It seemed that Irene couldn’t take her eyes off of Seulgi. She had a focused expression that zero in on her every move. Now don’t get her wrong, Irene was merely observing the girl from distance. In light of the past week, Irene was more specifically looking at the lack of distance between Seulgi and the girl that Irene would’ve preferred be beside her. They had been extra secretive since they got to their rented house, having animated discussions and passing around objects. Usually by now, Irene’s massive jealousy would’ve kicked in, but the longer she observed, the more she noticed just how much this talk looked like a hushed argument. Fed up with just standing by, Irene followed behind Wendy and Seulgi as they walked off into a quieter section of the house.

 

“Can you please just hold on to it? I want to feel relaxed in our room, and if I have this hidden i’ll just be jumpy.” Seulgi said in a hushed whisper.

 

“Oh and you think I won’t be? You don’t think that I-”

 

“Irene what?” Irene asked cutting Wendy off. Her interruption scared the two girls, having both turn around to look at her. Noticing what was in Wendy’s hands, Irene’s eyes widened and shock overtook her face. “You-we-marry?”

 

A look of pity over took Seulgi before she picked up the box from Irene. Failing to notice the look of disappointment on the girl’s face, Seulgi just went over to one of the drawers in the hall and put in the back. “It’s for Sunmi, I want to propose.”

 

“Sorry Love, it’s not our time...yet.” Wendy said grabbing a hold of Irene. “Besides, didn’t your parents say we-”

 

“Shh!” Irene hushed with a jab to Wendy’s ribs. “When did you want to do this Seul?”

 

Seulgi shrugged her shoulders and went on to explain to Irene what she had to Wendy earlier that day. “I don’t know. I know I want to be with her, and I know that her parents are on her case right now about finding a potential  match. They think I don’t want to marry her, because my grandfather wants me to marry some kid from a dynasty family. I honestly never bothered to look into it. I have Sunmi, that’s who I want to marry. I just...I really hate our upbringing sometimes.”

 

Irene held on tighter to Wendy as Seulgi went on her speech. It was true that in their world, marriage was treated more as a trade of favors amongst the older generation. Grandparents, and even older parents all believed that their children should be raised and bred by the best and married off to people of their stature. The tiers of wealth influence families who were more distant and gave a clear path to where most families wanted to aim. Dynasty families had years of wealth, business moguls were a popular choice amongst the younger crowd, humanitarian wealth came from jobs that helped others, and finally media moguls were the trendy crowd. For a family in a dynasty, most of the time they would prefer to marry their children to other dynasty members, and for a lot of the children in this archaic system, they were predestined to another. Nothing would be settled until the kids were in there pre-teens, but the system was still there.

 

“I’m sure Sunmi would be more than elated to marry you Seul. You’ve been together for almost as long as Irene and I  have.”

 

“We thought we were winning until you two popped up with a whole relationship that you never told us about!” Seulgi replied to Wendy. Irene laughed a bit before leading them down to the living ares and settling on the couch with Wendy close.

 

“To be quite honest, we thought we were being very obvious with our relationship. I mean, we never separated, had all of our vacations together, and we even asked for a private dorm…” Irene listed thoughtfully.

 

“But, I thought you were just like people who wanted privacy.” she said with a confused look.

 

“We only had one bed the entire time we’ve lived there Seul,” Irene said with a chuckle. Wendy rolled her eyes a little before yawning. “I guess it’s time to sleep huh? Sorry for taking  her back Seul, but it has been a week. So we are gonna go.” They both stood up from the couch and walked off, leaving Seulgi to think about what she should do next.

 

***

 

The gang had various activities planned. Today they were going to meet Sungjae’s friends for a trip down to the lake that they came to visit. Despite watching Joy cozy up to someone, and be strangely cute, the Sungjae was rather fun to be around. He liked singing along to Wendy’s music, enjoyed reading with Irene, and rough housed with Yeri. He knew Sunmi from work their families had done before and thus has met Seulgi as well. As far as they knew, his friends were probably just like he was. And to no one's surprise they were...except that they weren’t informed that they were on a couples trip.

 

The day started off fine, they met and mingled and were really friendly with the boys they had just met. They weren’t kids who knew of their backgrounds, so they were treated pretty kindly and were bragged too about Sungjae and  his genius brain’s way with technology. When the sun started to dim, and they made a campfire for the night, it seems that this was when the boys were trying to make their move. It started with Wendy. The oldest of the boys had found Wendy’s personality very endearing. Her cute demeanour seemed to had really propelled him towards her, and by the end of the daylight, he wouldn’t leave her side. Usually, Irene would be all over this, but then came her problem. Once Eunkwang settled in on Wendy, Ilhoon decided it was time to make his move on Irene. They suave boy followed her as well, he and Eunkwang waiting on the girls for any needs that they had. They weren’t really a bother until they decided to swing their arms around the girls during the campfire. Seulgi and Sunmi were in no better shape. It seemed that Changsub and Sunmi had a couple of similar interest, which all added up to the boy thinking that they were on a steady path to a relationship. Seulgi and the shyest of the bunch, Hyunsik, were both just awkwardly smiling at each other.  While the other boys didn’t decide to pursue anything with the youngest of the bunch, they also had no clue what the girls were thinking.

 

When Sungjae and Joy returned from grabbing the marshmallows, they were met with two very confused glances. “Uhh? Guys? Any reason you have the girls so close to you?”

 

The boys all gave Sungjae a wide smile before Eunkwang stood up and reaching down for Wendy’s hand. “Sungjae! We know that you brought us these lovely ladies so that we could meet and fall in love! We are so glad for this, and they are all Joy’s friends. I’m sure that when We day and I marry, she’ll want you two to be our best people.” The girls and Sungjae all looked gobsmacked at Eunkwang’s proclamation, until Irene stood up.

 

“Okay, enough of this.” Pulling away from Ilhoon, Irene reaches for Wendy and tugged her close to her, breaking her contact with Eunkwang. “Listen here and listen good; this wonderful ray of sunshine happens to be my girlfriend-“

 

“Girlfriend?” Eunkwang gulped. Irene’s blazing eyes seem to be enough confirmation.

 

“Yes. Girl. Friend. Now said ray of sunshine and I have been together longer than your friend Sungjae has been rich.” A ‘hey’ was heard from Joy behind them. “ Now I let you be nice to her all day, I even let you breathe the same air as her because I thought you were harmless. Then you started this whole speech about love and marriage and see I can’t accept that. Wendy will marry me. Me, Irene Bae. I’ve been with her since we met when we were 5. Since she punched out that creepy older kid who pulled my hair when we were 8. I didn’t introduce her to Seulgi until we were 12 and Seulgi entered her awkward phase just so that Wendy didn’t get any funny ideas!” A scoff from Seulgi filled in the space Irene left. “I held her hand when we were 13 because she smiled at me and told me I was pretty! I kissed her when were 14 because I knew I would never find anyone brighter and more right for me than her! And since that day I have had contemplated on how to get her to marry me! I refuse to have some lackwit whose known he for a day try to proclaim it before I do! Do you realize how long I’ve waited? 12 years!”

 

“Wai-wait you are all dating?” Changsub asked.

 

“Oh yeah, massively and committedly since ages ago. See I’m dating that smiling bear like one there,” Sunmi says pointing and Seulgi who was smiling directly at her. “I’m quite smitten with her actually. Very much the sweetest part of my life, but you were really nice!” With that she walked over to Seulgi and sat beside her, movie all the boys to the other side of the logs. All of them shyly looked in as Seulgi and Sunmi made s’mores and smiled blissfully at each other, while discretely staring as Wendy gave Irene kisses for he long winded impassioned speech.

 

“You think we'll ever be that gross?” Saeron whispers over to Yeri‘ ear. Immediately Yeri tenses up and goes rigid. A blush forms across her cheeks as she turns to look at Saeron, the words about to spill from her lips before Saeron gives a laugh and leans back. “Yeah, I don’t think so either.” Yeri let out her breathe, morphing her face to a pout before focusing on her marshmallow. Suddenly she felt a brief kiss grace her cheeks before turning to a blushing Saeron wide eyed. “Okay maybe a little bit.”

 

***

 

In the days that followed, Irene waited with anticipation for Seulgi to actually pop the question. She knew the ring was taken back, since it was no longer in the drawer Seulgi originally hid it in. The paranoia over the confession had plagued her mind for the duration of the trip so far, making her lose focus once Seulgi and Sunmi stepped into the room. Now, half a week into their stay, Irene felt she’d go mad.

 

“Hey Love?” Wendy’s voice rang out from inside their shared closet. Irene gave her a hum in acknowledgment. “Mind getting dressed? I was told that we will be heading out soon.” Irene’s mind looked to the time. She had zoned out for an hour, all due to the impending dinner that they were headed to tonight. The Beach was an exclusive place, common amongst most well off families. A site of many a dinner for the Bae’s, Son’s, Kang’s, and even Kim’s. Tonight they had a private room, a full course dinner, and what Irene hoped would be the perfect setting for Seulgi to finally put her out of her misery.

 

***

 

Irene was sure she was going to combust. They were in the middle of dinner, in a wonderful room, plenty of ambience for a proposal, and yet no sign from the silly bear seated beside her. She even thought Seulgi would’ve hidden it in the food, making Sunmi take a forkful if everything before anyone else could. In the end, not even the cake that was ordered had a ring in it. Sighing, Irene excused herself from the table.

 

As she walked out, she felt someone grab hold of her hand, Wendy’s perfume hitting her senses before she fell into place with her. “Love?” Wendy said with a tilted head, “Something the matter?”

 

“I’m sorry sunshine, this Seulgi thing has been on my mind since we heard about it. I just keep thinking she’s going to do it soon. I’ve been so absent minded I swear this anticipation is gone drive me crazy.” Wendy gave her a sympathetic squeeze as the kept walking.

 

“Yeah, the anticipation for the proposal has been getting to me too Love.”

 

“Right? I just wish I didn’t know about it beforehand! I swear I’ve just been watching them for the past two days…”

 

“Love? It’s been four days since we found out…”

 

“No,” Irene said slowly, “that would mean it’s Thursday, which means it’s our anniversary.”

 

Wendy gave Irene a brilliant smile, “Happy anniversary Love.”

 

Irene felt he eyes widen as she looked at Wendy’s face. “OH MY- Sunshine! Why didn’t you tell me! No, that’s not, I mean, oh gosh I’m the worst! I have your gift Sunshine I swear! It’s in our room-“

 

“Hush Love, I don’t need a gift. You’re here. Pretty sure that’s all I need.”

 

“But I’ve been obsessing over this whole Seulgi thing!”

 

“I know...you didn’t even notice where we were.”

 

Looking around, Irene recognized the familiar blue of the banquet hall, the lights gleaming and the entire place fully set up for a party. “We are in the banquet hall...this is where we-“

 

“-met?” Wendy smiled. “Yeah, I remember that day. You were a quiet little thing, dressed in her prettiest purple dress, standing beside your mom being the polite Irene we all know you are. And then when Auntie and my mom started chatting she called me over-“

 

“In a sky blue dress!” Wendy nodded, walking them over to one of the tables before staring at the centerpiece.

 

“And I stuck my hand out and introduced myself. You know I thought you were the prettiest flower I had ever seen? Lilacs...which at the time I just thought we’re called purple flowers but still! I plucked one from one of the centerpieces and handed it to you.”

 

Irene smiled at the memory, and gave a shy laugh when Wendy plucked a lilac from the centerpiece and handed it over to her blushing girlfriend.  

 

“Later on, I found out that Violet Lilacs meant first love. Did you know that?” Irene gave her a shake of the head before staring at her Lilac with a deeper blush. “Frankly 5 year old me was smooth. Then ten years later, we were back in this room, I handed you that flower, and you kissed me. I thought my heart was gonna beat right out of my chest.”

 

“Mine too.” Irene agreed. She shifted closer to Wendy, letting the girl wrap one arm around her waist, knocking their foreheads together. “Thank you for this. It’s probably the most romantic gift you’ve ever given me.”

 

“You know Love, you mean the world to me.” Wendy pulled back a little, enough to have Irene give her a quick kiss. “I just hope you decide to keep being the reason why my world is so full of love...forever.”

 

Irene gave her a smile and another kiss before she realized that Wendy held something out to her in her other hand. Presented before her was the same box that she’d seen days ago, except in Seulgi’s grasp. Eyes wide, she gave Wendy a perplexed look before getting a nervous laugh in response.

 

“You see love, this was never Seulgi’s plan…”

 

***

Days earlier:

 

“I’m going to propose.” The car was still filled with silence, the passengers all asleep except for two. Wendy and Seulgi held their breaths as they waited for any of the people in the back to give any input.

 

“Okay, coast is clear Wannie. What’s the plan?”

 

“Well I figure I need Irene to obsess about something before I can really set everything up… she’s kind of a kind reader.”

 

“We can alway pretend it’s me?” Seulgi suggested.

 

“Won’t Sunmi be disappointed? Wendy asked. Only to be responded with a fierce shake of the head.

 

“Don’t be crazy, considering who our parents are we totally discussed this already. We both wanted to wait until we got older. Not everyone needs to wed so young…no offense…”

 

“None taken. Everyone’s different. I just know it’s our time now.” Seulgi gave her a questioning look, coaxing Wendy to answer. “Oh we were watching some show and it was their wedding episode...Irene muttered out the phrase ‘that better be me in a year…’ before changing the channel. What more of sign do I need?!”

 

***

 

“Sunshine, you are evil and I couldn’t ask for a more romantic and genius way to be proposed to. Of course I’ll marry you.” Irene said. Wendy gave out a squeal before pulling Irene in. When the doors to the banquet burst open, a group of loudly cheering people came in. The girls, Sungjae and all their family rallied in with a band.

 

“Surprise!” They all shouted. Irene looked out in disbelief and pulled Wendy closer.

 

“Sunshine, you are nothing short of incredible.” Wendy gave her an earnest laugh and kissed her again. Before they went to greet the guest.

 

Standing around the group of friends all looked at each the couple talking to their parents, smiling and showing off the ring. Seulgi breathes out a sigh catching everyone’s attention. “What? I had to keep that secret! I was gonna explode too!” Everyone gave a laugh before Seulgi also smiled. “At least all that’s over with right?” Everyone is except Yeri and Joy.

 

“You’re kidding right?” Joy said. Everyone but Yeri gave her a confused look. “We still have our last year at the academy to worry about people.”

 

“What’s so bad about that?” Sunmi said curiously.

 

“Well toss in the Wenrene wedding extravaganza and it’ll make for an interesting year…” Yeri concluded. Everyone gave each other a look before turning back to the couple making rounds. They knew it wasn’t anywhere near over yet.