*buzz*

A brunette sneaks a peek at the small thin black box by her right and quickly picks it up upon seeing a message notification.

From: Jeong-Unnie

Mina just arrived in the office. We’re going to hangout after work with Yongsun-unnie and Hyejin-unnie. Jihyo needed some cheering up after what happened with Daniel. Nabongs will make sure she won’t drink much. Take care of yourself cub.

Chaeyoung sighs and shoots a quick “Thanks and enjoy” back to her friend. It’s not the first time somebody else gave her updates about her girlfriend. If anything, her friends gave her more updates about her girl more than the person she was really in a relationship with. She doesn’t fully understand it, she’s seen the girl on her phone almost all the time playing games so it can’t be that the girl doesn’t see her messages. 

She heaves a loud sigh and this time it catches the attention of her companions. “You alright Chaeng?” Dahyun looks to her left to see a disappointed looking brunette and quickly picks up on the reason for her friend’s action.

“She didn’t update you again?” “I just don’t understand unnie. I mean she’s on her phone almost all the time when we’re together at home. She doesn’t miss a single notification from her games and replies just as instantly when it comes to our other friends. But it seems like it’s difficult to reply back to me? I thought maybe it’s because she just isn’t the type of person that constantly replies, but I’m always left on “seen”. Would it hurt her to press a few keys to reply to me?”

Chaeyoung spilled all her thoughts and frustrations while tapping the screen of her phone endlessly.

“Have you tried bringing it up to her?” Tzuyu felt bad for her friend but she also knew her friend tends to keep things to herself if it’ll only lead to what she deems a conflict. 

And Tzuyu’s hunch was right when Chaeyoung only shook her head in response to her question. “No offense buddy, but you need to tell her eventually. Mina-unnie might be the brightest among all our friends, but she can be dense at times when it comes to your “subtle” signals”

Tzuyu made sure to use air quotes when she said the word ‘subtle’ knowing how not so subtle Chaeyoung really is. Chaeyoung pouted and knew her friend had a point, but she was too sad and disappointed in her girlfriend to consider it. That and she had her own inner conflict of whether or not to actually face the issue head on.

“Hey girls, how are the reports coming?” A short blue haired girl appeared from behind their cubicle partition, and Dahyun immediately recognized their manager.

“Reports are almost done Wheein-unnie, we just have to cross check them one more time to make sure we didn’t miss anything”

Wheein gave the purple haired girl a nod, and looked over the other two. She quickly noticed the sulken face of the middle one and let go of her role as manager for a moment.

“Trouble in paradise, baby beast?” She got a small smile from the girl upon using the nickname, but found herself giving a small pout when the girl said that nothing was wrong.

“Oh come on, give me a break guys. Byul-unnie’s been having us fuzz over these reports for the last two days. I need something else to talk about. And you obviously look too sad to even pretend that things are fine. So spill what is it?” 

Chaeyoung found her manager to be quite adorable when pouting, so it didn’t take much for her to give in. Well if looks could deceive, most of the time Wheein was often thought as among their level rather than to be their manager. 

After explaining her situation with the older girl, she got the same response from the one Tzuyu gave albeit it’s more emphasized.

“Can I ask has she always been this way? Like even before you guys got together?” Wheein was now seated with them in their cubicle area. While Tzuyu returned to browsing the report, Dahyun and Chaeyoung chatted with her.

“She wasn't always like this. Before we got together, she always sent me updates even when I didn't ask it of her. And I’d always send her one too. Nowadays it feels like I’m the only one who’s making an effort in communication.”

Chaeyoung felt sullen as she recalled how she and her penguin started out and compared how they are now.

“Let me stop you right there. It isn’t going to be good if you say things like ‘I’m the only one making the effort’ because that’s going to cause more problems for you.” Wheein held up a finger towards the younger girl and tried to look as stern as she could.

“First off, you two have been dating for like what? Two… two and a half years?” 

“Three actually” Dahyun chimed in. “Alright three. You can’t expect that the things you did during the span of those three years would stay the same. Maybe during the start, yeah it happens constantly. But people grow into things, into routines. To you it became a routine to always let her know where you are, what you do, who you’re with. But to Mina it may not be the case. Have you noticed other things she’s done before for you that she still does until now?”

“Well she always prepares my work clothes the night before so I don’t have to rush during the morning” Chaeyoung says thinking back to the other stuff Mina has done for her.

“Mina-unnie also stops mid-game for her every time.” Tzuyu added, but Dahyun quickly questioned “Does that count though? Her games can always be paused…” “Yeah but she doesn’t do it for us all the time. Rarely does she do that. She only does that to Chaeng.”

“Okay so there are things Mina has done for you since before… the clothes thing, did you ask that from her?” Wheein circled back to Chaeyoung’s answer, “No I didn’t. She started doing it one day and she kept doing it until now.”

“Was it similar as to how the texts started?” “Yes actually” “Okay that’s one part covered. Next, was there something you used to do before for her but now don’t?”

Wheein braced herself for a typical answer, normally when she asks people this question, they would answer the same thing. They haven’t stopped doing things for their partner because they believed it in themselves to be consistent all the time.

To Wheein’s surprise, Chaeyoung wasn’t like those people.

“I stopped making her morning coffee…”

The answer came out almost like a whisper, the sound of someone who realized something and felt guilty. Nevertheless, the other three occupants in the room heard it.

“You two sure have a lot of morning rituals…” Tzuyu commented, “That’s because there’s usually nothing good in the early morning, so having your partner do something for you makes it good” Dahyun rebutted.

“Point taken. But it’s a good thing me and Sana-unnie have an agreement to each their own during the morning” the tall girl comments, now fully part of the conversation “I sent the report to Byulyi-unnie by the way”

“Alright I’ll let her know” Wheein reached for her mobile phone in her pocket and sent a text to their boss. Her finger hovered over the ‘send’ button for a moment before adding a few words in the message and then finally sending it.

To: Byul-Unnie

Report’s sent. Think you can get rid of your Director role for a while and hangout with the kids? I’m here with your kids.

It tooks a few minutes and Wheein had a slight smile on her lips when she saw her unnie’s response via her watch.

From: Byul-Unnie

Be there soon.

“Do you think she stopped doing that because I stopped with the coffee, unnie?” Wheein looked back at the younger girl sitting in front of her and felt sad at seeing the more sullen look on Chaeyoung’s face.

“No baby beast, it’s not because of that. I have to ask though, why did you stop doing it?” She reached out for the bag bread Tzuyu offered her, “Well honestly I don’t exactly know. One day we just end up waking up together and she starts making her own coffee…”

Chaeyoung leans back and thinks harder about what made her stop doing it, meanwhile the room falls into silence as the young cub’s mind flashes back over the course of her and Mina’s relationship.

*——————-*

Warm rays of sunlight kissed Chaeyoung’s as she snuggled closer to the similarly body wrapped within her arms.

She opened her eyes and the view immediately brought a smile to her face. Mina had the most serene expression on her face and although she wasn’t really smiling, her calm and peaceful expression felt as if she was.

Chaeyoung couldn’t contain herself and pressed a chaste kiss over the blonde japanese’s plump lips. When she moved back however, Mina’s eyes fluttered open.

It took a few moments before Chaeyoung got a soft smile from Mina. The sleepy state is still present in her features but Chaeyoung sees her as if she’s glowing.

“Good Morning Chaengie, did you sleep well?” Mina snuggled closer to her, and Chaeyoung felt a light pressure on her collarbone. This she assumes is a kiss from the woman in her arms.

“I slept wonderfully since I’m beside you” Chaeyoung went to kiss her again and this time rolled them over so she was on top of the blonde woman. 

“Good Morning too my penguin. Last night was heavenly” she gave Mina another chaste kiss on the lips and smiled widely when she saw the reddening cheeks of the girl. Finding it hard to control herself, Chaeyoung planted more kisses on the girl’s blushing face until the giggling girl told her to stop.

“Chaengie stop, enough baby I’m full of kisses already” although Mina’s words asked Chaeyoung to stop, at the back of her mind she wished it won’t end. Sadly they were brought back to the realm of the living when her stomach decided to grace them with its need of attention. 

“Alright my penguin’s hungry. Let’s get some breakfast?” Chaeyoung asked as she slipped out of bed and offered a hand to Mina.

Mina took the awaiting hand but held the bed covers against her body. Despite making love with Chaeyoung numerous times already, Mina still felt shy about her body during moments when they’re not in the peak of doing the deed.

“Should I get us some clothes..?” Chaeyoung’s question trailed off as Mina went straight to their closet to pick up clothes for the both of them, “or you. You can get our clothes”

Chaeyoung gave the older woman a dimpled smile as the latter proceeded to even dress her before dressing her own self.

Once they were done, Mina took Chaeyoung’s hand and both women walked out of the room and straight to the kitchen for their breakfast. 

Out of habit, Chaeyoung went straight to their coffee machine, aiming to make Mina her daily dose of caffeine while the blonde gathered what looked to be ingredients for cooking pancakes.

While the two went about their tasks, Mina kept glancing over at the small girl by the coffee machine. The action not unnoticeable to the younger cub.

“What is it Minari?” Chaeyoung asks half way through adding a small latte art on her girlfriend’s coffee. She paused when she didn’t get a reply and finally looked over at the silent blonde.

Mina was biting her bottom lip, contemplating on whether or not to tell the small girl what’s on her mind especially after seeing the smile on Chaeyoung’s face while focusing on her art. 

“What is it baby?” Turning her whole focus on Mina, Chaeyoung’s expression changes into concern and Mina dives straight into telling the girl.

“I’m just wondering why you keep making me coffee when you don’t even drink coffee yourself.” Chaeyoung is surprised with the answer but thinks over why she does it and settles on the only reason she could think of.

“I keep making it because I know you love it. It doesn’t matter if I don’t like it, I know you always need your morning coffee otherwise you’d feel agitated the whole day if you miss drinking it. So I keep doing it because I want to do it for you.”

“But you taste the coffee and I know it gives you headaches if you even take a sip of it.”

“I’ll be fine Minari, I’m getting used to it anyway. Not the amount of coffee you’d drink, but the sips I take are manageable now for me”

Mina smiles at the thoughtfulness of the younger girl and stops their conversation at the moment. She then proceeds to turn off the stove and plates their food. She brings their food over at their kitchen table while Chaeyoung brings their drinks: a cup of Latte and a cup of Strawberry Honey Tea.

“Thank you Chaengie,” Mina says as Chaeyoung places the two mugs on the table. Before the smaller girl could sit on the chair opposite of Mina, the latter pulled Chaeyoung on her lap.

The cub felt Mina’s arms wrap tight around her waist and she turned her body to face the older woman. “Always Minari” she leans down to plant a kiss on the blonde’s lips.

When they pulled away, Chaeyoung was about to start eating but Mina started to talk “Chaengie, I’ll make my coffee from now on.” 

This made Chaeyoung look back at the woman a bit disappointed, but Mina quickly explained herself “It’s not that I don’t like the coffee you make me. In fact, I love it. It just makes me concerned because I have to get up earlier than you sometimes and you wake up with me just so you can make me my coffee. I’d prefer you resting better and making me my coffee whenever you are convenient rather than what you're doing now. It makes me worried, and at the same time I know you said that it’s manageable, but I don’t think you notice I catch you trying to nurse your head hours after you’ve made me coffee even when there’s nothing stressful to trigger your headache. I’d rather you be fine and drinking your tea than taking sips of coffee, okay?” 

Over the course of their relationship, Mina wasn’t much of an expressive person. Well at least in words. She was more of a gestures, stares, and tiny actions type of person. So for Chaeyoung to hear a whole explanation from Mina really set in for her that Mina was serious in what she wanted to happen.

“Okay Minari, I’ll only do it from time to time. When we both wake up together, how does that sound?” After processing Mina’s request in her head, she understands what the older woman wants to happen and it makes her feel happy to know that despite everything, Mina just wants her to be okay and well. To this, she doesn’t see why she shouldn’t concede.

*——————-*

“She told me”

“Huh?” Dahyun, Tzuyu, and Wheein stopped their conversation as Chaeyoung finally snapped back to reality. 

“Welcome back to the land of the living cub,” Dahyun reaches out to pat Chaeyoung’s back as the younger woman faces Wheein again. “Unnie, she told me. She told me that I should stop doing it because it’ll only cause me headaches and I won’t get enough rest because I have to wake up the same time as her just to make it. She told me and gave me her reason why she wants me to stop, so I stopped doing it.”

As soon as Chaeyoung finished explaining, another presence made itself known to the occupants of the room.

“So my best team is having gossip time, while the rest of my other teams are scrubbing their desks for the deadlines. And people ask me why I show you guys special treatment when you guys just do your work faster than they do.”

All heads turned to the room entrance and saw Byulyi leaning against the door frame, she walked over and leaned by Dahyun's desk.

“Hey Unnie, great timing. Chaeyoung was just finally making sense to herself” Wheein gestured towards the pouting cub in front of her, “Unnie…” Chaeyoung only realized how stupid her thoughts have been after finally voicing out on the past event of her and Mina.

“Can you run me through it