This was one of those rare nights—when Irene was able to come home early and Wendy didn’t have to bring any work home. She often did and even though Irene hardly expressed her thoughts on it, she honestly despised that. The extra work did add a significant amount of money, but it also served as an extra burden. More often than not, Wendy had to stay up late—even until 2 or 3 AM—to finish it despite having to get out of the house and head to work as early as 7.30 AM.

One time, they both went to bed together, but a few hours after she had fallen asleep, Irene could feel Wendy got out of bed and walked towards the study that was adjacent to their bedroom. Irene would pretend to stir so that she could position herself in order to get a better view and there she was, her lovely wife, with a messy bun and her round spectacles, squinting hard and fighting the urge to fall flat on her desk. Even though Irene was angry, she knew that she couldn’t do anything other than trying not to cry. Soon the sleep overcame her and she woke up the next morning with a sunken-eyed Wendy by her side, who didn’t forget to kiss her forehead and said ‘Good morning, sweetheart’ and Irene buried herself into Wendy’s open arms, kissed her collarbone, and wrapped her legs around her.

Wendy croaked. “Babe, I told you not to do this.”

Irene knew what she meant, but she feigned innocence and said, “Do what?”

“Don’t... I just... Ugh.” Wendy tighten her hug. “I have to go to work. It’s already a struggle in itself and by doing this,” she pulled back a little so they could look at each other. “You’re just making it a thousand times harder.”

They both smiled and Irene leaned in to kiss Wendy’s chin. “What do you want for breakfast?”

“I want to say ‘you’, but that would ruin the moment now, wouldn’t it?”

“Son Seungwan!” Wendy’s laughter boomed around the room despite having to endure what seemed to be Irene’s endless slap on her arm.

Wendy grabbed her wife’s hands and put them on her cheeks. “Kidding, babe.” She grinned and proceeded to peek into Irene’s loose tee. "But not really, honestly.” Her grin grew wider as she looked at the obvious pink shade all over Irene’s face. “You’re so warm.”

“And you’re so greasy, you know that?”

Wendy shrugged. “Eh, you love me for it, though.”

“Sadly true.” She pinched Wendy’s cheeks. “Again, breakfast?”

“Cereal’s fine.”

Irene got up. “Okay. I’ll pack something for you.” Just when she put on her slippers, she heard Wendy whine.

“Why must you get up?”

“Because your lunch isn’t going to pack itself and it’s almost seven, babe. You have to get ready now or you’re going to be late. Come on.” Irene pulled the blanket with such force that Wendy’s efforts to defend it was futile.

“Why do you have to be so strong and so right?” Wendy stretched and groaned. She cleaned the remnants of her sleep and started walking towards the bathroom, not forgetting to kiss Irene’s cheek as she passed her by. Her wife reciprocated by slapping her . Back in the day, it would’ve made her yelp, but now it didn’t even make her flinch.

Wendy closed the bathroom door just as Irene walked out of their room and made her way to the kitchen.

"You’re home.” Wendy greeted her, pulling her out of her reverie.

“Yep.” She put her keys in the bowl, hung her coat, and dropped her bag on the dinner table. “I smell something good.”

Irene walked over to the sofa and sat beside her wife. The latter kissed her cheek. “Kimchi stew and shrimp fried rice. How was your day?”

“That ty client showed up.” Irene said, clearly exasperated.

“Again?! What, it’s the third time this week?” Seeing her wife weakly nodded, Wendy wished she could do something so that Irene didn’t have to bear it alone. “Come here.” She draped her arms around Irene and felt two arms hugging her waist. “He still tried to hit on you?”

Another nod.

“Just say the word and I’ll beat him up.”

Irene laughed. “No need, Wan. I can handle him, don’t worry. But thanks for the offer, though.”

“You’re right. Besides, we both know that you’re stronger than me.” She released the hug, stood up, and offered her hand. When she got a questioning look in response, she said, “Go shower. I’ll set up the table and we’ll have dinner. You’ll feel better, I promise.”

Thirty minutes later, they both sat on the dinner table, facing each other, jumping from one topic to the next, and eating heartily.

Irene gulped half the content of her glass. “Thanks for dinner, Wan. I’ll cook tomorrow.”

“Hey, what did I tell you about that?”

“What?”

“We don’t have to take turns. I love your cooking, but I also love cooking for you. So, don’t sweat things like that, okay?”

“Okay,” Irene got up and started collecting dishes. “But if I get home early like today, I’ll cook.”

“Of course.” Wendy smiled and before she could follow suit, her wife stopped her.

“I’ll do the dishes and that’s final. Go watch TV or something.” Irene shooed her, not giving Wendy a chance to refuse.

She watched as Irene start doing the chore with such ease, humming soft tunes every now and then. At times like this, Wendy always felt an inexplicable sense of contentment and she had to try her best not to come over there and do something. Whether it was to help arranging the washed plates, hug Irene from the back, or just bother her in general.

A quick glance at the clock told her that they still have a couple of hours before turning in and suddenly a light bulb went off in her head. Wendy dashed to their bedroom and came out three minutes later carrying both thick and thin blankets.

Irene was too preoccupied to notice the sound coming from the sofabed springs as it was being pulled out. Wendy laid the thick blanket and tidied it up while making sure to cover the whole space. She hopped on to arrange the pillows in all the right places and put the thin blanket over her when she was done, smiling and feeling so proud of herself.

After seeing the little sanctuary in the middle of their living room, Irene couldn’t resist to join and feel as comfortable as Wendy. They gave each other a knowing look without having to say anything, so Irene dimmed the lights and found herself safely in Wendy’s arms soon after.

“This is nice.” She said, resting her left hand on Wendy’s waist.

“M-hm,” Wendy pulled the blanket higher, so it would cover Irene’s chest. “I wish tomorrow was Saturday. I hate to be in this super comfy cocoon with you while knowing how many manuscripts that I have to read at work.”

“Let’s not talk about work, okay?”

Wendy nodded. “Sounds good to me. Hey,” she moved closer to Irene, trying to close the nonexistent space between them. “I can’t remember the last time we did this.”

“I know. We’ve been so busy with so many things,” Irene put her leg over Wendy’s. “By the way, I talked to Seulgi the other day.”

“Really?” Wendy’s voice laden with curiosity. “Talking about me, I assume.”

Irene giggled. “Among other things.”

“Wait, what? You’re serious?”

“Why are you so surprised?”

“I thought you were kidding. Oh God, she’s my best friend! I know for a fact that you two can gossip for hours and she knows so many things about me that I’d rather not speak of ever again.” She looked at Irene with such resoluteness before adding, “Ever, Joohyun.”

“What? You think if I find out about your deepest, darkest secrets or the possibility of you having a sinister plan to take over the world, it will somehow lessen my love for you?”

“Wow, okay. Easy, woman,” Wendy was clearly taken aback because Irene said it without looking like she was going to break into laughter any second. “First of all, how can you be so sure that I don’t have any of those things? Second of all, who taught you to speak like that? Because daaamn, Hyun.”

Irene nuzzled deeper. “I know you, Wan-ah. You’re one of the most kind-hearted, selfless people I know, and that’s exactly what made me fall head over heels for you in the first place,” she slid her hand into Wendy’s t-shirt and rested it on her toned stomach. “And to answer your second question, I guess your greasiness kinda rubbed off on me. Looking at the fact that we’ve been together for almost 10 years, I’d say that it’s definitely possible.”

“When did that happen, by the way? And please tell your hand not to wander, Ms. Bae.” She felt two fingers dancing around her navel. “Sweet Lord. I was hoping for some R&R, not getting H&B.”

“Huh?”

“Hot and Bothered.”

The sound of Irene’s signature old lady laughter filled Wendy’s ears. “When what happened?”

“When you realized that...” Wendy used her right hand to cover her eyes, “You had fallen in love with me.”

“Awww... Our Wan-ah is embarrased,” Irene pried her hand away, forcing Wendy to look at her. “Believe it or not, I still remember the exact moment.”

“Really? Yesterday you couldn’t even remember to buy rice cakes, eggs, and milk.”

“Oh, shut up. You know I can be forgetful at times,” Irene rested her head at the crook of Wendy’s neck. “But when it comes to us, I think I can remember everything.”

“Alright, let’s see. So, when was it?” Wendy couldn’t help but sound a bit challenging.

Irene caressed Wendy’s arm with her thumb. “Remember back in high school when all those boys teased me by gathering outside our classroom and pretending to take a look at me?”

Wendy frowned. “Um... I hope you’re joking because they literally did come to see you.”

“No, they just enjoyed bothering me.”

“Nope.” Wendy shook her head firmly. “The burly boy who led the pack... What’s his name again?”

“That one I can’t remember.”

“I think I only remember his surname. Lee, Lee...” She shrugged. “That Lee-ssi, he really liked you, babe. Like, like you like you. A lot.” She looked at her wife. “The whole school knew, Joohyun, and you seriously didn’t?”

“I swear I didn’t.” Irene stared back. “I think it’s because I had such little interest in dating and besides I already liked someone.”

Reminiscing about each other’s dating history was never their preferred topic of discussion. Sure, they disclosed something here and there, but that kind of trivia was never intentionally brought up. It took everything in Wendy’s power not to sound jealous. “Oh, you did? You never told me about your high school crush before. You said you started dating in college and there were only two others before me.”

“Because it didn’t really matter.” She poked Wendy’s cheek. “It’s been a while since I saw you got jealous.”

“I’m not jealous!”

“And I’m not your wife.” Irene chuckled. “Where were we again? Ah, first time I fell for you, yes. During recess, you’d go to Seulgi’s seat and talked to her and because she sat on the front near the window, you could always see if those boys were coming over. Remember that?”

Wendy mumbled into Irene’s hair. “I think so.”

“You’d always warn me about them. You’d say something like, ‘Joohyun, incoming!’ or ‘Joohyun, your fans!’ and I would hide my face by pretending to be asleep.” Irene smiled. “That’s exactly when I realized that I had fallen in love with you. See? I remember that one.” She pinched Wendy’s nose. “And I’ll never forget it.”

A moment later, she rested on her elbows and turned to face Wendy. “You’re just so kind to me, to everybody, even to those who treated you badly. You always chose to take the high road whenever possible and I admire you for that because, honestly, I don’t I think I can do the same thing.”

Strands of hair fell in front of Irene’s left eye and Wendy tucked it behind her ear. “Well, that wasn’t the only reason.”

“Really? What else would it be?”

“It’s because I knew you weren’t comfortable with it and I hated seeing them doing that to the girl I liked.” Wendy smiled. “There you go. Not so noble now, huh?”

Irene mentally asked herself if it was possible to love someone this much. She didn’t waste another second for her lips to meet Wendy’s. When they finally parted, she propped her chin on Wendy’s chest and said, “You know why I never talked about the person I liked in high school?”

Wendy groaned. “Babe, you’re killing the mood.”

“Let me finish.”

“Fine.” Wendy sighed. “Why?”

Irene caressed Wendy’s cheek. “Because then I fell in love with her and she somehow agreed to marry me.”