Wendy enters the panel stage with a sense of unease. Charity and foundation work has always been her true passion, but her intuition tells her something was different about today’s UNICEF function.

 

She is happy to be here, really. Since taking her CEO position, she has not had nearly enough time to work at things like this, something she actually loves. She smiles as she advances across the stage, ignoring the flashes from the press gallery. As her gaze moves across the chairs looking for her designated panel seat, she locks eyes with a panelist already seated in front of her and- Holy is that Bae Joohyun?

 

She fully stops as she makes eye contact with her past girlfriend, stunned to see her for the first time in 8 months. Joohyun looks as surprised as she is, sitting like stone in her chair. Wendy begins to panic. How did I not know she would be here? What should I do? What does anyone do when they meet the One That Got Away in public? The One you are very much NOT over yet? How did my assistant not tell me she would be here?? When I find her....

 

She comes back to reality in time to hear a gruff clearing of a throat from the person behind her, and she realizes she’s held up the whole procession for a moment. With extra haste, she advances to her chair, finding it beside (who else) Joohyun. She’s so out of sorts from the unexpected meeting that she doesn’t notice that cameras have followed the pair during the whole conference.

 

***

After the panel has filed out of the press area, Wendy feels a gentle touch at her wrist. She turns around to see Joohyun with an apprehensive face. “Hey, it’s so nice to see you… I hope you don’t mind me stopping you.” Her arm falls away from Wendy’s and she seems to shrink back a little. It’s hard to tell in the dark space off the side of the stage.

 

Wendy’s turns to face her, heart racing a mile a minute. She is unable to say anything in the face of the woman she loves, but who also caused her so much hurt. However, Joohyun doesn’t press, instead waiting for Wendy to respond, looking like she anticipates the worst.

 

“Uh… um no, I don’t mind,” Wendy stammers out. She realizes with the woman right in front of her that the feeling of missing Joohyun will never go away.

 

Then Joohyun says something Wendy would never have expected.

 

“I know this isn’t really the time or place, but I could never live with myself if I didn’t ask,” Joohyun steps forward a little, nervously playing with her hair.

 

“I’m sorry for what I said in the past. I was wrong to say what I did, to deny us a fighting chance. I’ve missed you more than anyone or anything, and my feelings haven’t changed. If you want,” she looks down shyly, again fidgeting with her hair, “If you have any feelings left for me, can we try again?”

 

Joohyun lights the last candle and hurries over to check on the seaweed soup she has cooking. She is eagerly waiting to hear the footsteps outside the door of Wendy’s new townhouse that signify the owner is home.

 

She snuck into the place and is attempting to prepare a romantic meal for Wendy’s birthday. She had to put off an investor meeting to do this… but, she’ll let her VPs handle it. Joohyun wants to give her all for Wendy, like the younger girl does for her when planning dates. With their relationship successfully reincarnated, Joohyun has a new vow to not let her company dictate her time with Wendy. She knows that if the world fell apart today, she could still be happy so long as she had her wonderful girlfriend.

 

They have spent the past month repairing their love and re-dedicating themselves to each other. Joohyun wants to use tonight to make Wendy feel special. And that is the only possible reason that Joohyun constructed a pillow and blanket fort in the living area (Wendy said she misses these, wishes she could hide in one after some tough days lately)

 

She hears the telltale footsteps and places herself in the entryway. Wendy enters the door, looking a little downtrodden (probably from working on her birthday).

 

Softly, trying her best not to scare her girlfriend, Joohyun says “Surprise!”

 

It doesn’t help though, as Wendy lets out a squeak and leans back into the door. Hand over her heart, she responds “Oh my gosh! You scared me Joohyun!”

 

She watches Wendy prop herself against the door and take in the twinkling lights, the flowers in Joohyun’s hands, and the scent of her birthday supper.

 

“Happy Birthday my love,” Joohyun says with a smile, handing Wendy the flowers and leaning to press a short kiss to her lips.

 

“Thank you, baby,” Wendy replies with a big smile, placing the flowers on the entryway table and pulling Joohyun in for a longer kiss.

 

Joohyun tries her best to spoil Wendy, and they eat seaweed soup together, share cake, and laugh in the blanket fort while watching a movie. What Joohyun didn’t expect though, was to find herself pinned beneath her girlfriend, luxuriating in her kisses later in the night. They hadn’t reconnected yet on a physical level, and Joohyun didn’t want to pressure the younger girl.

 

As Wendy’s hands begin to wander more, Joohyun breathlessly asks, “Are you sure?”

 

“Very,” the younger girl responds, kissing her deeply, and Joohyun gives herself over to their shared pleasure.

 

***

The next morning, while they share breakfast, Joohyun realizes she really, really doesn’t want to go to work. This small taste of life at home with Wendy has shifted something. She feels emotional in a way she hasn't allowed herself to be in years. Joohyun can't imagine going in to her stuffy, confined office when her heart and soul feel like they've expanded in just 12 short hours.

"I really don't want to hit the office today," Joohyun sighs to her girlfriend.

 

“Then don’t go baby. If you really want, you can stay here,” Wendy smiles at her over her morning coffee.

 

“Thanks love. I don’t think I’ll go in,” Joohyun agrees, finding herself feeling reckless, like the world is fundamentally different today than it was yesterday. “But, I will head back to my place,” she says with a wink. “I just… I know I’ll miss you. The sight of you, the sound of you, hell even your scent,” she adds, clinging to her girlfriend's arm and acting extra forlorn.

 

Wendy just laughs as they both get ready to leave for the morning, Wendy in a crisp suit, Joohyun in her jeans from yesterday. Just as the older woman heads out the door, she glances back to their pillow fort, with a fond smile on her face. Before she can overthink it, she scurries to the living room and snags a pillow. So what if she carries a pillow out to the car to take home? It smells like Wendy. And if she stops at a jewelry store en route? She’ll analyze that later.

 

 

Joohyun suggests it first, but Wendy is more than happy to plan with her. They are finally making the time for a vacation, just the two of them. They pick the Canary Islands, and their only structured plan is to leave work at home.

 

Their flight is quick, the weather is fine, and everything seems as idyllic as it could be. Wendy definitely enjoys her girlfriend in her swimsuit collection (and out of it). She feels whole and happy and finds herself thinking of their future almost every hour of their trip.

 

She knows that they are stronger than they’ve ever been. She has begun to pass off leadership duties at work so she can do what she loves (charity work) and be with who she loves (namely, Joohyun). Being CEO wasn't all it's cracked up to be and her heart was never in it anyway. She can picture spending her life with her girlfriend, making their relationship official, even wondering if they should share their thoughts on kids. They hadn’t really had that discussion. With each passing day on their vacation, Wendy feels more and more enamored, compelled to do something crazy like propose. She doesn’t even have a ring.

 

One night, Joohyun seems to be a little off and Wendy is trying to subtly find out why. They are dining on the waterfront patio of their little beach house, enjoying the warm breeze and good food. Partway through, Wendy begins to hear soft violin music coming from the house, and turns to look for the source of the sound. As she swings her gaze back around, she finds Joohyun kneeling on the sand, ring in hand. Shyly, the older woman begins a beautiful confession of love, full of perfect words like 'forever, soulmate, greatest love, and will, you, be, my, wife?' Wendy receives the declaration of love impatiently and barely lets Joohyun finish her words before basically jumping onto her and both of them wind up in the sand, kissing and smiling and engaged.

 

Later that night as they are getting ready for bed, Wendy decides she is going to bring up the dreaded topic.  

 

“Hey, darling, do you ever picture us having a kid? Or being a mom?”

 

Joohyun just pulls Wendy to bed, replying “Let’s talk about that tomorrow, love.”

 

 

After three weeks of floating wedding ideas back and forth, and after having notified both their families of the engagement, Joohyun was going bananas. Wedding planning shouldn’t be this hard! She can run a company with billion dollar revenue, their marriage ceremony shouldn’t be such a stressful ordeal.

 

Then, it hits her. She calls Wendy, catching her during a check-in meeting with her assistant.

 

“Baby, is everything okay?”

 

“Yes, sorry Wendy. I just… needed to hear your answer on this. ASAP.”

 

“Okay, what is it? Are you worried about the wedding planner? I told Dad we haven’t agreed to hire her-”

 

“Let’s get married today,” Joohyun cuts her off.

 

“What?”, Wendy says in English. Joohyun must have really startled her.

 

“I was just thinking, who needs a ceremony? The people important to us know, we don’t need to throw a big party. I’m ready to be married to you and declare our love for each other today. Like, right now,” she leaves off, wondering if Wendy can make sense of her words.

 

The line stays quiet, but Joohyun knows that Wendy is thinking. She presses on.

 

“We can do it, baby, I know we can. If you want to have a party after, we can totally have one. If that matters to you, I understand. I hope you don’t think-”

 

“Let’s do it. How about you pick me up from here and we can get the marriage official by this afternoon.”

 

“Really!?” Joohyun replies, suddenly filled with an electric type of excitement.

 

“Yes, really. Oh wait, we’ll have to swing by my place. I have your ring there.” Joohyun can feel Wendy smiling through the phone.

 

“See you in 20!”

 

***

To celebrate their marriage, they stop in to the café owned by Joohyun’s best friend, Seulgi. She fawns over their rings and congratulates them with a free meal, though they both try multiple times to compensate her for the trouble.

 

They share a window seat, holding hands and feeling their faces hurt from so much smiling.

 

“We really did it,” Wendy says.

 

“I’ve never been happier, Seungwan,” she replies, but apparently too serious for Wendy’s current mood. Wendy starts playing footsie with her under the table and sees her wife (her WIFE) smile.

 

“You know, since you basically took care of the wedding, and the proposal, let me plan us a honeymoon,” Wendy offers, looking like she is cutely annoyed at Joohyun beating her to the punch.

 

“Oh? Where would you like to go?”

 

“What about Monaco?”, Wendy suggests. “We can take a yacht, stay in the villa, visit the market…” she adds, charming Joohyun with her brilliant smile.

 

“Let’s do it,” Joohyun answers, feeling full of bliss.

 

“Joohyun! Come look!” Wendy shouts from the back yard of the villa.

 

She hears her wife leisurely walk out across the grass, braving the bright sunshine.

 

Wendy feels her approach and turns her head up to look at her from where she is crouched on the ground. She spends a whole minute just drinking in her beautiful wife in her white linen dress and stylish sun hat. Joohyun just smiles back at her until Wendy remembers it was her that called Joohyun over in the first place.

 

“Look at what I found, baby,” Wendy recovers, pointing to the small green hedge bush that designates the perimeter of the property.

 

Joohyun crouches next to her, lifting her hat to try and see into the shaded underbrush of the hedge. Wendy reaches underneath, feeling her girlfriend tense up beside her. As she pulls her hand back out, Joohyun shoots up like a rocket and screams a screech so high pitched, dolphins could probably hear.

 

“Baby! Baby wait, look it’s just a little kitten!” Wendy tries to show her wife the harmless baby cat, all fluffy and bleary eyed in the sunlight.

 

Joohyun is already metres away, terrified like someone is after her life.

 

“I think the neighbor’s cat had her kittens under there. Aren’t they cute?” Wendy valiantly tries to bring her wife around.

 

From her safe distance away she hears Joohyun mumble “Cute with fangs and claws.”

 

Smiling Wendy places the young kitten back on the ground, and it immediately toddles back to the shelter of its hedgy home.

 

“I’m sorry baby, I didn’t think you would be scared of such a tiny creature,” Wendy offers, part serious but also stifling laughter.

 

“You need to make it up to me, Son Seungwan,” Joohyun replies, looking affronted that her girlfriend could find any animal within a 10 metre radius ‘cute’.

 

“Okay, what shall we do then?” She asks.

 

“Take me down to the market square and let me browse for however long I want,” Joohyun supplies, jokingly petulant.

 

“Alright baby, let’s go,” Wendy concedes with a good-natured chuckle.

 

***

On their walk to the market, Joohyun brings up the topic of kids again.

 

“Do you feel like we could raise a child, Seungwan?”

 

Wendy, ecstatic that they are really talking about it, replies in a heartbeat.

 

“Yes! oh my gosh. Joohyun, together I know we can accomplish anything. I know you would be such a great mom, and speaking for myself, I know that I would enjoy raising a kid.”

 

Joohyun smiles and lets Wendy continue on.

 

“I’ve been thinking, baby. When we get back, I’ll talk with my family. I’d like to do foundation work full time. I’ll leave behind the control of the international holdings. If we want a family, I would give that up in a heartbeat to focus on us and charity work.”

 

Joohyun eyes her wife, sensing her seriousness.

 

“That can be arranged,” Joohyun responds, smiling. “When you're able to transition the CEO role, we can start our own foundation. And... if you want, we can begin an adoption application as soon as we get back,” she offers, causing Wendy to tear up in total happiness.

 

“Baby, I swear, we will make that happen. I’ll work so hard to make this work, and we can start our family.”

 

“Alright. Let’s do it,” the older woman affirms with a wide smile.

 

Joohyun clings to Wendy just a little tighter as they shop the market that day, both of them smiling ridiculously and feeling on top of the world.

 

Raising a child was hard. It was hard in a different way for two women who had schedules like Wendy and Irene.

 

By sheer grace of timing, an infant came up for adoption early in their application period. And so, they brought Yeri into their life. Nights were hard, business trips became problematic, but they persevered through it all.

 

Wendy joked that Yeri was Joohyun’s missing biological child as she began to grow up and into her looks. Joohyun joked that Yeri's personality was just Wendy without a filter.

 

An artistic soul from a young age, they quickly enrolled Yeri in a performing arts school. The very first day, they received a call from the headmaster that Yeri had tussled with another child during free time (Wendy asked her wife, “Why can’t they just call it recess?”)

 

They came in to find Yeri and the other girl unharmed. They took the teacher’s feedback and brought Yeri home for the afternoon.

 

Joohyun, who usually took the lead, started to ask Yeri about the fight.

 

“Yeri, what happened, darling? We talked about how the first day will be. What caused this problem?”

 

“But mom, I didn’t start it.”

 

Wendy joined in, sensing this could go on forever.

 

“What did your classmate say, Yeri? I know you wouldn’t fight without a reason.”

 

“She said I couldn’t have two moms. I told her it has to be possible because I do have two moms. But she wouldn’t believe me and it made me angry.”

 

Wendy looked at Joohyun, who looked a bit angry herself. Nevertheless, Joohyun carried on.

 

“Alright darling, you know that fighting is wrong. When someone tries to hurt you with their words, we don’t respond with-”

 

“Our hands, yes I know” Yeri interrupted sulkily.

 

Wendy decided that they would do better to distract Yeri for now.

 

“Alright, now that we’re all home, who wants dinner?”

 

Yeri jumped up and took off into the kitchen, yelling, “I do! I can help! Mom, let me cut the onions this time!”

 

Wendy was already following her, “I don’t think that’s a good idea, love!”

 

Joohyun just smiled, watching her two loves brighten the kitchen with their antics.

 

***

“Seungwan and I have been married for six years.”

“Bye now!”

 

Yeri laughed as she skipped back to their car, still holding onto each of her moms.

 

“That guy was really dumb, Mom.”

 

Joohyun immediately responded  (without any real intent) “Now, Yeri.”

 

Wendy couldn’t help laughing, and she’d been laughing for the past 5 minutes. As they loaded themselves into the car, Yeri kept laughing too.

 

“How did they not realize we’ve lived in the same house for years?” Wendy asked.

 

“Did they think we were roommates?” Joohyun wondered.

 

“The audacity.” Her wife responded, smirking at Joohyun.

 

“What does he know?” Yeri giggled wisely from the back seat.

 

Joohyun and Wendy smiled, driving off with their small family, past the still stupefied reporter and into the sunset.