_____ scrunched her eyes shut and tried not to groan out loud as she felt a familiar feeling of dread wash over her. That might alert her girlfriend, Seola to her predicament.

Sitting at the kitchen table on her laptop, she stared at the 152 words she had so far of her 3000 word essay which was due tomorrow. She had about 20 different tabs open with sources she intended to try and reference, and several books out too. Seola knew she was working on an assignment. She had no idea it was due at 9 o’clock in the morning.

When she had started an Open University degree in Korean History last year, it had seemed like such a good idea. Now, she needed another 2848 words discussing the major effects of the Joseon Dynasty to the current times. If she was alone, she’d be swearing out loud by now.

Another half an hour later, and _____ would have been another 50 words along if she hadn’t scowled at her new short paragraph and deleted it. The only way to finish this would be to pull an all nighter.

The problem was though, _____ had a strict bed-time of 11:30pm at the latest on week nights, and it was already 9:30 now. At the rate she was going, there was no way she’d get this done in the next two hours. Now, she really did groan out loud.

Seola looked up from her own studying. She wasn’t foolhardy enough to enrol in a university course alongside her full time job, but she was taking evening English & Korean Literature classes at present, and was reviewing what had been covered in her most recent class.

“Everything all right, sweetie?” Seola asked. She thought how cute her girlfriend looked when she frowned in concentration as she tried to work on something. With wispy reddish blonde hair and hazel eyes, _____ had a good deal of freckles to her face, which Seola thought made her even cuter when she scrunched it up in mild frustration, as she was doing now.

“Yeah, it’s all good.” _____ said, but then she sighed. She was probably going to have to come clean about this stupid assignment. But it was worth trying one more thing first. “Though I wondered if I could stay up a bit later tonight. I’ve got… um… a few things I need to work on.”

Seola narrowed her eyes ever so slightly. _____ asking to extend her bedtime was usually not a good sign. “What things?” she asked.

“Just things, Seola. It’s nothing important.”

“If it’s nothing important, it can wait till morning.”

“Well, it’s… more important than that.”

“Then I think I’d better know what these important things are,” Seola said, and _____ did not miss the tone of her voice that told her this was not something she should keep trying to hide. “Don’t you?”

“Uh… yes.” _____ agreed. She swallowed slightly nervously and broke the eye contact she had had with her girlfriend, no longer wanting to look at that piercing expression. “Well, you see,” she started. “You know that essay that’s due tomorrow that I said I already submitted?”

“Yes,” Seola said, her tone now taking on a slightly dangerous edge as she guessed at where this was going.

“Well, um, that’s what I’m working on,” _____ said, mumbling the last few words so quietly they were almost inaudible.

Seola did not miss a word though. She stood up, rising to her full height of 5’10 and moved in quite a steady and deliberate fashion to stand behind _____ and look at her screen. _____ shrank in her seat but did not try to hide the word document on her screen, and its measly 152 words.

_____ glanced back at her girlfriend, and tried to sink even lower in her chair. Only 2 years older than _____’s own 27 years, with long dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, and a strong athletic build, _____ normally found her girlfriend deeply attractive. But right now, she was only finding her deeply intimidating.

“Just to check I haven’t misunderstood,” Seola said, speaking carefully and with a dangerous edge to her voice. “What I see in front of me is all you have written so far, for the essay that is due tomorrow, which you told me you had already submitted a week ago?”

“Um…” _____ squeaked. “Yes unnie.”

“What time is it due?” Seola asked. “And how much do you need to write?”

“Um, it’s due at 9 o’clock. In the morning, I mean. I need another, uh… well, it needs to be 3000 words.”

“Go get the bath brush,” Seola said without hesitation in answer to that.

“No, but Seol-”

“Now, _____. You’re in enough trouble as it is.” Seola’s tone was uncompromising, and it made _____ cringe.

Scrunching her eyes shut for a moment first and trying to ignore the fact she was blushing furiously, _____ rose and went to get the hated brush. Seola used to spank her with a hairbrush before she had discovered the wooden bath brush, and found she preferred the implement. _____ had hated the hairbrush, but she hated the bath brush even more. A slightly heavier implement with a nasty bite, it left a deeper sting that lasted much longer than one might expect, and while the hairbrush had an intense burn, the bath brush made her feel her entire backside was