The next day, I got to spend it with Irene alone. All was good until her father came back earlier than we all thought. We were kissing on the sofa when he entered the house. Maybe we were too engrossed in our intimate activity that we both didn't hear the rustling noises. 

"What the hell are the two of you doing?" He bellowed. 

Frightened, the both of us broke away from each other and we jumped onto our feet. My head was hanging low and Irene was flustered. "Ap-appa. You're b-back!" She smiled at him nervously and he dropped his luggage to to floor before he stormed towards me, grabbing me by my collar and I could see his teeth gritting. "Appa! Don't!" Irene shouted, intervening by pushing her father away from me but to no avail. 

"Stay away!" He shouted at Irene and Irene was crying then. I was scared to an extent that I almost peed in my pants when he raised his hand. My eyes shut tightly but I felt no pain. When I opened my eyes to peek at what was going on, Irene was basically tugging her father's arm and begging him through her teary eyes. My heart broke at that moment. 

"Don't hurt her, appa." She sobbed and her father seemed to have softened at the sight of his own daughter crying. 

Her father released his grip on my shirt and sighed heavily, fingers pinching his nose bridge as he shut his eyes. Irene scurried to me and threw her arms around me. I couldn't say a single word or react to it. "Are you okay?" She asked as she moved back a little to meet my eyes. I nodded blankly, hand reaching out to wipe her tear away when her father shouted at me again. 

"Do not touch her!" He pointed his finger at me. I stumbled back a few steps when he approached me again. Irene quickly came in between us and stopped her father. "Joohyun, move." He said sternly. 

I shivered in fear and saw Irene staying rooted to the ground. "Appa, please. Do not do this." She pleaded again. Her voice was trembling and I felt so useless at that point. 

"What's going on?" Another gentler voice was heard and I looked at the doorstep to see Mrs Bae with Suzy. "I thought you're coming back tomorrow?" 

"Do you know about them? And you didn't tell me?" Mr Bae turned to Mrs Bae who had no idea of what he was talking about. I gulped and my knees almost gave away. 

"What about them? They're friends." She frowned, confused as of why her husband was so against me. 

"Friends?" He spited. "Do friends kiss each other? On the lips?" Mr Bae questioned. I could see Mrs Bae's eyes widen and jaw drop. She turned to look at the two of us. 

"Is it true? Hyun?" She asked as she walked to Irene who couldn't hold her tears anymore. She ended up crying and nodding non-stop. Again, I tried to reach for her but Mr Bae came to swat my arm away immediately. 

"I warned you." He hissed. 

I felt my eyes getting hotter and soon, a tear trickled down my cheek and the room turned silent. "Suzy, go back to your room." Mrs Bae instructed Suzy who was quite frightened at the sight of her angry father. I heard the door shut and my eyes fluttered open. "Hyun, can you tell me what's going on?" Mrs Bae asked gently, rubbing Irene's back up and down as she sobbed violently.

I wiped my tear away. It was not the time to cry. I had to show them that I was capable and strong enough to take care of Irene. So I swallowed the lump in my throat before I started explaining to her mother, seeing how she was unable to talk then because she was still sobbing hard. 

"Mr Bae, Mrs Bae," Mrs Bae turned and looked at me, her eyes were gentle just like Irene's but Mr Bae didn't bother to look at me. "I am sorry for not telling you that Irene and I are together-" 

"No!" Mr Bae shouted. 

"Let her talk." Mrs Bae said to Mr Bae and he nodded reluctantly but he was still glaring at me. 

"I... we have been together for a month now." I continued. My throat went dry and couldn't speak anymore. 

"How?" Mrs Bae asked, her tone was still gentle and she didn't look angry like Mr Bae. 

Irene's sobbing softened down and she looked at me. I beamed her a small smile, telling her that everything would be fine. I hoped. "We... met just downstairs. Everything clicked. Our feelings were mutual..."

"How old are you again?" Mrs Bae asked, frowning as she wanted to confirm again. 

"17."

"17?" Mr Bae exclaimed. "How the hell did you even trick my daughter into this?" 

"She didn't t-trick me!" Irene spoke up, her tears threatening to fall again. 

"The feelings are mutual?" Mrs Bae re-confirmed. I nodded and she looked at Irene who nodded firmly, trying to prove to her parents that we were in love. 

"You are just confused." Mr Bae said to Irene, couldn't accept the fact that his daughter had a girlfriend. 

"Appa, I am twenty-five not five. I am not confused. I know what I want. I want Seulgi." Irene stated, I had never seen her so stern before. 

"You... you... you just haven't met the right guy yet." Mr Bae tried to reason. 

"Really? Must it really be a guy? Is it all that matters?" Irene asked, her eyes looked hurt. 

"You don't know how people will judge you for having a girlfriend! And she is just 17! What can she do for you? Do you have to pay for her university tuition fee then?!" 

"I don't care how people will judge me! I am happy with her, appa! She is my everything! I am willing to do anything for her!" Irene retorted, her hands balled into tight fists and her knuckles turned white. 

"But I care about how people will see my family! Are you going to be a fool? What if she is not someone that decent?!" He shouted, chest heaving up and down as he breathed angrily. 

"You're just being selfish. Can't you see that I am happy with her? That I want to be with her?" Irene asked softly this time, she shook her head as she couldn't believe how selfish her father was. "You only care what people will think about you. You don't care about my happiness."

"I care! I care about both! She can't give you happiness!" He pointed a finger at me. I watched as they fired at each other back and forth. Mrs Bae was looking at me apologetically. I couldn't bring myself to meet her eyes. 

"How do you know if anyone else can give me happiness? What if she is just the only one for me?" Irene sounded hurt and disappointed. I wanted to hug her so badly but I knew this would infuritate Mr Bae. 

"You're beautiful and still young. There is surely a decent man  for you out there." Mr Bae stated, hands on his hips. 

"You don't get it." Irene shook her head. "I just want her." 

"Do you want to bring shame to our family?" Mr Bae questioned. 

"Enough. Hyun-ah, bring Seulgi back home first. I will talk to your father." Mrs Bae instructed Irene and she gave me a small smile. I nodded politely at her before Irene took me to her bedroom to retrieve my stuff and we left the house. She didn't say a single thing until we reached the ground level. 

"I am so sorry." She sighed and wrapped her arms around my neck, resting her head on my shoulder. 

"It is not your fault." I said, rubbing her back and then hugging her around the waist too. 

"Did he scare you?" She asked, her voice became muffled as she spoke into my shirt. 

"A little. But I am okay." I smiled although she couldn't see it. 

"Please do not give up on us. We will get through this together. I am sure omma is supportive of us and she will try to help us." She raised her head and looked at me. I could only nod. 

"Do you want to go take a walk or go over my place?" I asked, brushing her cheek with the back of my fingers. 

"Take a walk. But you have to go back and put your stuff first." She said, pointing at my bag. I nodded again and we started walking to my block. 

As soon as I left my bag at home, I quickly went down to meet Irene again as she didn't follow me up since her eyes were still red and swollen from crying. 

"It hurts to see you cry." I said as I took her hand in mine. She watched as I brought her hand to my lips, giving it a long kiss on the back of her hand. 

"I was so scared that I will lose you." She said almost like a whisper. Her voice was still hoarse from crying. 

"I will never leave you, I promise. Even if your father tries everything to break us apart, I promise you that I will do anything to get you back." I said, determined to fight for our love. 

"I am just hoping that my mother will talk through his stubborness. Good that he listens to my mother well." She sighed. 

I gave her a kiss on the forehead before pulling her to start walking, my hand was still holding onto hers dearly. "Do you think he will accept us?"

"I don't know. I hope he will." She hugged my arm close to her again and I just felt like protecting her with all my might. She looked so fragile, so breakable, so vulnerable. 

"He is going to have a bad impression of me." 

"I didn't think it would be like this." She bit her lip and then took a quick glance at me. "I don't even know what I would do if he hit you just now." 

"I guess you will be crying even harder." I joked a little to lighten up the mood. She hit my shoulder and I grinned not so widely at her. 

We walked past a couple, a man and a woman, and I heard her sigh. "What's wrong with this?" She asked, referring to us. 

"Nothing is wrong. It is just... too overwhelming for your father. Who would have thought that a beautiful girl like you will have a girlfriend?" I smiled. 

"Why can't a beautiful girl have a girlfriend? What do boys do so that they deserve to have beautiful girls instead?" She questioned. 

"It is just how things have been working since the start of life." I sighed. 

"But I still see nothing wrong with it." 

"I didn't say there is anything wrong with it. I am just saying that, it takes time for people to accept it. It is not common, you see." I said, pointing at random couples on the street who were all a boy and a girl. 

She pouted. "Then we are called special."

"If you say so." I laughed. 

"But seriously, why can't he just accept you? I am sure my mother has accepted you as soon as she understood what's going on." 

"Maybe... I am just 17. He thinks that I can't provide you with needs. And I am a girl too. How are we going to start a family?" I smiled sadly at her. She kicked a stone on the pavement away and I kicked it further away when we walked past it. 

"Age is not a problem, right?" 

"Nope." I assured her. "Do you feel like you are 25?"

She frowned as she didn't get my question. "When I was 12, I pictured myself as a 17 teenager to be very mature, very adult-like. But when I turned 17, it still feels the same. Just that I have grown taller. I am still... me. Age does not define you." I explained. 

Her head bobbed up and down as she took in what I had said. "It was just a blink of an eye and I turned 25 too. Everything just flew by and sometimes, I will forget that I am 25 and that I am an adult already." 

"See. Age is really just a number." I smiled. 

"Then what about the family? Can't we start a family?" She asked. I watched a toddler tittering on the field as his parents egged him on, clapping when he reached to them. 

"We are both girls." I said. 

"So?"

"I don't have to fertilize your egg you know that?" I chuckled as I explained. She slapped my arm again as this was not what she wanted as an answer. 

"I mean like, we can adopt kids or have artificial insemination. I don't see why we can't have a family." 

"I know. I know. But do you think the orphanage will let a same couple to adopt kids here? Do you think the law will allow us to go through IVF to have kids?" I shook my head. "Everything is against us."

"Why are people so selfish?" She asked sadly, not exactly asking for an answer. 

I stopped and turned to look at her. "Joohyun-ah." 

She looked at me and blinked, waiting for me to continue. 

"If... if we really really really have to break up, promise me that you will not fall in love with someone else so soon. Wait for me, okay?" I bit my inner cheek at the thought of Irene being with someone else that was not me. 

"Are you crazy? How can I fall in love with anyone else when I have given everything to you? And we will never break up. I won't allow you to break up with me. I won't allow anyone to break us up." She stated, I had never seen her so strong before until today. 

"Thank you so much." I said, smiling weakly. 

"We will get through this together. Do you trust me?" Her gaze was so strong and firm that I was swayed by it. As much as I had a little doubt that her father will accept us, I still nodded. "Good. Now, shall we eat something? I am kind of hungry." 

"You're always hungry." I laughed and poked her nose. "Let's go then." 

"And..." she tugged my arm before I turned. 

"Hmm?" I hummed at her to prompt her to continue. 

"Stay strong for me." She smiled and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. 

"Of course. Who else will I be strong for?" I ruffled her hair and then locked my fingers with hers.