One of the things that always left Yena worried was Yuri’s consistent stubborness to keep her feelings concealed. It didn’t matter what feeling it was -- if it wasn’t good, Yuri would zip shut and throw away the key. Saying it didn’t frustrate her sometimes would be a lie, but that was Yuri, and Yena loved every part of her, no matter what. Yena taps her foot, staring up at the ceiling. She wanted her girlfriend to be happy -- of course, Yuri knew that. Yuri was well aware of Yena’s devotion, pure love. The devotion was mutual, and it was apparent to all who saw the two together. Yena smiles at the thought.

Still, though, even if Yuri didn’t want to talk about how she felt, if she was sad, then Yena would do her best to cheer Yuri up. Yeah, that sounded good!

“But what to do? How can I get Yuri to smile again…?” She drums her fingers gently on the wood of the desk she’s sitting at, humming quietly. Organizing an event so they could play Vanguard together? No, Yuri prefered to be alone, or with Yena, when she was sad. Having a bunch of people around her could end up stifling. A picnic was a no-go. The last time they tried that, Yena found out about Yuri’s distaste for bugs… and Yuri found out that yes, Yena could pick up Yuri, carrying her as they both ran from the swarm that had appeared near them. That was a huge disaster. It ended up with Yuri kissing Yena gratefully on the cheek, so maybe it wasn’t all the bad.

Movies might work, but that wouldn’t last long. It’d give Yuri more of a reason to stay quiet… not to mention all the times Yena had dozed off during the movies they’d watch. A nice, candle-lit dinner -- classic.

There’s no way this could end up a huge disaster, right? The amount of things that could go horribly wrong were pretty low, in comparison to say, another picnic, an Yurisement park, or an aquarium. Though, seeing Yuri framed in the soft glow of the aquarium lights would be nice. Yuri looks beautiful no matter the location, with her being there, even burnt grass could be pretty.

Yena’s allergic to grass, though.

Okay, she’s starting to overthink everything. Yena lets out a sigh, leaning her chair back as she shuts her eyes. A nice dinner was the best option, Yena thinks. They could both dress nice, eat, and talk, too. She giggles quietly to herself, remembering when she tried to playfully feed Yuri. Her girlfriend got flustered, but smiled and accepted the food on the utensil.

When she opens her eyes, chair still titled back -- the sight Yena sees causes her to lose her balance, quickly making her way near the ground. Familiar hands push the chair back up, and Yena beams.

“Yuri!”

The dark haired girl smiles, blushing when Yena moves to peck her cheek. “Are you okay, Yena? You should be more careful… you could have gotten hurt.”

Yena stands, wrapping her arms around Yuri in a tender hug. “I didn’t, cause you were there! Thank you, sweetie! I love you!”

They meet eyes, and gently peck their lips together. “I love you too.”

“Anyways, it’s good you’re here! I was just about to go find you!”

Yuri blinks. “Find me? For what? Is something wrong?”

“Nope! Are you free later? I wanted to go on a date with you! I thought we hadn’t gone on one in a while, so…” Yena watches Yuri’s expression carefully.

There’s no change -- until Yuri smiles softly, grabbing Yena’s hand to hold. “Okay. What time? Do you have a place in mind?”

Yena’s mind works quickly. A time… probably later, maybe around eight. As for the place, she hasn’t decided yet -- but there’s a couple of options popping up in her head. It’s nearly one, so there should be at least a couple reservations open. “Not yet, but around eight should be good! I’ll call you -- oh, but dress nice! ...Though you always dress nice! You always look nice, too.”

There’s a flush appearing, slowly, on Yuri’s face. “Okay. ...I’ll see you then, Yena.”

They hug again, bodies pressing together. Yena kisses Yuri’s cheek, again. “Perfect! I’ll see you later. I love you!”

Yuri nods, making her exit, waving as she does. Yena can spot the warmth still present in Yuri’s cheeks, and bounces on her heels. She can think about how cute her girlfriend is some other time, though! For now, she needed to focus, not letting herself get distracted.

Once she finds a place that had an open reservation in a seat that she wanted, Yena mentally debates on an outfit to wear. Time passes quickly, but too slowly.

Yena hugs Yuri when she sees her. It’s weird. Each time Yena looks at Yuri, somehow, magically, she looks more radiant than before -- and because of that, Yena could look at Yuri forever. Each time, again and again, she would find something new about Yuri that she loved. It was… weird.

It made each day something to be treasured.

“C’mon, let’s head in!” Yena tugs on Yuri’s hand, who follows. Yena notices the silence, and fills it with chatter. Saying the first thing that came to her mind sometimes ended badly, but it was better than silence -- even if Yena's voice started to be grating on her own ears. Even… even when she wanted nothing more to shut up, or to stop talking, Yuri would smile gently at her. That meant more than all her overflowing words could ever convey.

They sit down at the table, and Yuri speaks curtly to the waitress. It must be weird, for Yuri to turn around and see Yena smiling, giddy, at her. Yena’s glad Yuri hasn’t turned to look just yet… not like she couldn’t look at Yuri if she was aware, it was just… embarrassing.

Yuri was staring out the window, looking at the stars. Yena turns her head to look. They were countless.

The stars shined no matter what. No matter what events had occurred, they would still come out, obediently -- it didn’t matter if there was sorrow, or if there was happiness. Somewhere, they were shining brightly, just as they did the night before. Thinking about that brings forth a feeling of melancholy. Yena’s face falls, and she bites her lip. The brief urge to cry washes over her. She doesn’t know why.

It passes just ask quickly as it came, and when Yena turns around to start a conversation with Yuri… she sees her girlfriend studying her facial expression.

“Is there something on my face?”

Yuri looks embarrassed, and shakes her head. “No. I was just… staring. Sorry, um…” She looks away.

Yena reaches out to place her hand over Yuri’s. “It’s okay. Stare all you like!” She jokingly flips her hair over her shoulder. It’s way too dramatic, even for an idol. “I know, I’m beautiful. Please, hold the applause.”

“You are beautiful.” Yuri’s voice is warm with sincerity, but she’s laughing as she says it. Yena blushes, beaming.

“I’m not as beautiful as you, though.”

Her girlfriend’s eyebrow raises. “Are you sure about that? I think I disagree.” There’s a tender smile. “I think you’re the most beautiful girl in the whole world.”

Yena puts her hand over her chest. “Attempting to swipe my heart from me when you already have it is just plain silly.”

This is going really well! Yuri is smiling, and her eyes are doing that thing, where they have the kind, warm light in them. It’s the sweetest expression she’s ever seen. It doesn’t hold a candle to any of the sweets Yena has ever eaten, all the cakes, the candies, and the pastries. That look makes Yena wonder why she had even bothered eating sweets -- they all seemed flavorless in comparison to the love in Yuri’s eyes.

“Um, actually, there was… another reason I asked you to come here, tonight.” Yena speaks slowly, each word carefully measured -- like when they’re singing together, they move their feet in time with the beat, left, right, left, right, so that they blend together as one. Her words lodge themselves in the back of . Her voice comes out quiet. It’s something that Yuri used to scold her for.

Sing forward, she would say. Don’t worry about your pitch -- it’ll come naturally, focus on the emotion, remember to project your voice -- sing like you want the world to hear you. You don’t need to yell. It’s not about volume.

It was never about volume. It's about conveying your emotion to the one whom you want to hear it the most.

“Maybe… maybe it was just me, but you seemed… kind of sad, recently.” Yena’s words form quickly in her head, and spill out before she’s had a chance to think them properly through. “I don’t know for sure, and I know that sometimes, it’s hard for you to open up, or to talk about your feelings -- but I want you to know, I will always, always listen to you. If you don’t want to talk, or you’re afraid of the silence, I’ll speak to fill in the gaps. Silence can be lonely. I don’t want you to feel alone, ever, ever again.”

Yuri doesn’t say anything, staring down at the table. Yena keeps going.

“I… I wish I could magically make all the bad feelings and thoughts go away. But… I can’t. If I could, though, you know, maybe then I could… make a lot of money, or something, with that? But, uh… I wouldn’t want money. It’d be okay if I could just make people happy. I -- I got off topic, there, um… What I mean to say is… Yuri, I love you.”

Yena shuts her eyes. “I love you. I love you when you smile, I love you when you frown, I love you when you cry -- even though I don’t like it when you cry -- I love you when you scold me for talking during movies, I love you when you look at me, I love you when you’re mad -- I love you. I love you no matter what emotion you feel -- because your emotions are part of you, too. And… I love you.”

There’s still more to say. Words fall out of Yena as if was a waterfall. “I love you no matter what. I love you on bad days. I love you on good days. I love you on rainy days, and cold days, and windy days, I love you on sunny days. I love you and I love how you smile at me, I love how you hold me, I love how you kiss me. I love everything about you. I love you, Yuri.”

When Yena opens her eyes, she sees the same familiar sight. She sees a sight that feels and looks like home. It’s Yuri.

Yuri is… frantically wiping tears from her eyes. She’s crying.

“Ah -- are you okay? Did I say something wrong? I’m sorry -- you know how I… how I talk, all the time, so much.”

Yuri gives up on stopping the tears, and freely cries. Her cheeks are bright red, and her brows are furrowed, and she’s all tensed up. “It’s… You didn’t say anything wrong, Yena. You said everything right. You said everything perfectly.”

For once, Yena can’t think of a thing to say.

“You always say things perfectly. You say them better than I could. You somehow say everything I’m thinking. I… It’s funny, that you said this, and did this -- today of all days.”

Today? Was there something happening today that Yena had forgotten?

“You’re right, Yena, I have been… feeling not good, recently. It’s hard. I don’t like the changing seasons. I don’t like when everything gets dark and cold. I don’t… I don’t like it. It’s funny. It sometimes feels like you see right through me. I spent so long building all these walls, and you’ve found a door. I didn’t even know the door was there. You ask me if I’m okay, and I’m so used -- I’m so used to not saying anything, to lying. To opening the door to an empty house.”

Yena grabs Yuri’s hand, giving it a small squeeze.

“But… when I try and lie, and say I’m okay -- I just can’t. I love you, Yena. I love you. I love you so, so much. I love you…” Yuri is sobbing, words coming out shaky. Her voice cracks and breaks. “I love how your hands fit in mine. I love your smile. I love your voice. I love how when I don’t have the energy to talk, you keep talking. I love your voice. You could speak forever. If it was anyone else, I would have told them to shut up. But, with you, you could speak for an eternity and I would still want more. I love you. I love you so, so, so much, Yena. I love you more than any words could ever say. I feel like all the songs in the world couldn’t convey the love I have for you. And -- and that scares me, because I…”

Yuri brushes the tears off her face. “It scares me, because sometimes, words are… hard. Words can’t convey enough. They don’t feel powerful enough. I’m scared… that you won’t know the extent of my love for you.” She clears , and reaches into her jacket pocket, pulling out two small boxes.

“Yuri?”

She wipes the tears away with her thumb, taking a shuddering breath. “I… I got these. It’s… we won’t be able to wear them all the time, obviously, and it’s -- it’s not like they’re engagement rings, or anything.”

Yena’s eyes widen. Yuri slides the box across to her, and she opens it. It’s… a ring. A slim silver ring, with red gems. Yena looks into Yuri’s eyes.

Yuri opens the other box, revealing a slim silver ring, with blue gems. They… they have matching rings. Yuri reaches into Yena’s box, holding the ring in her hands. Yena, wordlessly, stretches her hand out.

The ring is slid onto her left hand ring finger. Yena does the same for Yuri’s ring. Yena’s mouth hangs open. She’s at a loss of words.

“Do… do you like it?” Yuri nervously twiddles with her fingers.

Yena grins, gently taking Yuri’s hand, intertwining their hands. “Oh, Yuri. I love it.”

Yuri smiles back, beaming from ear to ear. She leans over. Yena shuts her eyes. They kiss, softly and sweetly. The warm flame of the candle illuminating their loving gaze.

They’re both smiling, with tear streaked faces.

Once they’ve finished their meals, they walk home, together, holding hands. The stars light up the area around them. The streetlamps help, too.

“I’m glad I met you.” Yena says, suddenly. She doesn’t say anything more. Her bottom lip quivers. She can’t say anything more. Crying wasn’t anything to be ashamed of, it was just… “I’m so, so happy -- that I know you. I love you. I love you. I couldn’t imagine a… I don’t know what… it would be like, if I couldn’t see your smile.”

Yuri wraps her arms around Yena, who has begun to cry. Yena’s shoulders shake, and tears fall freely down her cheeks. Her breathy sobs echo through the road that they took home. “I can tell you that it’s no fun.” Yuri laughs as Yena does. “I’m glad you opened the door to my heart. I’m glad… I’m so happy that you’re alive and here with me, Yena.”

They cry with each other, still locked in tender embrace. Once they’ve both stopped sobbing, then poked fun at each other’s tear soaked, eyeliner streaked faces, they kiss.

The stars will shine no matter what. No matter what happened, whether it was painful, or if it was maddening, or if it was happy, somewhere, they would shine. On that night, it shined on a couple who were destined to be together, who were destined to stay together for as long as the stars remained in their places in the sky.

With their hands interlocked, they walked the path home -- together.