Chaewon feels how stiff Minjoo is when she takes hold of her hand as they enter the lift. If it was not for that, Chaewon wouldn’t have noticed based on the woman’s expression and posture. Minjoo is smiling a bit lesser than usual but otherwise nothing seems out of place until this.

“Are you nervous?” Chaewon gets into Minjoo’s line of sight and instantly, the smile that was lessened is back on.

Minjoo nods as she fiddles with the other hand that wasn’t holding Chaewon’s. The smooth velvety ribbon is firmly tied together around the box of cake Minjoo had bought for the dinner tonight. The dinner that in minutes to come, will arrive next door to the one she usually enters. Seeing Chaewon popping into her view does distract her a little but she would not forget why she is nervous in the first place.

They are here for dinner with Eunbi and Nako.

She has been hiding the nervous feeling with the skillful act she has mastered over the last twenty years in the entertainment world - to always look like everything is okay when it isn’t.

Minjoo wants the dinner to go as well as her relationship with Chaewon because after all, she knows how important Chaewon’s family is to her. Like her passion for surgery, her love for her family is part of Chaewon and in agreeing to be in her life, Minjoo wants everything to work because it is dear and near to Chaewon. Minjoo sensed it when Chaewon asked her about coming to dinner - the way she slowly articulates her words clearly trying to be careful not to stumble. She gets how significant it is for Chaewon to want to bring Minjoo together with her family. Thus Minjoo does not want to mess it up.

It’s important to her girlfriend, it is important to Minjoo too.

“Don’t be. They will like you.” Chaewon reassures her with one of those absurdly charming grins she knows Minjoo likes and Minjoo takes their held hands to knock into Chaewon’s ribs.

“You are nervous too aren’t you?” Chaewon’s palm is slightly stickier than it usually is.

Minjoo lets Chaewon lead them out of the lift and they stop right before the door next to Chaewon’s. “I was playing it cool because I thought you weren’t and I didn’t want to put any pressure but I guess I forgot my girlfriend is an award-winning actress.” Chaewon looks at Minjoo. “No sarcasm whatsoever, I am genuinely amazed.”

“Being an idol was a good foundational training.” Minjoo brings her eyes to the door. “Shall we?”

Chaewon knocks on the door before she keys in the passcode to Eunbi’s place. When she opens it, they both immediately get the whiff of the feast Eunbi is cooking up. “Unnie! We are here!”

“Gimme one sec!”

Chaewon takes off her haversack and places it by the wall. She guides Minjoo into the apartment and Nako pops out from behind the wall looking shy at the new entrants. The two adults are amused because Nako wasn’t like that when she met Minjoo before and is behaving this way because she is told that her Aunty Chae is bringing home somebody for dinner tonight. Chaewon takes Minjoo’s handbag from her and puts it on the sofa, then goes back to her girlfriend’s side.

“Why are you hiding here Nako?” Eunbi playfully taps the top of her daughter’s head and smiles seeing Chaewon and Minjoo together. “Welcome to our place Minjoo. Is it alright if I call you that?”

Minjoo nods with her hands politely gathered in the front, cake box in her grasp. “Thank you for inviting me over. Can I call you Eunbi unnie since…” She eyes Chaewon and goes back to Eunbi.

“Since you said yes to a relationship with my annoying little sister who has not been in a committed relationship for as long as I can remember? For sure.” Eunbi cracks a joke to ease the nervousness in the air and Chaewon will take this tease for the team.

Eunbi’s effort does help Minjoo as the woman visibly relaxes along with her chuckles. “And I still haven’t figured out why.” Minjoo’s eyes drift to the person next to her who turns when she feels her eyes on her. “Is it because she’s picky?” Minjoo suddenly sports a cheeky glint with a widening smile and Chaewon scrunches her nose at the prospect of her girlfriend and her sister likely getting along very well.

“Minjoo brought us cake.” Chaewon interrupts purposely. Minjoo and Eunbi laugh at Chaewon’s diversion but her sister is not going to end this so easily.

“Thank you for the cake and… we have the whole dinner for me to tell you more.” Eunbi annoyingly pats Chaewon’s head to which a glare is given as a response but obviously Eunbi remains unfazed. She takes the cake and she feels Nako coming close to her. Eunbi has a sense of why Nako is possibly behaving this way so she squats down and passes the cake to the 7-year-old. “Can you put this in the fridge for me?” Her daughter nods and takes the cake, leaving the room to the adults.

“I think she is not used to seeing either me or Chaewon with ‘someone’. Her father barely counts.” Eunbi looks at Minjoo. “Don’t worry, she will warm up again especially since she likes watching your commercial so much. Come on, dinner is ready.”

Eunbi surely prepared a feast. Minjoo can’t hold in her surprise at the spread on the table when there are only three adults and one child and the oldest in the room smiles proudly. “Chaewon says you like meat so I bought some good cuts this morning.” She points to the pile of meat in the center of the table. “Sit, sit.”

“Thank you so much.” Minjoo glances at Chaewon who guides her to her seat. Her girlfriend returns with a reassuring smile, one prompting her to let Eunbi pamper them. They say their thanks and they dig in. Minjoo gives Nako a small smile when she notices the younger girl looking at her; Nako turns her eyes to the food shyly waiting for her mother to pick the food out for her.

The food Eunbi made, Minjoo is enjoying them heartily, and genuinely too, not because she is trying to butter up to Chaewon’s sister. Eunbi really can cook and that is a skill Minjoo does not take lightly. She eats while listening to the conversation Chaewon is having with Nako about school till Eunbi suddenly cuts in.

“Nako! Tell Aunty Chae and Aunty Minjoo what happened in school yesterday.” Eunbi whispers something the other two adults cannot make out. Nako does a quick glance at Minjoo before cozying up to her mother.

“Ah mummy, you say~”

The mother shakes her head but nevertheless obliges with her daughter just because she is especially cute tonight. “You know how there’s a Monster Chicken branch opposite the school?” Eunbi tells the two women opposite her. “So it seems because of a new promotion, the store placed a banner out there with Minjoo’s face on it and seeing that, Nako was telling her friends that she met you but her friends didn’t believe her. So you know with kids, there was a back and forth debate and Nako was grumpy when I picked her up.”

Chaewon and Minjoo laugh as they imagine how the debate took place but the young girl turns upset recalling the incident. “My friends say I am lying. They said how could I meet someone on tv! They said I have no proof...”

“How about we give them some proof?” Minjoo leans towards the table and smiles warmly. “We can take a selfie and you can show your friends you aren’t lying. How about that Nako ah?”

“Really?”

Minjoo nods fervently. “Let’s take selfies after dinner shall we?”

The young girl copies Minjoo excitedly and she turns to her mother. “Jisung and all wouldn’t say I am lying anymore mom!” Eunbi laughs and pats her daughter, calming her down so she can continue with her dinner.

Thank you, Eunbi mouths her words to Minjoo and the actress nods politely. Naturally, Minjoo finds herself turning to Chaewon, becoming some sort of an instinct between the couple because in time, Chaewon also meets her gaze. It is just one quick hold of their eyes and that is enough to be telling of more than can be spoken.

Of course, Eunbi sees the little moment between them then choosing to look back to her daughter to give them their privacy. It is definite she can tell the difference in her sister’s eyes that Minjoo is someone special. From the moment she saw them that morning and through tonight’s dinner, Eunbi is assured that she did right telling Chaewon to try for one last hope because Chaewon found it. The times Chaewon subconsciously has her eyes lingering around her partner even when Minjoo does not realise, was not unnoticed by Eunbi. She will be sure to sister later. For now, she shifts a more neutral topic, also because she is genuinely curious since Chaewon hasn’t been around lately for her to ask.

“How’s the preparation for your big surgery? When is it?”

“Next next week. It's going alright I suppose.” Chaewon takes a mouthful of her rice and chews on it.

Her answer may be short but the frown on her forehead is an obvious indication to Eunbi that this upcoming surgery is troubling Chaewon somehow. Difficult surgeries don’t bother Chaewon this way, her younger sister thrives on the challenges which is how she got to be such an accomplished surgeon in the first place. There must be something more.

“Are you stressed over it, Chae?”

Eunbi’s question alerts Minjoo and she focuses on the sisters’ conversation. At times during their own conversations, Chaewon has told Minjoo bits and pieces of her work and Minjoo listened enough to understand that the surgery Chaewon has been prepping for is no easy task. It is a patient specially coming down from Dubai to receive Chaewon’s treatment. But to hear that Eunbi is sensing something more to it that Minjoo may have missed, Minjoo intends to focus so she can better learn about her new girlfriend.

“I guess it is more of the pressure when people say, ‘Dr Kim you can pull off this surgery the second time around, bringing glory to our hospital since you were the first neurosurgeon in Asia to do it anyways.’ I keep hearing these things, sure the procedure is the same but the human body is different. There are so many variables and these talks do not help me or Wonyoung since she is assisting me. She was still a rookie when I did this operation the first time but she has improved greatly and I want her to have the experience without external pressure.” Chaewon puts down her spoon once she finishes and meets Minjoo’s eyes. She is concerned that the additional talk may get Minjoo upset because it wasn’t mentioned to her. Chaewon hopes her eyes can convey that it wasn’t intentional that she never spoke more. Obviously with the look Minjoo is returning back, Chaewon worries too much.

So Chaewon looks back across to finish. “It’s not biggie really. I didn’t even realise I appeared stressed till you mentioned it.” Chaewon then turns to Minjoo. ”I try to not let these things bother me too much because I know what I should do but I guess these external pressures do creep in after all.”

Minjoo is glad to be invited to this family dinner as the sisters let her into their space and she gets to see the side of ‘younger sister’ Chaewon and her dynamic with her older sister. It should never be about comparing the ‘closeness’ of each of the respective relationships because every relationship is unique. Being in Chaewon’s life is about complementing with the other parts.

“Well, keep the focus as you always do. It’s you the surgeon and them the patient. That’s all that matters. You have been doing that for your whole career, no different to it now.” Eunbi gives her usual big sister advice and Nako finds her cue to jump in.

"Yes Aunty Chae is the best surgeon! Aunty Minjoo, do you know that Aunty Chae can slice the skin of a grape off the fruit cleanly and even sew it back together?"

Minjoo shows her interest in Chaewon's party trick. "I have never seen her surgery skills before actually!"

"Aunty Chae you have to do it! I'll find a grape!" The young girl excitedly jumps off her seat and runs into the kitchen. With Nako's enthusiasm and the cheeky motivation from Minjoo that instantly brings a wave of warmth into her tummy, the surgeon walks to her bag to take her portable surgery kit out.

"Nako really likes watching Chae do this. This is the closest she can get to seeing her aunt in action since we don't show her all the gory stuff." Eunbi tells Minjoo while the other two gather back at the dining table.

Nako diligently puts the one small grape on the space that Chaewon has cleared aside. Chaewon opens her portable surgical kit. Minjoo cannot recognise the tools but she is still awed by their presence - an actual surgery kit used by a surgeon. Chaewon catches Minjoo's gaze and