The following morning, Joohyun sat at the edge of the curb with her mini suitcase and waited for Seungwan to pick her up. It was still early, the sun barely had begun peaking over the horizon and the morning dew still lay fresh on the tiny sliver of grass in front of her apartment building. They had agreed to get a head start to the trip as their destination was a ways away from the heart of the city where they lived. Sooyoung had texted her last night informing her that they would be staying for the next two days at the Hilton hotel to be able to have enough time to look around and explore, or as Sooyoung so maturely put it, "I'm giving you extra time so you can explore more than just the hotel ;)". Joohyun smiled to herself, Sooyoung was always such a forward person right from the moment they met, the complete opposite of her, maybe getting this extra push would allow her to get closer to Seungwan. She hoped it would.

Speaking of the short bubble of sunshine, Joohyun spotted the black Mercedes pull onto her block and roll slowly towards where she was sitting. Seungwan wasn't one to flex her wealth, at least that's what she had told Joohyun on their dinner date, but apparently, when it came to things like a car and a nicer apartment view, she was willing to splurge the extra money.  As the car eased to stop a couple of feet from her, the driver's side door opened and out stepped a very casually dressed Seungwan with her hair pulled back in a small bun her eyes still slightly puffy from the early morning wake up.

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting for a long time in the cold," Seungwan greeted her as she opened her arms for a hug (a hug that Joohyun quickly accepted because a warm body topped standing in the cold any day.)  Joohyun had only hugged Seungwan a handful of times so far, but every hug always made her whole body erupt in tingles the second she felt the shorter woman's body press against hers. She felt Seungwan rock them slightly from side to side before she slid her arms down her sides and stepped away to grab Joohyun's bag that sat on the sidewalk.

"Do you know how long it's going to take to get there? Joohyun asked as she opened the passenger side door and slid in. Seungwan's scent immediately took over her senses as she buckled up and waited for the blonde to join her. The car was nice, more than nice actually. A Mercedes S class with black leather detailing and soft, heated cushions on the seats. To say Joohyun was impressed would be an understatement, but then again, Seungwan could show up on a tricycle and live in a garbage can and she would still be whipped. 

"A couple hours," Seungwan said, buckling herself up and easing the car away from the curb back into traffic. "Both Yerim and Sooyoung checked for me this morning, and they said around 4 hours if the traffic isn't too terrible." Joohyun was thankful that Seungwan had offered to drive them. It wasn't that she hated driving, she actually found it relaxing occasionally, but a four-hour drive right after waking up was less than enticing. "Do you think we'll be able to get any evidence from the hotel?" Seungwan asked, glancing at Joohyun through her peripheral vision.

Would they find anything? Joohyun thought for a bit. Surely if they stayed in the same hotel and gained access to the camera footage then things would click into place. The victim and the assumed murderer frequented the hotel many times over the past couple of months, there had to be something for them to find... right? "I think," Joohyun began, turning her head to stare at Seungwan's side profile. "That there has to be something they left behind. No murder is planned perfectly and something tells me that this one, is far from perfect." 

Not even a beat passed before Seungwan asked another question. "You wanna know what is perfect though?" 

Joohyun cocked her head to the side. "What?"

'Your smile." Seungwan said, winking at Joohyun as she turned to get on the main road that led out of the city.

"I- but- you and... well- what?" Joohyun stuttered out, cheeks suddenly dusted by a light rosy color. 

"You've been looking at me smiling the whole time we've been in the car. I would've thought it was creepy, but Yerim told me you do that when you see something you like."

Kim Yerim. that little deceiving traitor. And the really attractive yet annoying smirk that Seungwan currently had plastered on her face. How dare she think she's all that? Well not that she isn't all that in fact, Joohyun thinks she's all that and then some, but that isn't what's important right now. All her life she has always been the one to make the other person speechless, not the other way around! Just as she was about to think of a witty response to throw back in Seungwan's face, any thought she had in her head dried up and disappeared. Because of the early morning, the sun still had that bright orange and golden glow as it shone through the car window and hit Seungwan's face casting shadows that sculpted her face. She looked like an angel, especially in the flowery white blouse and light washed jeans she had on. Joohyun couldn't help but start to smile again as she watched Seungwan periodically peek at her, waiting for a rebuttal of some type, and who was Joohyun to give her that satisfaction?

Leaning slightly over the center console, Joohyun placed a gentle kiss on Seungwan's illuminated cheek.

"I do like what I see Wannie, especially when I am looking at you."

As she pulled away, Joohyun could see that Seungwan's cheeks now matched hers in color, both women growing quiet as a peaceful atmosphere enveloped them. Maybe this trip wouldn't be as stressful as she imagined Joohyun thought to herself. As Seungwan drove them out of the city and up higher into the state of New York, Joohyun couldn't help but grow sleepier with each passing mile until finally, with thoughts of a certain blonde lawyer floating around delicately in her mind, she slipped into dreamland.

-------------------------------

A couple of hours and a few hundred miles later, Joohyun jolted awake when she felt the car stop and turn off. The sun was already high in the sky, early morning fog long gone, as she sat up. Rubbing the sleep away from her eyes, Joohyun looked out the window to be met by snow-covered sidewalks and tall pine trees lining the surroundings of the fancy hotel. The town they were staying in was famous for its skiing resort and thus, the streets were filled with people carrying snowboards and skis back and forth from different hotels and ski buses. 

"Sleep well?" Seungwan said from beside her, getting ready to step out of the car and into the cold weather. White blouse and light wash jeans were now barely visible under the large puffy white coat and blonde hair was carefully tucked back by a bright red beanie. She looked nothing short of adorable, the beanie bringing out the color of her full lips. Joohyun nodded as she stretched her arm's above her head, letting out a squeak of pure, well-rested, content. Seungwan chuckled, grabbing her bag from the back seat. "Glad I got to rest Hyun. Time to get settled in, we can start looking around after." The blonde lawyer spared her one last glance before opening the door and stepping out. 

The sudden rush of cold air that breached the warm bubble of the car was enough to get Joohyun moving quickly to put on her black beanie and gloves. As she stepped out of the car into the crisp air, Joohyun was reminded why she chose to live in the more southern part of the state. During this time of the year, New York City was snow-free and not too terribly cold, but the second you go up further north, snow covered every inch of the ground and the cold air was enough to get Joohyun's nose to start running instantly. Gross, she thought to herself. 

She waddled to the back of the car to get her suitcase from a waiting Seungwan and dragged it off to the entrance of the hotel. After quickly double-checking that she had everything that she needed, Joohyun watched as Seungwan gave the keys to the hotel valet boy and made her way towards her, small clouds of air leaving with every breath. When Seungwan got within reach, Joohyun slipped her hand into the younger woman's as they continued walking together into the lobby. 

A couple of minutes later, Joohyun stood to the side of the lobby, waiting for Seungwan to finish getting the accommodations for their rooms from the front desk. The vibe of this hotel was peaceful. The inside looked like a wooden lodge with a fireplace in the corner, and a bunch of fluffy seats spread out around the lobby. Near the door where they first entered, hot chocolate and tea sat in kettles waiting to be consumed by a cold person returning from an icy time on the slopes. Joohyun wishes she was here on a holiday and not work but sadly, not everything works out the way one wants. 

Checking her phone quickly, Joohyun opens her messages to read over the text that Sooyoung sent her about the list of possible locations to look through in the ski village. Going back and forth between google maps and the text, she manages to get a pretty good idea of the layout of the town and where she and Seungwan should visit. Speaking of the shorter woman, just as Joohyun was about to reply to her secretary, Seungwan slips her warm hand back in hers and laces their fingers together. Domestic, Joohyun thinks to herself. 

They weave through the lobby and step into the elevator where Seungwan presses the button for the 4th floor. 

"What room am I staying in?" Joohyun asks as they step out into the hallway. 

"438," Seungwan mumbles out, looking anywhere but in Joohyun's direction. As they walked down the hall towards the rooms, Seungwan handed the room card to Joohyun, still not making any eye contact. Arriving at the room, Joohyun half expected for Seungwan to continue on down the hall but, much to her surprise as Joohyun swiped the key, Seungwan held the door open from behind and followed her into the room. 

The room was pretty standard, a single king-sized bed in the center with a decent sized tv mounted to the wall. The bathroom had a walk-in shower and a separate large bathtub which, in Joohyun's opinion, could act as a hot tub, and finally, the main room also had a sliding door that led out to a porch with a mini heating table in the middle for late-night lounging. Not bad, not bad at all, Joohyun thought as she set her winter clothing down on the chair. Turning around to go wash her hands, Joohyun was met with the sight of a sheepish looking Seungwan standing awkwardly in the center of the room.

"You okay there Wannie?" Joohyun asked siting down gently on the seat. "Did you need anything?" Seungwan shook her head, sighing as she shrugged off her puffy coat. Watching her with a confused expression on her face, Joohyun tried asking again. "Did you need help finding your room?" Joohyun's gaze followed the smaller lawyer as she shuffled around the room. Seungwan placed her beanie down on the bedside and with her back facing Joohyun, mumbled out something.

"I didn't hear you Seungwan," Joohyun said, a little more concerned now.

"I said, ' I don't need help finding my room," The blonde said, turning around.

"Oh well that's good... do you-"

"Because this is my room too. This is our room."

Joohyun froze. How could this happen? She talked to Yerim and Sooyoung about room bookings yesterday and they sent her the receipts Yester- They never sent her the receipts. Those demons planned it all along. This is what they had begun planning at the cafe. 

"Oh, well I'm sure we can book another room."

"About that..." Seungwan trailed off, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly. "The hotel is already booked pretty full. So..."

Joohyun closed her eyes silently going through the millions of ways that she could get revenge on the two secretaries. With a deep breath in, she opened her eyes and made eye contact with Seungwan. "So we only have one room." 

"And only one bed"

"And there's only one bed..." Joohyun trailed off, slumping back into the loveseat chair.

This was going to be an interesting trip.

-------------------------------

A couple of hours later, after both girls got situated on their respective halves of the room, Joohyun laid on her stomach scrolling through her laptop files trying to create a game plan for the next two days. Seungwan, who was still awkwardly avoiding her, had disappeared from the room about an hour after they set up claiming she was going to grab them something to eat as well as talk to the hotel manager about security tapes. 

The sun had begun setting behind the tall pine trees a couple of minutes ago slowly dipping the room into darkness. Typing up a last-minute response to the courthouse that they were set to appear at in less than two weeks now, Joohyun glanced at the clock after hitting send. Six pm and all she's had to eat were a bowl of cereal, some tea, and an old granola bar. To say she was starving would be an understatement. Joohyun was ravenous. Reaching over to the bedside table to grab her phone, she opened Seungwan's contact to ask where the woman was. As she was typing up a probably less than pleasant text message, she heard the sound of a key card being slid through the door and Seungwan's cute little sigh when the door wouldn't open. Joohyun gave it a couple more trie before she got up and sauntered over to the door, letting the blonde woman out of her misery.

"Having some trouble?" Joohyun asked a teasing lilt to her voice.

Seungwan just huffed. "I swear, it's like the stupid admin card swipe in that among us game." 

"The what?" Joohyun questioned.

"It's this mafia inspired game I play with Yerim sometimes," Seungwan said sidestepping Joohyun and shaking off some snow from her coat."I didn't manage to grab any food but, before you kill me, I wanna ask if you'd want to go out with me to grab some Italian food from down the road? Like I don't know," Seungwan looked down at the floor playing with her hands, "As an official dinner date?" 

Joohyun could only smile and nod in response before quickly running over to winter clothes and hopping back over to the door. She looked like a kid about to open their presents on Christmas day. Joohyun barely let Seungwan close the door before grabbing her hand and rushing them down the hall, into the elevator, and out of the lobby. To anyone else they must have looked like a young couple on holiday, and who knows, maybe they were well on their way to being that Joohyun thought to herself smiling to herself before brushing off some freshly fallen snow from Seungwan's hair.

The Italian place was a tiny cottage-like structure with a very cozy feeling the second that they stepped in. They were seated at a table for two and quickly ordered some wine and pasta dishes. At first, all they talked about was the possibility of finding evidence. Where to look, where to ask, what to ask all questions being tossed around until their food finally arrived.

"So, I figured since we're technically off of work hours, that we could maybe get to know each other more? You know-" Seungwan gestured between them-"I'm not usually so forward, but I think I'm definitely interested in getting to know the real Bae Joohyun, not just the hard-headed lawyer that everyone is scared to talk to and before you think differently about this, this isn't just so we have good work chemistry." Seungwan added before quirking her head to the side, offering Joohyun the softest smile that the world has ever seen.

"Well," Joohyun began, before pausing. There wasn't much about her besides work and the people she hung out with all of which Seungwan knew. Joohyun had always been a pretty straight forward person. She always sat towards the side of the classroom, kept her head in her books, and only talked to the people that she trusted. The habits that she built over her years at school translated to the workplace. She didn't mingle much unless it was necessary and she kept her mind focused on the cases she was working on. There were no fun stories she could tell about exes or any past relationships, as she never really got into the dating scene much, and family all lived overseas so she didn't see them much. Seungwan must have seen her struggling to think of what to say because all of a sudden, Joohyun felt a warm hand grab her own over the table.

"Why don't we play twenty questions? Like we did at the coffee shop." 

Joohyun nodded, the feeling of Seungwan's hand in hers making her feel a thousand different emotions at the same time. She couldn't help but stare at the beautiful woman in front of her. Seungwan had come into her life so suddenly and unannounced changing her whole schedule and work ethic around. It was like living in a peaceful fairytale and then one night a dragon appears. Except, Joohyun's dragon just happened to be a tiny blonde woman with amazing facial features and other... assets... It had only been such a short amount of time but Joohyun could already tell that whatever it was that surrounded them, was something special. 

"So, first question: would you be willing to sacrifice yourself for me if an imposter vented to us and tried killing us?

"What????"

Seungwan threw her head back, giggling loudly before she tried to explain the game to a very confused and out of the loop Joohyun.

For the rest of dinner, they learned more about each other's personal lives and shared little stories here and there about the law school days. Joohyun managed to get out of downloading the weird spaceship killer game by "accidentally" smearing some tomato sauce on Seungwan's nose. Had they not been in public, Joohyun was 99% sure that they would have gotten in a full-blown food war. Seungwan's hand never left Joohyun's for the entirety of the evening, only letting go momentarily to go to the bathroom, but the second she returned, it was as if their hands were like magnets. 

Maybe Seungwan was her magnet.

It was late, way past 10 pm when they finally left the restaurant and made the short walk back to the hotel. Upstate New York in November was always a surprise box with the weather and on this particular night, mother nature planned it so that snow would be falling lightly in flurries around them. Most of the people that had occupied the streets earlier had all disappeared into the safety of warm rooms and comfy beds so they were alone in silence as they walked.  

When the got to the tiny cut shortcut that led to the back of the hotel, Seungwan stopped them and Joohyun felt herself be tugged closer to the slightly shorter lawyer. Under the moonlight, and the shade from the evergreen trees, Joohyun gazed into the deep brown eyes that in such a short amount of time, made her feel like she was walking on clouds. She was so close to Seungwan, close enough to feel the other's breath against her lisp, close enough for their noses to touch.

"You look really pretty in the moonlight Hyun," Seungwan whispered out, as if afraid to break the delicate moment they found themselves in.

Joohyun found herself unable to look away, the same magnetic feeling that she felt in her hands now tugging at her whole body. "You look really pretty always," she whispered back while slightly squeezing their intertwined hands.

Under the watchful eye of the moon, Joohyun felt Seungwan start to lean in as she closed her eyes, welcoming whatever was to come next.

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So... I am back!!! Sorry about the long wait with this chapter, I know that I stepped away from this story really abruptly even though I had promised more updates. 

Please yell at me next time I don't update, it's motivation for me weirdly.

As always feel free to follow my twitter (I changed my user) and let me know what you think of this story! 

@ Seuldoodle on twitter ᵔᴥᵔ‎ 

@ jeongrene on CC ᵔᴥᵔ‎ 

Stay safe and healthy, 

-Beardoodlez ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ  

P.S. come play among us with me!!!!!!