“Those bi--” Hitomi hastily stopped herself. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, forcefully suppressing her anger down the moment she gazed into Minjoo’s unfocused eyes. “I’m sorry to hear that, Min,” she offered weakly, unsure her sympathy reached Minjoo.

Minjoo gave her a small smile, her eyes straying away from Hitomi’s hurting gaze. “Truthfully, for some reason, I didn’t realize I forgot all about it until… earlier.” She shrugged her shoulders, chuckling. “Earlier I suddenly remembered what they did to me and… well, I just lost control. I’m sorry I scared you.”

“Minjoo…” Hitomi shook her head. She took her hand, gently swiping her thumb across the Alpha’s palm, offering comfort. “It’s nothing you should be apologizing for.”

“I scared you.”

“And I did that on a daily basis,” Hitomi huffed, twitching up a smile at the remembrance of her prior doings. “You don’t need to apologize about that.” She shuffled deeper under the covers, but still with her head resting on Minjoo’s chest, and if possible, her arms wrapping tighter around Minjoo’s slender waist. “Are you really fine now, by the way?”

“I’m fine now.” Minjoo paused. “I really am,” she paused again after repeating it. Another small smile crept up to her lips when Hitomi drew herself away at her seemingly uncertain response, eyes narrowed and full of suspicion.

“It’s all thanks to you, Tomi,” the Alpha explained and pulled her lover back to her embrace, stifling laughter when Hitomi still shot her that distrustful gaze. “As much as I hated how we first met each other… if we hadn’t meet on that alley, I would have been forced to be Taejun’s mate.” She moved her eyes away. “Again.”

“...Wait what?” Hitomi quickly sat up again, her eyes were wide open. “Mate? But you’re an Alpha!”

“The reason why I asked you to become my fake girlfriend back then was this sole reason, Tomi.” Minjoo took a deep breath. There was a clear hesitation present on her brown eyes, Hitomi could easily guess that this wasn’t something that Minjoo wanted to reveal to anyone.

But Minjoo decided to. She trusted Hitomi. A gentle touch on her arm from the Omega set her mind on finally opening , and let the story flow out from her tongue.

“Taejun wanted me to become his girlfriend again. His mate, if possible. Perhaps for the same reason as years ago.”

“Just because of your position, huh?”

“Precisely.” Minjoo agreed without missing any beat, allowing herself to smile a little at Hitomi’s burning gaze. “Well, back then, when we first met after a while, I didn’t really remember what he did to me, but bad vibes, you know? We were over for some reason and that’s a red flag right there. So… I’m glad that I’ve found you. Not only that because now I don’t need to worry about him, but because I… uh… you helped me a lot and...”

“And…?”

Minjoo giggled shyly. Her hand went to her nape, awkwardly rubbing the suddenly itchy spot as to her growing embarrassment. “… I’m just glad I have you in my life.”

Hitomi shyly mirrored her smile, feeling uncharacteristically soft seeing the precious small smile that blossomed on the Alpha’s lips. Minjoo’s smile had always been beautiful and breathtaking, a sight that she swore she would never be tired of.

But there was something… pure in that small smile. Raw emotion was pouring out from her warm brown eyes. Hitomi prided herself as someone who could read anyone like a book, but only now she could see Minjoo’s truest positive emotion. Hitomi almost couldn’t stop herself from crying in happiness.

“I’m glad, too,” Hitomi said, slightly choked up as she squeezed Minjoo’s hand. Minjoo squeezed back, her smile growing. Her hand was firm and strong, a result from her work to meet ends, but at the same time it was full of gentleness and warmth. “I love you.”

She watched as Minjoo’s eyes brightened at the softly uttered phrase, her smile twitched wider and cheeks growing slightly red. Warmth seeped into her, knowing that Minjoo took her confession to heart.

“I love you too.”

Minjoo’s voice was small and her tone was shy, but her voice didn’t waver as she uttered it, filled with conviction Hitomi had grown fond of.

The Omega scooted closer, then planted a light peck down her cheek, right on the corner of Minjoo’s lips. “You’re so cute, Minjoo.”

Another blush painted down on her cheeks, her round eyes widened slightly at the playful remark, unclear if it was out of dislike or shyness. Nevertheless, Hitomi liked the expression.

“Good night,” Minjoo murmured with her cheeks slightly puffed out, her lips making out weird lines as if she was fighting away the smile that wouldn’t stop growing. It was clear now that Minjoo liked that compliment earlier.

Giggling to herself, Hitomi dived under the covers, arms wrapping around Minjoo in tight embrace, basking in the delightful warmth the older woman provided.

“Good night.”

--

The sun was high in the sky when Minjoo blinked her eyes open, feeling empty and a little disoriented when she found no sign of the bright-haired Omega that shared a bed with her last night. She scrambled to the nightstand, where her phone was placed, frowning a little as it still continued to obnoxiously continue its ring on her hand.

Highly aware that it came from her uncle, Minjoo answered it.

“Finally!” Her uncle nearly screamed to her ear before Minjoo could utter something as much as a hello. “Where are you? I thought you’d help me today to move the stocks?”

“I already said I’m taking the day off yesterday, remember?” Minjoo growled before pausing. Past-Her wouldn’t dare to talk back, let alone using that kind of tone to her uncle. She took a deep breath, trying her best in controlling her tone as she continued, “I’m with my family right now, uncle.” Still, she made sure it sounded rude enough to satiate her bubbling anger.

“You should have returned soon,” as if unaffected, her uncle continued, “are you sure you’re with my brother?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not with that ?”

“Uncle,” Minjoo quickly snapped, glaring. “I told you to not talk about my girlfriend like that.”

“So you are,” he scoffed. “Fine. Whatever. I’m just warning you, Min. Nothing good will come to you if you associate yourself with someone like her.”

Minjoo uncaringly shrugged her shoulders. “Sure.” She didn’t wait for his reply and just ended the call. The man persistently called her repeatedly, but Minjoo just easily silenced her phone and once she confirmed that Hitomi wasn’t in the shower, she went out, searching for her missing girlfriend.

She admitted that she shouldn’t be so suspicious of Hangyul and Hitomi when she caught them talking in the front garden, under the tree. Perhaps it was the effect of her growing relationship with Hitomi. Coupling it was also her returning Alpha-self. It was quite a scary feeling to suddenly feel all suspicious and possessive over someone.

Minjoo didn’t know what Hangyul and Hitomi were talking about, but it was probably something good by his standards judging by his broad smile and sparkling eyes. Well, Minjoo could always ask whatever they were talking about later.

Hitomi quickly took notice of Minjoo, even when Minjoo was trying her best to keep quiet with her steps and even threatened Hangyul to pretend that he didn’t see her sister behind Hitomi when they caught each other’s eyes. The Omega turned around once Minjoo was close enough, happily coiling her arms around her and hugged her tight.

“How’d you know?”

“Your scent,” Hitomi confidently said, beaming a broad smile that didn’t fail to make Minjoo smile back. “Aside from the Gardener, you’re the only Alpha around. Also, he smelled like a a lush green forest, while you smelled like elegance and romanticism personified.”

“How do you smell like elegance and romance?” Hangyul wondered out loud, both looking and sounding genuinely curious and interested. Also mocking, judging from his twitching eyebrows and amusement brewing behind his dark eyes.

“I don’t know.” Hitomi blinked, creasing her eyebrows. She took a whiff of Minjoo’s clothes, ignoring Hangyul’s twitching eyebrows. “She just smelled like that.”

“Right,” Minjoo smiled, glancing at her brother. “What are you two talking about?”

“A proposal,” Hangyul answered, smiling cockily as he crossed his arms. “She’s proposing to me--”

“To work with my company,” Hitomi finished hastily, realizing that Minjoo was still far from stable with her Alpha-ness. Hitomi still could see the dangerous glance Minjoo gave to her brother. “Hangyul oppa agreed, but he doesn’t want to be associated with you.”

It was a joke, but after what happened last night? Hitomi knew better than to even slightly trigger Minjoo’s Alpha-self.

Fortunately, Minjoo was easy to placate. A gentle squeeze around her arm was enough to get rid of the dark expression on her face. “Eh, likewise.”

“I’m hurt.” Hangyul clutched his chest, feigning pain as he doubled over. He quickly stopped his theatrics once he was aware that neither Minjoo or Hitomi were amused by him. “Fine,” he rolled his eyes once he straightened his posture. “I helped mom and dad to raise you and this is what I get?”

Minjoo childishly stuck out her tongue.

“Payback is a .”

--

Approaching noon, also freshly showered and bringing tons of random things (actually souvenirs) on the trunk, they started their journey back to Seoul.

They were relatively silent throughout the ride, both lost in their own thoughts. The only sounds made inside the luxurious car was that of the TWICE’s song Hitomi forced Minjoo to listen and light hummings Minjoo made whenever she thought Hitomi wasn’t really listening.

Eventually they came to a stop when the silence was ended with Minjoo’s exclaim of:

“I’m hungry.”

“I packed something for our journey—Oh,” Hitomi brought her palm to , only to bring it down again when she realized something after turning her body around. “I think I forgot to bring the lunch box?”

“What lunch box?”

“I put it in a bag. The one with a rose pattern?”

“Our lunch box is inside that bag?”

“Yeah, why? I’m pretty sure I placed it there.” Hitomi pointed her thumb at the empty seats behind them. “Minjoo, did you move it somewhere else?”

Judging from how Minjoo suddenly tightened grip around the steering wheel, her guess was spot on. Minjoo spared her a glance, a sheepish smile tugging her lips. “That bag… I brought it home to return it to my mom.”

“...I’m so sorry. I should have asked you.”

“No, it’s okay,” Minjoo laughed. “How about let's just eat at the next rest area instead? I remember that the food is good there.”

“I’ll put my whole trust on you, Minjoo-ya.” Hitomi promptly said, cringing. “I never went to a rest stop to eat.”

“For real?”

“I take flight for long journeys more often,” the Omega shrugged, flashing a shy grin at the disbelieving look Minjoo shot her. “Or train. I’ve never really gone far with only a car.”

“...we should have booked a flight.”

“But then that would mean less time with only you!”

“I’m flattered but it will save us so much time.”

“Are you saying you don’t want to spend more time with me?”

“I never said that!”