Soyeon curled into Yuqi’s tight hold, softly nuzzling into Yuqi’s neck as they both laid beneath a thin layer of sheets, hot, spent, and under the beautiful spell of love.

It was almost completely peaceful, with the soft patter of rain against their window, coupled with Yuqi’s stabilizing pulse as they came down from their high of bliss. 

Almost completely peaceful.

Yuqi’s phone hadn’t stopped vibrating on the nightstand, going off again and again, slicing through the comfortable silence of the night.

At first, Soyeon thought it would cease. She burrowed deeper into Yuqi’s warmth, almost purring contentedly at the way Yuqi was tiredly her back.

But there it was. Those incessant buzzing vibrations, one after another. They were driving Soyeon to the brink of insanity.

“Yuqi.” Soyeon groaned into her skin, her voice coming out as a sort of whine.

“Mmm.” Yuqi mumbled barely coherent, eyelids heavy. “Babe?”

“Phone.” Soyeon grumbled, pressing a kiss to Yuqi’s skin.

“Kill it.” Yuqi demanded, relinquishing her hold on Soyeon momentarily. Soyeon rolled over reluctantly to the source of the noise, smiling amusedly when she felt Yuqi’s arms follow her needily.

Soyeon took the phone up into her hand to investigate the source of the sound.

“Yuqi?” Soyeon blinked at the lit phone screen, eyes staring curiously, amusement seeping into her tone. “Why do you have a group chat named The Kung Fu Crackheads?” 

Yuqi muffled a laugh, extending her hand lazily towards Soyeon, so that the older girl could hand her the still buzzing phone. Soyeon blinked, giving her girlfriend her phone, and settling back comfortably into Yuqi’s arms. 

“It’s a group chat with a bunch of our old friends. We met in martial arts class when we were kids.” Yuqi explained, holding the phone above her, opening and reading every new message that had popped up. 

“Is that the Jackson with the cheesecake? You know, the one that’s not as good as mine.” Soyeon playfully and smugly grinned against Yuqi’s bare shoulder, peeking at the bright screen above them. 

“You remember?” Yuqi said in awe. 

Soyeon subtly nodded, “of course, I remember. You mentioned it at the club, when I first met you.” 

Yuqi nudged Soyeon’s head softly with her shoulder, prompting the older girl to raise her head to look at her questioningly. Soyeon grinned, seeing Yuqi with her lips pursued, awaiting a kiss. 

“You’re very attentive. I love that about you.” Yuqi mumbled against Soyeon’s kiss. 

Soyeon hummed in question, “attentive? I don’t know about that, maybe I’m just smitten.” 

Yuqi chuckled, shaking her head, as she turned back towards her phone, typing back her own responses to the chat. 

“I’m planning a surprise for Shuhua.” Yuqi says. Soyeon raised her eyebrows in surprise, nuzzling even closer, as if that was possible. “Oh yeah?” 

Yuqi hummed, “she’s been so stressed lately, and I’m worried. Especially after the whole Renjun thing, and her panic attacks coming back…. I just want her to unwind, even if it’s just for a few days.. so I thought I’d surprise her with our friends coming home.” 

Soyeon rose from her buried position at the crook of Yuqi’s neck, balancing her weight on her elbows, as she stared lovingly at Yuqi’s focused face. “You’re amazing, you know that? I’m proud of you.” Soyeon said, voice oozing with honey and affection. 

A smile crept onto Yuqi’s lips, throwing her phone onto the bed, and hooking her arms behind Soyeon’s neck to pull her closer towards her. “Yeah?” 

Soyeon hummed, leaning down to place multiple kisses on Yuqi’s grin, “mhm. How did I get so lucky?” 

Lips were placed all over Yuqi’s milky skin, peppered presses of soft lips turning to wet open mouth kisses that made Yuqi squirm under the older girl. 

“Perhaps it had to do with that cheesecake recipe you’re so proud about.” Yuqi teased, craning her neck to give Soyeon better access. 

Soyeon’s chuckle left vibrations against Yuqi’s throat, “or maybe it was these fingers that I said you would love so much.” Soyeon trailed her fingers teasingly across Yuqi’s bare skin, lowering slowly, as Yuqi’s eyes widened in anticipation. 

Yuqi let out a growl at the painfully slow pace, “you were cocky when I first met you.” Soyeon scoffed, tilting her head and watching Yuqi close her eyes shut as her fingers kept going lower and lower, “you were challenging me. I never back down from a challenge, and look where we are now.” Soyeon grinned smugly. 

Yuqi mirrored her grin, “I love you.”

“I love you more.”

//

Perhaps Shuhua went a little harder on herself after the incident, never giving herself a break, and burying herself deeper into her studies more than she usually did. Now, Shuhua just saw her busyness as a distraction that she needed to be focused on, as ironically as it sounds. 

Her methods were very counterproductive, really, even she knew that. Shuhua kept herself busy to forget, but it took a toll on her mental health, and that probably would elicit some sort of downfall that would end up causing her to break down into another attack that she so badly wanted to avoid and forget. 

And so she practically lived in the library for the past week. Shuhua traveling to and from work or the clinic, then straight to the library, and if not the library, to her classes. 

Soojin, on the other hand, was helpless. 

She was following all of Yuqi’s advise on how to best handle this situation, but Soojin didn’t see it going anywhere. She drove Shuhua where she needed to be, to and from, despite her attempts to persuade Shuhua into maybe skipping a day at the library and resting instead. Soojin would be naive if she thought, even for a second,  that Shuhua would agree to such a suggestion. 

Soojin promised to be patient. And she was slowly trying to understand how Shuhua coped. 

So here she was, at the library, chin resting on her palm, as she curiously gazed at her girlfriend. Soojin had ended a company meeting twenty minutes early just so she could pick up some take out and coffee for Shuhua, and drop it off to her. It put Soojin more at ease knowing that Shuhua was at least eating right, and she wouldn’t let that thought bother her throughout the day when Soojin was there to see it for herself. 

That, and just because Soojin wanted to see her. 

“You’re staring.” Shuhua muttered, ripping her eyes away from her textbook, flashing the older woman an amused look. 

Soojin grinned, “yes, I am.” She wasn’t even going to try and deny it. Soojin was in too deep. 

Shuhua rolled her eyes with a smile on her lips, closing the hardcover in front of her, and pushing it aside. She blinked at the dopey grin Soojin was giving her, before taking her usual coffee order that was in between them, and sipping from the cup. 

“You don’t have class?” Shuhua asked. 

Soojin shook her head, “nope, but I do have a meeting with a representative from my Las Vegas location in an hour.” A pout to her lips, Soojin’s voice came out sort of like a whine. Shuhua giggled, finding it amusing how she was still not used to this side of Soojin, yet feeling satisfied all the same that the older woman felt safe enough to allow every side of her to be seen by Shuhua. 

“Sometimes I forget you're this hot shot business woman. Especially when you do that.” Shuhua pointed at Soojin’s pout, the older woman casted her eyes down at where Shuhua’s finger hovered over her jutted lips. Soojin smiled mischievously, leaning forward to playfully bite onto Shuhua’s finger. 

Shuhua yelped, immediately covering , and wide eyes scanning the library with an apologetic look. Soojin quietly giggled, not looking apologetic at all, as she leaned back smugly into her chair. 

Shuhua clicked her tongue, nudging Soojin’s foot underneath the table in warning. “Babe! This is a library.” Shuhua whispered, tone firm and nagging. 

Soojin shrugged, turning her head towards the male student that sat at the end of the wooden table Shuhua had been studying at for the past hours. With a questioning look, and a laid back point of her finger towards him, “hey, you. Are we being disruptive?” 

Shuhua blinked, turning her head towards the terrified boy, as he didn’t even hesitate to shake his head with fear in his eyes. Shuhua couldn’t even voice out an apology for how childish her girlfriend was, as the boy, who looked to be a freshman, judging by the ‘Intro to Biology’ textbook he had on the table, got up abruptly and fled the area. 

“You’re unbelievable.” Shuhua sighed, rolling her eyes at the smug grin that Soojin still held. 

“Yeah, well, I just gave you a table all to yourself.” Soojin gestured to the abandoned side that the boy fled from. 

“You scared the poor boy away. He was shaking in his shoes.” Shuhua pouted sympathetically. 

Soojin shrugged, “that’s his problem. I wasn’t trying to be scary. I was just asking him a question.” 

Shuhua gave her a warning look, “baby.” 

Soojin sighed, “okay, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” And usually, Soojin would keep her ground, always needing and confident to be right, but when Shuhua was staring at her with those brown eyes; Soojin was already giving in too easily. 

Shuhua hummed, sliding her hands across the table to reach for Soojin's own, welding their fingers together. “I think he would have appreciated your apology.” Shuhua smiled sweetly, adoration oozing from her gaze. Soojin hummed, uninterested in that statement, and raised their conjoined hands to her lips instead. 

“I have to leave soon.” Soojin mumbled against Shuhua’s knuckles, pressing her lips against them softly. 

Shuhua had a teasing glint in her eyes, “you have to go play Boss Baby now?” 

Soojin scoffed, “I’ll have you know that I am very professional and sophisticated with my business affairs. I am not an animated baby wearing a diaper in a suit.” Shuhua bit her lip at the thought of seeing Soojin in a suit, eyes watching Soojin mindlessly fiddle with her hands. 

“You’re clingy like a baby.” Shuhua giggled. 

Soojin gave her an offended look, but a smile breaking out just as quickly. “I’m allowed to be clingy when my girlfriend is Shuhua Yeh.” Shuhua rolled her eyes at Soojin’s cheeky words, “shut up.” 

Soojin only gave her a soft smile, getting up from her seat to round the table, towering over Shuhua with one hand on the back of the younger girl’s seat, and the other on the table. “I’ll be back to give you dinner. Unless, of course, I can persuade you to come out with me instead, and we can go out on a little date.” Soojin said in a hushed whisper, bending slightly to lower her face closer, and adoring the way Shuhua cutely looked up at her. 

Shuhua hummed, “you said you had a meeting soon.” 

Soojin shrugged, “I’ll cancel it and clear my whole schedule.” 

Shuhua gave her a look, “you can do that?”