The air was warm in Tokyo that night. Walking back to their hotel was more agreeable than if they had had to take the subway even though it had been one of their busiest nights since the beginning of their trip. Han Dong had whined a little when her girlfriend decided to spend an hour in front of the gashapons to try all the One Piece themed ones, but ultimately they had fun. This was all meant to be Yubin’s present anyway. A simple thank you for those five years they had spent together.

The Chinese woman glanced at the bag containing all the plastic capsules filled with all the toys that would definitely invade their bedroom once they got home and started to sigh again.

“Did we really have to buy that many? We barely have enough space on the shelves at home.”

“Come on, I had to get the cute Chopper one,” Yubin whined back. “And don’t you like the one I got for you?” she added teasingly.

Dong fetched the toy in her pocket to look at it again. It was a shiny plastic ring painted with gold and inserted with the tackiest pink gem. In other words, everything she would never wear. Still, for some reason, when her girlfriend opened the plastic capsule and instinctively gave the ring to her, Han Dong felt… weird. A mixture of anticipation and nervousness she only felt once before.

“I do like shiny things…” the woman mused.

The road back was taking them along an artificial canal they had to cross through a traditional arch bridge that was painted in red and gold to make it look more authentic. The lights of the tall buildings and street lamps reflected on the water below, attracting swarms of small mosquitoes to the surface.

Yubin paused to look at the view. Her steps led her to the safe rails where she leant to watch the stream below. She used to cross a similar place some six years ago, everytime when she went home from work. It was an old iron bridge that wasn’t as fancy as this one was. The spot in itself had a strange vibe that caught her attention. There was barely any light except for two old fashioned street lamps at each end of the bridge, which gave a gloomy atmosphere to the place. However, there was also a sense of quietness to it, like a bubble of peace in the middle of the city.

Many things could have happened on that bridge if she hadn’t met Minji there.

“What are you thinking about?” Dong whispered smoothly in her ear while resting her chin on her girlfriend’s shoulder and wrapping her arms around her waist.

Yubin had always thought Han Dong was graceful, even when she was so clearly worried as she was now. Her voice was like a melody with a deep color that suited her so much. The shorter woman closed her eyes, giving in to the embrace.

“Minji found me on a bridge like that,” she explained.

“Oh, you mean the first time we met?”

“Huh-uh.”

“You were so shy when you ordered your drink,” Dong chuckled. “I was wondering why Minji had brought you to my bar.”

“Aish, don’t call me out like that,” Yubin protested squirming in the other’s arms, trying to give a small nudge of the elbow.

Her girlfriend laughed and tightened her grip slightly to place a kiss at the base of her neck then directly on her lips. Yubin moaned, even when they separated. She never liked to feel Han Dong far away from her.

“You saved me, you know?” the shorter one confessed. “Without you I would have felt like a stranger in my own life.”

The Chinese woman peered into the two shimmering beads looking at her. Her bar in Seoul had always been a place for the outcast and the drifters. Those who needed somewhere to belong. When she met Yubin for the first time she knew what she was looking for. What she hadn’t realized was that she wasn’t that different from the people coming to see her. Only when she met Yubin did she truly feel how her heart had been aching for someone to share a part of herself with.

“And without you I would have never been able to love,” Dong whispered back.

“And that made me the happiest woman in the world.”

Minji was the one who forced the bar owner to make the first move. The Chinese remembered very clearly how she felt. Her heart was racing so fast and her head felt so light that she thought she was going to throw up before she could utter the first sentence. Thinking about it now, she was pretty sure her heart did the same thing when Yubin gave her the ring.

It had been five years since her girlfriend had accepted to share her life. Five years of love, respect, compromises sometimes, tears also, sad ones and joyful ones, and so much more laughter. Five years that she was waking up every morning next to the kindest woman on earth and somehow she was the one who had saved her.

Han Dong felt like her heart was going to explode. She was never the most confident in regards to her feelings. As she used to say: “soft wasn’t her concept.” Which made it all the more ironic when she was the one pulling the romantic stunts. That one though, she truly hadn’t prepared. The plastic ring was still in her pocket. She reached for it without thinking about what she was doing next. Yubin saw, of course, and it didn’t take her long to understand where this was going.

“You’re probably going to think it’s stupid,” Han Dong began.

Her girlfriend looked at her with teary eyes, shaking her head to encourage her.

“I love you, Lee Yubin. And although it can’t be legally official, I still want to shout it out loud. So… will you accept this ring as a vow to never leave your side and always make you happy for as long as I can and until death do us apart?”

“I do,” Yubin blurted in a voice drowned in her tears

She was a complete mess of laughter and sobs. If she had known she was buying her engagement ring, she would have looked for something fancier. Han Dong took her lips hostage, tasting the saltiness of her tears. Yubin gave in and made the kiss deeper. God, she wished she could put everything into that kiss. Even for one second, just to tell the woman of her life how much she loved her.

However, her lover separated their lips, picked up her hand and put the ring on her finger with the same grace she always had. Her smile full of tears was more beautiful than everything else. While looking at it, Yubin lost all tracks of time or space. All that mattered was them, for as long as they would be together.