Joohyun woke up with a start, her hair a mess and drool marking her chin, as her phone alarm blared throughout her apartment. She yawned while rubbing her eyes beneath her round glasses, stretching her back against the chair where she fell asleep, before snoozing her alarm. She squinted her eyes, her vision blurry from sleep, as she tried to read the multiple lines of code in front of her. Once she remembered where she stopped with her project last night, she moved her mouse around and put her computer into sleep mode. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep in front of her computer again, but she was cramming a deliverable for work and it couldn’t be helped most of the time.

 

The woman dazedly walked into the tiny kitchen, her stomach rumbling from hunger. Opening her cabinets, Joohyun groaned when she realized she had no more cocoa powder left to make her favorite hot chocolate recipe.

 

“Guess I’ll have to go to the supermarket today,” she grumbled under her breath.

 

After pulling out a few ingredients, Joohyun whipped out a quick breakfast. She decided she would get her errands done first thing in the morning so she could spend the rest of her day trying to solve the bugs in her project.

 

Joohyun didn’t know she would soon encounter the one error that would change her life.

 

 

Seungwan rocked on the heels of her feet as she fixed the name pin on her blouse. It was her first day at her job in the supermarket and. She. Was. Excited.

 

“Son Seungwan,” her supervisor called from behind her.

 

The new employee turned around quickly and raised her hand, screaming, “That’s me!”

 

The supervisor winced at Seungwan’s loud voice and gave her the side eye. “No need to be so loud, Ms. Son. Are you all set for your first day?”

 

“Yes, sir!”

 

Her boss grunted. “Very well. You were briefed on how to man the cashier, correct?”

 

Nope, she wasn’t, but Seungwan was eager to please on her first day so she brightly said, “Yes, sir!”

 

The older man nodded before leaving Seungwan in her station. The new hire didn’t realize the weight of her lie until she was facing her cashier and the different buttons on screen overwhelmed her, their bright colors and complicated names confusing her.

 

“Oh, crap.”

 

The hair on the back of Seungwan’s hair stood up when she heard the speakers of the supermarket start playing music, a sign that it was officially open. She heard the rolling wheels of the grocery carts and she gulped as she saw people entering the store.

 

She gripped the sides of her cashier, sweat trickling down her neck in nervousness as she tried to understand the register. How do I even use this thing?!

 

Her heart raced when people started lining up in the counters beside hers, her eyes shifting back and forth nervously between the different buttons as she started to panic internally. That episode where several Spongebobs were running inside Spongebob’s brain and everything was on fire? Yup, that was definitely Seungwan right now.

 

“Hello, good morning.”

 

Seungwan almost screamed as a customer approached her station, a beautiful woman wearing an oversized sweater with round glasses and hair tied up in a messy bun. Seungwan was gobsmacked and she would have gay panicked real hard if her mind wasn’t shouting hysterically for her to figure the damn cashier out.

 

“H-hi, g-good morning!” Seungwan stuttered with too much enthusiasm.

 

She watched anxiously as the customer placed her groceries on the counter which were a few bags of cocoa powder, chilled chocolate milk, ramyeon, and some vegetables. Seungwan’s eye twitched as Joohyun looked at her expectantly.

 

“R-right, let me have those,” Seungwan mumbled as she took Joohyun’s items one by one and passed them through the cashier’s scanner. She could at least do that.

 

But the moment she saw the prices being listed down on her screen, she was lost. “Uhm…”

 

Seungwan stared cluelessly at her cashier and wished the ground would swallow her whole, feeling like an idiot in front of a drop dead gorgeous girl. She hovered her fingers over her screen, trying to choose the button that would screw her over the least. She bit her lip in worry and before she recklessly took the plunge of choosing a random button, the customer beside her spoke up.

 

“Are you perhaps new? Do you need help with that?”

 

Seungwan shook her head aggressively. “No! I’m fine!”

 

The customer studied her with an intense gaze and Seungwan could feel her body shake in shame. She looked down in defeat. The customer rounded the counter and stood beside Seungwan. She gestured to the cashier and asked gently, “May I?”

 

Seungwan nodded her head resignedly. The customer started pressing buttons while guiding Seungwan on what she was doing. “So once you’ve scanned the barcodes of the items, you can press these buttons…”

 

The new hire tried so hard to not be distracted by the pretty girl especially in such close proximity, and with much effort, she listened attentively to her instructions. Seungwan’s mouth dropped when she realized how easy the application actually was. The system turned out to be pretty intuitive and maybe if Seungwan didn’t let her panic take over she could have figured it out on her own. But she was grateful that her first customer was kind and understanding. She didn’t judge her at all and she even helped her.

 

Once the customer was done teaching Seungwan the basics and paid for her items, the new hire actually felt less bad about the whole ordeal and she kept saying thank you to the beautiful girl.

 

“Thank you so much,” Seungwan repeated.

 

The customer waved her hand before picking up her bags full of properly checked out groceries. “You’re welcome. Have a good day…” She squinted her eyes at Seungwan’s name pin. “Seungwan.”

 

The cashier beamed. “You too, Ms…?”

 

The customer raised her eyebrows. “Joohyun.”

 

Seungwan gave a bright smile, looking like she wasn’t on the brink of tears just a few minutes ago. “Have a great day, Joohyun.”

 

 

Joohyun didn’t mean to line up at Seungwan’s station the next time she went to the supermarket. She was too busy reviewing the lines of her codes in her head and she only noticed she was back at cashier #15 when Seungwan greeted her brightly.

 

“Good morning, Joohyun! You’re back!”

 

The customer let out a tiny yelp, startled by Seungwan’s energetic voice. She gave a small smile when she saw that it was just the short-haired woman she helped last week. “Oh, hi.”

 

She settled her items on the counter and she was glad to see Seungwan confidently scanning her items now, a massive contrast from the panicking trainwreck she witnessed last time. After Seungwan informed her of the total price, Joohyun pulled out her card and joked, “Glad you’re friends with your cash register now.”

 

Seungwan gave a chuckle as she easily processed Joohyun’s payment. “All thanks to you.”

 

As Joohyun was packing up her bags, she could feel Seungwan’s stare at her. She hesitantly looked up and asked, “Yes?”

 

The cashier looked away bashfully. She cleared before glancing back at Joohyun. “Can I treat you to lunch? As a thank you. You really helped me on my first day. If it was any other person, I would have been really embarrassed and maybe even scolded by my boss.”

 

“Oh.” Joohyun pulled down the sleeves of her sweater, slightly nervous. She never did well in social gatherings, even if it would be just the two of them. People always said she was too quiet (or too boring) and so she decided she was better off alone.

 

“Sorry, I don’t do lunch,” Joohyun mumbled.

 

Seungwan waved her hands defensively. “It’s not a date, don’t worry! I mean I’m not asking you out, not that I don’t want to. Wait, I mean—you’re really pretty and of course I won’t say no to a date but yeah it’s not—that’s not the point, anyway!” Joohyun almost laughed at how red Seungwan was. The employee deflated. “I just wanted to thank you.”

 

Joohyun let out a small smile, picking up the bags. “It’s fine, really. Have a good day.”

 

Seungwan dejectedly watched Joohyun exit the store.

 

 

But Seungwan wasn’t a quitter. She would show her thanks one way or another.

 

The next time Joohyun went to the supermarket, Seungwan made sure she was ready.

 

Seungwan did an internal punch of victory in the air when Joohyun lined up at her station. When it was Joohyun’s turn to pay, Seungwan quickly processed her transaction before pulling up a pack of the chilled chocolate milk that she recalled Joohyun buying on her first day.

 

Joohyun’s eyes widened at the sight of her favorite drink. She looked up as Seungwan said, “For you, Joohyun.”

 

“What?” Joohyun pushed the bundle of milk back towards Seungwan. “I can’t accept this.”

 

Seungwan shoved the tiny box away from her. “Joohyun, please. You really saved me from getting fired on my first day. It’s the least I could do.”

 

Joohyun stared longingly at the cartons. It couldn’t be denied that she loved this specific brand of chocolate milk.

 

It looked like Joohyun just needed that final push. Smiling assuringly, Seungwan insisted, “It’s already paid and I don’t drink chocolate milk that much. It would be a waste.”

 

Flushed and touched by the warmth of Seungwan’s kindness, Joohyun accepted the box with a small smile. “Thank you.”

 

Seungwan gave a satisfied nod.

 

 

She wasn’t sure if it was because she was comfortable with the tiny ball of energy that Seungwan was, but Joohyun found herself always checking out her items at Seungwan’s cashier. She was used to only seeing Seungwan by the counters so she was surprised to see her by the shelves in the snack section one day.

 

“Hey.”

 

Seungwan turned stiffly, thinking it was a random customer asking a question, but relaxed immediately when she saw it was just Joohyun. “Hi. It’s you.”

 

“You’re not at the cashier today?”

 

The employee nodded as she bent down to pick up snacks from her giant box for sorting. “Yeah. Had to take double shifts this week to make up for my leave next month.”

 

Joohyun watched quietly as Seungwan shifted her eyes back and forth from the two snacks in her hands and the shelf in front of her that contained jumbled products, obviously thinking of the fastest way to sort them all.

 

“How should you sort them?”

 

Seungwan raised her eyebrows at Joohyun, startled by her question. “Uhm… by size.”

 

“It might help you if you can try sorting them by having a pivot point…” Joohyun suggested as she righted a snack on the shelf. “So this snack can be your pivot point and then everything bigger than them you can place on the right and everything smaller on the left. Once that’s done, you can do it again by choosing a pivot point on either side then repeating the entire process.”

 

Joohyun did a few reiterations of what she explained to demonstrate it to Seungwan. “Give it a try.”

 

Side-eyeing Joohyun a little doubtedly, Seungwan did what Joohyun said. Once she got the hang of it, she was sifting through the snacks like she was the superhero Flash.

 

Upon realizing that Joohyun’s trick worked, Seungwan gaped at Joohyun. “How do you know everything? First the cashier and now arranging snacks?”

 

Joohyun shrugged nonchalantly, though her heart skipped a few beats at Seungwan’s awe. Had Seungwan’s eyes always been that pretty? “Heh. It’s just an algorithm.”

 

“You’re amazing,” Seungwan said, still awestruck by Joohyun. The developer pushed up her round glasses, a habit she did when she was nervous.

 

“Anyway,” Joohyun croaked. She cleared . “I have to go and do my errands.”

 

“Sure! Thank you again, Joohyun!” Seungwan exclaimed.

 

Joohyun quickly spinned on her heels and left, unfamiliar with the weird somersaults her stomach was doing when Seungwan grinned at her.

 

Even as she walked away, she could feel Seungwan’s stare at her back and it rattled something in her.

 

 

Rotating her aching shoulders, Seungwan let out a sigh as she longingly glanced at the clock. Five minutes until closing time. She just needed to hang on for five more minutes before she could take a warm shower and collapse on her bed and sleep for the next twelve hours.

 

When she felt a presence line up at her station, she opened automatically. “Good evening—”

 

Her eyes widened when she saw that the new presence was simply Joohyun. “Joohyun! Hello. Wait, are you okay?”

 

“Huh?” Joohyun asked groggily. “Oh. Yeah. Of course. I’m doing okay.”

 

Seungwan knitted her eyebrows as she took in Joohyun’s appearance—stained sweater with what she assumed was spilled hot chocolate, messy hair hastily tied in a sloppy ponytail, crooked glasses, and dark eyebags.

 

“You seem… tired,” Seungwan said hesitantly as she transacted Joohyun’s items.

 

Joohyun merely shrugged, pulling out her wallet to pay. “It’s work.”

 

As Seungwan handed Joohyun her card and her receipt, she decided to take a chance one more time. “I’m closing in a minute. Would you want to grab a bite at the noodle place across the street? My treat.”

 

Seungwan almost squirmed while Joohyun looked at her with an almost dazed look. She couldn’t prevent the sigh of relief she released when Joohyun surprisingly gave her an agreeing smile. “Sure.”

 

Thirty minutes, a change of clothes, and two orders of ramen later, Seungwan was having her first meal with the woman that had piqued her interest since day one, Bae Joohyun. She watched as the other girl devoured her soup as if she hadn’t eaten a proper meal for days. That was probably the case from how she looked. Eyebrows furrowed and cheeks puffed up with every bite, Seungwan had to bite her lip to stifle a giggle. Joohyun was cute.

 

“So what do you do?” Seungwan asked, twirling her noodles with her fork. Joohyun widened her eyes, mouth still full with food. Seungwan shrugged and reasoned, “You know what I do. It’s only fair.”

 

After swallowing down her food, Joohyun wiped with the table napkin. She adjusted her glasses a little nervously. “I’m a programmer. I develop different kinds of applications.”

 

“Oh. Like an actual coder?”

 

Joohyun nodded. “That’s why I was able to help you with the cashier. I was part of the team who developed the point-of-sale system that your supermarket is using.”

 

Seungwan’s jaw dropped. “No way. That’s so cool!”

 

“Thanks,” Joohyun mumbled with a blush.

 

Something rang a bell in Seungwan’s memory. “And the sorting tip?”

 

“Ah. I just applied quick sort, one of the most efficient algorithms used in sorting arrays and stacks. It has the fastest time complexity too,” Joohyun stated like she was simply reciting the alphabet. “Amazing how that specific sort also works in real life.”

 

“Right,” Seungwan drawled. As if she thought Joohyun couldn’t get any cuter, she was turning out to be an adorable dork.

 

“So what was up with your work lately?” Seungwan asked, motioning to Joohyun’s haggard look.

 

Joohyun let out a long sigh as she rested her head on her hand. “I had to finish developing a prototype by today so I didn’t sleep the past few days to cram it. At least the first reiteration of the project is finally done.”

 

Now even more curious, Seungwan asked more about Joohyun’s work and their conversation easily flowed for the rest of the night. Even as they walked along the quiet streets of the city, they never ran out of things to talk about.

 

Their light banter only stopped upon arriving at a crossroad as their homes were in opposite directions from this point onwards. Seungwan smiled regretfully at Joohyun, quite sad that she had to say goodbye to the other woman.

 

“Get some sleep, alright? You deserve it,” Seungwan reminded her.

 

“I will,” Joohyun replied with a cute yawn.

 

“Goodnight,” giggled Seungwan. She was about to leave when Joohyun unexpectedly lunged forward and kissed her on the cheek.

 

“Night,” Joohyun whispered with a shy smile before quickly spinning around and running away.

 

Seungwan stood there, stunned and practically stupefied as she felt her blood rush to her face. Did Joohyun really kiss her?

 

She lifted her hand to hover her fingers over the spot where Joohyun pecked her, watching Joohyun’s trail disappear while her heart was beating fast in her chest. Heavens, what was Joohyun doing to her?

 

 

The first time Joohyun asked a girl out for a date, she only ended up giving a crash course on mySQL database and object-oriented programming instead. She scared the poor girl away and she was too much of a nervous wreck to ask anyone out after that specific incident unless someone approached her first.

 

But when Seungwan came along, Joohyun had the urge to try again—if she could overcome her jitters whenever the cute girl was in close proximity, that is.

 

Sitting here in her apartment as Seungwan read her favorite book and Joohyun coded a module for work, which was considered a pretty typical “date” for them, Joohyun wanted nothing more than to date Seungwan for real. The domesticity of it all made Joohyun’s stomach churn with pleasant butterflies and she could see herself doing this with Seungwan for the years to come.

 

Craving for Seungwan’s attention, Joohyun made an exaggerated yawn as she stretched her arms over her head. “I’m tired.”

 

Seungwan glanced up from the other end of the couch. “How’s the application going?”

 

Frowning at how Seungwan didn’t seem to take the hint, she grumbled, “It’s going fine.”

 

Repressing an amused smile, Seungwan placed down her book at the coffee table and slid closer to Joohyun’s side. The programmer latched on immediately to Seungwan’s arm, squishing herself as close as possible to Seungwan’s shoulder.

 

“Can I try something?” Seungwan asked, motioning to her laptop. Curious, Joohyun wordlessly transferred the gadget onto Seungwan’s lap.

 

“I’ve been watching some YouTube tutorials lately,” informed Seungwan with a determined expression. Joohyun raised her eyebrows, impressed with how Seungwan successfully opened the coding console without her help.

 

“Ha!” Seungwan beamed in victory as Joohyun’s console printed a simple ‘hello world’ underneath Seungwan’s code.

 

“Impressive,” Joohyun praised with a giant grin. Her insides melted at the thought of Seungwan watching coding videos just to understand her world better.

 

Joohyun stiffened as she watched Seungwan type another line of code, eyes not believing what they were reading. Seungwan’s new code produced the words ‘will you be my girlfriend?’ on the screen. In disbelief, she stared at Seungwan’s face that was rapidly turning red.

 

Seungwan gave an unsure smile. “So what do you say?”

 

Joohyun felt like she was a machine short-circuiting or a computer application going overdrive. Her mind was completely shutting down. Was this really happening?

 

“Are you for real?” she asked.

 

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be? I really like you, Joohyun,” Seungwan whispered. She was nervous and scared and embarrassed but she fought hard to maintain eye contact with Joohyun.

 

Joohyun looked down, blushing intensely as she whispered, “I like you too.”

 

“So, yeah?” Seungwan asked, hope seeping through her words. She wanted to pinch herself, refusing to believe Joohyun really reciprocated her feelings. Because wow.

 

Happiness expanding in her chest in a way that she had never experienced before, Joohyun clasped Seungwan’s shaking hands with her own. She nodded with the biggest grin on her face. “Yeah.”

 

 

Seungwan had to watch tons of videos just to be able to code those few lines. You couldn’t blame her, it took her hours to understand and memorize Console.WriteLine(“will you be my girlfriend?”);. But the awe on Joohyun’s face afterwards made her want to watch all the programming videos in the world. The happiness in her girlfriend’s eyes when she did that was something else. She still couldn’t believe she was her girlfriend.

 

It was definitely worth it.

 

And now as she went through rush hour at work, scanning items and pressing buttons at the cashier like mad, she really didn’t regret trying to learn the basics of coding, not when Joohyun surprised her at the supermarket by pretending to line up at her counter, not when she was standing there endearingly with her tiny smile and big eyes behind round glasses, not when Joohyun bought her favorite bubble tea order.

 

After checking around that Seungwan’s supervisor wasn’t in sight, Joohyun leaned in to plant a quick peck on the employee’s cheek. “Fighting!” Joohyun cheered with her tiny fists.

 

Seungwan couldn’t stop grinning for the rest of the day.

 

Yup. Totally worth it.

 

 

With someone as reserved and nerdy as Joohyun and someone as energetic and laid back as Seungwan, things were bound to clash between the two of them sooner or later.

 

Joohyun should have really been more sensitive. She never learned.

 

Friday nights were meant for movie nights at Seungwan’s apartment and Joohyun arrived with popcorn and drinks in hand, excited to spend the night with Seungwan. She was also extra happy because she finally got around to understanding the new updated features of her favorite program that handled 3D technology. For a very rare moment, Joohyun was the more talkative out of the two.

 

Joohyun’s tension was so high, she kept on blabbering about algorithms and math formulas of the said 3D technology that she didn’t even notice Seungwan had been quiet the whole night. She didn’t even sense that Seungwan’s mood seemed to be gloomy.

 

“—the time complexity of this specific loop is O(1) which is super fast, even I couldn’t believe it. I think I need to upgrade my processor to be able to handle that speed and power so I’m actually eyeing the new Intel Core—”

 

The programmer suddenly paused as Seungwan unexpectedly slammed the bowl of popcorn on the kitchen counter. She was stunned by the noise but the unfamiliar rage she saw in Seungwan’s eyes scared her more.

 

“Joohyun,” Seungwan grunted almost exasperatedly. “I can’t understand anything you’re saying.”

 

“I—” Joohyun didn’t know what to say. She crossed her arms in front of her in an unconscious attempt to protect herself. “I’m s-sorry… I didn’t realize…”

 

Seungwan looked away. “I just… I need some time alone. It was a stressful day at work.”

 

Joohyun stood there speechless and hurt. Was Seungwan really asking her to leave?

 

“O-okay…” Joohyun whispered helplessly. On the verge of tears, she quickly ushered herself out of the apartment that suddenly felt cold and unwelcoming.

 

For the next few days, Joohyun sulked in her apartment and her computer was left unused for more than 24 hours for the first time ever. She couldn’t bring herself to do any decent work with the thought that Seungwan was mad at her. She feared that her relationship with Seungwan already ended before it even fully started.

 

It was on the third day that she finally pulled her together. While pouring herself a cold glass of chocolate milk, she remembered how the kind and soft Seungwan that she knew offered her a pack of the very same milk, all because she wanted to say thank you. A realization hit her hard. Was she really willing to let go of Seungwan, warm-hearted and selfless Seungwan, that easily?

 

The answer came to her faster than the quickest sorting algorithm. Of course not.

 

She always blamed others when people shut her out but it was about time that she was the one who made an effort to reach out.

 

Checking her phone, Joohyun saw that she still had time to catch Seungwan at the supermarket before she clocked out for today’s shift. Hearing the mildly strong rain outside her window, Joohyun clucked her tongue, fully knowing that Seungwan had most probably forgotten her umbrella. She always did despite the massive bag that she always brought. Grabbing two umbrellas, she bolted out of her apartment.

 

 

Seungwan considered it a miracle that she could get through work today in one piece despite the lack of sleep from the past few nights.

 

She hated herself for lashing out at Joohyun like that. She was just so tired from work and all she wanted was to cuddle with her girlfriend. Her muscles were sore from standing for almost the whole day and she had long lines of customers every hour. She just wanted to rest. All the numbers and tech terms that Joohyun spurted out didn’t help to lessen her splitting migraine too. But she knew it was wrong to treat Joohyun as an outlet for her stress. She cringed as she remembered her words, regret piling up inside her.

 

With a heavy sigh of relief, her shoulders sagged when she heard the bell that signaled the supermarket’s closing. She quickly made a change of clothes and packed up her things, all the while thinking about how she should approach Joohyun to apologize. Should she pass by her apartment tonight with spicy rice cakes?

 

Approaching the sliding doors, Seungwan’s mood dampened further as she realized it was still raining hard outside. She internally slapped herself for forgetting her umbrella again. Pulling the hood of her jacket over her head, Seungwan stepped outside the establishment and braved the rains.

 

Only for her to stop in her tracks as she came face to face with Joohyun on the sidewalk, the other woman apprehensively looking at her from under the big umbrella she was holding. Biting her lip, Joohyun offered the extra folded umbrella in her other hand as a peace offering.

 

Ignoring Joohyun’s extended arm, Seungwan stepped into Joohyun’s space and hugged her tight. All of Seungwan’s regret and worries melted when Joohyun embraced her back with her free arm.

 

“I’m sorry,” Seungwan whispered amidst the loud noise of the rain. And as Joohyun planted a kiss on the side of her head, she knew Joohyun heard her.

 

A few seconds later the rain weakened to a light drizzle and the couple decided to take a stroll along the park. Seungwan was grateful that Joohyun brought an umbrella big enough for the both of them because she really missed Joohyun clinging onto her arm.

 

“Seungwan,” Joohyun started after a few moments of silence. “If I end up rambling about nonsense, I need you to tell me. Sometimes I don’t even notice what I’m saying.”

 

“Alright,” Seungwan agreed. She decided that now was probably the best time to come clean too. “I am going to be honest and say that most of the time I really can’t understand what you’re saying.”

 

Joohyun grimaced. “I’m sorry. I’ll stop talking about computers—”

 

“No, no, no, no,” Seungwan quickly rebutted, squishing Joohyun’s arm in emphasis. “I didn’t mean it that way. I don’t want you to ever change. I just…” Seungwan struggled to find the right words. “I don’t think in codes and numbers like you. Sometimes—no, most of the time, I need you to explain these things to me in a simpler way. But please know I do love seeing you talk about what you love.”

 

“I was just tired from work and I poured my anger out on you, which was wrong,” Seungwan continued. “I’m sorry.”

 

Still unsure of where they stood, Joohyun asked in a quiet voice, “We’re not… breaking up, are we?”

 

Seungwan almost tripped on air at Joohyun’s words. “What? Of course not!”

 

The employee’s heart broke at the relief that washed over Joohyun’s features. Damn, she really hurt her, didn’t she? Swallowing guiltily, Seungwan tightened her hold on Joohyun’s arm and pulled her even closer. “I was actually thinking of surprising you tonight with spicy rice cakes after my shift as an apology. I’m really sorry. I’ll be better, I promise.”

 

Joohyun nodded. “Me too.”

 

The pair continued to walk in silence through the park. The peaceful night was suddenly disrupted by the loud rumbling of Joohyun’s stomach.

 

“Can we still get those spicy rice cakes though?”

 

For the first time this week, Seungwan let out a hearty laugh. She affectionately planted a chaste kiss on Joohyun’s lips. “Of course, Hyun, we’ll get whatever you want.”

 

 

“So does this mean you can hack?”

 

“What?”

 

“I asked, does this mean you can hack?”

 

“Just because I have a computer science degree doesn’t mean I’m a hacker, Seungwan.”

 

“So that’s a no?”

 

“Hacking any cyber entity isn’t simple at all, no matter how easy movies make it seem to be. For example, a social media account has several measures to ensure that no one gets past your password and most platforms practice multi-step authentication by using the user’s email to prevent any—”

 

“I just asked if you can hack, love.”

 

“...well, no. I can only develop applications and games. We weren’t even taught how to breach cybersecurity in university.”

 

“Okay. But the thing is, I think you can hack.”

 

“Didn’t I just say—”

 

“Because you hacked into my heart.”

 

“...”

 

“...”

 

“Son Seungwan!”

 

 

There wasn’t anything in this world that Joohyun loved more than coding. Ever since middle school, she knew that her destiny was to be a programmer. She was practically married to her computer.

 

As the couple moved in together in Joohyun’s apartment a few days ago, the developer did her best to minimize her time with her computer, not wanting to make Seungwan feel as if she was neglecting her.

 

She knew moving in was a big step for the both of them and adjustments had to be made to their personal habits and schedules. And such sacrifices were worth it, especially when she had the privilege to sleep in Seungwan’s arms and wake up to her groggy smile and messily beautiful bedhead.

 

But some habits were just so difficult to change. As a programmer with a brain that worked the best at night, it was challenging to keep her working hours in the day. She could rarely sleep as thousands of codes ran through her mind in the wee hours of the morning and she would only end up turning restlessly on their bed until sunrise.

 

She watched as Seungwan hung her blue supermarket uniform for work the next day. After settling herself further into her pillows, Joohyun silently sighed as she prepared herself for another unproductive sleepless night, internally berating herself for not being able to adjust her body clock easily.

 

She froze as she felt Seungwan wrap her arms around her and lay her head on her chest. “Goodnight,” Seungwan whispered into the dark.

 

The slightly older girl softened. “Goodnight,” she whispered back after placing a kiss on Seungwan’s head.

 

The ticking of their clock echoed through the room, mocking Joohyun of her dilemma. She estimated around 30 minutes had passed since they went to bed but not an ounce of sleep dared to visit her just like the past few nights. She felt her fingers itching to type at her keyboard, a lot of unused bundle of inspiration coursing through her. This was the time where her creative juices were at their highest but she really didn’t want to scare Seungwan with her intense night owl tendencies.

 

She felt Seungwan stir in her arms and she held her breath, hoping her restlessness didn’t wake her up. She sighed in relief as Seungwan stopped her movements. At least Seungwan was still aslee—

 

“If there’s something bothering you for the past week, I wish you’d tell me, Joohyun.”

 

Something between a shriek and a yelp came out of Joohyun’s mouth and she clutched her chest in surprise. “Seungwan! Oh my god,” she screeched. “I thought you were asleep.”

 

Reaching out to the table at her bedside, Seungwan pulled the switch of her lamp before sitting against the headboard of their bed. “Are you okay, love?”

 

Joohyun pulled herself up beside Seungwan and she smiled as her girlfriend automatically held her hand. “I’m okay.”

 

Seungwan gazed at her doubtedly. “Then why haven’t you been sleeping well lately? Is something troubling you?”

 

She looked away guiltily. “You noticed, huh?”

 

With a light roll of her eyes, Seungwan replied, “Of course. You’re my girlfriend. I would like to believe I know you well by now.”

 

“I’m sorry. I’m just not used to not working late at night,” Joohyun shyly confessed. “I go to sleep at around 3:00 AM most of the time after getting some coding done.”

 

Seungwan regarded her quietly before asking, “Are you trying to force yourself to sleep early for me?”

 

Joohyun bit her lip and Seungwan took that as her confirmation. “Joohyun,” Seungwan started in a disbelieving tone. “You don’t have to do that. I know we fought before but we talked about it, right? You’re free to work as late as you want. I understand that’s how most programmers function anyway.”

 

Lips forming into a pout, Joohyun looked down at their joined hands. “But then we won’t be able to sleep together. Would that be okay with you?”

 

Seungwan shrugged nonchalantly. “We can always cuddle some other time. But if working at night is what’s best for you, then go for it.”

 

“Are you really sure?”

 

“Yes, Joohyun, I am,” Seugnwan repeated. She tucked a loose strand behind Joohyun’s giant ear. “Why do you keep asking me?”

 

“I just don’t want us to fight again and…” Joohyun bit the inside of her cheek. With a small and almost inaudible voice, she whispered sadly, “My first girlfriend broke up with me because I was too much of a workaholic at night.”

 

Heart wrenching at Joohyun's revelation, Seungwan retracted her hands and wrapped an arm around Joohyun’s shoulders instead. She pulled her girlfriend closer. “Oh, Joohyun.”

 

“She hated how I was always in front of my computer,” Joohyun whispered weakly into Seungwan’s chest.

 

“Then she didn’t deserve you,” Seungwan said with conviction, rubbing Joohyun’s arm comfortingly. “I don’t mind, love. It’s your work and it’s who you are. I won’t take that away from you. Not this time.”

 

It took a lot of convincing on Seungwan’s part but Joohyun eventually found herself at her desk an hour later, looking up uncertainly at Seungwan who had an encouraging smile plastered on her face.

 

“Go on, it’s fine,” Seungwan reassured her as she placed a cup of hot chocolate on Joohyun’s table.

 

Joohyun opened but Seungwan beat her to it. “I swear, Joohyun, if you ask me one more time, you’ll never be sleeping on our bed again.”

 

“Technically, it’s my bed…” Joohyun tried to refute but she faltered under Seungwan’s glare.

 

Placing one last kiss on top of Joohyun’s head, Seungwan bid her goodnight. “Enjoy, love.”

 

Joohyun watched her girlfriend retreat to their bedroom, affection blooming in her chest. How had she gotten so lucky to have such a sweet and understanding partner? God, she loved Seungwan so much.

 

She turned to her computer excitedly, cracking her fingers as she waited for her computer to boot up. Oh, how she missed this.

 

Joohyun coded to her heart’s content all night long, relieved to finally release all the pent up energy and ideas she had the past week. Before she knew it, dawn was approaching and it was useless to still try to go to sleep. After shutting down her computer, Joohyun headed off to the kitchen.

 

Seungwan woke up an hour later to her favorite breakfast spread out on the table.

 

 

There wasn’t anything in this world that Joohyun loved more than coding. Except for Seungwan.

 

Drying her hair with a towel, Seungwan stepped out of the bathroom in fresh clothes after a warm shower to end a tiring day at work. She saw Joohyun on the bed working on something on her laptop. Seungwan didn’t know how Joohyun was able to track all of her projects on different computers and laptops. Joohyun would answer by explaining something about the cloud and github as if Seungwan had any idea about what she was talking about.

 

As she sat beside Joohyun, the bed dipping lightly, Joohyun automatically moved closer and snuggled into her side as much as her laptop would allow. Seungwan chuckled and wrapped an arm around her girlfriend’s shoulders as she heard Joohyun sigh. The programmer started tapping her fingers on her keyboard, a sign that she was seriously irked.

 

“What’s up?” Seungwan asked after placing a quick kiss on Joohyun’s temple, squinting her eyes to focus on Joohyun’s screen.

 

“I have this error I can’t debug, I’ve been trying to solve it for hours now,” Joohyun grumbled with a pout.

 

Seungwan leaned down to scan Joohyun’s code. Although she knew nothing about programming, being with Joohyun for a few years now had taught her a thing or two. She could recognize loops, arrays, and if-else statements from a glance.

 

A particular line of code stole Seungwan’s attention. She raised her eyebrows as she examined the line. She glanced at Joohyun and saw that a pout was still pasted on her face, frustrated at the error she could not find. Seungwan shifted her eyes between the screen and her girlfriend to make sure that her eyes weren’t deceiving her and that Joohyun really wasn’t seeing what she was seeing.

 

“I think you missed a semicolon at line 77,” Seungwan said with a little hesitation.

 

“What?” Joohyun exclaimed, quickly dragging her fingers along her mousepad.

 

Lines of code blurred in front of them before it froze as the mentioned line finally appeared on the screen. Joohyun gasped. Seungwan was right. She forgot a freaking semicolon.

 

Joohyun quickly added the semicolon at the end of line 77, tested the code, and the module ran smoothly for the first time. Joohyun’s jaw dropped, astounded at her foolish mistake. Semicolons were the most basic of the basics in coding. How could she have missed that?

 

But her frustration was overshadowed by her astonishment for her girlfriend. She gaped at Seungwan, speechless at how Seungwan saw an error that even she had overlooked as a senior developer.

 

“What?” Seungwan asked in a small voice, fidgeting as Joohyun stared at her for a few silent seconds.

 

Joohyun surprised her by grabbing her face between her hands, squishing her cheeks as she brought her face close to rub their noses together.

 

“You’re,” a kiss on the forehead. “So,” a kiss on the cheek. “Brilliant!” a kiss on the mouth.

 

Holding Joohyun’s wrists to gently push her away, Seungwan laughed against Joohyun’s mouth when her girlfriend refused to let go. Grinning as Joohyun placed more kisses around her face, Seungwan mumbled, “It’s just a semicolon.”

 

Joohyun looked at her pointedly. “You just solved a bug that was stressing me the whole day. What will I be without you?”

 

Turning her head, Seungwan placed a kiss on Joohyun’s palm. “Someone who is always running out of chocolate milk, I suppose.”

 

The developer rolled her eyes before turning her attention back to her laptop. “Well, you’re not wrong.”

 

The short-haired girl watched as Joohyun closed her tabs and applications, confused as to why her girlfriend was shutting down her laptop this early in the night.

 

“You’re done?” Seungwan asked unsurely while Joohyun set down her gadget at the bedside table.

 

“Yup,” Joohyun replied, popping the ‘p’ happily as she settled herself underneath the covers.

 

“It’s just 10:38 PM,” she said incredulously after glancing quickly at their clock.

 

“Yeah, I know. Now, come here,” Joohyun said, almost whiningly. “I want to cuddle with my brilliant girlfriend.”

 

Seungwan let out a tiny squeal as Joohyun pulled her down to the bed, hugging her tight to her chest. After recovering from her initial surprise, Seungwan relaxed and wrapped her arms around Joohyun’s waist, the warmth from Joohyun’s body heating her up from head to toe in this cold night.

 

“Goodnight, love,” Joohyun whispered against her forehead.

 

With a smile on her face, Seungwan snuggled further into Joohyun’s neck. She placed a gentle kiss on her collarbone, grin widening at how Joohyun shivered in her arms. “Goodnight, Hyun.”

 

 

Relaxing on their couch, Seungwan could feel Joohyun glancing at her nervously all the way from her workspace. Seungwan felt like rolling her eyes at how timid her girlfriend could be at times but she knew not to push the older girl especially when she was anxious. So she waited. And waited. And waited. Until she heard Joohyun’s footsteps approaching softly.

 

“Hey,” Joohyun called. “Do you mind testing this prototype I developed? It’s for a new game.”

 

Seungwan closed her book in a snap as if she didn’t stop reading minutes ago while waiting for Joohyun. She stood up and did a playful salute. “Of course. Your guinea pig at your service.”

 

Joohyun had always asked Seungwan to test her newly developed products, and be it games or websites or systems, Seungwan was always happy to do so. Being unfamiliar to how applications were made, Seungwan’s different perspective allowed Joohyun to see things that she wouldn’t have as a developer like with the semicolon incident. They always did this so Seungwan couldn’t help but wonder why it took Joohyun so long to ask her now though.

 

“You’re not a guinea pig. I’d say you’re a hamster.” Joohyun said flatly as she led Seungwan to her computer setup.

 

This time Seungwan really rolled her eyes. She sat on Joohyun’s gaming chair and rubbed her hands together, eyeing Joohyun’s purple mechanical keyboard with excitement. “Okay, what will I test today, Ms. Bae?”

 

Joohyun leaned down, placing her hand at the chair’s headrest and the other on her mouse. She navigated around her desktop while Seungwan gazed at Joohyun’s pretty face right next to hers. Feeling giddy, Seungwan lunged forward to give a kiss on her girlfriend’s cheek. Joohyun looked at her bewilderedly, red painting her cheeks instantly. Seungwan grinned, “Love you.”

 

The developer cleared and looked away. A few more clicks and then electronic sounds and fun background music started coming out from Joohyun’s speakers. Seungwan watched as the press start screen of an 8-bit game popped up on the monitor.

 

“The game’s pretty simple and it’s very similar to Mario. Avoid the obstacles, collect the medals and power-up items, and all that good stuff. You’ll win the game once you reach the end. It’s just a prototype so there’s only one level. You should finish it pretty quickly,” Joohyun explained and Seungwan failed to notice how Joohyun was wringing her hands anxiously while she was rambling.

 

Seungwan cracked her neck, internally hyping herself up, as she pressed the start button. She would argue that Joohyun was the more competitive one but her girlfriend would say otherwise. As the game showed the mechanics, Joohyun walked away, leaving Seungwan alone to be fully immersed in the game.

 

True to Joohyun’s words, the game was very simple. She had to only use a few buttons and it was relatively easy to play. Oddly enough, Seungwan noticed that the main 8-bit character looked like her. It had short brown hair and its clothes looked very similar to her supermarket uniform.

 

The animation of the power-ups were cute too, and they were items that Seungwan usually associated with Joohyun, such as a cash register, a carton of chocolate milk, a bag of cocoa powder, noodle soup, and an umbrella. Seungwan raised an eyebrow. She tried to steal a glance at her partner during a transition in the game and she saw Joohyun pacing back and forth in their living room. Huh.

 

Seungwan continued to control her 8-bit character, collecting coins and avoiding the evil-looking mushrooms along the way. She could tell the game was about to end because it suddenly got a little bit harder. Upon finishing the game, she watched as her character jumped up and down in victory. A giant ‘CONGRATULATIONS’ flashed on the screen as another 8-bit character parachuted down from the top.

 

Her eyes widened when she realized that the new character looked very similar to Joohyun. Seungwan was too distracted to notice that the pacing footsteps of the real Joohyun behind her ceased. The Joohyun-looking character, in all of its 8-bit glory, approached the main character, knelt on a knee, and pulled out a tiny box. The words ‘CONGRATULATIONS’ above their heads dissolved, the 8-bit pixels rearranging themselves to form a new phrase.

 

Seungwan sat there, dumbfounded and jaw dropping, as she read the new words that popped up on her screen. Her eyes scanned the words again and again, failing to comprehend the 8-bit ‘WILL YOU MARRY ME?’ that was staring right back at her.

 

The stunned woman quickly turned around and her breath caught in at the sight of the real Joohyun on one knee, holding up a modest ring with a nervous smile.

 

“Seungwan…” Joohyun started with a little crack in her voice. She cleared , her cheeks reddening quickly. “I know I’m not the easiest person to handle. I’m weird and quiet and obviously a nerd. And I just blab about numbers and code syntax for most of the time.”

 

Seungwan opened to retaliate but already expecting her to do so, Joohyun held her hand up to stop her. “But you’ve always made me feel special. In a good way. In a way that I have never felt before.”

 

Blinking furiously, Seungwan tried to contain her tears as she felt her eyes burning. Joohyun looked so shy and unsure and pure and Seungwan just wanted to hug all the uncertainty out of her partner.

 

“I may not always show it because I don’t know how… but you’re my favorite person. You make me happy and I want to make you happy too.” A warm smile graced Joohyun’s features and Seungwan swore at that very moment that she was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. “So if you’re alright with being with me, even if I spurt out the most random things at the most random times, I would like to try to make you happy for the rest of my life.”

 

“I don’t know how else to say this,” Joohyun added as she tried to wrap up her tiny speech. “But you’re the one if-else statement that I never want to be false.”

 

With a sob escaping , Seungwan knelt on the floor and consumed Joohyun in a giant hug. “Yes, yes, yes!” Seungwan exclaimed into Joohyun’s neck.

 

“Yes?” Joohyun asked in genuine surprise, pulling away to look at Seungwan’s face.

 

“Yes, of course!” Seungwan confirmed with a happy scream. She stood up on her feet, pulling her girlfriend with her. “Do you honestly think I would say no?”

 

Joohyun toed the floor bashfully. “No… but hearing you say yes feels surreal.”

 

Seungwan almost cooed at the sight. Joohyun was so adorable. Unable to resist, she cupped Joohyun’s face and brought her close for a gentle kiss. Joohyun gasped, giving an opportunity for Seungwan to deepen their kiss further. Joohyun tilted her head and she couldn’t help but bite Seungwan’s bottom lip playfully. Releasing a tiny moan, Seungwan pulled away, breathless and absolutely smitten for the woman in front of her.

 

Opening her eyes, she saw Joohyun was staring at her in awe, her eyes glistening with unshed tears, and Seungwan was sure she was wearing the exact same look. She leaned in to give one last lingering kiss to the corner of Joohyun’s lips.

 

With a mirthful grin, Seungwan whispered in jest, “How could I say no to the woman who helped me avoid getting fired on my first day?”

 

 

Author’s Note: I hope this wasn’t too cheesy!!! Happy Wenrene Day, everyone! I’m so grateful both Wendy and Irene are back stronger than ever :’) Thank you for reading!