The last time Wendy heard a rumour was two weeks ago about someone bringing a dog to work. She was half interested since she loved pets as a kid, also half terrified because what if it damaged something. It was an unspoken obligation that she had to take care of the spaces and the people in it now that she was dating their boss.

Other than that, employees pass by her without any interrogation, which was good for both her and Irene. She didn’t want coworkers hounding on her in the office.

To date your boss could mean that you’re trending on potentially dangerous territory. Conflict of interest may arise to hinder the relationship. Falling in love had its own challenges so the interaction between Irene and her dear employee Wendy should be interesting.

It was a good thing they’ve already covered the part where they won’t reveal their relationship status. Wendy had taken the advice to have a work life balance seriously.

Although she had to admit, dating Irene wasn’t a walk in the park.

Irene gave equal treatment to her employees, and she was very grateful for that, but when Irene was stressed, that’s where Wendy found it hard to heed her demands as an employee and lover.

There’d been numerous times where Wendy stupidly paced back and forth debating if she should stay by Irene who was stuck in her office for over ten hours working on reporting and analysing. Irene had made it clear and persisted that she’d be fine on her own. However, as her girlfriend, she found it hard to comply to it with constant worries.

Once in a while, she’d bring water or snacks and silently watch her drown herself in work.

From the outside, it looked as they were the boring couples. As if they had already passed the excitement part of the relationship. As if she could sit there and reminisced the heartwarming dates, trips and special moments they’ve shared.

In reality, all they’ve had together was dinner and that concert. It was rare for Irene to have entire evening free, but at least she made sure her weekends were booked-free. Even then, it was still hard to meet.

Wendy thought and thought. It had been three months and Wendy couldn’t be thankful enough that it was going slow and steady, probably too slow in some people’s standard.

However, there was one thing that was bugging her. And actually it wasn’t about the lack of progress. Okay it was, but…

They haven’t kissed yet…on the lips

It had started with simple skin ship – holding hands and hugging. She couldn’t demand more from the relationship out of pure selfishness, she’s content where they were for now. However, it wasn’t that long ago when Irene started pecking her on the cheeks. Since then, Wendy discovered that Irene really loved kissing. Irene would stare at her lips, even at the office, not so subtlety which fueled her curiosity.

On any occasion that Irene could find, minus the office, she would sneak a surprise kiss on her cheeks. It was so gentle and spontaneous that drove her heart crazy.

 “Hey do you think this one would match with my outfit…” kiss.

“Isn’t the weather a little cooler than usual? I remember going to the beach around this time and it was burning hot. Hey let’s go to the beach!” kiss.

“I got your favourite wine. Tiffany said she wanted…” kiss.

“Irene can you…” kiss.

Wendy would always grow red and stammer her words afterwards and Irene would heartily chuckle.

There was almost two different Irene, one that showed fierceness and sternness in her voice, and another as a gentle soft spoken one. The first was only reserved when it was work related and the latter was when she was with her family, friends and her.

In general, she liked the compassionate Irene as she felt spoiled by her because in a way, Irene would make sure that Wendy knew that she cared. It could be just a tiny gesture, wiping her food stains on the corner of her lips (again with the lips), brushing her hair back or send a bunch of heart emoticon.

Wendy wasn’t as bold when expressing her affections, but she did it in a furtively way.

She’d text goodnight and made sure Irene would never get cold or too hot by lending her coat or fanning her. She’d slip her hands in and intertwine them. When she was feeling playful, she’d send a wink and pucker her lips toward her. It was quite endearing to see a blush on Irene’s face.

“Can I ask you something?” Wendy asked as she traced the veins on Irene’s wrist with the tips of her fingers.

They sat by the bench that gave them the view of a calm lake while the gentle wind breezed through their hair. The sound of the small waves crashing on shore and seagull chirping brought them into internal peace. Irene was very into nature and here they were spending the afternoon by the shore. It was getting colder as Irene was leaned against her for warmth and let Wendy play with her left hand.

“Yeah?”

“Why do you like me?” her fingertips reached to her palm and drew invincible circles. Wendy felt a nervous flutter hit her stomach.

“Because you’re cute.” Irene answered with a melody at the end. A small blush reached to her cheeks, but she distracted herself by drawing larger circles.

“And?”

“And?” Irene repeated.

“Shouldn’t there be something else?”

“Are you expecting something else?”

“Maybe.”

“It’s because you’re really cute.” Irene tried kissing her cheeks again, but only kissed the air when Wendy leaned away.

“That can’t be your only reason.” Wendy retracted her hand.

“Why not?” Irene frowned from the lack of warmth. Secretly, she loved that she had the kind of effect on her. Pouting Irene was definitely cute.

“Because that’s really shallow.”

Initially she wanted it to come off as a joke because usually Irene would counter it with a playful banter, instead, it made Irene think. Silence grew onto them like it prickled onto her skin. Wendy gathered her will power not to give in as she looked at her. Irene avoided her eyes as looked everywhere but her.

“I don’t even know myself. But if I could think back, it was because you were so caring of others. I remembered I saw you gave your jacket to Seulgi and I thought that was very sweet of you. Since then, I just wanted to get to know you more.”

Wendy’s heart was racing as her gazed soften.

Seeing that she was satisfied with the explanation, Irene leaned in again for the kiss. Wendy aimed to capture her lips this time. To her disappointment, her timing was off when she twisted her head and Irene had kissed the corner of her lips instead.

Irene’s startled face then turned into an amusement and stared at her lips. Wendy angled closer, surely yet carefully.

“Kiss me.” Wendy demanded which was very unusual of her.

Wendy saw her leaning in hesitantly and thought she had giving into temptation, but instead, Irene pressed their forehead together.

“Um…” Irene sounded uncertain.

“What’s wrong?” The question was met with another silence. Irene looked as if she had wanted to tell her something.

Wendy was genuinely curious. What was stopping Irene? She knew from all those stares that Irene had wanted the kiss and it was quite infuriating to pretend that she didn't notice it. It was until she realized she had pushed the boundary and because she did, the worries intensified as she knew she screwed up. So she had to retract and retreat. She leaned back to give her space.

“I’m sorry.” God this was embarrassing. She hid her redden face as she stood up.

“Wait Wendy, it’s not like that. I know it sounds stupid but it’s not you.”

But Wendy wasn’t listening, didn’t hear the hidden apology because she had made a fool of herself.

“It’s okay.” She gathered what was left of her pride and began walking away.

She couldn’t snap out of it until she was forced down to the bench again with Irene’s tight grip on her arm.

“I want… our first kiss to be special.” Irene finally clarified.

If it weren’t for the fact that they were in the moment, she would’ve burst into laughter. But hey, she was also in the same ship, so who was she to laugh?

“Is this not special enough?” she said, frailer than she had planned it to be.

“I didn’t mean that. I just wanted it to be very romantic.”

An unknown relief washed through her and she smiled warmly. So Irene wanted a ridiculous fairy tale romance, or that’s what she assumed.

She reached out to her hand to intertwined and bringing up to kiss the back of her hand.

“You have watched too many weird movies.”

Irene chuckled as she relaxed to the touch. “No, you make me do weird things.”

If only she knew how it applied to her as well.

Perhaps Irene wanted a romantic candle lit dinner, a sky full of stars and some music playing in the back. It sounded typical, overused, and a lot of planning, but if that’s what she had wanted, then she would do it. She’d do anything for Irene.

If her old self would look at her now, she would’ve shook her head. Tiffany was right, love had casted a magic spell on her.

They fall back into the same routine, pretending that they were not lovers at work, and showing their affection when they were free from it.

They kind of cheated one time when Wendy and Irene were alone in the office and Irene pulled her into her embrace. It sounded romantic, but it sort of ruined her working pace because all she could think of was the hug. So she swore to not to visit her too often, unless Irene was calling for her.

Meanwhile she was secretly planning for the special moment, she thought she could entice Irene a little just for pay back of all the times that Irene made her flustered.

She would purposely wear the bold colour lipsticks and to be honest, it didn’t look bad on her. Some days, it would be a bright rosy red colour and the other was maroon.  She was satisfied with the attention as Irene would linger her eyes on her lips longer. It sort of became a game between them to see if she could catch Irene staring at her lips. When she did, she showed off her arrogant smirked on her victory. It was one of the few games Wendy could win against Irene.

“Are you trying to go for the bad girl looks?” Yeri asked suspiciously.

“No, I just bought this colour and I just like it.” Wendy unconsciously pressed her lips together.

“They say that the type of lipsticks that you wear defines your personality or mood. Usually bright bold colour means you’re wild and passionate and that’s far from what you are, so all of this” Yeri circled Wendy’s body with her finger through her vision, “must be an act for Irene-unnie.” Yeri said.

Wendy just couldn’t understand how the girl always seemed to be able to read her mind and so accurately at that.

“It’s called trying something new. And maybe I am feeling a bit adventurous.” Wendy threw a bit of sass in her tone.

“Maybe she’s adventurous in bed.” Joy said which caused both of them to whip their heads around.

“Urk, that’s my sister that you’re talking about!”

Joy snickered. “Whatever, grow up Yeri. You can’t just pretend you never heard of the word in your life.”

“That’s still my sister that you’re talking about!”

Wendy was glad that Yeri was on her side of argument because when Joy and Yeri teamed up on her, it was a never ending torment on her pride. Wendy’s attention soon left them as she let Joy and Yeri bickered.

“Have you finally planned what you’re going to do for your 100^th day?” Seulgi asked. Wendy rapped her fingers on the desk. This was also a difficult topic.

“I don’t know. I thought about a fancy wine and dine and then I’m out of ideas.”

Seulgi looked at her unimpressed. “Don’t you two always eat out?”

“Yeah, I’m gaining weight because of it.” Wendy pinched the skin from her arm. Seulgi looked at her and noticed that her cheeks were getting fluffier, but Wendy looked fine. Maybe she should help her seeing how distressed Wendy had become.

“They have a lantern festival next week. Why not go there?”

Wendy’s eyes brightened.

“I totally forgot about that! That’s a great idea!”

Honestly, bless Seulgi.

---

Irene and Wendy arrived together at the busy looking park. They decided to go somewhere outside the city where it wasn’t as crazily crowded, but it was still packed. The sky was still bright because they’d planned to arrive early to avoid traffic. There were street booths already set up marketing various businesses. That was the first place they went.

They enjoyed their time exploring and Wendy couldn’t get enough of Irene’s excitement. There was always something new to learn about Irene, especially how her eyes would glisten at the sight of food or how Irene possessed a part of an adjumma’s traits when Irene dragged, rushing her to each booth so that they would miss the long line.

After buying a load of street food, small couple accessory and two paper lanterns in their hands, the moon finally appeared in the night sky. The sight was breathtaking giving them an illusion that felt like she had entered a dreamy land.

They were surrounded and enraptured by colourful lights as it illuminated the whole park. The lanterns took different shape as animals, humans or objects and Wendy was taking endless pictures of it with Irene posing in front. She wanted to capture it all because Irene being here with her made it twice as special.

“Let me take a picture of you Wendy.”

“No I’m okay.”

“Come here.”

Irene pulled her by the waist and grabbed her phone. She pressed her cheeks against hers and snapped a quick selfie. Satisfied with the result, Irene started taking over the photographer role.

They walked by the lake and lit their lanterns together. They quietly watched the lantern glowed in their hands followed by silent whisper of prayers before setting it off to the waters. The entire lake was covered with hundreds of other burning lanterns as their wishes drifted to the distance. Wendy reached her hand to intertwine with Irene’s.

“You know it was our 100^th day together yesterday.” Wendy wasn’t bothered that they weren’t following the tradition of celebrating couple’s event. In fact, she had seen it coming when Irene would confuse herself with days of the week. She was already occupied by work so keeping count of the days together was quite exhausting.

“Was it?” Wendy wasn’t surprised that Irene sounded shocked.

“Yeah. So happy 100^th, well… 101^th day to us.”

Irene giggled. “You’re so cute.”

She closed the distance to peck her cheeks, but Wendy stopped her with her finger on her lips. The touch already made her tremble which did not calm her raging heart. She was about to do something different.

“I um… wrote something for you. I’m not sure if it’s complete because I can never get my words out properly. So I thought maybe if I could do it with pen and paper, then maybe I could tell you what I always wanted to say. So um…”

Irene interrupted her rant with a chuckle.

“Let’s hear it.”

Wendy took out the folded piece of paper from her pocket and unfolded it. She grew awkward by the second as she was about to reveal the bareness of her heart. Irene held her stares at her, curious and affectionate. Unable to handle it all at once, she dashed to other side and climbed the high ledge so that she could gain some distance.

“What are you doing?”

“Just… stay there.”

She took a deep breath.

 “I write your name on paper

Neat and prim

There’s something about it that I adore,”

She looked down to Irene who was still gazing at her.

“I look and I think,

Wondering how could I ever stain such beauty with my love,”

She loosened the tense grip on the sheet as words were flowing more smoothly.

“For so long, I wished upon the shimmering stars,

For my thoughts to turn into a melody

So that you’ll listen to the beats that it creates for you

Because how can I ever let you know

That I’m restless without your tender touch under my fingertips

Knowing that you were meant to be unattainable.

Will you ever know?”

Wendy finished and brought the paper down. She immediately gasped.

Irene stormed up to her holding a…stool? What the hell? Where did she get that from?

She feared that she might’ve said something she hated to have this violence coming at her. She squeezed her eyes shut and her arms covering her head in case Irene decided to take aim.

For what seemed forever, she heard a clank and then two hands gently pried her arms apart. Her eyes still refused to open when a hand clutched her neck.

Something warm had touched her lips and the small movement made her realized that Irene was kissing her.

Lips embraced for the first time and the electric shock ran throughout her body.

They pulled apart for air and leaned in again. This time, tentatively to memorize the touch and taste what love had felt like. It was amazing how Irene made her feel these kinds of emotions. Wendy’s hand gripped awkwardly on the material of Irene’s shirt, not sure where to put them, but all she knew was that she wanted to be closer.

Irene pulled back and stared straight through her eyes.

“Have I ever told you that you never fail to amaze me?”

Instead of answering, she kissed her again. From now on, she looked forward to every kiss they would share together.

“I know.”

Irene helped Wendy down from the ledge as she held her hand. She didn’t realize until now that Irene had used the chair as a stepping stool.

“I thought you were going to kill me.”

“I would never do that.”

They enjoyed the rest of the festival hand in hand. It was the night that Wendy never wanted to forget.

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A/N: This chapter was written for you all (actually it was more for me because I just wanted some fluff)

Thank you all for the support. I never really thought I would write this much. I hope you all have a great day.