“Tae?” Stephanie left the keys and bags of food on the kitchen’s counter. It was Friday already and she was dead tired. That week had been especially long in the lawyer’s firm she worked at since two years ago. She was the youngest and all the hardest cases were her job. She put up with it because she had no other choice and hoped that with it, she could gain recognition and respect from her partners. This week the case had been really difficult and after all the trouble, both parts agreed to not take it to the court in the end. She hid her irritation behind a fake smile and came back home early. She didn’t think Taeyeon, her girlfriend, would be there. The loud music alerted her. She know something was wrong because Taeyeon used to turn on the music at the highest level onlye when she was angry and wanted to annoy Stephanie. So her head felt like it was a time bomb, ticking at the beat of her heart. She started to feel really sensitive and turned off the sound system.

“Taeyeon?” asked again. Said girl was inside the bath tub, scrubbing furiously with plastic gloves on her hands and hair tied in a bun that had been messed up by the motion. Sweat on her forehead and cheeks all red, half off her face was covered by a mask. Her pants were wet at the knees and a strong smell of bleach made Stephanie stay at the door. That smell was something she could not tolerate, she felt like vomiting. Her headache intensified and with her sleeve over her face she asked again “Taeyeon”. Stephanie’s voice resounded in the bathroom and for a brief moment, Taeyeon seemed like stoping. Stephanie swallowed any foul word forming in her tongue and went back to the kitchen to make dinner. While she was frying rice, she hear Taeyeon making a lot of noise with the vacuum. When cutting carrots she heard her course because Stephanie forgot to clean the dogs yard, and when the broth was boiling, Taeyeon made a mess on their room with all the boxes and stuff on the closet. When she finally got in the kitchen, with angry cheeks and lips on a tight line, Stephanie did not dare to say a thing. She watched Taeyeon eat with the same animosity she used to clean the house. The dog had been freed for the cleaning of the yard, was lying quietly watching at Taeyeon’s back, afraid of the imminent explosion.

Hours later, Stephanie lied on the sofa and now her neck was hurting because of the uncomfortable position. She moved around and changed channels. With the muted volume, she watched without much interest. Taeyeon had went to bed time ago and Stephanie was waiting she could get in the bed later with Taeyeon in a deep slumber. She had not said a word and Stephanie finally surrendered. So she waited for Taeyeon to yell at her so they could fix it and go back to normal. With Taeyeon, it was the wisest thing to do. Stephanie had a slight idea that the tantrum might be because of her job. She felt cold and wished she had bring a blanket. It was so boring and she was so tired. She was about to turn of the tv when she hear Taeyeon.

“Will you come to bed already?”

All kind of nasty words accumulating in her head and making a knot in . Stephanie stayed quiet while being yelled at. Her boss had her wrinkly face sweaty and colored. She had lost her last case, her first important one. Some stupid senator’s son had a fight in a club and injured badly another guy. Her boss had asked to keep it out of the media and win the case at all cost. In the middle of it, the kid felt guilty and confessed. Her boss and the father blamed her. She thought she will be fired but, after yelling at her for an hour or so, she decided it was not all her fault. Stephanie knew she was going back to divorce cases and siblings quarrels. She could feel the heat of ire spreading through her chest. Above all that crap, Taeyeon had beed weird and Stephanie wasn’t close to know what the hell was going on. She had managed to buy Taeyeon the perfect anniversary gift, and avoided thinking it could be in vain.

Taeyeon too, wondered if their relationship was dying.  While hanging out with her friends, she realized. Kibum complained about his messy husband. He used to leave her dirty socks anywhere. That guided the conversation that way and everyone in the table started to complain too, about the bad habits of their spouses and fiancé. Taeyeon was the only one who hadn´t tied the knot. Then Kibum started again, this time, with all the sweet things Minho, his husband, used to do that made Kibum feel enamored. Things like go with him shopping after they had a big fight or whatch horror movies with him (Minho hated them). And so on, the talk was like that, about their relationships. Taeyeon hear while insecurity kept growing inside her.

“What about you, Taeyeon?” Sunny asked.

“Me?”

“Don’t you have anything to tell? Any dirty secret about Stephanie?”

“Does she has bad breath? Does she leave a mess in the bathroom?”

“Well… actually… she’s quite the perfect girlfriend” answered Taeyeon “Maybe to much…” that raised protests all around the table.

“C’mon! Are you telling me that Stephanie has no flaws… at all? After seven long years you’ve never had a big fight? What are you two, friends with benefits?” Sunny was annoyed.

“I mean, of course we fight but… we never stay mad at each other for more than a couple of hours. I don’t remember one time she actually snapped at me or something” Taeyeon said.

“Really? I’ll give you the solution: get married already that will do!” and everyone laughed to Hyoyeon’s comment.  Taeyeon laughed, too, but she wouldn’t stop thinking about all those times Stephanie brushed of the discussions and instead, calmly talked about what caused in the first place. Wasn’t that a good thing?

That night, Taeyeon was determined to talk it out but Stephanie came in too late and she felt asleep. Next morning, Stephanie left in a rush without waking Taeyeon and she was late to work. That Friday Taeyeon was so upset she wasn’t able to concentrate and went home earlier. But when she got home, she found the unwashed dishes of Stephanie’s breakfast and a dirty bathroom. Every time she cleaned something, she discovered something else that had been neglected and her anger kept rising. By the time Stephanie came from work, Taeyeon had collected her offenses and was trying to clean them with bleach. She had decided Stephanie had to be the first one to address the issue. So she said nothing that time, nor the next one and each time Stephanie swallowed whatever she was thinking, Taeyeon felt more anxious and annoyed.

“So this is how it is, huh?” asked Taeyeon. They were at the backyard and Stephanie petted the dog. It was a hot Sunday. They had a fight and Stephanie ran away from Taeyeon to the backyard. When Stephanie heard the question, she looked confused.

“What are we talking about?”

“Don’t you know? Really? Do you even care?”

“I’m kind of lost right now…” Taeyeon got into the house and Stephanie followed “What now, Taeyeon?”

“You know… even after all that time we’ve being togheter you’ve never complained about anything. We don’t really have arguments and you never tell me when something’s bothering you”

“Are you arguing with me about us not arguing enough?”

“You don’t get it” she raised her arms in exasperation.

“You’re not making much sense right now. Why would I argue with you if we can figure it out without having a big fight over nothing?”

“Yeah, why does it even matter?” said Taeyeon full of sarcasm.

“Really…” Stephanie started to get frustrated and Taeyeon was beyond pissed: she was disappointed “You know… you’re right I ed it up, whatever I’ve ed up it’s my fault”

“Do you even care about us? Eight years and we got anywhere and I…” Stephanie got it, finally. She went back to the backyard and Taeyeon went after her “Seriously! Again? Where are you going? What…?”

Stephanie was in the dog’s house and right after she got out with a small box in her hand. Taeyeon was left speechless.  That was their anniversary’s gift.

“This was it, right?” she put the box on Taeyeon’s hand “I was planning a romantic way to give this to you, but you just ruined it so…” when Taeyeon said nothing, she continued “I know you said it was not really necessary for us to do it, but I know you’ve wanted it the longest time now. I wanted to propose too but I did not had the money and then I got into that firm and… You know, I don’t complain about you because I think being together is about that, accepting each other as we come and I really hate when you do things to annoy me. All this time you did things that made me crazy and in the least appropriate moments but… it’s supposed to be that way. You don’t have to be perfect to be the right for me, we don’t have to be. What do you said? Can you cope with me for some more time? ”

Taeyeon just stayed there with teary eyes feeling stupid and in the end, with her voice breaking and before getting all choked up she said “Always”