Chapter 15 – Royal Penguins

[아직은 조금 낯설지만

그 미랠 난 볼 수가 있어

나보다 더 나를 잘 아는 건

니 버릇처럼 될 거란 걸

It’s still a little unfamiliar

But I can see the future

Knowing me better than myself

Will become a habit of yours]

“Wait…*smooch*…wait, don’t you think…*smooch*…this is too fast?”

She mumbles in between kisses as she tries her best to hold the older woman back by holding onto her shoulders. The older woman reluctantly breaks the kiss, sitting back upright very unwillingly, her hair disheveled and her robe nearly slipping off her body, granting Heejin a pretty clear view of her barely covered chest.

The sight before her makes Heejin almost wish she didn’t stop the kiss earlier.

“Jagiya, what’s wrong?”

“I just think we are moving a bit too fast. I mean…”

“This is our 10th date already, Jeon Jinhee, how much longer do I have to wait? Geez, it feels like I am the man in this relationship.”

“I mean, are you sure you want to do this? Don’t you want to wait until we are actually married?”

Heejin rambles, her mind still fuzzy from the intense make out session earlier. She sees Jiwoo frowns her eyebrows deeply but the older woman makes no effort to adjust her revealing clothing.

“Is there a reason as to why you want to rush…this?”

She asks innocently, to which Jiwoo immediately frowns at again, her face looking rather hurt by that question. Jiwoo bites her bottom lips, an action that Heejin finds to be quite a turn on but she will never tell the older woman that, before saying very softly, almost as if she didn’t want Heejin to hear her.

“I…can’t help it. Every time I’m near you, I want to kiss you, touch you, and…feel you.”

Heejin’s eyes widen. Jiwoo is really not holding back today, is she?

“Some nights, I have been having really vivid dreams about you and me doing some pretty intimate things and it felt good then, so I wondered if it would feel the same when we actually do it for real.”

This is the part where Heejin completely loses it.

She bites her tongue to stop herself from blacking out. She clenches her fists. Nothing seems to be working. She is still dazed.

It’s only when she sees Jiwoo’s robe slips down further that Heejin finally wakes up from her trance and instinctively reaches out her hand to put it back up, her eyes looking elsewhere, trying her very best to avoid the older woman’s bare chest on display.

“Do you not want me the way I do, jagiya?”

She hears Jiwoo ask very softly, her hands on her lap as she stares at her with the most adorable expression Heejin has ever seen in her life. Heejin feels her knees going weak, her heart racing faster, and her breath hitching.

Now, how on earth is she supposed to resist a pouting Kim Jiwoo when she is sitting on her bed, barely covered in clothing, looking so darn cute with those big pouty lips?

“Am I…not enough…for you?”

Jiwoo asks again, her eyes looking very teary. Heejin didn’t miss the way Jiwoo’s lips quiver when she say those words, as if she isn’t good enough. As if Heejin is ever going to fall for someone else.

Screw it.

She is going to risk it.

It’s now or never.

Heejin takes a deep sigh before pulling the older woman to sit on her lap. She quickly wraps her arms around Jiwoo and looks up to see the older woman wrapping her arms around her neck instinctively, her eyes no longer teary but her lips now pouting.

Jeon Heejin may be a ruthless archer out on the battlefield, may have defeated dozens of men, may have fought in many bloody battles but when it comes to Kim Jiwoo pouting in her arms like this, the great Jeon Heejin is reduced to nothing but a whipped girlfriend.

“You’re everything I’ve ever wanted.”

She confesses earnestly, her eyes looking right into Jiwoo’s. The older woman immediately puts on a bright smile, the very same smile she fell for when she first saw the girl back at the palace. Jiwoo leans in closer, assuming that they will be continuing from where they left off but Heejin cups her face instead, surprising the older woman.

“I have to tell you something first.”

“Can it not wait?”

“It can’t. You might even leave me.”

“Wait, did you…cheat on me?!”

“No! I only love you!”

“Then, are you married…and I am your mistress?!”

“No! What are you talking about? I’m only twenty!”

“Then what is it? What can be worse than what I’ve said?”

Jiwoo questions with a loud sigh, as she frowns her eyebrows deeply. Heejin realizes that her girlfriend is frowning way too much for her liking. She finally takes a deep breath and closes her eyes as she confesses the bitter truth.

“I’m a woman.”

She keeps her eyes closed, expecting, anticipating for Jiwoo to hit, slap or scream at her for lying, for being so dishonest with her but she feels and hears nothing. Curious, she opens her right eye slowly and sees Jiwoo staring at her with an unfazed expression. Almost as if she didn’t hear what she had just said.

“Did you hear what I said?”

Heejin asks, both of her eyes open this time, finding it odd that Jiwoo still looked unfazed.

“I said I am a woman.”

“So?”

“Wait, what do you mean so? I am a woman, like you know, I have the same body parts as you.”

“Yes, you have two s and a . Yes I get it, I know what a woman is.”

“Then why are you not…you know, reacting like a normal person?”

Heejin asks, now frustrated that Jiwoo is being very nonchalant about this.

This is what should have happened, at least this is what she thinks. Jiwoo should have at least slapped her, at least once followed by a series of screams directed at her, such as “You lied to me?” or “Do I look gay to you?”. And of course, according to Heejin’s knowledge from reading countless romance novels, Jiwoo would then grab her things and leave her place by now. She would probably avoid Heejin at school and never ever talk to her again.

At least, this is what she expected and braced herself for since the very beginning.

So why oh, why is Jiwoo still sitting on her lap, looking even more seductive than ever?

“I knew.”

Those two words made Heejin gasp. She widens her eyes and blinks repeatedly in disbelief.

“You…you…knew?”

“Yes, you’re not being very subtle about it, you know? Let’s be honest, you look nothing like a man.”

Jiwoo states as she eyes Heejin from top to bottom, giving her a very questionable look.

“The only thing manly about you are those strong biceps and abs of yours and of course, your deep voice. Other than that, everything, I repeat, everything about you is just so womanly.”

“But…but…if you knew, why…why didn’t you say something?”

“Well, I wanted you to tell me yourself. And besides, I’m sure you had a pretty good reason for that.”

“Yeah, I did. I’ve…been disguising myself for the past ten years because my father does not have any male heir so he has been preparing me to take over the family’s business.”

Yes, that sounds pretty legit. She will believe her right?

Technically, it wasn’t a lie, yet it wasn’t exactly the full truth.

“I see…I was so sure that you disguised yourself as a man to enroll yourself in my school just to court me because you thought I was straight. Looks like I was wrong.”

Heejin’s eyes widen in shock. Jiwoo should really consider being a detective. How is she able to see through everything? Embarrassed, Heejin quickly changes the topic.

“So, just to confirm, you are really, really okay with me being a…woman?”

“Well, I’m definitely still sitting on your lap, am I not?”

Jiwoo says with a smirk, adjusting her hips to move impossibly closer, closing whatever distance that was left between them. Heejin finally lets out a loud chuckle, resting her head on the older woman’s chest happily, after knowing that the older woman knew all along.

She knew.

She knew all along.

She knew and yet she stayed.

Heejin was on cloud nine.

“For the record, it doesn’t matter to me whether you are a man or a woman, the person I fell for is you, Jeon Jinhee.”