„That’s adorable,“ Joohyun said with a wide grin on her face, pinching the cheeks of her blushing and pouting girlfriend. Seulgi had just told her the story of how she fell in love with the older woman and Joohyun couldn’t help but a bit.

Seulgi didn’t expect to fall for Joohyun, or anyone in that matter. She had the best friends in the entire world (even if she would say otherwise in the presence of Yerim and Sooyoung) and her job as a dance teacher made her more than happy. It wasn’t her fault Joohyun just had to move in next door and make her a hopeless mess.

All Joohyun had to do was wave and smile at Seulgi and the dancer was ready to risk it all for the older woman. Seulgi wasn’t used to pretty girls talking to her, even if there were quite a few people that admired her. She dated a few people but it was never anything serious.

Seulgi had known her neighbor for a few days and they talked whenever Joohyun came home after work. (Seulgi might have developed a habit of listening for the sound of footsteps and keys and she knew most people would call her crazy or creepy.) She had her fair share of crushes and weak moments with beautiful women, but it was different with Joohyun and it started to worry Seulgi a bit. She spent way too much time in her apartment, overthinking.

“She probably has someone,” she muttered to herself. There way no way someone like Joohyun was single. And even if she was, she wouldn’t take someone like Seulgi. So, she tried to ignore the feelings in her chest.

The problem was that it was getting harder and harder with each day. Seulgi was so focused on the fact that Joohyun was too good for her that she didn’t even notice the many attempts her neighbor made of getting closer to her.

“You’re frustrating,” Joohyun told her one day as she was sitting on Seulgi’s couch. A few months had passed and Seulgi’s apartment was almost a second home to Joohyun.

All Seulgi could do was look at her with an expression of confusion. “What?”

“I said you’re frustrating,” Joohyun repeated as if Seulgi hadn’t heard it the first time. Before the younger woman could speak, Joohyun held up her hand to silence her.

“The whole time I’ve been trying to flirt with you.”

Seulgi felt like her brain was shutting off. Joohyun flirting with her? There was no way. She was being nice and spending time with her, probably because she was trying to make friends in the new town or because she pitied Seulgi after she had told Joohyun about her friends who made her life a living hell most of the time. But flirting? That was impossible.

“Seulgi?” Joohyun asked after the woman didn’t say anything and only stared at her.

Seulgi finally snapped out of her trance and shook her head. “I never noticed,” she said. “I thought you were just being friendly.”

“Well…” Joohyun began and shifted closer to the younger woman. “Now that you know I like you, what are you going to do about it?”

Joohyun knew Seulgi liked her back. She didn’t even have to say it, Seulgi’s actions made it more than obvious. And while she wanted to let the dancer confess first, she knew she’d have to wait years probably, which is why she decided to just take the first step.

Seulgi was feeling hot and it wasn’t because her air conditioner wasn’t working.

“This is your chance,” she thought. She gathered all the courage she had and locked eyes with her hopefully soon to be girlfriend and after another moment of silence had passed, Seulgi leaned forward to kiss Joohyun, something she wanted to do for so long.

Joohyun continued to make fun of her girlfriend for at least a few weeks after they started dating. Seulgi being a mess was amusing, but one of the reasons Joohyun fell for her because she was the cutest mess she had ever met.

By now, Seulgi finally managed to get over her awkwardness and the couple was going strong.

Joohyun’s job only made it possible for them to spend time at night but Seulgi didn’t mind. As long as she’d get to see her girlfriend, she didn’t care if she was losing some hours of precious sleep.

Everything was going well. They couple has been dating for almost half a year now and they’ve been spending time whenever they could. Seulgi was waiting today too. Waiting for her girlfriend to come home so they could cuddle and talk about anything that came to mind. But things were different today, Joohyun was behaving unusual, and she didn’t like it one bit.

“Baby?” she asked as she knocked on the door of her girlfriend’s apartment.

Joohyun was home by now, Seulgi knew that. Yet, there was no reply and Joohyun wouldn’t answer her calls either. What if something happened to her? No, she heard Joohyun walk up the stairs and open the door.

Seulgi was about to give up and go back to her own apartment when she heard footsteps and a few seconds later, the door opened just a bit.

“I’m not feeling well today,” Joohyun mumbled softly, which made Seulgi frown.

“Are you sick? Let me take care of you,” Seulgi said, about to push the door open further when Joohyun’s hand stopped her, grabbing her wrist gently. The touch made Seulgi shiver.

“Your hand is cold,” she said, “are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I just need rest,” the older woman replied. Seulgi didn’t believe her, but she was always the overthinking and overly caring girlfriend, it probably wasn’t as bad as she thought. Maybe Joohyun really just needed some rest, she tended to overwork herself quite a lot of times.

“Okay,” she said quietly. “Call me if you need anything, okay?”

Seulgi heard Joohyun whisper a faint “okay” before she heard the click of the door closing and walked back to her apartment. She was worried, of course she was. Joohyun always pretended like she was fine when she was stressed or sick, she said she didn’t want to bother anyone but Seulgi was only more worried than necessary every time.

She just hoped things would be better tomorrow. With a sigh, she went to sleep. Seulgi hated going to bed without a goodnight kiss from her love but she’d have to deal with it tonight.

In her apartment, Joohyun felt sorry for dismissing her girlfriend like that. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to see her, and she didn’t feel sick either.

She sighed as she took a look at herself in the mirror, her fangs poking out and reminding her of what she was. She couldn’t let her girlfriend see her like this. Not yet.