It was the morning after and Minju was very careful with her actions – there have been many shifts in their relationship lately but this might be the biggest shift up to date. She’s not sure if it was just her but Minju just doesn’t know how to act.

After Hyewon’s huge confession last night and the kiss that happened after, it took Minju to places she didn’t imagine. Unfortunately, they didn’t have much time to talk about it as it was already midnight. This is probably the best thing to do since it seems like it would be a long talk – and both of them were just exhausted yesterday.

But now that it’s the morning after, with Minju quietly drinking her coffee as she watches Hyewon munch on her toast – she just doesn’t know how to open the elephant in the room. It seems like Hyewon is not even bothered by it, it’s like a normal day for the older girl.

It makes Minju think that everything that happened yesterday was just a dream. But she was pretty sure that Hyewon just said love and kissed her last night – she’s hundred percent sure that it happened.

So, why was Hyewon just casually sitting in front of her as they eat their breakfast in silence?

“Minju, I could feel your stare.”

She quickly averted her eyes and found her almost finished coffee interesting. She knows that the older girl is looking at her now, and maybe this is the best time to talk about what happened. Now, the only thing that she needs to do is to muster up the courage to bring up the topic.

Minju was about to talk when she heard a chuckle coming from Hyewon, it made her look at the latter confusedly. “What?”

Great, that’s not what I was supposed to be asking.

“You’re getting riled up.” Hyewon pointed out and shrugs her shoulders, “It’s cute.”

Minju feels herself blushing but she chose not to dwell on it and went straight to business. “We need to talk about what happened.”

She’s not sure if she approached it properly but with the way how Hyewon was looking at her softly with a small smile playing on her lips, Minju knows that they are in the right track.

Minju knows that she has work while Hyewon has a class in the afternoon but it’s like they made an unspoken agreement that those two are not the most important things to prioritize at the moment. She has been waiting for Hyewon to finish washing the dishes, opting to scroll through her phone hoping for the minutes to pass by.

She’s not really sure where this conversation will be going, she knows she has questions but she doesn’t know how to ask it – specifically, how to word it out. Everything just piled up that Minju just lost her ability to form sensible questions.

So, when she felt a new weight added on the couch, she just glanced at Hyewon who looked at her with a smile. Without thinking, Minju just threw a random question out – hoping that it would be a great starter for whatever is happening between them right now.

“Do you really mean it?”

Minju looks at Hyewon and just watches the latter and when their eyes connected, she doesn’t really know how to feel about it. She was suddenly overwhelmed with how the older girl is looking at her – Hyewon’s eyes, they are so alive that it surprised Minju.

“That I love you?”

Minju’s heart skipped a beat.

“Of course, it’s true.” Hyewon continued and sat closer to the frozen younger girl, chuckling at how quiet Minju is. “And I’m sorry if I was late to realize it, that I made you overthink yesterday with my actions.”

Minju opens , hoping to ask more questions but she just managed to utter a single word. “Why?”

Why so sudden? What happened? What made you realize it?

These are the few questions swirling inside Minju’s mind but all she could ask is ‘why’.

But the thing is, it seems like Hyewon knows how to answer the vague question. As if she’s inside Minju’s mind, understanding everything that the younger girl’s thinking.

“Don’t think I just said that because I was overwhelmed by your drunken confession,” Hyewon tilted her head and smiled, hoping to catch Minju’s eyes. “because I do know that love, falling in love is very real.”

“I may don’t have the firsthand experience but I’m surrounded by people in love, I just never thought that I would experience it.” Hyewon continued when she felt that Minju won’t talk anytime soon. “Because I was scared.”

That made the younger girl look at her, “Of what?”

Hyewon shrugged her shoulders as if saying that it was nothing – but she answered. “Of love, of falling in love.” She then looks at Minju and continued.

“Of losing the person you have fallen for.” She sighed and looked up, remembering all the conversations she had with Sora about the topic. “Sora once told me that I was too logical and rational when it comes to love but who could blame me, right?”

Minju on her part, understands Hyewon’s point of view. It is better to be logical when it comes to this kind of thing because not everyone has a great experience with love.

“So yeah, falling in love is very real but I would always shake my head when that subject goes to me.” Hyewon smiled, leaning on the couch as she looks at Minju – thankful for the quietness that the apartment has, save it for the ticking of the clock.

“The idea of it, you never thought about the chances of feeling it?” Minju asked Hyewon, finally finding her voice.

It made Hyewon smile, “Oh I thought of it, once maybe twice. But that’s all, I don’t do well with its concept.”

“Bu – “

“Then I met you,” Hyewon said, cutting off Minju. “I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that it was love at first sight.”

That made both of them chuckle.

“In all honesty, you’re a stranger to me when I first moved here,” Hyewon continued and stared at Minju, remembering the first time she visited the apartment. How it was very much tidy, the kind of tidy not because there’s a visitor but because a person doesn’t actually live there.

It was just a place to rest, to sleep – nothing more, nothing less. “A stranger that gives off this sense of familiarity.”

And it made Minju’s insides crazy, everything that Hyewon is saying making her crazy – the look, the smile, every damn thing.

“Really?” God, all my education for a nonsense question?

Hyewon chuckled and hummed in affirmation, “You know, I once asked Sora how she knew she was in love.”

Minju smiled at the sudden mention of the girl, “What did she say?”

“It’s different for everyone and at first I couldn’t understand it.” Hyewon answered without missing a beat, “Maybe that time, Sora needed someone to give her an out from our parents – someone who she could confide with about her problems, her worries about me.”

“And it was Jaehyun?”

Hyewon chuckled, not having the energy to deny the assumption – because it will always be Jaehyun. “Yeah, it’s him.”

Hyewon then continued, “Sora did say she realized she was in love after their date, it was a spur of the moment thing. It’s kind of stupid for me at that time because how could someone just decide to bare everything in front of someone in a blink of an eye?”

Hyewon chuckled to herself because of how she sounded – now that she understands what Sora was saying at that time. “But then I realized it was true.”

She looked at Minju, smiling at the latter. Because no matter how hard she could think about what happened to her last night, she surely reached some conclusions before sleep succumbed to her. The unexplainable concept of love, things that made no sense suddenly all made perfect sense.

Maybe that’s what love is really all about – because love is something that should be based on trust, and trust on love. It’s a rare thing to have, and all rare objects are beautiful – and the idea of having someone to talk to about anything and everything, without fearing what the other person may think. It’s a privilege.

Without thinking, Hyewon scooted closer to Minju and gently held her face – silence surrounding them, all emotions they are trying to convey are in their eyes and smiles. Minju leaned forward, resting her forehead against the older girl’s – rubbing their nose together.

“And I love you.” Hyewon declared once again, and Minju doesn’t know if she would ever get used to it. “I love you and there’s no but, no ifs nor when. I love you and it’s just there, always will be there.”

“No beginning, no end – it’s not an emotion that comes and goes. I love you because you have become an important part of my life.” Hyewon just continued because everything is just flowing inside her, she may not be good at words – but this time is the perfect time to try her best.

“I love you just because, and it’s not a matter of losing you but a matter of having you and loving you as long as I live. Because I will regret it if I don’t if we became an almost. There’s nothing more painful when you have an almost.”

They both know that Hyewon has an experience with an almost – it may not be in the same context as they have right now, but it obviously took a toll on the older girl.

And Minju hates herself right now, how she became a crying mess because of Hyewon’s speech. The only thing she could do is to press a chaste kiss on Hyewon’s lips, and the feeling of both of them smiling was just amazing.

“How could I top that now?” Minju joked and slightly slapped Hyewon’s arm, the older girl just laughed and hugged Minju.

“An answer will be fine.” She whispered.

Minju laughed and hugged Hyewon back, yeah – she was right. It’s not a matter of competition when saying it but it’s just the first time that Minju felt this happy.

“Well then, I love you too.” Minju answered back, “And I won’t try to compete with your speech, but I love you, and thank you for letting me love you.”

And the feeling of loving Hyewon and being loved by her welled up in her, she could feel it – taste it. Minju realized that it was not over, never will be over – she will always feel Hyewon’s hand interlacing with hers, hear her soft and calming voice.

As they whisper to say I love you, they mean it with all of their beings – whispering to one another, as if it was a secret to the world. An immense secret that they have discovered and will never forget.

/

Minju arrived at her office around after lunch, right after she drove Hyewon to her class. She never thought that she’d be happy going to work – normally, it’s a routine for her. It never made her feel anything, other than the annoyance she feels whenever she needs to talk to other ist and arrogant people.

So, when she arrived at her office everyone was surprised that Minju has a smile on her face – Chaewon can only raise an eyebrow at her