The most wonderful feeling in the whole wide world is sneaking into your girlfriend's house at night after a long day, climbs into her comfortable bed and presses yourself against the smooth skin of her body.

Irene stirs. "You're late," she mumbles.

"I went home to check on mom and took a shower first." Seulgi explains. She went to Shanghai for an event yesterday and came back just a few hours ago. "She said you sent her breakfast and flowers this morning."

A hum is Irene's only response. She reaches behind to the girl spooning her, lazily her head.

"You're so sweet." Seulgi kisses her on the cheek, and then again on the crook of her neck, inhaling the scent of her lavender body lotion. "You don't have to check on her every time I go somewhere, you know. She'll be fine alone for one or two days."

"It's okay. I want to. We haven't had a meal together in a while, all four of us. Let's go have dinner next week when my mom comes," she suggests, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"Okay!" she agrees to it excitedly. Her mom is always happy to meet Oh Sunyoung. The two have somehow become best friends now, which is really heart-warming to see. "She's coming on the 17th, right? And then we have that thing on the 18th, so.. dinner after that?"

"Yeah, whatever, I can't think right now," she says, yawning. She, too, just had a long day and even though she's comforted by the presence of Seulgi and her citrusy scent, she's struggling to keep her eyes open.

"You're tired," Seulgi notes. "Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb your sleep."

Irene scoots backwards, gluing her back to Seulgi's front, feeling her girlfriend's s through their shirts. "No, I'm happy you're here. I always sleep better with you by my side."

She smiles at the statement. "Let me make it up to you then. Close your eyes and relax, sweetheart." Her hand moves slowly from Irene's waist to her , gently kneading on it before slipping her hand inside her shirt to have direct contact with it. The girl might be sleepy, but the proof of her excitement is slowly presenting itself as she tugs and twists her nubs gently.

After a while, Irene raises her right leg and hooks it behind on Seulgi's leg. It's a silent request for her to get to the real action. Her girlfriend understands and immediately positions her hand where Irene wants it; inside her and between her legs. It takes only a few seconds for Irene to start whining and . It's Seulgi's favourite noises in the whole wide world.

Irene is now wide awake after achieving her , only getting more hot and bothered instead of getting lulled to sleep as Seulgi originally intended. She lies on her back and pulls Seulgi on top of her. There's this sudden desire to have every inch of her body explored and possessed.

Sleep is abandoned as the two lovers spend the night making sweet, sweet love.

-

It's the 18th, the twentieth anniversary of Obsession - Oh Sunyoung's queer film. SNU, along with Seulgi's magazine company teamed up to do a event for it; a screening and a conversation afterwards with the actress moderated by none other than Seulgi herself. The university is so packed as this is the first official public event the actress is doing since her abrupt retirement more than a decade ago.

It is Irene's first time watching the film from start to finish. She has to shut her eyes at certain parts but it was a great film, to put it simply. It's crazy to think how her mother put so much at stake to make this back in those days. It makes her feel even more loved and supported than ever before. Not a lot of queer people are blessed to have parents like her own, and she truly feels grateful for it.

She smiles as she watches Seulgi getting up on stage nervously. Her girlfriend has told her numerous times leading up to this event how nervous she was. She thought the fact that she actually knew Oh Sunyoung personally didn't actually help and instead made the whole thing even more awkward. But the girl pushes through and manages to say her introduction smoothly without a single stutter.

An incredibly loud applause from SNU's students is heard as her mother finally takes the stage; looking incredibly beautiful in her white blouse, black trousers and her hair up in a simple yet elegant bun.

It starts smoothly, with easy questions like how are you, what have you been doing being asked before it goes to a more film student-ish questions regarding the film; names and vocabularies that fly over her head. The snobbery is jumping out of Seulgi so hardly and she can't wait to later for that.

Seulgi grabs a small paper from a glass bowl full of questions from the students. She looks at it and contemplates whether to read it out loud or to toss it aside. "This is a bit.." she pauses before continuing, "Someone wanted to know if playing a lesbian was different from playing straight characters?"

The actress almost rolled her eyes. "Every role is different, but it has nothing to do with the character's uality. For me, acting in love with a man is just the same as with a woman. Although, I have to admit that having a scene with a woman is much more pleasant than with a man." She chuckles, receiving claps and laughters from the crowd. "Women smell nicer, their lips are softer and the skin is smoother. So.. yeah, that's the only difference."

"I'm sure Lee Soojin would be very happy to hear that," Seulgi jokes, mentioning the woman playing opposite Oh Sunyoung in Obsession.

"Oh, we had such a great chemistry."

"Do you still keep in touch with her? I read that she retired quite some time ago and moved overseas."

"Not really. Yeah, I haven't seen her in so long because of that. I'd love to catch up with her and talk about the past. That was such a special movie we made together."

Seulgi wiggles her eyebrows playfully. "Should we be expecting a sequel from the two of you?"

The audience shouts out supportive cheers to the idea.

Oh Sunyoung laughs. "I don't think so. A bad sequel would just ruin the legacy of this film."

"You've never done anything bad, Ma'am." Seulgi praises. "Well, rather than a sequel, have you ever thought of acting again?"

Seulgi is behaving like an Oh Sunyoung's Fan Club President, as everything she has been saying truly represents what the audience is thinking.

"I did that last year, didn't I?" The actress flashes her a teasing smile.

"No, that wasn't.. I.. uh.. I mean, like a real film."

"Seulgi-ssi, a film is a film. There's no such thing as a fake film." She says, playfully stern. "You, young lady, made a really great film and I'm so proud to be a small part of it."

The moderator blushes at that, busying herself with the glass bowl. There are actually a lot of questions about Before Darkness, but she makes sure to skip them. Not only because she feels shy talking about it while in her role of as a moderator in an event that's celebrating Oh Sunyoung, but also because she's preventing more people from knowing the true nature of their relationship and Irene as their common denominator. 

"I really appreciate it but it was only a short film for a university project. I'm talking about a feature film. We all want to see you on screen again."

"I've actually been offered parts after Before Darkness, but nothing has really clicked yet."

"Does this mean that you're considering getting back into acting?"

"I don't know. Next question!" The actress points to the glass bowl, laughing at her own rough segue.

"Okay, okay." Seulgi gives up and gets back to her job. "Here's a question from Shin Junki. The first-half of the film focuses a lot on regret. Do you have regrets in your life?"

Oh Sunyoung smiles and nods her head. "Of course I do, that's human nature, isn't it? I regret that slice of red velvet cake I just had earlier," she jokes, earning laughter and knowing claps from the students; it's a famous red velvet cake from the campus cafetaria. "Hm.. it's a tough question."

"It is and you don't have to elaborate if you don't want to." Seulgi comes to her rescue.

The mother's gaze falls on her daughter. She's sitting on the side, but the actress still managed to find her.

"I have a big regret," she starts, eyes looking far, as if reminiscing. "Being a public figure comes with a lot of consequences and the people around you are the ones being unfairly impacted the most. I tried my best to keep my family private, especially my child. I wanted to protect her from the public while at the same time wanting to be as present as possible in her life. For the longest time I thought I did well. There were times when I even patted myself in the back thinking I did a great job; all because of how great and well-behaved of a kid she was." She pauses to take a breath.

Irene freezes in her seat, feeling her face blushing being talked by her mother so publicly for the first time in her life. She's not sure if after Before Darkness, people have made connection that she is Oh Sunyoung's daughter.

"But I couldn't be more wrong." The actress takes a breath, maintaining her controlled tone. "Without me realizing, I've failed her. She truly suffered a lot. Words can't describe how big of a regret I felt - and still feel to this day - when I was finally confronted with the truth. The regret of not paying more attention to her, not communicating things better with her, not able to protect her, not being the good mother that she deserved. The regret of choosing this occupation, instead of something more.. normal." She clears , taking another long breath. "Thankfully, we have a great relationship now. All because my daughter has a big, tender and forgiving heart. I'm the luckiest mother in the world." She nods to herself with a smile on her face. "So yeah, regrets.. I have many."

There's a defeaning silence following that. People - including her own daughter and the moderator on stage - are just too stunned by how raw and emotional her answer was.

Irene feels the back of burning as tears are threatening to drop.

Seulgi is probably the first one to react, giving a long exhale into the mic. "Thank you so much for sharing that with us."

"You're very welcome. It's a tough but very nice question. Honestly, for some reason I felt a little weight off my shoulders after saying that out loud for the first time," she says, reaching for the glass of mineral water on the side table.

Seulgi looks down on her card for a few seconds, seemingly contemplating before she raises her microphone back in front of her lips. "I.. I hope I'm not crossing the line here. I'm not trying to talk about your relationship with your daughter, but just a parent-children relationship in general," she explains herself. "I think communication is key. People, especially these days, we don't communicate enough with each other." She turns to the audience. "I bet a lot of you here who live with your parents, when you go back home you just go straight to your room and stay there for the rest of the day, am I right?"

Agreeing hums are heard.

"Chill, I'm not judging. I'm guilty of that as well, sometimes." Seulgi chuckles. "Although in my case, I live with my mother and she's visually impaired. And because of her condition, I'm forced to talk more. Instead of letting her see me and assume things like how parents usually do, I have to tell her verbally; whether I'm in a good mood or in a sour mood, whether I'm happy or