living here, she never gave much thought to the random items that decorated the apartment. Now that she took the time, she realized there were a few things worth noticing.

“Is that an old Hyŏpyul-sa poster?” Hyejin said out loud, apropos of nothing when the framed item caught her eye. Wheein took her head off Hyejin’s lap, ears perking up. Hyejin stood up to inspect the item hanging just near the staircase. “It’s probably from the Joseon Dynasty,” Hyejin said aloud. The paper had yellowed with age and the painted figures were practically faded, but there was no mistaking the lettering on top that advertised Hyŏpyul-sa.

She looked around the room with new eyes. On the bookshelf that separated the living room from the dining room, were a series of photographs. A black and white photo of an angel with her back turned, only distinguished by her wings, Yongsun’s wings. The messily scrawled date on the corner read 1910. 

There was a photo of Yongsun by a temple, in forties clothing. Yongsun by the Han River, in sixties clothing this time. Hanging above the dining table, there was a framed photo of Byul with her back turned, staring out at the sea in Jeju dated in the eighties. On the refrigerator, there was an old photograph of Byul and Yong together, standing in front of their apartment building, the timestamp on it from the nineties.

There were photos of Yong and Byul from various moments in Korea’s history all over the apartment, and for the first time, it truly dawned on Hyejin just how old The Unnies were. From the sofa, Wheein was staring at her, something like realization in her wide brown wolf eyes, an expression that surely mirrores what Hyejin was realizing as well.

“Is all this--” Before she could finish the question, the door to their apartment opened. Yong and Byul were back.

“You’re so stingy, let me see it before you print it out!” Yong whined, while she shrugged off her cardigan and hung it by the hyeon gwan.

“No way,” the demon laughed, toeing off her own shoes and taking Yong’s bag from her as she went. “It’s going to be a surprise. You’ll have to wait until it’s framed and hanging just like the rest. I’m thinking by the wall near our closet?”

Hyejin and Wheein exchanged a look.

“Oh, Hyejin-ah? You’re up early,” Yong said as she passed on her way to the stairs. 

“Couldn’t sleep,” she mumbled, unsure if Yong even heard her. The angel had already ascended the steps and turned toward the bathroom.

“We brought home some pastries from the cafe!” Byul announced proudly, holding up an artfully tied paper bag, she placed it on the dining table before pulling up the camera that had been hanging from her shoulder, switching it on and clicking through the photos.

Hyejin watched her for a moment. On the sofa, Wheein looked from the demon to the vampire before barking once. Byul reached out an absentminded hand, finding the spot behind Wheein’s ears that she favored as a wolf and giving her a few scratches.

“You take a lot of photos of Yongsun-unnie, huh?” Hyejin finally asked, moving back toward the sofa and sitting down on Wheein’s other side. The corner of Byul’s mouth turned upward, she didn't look up from her camera.

“She’s my favorite muse,” Byul said, simply. No trace of teasing or irony to her words at all.

“I can tell,” Hyejin replied. At that, Byul finally looked up, staring at Hyejin for a long while before looking around the room herself. Hyejin didn’t have to track the movement to know that her Unnie was also looking at the various photographs displayed around the apartment. Photographs of Yong that only Byul could have taken. Or vice versa.

When Byul finally turned to look at her again, her usual teasing smirk was softer now. More warm. “You can, can you? Well it’s not like it’s a secret how much I like taking pictures of her.”

Hyejin nodded, feeling the last of her months-long curiosity finally go to rest.

“Are you spouting some greasy nonsense again?” Yong said, emerging from the bedroom, this time in a baggy striped shirt and a pair of shorts.

Byul laughed, not even denying it. Instead, leaning back against the sofa and crossing her legs in front of her. “It’s still our anniversary. I’m allowed.”

“Gross,” Yong said, but she was smiling. “You guys want fried chicken for dinner? I can order it now so Hyejin can have some before she leaves for work.”

Hyejin smiled, slinging an arm around Wheein and cuddling the wolf close. She could only hope that when she finally experienced love, it would be just like what The Unnies have.