D-63

Eunbi didn’t know how it started, she really didn’t. Or maybe she did and was just too shy to admit it. Either way, after the first time, it just kept happening. 

What she was talking about was the fact that Eunbi and Chaeyeon now slept next to each other on the same bed.

The excuse that Eunbi gave herself was that maybe she just got used to sleeping next to Chaeyeon after doing so during the Christmas weekend. It technically made sense. But then again, that trip was over a month ago and, frankly, Eunbi didn’t know if it was a valid excuse. 

It started the night they got back from the ski resort.

Eunbi couldn’t sleep the first night back in their Seoul penthouse.

She tossed and turned in bed for the longest time. Everything felt wrong. It was still way too cold even after wearing another layer of clothes, but it was too warm when Eunbi adjusted the heater in the room. And her mind also raced through nonsense and random thoughts that didn’t help with trying to sleep. Eunbi had even tried listening to a playlist of calming music, but to no avail.

There was just something missing, and a part of Eunbi knows what it was––who it was.

When an hour later Eunbi still couldn't fall asleep, she jumped out of bed and decided to watch a movie in the living room. 15 minutes into the movie, Eunbi only felt more awake than before. She was running out of options.

Before Eunbi could talk herself out of it, she crosses the room and ends up in front of the guestroom. She waited for a sign to see if her wife was still awake, but she could only hear soft snores coming from inside the room. Against her better judgement, Eunbi knocks on the door, and opens it slowly.

From where Eunbi was standing, she remembers the night not too long ago when she was too scared to sleep alone because of the movie. Same as that night, she watches Chaeyeon stir awake, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. 

When their eyes meet, Eunbi feels her cheeks redden. She still doesn’t know how she convinced herself to make the track here in the first place or why she thinks Chaeyeon was the only one that would help her fall asleep. Yet, Eunbi was reminded of how it worked like a charm the first time around. 

Almost exactly like that night, Chaeyeon flips the duvet open, extending an invitation for Eunbi to join her. Though this time, Chaeyeon hadn’t even asked why Eunbi was there. Maybe Chaeyeon was too tired to care for an explanation, Eunbi thought.

Eunbi slept like a baby that night, just as good as it was in the ski lodge.

Though, the next day, Eunbi tried to curb the urge to sleep next to her wife for another night. She thought it was a tad inappropriate to sleep next to a wife who probably wished to be sleeping with Eunbi under different circumstances. Eunbi felt like she was using Chaeyeon. So, she tried very hard to not bother Chaeyeon that night. And she actually managed to succeed. Eunbi would almost even call it a win, but the lack of sleep she got and the cranky mood she was in the next day would beg to differ. 

The next night, she held herself back again. But this time, the exhaustion was so bad that it caused her to fall asleep. When she awoke the next morning, feeling just as dreadful as if she hadn’t slept in the first place, Eunbi decides enough is enough.

It was the third night since they had gotten back from the trip. Eunbi swallows her pride and sneaks over to the guest room that night. Again, she enjoyed the deep slumber and sweet dreams.

After that, Eunbi kept sneaking over to the guest bedroom in the middle of the night to sleep next to Chaeyeon.

Thankfully for Eunbi, Chaeyeon never asks for an explanation. Her wife just welcomed her each night and didn’t mention it the next morning. Though it may have something to do with Eunbi sneaking back into her own room before Chaeyeon wakes up. That was an amazing feat in itself, considering Chaeyeon usually wakes up before Eunbi. But she manages to do this fairly successfully without ever rousing Chaeyeon awake, or letting Wonyoung know that their mothers have been sharing a bed for a whole week, excluding the trip.

Then one night, after a week of sleeping in the guestroom, when Eunbi was just about to get out of bed so she could ‘sneak’ across the apartment to where her wife was sleeping, there was a string of knocks on the bedroom door. The door opens slightly and in comes Chaeyeon.

They stared at each other for a while, and then, in a reversal of roles, Eunbi opened the covers on the other side of the bed to invite Chaeyeon in. And they slept together, side by side, like they did in the guest bedroom. Only this time, it was in their own bed. The bed they used to share together for the last 12 years, maybe even more.

This arrangement went on for the next month without either of them ever talking about it.

Eunbi honestly prefers it that way.

++

“We sleep together.”

Chaewon almost falls off the edge of her seat. “Like.. ually?”

“N-no,” Eunbi stammers, her cheeks flushing red slightly. “Just––Physically… as in the act of sleeping... but next to