Seulgi is awakened to the feeling of a kiss on her bare shoulder. Too shy to face the person behind her after what happened the night before, she shuts her eyes and pretends to still be asleep. A content smile slowly appears on her face as she remembers the details of last night. Her body is sore all over but it’s a good kind of sore. After a long while, she braves herself to turn around and sees Irene has fallen back asleep, looking peaceful and beautiful.

She can still feel Irene’s touch, the kisses, the feeling of her skin against hers, the pleasure. There were two types of Irene she was sleeping with last night. One that was wild and demanding, and another that was gentle and affectionate. The former was very entertaining, to say the least, but the latter gave her something she has never felt before. She likes Irene very much, she cares about her very much, and after last night, she thinks it’s safe to say that she is in love.

She scoots forward and carefully envelops the blonde in a hug, freezing when she feels Irene stirring; she doesn’t mean to wake her up just yet. In fact, she doesn’t mind spending the next few hours being in bed with her; just sleeping and nothing else. The world feels so peaceful this way.

“Good morning, hot stuff,” Irene greets sleepily without opening her eyes. Instead, she pulls Seulgi’s arms to embrace her deeper, skin against skin once again as their clothes are still scattered on top of a grandfather armchair at the corner of the room.

"Good morning," she greets back. "You slept well?" She buries her nose in Irene's hair, inhaling the scent of her conditioner.

"Very. You?"

"Same."

Irene finally turns to face her and they look at each other silently, not knowing what else to say to each after such a night; a long awaited night.

"It's still early. What do you plan to do today?" The blonde questions.

"I don't have anything planned yet," she announces. "Sorry."

"Why are you saying sorry? Doing nothing all day actually sounds like fun. And you mentioned that kimchi tteokbokki place nearby."

"Yeah, we can go there for a very late breakfast. For now.." She leans in and rubs her face on Irene's shoulder. ".. can we just stay like this?"

Irene nods and immediately wraps her arms around her while fixing the blanket to cover them both properly. "You're the clingy after  type, I see," she says non-chalantly, successfully making Seulgi blush.

She feels Irene's lips on her temple, then on her cheek, and she turns to give her access to her lips. 

"Last night was.." She feels the obligation to say something but doesn't know exactly what to say without sounding stupid, clichéd or erted.

"Was what?" Irene fishes.

She smiles and shrugs, giving up explaining what she feels in words. Instead, she hugs Irene tighter and exhales satisfiedly. Everything feels too perfect.

"Seul.."

"Hm?" She answers, still in the same position. Her eyes are closed as she enjoys the feeling of Irene playing with her hair. 

"Do you remember what you said to me last night?"

Her eyes snap open. 'What did I say last night?'

Hearing no immediate response, Irene nudges her using her shoulder. "Are you asleep?"

"No," she finally answers. "What did I say last night?" she questions.

"You don't remember?" Irene asks, and she can't determine if the tone is more disappointed or relieved.

She pulls away to be able to at her. "I.. uh.. I must have said a lot of things. So.. what exactly?"

Irene studies her face before shaking her head. "Never mind." When Seulgi is about to force her to spill it, the blonde continues, "We were both kinda half asleep last night, I think. Just forget it."

She gives her a soft 'okay' and doesn't try to force it out of her anymore. '. Did I tell her I loved her?' If that was true, somehow it feels very wrong to be saying I love you to your girlfriend for the first time after , as if the love was established only after having with her.

"Last night was wonderful," Irene suddenly says. "I hope that was what you were trying to say."

She's relieved that Irene feels the same but is too shy to admit it so she teases, "Nah, you were horrible in bed."

Way to ruin the mood, but Irene should know her well by now to get that she's obviously joking. To her horror, the blonde only shrugs and mutters softly, "Sure."

She immediately props herself up and faces her. "Hey, I was joking."

Irene raises both her eyebrows. "I know. I was joking too." She chuckles and winks. "I know I'm pretty alright in bed, otherwise you wouldn't be so loud last night."

"I wasn't loud." She protests.

"You kinda were."

"You were way louder than me."

"Really? Wanna go for another round and see who's right?" Irene challenges with a smirk on her face.

She raises an eyebrow. "Are you tricking me into having more with you?"

"I don't really feel like being a smarty-pants right now. Can we settle this the old fashion way?"

"How?"

Irene pulls her closer and whispers in her ear, "Would you make me come, please?"

Seulgi feels like she could go insane at that moment. With high spirit, she does as told and makes her come. Irene is loud, as if she's doing it on purpose just to make her happy. And then, without even needing to take a breath, Irene flips them around and props Seulgi's legs on her shoulders as she returns the favour. She's not a very competitive person but this time round she tries her hardest to not make so much noise. She doesn't want to lose; not right now, not for this. It isn't a difficult task because she finds it very hard to breathe, let alone scream. She comes almost silently, hands grabbing Irene by the hair roughly before she lets go in fear of hurting the girl.

"Okay, you win." Irene slithers up her body and gives her a peck.

"Yes." She puts up her fists, celebrating playfully with shortness of breath.

"Are you okay?" The blonde checks, probably seeing how dazed she was.

"Yeah.. I just.. I have an idea for The Arthouse," she says, earning herself a flick on her forehead. "Ouch!"

"Were you thinking about movies while I went down on you?" Irene questions judgingly. "What kind of a creepy kink is that?"

"I wasn't!" She denies. "I've been thinking about this for awhile but I wasn't sure if it was doable."

Irene narrows her eyes at her, definitely not convinced.

"Can I tell you or should I just shut my mouth?" she asks, smiling sweetly for sympathy.

The blonde settles half of her body on top of her, embracing her warmly. "Later? Let's discuss it over meal. I need my peace and quiet now."

-

It's almost lunch time and they're still there in the living room, chilling on a very comfortable cocoon-like couch. They've showered and changed into new clothes, all ready to go out but the couch looked much more tempting. Bodies pressed against each other, kisses are shared more freely and passionately now that they no longer have to worry about morning breath. Seulgi's stomach growls loudly all of a sudden, surprising the both of them before their giggles come out uncontrollably.

"Shall we go?" Irene asks lazily.

She shakes her head left and right, pressing herself even closer to the blonde. "Ten more minutes?"

Irene only hums and rests her head back on Seulgi's chest, fingers tapping softly on the space between her mounds. "Seul?" she calls without looking up.

"Hm?"

"I love you too."

She feels her ears ringing loudly, unsure if she heard what Irene said correctly. "What?" she asks dumbly after a few seconds of silence.

"I said I love you too." Irene repeats, still without facing her.

Her head is spinning, with delight and confusion. "Too?" She asks, needing the clarification, but Irene remains silent. "Did I.. tell you that I loved you? Last night?"

The older girl finally lifts her head up and faces her, inching closer. "You didn't?" she asks calmly. "Okay, then I'm saying it to you first. I love you, Kang Seulgi. You stormed into my life like a freaking hurricane and I wouldn't want it any other way. I'm so glad to have met you."

"I.." She opens only to close it again. Irene loves her and she suddenly doesn't know what to say to that.

Irene smiles and caresses her cheek. "You don't have to say anything. I just.. I'm happy being here with you and I wanted to let you know. That's all."

Instead of saying it verbally, she gives Irene a kiss; they've been kissing too much today but this one is definitely the most heartfelt. "Did I really say that last night?"

Irene's forehead is scrunched, thinking. "Honestly, I'm not sure. You mumbled it.. kind of.. with your eyes closed. I didn't really catch the whole thing."

After a one last kiss on her forehead, she shares, "Can't you see that I'm very happy too?"

The blonde chuckles. "I really hope you are."

"I am."

"That's great."

"All because of you."

"That's nice to hear."

"I love you."

Irene tightens her lips and nods, acting unamused. "Cool." She shrugs.

They laugh.

It's a very nice day in that secluded area in Jongno-gu.

-

Irene might have implied that having a visually-impaired mother could be a burden to Seulgi in the long run. She probably didn't mean it that way, but it still pisses Seulgi off to no end. She remembers the days in school when she would bring her mother to school for events and her insensitive schoolmates would point at them and whisper among themselves. No one ever said anything directly to her but she knew they were judging; for what exactly she didn't understand, because the last time she checked, being blind wasn't a crime.

What Irene was trying to do was to convince her to let her pay for her mother's eye surgery. After visiting Seulgi's house a few weeks back and chatted with Mrs. Kang - in which she shared a little bit about her eye condition - Irene did some research and consulted a doctor who happened to be her mother's friend. The doctor seemed positive about it but he still needed to see Seulgi's mother in person in order to determine whether the surgery was viable.

"I'm not taking your money, Irene. It's going to cost an amount that's unfathomable to me."

"I'm not giving you money. Don't see it that way."

She shakes her head no. "I don't want to sound harsh, but this is my family's business, not yours."

Hurt is apparent it the older girl's face. "It's your mother we're talking about, Seul. I'm not buying you a sports car or diamond rings. This is about someone's ability to see again. It's priceless. If it's the other way around I know you'd do the same for me."

She exhales, frustated. "I can't. Money doesn't work the same way for people like you and me."

Even so, Irene is relentless. "Come on. We don't even have to mention it again afterwards. I just genuinely want to help. No strings attached."

Seulgi throws her empty coffee cup roughly to the trash can and raises her voice. "No strings attached? What are you even talking about? We're girlfriends. The strings are already tangled."

Irene tries to shush her down, probably on the girlfriends part as they're in a public place and people are walking around them. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry if I've crossed the line." She puts her hand on Seul