"You barely got any sleep last night and you're already up?" Eunbi connected her phone to her car's bluetooth settings so she could talk to her girlfriend as she drove. "You looked so cute sleeping before I left, I thought you'd at least get a few more hours of sleep."

"I thought so too babe, but the sun is up and so am I." Yewon chuckled, slipping on a pair of latex gloves. "It's fine. I'm going to tire myself out so I have no choice but to sleep early tonight."

Eunbi tapped her fingertips against her steering wheel, her eyes following the pedestrians that ran through the crosswalk during a red light. She was worried to say the least. Yewon had asked for a week off from her nursing job to give herself a break, yet her body clock wouldn't allow her to rest. "Alright," she exhaled. "As long as you get to rest. What are you planning to do anyway?"

Yewon looked around, her phone remaining on speaker as her hand held the baskets of cleaning supplies they kept in their storage closet. "I'm just going to deep clean the apartment. I'm sure that'll knock me out later."

"I see," Eunbi responded as she pulled into the parking lot of her job. Being a bistro owner had its perks — like going to work whenever you felt like it. "Well I arrived, so... I'll talk to you soon. I'll come home earlier today so we can spend time together."

"Okay, babe." Yewon tied her hair in a high bun, her eyes downcast towards her phone screen. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too," Eunbi chuckled, taking her key out of the ignition. "I love you."

"I love you too," Yewon whispered. "I'll see you soon."

Yewon began cleaning around their shared space, vacuuming from the kitchen to the bottom of the couches, all the way to the bedroom and bathroom rugs. She loved keeping her mind busy, and as shocking as it sounds, cleaning was her way of destressing, no matter how tiring it was. She handled the windows, scrubbed the stoves, and even cleared the fridge of soiled or expired food. After three hours of bending and bleaching, she reached the last area she wanted to clean the most – the attic. 

"Alright," Yewon sighed. "No one's been up there since we moved in, so I might as well be the first one."

Tiptoeing, Yewon grabbed the cord that released the stairs from up above. She felt relieved that the sun was shining brightly. There was plenty of light through the attic window. If not, there was no way she could've gone up there alone.

Her hands grabbed the steps that were above her as support, climbing up slowly and steadily until she finally reached the attic floor. As expected, dust and spider webs took over the small area, but so did boxes of items that they carried with them since they moved in. Yewon didn't need to clean out the attic, but she did want to go through their boxes so she could separate the items they wanted to donate and/or sell. She started small, going from her things and collectibles, to their shared items that they bought together for the past four years they've been together.

Letting go of possessions were hard for her, but only because she was what others would call a "memory hoarder." She found joy in the smallest of things and appreciated even the slightest acts of services, two of the many reasons Eunbi fell so deeply in love with her.

Turning her head, Yewon found a massive box that was pushed into the corner. Curiosity got the best of her. Within seconds, her hands were already opening the said container. Inside laid several of Eunbi's memorabilia, like snowglobes from all over the world, keychains from different cities, and mugs that were packed with newspaper. She carefully placed the items on the floor before finding a thick, letter-sized journal. Yewon grabbed the book with both hands, sitting down properly on the floor as she rotated the item back and forth. She was known to be a journal junkie, but never once did she find a journal like this. The journal felt fragile, meaning she needed to be careful, but she was in awe. The book was handmade as if it somehow made its way to the future from the past. 

"I didn't know she liked journaling..." Yewon muttered, finally opening the first cover, revealing a handwritten note from Eunbi.

Until death do us part.

"Odd..." Yewon shrugged, flipping one more page that revealed a wallet-sized painting of two women sitting together, their hanboks fitted to their waist perfectly. Squinting her eyes, Yewon tilted her head at the numbers that were written on tape on the bottom center of the painting. "1824? Where did she find such an old painting?" Using her thumb, Yewon felt the extremely dried paint against her skin, amazed at how vivid the color remained.

Without another thought, she flipped to the next page. Another painting was glued on the paper, showing an image similar to the painting before. Once again, there were two girls wearing hanboks, but they only stared at each other as the photograph was taken. The water colors made it difficult to tell who they were, but there was another note beneath the picture. "1861..."

She squinted her eyes, studying the the picture. It was no use. Even if the two women were facing the artist, it would've been too difficult to even tell who they were. Yewon didn't think much of it, assuming that it was just souveneirs Eunbi got from her constant traveling.

"This is wrong, I shouldn't be going through her journal," the nurse whispered, tracing the painting with the tip of her fingers with a small scoff. "This feels too real to be a copy," Yewon frowned with her eyebrows knitted together, suddenly laughing. "Yeah right. As if Eunbi was alive around the 1800s."

Staring at the same page, her hands closed the journal shut. Yewon felt like she was invading Eunbi's privacy. As much as she wanted to keep digging, she knew it was wrong. "It's not my journal," she mumbled, placing it on the side. "I'll just ask about it later."

Standing, Yewon organized and cleaned out the rest of the boxes, piling the items they wanted to one side and the items to donate on the complete opposite end.

Yet no matter how much she busied herself, her eyes kept leading back to the journal that was set down. Something in that damned book was calling her name, like she was meant to open it.

"No," she muttered to herself, diverting her focus onto her next task. "If you flip those pages without Eunbi's permission, she'll get very upset."

Grabbing the journal, she climed down the attic staircase. She placed the journal in Eunbi's nighstand so she wouldn't be tempted to keep flipping through it. 

Yewon reached her goal for the day. Every single spot in their home was spotless and she was exhausted. The mixture of bleach and other cleaning chemicals almost made her pass out. That would've been a sight for Eunbi to see after a busy day at work.

The nurse lounged around for the rest of the night. She would've fixed dinner already, but Eunbi told her not to worry and food will be brought home instead. Eunbi understood how tired Yewon must have been after cleaning; especially alone.

The sound of tires riding over gravel took Yewon's attention away from her show. A soft, door slam and footsteps followed soon after. Eunbi was home. "I can already smell the lemon soap and lavender essential oil," were the first words to escape her lips. "You must be tired."

Yewon, with a soft grin on her lips, stood from her comfortable spot to wrap her arms around her girlfriend. She was twirled, her feet lifting from the ground just for a few seconds. Eunbi's hugs were her favorite. No one else could compare.

"I missed you," Yewon murmured, lifting her head to sneak in a quick kiss. "Do you like it? It's squeaky clean."

"No," Eunbi teased, taking Yewon back into her arms again. "I love it! But our place wasn't even that dirty. It just needed a little pick-me-up."

Yewon was placed back down, her hands taking the paper bags of food from the other's grip. "I know," she responded, leading her girlfriend to the kitchen. Her hands worked quickly, plating the fettucini alfredo and bistro burger for them to share. "Your recipes always come out so pretty and taste even better too. How do you do it? You're only 22, yet you've mastered the art of food."

"Oh, stop," Eunbi laughed, her fingers holding two wine glasses to fill; white specifically. She knew better than to give Yewon red wine. She didn't enjoy the taste to say the least. "I told you, it's because I've loved cooking and eating since I was a child."

They sat at the dining table, exchanging conversation of what they did all day. Eunbi was straightforward - she introduced a new recipe to her chefs. The lingo was too complicated for Yewon to understand. Some sort of sauce reduction over a piece of protein? If asked to recite, she'd fail without question. So she sat, still and quiet, nodding and smiling as if she was catching on.

"You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

Busted.

"Nope," Yewon smiled innocently, tapping her wine glass against Eunbi's. "But that's okay. As long as my tastebuds understand, that's all that matters."

The bistro owner reached up, using her thumb and the side of her pointer finger to gently squeeze her girlfriend's cheek. If the word adorable needed to be described through a person, Yewon would be the perfect candidate.

"Enough about my day," Eunbi cleared , placing her wine glass down. "I want to hear about yours."

Yewon placed her fork down once she was finished with her meal. "It's nothing interesting unless you wanna hear about what I mixed together. I almost passed out in the bathroom."

"Babe!"

"I'm kidding," the younger laughed, but she wasn't really. The chemicals really almost got to her. "I just did the usual rundown. Mopped the kitchen, sprayed the windows, vaccuumed our rugs..."

"Sounds tiring," the other frowned, finishing the last drop of her wine. "You should've waited for me. I could've helped you with all of it."

"Hush," Yewon whispered. "I know you would've, but it was my decision."

"Was there anything else?" Eunbi asked. "A spot you missed, perhaps? I can clean that tomorrow."

Yewon tapped her chin, looking around to see if she genuinely missed anything. "No, I think I got everything. Even the attic." 

The gasp that left Yewon's lips made Eunbi jump. "What?!"

"I found something! I forgot!" Yewon ran away, leaving her girlfriend bewildered. Her mind worked too quickly for her own good. The soft footsteps hitting the hardwood floor was heard as Yewon came back, the journal she found nestled in her hands. "This belongs to you?"

Eunbi stared at the book in a daze. Her stomach began churning in the most uncomfortable way. She wanted to deny that it was hers, but the journal didn't hold anything bad. The bistro owner just didn't expect her girlfriend to find her journal so soon, or at all in this case.

"Uh... Yeah." Eunbi nodded, gradually taking it from Yewon's hands so that she could sit across from her. 

"I didn't know you were into journaling!" Yewon exclaimed in delight. "I thought it was just me who enjoyed it. You should've told me. We could've journaled together."

Eunbi ran her thumb against the spine of her journal. Her knee bouncing wasn't helping the fact that she was anxious. So much for trying to play it cool around Yewon. "Did you go through it?"

Yewon blinked. "Yes," she confessed. "Only through a couple of pages..." She watched her girlfriend's expression turn solemn. Was she upset? "But that doesn't excuse the fact that I did open it. I'm sorry. I got really curious because I love journals. I've never seen one like that before. It looks like a journal I would see from my fairytale movies."

A chuckle left the bistro owner's lips, placing the book back into Yewon's hands. "I'm not upset at you, baby. Thank you for being honest." She breathed out, cupping her girlfriend's cheeks so she could look at her fully. "Besides, how can I get upset if this wasn't mine in the first place?"

The nurse tilted her head, her lips puckered from the way Eunbi was holding her face. "If not yours, then who's is it? It was in your box."

Eunbi brought Yewon closer for a kiss, soon releasing her afterward. "It's not mine... It's yours."

Yewon laughed, her head shaking. Her hands patted Eunbi's knees, her head still shaking from side to side. "I think I would remember if this was my journal, babe. I would never ever forget about a journal like this."

Eunbi kept staring at her girlfriend who found amusement in the situation. She