Irene was a proud girlfriend, and she loved being able to praise Seulgi’s beauty, warmth, and work ethic to everyone she met. After catching the serial killer, Seulgi had received an award for her diligence and quick action, and the media in Busan fawned over the good-looking detective who looked like she walked straight out of a photoshoot.

            And so they hired her for one.

            “Irene, are you sure you want to follow me? I was told it would take all day, and I don’t want you to tire out.”

            Irene tucked the younger girl’s hair behind her ear before reaching up to peck her lips. “Seeing you energizes me, so no worries about that.”

            “Aren’t you a sweet-talker.” Seulgi held Irene’s face between her palms. “Are you trying to give me diabetes?”

            “You’re just rubbing off on me.”

            “I’m just speaking the truth.”

            Irene grinned. “So am I.”

            “Your love for me is adorable, but sometimes scary.”

            Irene frowned. “What do you mean?”

            The detective shifted her arms to wrap around Irene’s waist. “I’m afraid that you won’t be able to function without me.”

            “That’s because I wouldn’t be able to.” Irene’s mind flashed back to the various times Seulgi ended up in the hospital while on duty and shuddered. She had to mentally block herself from recalling the day at the warehouse. “You gave me a reason to be happy again.”

            “I put you through so much.”

            “No, Seulgi.” Irene traced the scar on Seulgi’s face. It was faded but still stood out against the younger girl’s skin. “Remember we promised not to talk about that. We deserve each other; that’s why we met.”

            The taller girl’s gaze bore into Irene’s face. “God, I love you so much.”

            “I love you too, baby. Stay by my side forever, okay?”

-------

            A fire burned inside Irene’s stomach as she stood with the crew, watching her girlfriend pose with a model for a new nationwide police project poster. The tall man next to Seulgi let his hands linger a bit too long on her shoulders and back, and his smile was a tad too wide for Irene’s liking. It didn’t help that Seulgi was completely oblivious to his flirting and reciprocated his sunny attitude.

            “Okay, we’ll take ten!” the director shouted and people placed down their equipment to get coffee, smoke, call someone, whatever. But Irene remained in her spot without moving, glaring at the guy named Jackson who kept Seulgi in conversation during the break.

            Seulgi glanced her way and waved the smaller girl over. Irene pursed her lips in discontent before making her way to the detective, putting an extra sway to her hips and keeping her gaze locked on Seulgi. Seulgi raised an eyebrow as her eyes trailed down Irene’s walking form, but she didn’t say anything when the older girl arrived.

            “Um, Jackson.” Seulgi placed a hand on Irene’s back. Friendly. Cautious. “This is Irene.”

            Jackson maintained a pleasant smile as he stretched out his hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Jackson. You must be Seulgi’s friend.”

            Irene gritted her teeth to prevent herself from outing both of them as she tightly gripped his hand. His eyes widened imperceptibly in surprise. “Mmhmm.”

            “Uh, Irene?” Jackson raised a brow when Irene didn’t let him go from her death grip. “My hand…”

            “Oh, I’m so sorry,” Irene said with an overly sweet smile as she finally let go. She saw Seulgi furrow her eyebrows from the corner of her eye. If only her girlfriend knew that Irene just wanted to destroy Jackson’s hands for touching Seulgi’s body.

            “Well, I must say you’re one lucky woman.” Jackson laughed. “I would have loved to be friends with such a gorgeous person as Seulgi from the get go.”

            Really? Flirting in front of her? Irene took a deep breath and felt her finger twitch when Jackson took a step closer to Seulgi. Seulgi blinked a few times at him confusedly and leaned back a bit when he tried to pat her shoulder.

            “Tell me, Irene,” he continued. “Does Seulgi have a special someone in her life? Or can a man dream?”

            No, you can’t dream because she’s ing gay and ing me, Irene wanted to scream. She tilted her head.

            “She doesn’t have a man.”

            Irene felt Seulgi stiffen. “Um, well, I don’t have a boyfriend, but I’m not really...available.”

            Jackson stared intensely at Seulgi. “Oh, do you have one of those…” he waved his hands about- “arrangements with a guy? No strings attached?”

            “Err...no.”

            “Then are you waiting for some dude to come back?” He frowned. “Because he probably isn’t coming back. You should move on,” he said, smiling again. “I can for sure tell you that there’s plenty of men who would meet you. I mean, I would too.”

            “Jackson, I—”

            “Alright, let’s start again!”

            Seulgi bit h