Mina accidentally found Dahyun’s secret notebook, and everything she wrote inside is sweet… until it’s not.

 

---

 

The clacking of high heels reverberates against the sparkling floor as the charismatic department manager walks into the administration division of TD Entertainment. 

 

Mina just ended the third meeting for the day, her brain already fried from the endless presentations and discussions, but she still cracks a smile to the lines of staffs greeting her along the way. Before she disappears into her zen-inspired office, her eyes catch the empty chair of the A&R team leader.

 

"Where's Son Chaeyoung?"

 

Her question gained the attention of Miss Park, one of the diligent workers that miraculously owns the Staff of the Month award for ten consecutive months; it makes Mina wonder why she hasn't been promoted yet.

 

"She's out for a quick break," The staff of the planning team said while fixing her nerd-looking glasses, "Something about buying a toast, I think?"

 

There she goes again, Mina thought as she glances at the tidy table of the smallest staff in her division, already used to the latter's free-spirited will in being whimsical. Well, as long as the team leader gets her job done, then Mina has no issue with it. She got the free gilgeori toast with a generous amount of ketchup anyway as compensation for the frequent disappearances. 

 

"Can I help you with anything, Manager-nim?"

 

Mina quickly shakes her head, flashing a grateful smile to the woman who lives next door in the same apartment complex. "It's fine. Keep on doing your work."

 

"Yes! I'll do my best, Manager-nim!"

 

Being out of sight of her staffs in her own office, the manager kicks off her heels with a sigh of relief, plucking open the top button of her working blouse as she laid over the small pillow of the tatami floor.

 

Mina doesn't know why, but she feels awfully worn out today; it's not even the afternoon yet. She can feel bouts of headache incoming, begging her to stop forcing herself out and just go home.

 

Mina looks at her apple watch, the analogue clock shows it's barely past three in the afternoon. It’s still early but she doesn’t have anything else to do either, already finished with the meetings today. Hence, she packs up her things (of ipad and purse, and nothing else) before making a beeline to her apartment. 

 

When Mina enters her home, only darkness greets her. Figures, it will be a few hours before her wife returns from work. She glances at the digital calendar on the wall, a red circle jotted with her wife's name; it’s her turn to do the laundry. But a yellow post-it-note is pasted on the screen with a messy scribble.

 

Minari, my love.

I know it’s my turn to do laundry today, 

so don’t bother picking up the clothes scattered on the floor.

A new pile will join them later tonight, anyway *winkwink*

 

P/s: Please don't be mad? I’ll do it when I get back, honey <3

 

Mina would have acted like she's mad, but the obvious red cheeks and full-blown gummy smile would have given her away in a snap. Because her wife's cheesy lines are one of the traits that makes Mina fall in love with the dork in the first place. 

 

She walks into the laundry room, and just as expected, a whole basket of used clothes is filled to the brim in the corner. It will be a while for her wife to return home, and Mina feels like working up some sweat, hoping it can alleviate the throb in her head.

 

Grabbing a hair band, she bunches her hair up and ties them into a low pony-tail. She peeks over each room, picking up the used linens and clothes that need washing. Then, she steps into her wife's private room, and truth to be told, there are pajamas and shirts strewn across the room. 

 

A bad habit of her wife when she's late for work. 

 

Mina collects them in her hands one by one, only to lose her footing when she tripped over the carpet, accidentally bumping her elbow against the bookshelf in the corner.

 

She hissed in pain, rubbing the sore spot that is slowly gaining color from the injury. However, her eyes soon fell on a small book that had fallen from the shelf, the pages laid open for her to read. 

 

Memory #37

I used a pickup line on Mina today, and guess what happened next? She picked it up, with a laugh! But what really caught me off guard is her beautiful smile… like, wahh! How can a pretty girl be prettier with the prettiest smile??? Well, that’s a feat only Myoui Mina can do! 

Oh, guess what I’m wearing right now? That’s right, the smile she gave me.

Aigoo, stop being so smooth, Dahyun-ah!

 

A hand instantly covers the smile growing on her flustered face. She recalled the memory of their first ever date, also the day Dahyun couldn't stop gushing about the rare smile of her normally bored face. She didn’t know her wife would keep those days in a written form, even more so in the presence of this notebook.

 

She knows Dahyun is someone who truly values privacy, but that doesn't apply to Mina because her wife believes that mutual understanding is the right key for a long-lasting relationship. Now that she knows Dahyun keeps a secret notebook about her, Mina is torn between feeling guilty and being frisky.

 

Guilty because she's invading Dahyun's one and only privacy, and frisky because she wants to read more of her wife's sweet memories of her. Perhaps, she could use them for blackmail later.

 

Temptation won her over, and she's quick to snatch the book, flipping pages after pages of their memories in the past. Almost all pages have her name on them, and no one else. For a random person, this behaviour is borderline creepy and disturbing. But Mina finds it sweet and romantic that Dahyun would go to this extent, just for her.

 

Tears are welling in her eyes as she skims through the handwritten moments, sometimes chortles bubbling up from Dahyun's random pickup lines and flirty advances that seem more funny than what she intended. The first memory started from the first day they got together, which was five years ago, and now that they've been married for almost a year, the life they had together seems too good to be true. 

 

Mina wipes her teary eyes as she reaches the latest entry, dated a few days back. She remembered that particular day vividly; Dahyun was acting a bit tense when she got home, giving Mina the cold shoulder before locking herself up inside this room for the rest of the night. She didn't take it personally, of course, knowing how grueling and laborious it is to manned a food stall. She thought Dahyun's peevish state that day was due to fatigue and needed some me-time to calm down. 

 

Oh, how wrong she was as she reads the paragraph once, twice, once again…

 

Only to slam the book shut with a loud thud, her tear-stricken face now replaced with a deep frown. 

 

//

 

 

Dahyun heaves loudly as the elevator dings, reaching the highest level of the lavish apartment building. She trudges towards the end of the hallway with sluggish steps, fist thumping the aching muscle on her shoulders. 

 

Today was rough; Momo had suddenly gone awol, leaving Dahyun panicking alone to handle the long-line of customers during peak hours, and let her clean the whole stall and equipment all by herself. She had to do double the work, and it's just her luck that she had to do laundry today. 

 

She blows air through puckered lips, the pinkish-purple stray locks fluttering away from distracting her already drowsy sight as she attempts to key-in the password of her home. Before she could press the last number, the door had suddenly unlocked from inside, swinging open to reveal her beautiful Minari clad in an apron with an overly tight black dress that accentuated her body line and exposed cleavage, her usually pink plump lips now painted scarlet red like she's on a mission to seduce Dahyun...

 

Wait, what? 

 

"Jagiya, you're finally home!"

 

Dahyun blinks once, twice, before rubbing her heavy eyes. She takes a step back, squinting at the nameplate outside their house before looking back inside, finding the interior exactly like the place she's been living in since her marriage with Mina.

 

"This is my home, alright." She mutters, earning a confused stare from her wife.

 

"Is something wrong, jagi?"

 

Yes, some things are definitely wrong with Mina because this is the first time she is dressed like that at home and addressing Dahyun with "honey". Instead of being , she's more confused because Mina being y and flirty at this time of the day doesn't feel right.

 

"Did you eat something bad? Are you sick?" 

 

Dahyun leans in, touching their foreheads together to check the difference in temperature, but finds nothing abnormal. Except for Mina's reddening cheeks.

 

"Omo, why is your face so red?"

 

"Because you reek." She pushes Dahyun away, leaving the woman dumbfounded. "Go clean yourself up. I'm making dinner."

 

She responded with a long “hait” and a salute, before walking past her wife with a wide smile. However, before Dahyun could step inside their shared room, her arm was suddenly pulled back.

 

"Wait, you forgot something."

 

Dahyun’s eyebrows lifted, "What is it-"

 

A soft pair of lips abruptly lands on her cheek, and Dahyun’s imaginary blinking battery above her head was instantly charged to the max. She blinks in shock from the sight that greets her; Mina is looking at her all seductive and hot with the suggestive smirk of rosy red lips, she almost squeak from their close proximity.

 

"Okaeri. " 

 

As soon as she says that, the penguin waddles back to the kitchen, and Dahyun is left dumbfounded, again.

 

"E-Eh?”

 

Why did she married a multi-lingual woman is still a mystery, at least she's familiar with this word. She scratches her head in confusion, pacing back to their shared room with question marks painted all over her face. Something is definitely odd with Mina today. But her brain is too exhausted to delve deeper into her own curiosity, the warm hot shower is the only thing in her mind. 

 

Dahyun gets out of the bathroom feeling refreshed, only to have cold sweats forming on her forehead when she sees Mina standing by the door with an alluring pose. 

 

"Are you done yet, jagiya?"

 

The voice was so tantalizing and sultry, Dahyun had a hard time swallowing spit through her suddenly narrow throat.

 

"Uh, y-yeah? Just got out the bathroom."

 

"Then hurry up, I can't wait to eat dinner." A finger circles in the air, before pointing in her direction. "And you. " Followed by a flirty wink.

 

Dahyun thinks she needs another round of shower because damn, she is slowly getting hot and bothered by her wife's teasing. But more of bothered on why Mina is acting like she did just now, because that flirty woman just now is so not her Mina.

 

Taking a deep breath with a determined face, she marches down the hallway straight to the dining table, pulling out the farthest chair of the square table and taking a seat with crossed arms.

 

Mina is still preoccupied on the stove so she deliberately clears , catching her wife's attention off the steaming pot.

 

"Who are you and what did you do to my Minari?" 

 

Dahyun hardens her glare, trying to steel herself from falling into the seduction trap of the cunning woman before her. But instead of being intimidated, she received a soft giggle and a tutting sound.

 

"Silly," Her wife approaches with a slight sway in her hips, the smirk still apparent to see as a finger taps Dahyun's pointed nose. "I am your Minari."

 

"But-" 

 

A finger is placed on her lips, effectively shutting her up. "You talk too much. Let's just enjoy dinner, okay?"

 

Dahyun finally realizes the amount of food being served on the table, and her eyes shoot up in surprise. It's like they're having a feast; with plates of whole roasted chicken, braised pork cutlet, spicy tofu stew - she's almost out of words trying to list them out.

 

She's about to ask Mina of the ridiculous choices of food served for merely two people to eat, only to be speechless when her lap becomes her wife's substitute for a chair.

 

"M-Mina? We still have three vacant chairs here, why are you-"

 

"Yours are more comfy."

 

She was cut off with a simple answer and an innocent stare, which doesn't look so innocent with the naughty fingers roaming over her cheek down to her collarbone. Instead, it just makes her more confused than convinced. 

 

"Uhh but-"

 

"Oh, hush. The food's gonna get cold." Mina makes herself comfortable as she leans against Dahyun's front, grabbing the stiff hand hanging awkwardly by its side and wraps it over her waist. "Do you want meat? Veggies? Or would you rather eat… me ?"

 

Dahyun's head snaps to her wife so fast, a loud crack can be heard coming from her neck.

 

"OWW!"

 

"Omo, Dahyunnie! Are you okay?" 

 

She moans in pain, rubbing the sore spot. “I’m good, it’s just-”

 

But before Dahyun could complete her sentence, she is suddenly hauled across the room in Mina’s arms, cradled like a baby princess towards their room and placed gently over the king-sized bed.

 

“Wait, Mina! I’m good-”

 

“Don’t move! I’m getting an ice pack.”

 

Dahyun relently listens with a timid nod as her wife shoots a warning glare with a pointed finger, before walking back towards the kitchen. She tries to tilt her neck to the side, but the dull pain appears again. 

 

She groans with a defeated sigh; looks like she just sprained her neck.

 

Mina comes seconds later, this time waddling with pointed feet instead of the flirty catwalk, towards the large bed as she places a wrapped ice pack over the affected site. Dahyun winced at first from the cold contact, before slowly relaxing as the ice numbs the aching muscle.

 

"I'm sorry…"

 

A smile works its way on Dahyun's face as she glances up to her wife tending her injured neck, the seductive smirk now replaced with a worried frown.

 

"It wasn't your fault."

 

"It is! I mean, you wouldn't have sprained your neck if I wasn't being too persistent and trying hard..."

 

"No kidding!" Dahyun snorts, good-naturedly. "I mean, I enjoyed the extra treatment." She attempts a wink, her wife's frown slightly lifted. "But what's the occasion anyway?"

 

She sees the contemplation in Mina's face, the woman picking on the pillowcase while avoiding Dahyun's eyes. A small sigh escapes Mina's pouty lips, "Promise you won't be mad?"

 

"Have I ever?"

 

Mina smiles at that, before grabbing Dahyun's hand, lacing their fingers together in a pleasant squeeze.

 

"I read your notebook."

 

"Oh." Dahyun slowly nods, before tilting her head in confusion. "Which notebook?"

 

"The secret one, where you wrote you want to be "the top" for once…?"

 

Dahyun's pale complexion turns impossibly paler as she blanches, her whole body frozen. She had actually forgotten to return the secret book of "1001 facts of my penguin wife" back to its hiding place when she got home drunk that night with Momo. 

 

She had a moment of flashback, when the loud mouth of her business partner said she is a puny little soft tofu who had no nerve to wear the pants in her married life. 

 

 

"Yah! You don't even have a girlfriend, your love life more than me!"

 

"At least I made my exes scream my name." Momo wiggles her eyebrows suggestively, which looks ridiculous in her drunken, hammered state. "Let's be honest, you're not the one providing for the family. She's the boss of a top entertainment company, while you're selling toast in a small stall by the road. That's like comparing the sky and earth!"

 

Dahyun slams the glass on the table, her eyes glaring in annoyance. "Your point?"

 

"My point is, she's the one wearing the pants. Not you."

 

"That's not true!"

 

"I bet a shot that you're the one always getting laid, not the other way."

 

"N-No I'm not!" Dahyun shouted with a red face, not sure either from embarrassment or the alcohol, or both.

 

She takes a shot anyway.

 

"I can be the top too! Mark my words, Hirai!"

 

As she got home, Dahyun went straight to her room and locked it, quickly searching for the secret notebook she stashed in between a recipe book and entrepreneurship magazine. She takes a pen, scribbling away with the penmanship of someone with a double vision.

 

 

Memory #707

 

Mina, my lovely boo

I know you like to be on top of things, and me. 

But would you like to know how it feels to be under too?

Let me be the top for once too, please!

 

 

Dahyun stares into the distance as the whole memory of that night plays back right before her eyes, fully regretting her decision to accompany Momo for a free drink. Now that Mina has read it, she feels like burying herself inside a hole.

 

Instead, she buries herself under the comforter.

 

"What are you doing?"

 

"Hiding."

 

Dahyun stated with a groan, receiving a hearty chuckle from Mina. She feels the other end of the blanket being lifted, her wife joining her inside the makeshift hole of embarrassment.

 

"Hi."

 

"Hey."

 

Another set of giggles fill the enclosed space, and Dahyun feels like she's in love again. She glances up, meeting eyes with Mina's soft pair that brought a whole new kind of emotion in her; one that speaks of honesty, and desire.

 

A fervent desire that sends tingles into Dahyun's soul, buzzing her chest with a euphoric sensation.

 

"I'm still up for it, if you want to."

 

And that's it, that's the switch that triggers the hidden boldness within her as she pushes Mina down, getting on top with a pounding chest.

 

They've done this many times, but it feels like the first time all over again.

 

"I'm scared." Dahyun confessed with a strained laugh, her voice trembling.

 

"But you're Kim Dahyun, nothing scares you." A hand cups her cheek, pulling her face closer for a brief but consoling kiss. "And I trust you."

 

Dahyun leans in for a peck on Mina's forehead, down her eyes, nose and all over the beauty marks of constellation scattered over her wife's heavenly face. She's only a breath away from Mina's enticing lips, puckered to meet hers, only to pull away from the sudden loud crashing sound.

 

They stay still, ears trained to the yelling on the other side of the wall.

 

"Are they fighting again?"

 

"When do they not."

 

Dahyun nods to it, agreeing without a beat of their neighbours' peculiar but interesting polyamory relationships that always end up with either broken things, or more shouting between them.

 

"You think our neighbours are gonna hear us?"

 

Mina frowns from the abrupt question, pulling Dahyun's collar down for a deep kiss.

 

"Don't mind them. Now, show me what it feels to be under you."

 

Dahyun wears her trademark lopsided grin, making a salute with her hand. "As you wish, my love."