Karina admitted she had undergone one hell of a struggle, a push-yourself-past-your-limits hard work, a hair-pulling off the scalp kind of frustrating journey, before she could get that one sweet word of affirmation from her.

Yes.

This one word beat all of the words in a thick encyclopedia combined when it comes to what it meant to her.

Nothing too complex, nothing too fancy, spectacular, or grand, really.

It just simply meant…

everything.

Everything she ever dreamed of, everything she ever wished for, everything she ever wanted.

Yes.

Winter Kim said yes to her.

Winter Kim is now Karina Yu’s girlfriend.

Karina thought having Winter as a girlfriend made her memory sharper.

She remembered all the details of how Winter liked her favorite food.

Burger with no pickles and ketchup, pepperoni pizza with no black olives, chicken nuggets with cheese dips, and maltesers chocolate, white.

It also made her ninja stealthy and sneaky abilities improve as she climbed her way to her girlfriend's balcony at 12:30 in the morning after the girl had randomly texted her that she was craving all those foods mentioned.

"Rina?! What are you doing here?" Winter, wide eyed and looking like she had seen a ghost, found her in a state of struggling and having a hard time climbing up.

It was a shame but Winter had to help her up. She had made a mental note then to search diligently and practice how thieves do it naturally next time.

"Whew.. tough one.. *huff*" Karina held up a finger while she caught her breath, before remembering her real purpose here.

She brought up the contents on her hand for Winter to see, and grinned awkwardly. "I brought your food!"

Winter crossed her arms on her chest and gazed at Karina amusingly. "I have a front door, you know."

"That... I know. But I watched on this film how Troy Bolton climbed up and brought pizza to-- wait, he used a rope! I should've used a rope!" Karina remembered the one scene she copied and realized she had done it wrong.

Winter giggled and snatched the plastic bag in her hand and checked what's inside. "You're so silly, what's this?"

Karina knew it was worth it because she saw how Winter gasped and excitedly bounced when she found out she had brought all of the food she was craving tonight.

She saw how Winter smiled lovingly at her with a sparkle in her eyes before her fingers motioned for her to follow inside her room.

It was worth it, all right.

Karina thought having Winter as a girlfriend made her invincible to pain.

Physically.

It was the fourth time Winter had pinched her arm in just a duration of 5 minutes.

All because of a sweet scene she was gushing about on the drama she was currently watching on her laptop.

While Karina, on the other hand, blankly stared at the screen she was forced to watch and stifle her cry of pain.

"Look babe, that was so cute. I can't believe they're finally together." Winter slapped Karina's arm repeatedly out of overflowing emotion.

"Yay.." Karina faked cheeriness and discreetly laced her fingers with Winter to prevent them from harming more of her poor petite body.

Winter, having noticed this, removed her hand out of Karina's grasp and pulled on the latter's ear.

"I bet you didn't even watch and understand it, did you?" She started to twist on Karina's ear.

"Ah! Babe! I watched! I promise! No, no, no, stop!" Karina begged for her ear's life.

Winter took a little pity and let go of her ear. She saw her proceed to click something on her laptop. "Fine then. Another episode."

Karina scratched her assaulted ear and muttered under her breath. "Sadist."

"What did you say?" Winter glared and raised an eyebrow at her.

"I said, it’s sad! I mean, it's sad that the episode had to end and now we're going to watch another episode ha.. ha.." She trailed off, face turned stoic, and pretended to focus on the screen to watch.

But then she felt a warm hand slip on hers, interlocked with her fingers, and caressed the back of her hand softly.

She also felt the weight of the girl's head when she leaned on her shoulder.

Karina smiled internally at this.

She held Winter's hand firm and didn't plan to let it go soon.

She had also placed a soft kiss on the top of her girlfriend's head as they continued to watch quietly.

She didn't mind the small bruises starting to form on her arm due to the pinches Winter made.

Because she felt soft lips grazing over them soothingly, instantly erasing all the pain away.

She didn't mind.

At all.

Karina thought having Winter as a girlfriend made her patience as strong as a rock.

It was already 3:30 in the morning and she was on the phone with Winter while the latter did her research paper.

She was in a dangerous position because the moment she closed her eyes even just for a second, she would eventually drift off to dreamland. But she had to fight off the sleepiness, because she had to wait for her girlfriend to finish so they could sleep together, no matter how Winter kept telling her it's okay, that she could go to sleep already without waiting for her.

But Karina thought it wasn't right, that Winter was working so hard and sacrificing sleep while she was, on the other hand, being so worry less and cozy fast asleep on her comfy bed.

No. She'll wait for her.

They were both in this together (another line she stole from Troy Bolton).

On the phone:

Karina: (singing) You're my honeybunch sugarplum pumpy umpy umpki--

Winter: Rina, could you... I'm trying to focus here. I told you to just go to bed already. I'm fine, really.

Karina: I'm sorry, okay, I'll zip my mouth now. And no, not going to sleep unless you're done. I'll stay on the line, call my name if you need me.

Winter:

Karina:

Winter:

Karina:

Karina:

Karina:

Karina:

Karina:

Karina:

Karina: AHHHH!!!

Winter: (Flinches exaggeratedly)

Karina: Oh my god, I'm so sorry I made a sound. I thought there was a shadow. It's just my coat. Mini. Heart. Attack. Remember the scene from Insidious where the man just burst through the--

Winter: Tch

Karina: Ok, shutting up now. Shutting up now.

Winter:

Karina:

Winter:

Karina:

Karina:

Karina:

Karina:

Karina:

Karina: ...baby?

Winter: Mm?

Karina: Nothing, don't mind me, just go on.

Winter:

Karina:

Karina:

Karina:

Karina:

Karina: Ah! Babe!

Winter: What is it?

Karina: Kuku kaki kakak kakak ku kayak kuku kaki kakek kakek ku. Babe, that's an Indonesian tongue twister meaning 'My sister's toenails look like my grandfather's', I just read it on this really cool facts book and it's amazi--

Winter: If you’re just gonna be like this, I might end this call now. This is a bit distracting, babe… you know I have to focus.

Karina:

Karina:

Karina: Please don't end the call. I'll be quiet now, please.

Winter:

Winter:

Winter:

Winter:

Winter:

Winter:

Winter:

(after 15 minutes of silence)

Winter: ...Rina?

Winter: Are you still there?

Winter: Baby?

Karina: (whispers) whaaat..

Winter: Why are you whispering?

Karina: (whispers) you.. told.. me.. to.. be.. quiet..

Winter: Stop it! (chuckles) Hey, I'm already done.

Karina: (whispers) really... (clears throat) (back to normal voice) Really? That's good. You can now rest.

Winter: Look, I'm sorry about what I said earlier. You're not distracting me, I'm just really frustrated with these amount of paperworks for school and I'm holding you up when you're supposed to--

Karina: Shh. Babe. You don't need to apologize. You know I'm just here and I'll stay by your side, always.

Winter:

Winter:

Winter: Thank you. Thank you for waiting for me. Thank you for-

Karina: Ah ah, you don't have to thank me. I'll do just about anything for you. Let's get you to bed now, alright?

Winter: Okay.

Winter: You too, please.

Winter: And uh, babe?

Karina: Yes?

Winter: I love you.

Karina: I love you more, Winter.

Winter: Night, baby.

Karina: TOODLEZ ~

Winter: (laughs)

Karina might only get 1 hour of sleep before she had to wake up again to fix herself up for school and drive to Winter's house to pick her up.

But any complaint or second thoughts for this routine never crossed her mind even once.

Because she's happy, no matter what.

That's just how she was.

Karina thought having Winter as a girlfriend made her learn that even a stoic and blank expression could mean a lot of things.

A thousand things could be inside her girlfriend’s head and she wouldn’t have a clue about it.

She learned that not everyone around has a good intention.

She also learned that…. sigh, she had a lot to learn in this relationship.

They were on a drive on the way to Winter's home when Karina suddenly had an interesting story to tell.

"Babe, listen. There's this funny thing that happened in class earlier." Karina began enthusiastically.