Joohyun feels cold.
 

Instinctively, she fumbles around looking for the comforter she had kicked off during the night. When she finds it, she yanks it up over her body until only her face is exposed to the cool morning air. She hums in content once the temperature immediately rises in her cocoon of warmth.
 

Thoughts of more sleep ade her mind, and she’s just about to give in when it crosses her mind that Seungwan might be feeling cold, too. So, she squints one eye open, hands ready to cover them both with the comforter.
 

All she finds next to her are untouched lavender sheets. In her sleep-addled state, the reality hits Joohyun hard. The panic sets in; suddenly, she finds it difficult to breathe.
 

A plethora of emotions rushes through her – from the day she found out Seungwan was back in Seoul through her uninterested scanning of Dispatch News, to the months of peaceful bliss with Seungwan, stripped of all the masks and charades they’d been so used to back then.
 

Was it all just a dream?
 

Tears quickly rush to her eyes, because surely not. The kisses, the hugs – they had felt realer than anything else she’s felt in years.
 

“Hyun?”
 

Her gaze shoots quickly to Seungwan standing by the door, eyebrows furrowed in concern. Joohyun thinks she must look deranged right now: eyes bloodshot and teary, a hyperventilating mess.
 

Faster than lightning, Seungwan is by her side, scanning her body for any signs of hurt. “Are you- “
 

Joohyun reaches for her and wraps her arms tightly around her torso, cutting her off. She closes her eyes and lets her tears of relief and panic fall and seep through Seungwan’s sweater. “I’m sorry,” she repeatedly murmurs against cotton, but she’s not sure if Seungwan can understand what she’s saying.
 

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” Seungwan gently runs her fingers through Joohyun’s locks, so terribly soothing it makes Joohyun want to cry again.
 

It’s irrational, she knows. But she also knows the feeling of having something you’ve always wanted all your life and having it get taken away from you in a heartbeat.
 

“Hyun…” Confusion, concern, love; Joohyun can hear it all in one simple word. It fixes something inside of her. Makes her whole.
 

“I love you,” she says, voice thick with emotion. “I love you,” she repeats, turning her face to one side so won’t be covered by the sweater. So that those three words ring clear across the room and hopefully, reverberate through Seungwan’s heart.
 

The fingers running across her hair pause momentarily, but continue their motions, just as Seungwan replies with an “I love you too.” Seungwan’s voice is so sweet and so sure that Joohyun knows it’s never going to be like this with anyone else.
 

Joohyun will forever regret the years wasted between them, but she’s going to prove it to Seungwan, time and time again, until the younger woman can feel the same thing Joohyun feels whenever she’s around, with the knowledge that she’s just…hers.
 

“Please tell me what’s going on…” Seungwan probes gently.
 

Joohyun laughs, suddenly embarrassed about everything. She buries her face back against Seungwan’s tummy, blushing as she tries to explain, “I thought everything was a dream. I thought we never- Today just…reminded me of months ago.”
 

“Months ago?” Seungwan repeats, confused. Joohyun can almost hear the gears turning in her girlfriend’s brain before she blurts out an “Ah! Ah…I see. Baby, can you even breathe in there?” Seungwan chuckles, trying to push Joohyun’s face away from her sweater.
 

The pet name makes Joohyun’s gut clench in the funniest way, and she lets Seungwan push her back till they can look each other in the eye.
 

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t sleep because of the coffee I drank last night, so I decided to bake some muffins.” Seungwan’s expression is contrite, and it makes Joohyun berate herself for being so silly. Why can’t I let her bake in peace? Now she’s going to worry each time she has to leave me in the morning.
 

“It’s okay. I’m sorry I panicked,” Joohyun apologizes guiltily.
 

“Hey, it’s okay. I get it,” Seungwan says with a smile as she tucks Joohyun’s hair back behind her ears. “Is there anything I can do? To let you know that I’ll always be here?”
 

“Marry me.” It slips out accidentally, unhindered by intense idol training and gargantuan SM Entertainment publicity standards. It makes Joohyun widen her eyes and lose her balance on the bed, pulling Seungwan with her.
 

Their faces probably mirror each other right now. Seungwan’s eyes have never looked bigger, and she’s making the weirdest (and cutest) stuttering noises Joohyun’s ever heard.
 

“I’m sorry,” Joohyun blurts out, but she wants to take it back. She’s so not sorry. But it’s not the right time and it’s not romantic at all and she wants to spoil Seungwan silly when she pops the question. Not when she’s just showed a complete lapse of sanity. She hasn’t even brushed her teeth yet!
 

“I…”
 

“It just slipped out. I don’t think I’m even fully awake yet. I-I jumped the gun a-and- “
 

“Unnie,” Seungwan interrupts softly, but it’s effective in shutting her up. “It’s okay.” She rolls to the side and lies down beside Joohyun.
 

Joohyun hates that she sees disappointment flash in Seungwan’s eyes, but it disappears just as quickly as it comes, and now Seungwan is trying to distract them both. “Uh…what can I do? Hmm. I can leave Manen on my side of the bed whenever I leave?”
 

“No,” says Joohyun quickly. “I…uh…I’m kind of jealous of that toy.”
 

“…What?” Seungwan is in disbelief.
 

“I know, okay! Just. No. Not Manen.” Seungwan throws her head back in laughter, and Joohyun pouts, defensive. “Yah, you always get jealous of the weirdest things too!”
 

“Hey, I get jealous of breathing humans. Not stuffed toys! Also, I have to compete with so many of them it’s insane.”
 

Joohyun turns to Seungwan with a steely look in her eyes, intending no chance for misunderstanding. “There is no competition for my heart, Son Seungwan. None.”
 

Seungwan blinks in stunned silence at the stark honesty in Joohyun’s words, and she’s unable to formulate a response.
 

“Okay?” Joohyun raises an eyebrow.
 

“Uh. Okay.”
 

“Okay. I’m hungry now. Can I have some muffins?” Joohyun smiles endearingly, and Seungwan almost gets whiplash at the abrupt change of topic.
 

“I- uh. Yeah, of course.”
 

With that, Joohyun happily hops off the bed and beckons Seungwan to follow, holding her hand out for the girl to take.
 

Seungwan shakes her head, chuckling at everything and nothing in particular. She stands up and makes her way to Joohyun. She raises her hand in the air but pauses, swallowing before she looks Joohyun in the eye. “Just so you know…I’d say yes if you asked.” Then she’s interlacing their fingers together and pulling Joohyun out of the room before the latter can make sense of what she’s just said.
 

Seungwan laughs at her stuttering mess of a girlfriend (or soon-to-be fiancée?) all the way to the kitchen.

Fin.

BONUS: (because y'all know it be happening soon)

A/N: Aaaaaaaaaand that's it, folks! I think that was a good enough ending to their story here? It's like an end and a beginning. XD Thank you so much for indulging me on this post-RV journey (it pained me to write about how RV was a former girl group TT I refuse) and for all the comments and lurv :)