chaewon lifts a lazy brow when minjoo lingers at the door frame, twisting at the handle before she strides over to the bed. minjoo returns the look, taking in her girlfriend's posture: on her back, one leg propped over the other as she scrolled through her phone. 

“what,”

she moves to slide under the covers. chaewon's legs are cold against hers, the pillows cold against her cheek. “are you done with your lil’ dessert thing?” her chin presses into chaewon's shoulder and the girl winces. “no…”

some excuse is mumbled into her hair and minjoo wraps her arms around chaewon's waist, leaning in to feel her warmth — it was a cold monsoon afternoon. there was pale blue across the window instead of yellow light and it just didn't settle well with her. rainy days are gloomy. rainy days remind her of sad songs and cold toes. cold toes are the worst. 

“it’s cold…”

she hums, her eyes fixated on her phone. mindlessly swiping while playing some game she doesn't remember the name to. minjoo takes a whiff of her baby powder scent and frowns. wrists fumbling against the hem of her shirt. she scoffs when the girl pays no heed. 

“what are you even playing?”

“oh,” chaewon rolls her head for a brief moment to meet her eyes, “it’s sugar crush or something.”

it sounds like another spell of rain crashes. 

“chaewon.”

“hm?”

“chae.”

“unnie~”

chortling, she turns to see minjoo with a grin on her face. “you’re so easy with your unnie obsession.” 

“no, i am not.”

and her grin turns into a laugh when she sees red tint chaewon's ears. she lets her phone drop to the bed when minjoo takes hold of her wrist lightly. chaewon shifts to face minjoo and brings a thumb to wipe a line of flour off her cheek. “try not to burn down the kitchen when you bake, babe.” 

“tch. thank you for the moral support, i guess.”

“anytime.” she punches her in the gut and it hurts for about two solid seconds. now would be a good time to make fun of her girlfriend’s laughable physical strength but she wasn’t any better so she decides against it. besides, it’s been raining the whole day.

white light flashes against the walls and thunder fills in the silence. seems like it was here to stay.

chaewon should be solacing her, teasing is fun only when minjoo is in a good mood. “oh, yena said your cookies were really good the other day.”

“really?”

“yeah, she’s been bothering me to tell you to make them again for the whole week. wants it to be a nice little gift for her birthday or something.”

minjoo hums and fixes her bangs so they align nicely with her eyebrows. she’s so easy to read, isn’t she? the pensive look on her face contrasts the smile that chaewon doesn’t bother to suppress. it’s all part of the package, dating such a sentimental person.

“is the rain making you all melancholic again?”

she nods feebly and chaewon wraps her arms tighter around her. god, she’s so cute. 

“it’ll be sunny skies for the rest of the week, min. i promise.”

she can't see it, but she knows: minjoo rolls her eyes and she smiles a faint smile. “oh, so you're the one in charge of weather duties in the council of the sky? you're doing a pretty bad job, to be honest.” 

“i, with my trusty partner the weather app promise you sunny skies! mind you, we're correct like, ninety percent of the time,”

a hmph. 

“i wish the weather was always in that weird limbo between a windy and a rainy day, those days are the best.”

“but aren't those days gloomy too?”

minjoo leans backwards to catch the look on chaewon's face. this was her cutest look, the curious, inquisitive one. the rumble from her chest questions her sudden gaze or urges her to answer, she doesn't know. min brings a cold palm to feel the warmth of chaewon's cheeks and rests it there, waiting for a thermal equilibrium. “yes, but they're a good kind of gloomy.” 

or maybe her perplexed expression was her cutest look. she opens to say something but minjoo interjects with a giggle. “it made sense in my head.”

hmm.

the rain quiets down to silent downpour. chae exhales, her shoulders rise and fall, her eyes close and she leans into the thumb that minjoo runs across her face. a pleasant sigh. “remind me how you got this scar,”

her fingers linger at the top of her lip. she pursues them in thought. it feels like the room gets colder. cold, so cold. “...i don't remember.”

she feels her parting her bangs, she hears the smile in her words. “i love this mole, it's so cute.”

chaewon chuckles, a brief moment to bring her hand and poke at the mole on minjoo's neck. 

“i love you.”

chae cracks an eye open and mirrors minjoo's smile. “you’re so unexpected, ms. kim.”

“won’t you say it back?”

“i love you, ms. kim! i love you so much!” she yelps when chaewon rolls them across the bed and they fall in a dramatic (pathetic, asking minjoo) thud—good thing the bed wasn't that high up from the ground. lost in a fit of giggles and the nudge against her shoulder. “stop with the ms. kim, it's been a year already,”

“what? no, how could i forget the ms. kim who stole my heart at first glance and scared me less when she first spoke to me?”

“shut up, chae, you're so annoying.”

“wow, that's exactly how ms. kim used to speak to me. she was a bit of a tsundere, y’know. i still don't know how we ended up together.”

god, why did she have to have that goofy smile on her face? minjoo can't find the heart to refute, even if chae looked like an idiot with that smile adorning her face. my idiot, of course.

the next best thing was to kiss her, so she does that. it's sweet with the milk chocolate that infused , a little savoury (she really dreads chaewon's love for salt and vinegar chips).

like she's dreaming, in a haze.

hazy, against the background of their windows slowly giving away to a dull gray from the striking blue. rain's pelleting quiets down to a patter. heat dissipating, smoke filling her lungs.

her gaze that looked upon her almost surreal, like she had the power to bring out the sun, clear the cloudy skies at a single command, everything, at her will. smoke, mirrors, haze, like a daydream.

“min, why is it getting so smokey in here…?”

“wait, is it really?”

“yeah, it's literally filling the room—please tell me you turned off the oven…”

“um… i think i did…?”

so the day descends into them having to apologize profusely to the landlady for giving the whole apartment a false fire alarm (for the second time this month) and letting the cold and stray raindrops in because it was getting harder to breathe and there was no other option but to open the windows. well, she thought it would be a calm and peaceful night concluding with cuddles with her girlfriend but that's just not very characteristic of them, is it? 

minjoo ends up getting sick and two days after she recovers chaewon gets sick too (her stubbornness is to blame for that, why on earth would you kiss a sick person?). it's not very pleasant, it's not like walking down a flower studded road, but it's perfection. 

even on the worst of days, being with her is perfection.

—

-

because you and i deserve some human flourishing