It was like this every night.

After a long day, Yewon would step out of the bathroom, all washed-up and changed, and see her girlfriend playing sudoku. It was part of her own nighttime routine.

Yoobin had found a new interest in solving sudoku puzzles just a few months ago, and had been hooked onto it ever since. No matter how tired she was, Yoobin would always find the time to play a puzzle or two. It can help you sleep through the night better, she'd told her girlfriend, you should try it, too.

Goodhearted intentions from a goodhearted girlfriend, but they both knew how much Yewon hated numbers, and that it would only give her insomnia more than anything else. Yewon did, however, enjoy watching Yoobin, who looked unfairly attractive whenever she was focused on something. Yoobin's dimples only came out on a rare occasion, but when she pursed her lips in concentration to find the right number, the shallow dents in her cheeks would send Yewon into a helpless swoon.

And while her girlfriend busied herself with nine-by-nine grids, Yewon would scroll endlessly through her phone until she felt sleepy or fell asleep altogether (which Yoobin would ultimately scold her for the following morning).

Yewon yawned into her hand, and the words on her screen blurred. She lowered the phone to her chest to reveal her girlfriend's back, sitting at the desk in the corner of their bedroom. Instead of using the app on her phone like she usually did every night, Yoobin's nose was buried in a sudoku book; said she'd found it while cleaning around their flat. Because of course Yoobin did.

Yoobin sighed as she frustratedly rubbed her forehead with the eraser of her pencil. Yewon laughed to herself. 

"Babe?"

Yoobin immediately turned her attention to her girlfriend. The lines between her eyebrows vanished, and her sudden smile held a tender affection. "Mmh?"

Yewon covered another yawn. "Not going to sleep yet?"

"Just gonna do a few more before I join you," Yoobin answered, twirling her pencil around her fingers. When Yewon blinked her eyes away from her hand to her face, Yoobin pretended not to notice, but the corner of pulled up ever so slightly.

"Mmkay. Don't be too long," Yewon said drowsily. She sank into the bedsheets and placed her phone onto the nightstand beside her, tucking herself in.

_____
 

Yewon tossed and turned. She was exhausted, but couldn't fall asleep. She the bed again, stared at the empty pillow to her left, and finally realized why she couldn't get a wink of sleep.

_____

"Tsk." Yoobin erased the numbers she'd written from an entire row. As she leaned back onto her chair to think, a figure blocked her sight, and dropped down onto her lap. Her arm automatically wrapped around Yewon's waist. 

"You were taking forever," Yewon whined and pouted. "I thought you were good at this."

Yoobin tucked her chin on Yewon's shoulder. "I am. I may not use my brain frequently, but when I do, I use it well," she said proudly.

Yewon rolled her eyes. "Yet here we are. I bet I could finish that faster. Then we could finally go to sleep."

"Oh really?" Yoobin asked. She pressed a whisper of a kiss just below Yewon's ear, preening as her girlfriend shuddered.

"Give me that." Yewon snatched the pencil from Yoobin's fingers and brought the sudoku book closer. "I'll show you."

Yoobin hummed, closed her eyes, and leaned her cheek against the woman's back, not bothering to watch as Yewon began writing. She didn't doubt that Yewon would be able to solve the puzzle, but doubted that she'd be any faster than her. But who was she to not humor her girlfriend?

When Yewon tapped her hand and told her that she was done just a few minutes later, Yoobin couldn't hide her surprise. "Already?"

Yewon looked down with a smug smile. "Yup."

Yoobin grabbed the book, and looked over her work. It took her only moments to realize that Yewon had filled in all of the blank spaces with random numbers, not a single cell right. She glanced back at Yewon, and saw the mischievous look on her face. She'd mistaken Yewon's devious smile for a proud one! Yewon had managed to fool her. What Choi Yewon wants, Choi Yewon gets.

Yoobin held back a sigh. At least it was all in pencil. Nothing she couldn't fix.

She gave her girlfriend a pat on the thigh. "Alright, a deal's a deal. Let's go to bed."

Hopping off Yoobin's lap, Yewon let out a small, happy sound and dragged her to their bed. She tackled her girlfriend and sent them both falling on the mattress, landing on top of Yoobin. Yewon smiled widely as she looked at the woman underneath her.

If it meant seeing Yewon smile like this, Yoobin would never mind letting her have her way.

Then Yewon leaned down, and peppered kisses all over Yoobin's face. The arms around her body tightened as her girlfriend giggled at the onslaught. When she snuck her hand inside Yoobin's nightshirt in an attempt to tickle her, Yoobin tangled their legs and flipped their positions with ease, pinning Yewon's arms to her sides.

"I thought you wanted to sleep," Yoobin said.

Yewon simply grinned, playing with Yoobin's hair. She ran her fingers from the roots to the ends, letting them fall to her chest. Yoobin's hair had really grown out. It suited her well.  Although Yewon loved her girlfriend with any hairstyle, there was something so lovely about Yoobin with longer hair.

"What?" Yoobin asked, and Yewon realized she'd been just staring.

"Nothing," Yewon chuckled. "I love you."

This time, it was Yoobin who leaned down.

When she pulled away, Yewon pulled her right back, pressing their lips together. Yoobin smiled in the kiss, which made Yewon smile.

Suddenly, sudoku before bed wasn't such a bad idea anymore.