She was not kidding when she said she would take many pictures. For someone whose career is built on being in front of the camera, Minjoo surely had no hesitance finding subjects for her own lens. The actress had brought her film camera on this trip, taking it out when they were surrounded by bright dusty orange autumn foliage. The younger Kim relished being among nature, she practically glowed as she moved excitedly around with Chaewon watching happily from the back. Though most of the time she was dragged into the frame and while she much rather be wanting to turn the camera back to the owner, Chaewon relented fairly easily when Minjoo gave her eyes she could never find it in herself to argue otherwise. With the beautiful landscape, it definitely attracted more than a few people to the popular viewing spots so they found it in pockets of privacy for Minjoo to tug her mask down and squeeze her face right to Chaewon’s to snap a selfie or more. These made for beautiful photos - the background only complementary to the smiles that were undoubtedly bright, completing faces that radiated happiness.

It is what is it, absolute joy being with each other.

Their drive around various spots took them past a market which made Minjoo unreservedly excited to walk and be around the seafood haul this season. Jeju is near the ocean after all, not having seafood here practically counts as not coming. Somewhere between walking around being entranced by the seafood offerings ended with Minjoo deciding they should make dinner of their own tonight - by them, she means Chaewon for sure, since in Minjoo’s defence, Chaewon was bragging too much about her vongole making skills. So now they are doing the most domestically couple-y thing by being in the supermarket, after putting the styrofoam box full of seafood haul in the boot, to shop for ingredients to match their mains.

Minjoo leads the front of the shopping cart with her hand pulling it and Chaewon pushing from behind. For someone who does not cook, Minjoo sure can suggest. Being insistent about certain things, Minjoo and Chaewon argue about the pasta choice-

“Whole Wheat is good for our health.”

“It’s disgusting. Pasta is meant to be made by normal flour.”

To wine choices-

“It’s smooth, velvety…”

“It’s going to be cooked down.”

Desserts too are in the fight.

“Ice cream is the perfect end to every meal.”

“Surely not three tubs. We are literally only staying for two nights.”

With all the arguments, it is plenty obvious that they enjoy it very much. The cliche old, domestic couple vibe has always been the dream and to feel it so thoroughly in complete realness, these two are ers for it. As the sun begins to set on their first day in the Jeju, a crack of gold is seeping into the blue sky with autumn colors lining the streets as they drive to the accommodation Chaewon had booked, there is nothing more perfect than this moment.

“You are staring.” Chaewon comments without looking over to Minjoo but the grin working up her face is an indication of how pleased Chaewon is with spotting that. Minjoo does not turn away, instead deciding to do her staring much more blatantly now by angling her body to face the driver better. With a side profile like Chaewon’s, Minjoo is pretty sure the public would accept her as easily in the ranks of an idol star.

“That’s because I can.”

“Stop flaunting the fact that I am practically your chauffeur.”

“That’s because I can.” Minjoo repeats the same line again in a more taunting manner. Chaewon reads that meaning very clearly because Minjoo is not wrong, she certainly can. Chaewon is that whipped for her and she is so happy right now of the trip she impulsively and very rightfully booked.

Once she puts gear stick into park, Chaewon finally is able to return the gaze that is on her and the look given is increasingly familiar, featuring more and more prominently as their relationship develops. Minjoo’s feelings have always been plainly obvious and are as clear as day. Of course Chaewon sees it.

She holds their eyes together and not a word is exchanged with the quiet hum of the car engine as their only accompaniment. The golden hue of the setting sun is slightly more prominent now, casting the car in an orange light. To suit this moment they are sharing, a soft voice seems right. “We are here.”

“I know.”

“Not interested to see what I got us?”

“Not as much as what I am seeing now.” Chaewon purses her lips at Minjoo’s unexpected comeback. Minjoo reaches out to caress Chaewon by her chin. Her eyes holding Chaewon’s without wavering and the moment seems to shift to something different now. The deep tone in which Minjoo delivers the next line is very telling. “I can flirt too you know.”

“Evidently.” Chaewon is surprised that did not come out in a croak. Minjoo has her moments of empowerment and confidence and Chaewon is glad she is able to bring that out in her girlfriend, just proving how comfortable Minjoo is around her. This moment is exactly that, Minjoo knows what she can do to Chaewon and she is leveraging. Feelings plenty obvious and naturally that translates to the attraction that is definitely not lacking.

Surprisingly, all Minjoo gives is a gentle squeeze on Chaewon’s chin before purposefully leaning away. “Time to go.” Minjoo casually announces like she didn’t just do something and she gets off the car to head to the boot. Chaewon has to snap herself out of it and follow along.

Standing before a two storey white house, Minjoo is more certain of the fact that Chaewon’s a romantic at heart. When Chaewon was describing to her about the airbnb she booked, “a house all to ourselves with a private beach access”, Minjoo had an inkling it was more than the same considerations of privacy and something similar to the choice of Jeju as their destination. It is like at Chaewon’s New York home where there was the feeling of isolation like the entire world has only them.

Chaewon reveals the open plan ground floor where everything is in view. Their luggages are dragged in and they move to bring the groceries as well. The entire place is not as big as Chaewon’s New York home but it is very nice. White walls wrap around the space with sandy colored furnitures adorning the space. Once they ensured everything is stored away properly, Minjoo naturally drifted to the horizontal wide window that faces the ocean. The window frames the picturesque view of the waves crashing into shore and the calming sight of it gets Minjoo relaxed. The repetitive motion is nothing special but it is still deeply entracing. Suddenly she feels a presence behind her back and smiling instinctively, Minjoo doesn’t move. Chaewon wraps her arms around Minjoo and her slightly shorter height nicely allows Chaewon to rest her head on Minjoo’s shoulder in order to share the view. Minjoo clings both hands on Chaewon’s hold around her.

“You picked a beautiful place.”

“I am glad you like it.”

More orange paint the blue sky and interestingly, fusing into something where pink can even be seen. Whatever the colors are, the sight’s surely something.

“I thought of something I want us to do together.”

“Sure, what is it?”

Minjoo leans back and tilts her head slightly so she can snuggle closer. “Sunrise. I want to see it together with you.”

Minjoo has been thinking about how much a romantic Chaewon is, when she herself is nothing short of that. They are reflecting of each other’s adoration for the other and with Chaewon’s firmer hug, the older woman whispers her response. “I would love that.”

--

Minjoo is going to take watching Chaewon cook to be the closest representation to how Chaewon is like in the operating theatre since she will never get to see the latter. Sure of her every step, the surgeon moves around the kitchen seamlessly and her knife skills are to match the ease and confidence she holds. A knife and a scalpel are miles apart for tools of the trade but how she even knew of Chaewon’s famous pasta vongole was because it came with Chaewon reminiscing of how she lived in many parts of the world during her career - be it for gaining more experience by learning under renowned surgeons or giving out the experience in being the requested surgeon to perform difficult ones. Naturally, Chaewon honed her cooking skills from staying alone overseas, she could not always have takeout. True to her performance - Minjoo deemed it as that because it was so obvious Chaewon was purposely accentuating some movements to impress Minjoo - and her words, the pasta vongole tastes amazing. Chaewon even made sides and it is exactly a date as they eat, laugh and talk over good food, leftover white wine, and most importantly, lovely company. Minjoo knows from how breathless Chaewon was after the kiss she gave that Chaewon sufficiently received her appreciation for dinner.

Balanced is their relationship as Minjoo shoos Chaewon off to shower and she will take over the task of cleaning up. The younger Kim is pretty stubborn when she chooses to and Chaewon understands when to give in so after taking her medication, she goes up to bathe first.

In a sweater and light pajama pants, Chaewon pours herself a glass of red wine and takes a sip before settling comfortably cross-legged on the sofa. Minjoo gave her permission to start the wine. She pushes up her glasses that are sliding down her nose bridge so she can better see what she is typing on her phone. It is a long message and she pretty much types all she has in mind when her brain registers the faint presence in the room. Chaewon holds back her smile and she checks what she has written before sending the text out.

Instead of catching Chaewon by surprise it ends up being the reversal given the way Chaewon nonchalantly looks up. Stopped in the act, Minjoo’s shocked brain automatically spills what is on her mind. “I like it when you wear your glasses.”

Chaewon grins, a reply already ready but she will take a second first to admire her girlfriend from head to toe. With makeup removed, hair long and silky, Minjoo is still able to present herself as a goddess through and through. Her satin buttoned down white pajamas matching the angelic image she has and Chaewon reaches her hand out for Minjoo to come over. Minjoo does, placing the iPad she is holding on the couch and sits right next to Chaewon.

“I already know that.” Minjoo wears a disbelieving expression, probably thinking that Chaewon’s being her cocky self again so Chaewon clarifies. “For many times I have to pretend that I didn’t know you were staring at me while I was reading my stuff. You were not being subtle at all, Kim Minjoo.”

Minjoo’s cheeks turn rosy at the exposé but figures there is no use denying it. “Nobody said you have to look this attractive in glasses.”

“Thanks but I am pretty sure only you think this way since you are dating me after all.”

Minjoo remembers how the nurses looked at Chaewon at the hospital. She sniggers at Chaewon’s at times obliviousness which kind of is understandable given how much of a one-track mind she has in her workplace. Either way, Minjoo playfully taps on the tip of Chaewon’s nose before leaning to pour herself a glass of wine. She passes Chaewon hers so they can make a toast.

“To us and all the celebrations we have.”

“To those indeed.” Chaewon returns with a sincere gaze and they lightly clink their glasses together. Playful banter at the supermarket aside, the current red wine is tasty and so was the white they had from dinner. Minjoo lightly sips on it; she resolves to slowly savor every drip of this delicacy.

“Shall we cuddle and read like we usually do?” Minjoo laughs when she turns around. Chaewon has her arms spread wide open, ready for the said cuddle. Like going back home, Minjoo finds her position very easily against Chaewon’s side and her head on the older woman’s shoulder. Chaewon has her left arm resting along the back of the sofa so she is using her phone single handedly with her right. Minjoo is opening up the usual news sites and her eyes catches a glimpse of Chaewon’s phone. Minjoo smiles. Her girlfriend is so predictable, of course she will be looking at brain charts. While it may seem like she is working, Minjoo knows this isn’t - this is simply Chaewon doing what relaxes her. She wisely picked what she loved to do for her work so the lines are at times blurred, but Chaewon described before, examining brain scans is like completing sudoku. Work is when she surrounds herself with many other medical books and papers to build a solid research plan.

Smiling, Minjoo turns her attention back to her loaded webpage. A picture of herself in the main banner surprises her a little but reading the title immediately relives her. ‘Kim Minjoo is positively considering writer Kim Eun Soon’s upcoming drama’.

“I like it when they use that picture.”

Clearly, Chaewon is also not entirely focused on her own screen.

The picture used in the article is the standard profile picture from Minjoo’s company taken about a year back. Minjoo was in a casual white shirt and light blue jeans. “Oh and that too.” Chaewon adds, scrolling the page slightly higher for Minjoo to see what she is referring to. The group picture of Angel from the backstage of Minjoo’s fanmeet is plastered largely, accompanying the article detailing their reunion.

“Would you like to meet them someday?” The question comes out without much thought, it seems very natural. She looks to Chaewon for her reaction.

“Do you want me to?” Chaewon does not seem bothered by the suddenness and in fact, more curious to hear Minjoo’s thoughts than anything.

Minjoo nods. Having Chaewon meet her members is like meeting Eunbi and Nako for her. Her members are important in her life and Chaewon is now a part of that. Having them get to know each other will be everything for Minjoo. Still, she also remembers how respectful Chaewon was of her opinion before bringing her home for dinner so Minjoo knowingly adds. “But only if you want to.”

The grin on Chaewon leads Minjoo to the answer that is to come. “I love to.”

“I’ll set something up then!” Minjoo purses her lips in clear excitement.

Chaewon focuses back on her own phone. She isn’t really pleased by this email sent to her because the brain chart she has opened belongs to the case Dr Kang was persuading her to take up. He still looped her in regardless of whether she was participating, attached with a message, ‘Sending this to you because it’s the department’s work after all.’ While they do open discussions for big cases like this, this process is usually taken on by the lead surgeon, not the chief of neurosurgery who obviously has more than intended. Still, a brain scan is a brain scan, Chaewon can never resist a good problem solving and she really is intrigued by the unique case in hand when she feels Minjoo squirming.

“Kim Chaewon.” Chaewon is about to scold Minjoo for another blatant fun of not addressing her properly when Minjoo’s iPad is in her face. “Woah.” She mumbles while trying to see what Minjoo is pointing to. At the bottom half of the news site where headlines of other news sections are found is a picture of her hospital and Minjoo calling out her full name makes sense now.

‘Seoul Hospital’s Dr Kim Chaewon becomes first in Asia to complete-’

Chaewon frowns at the term the reporter used for the surgery. It is not wrong but it is not entirely accurate either. Okay, Chaewon is being overly particular again when Minjoo beside is clearly overjoyed. “Our articles are in the same homepage! I never thought that is possible since you are not a celebrity and all. Not pointing out that fact. You know it doesn’t matter to me, you know I’ve dated one- and wait, you are a celebrity. A medical celebrity because people always go ‘wow’ when you are in doctor mode, I’ve seen that and-” Minjoo pauses.

Chaewon didn’t ask her to. She surely didn’t because Chaewon instead has that look on. One where her eyes carried so much adoration and her smile brought up lazily. Minjoo is not too sure when she will ever know, but she is becoming more certain what she is seeing play out on Chaewon’s face is one thing - her ‘I am in love’ look.

In every physical possible way, Minjoo’s body is reacting. How can she not really when she is at the receiving end of something this special? “I am rambling.” Minjoo merely states to prevent herself from babbling something she shouldn’t be.

“I have no complaints.” Of course Chaewon doesn’t, her expression says everything. Still, Chaewon pecks Minjoo on the lips to prove her point and by now, Minjoo is practically exploding with feelings she has to turn away.

Reading the article will be her welcomed distraction even as her greatest interest is coiling up behind her also joining in the read. Minjoo has to focus real hard on the words. The article starts off detailing the medical side, expanding on the implications of this successful surgery. It gravitates to Chaewon herself and Korea’s pride to have a neurosurgeon of this caliber in the country. The reporter goes on to mention that it is precisely this level of medical success that people are coming in to seek treatment and why one can look forward to the other tough case lined up. When asking for comment if Chaewon is going to be leading this next one, the reply given by the Chief of neurosurgery was, “we haven’t decided who to lead but here at Seoul Hospital, we work as a team and Dr Kim is still working with us.” The ambiguity is teasing but it brings up good hopes as the reporter notes, “A surgery at the hospital Dr Kim Chaewon works at? One can trust that they are in good hands.”

Wrapped in pride that the Dr Kim Chaewon is also who Minjoo calls hers, Minjoo’s earlier shyness is forgotten. She turns back to face Chaewon. “It’s funny how it is written like teasers for the next album comeback or something. But of course it’s you right?” Minjoo says with much pride in certainty, in the way that even if Chaewon has to be busy again, it didn’t matter because Chaewon would be doing what she loves and what makes her shine the brightest.

That is Minjoo isn’t she? The person who holds space in her heart to prioritise the best for others, even when she stands to lose. Sh