Haseul groans, something she immediately regrets because it only makes her sandpaper-like throat feel even worse. It feels as dry as like… a really ing dry desert. As dry as a bone. What a weird saying - aren’t bones are usually wet since they’re surrounded by blood and stuff? Haseul isn’t a bone doctor or anything, but she definitely knows enough to say that that phrase is bull.

Bull, she repeats in her head. “Why does it have to be from a bull--”

Haseul’s forehead crinkles in confusion at the muffled sound of her voice. It sounded as if there’s something lodged in . Bringing a hand up to her face, Haseul spits once, twice, before glaring at the bloodied cotton balls in her hand as if they had somehow offended her.

Chucking the balls to the other side of the room, Haseul’s confusion only worsens when she hears a hoarse “hey, watch it!” come from the direction she threw them in. Even in her muddled state of mind, she knows the balls aren’t sentient and so are not capable of human speech - …right? - so the only other option is--

“God?” Haseul groggily turns her head left and right, trying to catch a glimpse of the divine being herself. “Is that you? Is it my time?”

“Woah,” the voice says again, and Haseul finally sees who it’s coming from. It’s a tiny, young-looking girl who looks faintly like her, shoving a sticker-covered phone to her face. Definitely not who Haseul expected, considering the voice. “How high are you? The audience wants to know.”

“Short.” Haseul frowns. “Like 156cm.”

“No--”

Haseul hears a soft giggle from her left, so she flops her head (her head feels abnormally heavy, so she can only flop it on her neck) in its direction to find--

Oh, holy .

Haseul feels her jaw drop - which hurts in a funny sort of way considering how numb her entire face feels - and she lets out a gasp. The young girl might not have been God, but this woman is certainly, without a doubt, 100% a certified angel. Haseul doesn’t even care if she’s dead (okay, she sort of cares - she doesn’t want to leave her student loan to her family, and she hasn’t even finished her will yet - but she’s ignoring that for now) because she somehow landed a spot in heaven, and God she feels so lucky.

Haseul’s never really had a type before - doesn’t care too much about appearances - but this angel is definitely ticking all of her boxes. Apparently, Haseul has a thing for girls with long reddish hair with bangs that falls to their eyes, cheeks that scrunch up adorably when they smile, and kind eyes that look at her inexplicably fondly. Who knew?

“Oh my god, those heart eyes,” the young girl says, half-groaning and half-yelling at this point, “she’s soooo ing whipped for you, unnie. This is insane!”

“Yeojin,” the angel reprimands.

In an instant, Haseul decides that she likes when her voice is all stern like that. She likes it so much that, in fact, that she unwittingly lets out a whimper and the young girl - Yeojin - cackles at the sound.

“This is gonna go viral, Vivi unnie!” She trains her phone back on Haseul’s face, making Haseul reflexively smile as if she were posing for her school pictures or something. “Quick, Haseul unnie! Say something - anything you want! Yeah, what do you want right now?”

“Vivi unnie,” Haseul says. 

She just now realises that it must be the angel’s name - as well as inadvertently answering Yeojin’s question. She thinks she likes the way the angel’s name feels in . Her voice is a little rough - the consequence of having a dryass throat, Haseul guesses - but the name still sounds good to her. Sounds right. 

“Vivi unnie,” she repeats, just because she can.

“Yes, baby?” The angel - Vivi - places a hand on her shoulder, making Haseul try her absolute hardest not to freak out because oh my god she just called her baby and oh my god she just touched her shoulder. “Are you feeling okay?” 

“Hurts.”

Vivi rubs her shoulder in an attempt to soothe her, which doesn’t really work because Haseul’s sure that her heart rate just spiked. Vivi’s presence just makes her the opposite of calm and Haseul’s glad she’s not connected to a monitor because for sure her elevated heart rate would have set off some sort of alarm.

“Yeah, it’ll be like that for a few more days,” Vivi says, frowning with worry. “But it’ll be a lot better than the headaches and swelling you were getting before.”

“Yeah, you won’t have to whine about your wisdom teeth anymore!” Yeojin adds helpfully. Haseul wonders if the girl has ever gone below 80 decibels, which doesn’t seem likely. “Because, you know, they’re gone!”

“Well, they’re not all gone,” Vivi corrects her, “I checked earlier and there was one that grew properly and wasn’t affecting any of the other teeth. Your dentist probably left that one since it wasn’t causing any of the pain.”

Pretty and smart. “Do you work here or something?” Haseul asks, faux-nonchalantly, trying to glean any information about her. After all, if Vivi is going to be her wife (which Haseul’s already decided that she wants wholeheartedly), she ought to know something about her, right?

“Nope, but I’m trying to. Getting my dentistry degree in fall.” Vivi shoots her an amused smile and Haseul feels a giddy feeling in her chest build up knowing that she could make this perfect girl smile. “You know that.”

“The only thing I know,” Haseul slurs, “is that you’re really really pretty and I kinda sorta wanna hold your hand.”

At that, Yeojin bursts into raucous laughter and Vivi covers her hand with . Haseul’s face drops as she sees Vivi’s shoulders shake slightly. She’s laughing. At her. And wow did it hurt.

But then Vivi reaches over to grab Haseul’s hand and suddenly everything’s okay again. Soft hand, wow I’m so gay. Haseul’s ecstatic at the turn of events, sure that nothing could bring her mood down, until Haseul notices it. The diamond ring on Vivi’s left hand. Haseul deflates. Of course, a girl as pretty, nice, and smart as Vivi had to be taken. She was a fool for thinking she even had a chance.

Tears start welling up in her eyes and before she can stop herself, Haseul bitterly asks “so when’s the wedding?”

“What?” 

Haseul points accusingly at her ring finger, puzzled when Vivi bursts into barely-constrained laughter.

"Baby, you're the one who gave this to me,” Vivi explains. “Look down at your hand.”

Haseul does as she’s told and is surprised to find an identical ring there. “Wha- we’re engaged?” Can hearts light up with happiness? Do they do that? Because if they could, then there is definitely a bright light living in Haseul’s chest right now.

“Nope. We’re already married.”

Haseul sniffles, feeling the tears welling up in her eyes once more. “I missed my own wedding?”

The dentist comes back in the room not too long after. She gives Vivi instructions on how to take care of a loopy, bloodied Haseul and some fresh gauze pads to replace the cotton balls that Haseul had so unceremoniously chucked across the room. Juggling the antibiotics on one hand and the gauze pads in the other - Yeojin took the pamphlet, zooming in on the gross diagrams of mouths for her video - Vivi clamped Haseul’s hand in her arm.

“Ready to go home now?”

“Of course, baby!” Haseul says, with an enthusiasm that could rival Yeojin’s. She looks a bit unsure for a second, making Vivi a little worried that she’ll start crying again. “Can I call you baby?”

“Considering how you've done it for over four years now, yeah,” Vivi tells her, “I'd say you've earned the right.”

“Yess…” Haseul fist pumps in the air, before turning to the amused dentist. “I really did well for myself huh?”

"That you have.” The dentist smiles, obviously charmed by Haseul's antics. 

Vivi can’t even find it in herself to be jealous because of course she’s charmed, everyone should be. Haseul’s bumbling and clumsy confidence had always been oddly endearing, and Vivi’s glad that other people get to see it too. A lot of other people, if Yeojin’s threat/promise to put it up online is anything to go off by.

And well, the way Haseul looks at her with eyes full of amazement helps Vivi’s jealousy stay at bay.

Before they leave, the dentist gives Haseul a sticker usually for her “younger clients”. Yeojin slyly takes one too and adds it to the back of her phone, and Haseul proudly sticks hers - something from Paw Patrol, if Vivi had to guess - on her shirt. She shows it off to Vivi a dozen times - “that’s nice, dear” - and to Yeojin a handful of times, almost getting into an argument with Yeojin after she proclaimed her sticker is cooler.

"Miraculous Ladybug is 100% better than Paw Patrol!" Yeojin scoffs.

They really shouldn’t let Yeojin drive, but since Haseul so adamantly refused to let anyone but Vivi - her proclaimed angel - touch her, it had to happen. Besides, Yeojin had gotten her full licence a whole two months ago and had been begging for someone to let her take them on a drive. Two birds in one stone, Vivi supposes.

That’s how Vivi finds herself in the backseat of her own car, hand clasped tightly around her fiancee’s arms.

“I- -- I think they took my tongue,” Haseul slurs, tugging her arm out of Vivi’s grasp to pull at her bottom lip.

As she pokes at her still-intact tongue with intense confusion, Vivi considers reminding her how unsanitary her actions are - but decides against it. Haseul’s so put together most of the time so seeing her like this is refreshing.

Her eyebrows are furrowed in confusion as she continues playing with - something Vivi really shouldn’t find so adorable considering the thin streams of drool and blood dribbling down the sides of Haseul’s lips. Gently, she wipes it with the tissue that the dentist handed her. 

“Can we sue them for stealing my tongue?” 

“You’re the one who went to law school, dear,” Vivi reminds her gently - something Haseul nods at sagely before returning her fingers to her numb lips.

“So if we’re married, does this mean we’ve kissed ?” Haseul says the last word so scandalously that Vivi can’t even blame how Yeojin almost swerves the car into oncoming traffic.

“Yeojin!” 

“Sorry, it’s just-- this is ing ridiculous!” Yeojin says, and Vivi’s inclined to agree.

It’s ridiculous how happy Haseul is at the mere knowledge that they’re together. They had been fighting pretty viciously for the past week or so - no doubt worsened by Haseul’s ty mood with the toothache and all. So the fact that Haseul loves her this much… it’s something Vivi definitely needed to be reminded of. Vivi's glad for the drugs in a weird way.

“We can kiss later when your mouth isn’t so numb,” Vivi offers.

“Yes please!”