~ Spring, Five Years Ago ~

I placed my arms in between my head and the pillow as I smiled and watched Wheein’s sleeping face right in front of me. She was sleeping on her stomach. Her face was facing towards my direction and her arms were on either side of her face, hands holding on the top edge of her pillow. was slightly open as soft snores came out of it. Her , red from the scratches I unconsciously gave her the night before, was exposed while the lower half of her body was covered by the blanket on her.

After a few moments, she started to stir and ever so slowly opened her eyes and squinted at me. She closed them and turned to face her body towards me. With her closed eyes, she reached out and looked blindly in front of her. When she felt my arm, she pulled it from below my head and slid her hold up to my wrist. She moved my hand to her and kissed my palm and wrist before she placed it on her cheek.

“Hey” she whipsered, her voice in its usual huskiness early in the morning while I smiled at her.

I rubbed my thumb on her cheek as she slowly moved closer to me and wrapped an arm around my waist. I inserted an arm between the crook of her neck and the pillow to wrap it around her shoulders.

She opened her eyes and placed a soft kiss on my lips while I returned it with an equally soft kiss on her lips too.

“Good morning” she said when she pulled back before leaning in again for another kiss.

“Good morning” I said back before placing a kiss on the tip of her nose. “Happy birthday, baby. Is there anything you want to do today?” I asked, smiling at her.

She smiled back and shook her head before snuggling closer to me. She tightened her hold around my waist while I laced the hand I had on her cheek around her waist, pulling her closer as well. “I just want to be lazy with you today. I don’t want to do any work either. I just want to spend the entire day with you” she said on my chest.

I smiled so wide when I heard the simplicity of her request. It’s been more than a year since Wheein and I were in a relationship together. It’s been more than a year too since we lived together. It was difficult for both of us at first since we’re so used to living by ourselves. But over time, we were able to adjust and find a routine around each other. It was a lovely feeling being and having her around all the time, and I couldn’t ask for anything else.

“Can you even do that?” I asked, softly laughing at her. “You never ran out of calls even on your day off”

“There might be calls but I already saved a voicemail saying I don’t want to be annoyed just for today” she grumbled. “Well not the exact words but the same thought. They'll probably understand”

“I still doubt that but okay," I said, kissing the top of her head.

Just then, her phone on the bedside table rang, earning a groan from her and a loud laugh from me. She wrapped both of her arms around my waist and snuggled closer to me, ignoring the call from her phone.

I raised my head and whispered to her ear, “Are you not going to answer that?”

“Nope” she said, shaking her head on my chest. “It’ll pass”

“Hmm…" I hummed, still unconvinced of her as I showered kisses on her cheek and shoulder.

She relaxed her hold against me when her phone stopped ringing. Not even two seconds had passed, her phone rang again. She groaned so loud and she buried her face further onto my chest. I laughed right on her ear as she continued to whine at me.

“Want me to hand it to you?” I asked, rubbing a hand on her back.

"No…" she whined. "Just stay here"

I chuckled and listened to her ringing phone, waiting for it to go silent again. When it stopped, we waited for a few more seconds, expecting for it to ring again.

When it seems like it would never happen, Wheein sighed from relief and pulled her head away from my chest, then leaned closer to me, capturing my lips in between hers. She slid a hand up my skin, brushing it with her softest touch, before burying her fingers in the hair on my nape. She pulled me closer and shifted our bodies to hover on top of me as she tilted her head to deepen the kiss. She nibbled on my lips before slipping her tongue inside my mouth, wandering in there. She moaned right on my lips, sending vibrations deep down my throat and trembles down to my core. Our heated kiss was stopped right away when her phone rang again.

She pulled away from the kiss and groaned louder than before. "…" she whined, dragging the word longer before she rolled over and laid flat on the bed.

I was also annoyed for being interrupted but I can't help but laugh at this whining woman beside me.

She closed her eyes and sighed as she mumbled, "Why can't I just have one peaceful day with my girlfriend?"

I pushed myself up on my elbow, cupped her cheek, and leaned closer to her. I gave her a peck on her lips as I whispered, "Let me get that for you", before giving her another peck.

"Thank you," she whispered as I slowly sat up on the bed.

I pushed myself up on a sitting position, dropping the blanket as it pooled on my waist and exposing the upper half of my body. I brushed my hair away from my face before turning towards the bedside table and glanced at her phone.

Hyejinie

I laughed softly as I read Hyejin's name on her phone screen. I reached for her phone and said to her, "It’s Hyejin. I'll answer this for you"

I didn't wait for her response anymore as I leaned back on the bed's headboard before accepting the call and lifted her phone to my ear.

"Finally" Hyejin said exasperatedly over the line. "Happy birthday day, Wheeinie!" she exclaimed in her cute voice. "I gave you a minute to finish your make out session with Yong before calling you again"

I smiled and laughed silently, thinking how they both know each other so much, while I continued to listen to her without planning to utter a word. It seems like she has no plans to stop talking as well.

"I know you don't want to answer calls today but I called you anyway to tell you a very important message" I silently waited as she paused for a dramatic effect. "Kick Yong out just for tonight so that I can give you your birthday " she said in her very innocent voice.

I raised both of my eyebrows, amused at her, before I asked, "You want me kicked out tonight?"

Wheein looked up from me on her lying position on the bed and raised her eyebrows at me, curious of our conversation. 

There was silence over Hyejin's end for a second before she responded in a very cheerful voice, "Of course not! I was just testing her loyalty, Yong. It's a good thing you picked up my call. The odds are very much unpredictable if Wheein answered it"

"Hmm…" I hummed in response before turning my head to look at Wheein right into her eyes. "Is birthday always been a thing between you two?" I asked Hyejin over the line and Wheein here beside me.

When Wheein heard that, her eyes went wide then hastily pulled herself up on the bed before grabbing her phone from me.

"What the , Hyej?!" she angrily shouted over the phone.

I laughed at them, knowing full well how Hyejin was just teasing Wheein at this very moment. Teasing Wheein has become one of my favorite habits too.

She closed her eyes and rubbed her face as she groaned from whatever Hyejin was talking over the line. 

"Yeah, yeah" she said after listening for a few seconds. "Okay… Thanks… Tell Dr. Song I said thank you too. Bye, Hyej. And please stop ruining my day"

A yawn came out of me as I continued to listen to her side of their conversation and slowly lied on my back on the bed again.

She paused as she listened at Hyejin then closed her eyes and sighed. "I know. I know," she whispered. "I'm sorry," she added before nodding her head. "Okay, bye"

She ended the call before placing her phone on the bedside table. She laid down beside me, wrapping an arm across my stomach and crossing a leg on top of mine. She rested her chin on my shoulder as I placed an arm on top of hers and intertwined our fingers together.

"Hyejin was just joking, Yong. She didn't mean it at all" she said softly, placing a kiss on my shoulder.

"Yeah?" I asked teasingly while I looked at her and raised one of my brows.

She pouted at me and nodded her head, scared to say a single word.

I continued to , loving how she looked so cute up close. "And you haven't done it before? For more than ten years of knowing each other?"

"No" she whispered, shaking her head at me. 

"Huh" I uttered before turning my head away and looked at the ceiling.

She kissed my shoulder before she said defensively, "I promise. We haven't done it. We kissed but that's the farthest thing we did…" 

"You kissed?!" I asked, whipping my head at her, unable to stop my curiosity.

Oh, I'm telling Hyejin about this tomorrow and maybe we can together.

She held me tighter as she buried her face on the crook of my neck. "It was stupid and we were drunk. And it happened before we attended med school" she said hurriedly. "We said we love each other but we were stupidly experimenting if we only loved each other as best friends and nothing more"

I smiled so wide and tried to hold myself from laughing as I continued to listen to her speaking so fast and being so defensive right now.

"So I suggested we kissed to find out. And we did but we regretted it. It was so gross. We continued drinking as if nothing happened and never talked about it again. But after a few moments, she said it felt like kissing her sister. I told her it felt like kissing Mom" she finished, breathing heavily from rushing her words out. 

I burst out laughing when she finished while I heard her groan beside me over my loud laughter.

She covered her face with both of her hands. "Of course, you were just teasing" she whined, her voice muffled by her hands.

I laughed and turned towards her as I wrapped my arms around her waist while I showered the back of her hands with kisses.

She slowly peeled her hands off her face and held my shoulders. I smiled so wide at her while she continued to pout at me.

I leaned in, pecking her pouting lips then kissing her forehead, before I whispered, "Happy birthday, Whee. I love you"

She cupped my cheeks, rubbing her thumbs on them, before briefly kissing my lips. "Thank you, baby. I love you too," she said once she pulled away.

"Now, up" I said before kissing her forehead and releasing her waist to sit up. "I'm taking you somewhere," I declared as I pushed the blanket away from me, exposing my full body, before sliding my legs out of the bed.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked, still sprawled on bed.

"Surprise," I said, smirking and winking at her before I stood up and walked towards the bathroom, picking up the clothes she threw on the floor last night on my way there.

"Can we shower together?" she asked excitedly.

"No," I said, not bothering to look at her. "You never behaved even if you promised to. We're going to take forever if we shower together" I added, dropping our clothes on the laundry basket before entering the bathroom.

I chuckled as I heard her whine from behind before I closed the bathroom door.

I decided to take my car and drove while Wheein sat on my passenger seat. We dropped by the flower shop on our way and asked Wheein to pick a bouquet of flowers. She was complaining that I don't have to buy her flowers, but I just ignored her and told her to pick something that you want to give to someone you love. She blushed and I laughed but it finally made her pick one.

Now we're back at the car, the bouquet of flowers on her lap and driving to the building I'm very familiar with while she asked me a million questions on our way there. I just responded to her with ambiguous answers like maybe, I don't think so, I guess, and anything with the same context with those, whichever would fit to her questions.

When the building came into view, she went silent and glanced at me.