Wendy woke up the next morning with a splitting headache. A groan escaped from her lips when she felt the blinding light coming from the window, rolling to lie on her stomach, she covered her head with her pillow. And then a realization hit her after. How did she even get home?

She scrambled her brain for a memory, and it hit her. Right. She remembers it now.

The cold air of the night mixed with the warm air pouring from the car’s heater was the thing that she woke up to, plus the soft dainty fingers that were laced with hers along with a warm hand caressing her hair gently.

They were in a backseat of a car. Wendy blinked a few times trying to register everything, she raised her head and gained the attention of the person next to her.

“You okay?” She heard her girlfriend ask.

She hummed and went back to lie on Irene’s lap again, hand still holding tightly onto her lover. She squeezed Irene’s own three times and the latter responded with the same and an extra squeeze, just to say that she loves her more.

“I thought you could do better than 5 shots, sis.”

“Shut up, Seunghee.”

Chuckles from her companion reverberated inside the car and that was the last thing she recalled before passing out on Irene’s lap again.

Wendy reached out for the space beside her and was only met with an empty space, only left with crumpled sheets left with Irene’s mark. She raised her head and thought to look at the time. It was already 9:15 in the morning, she grunted as she pulled herself up and dragged herself to the washroom, forcing herself to do her morning routine though still feeling a bit groggy from last night.

The moment she reached midway of the flight of their stairs, she heard muffled giggles and inaudible noises coming from their living room. She leisurely poked her way towards the ruckus and there she saw Irene getting huddled by her family and they’re all giggling with glee.

It was an endearing sight, if she could say. She loves that Irene’s accepted by her family. She noticed that there was something on Irene’s lap where everyone’s attention was set there.

“This was little Seungwan on her first day of school.”

“Aww, she looks so cute with her pig tails and the tiny uniform. But that’s a frown on her face though, did she cry?”

“Oh she cried, like a lot! Snot was all over her face.”

“What is this, some kind of conference with me as the subject?”

All heads turned to her direction, their faces plastered with an amused smile and then turned back to the photo album on Irene’s lap. It was as if she was just a breeze of wind, her presence was felt but it was fleeting. She didn’t get an answer from everyone, there were like 10 or more hovering her girlfriend and yet no one even gave her a proper response. Wendy shook her head while chuckling and went to their kitchen to get her fix for breakfast.

She settled for a decent cheese sandwich and came back to her girlfriend and family. She sighed when she saw them still giggling and enjoying their time with her old photos.

“This photo was when Seungwan won their way to their first of many Inter-High school championships.”

“First of many?”

“Yes, you’re dating a four time champion in High School for soccer.” Wendy uttered quite smugly, earning a roll of eyes from her sister and a shake of head from her lover.

“Oh, I think there’s a set of photos you haven’t seen yet.”

This time Wendy heard her mother offer something to Irene. Hasn’t her girlfriend seen everything already?

“There’s still more?”

Then as if a light bulb popped above Seunghee’s head, she immediately knew what these photos were, “Oh! Are these the baby pics?”

“Mom, no!”

“Mom, yes!.”

It was all too late, her mother has already placed the photo album on Irene’s lap and much to her chagrin her girlfriend has now started flipping the pages of the damned album.

“Oh babe, I never thought I’d see you in your diapees and much more of you without any.”

Wendy was flustered the moment Irene raised an old photo of her with nothing on. Her cheeks turned red and it felt heat creep up. Everyone has indeed found this scene amusing basing on everyone’s boisterous laughter echoing inside their home and pretty much her girlfriend is enjoying her time with her family too. And so she let it be, what matters is that her girlfriend and her family is getting along, yes, getting along in ganging up on her.

Oh she just loves how her family finds enjoyment in embarrassing her.

*

It was a few hours after the embarrassing event by their living room and everyone in the Son household is bustling out to prepare for the Christmas Eve. She had just gotten out from the shower and noticed a certain brunette wasn’t there in her room, she immediately went down the moment she wore her clothes.

She saw her cousins by the living room trying to put on the holiday decorations on the walls, her sister by the fireplace arranging and organizing the gift boxes under the Christmas tree along with her younger cousins. She leaned back and tried to peek if the person she’s looking for is there, but she could only see some of the adults by the kitchen busy preparing for their Christmas menu later. A sigh escaped from her lips when she didn’t see Irene.

“If you’re looking for your girlfriend she’s taking a bath in my bathroom.”

“Oh.”

“You probably took a long time in there, she said she couldn’t hold it in anymore. Just what were you doing in there that it took you like more than an hour to take a bath.”

“I did nothing, I just took a bath!”

“Sheesh, calm down why are you so defensive.”

Wendy rolled her eyes from her sister’s teasing and was about to retort when she heard her name being called, she turned to her left and saw the adults gesturing their hands for her to come – she doesn’t know why they’re being shush acting in a secretive manner. She quickly turned to Seunghee and raised her brows to ask what’s this about.  Her sister just shrugged her shoulders, giving her a